Communication to emerge as largest contributor to GDP: Study

On 25 Aug 2009, 1531 hrs IST, PTI at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Comm-to-emerge-as-largest-contributor-to-GDP-Study/articleshow/4932743.cms.

MUMBAI: The communication sector will emerge as the largest contributor to India’s GDP and one of the major growth-drivers of the country’s economy in the next five-years, a study said.

“The communication sector is predicted to emerge as the single largest sector of India’s economy, with a 15.4 per cent share, equivalent to Rs 8,65,031 crore, of GDP by 2014-15,” National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in its recent study ‘Economic Impact of the Commnication Sector in India’.

The communication sectors share of the total GDP has increased from 0.7 per cent in the 1980s and one per cent in the 1990s to 3.6 per cent during 2001-08. In 2007-08, the sector accounted for 5.7 per cent of GDP, the study said.

The sector’s ranking in terms of contribution to total GDP has moved from 17 in 1980-81 to eight in 2007-08 and is further expected to surpass all other sectors by 2014-15, assuming that all other sectors grow at an average growth rate observed during 2001-08, it said.

India’s transformation from an agrarian to a services economy, communication is recognised as the fastest growing sector, growing by 25.7 per cent during 2001-08, the study said.

It further said, “It (communication sector) will be one of the major drivers of the Indian economy in the next five years”.

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

Bharti’s Chairman Grows More Confident of MTN Deal

From http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125084972837849039.html?mod=rss_india_news on August 24, 2009

By COSTAS PARIS

Bharti Airtel Ltd. Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Mittal said the second extension to talks with MTN Group Ltd. of South Africa signals that a deal may be worked out this time around.

“It gives us more confidence, but you never know with these things until the last moment,” Mr. Mittal said in an interview Friday.

Mr. Mittal’s comments came after Bharti and MTN extended their talks until Sept. 30 without giving a reason.

MTN and Bharti, India’s largest mobile-phone operator by subscribers, in May revived talks to create a telecommunications company with annual revenue of at least $20 billion and 200 million subscribers.

People familiar with the situation said Friday that Bharti and MTN have extended their talks to settle differences on pricing and the makeup of the combined entity’s board. The two companies have described their prospective deal as a $23 billion merger.

Mr. Mittal said he wasn’t in a position to confirm or deny whether Bharti would sweeten its offer.

A second person said MTN’s management and some shareholders are asking for an additional $1 billion from Bharti to complete the deal.

The person said there will be more clarity when MTN releases its half-year earnings on Thursday.

The basic terms announced in May would see Bharti accumulate a 49% stake in MTN, buying a stake directly for cash and newly issued global depository receipts, plus receiving MTN shares as part of the swap.

MTN would buy a 25% stake in Bharti for $2.9 billion in cash plus new shares, while stock received by its shareholders would take its stake in Bharti to about 36%.

8 of top 10 most valued cos lose Rs 36K cr; Airtel, BHEL gain

From http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/corporatenews/8-of-top-10-most-valued-cos-lose-Rs-36K-cr-Airtel-BHEL-gain/Article1-446149.aspx on August 23, 2009

Press Trust Of India

 

Eight out of the country’s top 10 coveted firms lost Rs 36,000 crore from their market cap during the week ended August 22, while power equipment maker BHEL and telecom major Bharti Airtel together added Rs 6,074 crore to their kitties.

Bharti Airtel gained Rs 1,348 crore, with its total market valuation at Rs 1,56,240 crore, while state-run BHEL added Rs 4,726 crore to its kitty and its market cap stood at Rs 1,12,482 crore for the week ended August 22.

Meanwhile, the country’s most-valued firm, Reliance Industries, lost Rs 16,628 crore last week, taking its total market valuation to Rs 3,03,544 crore at the end of the week.

The company had a market cap of Rs 3,20,172 for the week ended August 16.

Two state-run firms — ONGC and NTPC — together lost Rs 5,047 crore from their market valuations last week.

At the end of the week, ONGC’s market cap stood at Rs 2,54,825 crore and NTPC’s valuation was at Rs 1,68,908 crore.

The country’s largest iron ore producer, NMDC, lost Rs 3,231 crore from its market valuation and state-run trading firm MMTC lost Rs 5,049 crore from its market cap.

The total market valuation of NMDC stood at Rs 1,41,322 crore and MMTC at Rs 1,38,036 crore.

Nokia to Offer Phone Installments in India

From http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125067421010342617.html?mod=rss_india_news on August 19, 2009

By R. JAI KRISHNA

NEW DELHI — Nokia Corp. said it is looking to make handsets more accessible and affordable in India, the world’s fastest-growing and second-largest telecommunications market.

Nokia’s Indian unit plans to sell handsets in some rural areas under a program that allows the purchasers to pay in installments, the Finnish company’s chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said Wednesday.

View Full Image

Associated Press

Nokia expects about 500 million cellphone users in India by 2010, up from 427 million now. Above, a girl on her cellphone in Mumbai.

“There is a lot of opportunity here [in India], and we need to make mobility more accessible to all people, including those in rural areas, which is the next frontier to be conquered,” Mr. Kallasvuo said.

The company has more than half the share of India’s mobile handset market, according to analysts. Nokia said it plans to roll out the installment plan to sell its handsets in 12 Indian states after a pilot program covering more than 2,500 villages in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Under the pilot program, a microfinance organization bought handsets from Nokia and sold them to women in rural areas by charging them 100 rupees, or about $2, in weekly installments for as long as 25 weeks.

Nokia expects about 500 million mobile-phone users in India by 2010, up from 427 million now, Mr. Kallasvuo said.

“We believe that much of this growth will take place in non-urban markets and rural penetration in India is still very low at 13%,” Nokia said in a statement.

India’s telecom sector earnings to cross $30 bn by 2013: Gartner Inc

From www.economictimes.com 18 Jun 2009, 1454 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: India will continue its robust telecom story with the sector’s revenue to be more than $30 bn by 2013, according to a global information technology research and advisory firm.

“Total mobile services revenue in India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5 percent during 2009-2013 to exceed $30 billion,” the US-based Gartner Inc said in a statement Thursday.

According to Gartner, the telecom subscriber base is expected to cross 770 million connections by 2013, growing at a CAGR of 14.3 percent from 452 million in 2009.

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

“Growth will also be triggered by increased adoption of value-added services, which are relevant to both rural and urban markets,” Gupta added.

Mobile market penetration is projected to increase from 38.7 percent in 2009 to 63.5 percent in 2013, Gartner said, and attributed it to three factors: increased focus on the rural market, entry of consumer durable and electronic companies into the mobile handset segment, and cheaper handsets.

The number of people with prepaid connections, who accounted for 93 percent of the subscriber base in 2008, will continue to swell to exceed 96 percent by 2013, surpassing 740 million.

The postpaid subscriber base will exceed 29 million subscribers by 2013, growing 2.5 percent from 2008, Gartner said.

It also predicted the churn rate – the rate at which a subscriber switches from one operator to another – to cross 59 percent in 2013 from 53 percent currently.

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

Spice Comm FY'09 net loss at Rs 1,015 cr – The Financial Express

via Spice Comm FY’09 net loss at Rs 1,015 cr – The Financial Express on The Financial Express, June 18, 2009

Mumbai: Telecom service provider Spice Communications reported a net loss of Rs 1,015.22 crore for the 15 months ended March 31, 2009, while it had a net profit of Rs 380.13 crore in the period ended December 2007.

The company’s net sales stood at Rs 1,580.47 crore for the period ended March 2009, against Rs 957.84 crore in the fiscal ended December 31, 2007, Spice Communications said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

During the financial year, the stake of Idea in the company stands at 41.09 per cent effective October 16, 2008, the filing added.

Shares of Spice Communications were trading at Rs 71.30, up 2.08 per cent on the BSE.