News Digest: MyFM, RCOM, Shaadi, IRCTC, TringMe, Nokia, SBI, IRDA, FrontLine, Tejas, Swan, TechM

From http://www.medianama.com/2009/08/223-news-digest-db-groups-myfm-rcom-shaadicom-irctc-tringme-nokia-sbi-irda-frontline-tejas/ on August 25, 2009

By Preethi J

MyFM To Raise 15.2M

Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd, DB Group’s FM radio division, will raise Rs. 1.52 crore through preferential allotment of fully paid up equity shares. It has received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Synergy runs 94.3 MyFM in 17 cities.

Related: Dainik Bhaskar IPO Filing: Digital Kiosks; IndiaInfo.com; I Media Corp

RCOM Launches Antakshari

Reliance Mobile launched a new VAS – Antakshari -  on its R-World platform which will allow the subscriber to play antakshari with anyone. Charges are Rs.30 per month with 30 minutes free usage. This service is being launched on both GSM and CDMA networks. (TelecomIndia Online)

IRCTC’s Online Sales Boom

Around 34% of the 880,000 tickets sold daily by the Indian Railways are booked online, ticket sale data between April and July 2009 by the IRCTC reveals. This is not all – online booking of the tickets is also popular amongst low income groups. An thumping 63% of online tickets were booked by them. (Business Standard)

Our Take: IRCTC continues to be the poster boy of Indian e-commerce. We only wish it were more efficient – instead of spending hours standing in a queue, we now spend hours on the website – logging back in due to jittery timeouts and searching for train names and numbers.

Related: IRCTC Does $102 Million In Online Transactions In August; Payment Trends; HDFC, ICICI, Cash Cards Significant

TringMe

This Bangalore based 2007 startup has a platform that helps developers create voice-enabled widgets for the Internet. Tringme hosts some 22 million call minutes per month and expects this to soar to 40 million in the next 3-4 months. One of its clients is Indiamart. (Moneycontrol)

Our Take: Such a platform could spark off more apps and options in the VoIP domain – so far ruled by Skype and Fring. Ofcourse there is still the regulatory hurdle to cross before VoIP usage picks up.

Strike At Nokia’s Manufacturing Plant in TN

Nokia employees at its handset manufacturing factory in Sriperumbudur have demanded a wage increase of €21 for all employees. (Evertiq)

M-Banking Adoption
State Bank of India has added 20,000 mobile-banking customers in 2 months, taking the total to 33,000. M-banking is rising in popularity for small value transactions. (PTI)

All Mobile Banking posts

Shaadi.com Stats

The site has 300m page views a month. 6,000 new profiles are added every day. (Guardian)

Insurance Inst Opts For Online Exams

Complaints of malpractices has led the Insurance Institute of India to make entrance exams for insurance agents online. The institute will be aided in setting up the online examinations by NSEiT, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. (ET)

HomeShop18 To Raise Funding

The retail TV channel and online site is in discussion with prospective financial and strategic partners to raise money in the next year. It has outlined three priorities – be visible in every television household; to invest in customer experience; and, to reward loyal customers. Network18 owns 65% of HomeShop18. (VCCircle)

PE Firm Frontline Strategy Picks Up Stake In Tejas

The amount and stake are not known, and the stake was picked up by Frontline through a secondary transaction. Tejas has been backed by Battery Ventures, Cascade Capital Management, Mayfield Fund, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs and Sandstone Private Investments. (VCCircle)

Change In Regulations Deferred: DoT

International telcos in India have been dealt a poor hand by the Indian government. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has postponed plans to remove the double taxation they currently have to comply with for offering long distance calls. They pay license fees twice to the government – for bandwidth which they purchase off domestic operators and again when they resell it to enterprises and their customers. (ET)

Etilsalat Awards IT Contract To Tech Mahindra

Following the move by other telcos to outsource their IT operations, Etisalat DB, which runs new telco Swan Telecom (renamed to Etisalat DB Telecom India), may award the majority of its Rs 150 million outsourcing project to Tech Mahindra. (ET)

Other telco-IT company relationships are: Unitech Wireless – Wipro ; Idea Cellular – IBM ; Bharti Airtel – IBM; Aircel – Wipro

Datacom, Sistema to offer $300 mn IT deals

29 May 2009, 0008 hrs IST, Jessica Mehroin Irani & Ranjit Shinde, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Datacom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices, two new entrants in the telecom space, have shortlisted Wipro, Tech Mahindra and IBM for an IT outsourcing contract of close to $150 million each. This is a boon for the IT service providers at a time when the slowdown has resulted in a drop in the number of books.

Videocon-promoted Datacom has received licences in all the 22 telecom circles in India and is in the process of launching its operations. “Yes, the three (IT vendors) have been shortlisted and are competing for the contract. The deal value has not been finalised,” said VN Dhoot, chairman of Videocon group.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices, a joint venture between Russia’s telecom giant Sistema and India’s Shyam group, is in the process of launching CDMA operations in 18 circles. Though the company did not confirm the names of IT firms, a source in the know said that it has invited bids from the three IT vendors mentioned earlier for IT infrastructure-related services in these circles. Sistema Shyam has recently launched operations in Kolkata taking its total number of active circles to four.

While IBM and Tech Mahindra declined to comment on the development, Wipro officials were unavailable for comment. On the exact structure of the contracts, it was not possible to ascertain that from Datacom. However, Sistema Shyam in an e-mail response, said that it would be a fixed value, short-term contract wherein the IT assets would not be obtained on a lease, but would be acquired by the telco. The scope of work broadly includes data centre construction, applications management services and infrastructure hardware supply and support.

Sistema-Shyam has already outsourced its IT requirements for its existing four circles. “Key vendors, who are working on our various IT projects, are Sitronics, Tech Mahindra, IBM, HP, Wipro and Oracle. Since our IT is based on a centralised model, the projects are uniform for all circles and are not taken separately,” CEO Vsevolod Rozanov told ET.

The new domestic telecom operators have kept the order book running for IT companies that have been hit by the slowdown. Earlier, Wipro had bagged a large full IT outsourcing project from Unitech Wireless worth approximately Rs 2,500 crore over a nine-year period. Most of the new service providers are expected to launch their services in the next 12 months. “We expect operators, such as Unitech, Swan and Datacom to commence by July 2010 given the regulatory pressures,” said India Infoline’s telecom analyst Bhavesh Gandhi.

Unitech Wireless awards $500m network contract to Ericsson

29 May 2009, 0715 hrs IST, Sanjeev Choudhary, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Unitech Wireless, a joint venture between Norwegian telco Telenor and Gurgaon-based realty firm Unitech, has awarded a $500 million (Rs 2,500 crore) to supply and manage all network equipment for its rollout of mobile phone services in three telecom circles.

Ericsson will be responsible for managing the network for five years in service areas of Bihar, Eastern and Western Uttar Pradesh, said a Unitech Wireless executive, who asked not to be named. Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks were the front-runners for the contract.

Unitech Wireless, which is 67% owned by Telenor, has licences to operate in all 22 telecom circles across the country. The company will miss the July deadline for the launch of its telecom services, as it still doesn’t have the infrastructure in place.

“We have tied up for towers and equipment. But our marketing and distribution set up is still not in place,” said Unitech Wireless chairman Sanjay Chandra. The services will be launched by the year-end , he said.

Ericsson operates in 175 countries and reported a revenue of $27 billion in 2008. It builds and manages the networks of Bharti Airtel in large parts of the country.

Earlier, Unitech had awarded a fiveyear equipment supply and management contracts to French telco Alcatel-Lucent for about $150 million for Kerala and Orissa. Unitech’s $225 million contract for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu circles had gone to Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huwaei.

Unitech Wireless recently awarded a nine-year IT outsourcing contract to Bangalore-based Wipro for around Rs 2,500 crore. It has also signed an agreement with Tata Teleservices for the sharing of towers.

Bharti, Infy, TCS, Wipro among world’s top tech cos

Press Trust Of India, New York, May 22, 2009

Telecom player Bharti Airtel and IT firms Infosys, TCS and Wipro have made it to the list of 100 best performing technology companies in the world, compiled by American magazine BusinessWeek.

The ‘Infotech 100′ list for 2009, based on shareholder return, return on equity, total revenues, and revenue growth is topped by Amazon.Com for the second straight year.

Ranked at the sixth position, telecom giant Bharti Airtel leads the pack of Indian companies featured in the list. The three IT majors – Infosys, TCS and Wipro find a place in the top 50. Infosys is ranked 25, TCS is at the 30th spot and Wipro is placed at the 43rd position.

The “2009 ranking of the tops in tech showcases companies that managed to thrive even in the face of a bruising global recession,” the magazine said. At the second spot is Oracle followed by SAP (3), Inventec (4) and IBM (5).

Two American entities led by India-origin CEOs also find a place in the top 100. Francisco D’Souza-led Cognizant Technologies is ranked 51 while Adobe Systems headed by Shantanu Narayen has cornered the 99th spot.

Bharti Airtel is ahead of South African telecom entity MTN Group (12th rank), maker of Blackberry phones Research In Motion (14), technology giant Apple (19), software major Microsoft (22) and Google (37), among others.

Doordarshan plans to offer Mobile TV services

Thomas K. Thomas, Meera Mohanty on www.thehindubusinessline.com on 14 May 2009-05-15

New Delhi, May 14 State broadcaster Doordarshan has decided to offer mobile television services on a private-public partnership (PPP) basis. It has invited expressions of interest from prospective consultants to draw up a roadmap for implementation.

Mobile TV services make it possible for subscribers to view TV programmes on handheld or portable devices. Doordarshan had earlier launched Mobile TV services on a pilot basis in parts of Delhi using the DVB-H technology from Nokia.

For accessing the service, consumers will need a handset that supports the technology. Unlike 3G technologies, wherein TV and entertainment services may be in the form of short clips or two to three channels, mobile TV enables users to get as many as 30 high quality channels on a handset. But at present no one else offers the service because there is no clarity in policy.

Though the telecom regulator has given recommendations in favour of opening up the sector to private players, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has not taken a decision yet. In order to allow private players, the Government will have to open up terrestrial transmission in the broadcasting sector.

Currently, only Doordarshan is permitted to do terrestrial broadcasting while private players have to use satellite network. One of the objectives for proposing the PPP model by Doordarshan is to keep terrestrial system under exclusive control of the Government-run broadcaster.

There is also as yet no clarity on the technology to be used for the service. Though TRAI had suggested keeping the policy technology-neutral, DD wants to go ahead with only DVB-H – a technology being promoted by Nokia. But recently Nokia sold its DVB-H network division to Wipro, raising doubts over the future development of the technology. Analysts have also pointed out that Nokia has not launched any new handset that supports DVB-H, which could dampen Doordarshan’s proposed plan.

According to the expression of interest floated by Doordarshan, it is planning to launch the service in 17 cities having population of over one million.

The roll out will take place in five phases, starting with the metros. It is proposed that out of the 16 programme channels, the private partner will be given capacity for offering 12 channels on a revenue sharing basis. The private partner will be responsible for content aggregation, marketing, operation and maintenance. DD will provide the infrastructure in terms of TV tower, power supply and spectrum. The private player will have to invest in setting up transmitters, antennae and other equipment required for mobile TV technology. The partnership will be signed for a period of 5 years after which a new revenue share arrangement will be worked out between the two sides.

Wipro set to bag another telco IT deal

9 May 2009, 1210 hrs IST, N Shivapriya & Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Wipro, which has already bagged two large IT outsorcing contracts from telcos, is among the shortlisted contenders for another large outsourcing deal, this time from Swan Telecom. The other vendors that have made it to the shortlist include IBM and Tech Mahindra. UAE-based operator Etisalat owns 45% stake in Swan Telecom.

If Wipro wins this deal, the IT major would have won as many large outsourcing deals from telcos as IBM. Earlier this week, Wipro announced a nine-year deal with Unitech Wireless estimated at Rs 2,500 crore. In January 2008, it bagged a $600-million deal from Aircel Cellular. This deal is expected to be as large as the Unitech Wireless contract, said industry sources.

IBM has large outsourcing contracts from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Till the Aircel deal, it had a dream run, bagging all the large deals from telecos. Close to seven vendors had bid for the Swan Telecom contract, but about four of them could be in the final shortlist, said an industry expert, who did not wish to be named. He said operators may prefer outsourcing to a player other than IBM for competitive reasons. “Wipro could be a favourite to win because IBM already has three large operators with it. So, new operators may prefer not to go with it. Tech Mahindra’s niche focus may work against it in such contracts because the operators want vendors with a broad area of expertise,” the expert said. Compared to Wipro, Tech Mahindra is also a relatively new entrant into the domestic market.

Swan and other new operators are negotiating their IT contracts ahead of their equipment orders. In a response to a query on the company’s IT outsourcing plans, a Swan Telecom spokesperson said: “We are currently in the preparatory stages and will announce our plans for the Indian market at the appropriate time.” In a response to an email from ET, Wipro said: “Wipro does not comment on speculations and as a policy, we do not comment on specific clients or business.” New entrants like Unitech, Swan, Datacom and Loop are liable to pay penalty if they don’t launch services even after 52 weeks of spectrum allotment. Beyond 52 weeks, there is a grace period of three weeks. “We evaluated Wipro on all parameters — financial and commercial — and found the company extremely competitive. Also, being new in the (telecom) vertical, they brought a lot of freshness in approach and innovative ideas. We went about it objectively and Wipro had the team and infrastructure to support the project,” Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh had told ET about why the company decided to outsource to Wipro.

Wipro bags Unitech Wireless deal

5 May, 2009, 1534 hrs IST,REUTERS

BANGALORE: A unit of Wipro Ltd, India’s No. 3 software services exporter, said it has won a nine-year outsourcing contract from telecom firm Unitech Wireless
Under the agreement, Wipro Infotech will provide a range of information technology services to Unitech Wireless, in which Norwegian telecom group Telenor holds a stake, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Rohit Chandra, Chief Operating Officer, Unitech Wireless, said, “We are launching a Greenfield telecom operation and want to create a strong customer proposition for our services based business processes aligned with IT. We chose Wipro as our partner because among the service providers in this field, we felt that they brought a unique combination of domain expertise, market knowledge and a customer-centric approach.” Earlier media reports said that India’s third-largest software group had won a Rs 2,500-crore contract from Unitech Wireless to provide IT services to the fledgling mobile operator, pipping rivals including IBM, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services, which were vying for the deal. Unitech Wireless has licences to provide telecom services in all of the country’s 22 telecom circles, but is yet to start operations. Telenor bought a 67.25 per cent majority stake from Delhi-based cash-strapped real estate group Unitech in two tranches.