Wireless Operators @ DoT to surrender Licenses – Consolidation Soon
The DoT has leaked to the media that some of the new entrants have approached the DoT to surrender license and spectrum in some or all of the circles. Etisalat DB, Loop, S Tel are the likely players. This means their will be an end to the 2G wireless spectrum crunch faced by the incumbent players and hence better use of 3G spectrum for Broadband and Data.
As per current license conditions, there is no refund of license fees on return of license and spectrum. However DoT is studying the same to enable exit of some of the non-starter telcos. DoT is also studying M&A guidelines to enable Read more
Tata’s bid adieu to Chinese – ZTE & Huawei for 3G
Just a quick press – if newspaper reports are to be believed, Tata Teleservices a big admirer of ZTE and Huawei Network Gears has struck a deal with Nokia Siemens Network for deploying 3G network in India.
Why is this so important ? I remember that DoT having instructed all the Telecom operators to come up with a migration plan for completely phasing out Chinese Equipment and deploying that of Indian / European / American companies. Sensing the grave situation, ZTE swiftly moved to submit the source code to DoT and mitigate the issue, as they are well aware WTO nor other international pressure will lead no where. However, with Tata’s signing the deal with NSN, their seems to be a strong verbal message being sent to the Teleom operators to put National Interest before anything else. Will RCom and other operators follow the footsteps of Tata ?
Airtel Pan India 3G Services by end of 2010 + No Problem in Sourcing Telecom Gear
Just a while ago, in a conference call the Management of Bharti Airtel confirmed that if 3G Spectrum is allotted to them by Sept-2010, as promised by the Government during 3G & BWA Auction, Airtel will roll out services before the CY 2010. Even though Bharti Airtel fell short of Pan India 3G Spectrum, it is in talks with various operators for Roaming Arrangement so that Airtel Subscriber has seamless 3G connectivity anywhere in India.
Airtel’s Sr Executives dismissed the notion of 3G Spectrum and Back-haul crunch as they have deployed the best Network Gear as well as have laid an extensive OFC network. Current gears enable the carriers to carry higher capacity traffic as well. Airtel said that it is not facing any issues with in-sourcing of Telecom Equipment from its European Vendors Read more
Wireless Tariff War + African Safari dent Bharti Airtel’s Q1-FY 11 Bottomline
Bharti Airtel announced its results for quarter ending June-2010. Its Profits are down by 32% on a YoY basis to Rs 16.8 Bn. Wireless Tariff war in India has hit the bottom-line as well adding to its woes is the 23 days of African Operations. Bharti Airtel has shifted its accounting practices to report the results in IFRS – International Financial Reporting Standards format. They have included the results of its Global Operations [Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Africa, Channel Islands etc] as well as that of Indus Towers proportionate to its stake.
Key excerpts from the Results are as follows,
- Airtel Broadband Subscribers reach 1.34 Mn
Idea Cellular 3G Launch in 2011 – Big Bang Coverage Expected
After a long time, almost gap of 2 quarters I am back to participating in Conference Calls, though may not be consistent with all Telcos as my pre-occupation with other projects. Excerpts from Idea Cellular call with Mr. Sanjeev Aga CEO and Mr. Akshay CFO [My comments, if any, appear in Italics]
- Mr. Aga is pleased with the quarterly performance – Margins and Profits are meaningful.
- Big Story – From 6.6 Operators / Circle in Jan-2009, it now stands at 10.6 Operators / Circle on a Nationwide Average. With this one would expect loss in revenue market share for Idea, but they have managed to buck the trend and increase it to 12.6% from 9.8%. In the last 12 months Revenue Market Share has risen by 0.9% and they hope to continue with the Read more
India Wireless Connections at 630 Mn and Rising
Indian Wireless Connections net-adds for Jun 2010 stood at 18.1m, ~11% higher than 16.3m in May 2010. Net-adds of incumbeant operators (Bharti, RCom, Vodafone, TTSL, Aircel) were largely stable. Aggregate subscriber base stood at 630m (+49% yoy), as at end- Jun – 2010.
Amongst the new operators, Uninor is gaining traction with launch in 6 new circles taking the total service availablity to 14 circles and a net add of 1 mn connections in June-10. Uninor’s Operating Metrics and CAPEX plans are available here as a part of Telnor disclosure. Videocon’s net-adds dipped 22% mom to 0.55m.
Idea Cellular’s net-adds jumped 50% mom to 2.1m in Jun ’10, driven by new circles – Mumbai, Bihar, and seven others (where Idea Read more
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