Patni eyeing next generation telecom tech

From The Hindu Business Line on Thursday, Jun 04, 2009

Hyderabad, June 3 Patni Computers is gearing up to take advantage of the potential demand for next generation telecom technologies such as fixed-mobile convergence and long-term evolution (LTE).

“From a user perspective, the next big things in telecom technology are integration of one’s mobile phone and fixed lines and LTEs,” Mr Siddhartha Kataki, Associate Vice-President told Business Line here.

In simpler terms, fixed-mobile convergence will ensure continuous access to a person through his phone. LTE is the latest standard in mobile technology aimed at enriching user experience in areas such as multi-media online gaming and streaming of content.

“Just imagine your mobile device with up to 50 MBPS speed. You can uplink any content very easily,” Mr Kataki said.

This is the speed akin to what is available in an ordinary personal computer.

When asked on the R&D progress at Patni in this regard, he said: “We know the underlying IT space and are pretty much gearing up to the market needs.”

MVNO

The Hyderabad facility of Patni with over 1,200 professionals is supporting global customers. “A major part of mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) framework is developed by us. We can ensure that MVNOs can launch their operations in just 60 days,” he said.

On the impact of recession on IT space in telecom, he said Patni had not yet seen any negative impact.

Sensing Opportunity

“The customer in India is both data-hungry and voice-hungry. There is a huge demand for bandwidth augmentation. 3G, Wi-Max and other rich-media content delivery devices will be in great demand,” he added.

Vernacular versions of electronic communications would lead to social calibrations and thus drive growth in market, Mr Kataki observed.

“On every rupee spent in telecom, 30 per cent goes to IT sector. With 6-7 per cent gross domestic product growth, the opportunity in India will be huge notwithstanding global recession,” he added.

The company also plans to hire over 120 this year at the Hyderabad facility, he added.

Opera leads mobile-browser market

On http://www.ciol.com

HELSINKI, FINLAND: Norway’s Opera Software overtook Apple’s iPhone browser in May as the most popular mobile browser in the world, Web analytics firm StatCounter said on Tuesday.

Of all Internet pages that were downloaded to mobile devices globally in May, 24.6 percent were downloaded through Opera’s browser and 22.3 percent via iPhone, StatCounter said.

The top spot has see-sawed this year.

“Opera began the year in the number one slot but iPhone overtook it in February,” Aodhan Cullen, chief executive of StatCounter, said in a statement. “It will be fascinating to watch how this battle plays out over the year.”

Opera sells its browser to many cellphone makers and operators, and consumers can directly download it for free, while the Apple browser’s ranking reflects only iPhone users surfing the Internet.

Nokia, the world’s top cellphone maker, retained third place in mobile browsers with 17.9 percent of the market, StatCounter said.

StatCounter said its research data is based on four billion pages loaded per month.

Interview — CDMA is better than GSM: Sistema Shyam

From http://www.ciol.com on 01 June 2009

BANGALORE, INDIA: Indian telecom sphere is all set to witness a tug of war with six new international telecom players set to enter the scenario.

Sistema Shyam Teleservices, a joint venture between Russia’s Sistema and India’s Shyam group, the only CDMA (code division multiple access) player of the lot, recently launched its services in West Bengal.

During an interview given to CIOL, Vsevolod Rozanov, president and CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said that CDMA is a better technology than GSM because it enables better utilisation of the frequencies available, and thus helps in bringing down the costs. Excerpts:

CIOL: The Indian metros and urban areas have attained saturation in terms of telecom density. So where do you see the demand coming from and for what?

Vsevolod Rozanov: If we have to grow fast, apart from expanding our footprint in new circles and getting new customers (first-time users), we have to wean away customers from the incumbents.

We believe there is a huge market for us to grow. While there are players who have the first mover’s advantage, there is still a vast chunk of existing individual users who will find higher value for money in our tariff and billing plans.

CIOL: What are your investment plans for India? What will be the focus?

VR: We plan to invest $5.5 billion in India over a period of five years. We will utilize most of this projected investment over the next two years for setting up infrastructure that will enable accessibility and better connectivity for mobile phone users.

We have already invested more than $1 billion in setting up our network. We have launched the brand in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Kerala and Kolkata. We are planning to launch services in Delhi by Q3 this year, and looking to foray into one circle every month.

We will eventually cover UP, Haryana and Maharashtra circles by the end of this calendar year. Thus, in the next nine months, the MTS brand will be seen in half of the 22 telecom circles across the country, achieving a pan-India footprint by mid-2010.

CIOL: Do you see a possibility of M&A going forward to meet the increased challenge? What is your take on infrastructure sharing among service providers to combat frequent network disruptions owing to issues like natural disasters?

VR: We are not aware of any significant player in the CDMA segment in India who is planning to hive off its telecom business.

We will have a combination of self-owned and shared infrastructure to ensure that we provide the best connectivity across the country. We already have tie-ups and agreements with various infrastructure companies across the country to ensure superior quality of service.

CIOL: How different will be your ‘go-to-market’ strategy?

VR: In Rajasthan, the key message of our campaign is to create a churn in the market through the slogan, “Badlo life ka plan” (change your life’s plan).

Today over 50 per cent of our subscribers in Rajasthan are not new customers, but those who have switched over from other mobile service operators. They are doing so because they are frustrated with the quality of the old incumbent networks, and are willing to try our non-congested network.

We do not see much difference between GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA. Customers using CDMA technology are approximately one quarter of all. Given the size of the Indian market, this is not small at all.

We have been looking at whether we should wait until we are fully ready with CDMA data offerings or we should start building our customer base and deliver our data offers a bit later. We decided to go in for the second option. We will be coming out with the data offering soon.

CIOL: With several service providers in the frame, will the cost of service be brought down further?

VR: India is a highly price sensitive market. Our pan-Indian strategy will focus on simplicity in all our marketing strategy. We will offer simple, very clear and understandable tariff plans for our customers. Our tariffs will be the lowest, with no hidden charges.

We have dropped the price of entry-level colour phones to Rs 999, and they come with six months of free calls and lifetime validity. The subsidy that we incur on every phone is going down as the price of phones is going down faster than the fall in new offers.

We will offer SMS at 50 paise unlike most other operators who charge one rupee. The tariffs can fall further, if the regulator makes the termination charge cost-based, which would be less than 10 paise a minute from the current 30 paise, the same can be passed on to customers.

CIOL: How do you see advanced mobile technologies – such as 3G, CDMA – gaining currency in rural areas as well, especially when India has very less wireless penetration?

VR: The advanced mobile technologies such as 3G have the potential to meet the digital divide between rural and urban India by penetrating into far-fetched areas, where fixed-line connectivity is sparse due to high deployment cost of infrastructure. 3G will not only alleviate the existing level of voice-based services, but also make Internet broadband access a reality for larger population.

3G will also fit well into the urban user’s plan. It will enable quality voice and address the pent-up demand for high-bandwidth data exchange on mobile phones and support high-speed Internet access on other portable devices.

The government has recognized 3G as the cornerstone for growth of the telecom sector and is expected to allocate the third generation on priority.

CIOL: What is being done to take the brand into the market?

VR: MTS is the eighth-largest telecom company in the world with over 100 million customers. In India, we are the sixth or seventh operator. We are using faces of models talking on the mobile phone to relate to the consumers and give our service the human touch. We have also decided to concentrate most of our advertising and marketing spend on local media, via regional language instead of English.

We have also recently rebranded our existing operations in Rajasthan, under the ‘Rainbow’ brand, to MTS. Rainbow was a regional brand limited to Rajasthan and what we needed was a pan-India brand name. Accordingly we painted the Pink City Jaipur to red – the colour of our brand.

The most important factor is the time-to-market – how quickly we could launch the brand across India in the next nine months. With MTS, the brand material, logo and specifications are all readymade and already available

CIOL: How do you look at the slowdown?

VR: Global economic slowdown is a business challenge for enterprises across the globe. However, Sistema is one of the largest public diversified corporations in Russia. We have sufficient funds to expand our operations, and launch our services on a pan-India basis.

India is one of the fastest growing markets for telecom, and has been relatively un-impacted by recession. As of now, the situation is under control, because the financial meltdown has not impacted Indian banks in a major way.

However, if the situation worsens, then we could be in a spot as we are not allowed to bring in foreign funds in the form of debt. We are allowed to bring money in the form of equity, but our promoters would like to have the flexibility to decide on what form they would like to pump in money into the company.

The Indian Government should consider relaxing the foreign investment norms, which will allow international players to bring in funds in the form of loan.

CIOL: What would be the newer trends in the Indian mobility sector?

VR: The year 2009 is expected to be an exciting year for the Indian mobile telephony market. With the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) voted back to power, the sector can look forward to speedy auction of the long-awaited 3G spectrum.

A significant portion of the rural population will witness phased growth in first-time Internet access and welfare programs covering telemedicine, e-governance and distance learning – propelled by 3G mobile broadband and WiMax.

While the 3G network would infuse better services for subscribers and enhance revenues from VAS (value-added services) for operators, the introduction of MNP will offer users the convenience of retaining their mobile phone number even after switching between networks and operators.

Mobile payment and commerce for micro-transactions is also expected to attract greater user-orientation.

Interview — Bharti Airtel hopeful of 200-m user mark in 3 years

On The Hindu Business Line dated 03 June 2009

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, June 2 To keep its leadership position in the fastest growing mobile market, Bharti Airtel is embarking on a multi-pronged strategy, including a comprehensive customer retention programme, partnerships with companies that offer mobile entertainment and commerce services, domestic acquisitions and a thrust on driving growth in the rural areas.

In his first interview after taking over as the President of Bharti’s mobile business, Mr Atul Bindal, told Business Line, “I do not agree with those who say Indian mobile growth story is on the verge of getting over. We will reach the next hundred million subscribers by a combination of reaching out to the huge potential that exists in the rural areas, taking advantage of the untapped opportunity in large urban areas and possibly through the organic route which we will evaluate as when opportunities come by.”

Bharti crossed the 100-million mark in May and is hoping to reach the 200-million mark in another two-three years.

Number portability

Asked on the impact on Bharti of new players and introduction of mobile number portability (MNP), Mr Bindal said the company has put in place a customer life-cycle management system which will enable it to take customer services to the next level.

“At present most operators are looking at a few broad consumer segments to create offering and services around them. We are going to take this to the next level wherein Bharti will target micro segments of subscribers to offer customised services. For example, a subscriber who travels a lot to a particular country would like to get a special international roaming tariff. The system will allow us to target products based on the user’s behaviour rather than launch broad mass offerings,” Mr Bindal said.

He added that MNP is an opportunity for Bharti to acquire customers from other operators.

Mr Bindal reckons that mobile commerce and mobile entertainment are going to be big applications.

“Value added service the way we know today is going to change drastically. We are giving a huge thrust to music, games, movies and sports under mobile entertainment wherein we plan to be an end-to-end service provider. We will also enable application providers to use Bharti’s network as a conduit to reach our subscribers. In m-commerce, we are looking at the unbanked segment and micro-finance in a big way,” he said.

Asked if Bharti was open to tie-ups with companies such as Nokia, which also is launching an entertainment platform, Mr Bindal said that such partnerships were possible.

Acquisition plan

He also did not rule out the possibility of Bharti acquiring small companies offering value-added services or a technology that will add to its business model.

“Bharti has always been in favour of strategic partnerships and alliances as long as it offers a compelling value proposition to our customers,” Mr Bindal said.

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.

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.

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.

BSNL scouts for pvt partners for Internet Data Centres

The Hindu Business Line on 31 May 2009

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, May 30 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has invited bids from private players to set up Internet Data Centres (IDCs) in various parts of the country on a revenue sharing basis.

The centres are expected to be set up over the next six months after which the PSU will go for outsourcing contracts for services such as Web hosting, co-location, data warehousing and Internet managed services.

A data centre is a facility where customer can outsource the management and day-to-day operations of their Web sites or other IP connected applications. Customers can purchase the server hardware, rack space, bandwidth and network equipment. In addition, customers get a secure place to physically house their equipment with regulated power, dedicated Internet connection, security, and fire detection equipment.

Although some companies have chosen to address their requirements in-house and to maintain complete control over their Internet Infrastructure, the pressures of provisioning IT Infrastructure are increasingly leading a lot of corporate houses to consider outsourcing their e-business infrastructure requirements.

Private telecom players such as Reliance Communications and Tata Communications are already offering such services. Then there are Internet Service Providers such as Sify which are also in this segment. These private players may bid for the BSNL project.

According to the expression of interest floated by BSNL, the private partner will have to invest the entire amount required to set up the IDCs. BSNL will provide its national communication infrastructure as the backbone for the proposed centres.

As part of the shared hosting services, BSNL plans to bundle in free email accounts, depending on the package customer subscribes to.

“Outsourcing the management and monitoring of mission-critical Internet operations is crucial for stability in an increasingly complex networking environment. Beyond the sheer complexity of infrastructure itself, the uncertainties of ever-changing relationships with telcos, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and rapidly changing technologies often render it difficult for businesses to make the best choices. BSNL’s managed services will provide cutting-edge industry expertise to speed up the time-to-market, in the most cost-effective manner,” said a BSNL official.

The PSU is also planning to offer messaging solutions which will enable customers to outsource their entire e-mail operations.

BSNL has been increasingly adopting the public-private partnership model for its new services. It has, for example, partnered with Soma Networks for offering WiMax based broadband services in three States. Similarly, the PSU has roped in HFCL to roll out its IPTV services.

Analysts said that the franchisee model lowers the risk and cost for the PSU since the private partner invests all the money required for the project.

Atom technologies Ties Up With Sahayata

From http://www.efytimes.com on 30 May 2009

Saturday, May 30, 2009: atom technologies has announced the formalisation of its association with Sahayata, a micro-finance institution (MFI) headquartered in Udaipur, Rajasthan recognised for working in the area of socio-economic development of women from weak economic backgrounds. atom’s m-collections solution model will provide Sahayata with a fully developed mobile solution for distributing loans and managing collections of loan repayments.

Sahayata provides micro loans to rural women, who women are self-employed and operate small businesses to support there livelihood. As these women are located in deep rural areas, it’s very difficult for Sahayata to reach them for disbursal tracking and loan repayment collection. atom’s mobile based m-Collections solution provides better reach to these geographical locations by using mobile connectivity.

Sahayata’s employees i.e. Sahayaks carry Java MIDP 2.0 mobile handsets with m-collection application loaded in it. This application helps them connect directly with the backend operations of Sahayata for real-time transaction recording to speedup the process.

“I am sure our m-collections application will help Sahayata reach out efficiently in those rural areas, who are really in need of micro-credit for their continuous livelihood,” said Dewang Neralla, director, atom technologies.

“We are happy to be associated with the dedicated and intellectually gifted team at atom technologies, and look forward to optimally utilising their customised mobile solutions for microfinance to the benefit of our customers by providing them with a best-in-class service experience,” explained Ajay Verma, managing director and CEO, Sahayata.

MVNOs get nod to start ops

30 May 2009, 0010 hrs IST, Joji Thomas Philip, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of the communications ministry, on Thursday cleared the proposal to allow Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) to launch operations in India.

MVNOs offer mobile services without owning cellular networks or airwaves (spectrum) on which telecom signals travel. Their business model involves buying airtime from existing operators that own telecom infrastructure and selling it to consumers under their own brand. Companies, such as the UK-based Virgin Mobile, British Telecom and Japan’s KDDI, have based their telecom strategy on MVNO model. Currently, there are over 300 MVNOs operating globally. The entry of MVNOs is set to further increase competition in the world’s fastest growing mobile market.

Following the commission’s approval, the government will soon issue a formal notification along with guidelines for MVNOs to operate in India. In August 2008, Trai asked the government to permit MVNOs and said that entry of such players would be a ‘natural progression towards enhancing free market principles and contributing to the efficient use of existing telecommunication infrastructure’.

So far, the communications ministry had been unable to release the guidelines for MNVOs, as the department of telecom (DoT) and regulator Trai had not found consensus on key issues. The commission, while clearing the proposal, has said MVNOs cannot go for multiple parenting in India. This means, an MVNO can tie-up with only an operator in an area for their services. On the other hand, an existing operator can tie-up with any number of MVNOs.

The commission also said that MVNOs would be given licences for a 20-year period.

DoT executives had earlier told ET that several MVNOs from across the world had shown interest in launching operations in India. The auctions of 3G spectrum and the launch of these high-end services is expected to serve as a catalyst and attract virtual operators to India, as many players that operate in this space globally specialise in high-end value-added services. Many of the new telecom companies, who were granted telecom licences last year, may partner with MVNOs, as it would bring them additional revenues and help contribute towards the creation of sizeable capital value especially in a sector where margins are razor-thin and further reduction of tariffs is not feasible.

Tata Tele says ‘Yes’ to M-commerce

On http://www.ciol.com/ on 29 May 2009

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Tata Teleservices has announced its partnership with ICICI Bank to offer mobile banking services to Tata Indicom subscribers registered for mobile banking with ICICI Bank. Now these customers can avail of banking services with just a click of the button. The subscribers can now manage their finances while on the move using their Tata Indicom mobile phone via iMobile, a Brew based application.

Elaborating on the tie-up, Zubin Jimmy Dubash, assistant Vice president, Tata Teleservices Limited, said: “By having the largest private Bank – ICICI Bank we have just moved one step further towards Mobile commerce. We are glad to partner with ICICI Bank to explore a highly efficient value added service for all our Tata Indicom customers. The mobile phone has enormous potential when used as a tool for financial services, it is likely to revolutionize the sector in a similar manner that the ATM did for banking and cash, years ago.”

With the initiative we aim at offering convenience of currently accessing ICICI Bank’s financial services with the help of Tata Indicom mobile. We are confident that, mobile banking will accelerate significantly in the coming years.” he added.

Tata Indicom through mobile banking application will allow its subscribers to transfer funds to any Bank account, Pay bills, top up prepaid mobile recharge. View account balances, last five transaction history, presented bills, credit card payment due date, etc. Not only this, the customers can also, locate an ICICI Bank branch, ATM and phone banking numbers. The service also provides the subscribers the opportunity to access the credit card, demat and Loans services, to name a few.

The iMobile application can be downloaded onto the handset through, BREW catalogue on our server on all the handsets. The customers need to have a data enabled handset that supports this application. The current handsets supporting the application are Samsung T Nimbus, Samsung Bliss, Samsung NX1 LG 6335, and Pantec 715, Samsung Max.

Way2SMS launches e-mail alerts on mobiles

From The Hindu Business Line on 29 May 2009

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, May 28 SMS service provider, Way2SMS.com, has lunched e-mail alerts on mobile. Any subscriber of http://www.way2sms.com/ can avail this free service, which works with any mail box that has forward option.

“We have made sure that this feature can be easily activated as there is no installation required. Alerts can be received from multiple mail boxes if subscriber wishes,” said Mr VV Raju, Founder-CEO, Way2SMS.com, said.

A subscriber could receive alerts for only those emails, which he wants. It is also possible to customise one’s preferences, the Hyderabad-based company said in a release.

Dial your doctor, pay by phone

From The Hindu Business Line on 28 May 2009

Our Bureau

Bangalore, May 27

Patient-doctor link portal HealthcareMagic has said its subscribers now can not only consult a doctor on phone but also pay their fee by phone. The company has tied up with mobile payment service provider Atom Telecom to provide IVR-based payment option for the service.

“Patients can now interact with doctors by dialling a landline number to get medical assistance for their illness or common query,” a release by the Bangalore-based HealthcareMagic said. “The charges range from Rs 160 to Rs 999 and can be paid through mobile or landline using credit card.”

HealthcareMagic launched its ‘Doctor on Call’ and ‘Doctor on Click’ live chat service over a year back. The charges were collected online; now this extends to phone-based payment, a spokesperson said.

The option of paying over the phone will cover all 400 million telecom subscribers and 40 million landline subscribers across the country. It has tied up with insurance and telecom players including Reliance Telecom, BPL Mobile, Aircel, ICICI Lombard and Bajaj Allianz.

“Providing m-payment facility for our customers will definitely increase our subscriber base and smoothen the payment system. As the mobile penetration in India is more than the Internet, Atom’s technology will definitely help get more visibility” to the service, said Dr Abhilash Thirupathy, VP-Marketing & Business Development, HealthcareMagic.

Those seeking medical advice need to dial HealthcareMagic’s call centre number and choose from various packages. They would then be connected to Atom IVR to pay by credit card over the phone. Once the transaction is done, the customer is connected to a panel of doctors.

The service is initially available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in English and Hindi. The company plans to make it available 24×7 in more languages, and also bring in advice from super-specialists.

“HealthcareMagic’s service-at-your-disposal is rapidly catching up as a concept in the country. With this tie-up, we are confident that the best of health care services will now be available on call instantly, thus benefiting entire population,” said Mr Dewang Neralla, Director, Atom.

Atom is the digital, retail initiative of the Financial Technologies Group and is said to have handled over 100 crore similar transactions in India and West Asia.

(Valuation Process) Does Bharti-MTN deal signal a recovery?

From The Hindu Business line on 28 May 2009

(The Indian market does not offer very much in terms of future growth. Fundamentally, the telecom story seems to have played out to a large extent)

Interview with VIVEK GUPTA, PARTNER, M&A PRACTICE, BMR ADVISORS

D. Murali

The first developing-nation foray into the ‘Big 5’ of the telecom world encompassing two fast-growing emerging wireless markets, India and Africa; consolidated post-deal financials, north of 200 million subscribers and revenues of $20 billion; one of India’s biggest cross-border deals, even relative to Tata-Corus or Hutch-Vodafone… These are some of the opening observations about the Bharti-MTN deal that Mr Vivek Gupta, Partner, M &A practice, BMR Advisors, New Delhi, shares with Business Line, during a quick email interaction shortly after the mega merger was in the news. “And the deal is slated to happen this time at fair sensible valuations – in a sense; it is good that the deal was not consummated last year,” adds Mr Gupta. Since May 2008, ignoring the last two days, Bharti’s capitalisation has declined over 5 per cent, while MTN fell over 32 per cent, he notes. “Given the deal terms that have emerged, it seems that the financial side is more or less stitched up, and thus, we believe the deal will likely go through this time.”

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the quantitative parameters of the valuation process, apart from the telecom companies’ subscriber base?

The deal envisages Bharti giving up 36 per cent equity — 25 per cent to MTN and 11 per cent to its shareholders — and $4.1 billion, in return for a controlling 49 per cent stake in MTN. MTN will become Bharti’s “subsidiary by governance structure.” I guess that Bharti may not have immediately pushed for a 50 per cent plus stake, due to regulatory issues around licences, but it does seem apparent that Bharti will be the controlling party.

A number of factors would have gone into the valuation discussions:

Bharti’s revenues of $7.5 billion vs MTN’s $12 billion.

EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins around 40 per cent for both entities but finally, similar net profit numbers.

Bharti’s ARPU (average revenue per user) at around $6.5, with MTN at around $13.

Growth projections for both markets – Africa having relatively higher potential than India.

Relative market capitalisations of both listed entities, with Bharti carrying more generous market multiples.

Finally, the end result of all of these factors is a 30 per cent premium to MTN’s current market capitalisation — an EV/ EBIDTA in the region of sub 6 — a valuation that seems defensible, considering the large 49 per cent block of equity with a “governance structure” in Bharti’s favour.

India and Africa, are there similarities and differences of significance, from a telecom perspective?

Both are developing country markets and thus, have inherent similarities — number of subscribers, contribution of mobile subscribers to the overall telecommunication industry, etc. At the same time, they seem to be at different stages of their growth cycles. The African telecommunication market is estimated to grow at roughly 40 per cent. It is estimated that India will grow for the next couple of years and then will start stagnating, while Africa will potentially continue to show higher growth for four to five years.

On the ARPU front, Africa ranks better than India, at roughly $12 per subscriber as compared to $6 per subscriber in India. Also, as compared to India, in Africa, per-minute prices are higher, demand for SMS over voice is limited because of low literacy levels, and bottlenecks exist in sharing platforms between local operations on account of small populations in some countries, political issues, language barriers and lack of affordable cross-border connectivity.

By 2012-13, convergence is expected. The known factors should take over — increasing competition, price reductions and another wave of low-income customers should drive the ARPU levels down in Africa too. And Indian operators understand this game well — the game of working on high volumes, low margins, the game of building economies of scale, higher affordability and tight management of extensive outsourcing contracts.

Post meltdown, the deal space was barren for quite some time. Does the Bharti-MTN deal signal a recovery trajectory, leading to many more mega deals in other sectors, too?

One way to think about this deal is to really peg it as being independent of market conditions. The fundamental drivers have been there for a while. The lower markets and efflux of time may have helped the deal talks this time from the point of view of more flexibility on both sides to make the deal happen. And thus, we are hopefully in a situation where deal talks have progressed. For this reason, we do not necessarily believe that the announcement of this specific Bharti-MTN deal indicates a strong recovery trajectory in the deal space per se.

As an emerging market merger, does the Bharti-MTN deal have characteristics that may not be found in the developed markets?

The telecom industry has seen lot of transactions globally in the past. They have had different drivers. For example, in December 2006, AT&T acquired BellSouth. It was then estimated that the NPV of the expected synergies would be as high as $18 billion. In two other transactions which took place in 2005, SBC buying AT&T and Verizon buying MCI, the target was to save 20-50 per cent of their total operating costs by reducing the number of networks, thereby eliminating redundant switches, devices, people and buildings. Bharti-MTN is not entirely similar. The fundamental driver seems to be geographical expansion and along the way come benefits of scale and bargaining power.

The two companies could look to each other to add value to their operations and by sharing each other’s best practices. MTN should be able to use Bharti’s technology and techniques for rolling out networks inexpensively and quickly. Bharti will be able to diversify beyond India’s borders, where expanding its base means having to reach out to poorer consumers.

Put differently, from Bharti’s point of view, the Indian market does not offer very much in terms of future growth – 3G and some value-added services may carry some kickers but fundamentally, the telecom story has played out to a large extent. This foray probably is thus an attempt to carry the “telecom story” for the company further by expanding into another potentially high-growth market.

Any other points of interest?

This is the first really large deal that takes advantage of the recent change the Government has announced in what it considers foreign and domestic holding. Now, foreign shareholding in a majority Indian-owned and controlled company is not considered foreign for downstream investments and that offers much greater flexibility in opening up headroom for MTN and its shareholders to acquire stakes in Bharti.

Also, it’s interesting to see that the deal is structured in a way not to have to look at an open offer in India. That would have been a significant cost leakage, given that MTN was picking up more than the 15 per cent trigger limit. The Bharti release seems to indicate that the deal will happen through a Scheme of Arrangement, which means it will be taken to the High Court under Sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956 and will thus, enjoy exemption from the Takeover Code. To a large extent, the deal’s success will be predicated on its being piloted successfully through the myriad regulatory and structuring issues governing a deal of this nature.

Bio:

Mr Vivek Gupta, who has worked in the M&A group of the tax practice at Ernst & Young for three years and Arthur Andersen for three and a half years, prior to joining BMR, has experience in mergers, acquisitions and business reorganisations, domestic as well as multi-jurisdictional, having participated in many cross-border and domestic transactions across diverse industries. He has advised a number of domestic and multinational companies on complex transactions which involve acquisitions, mergers, divestments and other business reorganisations and brings a blend of strategic, financial, tax, regulatory and commercial skills to such engagements. Mr Gupta, a Commerce graduate from the Delhi University and a Chartered Accountant, finds mention in the International Tax Review 2004, as a leading advisor on M&A transactions in India.

For telecom minister, 3G top priority

28 May 2009, 0724 hrs IST, Shalini Singh, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has made 3G auctions a top priority item for the telecom ministry as soon as the new telecom minister takes office by next week.

A senior DoT official told TOI that this matter will be discussed with the new minister immediately on his taking charge. “3G auctions will definitely be held this year and sooner rather than later”, he said. Confirming this, DoT secretary Siddharth Behura told TOI, “3G auctions also carry the all round support of policy makers, including the finance ministry which needs to bridge the fiscal deficit, one of the biggest drawbacks in India’s balance sheet”.

Since the government can’t raise taxes sharply during the slowdown or cut expenditures it is highly likely that the finance ministry will push for an early and global 3G auction to be held within the next few months. The interim budget has already factored in revenues of Rs 20,000 crore from 3G auctions, just half telecom minister A Raja’s projections of Rs 40,000 crore in August 2008.

Average pan-India 3G spectrum is expected to rake in over Rs 4,000 crore. The government plans to auction 2×5 MHz of spectrum in varying proportions except Rajasthan and North East (see chart).

This time, 3G auctions also carry wide-ranging support from the industry. T V Ramachandran, director general, COAI, said, “3G auctions will definitely take place this year. It is a strong way of alleviating the spectrum crunch faced by GSM operators”.

“It is clear that 3G will be a priority for the new government as the auction framework is already in place and there is increasing interest from the mass market with 3G phones at less than $100/set hitting the market by 2010,” said Manoj Kohli, chief executive office & Jt managing director, Bharti Airtel. At present only 6% of mobile phones in India are 3G capable.

Also 3G will also contribute significantly to mobile valueadded services (VAS), which has been growing at nearly 40% every year as against the overall annual telecom revenue growth of 20%. This will prop up the rapidly declining average revenues per user (Arpu) of telcos.

“It is critical for operators that 3G auctions are held quickly as with mobile number portability and new operators, better quality 3G networks offering both better voice quality and VAS will be the only differentiator to prevent high end customers from switching to competing networks”, says Kunal Bajaj, managing director of consulting firm BDA India.

3G is an attractive policy move even for rural development by being a strong potential catalyst for e-Education, remote health care and m-Banking. RBI is currently reviewing the regulations for m- Banking, especially keeping in mind the needs of rural India. The success of the 3G auctions will depend upon the speed, transparency of process as well as the government’s ability to put out non-discriminatory auction terms for the existing 14 and potential new global operators.

Earlier in the year, the government released an information memorandum, appointed auctioneers and held pre-bid conference in the run up to the proposed 3G auction in January 2009. However, since neither industry nor the political environment favoured 3G auctions, India had to miss its date with what is perhaps the most high profile auction of a scarce national resource in this decade.

Megasoft eyes infrastructure solutions for mobile services

K.V. Kurmanath on The Hindu Business Line dated 25 May 2009

Hyderabad, May 24 Megasoft, a provider of convergent service delivery infrastructure solutions to wireless and wireline operators, is looking to provide infrastructure to telecommunication companies to offer a variety of mobile transactions.

“With mobile operators offering several value-added services, we see a huge opportunity to provide infrastructure backbone for the new-age operators to provide a basket of services,” Mr G.V. Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Megasoft, told Business Line.

“Mobile operators have begun to realise the potential in offering mobile banking services. Mobile advertisement too is catching up,” he said.

He cited the example of TuneTalk in Malaysia, wherein the service provider provides low-cost mobile connectivity to newer segments. “This they would subsidise with other streams of revenues,” he said.

Megasoft’s telecom arm Xius-bcgi is providing technology and managing the infrastructure necessary for the roll-out of the multi-country launch of the service.

Clients

“We have decided to focus on the existing clients with an emphasis on cashflow generators. We will continue to talk to new customers but our focus in these times of slowdown is on existing customers,” Mr Kumar said.

The company, which registered a turnover of Rs 365 crore in the calendar year 2008, gave no guidance for the current year, keeping in view the market uncertainty.

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.

HFCL unit to invest Rs 800 cr in IPTV

Saurabh Turakhia, Hindustan Times on 22 May 2009

Smart Digivision Pvt Ltd, a company promoted by Mahendra Nahata, promoter of Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd providing IPTV solutions under the brand name ‘Myway IPTV’, will invest Rs 700 crore to Rs 800 crore over the next five years. IPTV uses Internet-based technology and offers programmes through broadband networks.

Smart Digivision, which plans to be an alternative to direct-to-home (DTH) satellite-based distributions like Tata Sky and Dish TV, aims to get 3.5 million subscribers of the estimated 50 million Indian digital homes by 2014.

The company has tied up with state-run MTNL and BSNL to provide co-branded IPTV services to the consumers. MTNL and BSNL have an all India subscription base of 34 million subscribers.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Kapil Dev Kumar, chief operating officer, Smart Digivision Pvt Ltd said, “Our positioning directly conveys that we are better in comparison to DTH.” He referred to features such as anytime video-on-demand, anytime music, internet applications and SMS facilities among others to make his point.

The promoters have already invested Rs 60 crore for the project till now. It has 110 people on its payrolls. The company will break-even after three to four years, said Kumar. Apart from Myway, other players such as Aksh Optifibre and Airtel also provide IPTV services.