India Telecom Thread II

[kronik]

Etisalat lines up $4 bn for India buy, eyes Spice

NEW DELHI: UAE’s Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) on Tuesday said that it would spend up to $4 billion (Rs 16,000 crore) to acquire a licence or buyout an Indian telco, while also adding that Spice Telecom was amongst the possibilities. “Our aim is to buy into an operator that covers most of India, and Spice is one possibility,” Mohammed Omran, chairman of the Arab world’s second-biggest telecoms firm, told international media in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. “The market value for shares (in India) have gone down a little so it’s a good time for us to consider entry,” Mr Omran told Reuters.

The report also adds that Etisalat, during this month, was in talks with several Indian companies including Spice, but had not finalised any deal so far. Spice apart, the UAE-based telecom major is also in talks to pick up stake in Videocon-owned Datacom and realty major Unitech, both of whom were awarded telecom licenses recently.

Several global communication majors are looking for a foothold to enter India, the world’s fastest growing telecom market. While India already has 12 firms providing wireless and fixed-line telephone services to over 300 million users, industry estimates say that an additional 500 million new customers can be added over the next five years, making it the country that has most potential for growth. Last month, the country established a new record by signing up over 10 million new mobile subscribers.

Industry watchers say that Etlisalat’s will face a hurdle in Telekom Malaysia in its efforts to buy out Spice. This is because, the Malaysian communications giant, which currently has a 39.20% stake in Spice, has constantly been trying to get controlling stake in the company.

[kmartin]

such stupendous growth in a month in mobile subscription? what's the deal? how many are foreign owned service providers?

[IndiansUnite]

Originally Posted by kmartin

such stupendous growth in a month in mobile subscription? what's the deal?

It was because of more people in smaller towns buying cellphones according to this

how many are foreign owned service providers?

Vodafone is the only mobile company with a foreign company having a majority stake (52%).

[IndiansUnite]

IFFCO, Bharti Airtel form JV for rural telephony

New Delhi, May 2 Bharti Airtel Limited and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco) on Friday formed a joint venture company—Iffco Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL)—to provide rural telephony. The new company will offer products and services, specifically designed for farmers, through Iffco societies in villages across the country. The JV is expected to provide a major push to the country’s agriculture and rural Economy by providing vital information relating to agriculture via mobile handsets.

IKSL will offer affordable mobile handsets with Airtel mobile connection. The value added services (VAS) platform will be a unique feature of the system, which will offer free daily voice updates on mandi prices, farming techniques, weather forecasts and fertiliser availability. The farmer will also be able to call a dedicated helpline, manned by experts from various fields, to get answers to their specific queries.

Announcing this, Bharti Airtel chairman and MD Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “The telecom revolution has truly transformed the country and we believe that the benefit must reach the rural population.”

Airtel will offer calling rates at 50 paise per minute for calls between Iffco members. “We have been constantly endeavoring to enrich the lives of the farmers through creating and strengthening cooperative institutions and providing them the best quality inputs, the mobile technology, however, seems to us a golden opportunity for carrying out this mission, Iffco MD US Awasthi said.

[SarafIndian]

Calcutta Telegraph

Calcutta, May 4: Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation will make mobile phones in Bengal through a tieup with local entity GeePee Mobiles. This will be Mitsubishi’s first such project in the country.

Senior officials of Mitsubishi Corporation India had a meeting with GeePee representatives on April 30 in Tokyo to discuss the nature of the alliance.

According to Bijay Agarwal, managing director of GeePee Infotech Pvt Ltd, “We were approached by Mitsubishi officials in November and have been in touch with them since then. We plan to jointly set up a mobile phone manufacturing unit in the state. Mitsubishi will get back to us within the next 15 days with the board’s approval on the exact nature of the project and the terms and conditions.”

Agarwal said the agreement could either involve component supply, testing and research and development work with Mitsubishi or a joint venture company.

Mitsubishi had earlier decided to exit the business globally after making heavy losses.

Mitsubishi Corporation has a strong presence in Bengal, where it has a Rs 3,000-crore chemical plant in Haldia.

The company has also announced expansion plans in Haldia.

The mobile plant will require investment of Rs 100 crore and employ around 1,500 workers.

Unlike Japanese and European markets where growth in mobile subscribers has stagnated, India hopes to add another 250 million subscribers by 2010.

Mobile phone production in India is expected to grow to 107 million units in 2011 from 31 million units in 2006 at a compounded annual growth rate of 28.3 per cent.

Revenues from mobile phone manufacturing, which was at $4.9 billion in 2006, is likely to touch $13.6 billion by 2011, according to a report by global research agency, Gartner.

At present, production in India is dominated by the top five global handset vendors —Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.

The Indian Cellular Association (ICA), the apex body of handset manufacturers in the country, has projected India as the next global export hub for mobile devices, accounting for 10 per cent of the world’s handsets by 2010.

[Euromast]

Unitech gets more mobile services spectrum

NEW DELHI: Unitech Ltd, India's second-largest listed property firm, said on Monday it had got spectrum or radio waves to start mobile services in the eastern state of Orissa.

The company had applied for licences through its subsidiaries and in April got spectrum in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. India has issued 120 new telecom licences to a host of firms in all or some service areas or circles in the country and has started allocating spectrum to them.

[phaedrus]

cross posting from the Merger & Acquisition thread

Bharti in talks to buy South Africa’s MTN

IN what may turn out to be the largest-ever acquisition by an Indian company, the country’s biggest private telecom player Bharti Airtel on Monday said it was in talks to acquire South Africa’s MTN. This is the first time that both companies have officially confirmed they have entered into discussions for a possible stake sale.
The board of MTN, South Africa’s largest telco, is learnt to have met on Monday to discuss the potential buyout from Bharti. The Bharti spokesperson refused to divulge details, but said: “Bharti Airtel has entered into an exploratory discussion with MTN Group, South Africa. Discussions are still at an early stage, are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction.”
Following the board meet, MTN too issued a statement confirming that talks were on with Bharti. “The discussions are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction. Accordingly, shareholders are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the company’s securities until a further announcement is made,” the South African telco said.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal had made two important points in a post-results earnings call last week, which indicated that Airtel could well be looking at an acquisition of the magnitude of MTN; if not fully, then at least a substantial stake.
One, Mr Mittal said, “The business model we have invented at Bharti needs to be transferred globally. We always remain open to opportunities outside India.”
MTN has operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Indian model of low tariffs and high volumes can easily be replicated in these nations where demand for cellular services is high and volumes are related to tariffs. Second, he said, Airtel will no longer look at “tiny” acquisitions and anything from “medium to meaningful” will form a part of Airtel. MTN has 68 m customers across Africa, Middle East
MTN, with over 68 million subscribers at March-end, is definitely not tiny. MTN’s buyer will get instant access to Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Iran, Afghanistan, Ghana, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and other countries where the operator is present.
Bharti will have to shell out over $35 billion to acquire 100% of MTN. Bharti might have to pay a premium, which could push the cost even higher. Even a 51% stake sale in will result in an $18-billion-plus deal, the largest ever by an Indian company. In comparison, Vodafone had acquired a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar for under $12 billion. Tata’s buyout of Corus was just over $13 billion.
Monday’s developments also resulted in MTN’s shares rising by a record 5.50 rand, or 3.8% to 150 rand, which marks the highest-ever closing price in the company’s history. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel’s share price was down Rs 6.3, or 0.7%, to 893.95 on the BSE.
ET has learnt that Bharti is looking at two options — acquire a 51% stake in MTN and continue to allow the company to be listed on the Johannesburg exchange or buy out the company and then offer a cash-and-share sweetener to its shareholders by going in for a secondary Johannesburg exchange listing.
MTN’s customers are spread across Africa and the Middle East. Its subscriber base is just a little larger than Bharti Airtel’s. MTN has a market cap of more than $35 billion while Bharti is valued at about $45 billion. Sources added that Bharti is being advised by Standard Bank on this deal, while Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank were advising MTN.

source economictimes epaper

[phaedrus]

Aircel readies $5-bn kitty

Mobile phone company Aircel, majority-owned by Malaysia's Maxis, on Monday said it intends to pump in $4-5 billion on network expansion and emerge as a pan-Indian service provider by the end of 2010.
Aircel — which aims to double revenue and join the $1-billion turnover club in 2008 — said $1.6 billion has been earmarked for raising the number of base stations from 6,000 at the end of December 2007 to 20,000 by the end of this year.
The company — which has already invested $2 billion and hopes to be present in 13-14 circles by December 2008 — pointed out that its next target is to establish a presence in the high revenuegenerating metro telecom circles, with the Delhi market being studied intently.
Except Chennai, where it is the no. 1 GSM operator, and now Kolkata, Aircel is not present in Delhi and Mumbai, the leading metro circles. The firm formally announced the launch of its Kolkata operations during the day.
However, Aircel — which is examining the benefits of sharing more towers or hiving off these facilities into a separate entity — did not specify the modalities for raising funds to meet the expansion requirements.
“At this stage, all that we can say is that we are considering various options, including an IPO,” Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh said.
Singh said Aircel aims to cash in on Maxis' expertise in the value-added services (VAS) arena to raise the contribution of VAS to the former's total revenue. “Like several others, we get 8% of our revenue from VAS. We would like to see this going up to 20%,” he added.
The COO said Aircel would come up with a new branding initiative by the end of this year. “This could be around the product offering or a celebrity endorsement,” he added.
Outlining the plans for Kolkata, Singh said Aircel would double investments in this circle to Rs 1,000 crore within a year. The number of base stations would be scaled up from 550 currently to over 1,000 by the Pujas.

source economictimes epaper

[phaedrus]

might be old news for some but...

Vodafone to ring in iPhone

The longawaited and most-raved-about phone will make its India debut later this year, in tie-up with Vodafone. The British telecom giant on Tuesday announced a deal with Apple to offer iPhone on its networks in India and nine other countries, namely Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.
While Vodafone Essar officials declined comment, sources said the 8GB version of the phone could be priced at around Rs 28,000 while the 16GB version will be rolled out at a higher price tag. The 3G iPhone, which Apple is expected to launch by August, too is expected to hit the Indian market soon.
According to industry insiders Apple was in talks with both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar for bringing iPhone into India. “However, Vodafone has larger number of subscribers in metros and ‘A’ circles who are more likely to use the luxury phone. These subscribers are high data users. So, Vodafone is ready with a pool of customers who can use this device,” said a telecom expert.
So, will the iPhone prove a big drawer for Vodafone? “It’ll take subscribers away from rival networks. With the advent of mobile number portability (by next year), this trend will only accentuate,” said Ovum India head (IT & Telecom) Alok Shende. Also, iPhone, which combines Apple’s iPod music player, video player and web browser, has helped operators around the world drive up data revenues. Vodafone Essar is likely to see the same trend.
iPhone, named the invention of the year 2007 by Time Magazine, is likely to be a hit in the Indian telecom market, where nearly 10-million users are signing up for services every month and youth segment is the fastest growing user group. iPhone has been available in the grey market in India for about a year now. Dealers in Mumbai and Delhi started selling it soon after it was launched in the US. The 8GB version is available for around Rs 30,000 in the grey market and does not come with any warranty. Another Rs 4,000-5,000 is the cost of getting it unlocked, so that it can be used in Indian networks.

source economictimes epaper

[phaedrus]

New high bandwidth undersea cable system to connect UK with India

In a move that will significantly enhance connection capacity and redundancy between India and the UK, major global players in the telecommunications industry have signed an agreement to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system from the United Kingdom to India.

The formal construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) for the project that will cost close to $700 million, was signed by The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, on Wednesday.

Telecommunications companies investing in the project include: AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; C&W; Djibouti Telecom; Du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom, and Information Technology Company; MTN Group Ltd; Omantel; PT Comunicações, S.A.; , Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd; and Verizon Business.

The EIG cable system, targeted to be operational in second quarter of 2010, is an 15,000 kilometer (9,000 mile) system that will connect 13 countries and three continents. Landings are planned in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India.

source economictimes.com

[Euromast]

Nokia Siemens to shift global services business to India

New Delhi: Telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) is shifting its global services business unit headquarters from Munich to India.

It’s in the process of hiring around 300 people for the centre which will be located in the national capital region. The 20,000-people global services team at NSN would report to the headquarters in India. The services unit contributes 40% to NSN’s revenues.

This is NSN’s second major global centre to be headquartered out of India, after the global networks solutions centre at Chennai, which serves as a hub for NSN operations centres across the globe.

[barrykul]

In one move private industry does much more than all the GOI initiated gram programs..

Airtel connects 8,500 villages in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, May 7 Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s leading telecommunications services provider, on Monday announced having connected 8,500 villages under the eGram Connectivity Infrastructure Project of the Gujarat Government.

Under the country’s largest e-governance rural connectivity initiative at the village-level, Airtel is setting-up telecom infrastructure by providing a comprehensive VSAT-based solution to connect panchayats and Common Service Centers (CSCs) located in the remotest corners of the State. The project roll-out covering 13,716 villages is expected to be completed by July 2008, well ahead of the target date.

On May 1, Gujarat’s Foundation Day, Airtel connected all 590 villages of Amreli district when the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, inaugurated the eGram project at a function in Amreli. A video conference with the Gram panchayats of two villages — Ishwariya and Galkotdi — was facilitated by Airtel on this occasion.
Extending services

Mr Modi also announced the extension of the eGram initiative to cover all the 18,000-odd villages in Gujarat.

[phaedrus]

Bharti to help build Europe-India Gateway cable

BHARTI Airtel has joined 15 global telecommunications majors including South Africa’s MTN, British Telecom, US-based AT&T and Verizon to construct a new high-bandwidth, sub-sea cable system linking the United Kingdom and India. The 15,000-kilometer (9,000-mile) cable system, which is called the Europe India Gateway (EIG), will connect 13 countries across three continents and is expected to carry commercial traffic by second quarter of 2010. The EIG is estimated to cost about $700 million which will be shared between the 16 consortium members.
The other members of this consortium include Cable & Wireless, Djibouti Telecom, Du, Gibtelecom, IAM, Libyan Telecom, Omantel, PT Comunicações-S.A, Saudi Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt and Telkom SA Ltd. The EIG consortium has signed construction and supply agreements with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications.
In India, the cable landing station will be located in Mumbai and will be operated by Bharti. Beyond the Airtel cable landing station, additional cable landings will be built in United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and United Arab Emirates. The EIG cable system will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, the consortium said in a statement.
For Bharti, the new consortium is yet another step towards improving redundancy with resilient networks, especially in the wake of the recent crisis when undersea links were damaged off the coast of Egypt, disrupting internet connections in many countries including India. Bharti was forced to reroute its traffic through its i2i cable when the SEA-ME-WE damaged earlier this year.
This is the fourth major initiative by Bharti Airtel in the recent past aimed at becoming a major player in the international bandwidth business. In February 08, company had joined hands with five international companies including internet giant Google to construct the ‘Unity’ sub-sea cable system linking the US and Japan. Just prior to that, Bharti Airtel along with eight other telcos including VSNL, had signed a formal construction and maintenance agreement to build a fibre-optic submarine cable that stretches from India to France via the Middle East

source economictimes epaper

[phaedrus]

Airtel ties up with Apple to launch iPhone by year-end

India's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a tie-up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.

"Bharti Airtel has signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to India later this year," the telco said in a statement.

Sources, however, said that Airtel may start offering iPhones around Diwali festival to its over 65 million GSM-based subscribers.

Asked about the prices, they declined to give any details about the agreement, the company entered into with Apple Inc.

Airtel's announcement comes on the heels of world's largest mobile phone operator Vodafone announcing last week to distribute iPhones worldwide including India.

source economictimes.com

[Euromast]

Tata Comm, Sonus join hand to offer voice calls over Internet

Tata Communications on Monday said it has partnered with US-based Sonus to build network to offer phone calls over the Internet globally.

"The company has selected Sonus complete fixed trunking solution to provide its IP-voice services in nine cities across three continents," Tata Communications’ chief technology officer John Hayduk said.

Tata Communications` customer base includes more than 1,500 global carriers, 600 mobile operators, 10,000 enterprises, over 5,00,000 broadband and Internet subscribers and around 300 Wi-Fi public hotspots all of which demand the highest level of quality and reliability.

The communication service provider will work with Sonus services team to facilitate the migration from its legacy network onto the new IP-based network initial deployment cities include Newark, New Jersey, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario, Los Angeles, California, London, Madrid, Frankfurt and Singapore.

[IndiansUnite]

MTNL India to get Mobile TV in June

Countries like Australia, the US and UK have already got used to the Mobile TV application on their phones. Now its time for India to get acquainted to this long-awaited application and Telecom operator Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) expects this latest application to arrive on their network by June this year.

MTNL is currently conducting field tests of the Mobile TV on the phones and boasts about featuring 21 channels on their network. MTNL who has ruled the landline phone zone for ages till now had stepped into the mobile industry with their esteemed Dolphin and Trump subscriptions. Now with the addition of Mobile TV on their networks, the carrier can flash off their collars to introduce the most awaited application by next month.

MTNL executive director J Gopal said, “We have tied up with a technology partner, who is carrying out the field trials. We would provide 21 channels.”

Samsung surpasses Motorola to become India’s No. 3 mobile brand

KOLKATA: The January-March 2008 quarter has seen a change in the pecking order of the Indian mobile phone market. While Nokia is still enjoying leadership position by a huge margin followed by Sony Ericsson, there has been a change in the position for the third slot. Korean vendor Samsung has replaced Motorola to emerge as the third largest player in the Indian market.

Latest ORG data reveal that Samsung is the only prominent player to have increased its market share in the Indian market in the January-March period. It has gained market share from 5.7% in January to 7% in March. In the same period, Motorola India lost market share from 6.7% to 5.9%, but Sony Ericsson remained at the same level of 8.1%.

Even Finnish handset biggie Nokia lost market share in India from 72.3% to 69.5% between January and March. Nokia India managing director (mobile phones) D Shivakumar refused to comment on the issue. “As a policy, we do not comment on market share.” When contacted, Samsung Telecommunications India country head Sunil Dutt said: “In January-March, we registered a good growth in our mobile phone business based on our channel expansion programme, new product launches like the Guru 100, SGH-G800, Samsung i450 to name a few, as well as our brand activity involving Aamir Khan.” Samsung plans to double its Indian market share by end-2008 from the present level.

[IndiansUnite]

mobile firms add 6.14 mln GSM users in April

With Reliance and CDMA firms still to release their numbers, we would have added around 9mn new connections in April. Expect the numbers to be out in the coming week.

[zhiemi]

I hope the momentum won't stop anytime soon, the Indian telecom industry is one sector which I'm extremely proud of.

[zhiemi]

Airtel inks outsourcing pact with Firstsource.

Bharti Airtel has signed a three-year outsourcing deal with Firstsource Solutions to offer voice and back office operations to its 66 million mobile customers. The BPO firm Firstsource would provide BPO services like credit monitoring covering both voice and back office from its two centres in Mumbai and Chennai. PTI

[zhiemi]

Motorola, BSNL ink $90m deal.

New Delhi: US based telecom equipment manufacturer Motorola has bagged a $90 million GSM contract from state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. The US company will provide equipments for BSNL’s network expansion in southern India aimed at adding 2.3 million subscribers in the region, it said.

Under the terms of the contract, Motorola will ship GSM network equipment and provide a network services programme including both software and hardware support, the statement added. Supply of equipment had already begun in April and would significantly help BSNL in the required capacity enhancement, it said.

Subhendu Mohanty, country head, Home and Networks Mobility, Motorola India said, “We will endeavour to grow market engagements and deliver maximum value to customers, be it serving their current needs or planning for future growth.” PTI