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

July 2009: 14.38M Mobile Connections Added In India; Landlines Sink; Broadband At 6.8M

From http://www.medianama.com/2009/08/223-july-2009-1438m-mobile-connections-added-in-india-landlines-sink-broadband-at-68m/ on August 24, 2009

By Preethi J

News of the reviving economy is reflected in the telecom sector in the month of July, which saw an addition of 14.38 million wireless connections compared to the 12.03 million in June, 2009. The total number of telephone connections in the country was 479.07 million at the end of July 2009.

• Teledensity rose from 39.86% in June to 41.08%.
• Wireless teledensity is up from 36.64% to 37.87%
• Total wireless connections rose 3.6% to 441.66 million
• Broadband connections swelled from 6.62 million in June 2009 to 6.8 million.

BSNL Loses 0.16M Landline Users; Bharti Adds 33,940

This segment continues to see churn with BSNL’s customers choosing the wireless route and disconnecting their landlines – the two oldest landline providers BSNL and MTNL lost a total of 0.17 million subscribers in July after losing 0.19 million in June 2009. MTNL lost 8181 to reach 3.54 million connections. BSNL lost 166,519 landline connections and now has 28.62 million; it accounts for 76.5% of the country’s landline userbase and will continue to be hit by negative growth even as private service providers such as Bharti Airtel and RCOM add users by bundling the landlines with other necessary services such as broadband and IPTV.

• Total landline connections in India – 37.41 million
• Wireline teledensity has reduced marginally to 3.21%

Downloads: TRAI Data (PDF)

Other operators offering landlines and their user base:

• Bharti Airtel – 2.86 million
• Reliance Communications – 1.13 million
• Tata Teleservices (Indicom) – 967,554
• HFCL Infotel – 163,399
• Sistema Shyam (MTS) – 111,069

Deutsche Telekom Eyes Indian ISP Space; Devas Multimedia Looks To Raise Funds

From http://www.medianama.com/2009/08/223-deutsche-telekom-eyes-indian-isp-space-devas-multimedia-looks-to-raise-funds/ on August 24, 2009

By Preethi J

German telecom conglomerate Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile in USA, is planning to join the Internet Service Provider arena in India. According to a MarketWatch report, the telco is planning to set up a high-capacity radio network for quick Internet connections in metropolitan areas of India come next year.

I wonder if we need yet another ISP in India, with already a number of incumbent players – Reliance, Tata Indicom, MTNL, BSNL, Hathaway, Tikona, Sify and Bharti Airtel, and France Telecom, Vodafone and DEN Networks also planning ISPs. With the last mile still closed, wireless is being seen as the way to go; which is where Devas Multimedia comes in.

Devas MultiMedia:Looking To Raise Funds

Deutsche Telekom received permission from India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) last year to invest Rs. 317.85 crore into Devas Multimedia, a little known Bangalore-based wireless services company, which was working on a long term Mobile TV (DMB) project with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). DT has acquired 17% stake in Devas.

Interestingly enough, Devas is looking to raise funds. The company, which already has Telecom Ventures and Columbia Capital as investors, apart from Deutsche Telekom, has a proposal pending with the FIPB for permission to “induct fresh foreign equity participation with the induction of a new foreign collaborator.”

Devas is a curious case: little is known about it, and it still appears to be in stealth mode:  there’s no website and there is little information on it except of it’s work with ISRO and its backers.

India desperately needs a catalyst to boost Internet penetration: Internet growth in July 2009 in India has actually fallen to 2.7% from 3.4% in June and 6.3% in May 2009. Besides the well known issues of delinking last mile access and ISP licensing which are throttling growth, other issues Deutsche Telekom will need to grapple with are low PC adoption and lack of Indic language content.

Companies Eying ISP Space In India

Earlier this year, France Telecom also entered India through Equant Network Services, its joint venture with Emery Technologies with the intention of launching Internet services;  Vodafone too announced its entry. The latest to announce plans of becoming an Internet service provider is DEN Networks, a cable TV company which is planning to go public to raise funds.

The Wireline Alternative: Broadband Over Power

Research and experiments on Broadband over Power Lines have been on for years – news about it pops up every few months. Indian Express has the latest: about Bengal Engineering and Science University professors and CESC have implemented Broadband over Power in two housing estates in Kolkata. The copper wires that supply electricity to double as broadband connections and installing a customer premise equipment that decodes the signals and brings them to your computer. But if it’s that simple, why is it taking so long to materialise? The government recently deferred an application by Powermax Communications, a provider of power transmission  and distribution management systems and broadband over power services, to increase foreign equity participation.

Nokia Siemens Adds GPRS To Idea Service Areas

via Nokia Siemens Adds GPRS To Idea Service Areas From http://www.efytimes.com, June 18, 2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009: Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular is upgrading its network in 22 telecom service areas to tap into the lucrative value added data services market. By March 2010, Idea subscribers will be able to enjoy multimedia messaging, e-mail, Web browsing, online music and other mobile services. The services will be enabled by Nokia Siemens Networks’ GPRS (general packet radio service) technology and Unified Charging Solution (UCS evolve).

Nokia Siemens Networks will add GPRS capability to 10 Idea telecom service areas, while the existing GPRS capability in 12 other areas will be expanded.

According to Anil Tandan, chief technology officer, Idea Cellular, “The value added services market in India holds tremendous potential. The greater opportunity lies in data services and in expanding our capabilities and service portfolio in this area. The right technology foundation is fundamental to our success, and it needs to include not just a method of delivering services, but of monetizing them effectively. Nokia Siemens Networks has strong credentials in this field and has played an important role in the development of our technology strategy for data services.”

As part of the project, Nokia Siemens Networks has also designed and will implement a charging solution that will enable Idea to use a single system across these locations for real-time charging of the new services for both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers.

Added Michael Kuehner, country head, Nokia Siemens Networks, “Customer lifecycle management entails building a flexible ecosystem of multiple partners that can develop innovative applications and content quickly, and at the right price points. The volumes and complexity are high, which makes billing and charging of these services difficult. As its technology partner, we are confident that our solution will not only help Idea Cellular build new revenue streams but also deliver greater quality of service.”

The Idea service areas where Nokia Siemens Networks will add GPRS capability are Mumbai, Orissa, Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Kolkata and West Bengal, J&K, Karnataka, Punjab, Assam and North East.

Nokia Siemens Networks will upgrade Idea’s existing GPRS capacity in the service areas of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Haryana, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra and Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Related stories at

• http://www.financialexpress.com/news/nokiasiemens-networks-to-enhance-idea-networks/478441/

Indian mobile users to hit 771 mn by 2013: Gartner – The Financial Express

via Indian mobile users to hit 771 mn by 2013: Gartner – The Financial Express on June 18, 2009

Bangalore: Indian mobile users will jump more than 90 per cent to 771 million by 2013 as companies expand networks to rural areas in the world’s fastest growing wireless market, research firm Gartner said.

India had 403.66 million wireless users at the end of April, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India figures showed earlier this month, second only to China that has more than 600 million wireless subscribers.

Cheap call tariffs and handsets are driving demand in India, where operators such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are now building telecom towers and networks to cover smaller towns and villages to hook new users.

Gartner, the world’s biggest technology research firm, sees mobile subscriber base growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.3 per cent in the four years to 2013, up from an estimated 452 million by the end of 2009.

Revenues of Indian mobile phone companies will exceed $30 billion in 2013, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5 per cent over the same period, it said.

“The Indian mobile industry has now moved out of its hyper growth mode, but it will continue to grow at double-digit rates … as operators focus on rural parts of the country, said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner.

Gartner, however, predicted a “significant drop” in average revenue per user (ARPU) — a key gauge of performance — as the bulk of new subscribers from the hinterland usually talk less on phones and some use mobiles just to answer calls.

Bharti, which is in talks with South Africa’s telecoms firm MTN Group to create the world’s No.3 wireless group, saw a drop of 15 per cent in its March quarter ARPU as it won more new users in rural areas. The research firm said voice tariffs would fall substantially in 2009 as new operators join the market.

The telecoms unit of Indian developer Unitech Ltd will launch mobile services with Norway’s Telenor in the December quarter this year, a top company official said on Tuesday.

Bharti’s rivals such as Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular are also rapidly expanding their services across the country.

Related stories at

• http://www.ciol.com/technology/mobility/news-reports/indian-mobile-users-to-hit-771-mln-by-2013-gartner/18609121197/0/
• http://efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnewsxml.asp?edid=35243
• http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indian-mobile-users-to-hit-771-mln-by-2013-Gartner-/articleshow/4671022.cms

Revenue, not user base, to set telecom pecking order

17 Jun 2009, 0305 hrs IST, Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Subscriber numbers in India’s wireless story are losing their relevance today as far as determining the industry position of a service provider is concerned. t will be revenues and not subscriber numbers that could decide the pecking order in the world’s fastest-growing telecom market.

This is reflected in the latest revenue figures released by the industry regulator, Trai. Going by this, the top three operators in India are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).

Airtel’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from wireless and wireline operations was Rs 7,998 crore for the March quarter. Vodafone Essar, which offers only mobile services, had revenues of Rs 4,456 crore during January-March 2009 on a subscriber base of 68.7 million. Reliance Communications (RCOM), which has the second largest customer base, reported an AGR of only Rs 2,998 crore on 72.6 million users during the quarter, making it the fourth largest in terms of revenues.

The revenues for the state-owned BSNL stood at Rs 3,943 crore making it the third largest. BSNL offers mobile services on GSM apart from fixed line services. Besides showing the revenue capabilities of an operator, AGR is significant, as it is the basis on which service providers pay licence fee and spectrum charges. Operators pay a revenue share licence fee to the government ranging from 6% to 10% of their AGR. Increasingly, operators are targeting revenue growth instead of a larger user base.

According to Bharti Airtel’s vision statement, the company’s aim is 20% increase in revenue margin per subscriber in the next few years.

Analysts contend that with more and more low-end users signing up for services, it is becoming difficult for operators to maintain margins and improve ARPUs (average revenue per user per month). In such a scenario, those who continue to grow revenues along with subscriber base will be the clear winners.

“As the new subscriber base is primarily drawn from tier III towns and rural markets, the incremental subscriber addition is not leading to a commensurate revenue upside for telcos. The catchphrase to evaluate a telco’s performance will be quality of subscribers rather than the number of new subscribers,” Acsendia Consulting principal analyst, Alok Shende told ET.

A smaller player like Idea Cellular, which operates in 13 circles, had AGR of Rs 2,389 crore on a subscriber base of 39 million. This is just about Rs 600 crore less than RCOM on a base which is almost half of that company.

KPMG director (telecom) Romal Shetty said, “Initially, everyone was going after subscriber numbers. Now, they are looking at quality of subscribers. This explains the emphasis on value added services (VAS), which bring in higher revenues.” He pointed out that low-end pre-paid users are now bringing in monthly revenues of as low as Rs 70 per month.

Tata Teleservices reported revenues of Rs 1,889 crore during the quarter placing it at sixth followed by state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL). Aircel, a relatively new entrant, is at the eight position, which had AGR of Rs 721 crore during the quarter.

IDEA to roll out GSM service in Chennai soon

From http://www.economictimes.com on June 17, 2009

CHENNAI: Telecom operator IDEA Cellular, part of the Aditya Birla Group, would soon roll out its GSM service in the metro, a company official said here on Tuesday.

“It (GSM service) should be rolled out in Chennai very soon,” IDEA Cellular Chief Corporate Affairs Office Rajat Mukarji told reporters.

The company has already launched its service in Coimbatore, Madurai and other cities apart from the metro, he said.

To a query, he said they have received a ‘good’ response from the cities in Tamil Nadu where the services has been launched. However he declined to specify the number of mobile phone connections they had provided.

The company has operations in four southern states. In Karnataka it acquired telecom operator Spice while it has rolled out services in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

He said the Southern region ranked ‘fourth’ in the company’s overall subscriber base. “Out of the 40 million customers (in the country), 25 per cent is from Southern region”, he said.

Nokia intros phones for farmers

From www.ciol.com on June 15, 2009, source PTI

MUMBAI, INDIA: Leading mobile phone maker Nokia has launched cellphones, which will help farmers get instant information on farm prices in ‘mandis’.The company claimed that the new phone could display information in two languages and offer graphically rich user interface.

The company will be selling the devices first in Maharashtra and later to other states as also to select countries in Asia and Africa, officials said today.

The new devices costing about Rs 2,000 will also help users access education and entertainment services. Agriculture service will contain information on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, market prices and weather.

The content will be available for Rs 30 to Rs 60 per month depending upon the information availed.

Nokia India Managing Director D Shivakumar said the company has tied up with Idea Cellular to offer the service and is talking to other mobile operators as well.

(Please see also story on Nokia Life Tools)

Zook partners with Idea Cellular

From www.ciol.com on June 8, 2009

BANGALORE, INDIA: Bangalore-based Ziva Software has announced that its mobile fetch engine Zook will power Idea Cellular’s, a telecom services provider, newly launched personalized ‘Stock Search and Subscription Service’. Idea will initially launch this service in Punjab.
 
Ajay Sethi, CEO, Ziva Software, said: “Under the ‘Stock Search and Subscription Service’, Idea will provide the subscribers with updated stock market SMS alerts on their mobile, enabling them to  keep an eye on their portfolio while on the move. Unlike other broadcast services, one can choose to be alerted on specific stocks. This is a pure value service, just providing information and there are no tips, speculations or hints. A diligent investor can make the right decisions using the alerts.”
 
“Available at a nominal monthly amount of Rs. 30, Idea Punjab subscribers need to only SMS ACT to 51234 to get alerts on all business news, customized stock information, NSE & BSE conclusive information and the day’s top gainers and losers. With customized stocks, the user can choose to receive periodic information of up to three stocks of their choice at no additional cost.” added Ajay Sethi.

ICT Statistics Newslog – Mobile tariffs to plunge by 20-25% in 2009 (India)

Mobile tariffs to plunge by 20-25% in 2009 (India)

via ICT Statistics Newslog – Mobile tariffs to plunge by 20-25% in 2009 (India) on May 12, 2009

In India, mobile tariffs in comparison to other countries are lowest and are anticipated to further decline by 20-25% during 2009. The decline in tariffs will triggered by the new entrants and rapid expansion of the existing telecom players. “Whenever new entrants commence operations in the country, there is a high chance of reduction in tariffs as they come in with innovative strategies and prices, including freebies. Apart from tariffs, the price reduction would also be extended to handsets,” European handset major Meridian India CEO Rajiv Khanna, reportedly said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) estimates that the country needs around 300,000 towers by 2010 to support the massive 10 million monthly subscriber additions.

In recent, the termination charges have been brought to 20 paise from 30 for domestic calls, which the operators have begun passing on to the subscribers, is also pulling tariffs down. Though, few firms are not in favour of lowering tariffs to be an apt option for competing in the telecom space. “Indian companies are rolling our predatory prices without conducting proper studies, unlike in the U.S. or developed countries. Price reductions coming in from desperate companies are anti-competition and these are not based on economic sense, and in the long run this would be anti-consumer and anti-industry,” said Idea Cellular Managing Director Sanjeev Aga.

Source: Wireless Federation.