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

MTS Forays Into New Service Areas Of West Bengal

via MTS Forays Into New Service Areas Of West Bengal on http://www.efytimes.com

Wednesday, June 17, 2009: Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) has announced the launch of its fifth circle and has expanded the coverage of its service brand MTS to 11 districts of West Bengal. This foray marks the entry of MTS into 250 towns of the state, in addition to Kolkata where services were launched a month ago.

Speaking on the MTS’ expansion strategies, Vsevolod Rozanov, president and CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said, “We’ve witnessed phenomenal growth in the last six months, with MTS crossing the one million subscriber base mark and expanding its geographical presence to new circles in quick succession. The foray into new service areas of West Bengal is yet another milestone, reflective of the continued growth momentum of MTS in India.”

“The widened coverage in West Bengal, within less than two months of operations in the state, gives us the confidence to build an extensive network and reach out to all the 18 districts of by the end of July. Our inaugural scheme of ‘Minute Millionaires’ and the second lifetime offer received an overwhelming response in Kolkata. We intend to replicate this success in the new service areas with host of special offerings and tariff plans,” added Keshhav Tiwary, COO, SSTL, West Bengal.

MTS has over one million subscribers across cities of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Kolkata. The company has expanded to 547 towns in Tamil Nadu, 262 towns in Kerala in less than two months of operations in the states.

Sistema Shyam expands coverage

The Hindu Business Line on June 10, 2009

Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) has announced that it has expanded the coverage of its mobile service brand MTS to all the coastal districts of Kerala, with the launch of services in the Kozhikode district. This marks the presence of MTS in 262 towns of Kerala, in less than two months of operations in the State. Mr Vsevolod Rozanov, President and CEO of Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said, “Kerela is an important market for us. We intend to extend our footprint to 300 towns of the State by end of June this year, and to 400 by July.” The presence of MTS across coastal districts of Kerala “is a landmark moment for the company. Our `MSaver 51′ card and tariff plans on outbound calls to countries in the Gulf through MSaver49 have received great response from the subscribers,” Mr Srinirao Saripalli, Chief Operating Officer, Kerala & Tamil Nadu, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, said. – Our Bureau

IBM to build (Green) data centres for MTS

From The Hindu Business Line on 02 June, 2009

Bangalore, June 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Similar story in The Hindu Business Line at

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