MTNL unveils pre-paid 3G service for Rs 300

2 Jun 2009, 1650 hrs IST, PTI on http://www.economictimes.com

NEW DELHI: State-run MTNL today brought 3G services to the masses by introducing a prepaid option for this high-end service at just Rs 300.

Announcing the launch of the pre-paid 3G service, company CMD R S P Sinha said, “MTNL is launching 3G Jadoo Prepaid Services so that customer should be able to avail the latest 3G/3.5G services at an affordable price”.

Since pre-paid is the preferred by customers, the 3G service will be available for only Rs 300 with lifetime validity, whereby a customer can make local video calls at Rs 1.8/minute and data download at Rs 3/MB.

In addition, a subscriber can also choose any of the data coupons to avail free data downloads coupled with free video calling to suit ones individual requirement, Sinha said. Sinha expects the launch of pre-paid 3G services to increase it customer base.

He said the PSU has around 400 subscribers for its recently-launched 3G service and expects 2,00,000 to 3,00,000 users for in the first year of operations.

The company introduced 3G services in Delhi in December and in Mumbai last month.

The state-run telecom operator expects to add new capacity to accommodate 8,00,000 users, he said.

Same story in Financial Express at http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mtnl-unveils-prepaid-3g-service-for-rs-300/470071/

Story from The Hindu Business Line dated 03 Jun 2009

MTNL launches pre-paid card for 3G services

Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 2 To get more users for its third generation mobile services, state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) on Tuesday launched a pre-paid option that will enable customers in Delhi experience high-speed data connectivity at an upfront cost of Rs 300.

MTNL had launched its 3G services in January but has only 400 subscribers till now. The pre-paid option is expected to drive up the demand for the company. Mr R. S. P. Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director, MTNL, said he expected at least two lakh 3G users within the first year of operations.

Initially, the services were launched in NDMC area in New Delhi with 50 base stations.

Extended coverage

Now, MTNL has extended 3G coverage to Trans Yamuna, Central Delhi, South Delhi and NCR of Gurgaon with 225 base stations. The company will soon cover Noida, Dwarka, Karolbagh, North-West and the remaining areas in and around the capital.

The 3G pre-paid services are available at Rs 300 with lifetime validity, and a customer can make local video calls at Rs 1.8 a minute and download data at Rs 3 for each MB.

In addition, a subscriber will have to buy data ranging between Rs 99 and Rs 2,500 coupons. MTNL has bundled free data download of 50 MB with a trial coupon for Rs 99. Heavy users can pay Rs 2,500 a month for unlimited data download.

The PSU will add new capacity to accommodate 8 lakh users. Since 95 per cent of existing mobile users are on pre-paid, MTNL expects more demand for the 3G service.

Mr Sinha said the service has given an advantage to the state-run company over private players.

MTNL and BSNL are the only operators to have got spectrum for offering 3G services.

IBM to build (Green) data centres for MTS

From The Hindu Business Line on 02 June, 2009

Bangalore, June 1

IBM said on Monday that it will design and build two green data centres – one each in Chennai and Gurgaon for MTS India, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd, a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and Shyam Group. The green data centres will help achieve 20 per cent energy savings for SSTL that is expanding operations across the country. IBM will also build a network operations centre (NOC) to help SSTL monitor and manage applicat ions and network. The Chennai site will serve as the main data centre for SSTL, while the data centre in Gurgaon will serve as the disaster recovery site.

 Story on www.ciol.com on June 5, 2009

GURGAON, INDIA: MTS India, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd.(SSTL) today announced that it has entered into an IT services agreement with IBM for building green data centers in India.

Further to the deal IBM will design and build green data centres for SSTL, one each in Chennai and Gurgaon. The move is integral to supporting SSTL’s pan India expansion plans for offering telephony services. The green data centres will help to achieve 20 percent of energy savings for SSTL.

Speaking on the need to adopt energy-efficient IT infrastructure in an enterprise, Vsevolod Rozanov, president and CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd., said, “As a global telecom player with ambitious expansion plans for the Indian market, we are aware of the advantage of adopting energy-efficient operational measures and in the process will work proactively to reduce global energy emissions. We are glad to partner with a technology leader like IBM in making our IT infrastructure – Green Friendly.”

The data centre solution being deployed by IBM provides the facility to scale the benefits of power and cooling automatically, depending on the load. IBM will also build a Network Operations Center (NOC) to help the SSTL team monitor and manage applications and network in a 24/7 environment.

SSTL is currently in an expansion phase with plans to launch Pan-India telecom services in the coming months. The scalability and dynamic nature of the solution provided by IBM will ensure that SSTL‘s expansion plans are well-supported by a robust, resilient and Green IT infrastructure.

Shanker Annaswamy, MD, IBM India Pvt. Ltd., said, “IBM’s association with Shyam Sistema TeleServices Ltd is aimed at helping them take advantage of leading IT infrastructure solutions and assets. IBM has proven technologies, as well as a wide range of capabilities and skills across industries, to help clients achieve their business objectives. Moreover, SSTL’s adoption of green and energy-efficient technologies can help them optimize their resources while serving their growing customer base across India.”

The Chennai site will serve as the main data centre for SSTL, while the data center in Gurgaon will serve as the disaster recovery site. IBM has deployed cooling solution at these data centres, which will result in substantial operational savings for SSTL.

Similar story in The Hindu Business Line at

•  http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/06/02/stories/2009060251450400.htm

3G-WIMAX : Simplifying the future

On http://www.ciol.com by Sunny Sen on 02 Jun 2009

INDIA: Amongst the innumerable potentials 3G has, network manageability is perhaps the most important one. In the coming years, with increasing Internet usage, a huge explosion of data will happen over networks. The other major area where 3G would make a difference is in the billing process.

For infrastructure providers 3G will be a value-add during slowdown, as they would get to put in a lot of new developments. Layout of next generation networks that are 3G compatible will help in better manageability of services over the networks. Even service providers believe that 3G would make the entire mobility space much more accessible. The government, though, has to look at 3G with a much broader perspective. The broadband connection, as they have not reached the set target, will also benefit with 3G coming to India.

Looking at the manageability front, 3G will not only help in managing new services, but also fall in line with 2G and 2.5G services. It will give a whole new experience of network management at the back end. “As a 3G network is downward compatible, SPs would prefer to upgrade their existing networks so that with increased bandwidth they can offer high-bandwidth applications and services to their 3G customers, as well as serve more 2G and 2.5G customers on the improved network,” says Vish Iyer, vice president, service provider, Cisco India & SAARC.

3G Billing Process

In India there is a larger base for pre-paid customers compared to post-paid and so there is a greater need to simplify processes for the same. With 3G services there is a new advent in the next-generation voice, data and content services. And 3G billing services will give operators the opportunity to handle and retain the loyalty of pre-paid subscribers.

“Billing systems must cope with the dichotomy in business processes and the complexity in operations for accurately billing pre- and post-paid subscribers. This is a challenge that operators must address as it adds additional pressure to the bottom-line,” says Paresh Shah, vice president, information management, Convergys India. For post-paid customers it would help the operators to offer innovative services on demand like real time balance tracking and notifications. This will actually become the handiest tool to operators as they are working to limit credit exposure from post-paid subscribers and provide the necessary cross subscription discounts and invoice generation that subscribers demand.

“In 3G, services priced differently will be posted in one bill. Apart from that a number of new parameters for calculating charges can be used like number of packets, uploading and downloading data, QoS, location and content. This will give rise to complex methods of billing,” says Tamal Bardhan, marketing head, Usha Comm.

Easier Manageability

Not only on the billing side, but also on the network deployment side 3G is taking things forward. Solutions and services are getting simpler and handier. Enterprises and vendors have already started making futuristic deployments for the new business opportunities that 3G would bring in the network space. 3G’s most important attribute will definitely be better infrastructure management.

“3G will help service providers manage their existing infrastructure better and remain competitive in a mobile number portability (MNP) regime. It will also generate a more addressable market to the GSM service providers. They can go back to their existing customer base and provide them with enhanced data services” says Animesh Sahay, head, telecom business, India and SAARC, Juniper Networks.

GSM and VAS are two other areas where 3G would be having a great impact. We are seeing a growth of around 5 to 6 mn users per month in these areas. The bandwidth provided right now is nowhere close to what we would have once 3G services are started. This would essentially lead to easy trafficking of data over the networks.

3G will not only make its presence felt in cities and towns but also bring in better and faster networks to rural India. “Looking at the country’s broadband penetration through copper and coax; wireless technologies are becoming prominent. 3G and WiMax will ensure that remote and rural areas get networked. Thus 3G is a positive sign of the growth of the Indian telecom industry provided the government supports it equally,” says Jayesh H Kotak, vice president, product management, D-Link India.

In the years to come 3G would make a lot of difference in making business models more innovative. 3G and WiMax will help solve the problem of low broadband penetration in India to a great extent. It is high time the government realizes the need and use of 3G. In a fast growing economy these technologies have the power to change the development roadmap of the country.

Data Matters

The current 2G network limits the download speed to nothing more than 30 to 40 Kbps, though the ISPs claim to provide much more. Even after the use of Edge technology one gets 384 Kbps of uplink and 171 Kbps of downlink. 3G is expected to sort out these problems. For enterprises 3G would bring in a lot of scalability and performance based application cutting short time constraints. 3G networks will be 2G and 2.5G compatible as well. Consolidation would bring down the costs for the company.

Apart from the bandwidth, 3G would also enable compressed data over the network. This would in turn maximize and increase WAN link by reducing the frame size, thereby allowing more data to be transmitted over the link. Though at this point we do not need much data compressibility as the transmission will be through fiber.

3G allows for transferring voice in networks much more efficiently than 2G and enables efficient VoIP in the future. This leads to decreased cost per bit and voice minute for the operator, and eventually for consumers. “Today’s networks are many times more efficient than early 3G networks and will evolve to LTE which is again three times more efficient than current 3G networks,” says Randep Raina, head, 3G India, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Looking Ahead

Will things stop only with the infrastructure developments of networks in Delhi? BSNL and MTNL are very differently placed in comparison to other private players. It is not yet known when 3G auctions will happen and which companies will be in the spectrum run. With a huge amount of investment only to acquire license, a lot of other costs would be involved when it comes to network building and implementation.

But the high costs will lead to new services making its way into the market, especially the urban areas. “Unlike 2G, in 3G one has to come up with very innovative applications and tariff plans. If operators are able to come up with new services there surely is a lot of money to be made,” says Subhendu Mohanty, country head, home & networks, mobility business, Motorola.

It perhaps goes without saying that vendors are looking at 3G because it is one of the areas that would bring them enough revenues. For instance, in case of Motorola their deployments for MTNL in Delhi alone are close to Rs 300 crore.

Undoubtedly, 3G will definitely bring in manageability. With obsolete billing processes and difficult round ups it is an urgent need for the communications industry to head towards 3G. For quite some time, 3G has been a vision and a topic of discussion, but unfortunately, implementation is nowhere in sight.

SMS hot amidst slowdown

On http://www.ciol.com on 02 June 2009

INDIA: For mobile operators, text messaging has become one of the most successful data applications with the volumes increasing year on year. However, ongoing price erosion in messaging has caused increased pressure on margins and this has resulted in the mobile industry frantically searching for revenue growth opportunities in new services. Software consulting firm, Ovum, states that no other single service has been able to get even close to the text messaging revenues. Even in 2009, 80per cent of worldwide messaging revenues will be generated by SMS.

Besides exploring alternative options to add to their existing text messaging revenues, operators need to consider a more evolutionary approach. In this case, text messaging should be used as a starting point. Future revenue growth can be reached through differentiation and the creation of new business on existing text messaging channel. Mobile messaging has not reached its limits and the time is right to leverage the unique values of mobile messaging beyond person-to-person traffic. In fact, Acision believes that messaging revenues have the potential to double by 2011, reaching a market size of $165 bn.

Real Truth of Future Text

The success of text messaging is often attributed to its ease of use, reliability, and transparent pricing. Yet, some argue that rich Internet-based messaging services will take over dominant position in a few years. This outlook is inspired by a few notable trends such as how mobile broadband coverage has increased dramatically, with market share of Internet enabled mobile devices surpassing the 25per cent mark.

On the contrary, text messaging is not showing any signs of slowing down. In May 2008, Ovum predicted an increase of 60per cent in the volume of text messaging by 2011. The popularity of text messaging has turned it into a key operator tool for subscriber acquisition and retention, which has resulted in near flat-fee pricing. The truth is that it will not decrease in volume or usage, but is more related to the operator’s margins. However, if the right solutions are put in place, operators can increase their text messaging prowess.

Differentiation Drives Margins

Over the past 15 years, most operators have adopted a similar strategy of positioning text messaging as a new service. In recent years, however, messaging has reached mass market adoption and is like a commodity. To address this challenge, operators need to do what every business does when faced with commoditization. Operators must differentiate their mobile messaging portfolio by further refining the service positioning to address the different messaging needs of various user segments.

At the same time, it is crucial to avoid disruption of SMS’s key asset: simplicity.

Confronting subscribers with complex features easily results in poor adoption rates. By gradually differentiating mobile messaging, operators will ensure text messaging relevance across their entire subscriber base and increase overall revenues. To realize the required margin growth, it is crucial to minimize the costs associated with service differentiation.

Based on this vision, leading messaging company, Acision defined a text messaging strategy aimed at doubling the messaging revenues. This strategy consists of five key elements that will drive subscriber and channel revenue.

Personalize the messaging experience: By offering personalized messaging services, operators are able to charge for a number of new features that are already proving to be effective. Currently, a vast majority of subscribers are using multiple messaging services. Through email and instant messaging, users are increasingly getting familiarized with features such as automated replies, forwarding, signatures, threaded messaging and presence information, and these should be applied to text. Initial launches of personalized messaging services indicated a growth potential of up to 15per cent on text messaging revenue. An example of such a personalized service launched by SingTel and Maxis in 2008 is auto-copy. This service automatically forwards copies of received text messages to another phone number or email address.

Extend mobile messaging to fixed: Besides mobile phones, many subscribers use a range of fixed devices such as PCs and TV sets daily. When offering access to text messaging on these devices, the barrier to use text messaging would be even lower. A fixed extension to text messaging offers the operator a viable entry for service revenues in the fixed domain. The additional user interface may also produce additional text messaging usage chargeable by the operator. The enhanced user interface may improve advertizing effectiveness and the user’s abilities to personalize the messaging experience. Finally, delivery of text messages could be done over 3rd-party bearers such as cable or DSL Internet connection. This could substantially reduce costs as it would relieve the operator’s radio network.

Widgets as extension to SMS: PC and web-based widgets enable users and web developers to have full control over where to position certain third-party applications. This drastically limits the barrier to use such applications. It is therefore not a surprise that in June 2008 alone, over 600 mn people communicated through widgets. If operators were to allow access to text messaging through widgets, it would enable them to increase the value of text messaging and help realize the opportunities mentioned above.

Instant messaging as extension of SMS: When faced with the instant messaging concept, most people will have dominant brands like Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger in mind. In recent years however, the IM landscape is getting ever more diverse. A long list of social networks, mail providers, niche communities and mobile operators have launched their own IM services. Operator IM may not be a new killer application but could well act as a logical extension of mobile messaging for mobile and fixed Internet users.

Use messaging to mobilize the web: Internet usage among teenagers has grown to a staggering 12.5 online hours per week. Yet, the average teenager is available at least 112 hours per week through his mobile phone. In other words, teens are almost ten times more likely to be available through their mobile phone. Clearly, the mobile channel is a crucial link in enabling people to interact. As a result, a value-added services market has taken shape since the 1990s. However, there is still a large number of (Internet-based) service providers that do not mobilize their service offering through mobile messaging.

Mobilize business applications: On an average, 5.5per cent of patients do not show up at a doctor’s appointment. A simple text messaging reminder would substantially reduce this number of no-shows and the associated costs. Incentivated, a mobile marketing agency, proposed a simple SMS reminder service for UK-based optician and helped to generate $8 mn in savings.

Operators have addressed the mobile enterprise opportunity mainly through technological innovations such as the wireless application protocol (WAP) and push email. This has resulted in a plethora of device specific applications with low reliability and high integration costs. Consequently, enterprise mobility has brought little or no productivity improvements for the average business.

Combining the reach and reliability of text messaging with the relevance of data in enterprise applications promises a quantum leap in enterprise productivity.

Set up a mobile marketing business: Operators can play a pivotal role in mobile advertizing value chain. They own customer relationship and access channels, the advertizing inventory, location information, and customer profile. This profile includes phone number, usage behavior, demographics, and content preferences.

Furthermore, the operator controls the main vehicle for the digital dialog: mobile messaging. According to IAB, 95per cent of text messages are opened compared to 25per cent of emails. This puts mobile operators in a very strong position indeed when competing for advertizing budgets.

At the same time, operators are often anxious to protect existing service revenue streams, as it may well remain the most substantial part of their business. To date, mobile advertizing is making slow but steady progress towards the forecasts of becoming a $19 bn industry.

In summary, advertizing revenues will never be adequate to replace service revenues but are a welcome supplement for operators. Mobile operators are uniquely positioned to monetize the best advertizing inventory in the world. Combining customer location and profile enables the delivery of unprecedented levels of advertizing relevance and reach. By addressing the essential enablers mentioned above, the competitive position of operators in the advertizing market would be second to none.

The future of messaging continues to be a bright amid the negativity in the current economic markets. Mobile operators can effectively extend their revenues by leveraging their existing assets and exploit the potential still left in today’s mobile services, allowing them to remain agile and profitable.

mKhoj intros mobile advertising in local languages

On http://www.ciol.com on 02 June 2009

BANGALORE, INDIA and PALO ALTO, USA: mKhoj, the leading mobile advertising marketplace for the rest of the world, today announced the ability to power relevant mobile advertising tailored to local languages in seventeen different countries. With this announcement, mobile advertisers can leverage mKhoj’s ad network to display ads in hundreds of languages, including Afrikaans, Arabic, Bahasa, Hindi, Tamil, Turkic, and Zulu.

This new technology continues mKhoj’s commitment to provide the fastest character mapping for more than 600 mobile publishers. With UTF-8 encoding, mKhoj allows advertisers to increase the power of their mobile marketing by more effectively targeting their audience, and increases the monetization as well as the value of the publishers’ mobile properties through greater localization.

How it works:

When advertisers sign up, they now have the ability to upload their mobile advertising in any local language and in any alphabet. This gives advertisers new ways to target and communicate with consumers.

“Empowering advertisers to speak to consumers in their native language enables them to make more personal connections with their target audiences.” Abhay Singhal, Head of Global Sales for mKhoj. “This provides multinational advertisers a more effective way to reach local audiences around the globe.”

mKhoj has implemented its UTF-8 encoding technology to enable advertisers to easily upload local language advertising as-is, so publishers and their users are ensured a high quality experience.

Tata Indicom’s ILD offer

On The Hindu Business Line dated 02 June 2009

Madurai, June 2

Tata Teleservices Ltd has launched ‘STV 76’, a special tariff voucher that offers attractive International Long Distance (ILD) calling rates for its prepaid subscribers, a press release said. Calls made to the US/Canada would be charged at Rs 2 a minute, calls to Gulf at Rs 7.50 and the rest of the world at Rs 12. The offer applies across Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and UP East circles. The new re charge voucher is available at Rs 76 for 30 days. Prepaid subscribers can also make local calls using the special tariff voucher. All Tata-to-Tata local calls would be charged at 25 paise a minute whereas local calls to other network mobile would be at 75 paise a minute.

WiMAX Forum Global Congress

From The Hindu Business Line on 02 June 2009

New Delhi, June 1 Indian telecom players including Tata Communications, MTNL, BSNL and Sify will participate in the annual WiMAX Forum Global Congress 2009 in Amsterdam from June 2-3. This annual congress will be led by players that are active and involved in the growing momentum of WiMAX ecosystem globally. Thought leaders from 40 operator companies, 14 analysts, 7 regulators and 3 investors from 40 different countries ar expected to participate in this meet. – Our Bureau

Interview — ‘Number portability will benefit Idea in new markets’

By Ashok Kumar in Financial Express on 02 June 2009

New Delhi: Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to promote the upcoming IIFA awards, Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular in a short conversation with IndianExpress.com tells, how Mobile number portability (MNP) on mobile phones will be both a challenge as well an opportunity for the service providers including Idea.

Talking about the impact of Number Portability on Idea Cellular, Shrivastava said, like any other company, the new regulatory provision of ‘number portability’ will be a challenge in the existing markets for all the service providers including Idea.

But, Shrivastava sounded positive about the impact of the measure on the new markets as he asserted, “In the new markets Idea will benefit from the number portability.”

Talking about the growth prospects for the company, in the already saturated telecom market, Shrivastava stated that the penetration in the rural markets is way behind the national penetration which stands in the range of 35 percent. “In the rural markets, the penetration of the mobile phones, industry wise, is still in single digits, which leaves us with enough scope for an impressive growth in future,” Shrivastava opined.

“Even in markets like Chennai where we (cellular operators) have a hundred percent penetration, the introduction of value added services spreads an impressive canvass for our company to grow,” Shrivastava clarifies.

Terming the Network and the pricing competitiveness as the hallmarks of Idea Cellular, Shrivastava feels it is the emotional connection of the brand with its millions of customers which separates it from the rest of the service providers.

Telephone tariff will drastically come down: Raja

From Financial Express; ANI dated Jun 02, 2009 at 1539 hrs IST

New Delhi: Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, A Raja has said that the prospects of the further lowering of telephone tariff in India are imminent in the future.

He said this while assuming his charge of the ministry here on Monday.

He also said that as a result of a drastic tariff cut, the telecommunication facility will be available to people living in the lowest edge of the social strata.

“In the telecom side already we brought healthy competition. More operators were permitted as per the TRAI recommendations. I do believe once the new operators start their operations the tariff will drastically come down and the telecommunication facility will be available to persons living in the lowest edge of the social strata,” he added.

He also said that India would auction third-generation wireless radio (3G) spectrum by the end of this year.

Raja declined to say how much the government expected to mobilise through the sale. India was to auction the 3G telecommunications spectrum in January, but the sale was delayed.

The telecommunication ministry had earlier expected the auction to raise 300 to 400 billion rupees but the Ministry of Finance in February estimated the sale could bring just half of that.

Third-generation services allow voice, data and video to be transmitted at high speeds to wireless devices, and are seen as the next growth driver for telecom firms in India.

India’s Mobile Market Is Growing Despite Economic Slowdown

From http://www.pcworld.com on 02 June 2009

By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service/Haarlem Bureau Tuesday, June 02, 2009 2:00 AM PDT

India’s mobile phone market continues to be unaffected by the economic slowdown, with 11.9 million new mobile subscribers in April. That’s a 45 percent greater increase than in the same month last year, according to data released Monday by India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The mobile market has not been affected so far by the economic slowdown, as Indian consumers see communications as a necessity, said Kapil Dev Singh, country manager at analyst IDC India.

The mobile subscriber additions in April were however lower than the 15.64 million new connections in March, something the telecom regulator regards as a seasonal drop. In India, the monthly data is closely watched for signs of an impact of the economic slowdown on India’s booming mobile market.

The slowdown between March and April is seasonal, and does not reflect an overall slowdown in the mobile business in the country, a TRAI official said Tuesday.

As the Indian fiscal year ends in March, mobile service operators offer deep discounts and are more aggressive in their marketing in March, the official said.

“There have been drops from month-to-month previously, so the drop in April is more likely to be seasonal,” IDC’s Singh said.

The new additions in April this year helped take the total number of mobile subscribers in India to 404 million.

India’s largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel added 2.8 million new mobile subscribers in April, taking its total subscribers to 96.74 million, while state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) added about 1 million new subscribers to have a subscriber base of 53.17 million at the end of the year.

Reliance Communications, India’s second largest mobile operator, added 2 million new customers in April, compared to 3 million additions in March. The company saw high additions in the first quarter as it rolled out its new GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network in addition to its existing service using CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

The number of mobile subscribers in the country is expected to increase as mobile operators target rural towns and villages. The auction of 3G licenses, now rescheduled for the end of this year after a number of postponements, is also expected to give this market a fillip.

COAI Gets New Executive Council For 2009-10

From http://www.efytimes.com on June 02, 2009

Tuesday, June 02, 2009: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the main telecom industry lobby group of India, has announced a new executive council which has taken over the reins of the industry association. Suneeta Reddy, chairperson, Aircel Ltd and vice chairperson, COAI has been appointed as chairperson of COAI. Also Sanjay Kapoor, deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel has now become the vice chairperson of COAI for 2009-10.

During the COAI Annual General Meeting held on 29 May 2009 at New Delhi, outgoing chairman Asim Ghosh thanked the members for their unwavering support during his tenure as chairman. He reminisced fondly about his long association with the industry and the several challenges that the industry had faced and overcome in the last decade.

Ghosh noted that 2008 was a landmark year for the Indian industry as it had reached global scale. He pointed out that the job was never done and there would always be challenges ahead. He thanked Suneeta Ready for her support as vice chairperson, the executive council and the secretariat team for their efforts and contributions and wished them all the very best for the future.

Suneeta Ready, the chairperson elect, thanked the members for the trust and faith reposed in her. She emphasised that COAI had always stood for inclusive growth. She pointed out that the agenda for industry for the next 12 months included ensuring availability of adequate 2G spectrum, an early auction of 3G and BWA spectrum to facilitate the leap to the next generation of services, bridging of the digital divide, improving the financial viability of the industry and making it globally competitive.

Suneeta pointed out that with the imminent introduction of mobile number portability, the SIM card would become like a vote that could be exercised anytime by the consumers, and the industry should make all efforts to ensure that mobile is viewed as a service that adds value to the consumers lives.

The main members of COAI are: Aircel Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Datacom Solutions Pvt Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd, Loop Mobile Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd, S Tel Pvt Ltd, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Unitech Wireless Pvt Ltd and Vodafone Essar Ltd.

Story at Financial Express on 30 May, 2009

New Delhi: The COAI Annual General Meeting held at New Delhi saw a smooth transition with the new Executive Council taking over the reins of the industry association.

The event saw the General Body ratify the nominations of Ms. Suneeta Reddy, Chairperson Aircel Ltd. and Vice Chairperson, COAI as Chairperson, COAI and Mr. Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel as Vice Chairperson of COAI for 2009-2010.

The nominations for the Executive Council were also ratified by the General Body.

Outgoing Chairman, Mr. Asim Ghosh thanked the members for their unwavering support during his tenure as Chairman. He reminisced fondly about his long association with the industry and the several challenges that the industry had faced and overcome in the last decade. He also noted how 2008 was a landmark year for the Indian industry as it had reached global scale. He pointed out that the job was never done and there would always be challenges ahead.

TTSL to launch services on GSM platform shortly

From http://www.topnews.in Submitted by Darpana Kutty on Tue, 06/02/2009 – 05:07

The telecommunication company of the Tata Group – Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is all set to launch services on GSM platform shortly. The TTSL is compelled to provide services on the GSM platform, due to the lack of a “spectrum roadmap for code division multiple access (CDMA) operators and the limited allocation of airwaves”.

The Managing Director of TTSL, Anil Sardana says, “If one can’t grow, one will have to find alternative means to exist. It is the entire policy around allocation of spectrum that caused us to look at other means.”

Sardana explains that spectrum means the airwaves through which the communication signals travel. Spectrum is very important for telecom operators. Sardana reveals, “In the Indian situation, we need to keep the aspect of spectrum availability in mind. The spectrum allocation for CDMA operators is only 800 MHz and no extra spectrum is available beyond what is already allocated to us. Since there is no roadmap, it is from that compulsion that one has to look at alternatives to grow.”

One of the CDMA giants, TTSL, along with Reliance Communications (RCOM), took the first step towards the GSM by applying for dual technology licences in late 2007. The TTSL is set to start its GSM operations shortly, while RCom has already commenced GSM services in India.

The TTSL operates under the brand name “Tata Indicom” in several circles of India. The telephony services of the company include mobile, fixed wireless phones (FWP), public telephone booths and wireline services. The company also provides broadband data network and application services including leased lines, DSL, Wi-Fi, ethernet, managed gateway services and web conferencing services. The company has two unified access (basic + cellular) services licences (UASL) – one for Mumbai Metro and the other for the entire Maharashtra and Goa.

Hughes Launches VPN Service Plans For Indian Enterprises

From http://www.efytimes.com on 02 June 2009

Tuesday, June 02, 2009: Hughes Communications India Ltd has introduced its new enterprise tariff plans for VPN Service under the HughesNet managed services portfolio. The newly introduced service plans are: VPN 32 (32 Kbps) at typical price per annum Rs 29,176; VPN 64 (64 Kbps) at Rs 45,959; VPN 128 (128 Kbps) at Rs 75,351; VPN 256 (256 Kbps) at Rs 138,308; VPN 512 (512 Kbps) at Rs 230,658; VPN 1Mbps (1024 Kbps) at Rs 359,227 and VPN 2Mbps (2028 Kbps) at Rs 694,803.

The new service plans look to provide a one-stop solution for all connectivity needs, better manageability and quality for the distributed enterprise.

K. Krishna, AVP, marketing, Hughes Communications India Ltd, said, “Indian enterprises have started to look beyond the metros and big cities for growth especially in sectors like retail, logistics, banking and finance, amongst others. This requires them to get reliable and consistent connectivity across the country. We at Hughes believe in simplifying and demystifying the satellite as a medium. The recent advancements in our technology have made it possible to launch a VPN service that is of terrestrial quality and at near terrestrial pricing.”

These newly launched VPN Service plans are built on new generation satellite modems geared to provide MPLS grade (QOS), very high uptime, with IPSEC implementation for security, SNMP Enabled, integrated with FCAPS software and are available to the customers on both the terrestrial as well as the satellite network with same performance metrics.

Related story on http://www.ciol.com at http://www.ciol.com/technology/networking/news-reports/hughes-unveils-new-tariff-plans/2609120404/0/

Subex Launches CoE For Managed Services

On http://www.efytimes.com on 02 June 2009

Tuesday, June 02, 2009: Subex Limited has launched its Managed Services (MS) Center of Excellence (CoE). The CoE will be responsible for delivering a wide range of Managed Services offerings covering the entire spectrum of its OSS/BSS solutions portfolio. This service package offering will enable communication service providers (CSPs) to focus on their ‘core’ business functions while mission-critical operational functions are managed by Subex.

The company’s 50 MS implementations across 24 customers around the world, process more than 20 billion CDRs (Call Data Records), with applications running on more than 100 servers, in a month. This is a clear indication of how Subex’s solutions provide telcos with services that respond to the changing marketplace.

The CoE will leverage Subex’s global spread in delivering best-shore and offshore services, and help consolidate the company’s existing experience and expertise across all its global locations.

“Many of our customers have reached out to us in recent times echoing these sentiments. This strong need for Managed Services coupled with our long standing expertise in MS prompted us to launch the Center of Excellence for Managed Services,” said Subash Menon, founder chairman, managing director and CEO, Subex Ltd. “The Subex Managed Services offering aims to add strategic and tactical value to a communication service provider’s operations and enable it to provide better customer experience, achieve competitive advantage while also enhancing their operational efficiency and profitability.”

The CoE will offer customised packages across Subex’s MS portfolio catering to the varied operational needs of telcos, from specific applications/business processes to end-to-end business process outsourcing (BPO) and/or knowledge process outsourcing (KPO).

The Subex MS proposition consists of the entire range of services across Revenue, Billing and Network Asset Management, Application Management and Support, Infrastructure Management, Data Center Operations, Full Hosting, Operational Support (BPO/KPO) and Consulting.

Airtel user base swells by 2.8 mn in April

2 Jun 2009, 0142 hrs IST, Durba Ghosh, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Leading GSM operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have added 2.8 million and 2.7 million subscribers in April, continuing their respective growth momentum. The second-largest mobile operator Reliance Communication added just over 2-million subscribers last month, according to data released by telecom regulator Trai on Monday.

GSM operator Aircel added about 1.1 million new subscribers in April taking its total subscriber base to 19.5 million. Tata Teleservices, a CDMA operator, added about 0.6 million new users in the given month taking its subscriber base to 35.7 million. Idea Cellular and Spice Communications together added a notch over 1-million subscribers in April. State-owned telco MTNL added 47,045 new subscribers in April.

RCOM, the country’s largest telecom operator on CDMA technology platform

, had launched GSM-based services in January with schemes providing free talk time up to Rs 900 and this resulted in its subscriber numbers surging between January-March. The free scheme was taken away by March-end, which resulted in subscriber additions falling in April.

RCOM had outperformed the industry in these three months, it added 5-million new users in January and over 3-million new subscribers in February and March. In comparison, the largest mobile operator, Bharti, added 2.7 million new users

each in January and February 2009 and 2.8 million in March.

RCOM now has a mobile subscriber base of 74.8 million and Vodafone Essar’s total subscriber base stands at 71.5 million, while Bharti Airtel leads with 96.7 million total subscribers. Vodafone Essar also saw a drop of about 0.07 million users in its monthly additions in April and the telco added just over 2.7-million subscribers as against 2.84 million in March.

With this, Bharti Airtel regained the number one position in terms of subscriber additions by a few thousand users as it increased its customer base by 2.8-million users in April.

In March 2009, Vodafone Essar had beaten Bharti Airtel in monthly subscriber additions for the first time. Trai also said that India’s mobile base had crossed the 400-million mark in April, inching close to the target of 500-million users by 2010, set by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The total wireless subscriber base now stands at 403.66 million, while the total telecom base, which includes that of landline is 441.47 million, Trai added. But, the number of new mobile connections added in April saw a 23% drop compared with 15.64 million new additions in the previous month.

Tata Tele to now enter GSM space

2 Jun 2009, 0151 hrs IST, Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: For the Tatas, offering mobile services on the global system for mobile (GSM) platform is a “compulsion” and not a choice. The absence of spectrum roadmap for code division multiple access (CDMA) operators and the limited allocation of airwaves has forced Tata Teleservices (TTSL), the group’s flagship telecom company, to offer services on the GSM platform as well.

“If one can’t grow, one will have to find alternative means to exist. It is the entire policy around allocation of spectrum that caused us to look at other means,” TTSL MD Anil Sardana told ET.

Spectrum refers to airwaves on which the communications signals travel and it is the raw material for operators. “In the Indian situation, we need to keep the aspect of spectrum availability in mind. The spectrum allocation for CDMA operators is only 800 MHz and no extra spectrum is available beyond what is already allocated to us. Since there is no roadmap, it is from that compulsion that one has to look at alternatives to grow,” he added.

GSM and CDMA are rival technology platforms for offering voice and data services. CDMA heavyweights, Reliance Communications (RCOM) and TTSL, joined the GSM bandwagon by applying for dual technology licences in late 2007. While RCOM has already rolled out GSM services across India, Tatas are slated to start operations in a few weeks.

Incorporated in 1996, TTSL was the first to launch CDMA mobile services in India with a foray into the Andhra Pradesh circle.

“It was a conscious and deliberate decision and it was predicated largely on data capabilities of CDMA. We continue to be committed to CDMA,” said Mukund Govind Rajan, MD, TTSL (Maharashtra), the listed arm of TTSL offering services in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra.

In March, TTML rolled out ‘Photon’, its high-speed Internet service offering speeds of up to 18mbps. Due to efficient data services, CDMA players witness higher contribution to reveunes from data. For TTSL, data brought in 10% of the revenues in FY08 and it grew to 14% in FY09. For GSM operators, the figure is an average of around 9%.

Dr Rajan said, “I do believe that India is getting ready for many of those data services and the choice of CDMA platform was right, but the other issue of availability of essential raw material — spectrum — has been a question mark.”

According to Mr Sardana, it is often argued that CDMA is more efficient and requires half the spectrum compared to GSM. “But seeing from a shareholders perspective, one has to build double the networks to sustain and that is a cost both in terms of capex and opex. Therefore, efficiency is no arguement; it’s a perpetual pain that is experienced,” he said.

“We spend twice in terms of rollout and its hurts shareholders’ interest. We have discussed it with every government committee that was set up to look into spectrum,” Mr Sardana added.

KT Corp may not have to pay tax here

2 Jun 2009, 0224 hrs IST, M Padmakshan, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: KT Corporation, a South Korean telecom major, has secured a favourable judgement from the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR), a quasi judicial body on tax matters, that will have a bearing on the company’s tax liability in India. The AAR ruling can support its case for not paying tax in India.

AAR, in an order passed on May 29, held that KT Corporation’s liaison office (LO) in India, which is a fixed establishment seemingly conducting business activities, cannot be construed as a Permanent Establishment (PE) in India.

PE, a fixed place for a non-resident entity to conduct business in India, is a parameter critical in deciding whether the Korean company needs to pay tax in India at all. According to the facts of the case, LO was set up in India prior to an agreement that KT Corporation signed with domestic telecom player, Vodafone Essar South (VESL), for purchasing and providing services.

KT Corporation told AAR that it opened its liaisoning office way back in 2004 only for the purpose of communicating between the head office in South Korea and its clients in India. No business activity was conducted through its LO.

It was agreed between KT Corporation and VESL that the former would bear the investment cost in addition to the connection and maintenance costs to link up the facilities between its network and VESL’s foreign Point-of-Presence (POP) at various locations. In return, VESL would bear the investment cost, provisioning and maintenance of connecting facilities in India among other expenses.

One party will send the other an invoice of all traffic terminated on its side every month. In line with the terms and conditions agreed between them, the invoiced party will make payments to the invoicing party. AAR examined in detail the functioning of LO and accepted the claim of the South Korean company that it did not carry out any business activity using LO.

3G auctions may be cleared by Cabinet

2 Jun 2009, 0232 hrs IST, Joji Thomas Philip, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The proposal for auctions of third generation (3G) spectrum, vital for high-end services such as video-conferencing and high speed Internet on the mobiles, , may directly be considered by the Union Cabinet for clearance rather than be routed through the Group of Ministers (GoM).

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has told the Cabinet Secretariat that since the auctions were a priority of the new government, the approval of the Union Cabinet be sought directly on this issue. The Cabinet can consider the earlier submission the communications

ministry had made when re-examining the proposal for 3G auctions, DoT added.

DoT, in its 3G policy and its submissions to the Cabinet in January 2009, had said that the base price for pan-India 3G spectrum would be Rs 2,020 crore while that for broadband access technologies

such as WiMAX would be Rs 1,010 crore.

But, the finance ministry had objected to this proposal and demanded that the floor price be doubled. Differences between several ministries over the floor price for the auction of 3G airwaves and also over the number of players to be allowed to offer these high-end services in an area had forced the Cabinet to refer the matter to a Group of Ministers just prior to the general elections. The auctions could not be held prior to the polls as GoM failed to meet to find a solution to these issues.

The issue got further complicated as the planning commission, the department of industrial policy and promotion and the IT ministry opposed doubling of the base price.

Last week, DoT was asked by the cabinet secretariat to review the constitution of the GoM. DoT was also asked to submit a proposal on the current constitution of the GoM, the proposed time frame for the completion of its mandate and also suggestions for its reconstituting the same.

But, the communications ministry in its reply has told the Cabinet Secretariat that its earlier proposal which involved five players per circle and a base price of Rs 2,020 crore as the base price for pan-India 3G spectrums be retained. It has also added that the Union Cabinet under the new UPA regime must take a final call if the entire issue needs to referred to a GoM again.

The communications ministry has also decided to oppose the finance ministry’s demand of doubling the 3G auction base price to Rs 4,040 crore. The DoT has already told the prime minister’s office

that the base price must not be higher than Rs 2,020 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum.

(Possible Priorities) Taking a call on telecom that’s missing clear signal

2 Jun 2009, 0307 hrs IST, M V Ramsurya, ET Bureau

Even as the new government has said that it would seek telecom regulator Trai’s views on allocation of additional airwaves, delinking spectrum allocation from subscribers base is a vital route to develop the telecom sector and move operators away from the restricted focus of a volumes-alone thrust.

India is the only country that still follows the outdated practice of allocating spectrum based on subscriber base, instead of the internationally-accepted practice of auction system. Apart from raising revenue, the competitive bidding process helps assign licenses to firms smoothly and also works toward avoiding monopoly in the highly competitive market. The most important argument in favour of the auction process is that it would allow the government to know how licenses are valued by participating companies.

In fact, a recent report by the specially-constituted spectrum panel advocated the auction route for issuing additional airwaves to telcos. The panel, comprising government representatives and telecom technology experts, said only the start-up spectrum — the minimum amount of radio frequencies required to launch mobile services — be given for free to existing telcos, while a competitive bidding process be opted for all subsequent allocations.“Delinking of spectrum allocation from subscribers could lead to sanity in the market place and get the operators away from volume growth to value growth,” says AT Kearney senior principal Mohit Rana.

Among the other stalled initiatives that need to be taken up by the new government is the clearance for mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that will allow companies with strong retail networks and brands of customer segment ownership to enter the telecom space. Such operators typically don’t own their spectrum and neither do they have their own network infrastructure. Having such a concept, which has so far been popular in Europe and the US, will lead to a significant impact on the business plans of new operators which need much longer time to market.Mobile number portability is yet another move that could likely to see some action soon. While globally it has received a mixed reaction, in India, it may help provide opportunities to late entrants to take away high value customers from established players. Also, in conjunction with 3G, mobile number portability offers an opportunity for players with 3G license to add customers. Work on infrastructure creation for 3G may be started once policy guidelines are clear.

The auction of 3G spectrum will be closely watched as though being one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, the auction has been delayed since 2007. Consensus on the base price for airwaves is needed here as it would not only clarify the situation for the sector and its players, but also project a unified approach from all ministries concerned, including the finance and communications.

In all, there is a long list of things to be done by the new government if the larger target of 700 million subscribers by 2012 is to be achieved.

Mobile subscriber base crosses 400 million

2 Jun 2009, 1419 hrs IST, AGENCIES on http://www.economictimes.com

NEW DELHI: The number of mobile subscribers in India crossed the 400 million mark in April, official data showed Tuesday, putting the country on track to reach it’s goal of 500 million customer by next year.

Some 11.90 million subscribers were added in April compared with 15.64 million during the previous month, figures posted on the Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI) website said. The rise took India’s total wireless subscriber base to 403.66 million, TRAI said.

The slowdown in subscriber growth came after cellular operators withdrew special deals on offer during the final months of the fiscal year to March when the firms sought to boost revenues to help their annual accounts.

But India remains the world’s fastest-growing mobile market and analysts say the government’s target of 500 million mobile phone users could be reached ahead of schedule.

The total telecom subscriber base made up of wireless and landline customers stood at 441.47 million at the end of April compared with 429.72 million in March, TRAI added.

Total penetration stands at close to 38 telephones for every 100 people, TRAI said. India has nearly 1.2 billion people.

India has said it will stage its much delayed auction of third-generation (3G) wireless spectrum by year end.

Third-generation wireless service allows voice, data and video to be sent at high speeds to mobile devices and is viewed as the next major booster driving growth in India’s telecoms market.

The Congress-led government had forecast the auction could raise 400 billion rupees (8.5 billion dollars).

But since its re-election last month, it has backed off that forecast, saying the global financial crisis could reduce the windfall.

India’s newly reappointed telecoms minister A. Raja has also said he will seek to push cheap local mobile call rates even lower to spur cellular growth. Local mobile calls now cost as little as one cent a minute while long-distance rates vary from two cents to four cents a minute.

Raja says he wants to cut the local rate to less than half a cent a minute and long-distance rates to about a cent a minute.

Story in Financial Express on 1 June 2009

New Delhi: The country’s wireless subscriber base has crossed the 400-million mark in April this year with an addition of 11.9 million new users.

About 11.90 million wireless (GSM, CDMA and WLL(F)) subscribers were added in April 2009 as against an addition of 15.64 million during the previous month, taking the total subscriber base to 403.66 million, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement on Monday.

The total telecom (wireless and wireline) subscriber base stood at 441.47 million at the end of April 2009 as against 429.72 million in March 2009, it added.

It now looks like the target of 500 million phones by 2010 (set by Department of Telecom) is very much achievable, even before the target period.

Total additions (wireless and wireline) in April stood at 11.75 million as compared to 15.87 million new connections in the previous month.

The wireline segment saw a slight decrease of 0.15 million in subscriber base to 37.81 million in April against 37.96 million wireline subscribers in March 2009, TRAI said.

TRAI added that the overall tele-density has reached 37.94 at the end of April as against 36.98 in March 2009.

Tele-density means the number of people having phones per a population of 100.