Indian Telecom Folder

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Vipul
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

Sunil Mittal thought his gravy run is going to last forever.Ever since the Govt move to grant lisences to more telecom companies, he has not let go a single opportunity to criticise the govt.He wants a few companies only in each circle so that the Telecom companies could continue to make obscene profits even if it means high tarrifs to the end consumers.He even does not want to pay extra for the spectrum that Bharti has hoarded over and above the initial allotment for all these years!!!
He has to reconcile to the fact that with increasing costs for lisence renewal fees, spectrum charges, 3G/BWA and 4G auctions,MNP regime and more cut-throat compettion for market share by the new entrants he has got to find another revenue/profitability stream as Bharti's record of stellar q-on-q and y-on-y performance will soon be over.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Srinivas »

Vipul wrote:Sunil Mittal thought his gravy run is going to last forever.
.....
He wants a few companies only in each circle so that the Telecom companies could continue to make obscene profits even if it means high tarrifs to the end consumers.
Airtel looks more and more like AT&T of yesteryears in America.

Airtel offers a deadly mixture of high prices and low quality offerings. Recently TRAI published an announcement for AP circle in Hyderabad(issued in public interest), in which few quality metrics were tabulated. BSNL has the worst stats and Airtel came next. The data corroborates my experience. Announcement can be found here - http://www.trai.gov.in/PerformanceK/AP.pdf

Even in busy areas like Himayat Nagar, Ameerpet, etc in Hyderabad, Airtel coverage is poor.

Airtel senior executives have been complaining consistently about competitors adopting predatory pricing tactics, at the same time blithely ignoring 30% or so profit margins of Airtel. Mobile telephony is not exactly rocket science, 5 to 10% profit margins may be reasonable. But 30% margins sounds usurious to me. IMHO TRAI is doing a fine job (corruption is there though).

At the first available opportunity (MNP), I am going to flee Airtel.
Tanaji
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/ ... se-cos.htm

Er, when did Huawei and ZTE have "undertaken R&D" and provided "cutting edge" stuff? They compete very well, and the main reason is the cost. They are typically 20% below other vendors and most importantly, in this time of tight credit, offer vendor financing. It is small wonder that India Inc loves them.
The problem, COAI said, arises from the fact that DoT wants telecom operators to give an undertaking that their equipment is clear of all spyware. But, they have made it clear to the government that they do not have such testing facilities. In case an operator gives an undertaking and DoT discovers a problem later, the operator could face a Rs 50-crore fine. DoT has said it will start testing in Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science. "But, there is no time frame and orders have been stuck," Mathews said.
how does one test this to assure themselves that there is no spyware? Not all interfaces are open, although a lot of them are. So you sometimes need the vendors tools just to talk to some of these boxes. And spyware can be notoriously hard to find, if the EVM dhaaga is to be believed :mrgreen:
The Chinese are price warriors in 3G equipment and if they are not there, the Europeans will only raise prices, which will increase network roll out costs, and eventually, consumers would have to pay more.
This is true though...
chetak
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by chetak »

FWIW.

The alleged GOI papers relating to a some parts of the telephone buggings related to the lobbying for a cabinet post.

Very interesting.



http://indiasreport.com/magazine/data/t ... onnection/
The Radia Papers– Raja, Tata, Ambani connection

But almost all of it have remained undisclosed and Government has also refused to come out with any significant details about the case filed by the CBI, and where the case stands today.

It was therefore felt that it was important to put all these documents in public domain, for people to make their own judgement. It is necessary that the claims and charges made in these documents are investigated and the full truth comes out.

So we have decided to publish these documents on this site, without any ill-will or bias or with ulterior motives, except in the hope that it would result in public pressure on authorities to come out with the truth.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

india does not have an operator with the deep technical heritage of AT & T (lucent bell labs was part of it once) or some kind of JV "Bellcore" established by the split up Bells. Airtel for instance allegedly has let the vendors service arm take over the entire technical side of network ops
and focusses on just marketing and billing.

for the long term, a desi Bellcore is needed to certify commercial as well as the tons of military eqpt.
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Post by svinayak »

Subscriptions
India continues to be the hottest market on the planet in terms of net-adds with (again) a world record-setting month in Jan 2010 with 19.9 million net adds. To give you a perspective, this is almost 1.5 times  the number of subscribers US added in the whole year. It is like adding a Canadian wireless market every month. For the year 2009, India added 177 million subs vs. 106 million for China.

Combined, one year of growth in these two market is equivalent to the size of the third largest market - the US, to date. Making money on the net-adds is a different proposition all together (more discussion on the international market in our global market update later this month)
Thanks to the explosive growth in the emerging markets, the global mobile market went past 4.6B in 2009 and is likely to cross the 5B mark in 2010. The global mobile subscriptions now represent over 68% of human population on planet earth.

China crossed the 700M subscription mark in July while India's total went past 500 in Nov. In the meantime, US crossed the 90% subscriptions mark in 2009.

In the last 10 years, the growth patterns in the mobile industry have completely reversed. In 1998, the developed world accounted for 76% of the subscriber base, in 2008; the percentages have flipped with developing world now accounting for 76% of the subscriber base and are likely to increase to 85% by 2018.

The top 10 nations by subscriptions are: China, India, US, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, Pakistan and Italy.
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Post by svinayak »

Applications and Services
Non-messaging services continues to grab 60-65% of the data revenues for the US carriers.
There is a significant shift taking place in terms of app revenues. In 2010, there will be more revenues generated (globally) from off-deck than on-deck for the first time and while the on-deck revenues are in billions, the decline trend looks irreversible. In the US, this shift will occur next year. (We released our mobile apps economy research paper last quarter)
The usage and data consumption trends are enabling carriers to accelerate their 3.5G/4G plans and develop long-term business and technical strategies.
The news reports of resuscitation of the media industry by iPad were premature.
Handsets
Nokia sold 108M units in Q1 2010 including 21.5M smartphones. Samsung again had a solid quarter with over 64M devices sold increasing its market share to 22%. LG Electronics at 9%, Sony Ericsson at 3.6% rounded up the top 4. For the first time, Motorola didn’t figure in the top 5 device makers. Android, Apple, and RIM made gains as well.
The constant drumbeat of new devices continued with Droid, Nexus One, HD2, EVO, and iPad.
Open
The battle for “Open” is breaking out in the street with latest episode being Apple vs. Adobe. We tend to forget that open is a means to an end, not an end in of itself. We are experiencing a fascinating period of transition in the mobile industry and some of the biggest brands in computing and communications are right in the middle of it.
Data Traffic
As we noted , the data traffic is now significantly more than the voice traffic. The good news is that there are several solutions that available and are being invented that will help manage the data growth. The question is how fast will the operators deploy some of these solutions.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by jamwal »

China’s loss may aid Scandinavia
Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE are set to miss the Rs 45,000-crore 3G infrastructure market in India. Citing security related issues, the Home Ministry has not given permission to Indian telecom service providers to buy equipment from Chinese companies.

This leaves the field open for two European majors — Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network (NSN).
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

3G auctions are ending this week. the winners have to find around 65000cr in 2 weeks. this is moment of truth - do they have money?

NTPC is going to release a $5b tender for N x 800MW plants with the rider they must have made in India and some part assured to BHEL.
except the 3 chinese power plant makers, all the others have factories here, so its a move designed to ensure the panda doesnt get GOI funds atleast.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by pgbhat »

chetak
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Post by chetak »



raja! ab tera kya hoga? :evil:
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Post by naren »

India's 3G mobile auction raises $15bn
India's auction of third generation (3G) bandwidth for mobile phone services has ended with the government reaping $15bn, twice the sum expected.
The total number of mobile phones sold in India has jumped nearly 300% over the past few years, from 35 million in 2005 to 130 million in 2009, according to the Indian Cellular Association.
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Post by Singha »

there is another auction starting next week for BWA (broadband wireless access) which I assume is Wimax for home data access. qualcomm talks of something called "TD-LTE"

whatever happens, the bband penetration needs to rise to 50% in smaller towns and people should have 3-4 strong choices that work equally well.
even in BLR most areas have two choices in dsl only (airtel and bsnl). there is one hathaway cable modem provider and a couple of wireless providers (edge?) like tata and reliance.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by derkonig »

^^^
BWA is not WiMax. Wireless broadband will be delivered via cellular technologies.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

I've been using a Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ branded EVDO card here in Cochin. The BSNL Dataone line was a nightmare, barely staying connected 2 minutes at a time. The card on the other hand, has been very good - very nice speeds, stable connection, works when the power goes out (which happens once in a while when it rains heavily). I don't think broadband penetration via fixed lines will work well in desh. Wireless is the way to go.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by K_Reddy »

Yay, the Indian Govt gets 2X as much as it had estimated from the 3G auction. Wow, now our highly intelligent govt luminaries can take this money (which is being reallocated from one of the most transformative and dynamic sectors of the Indian economy) and you know, can put it really good use and shit. This can only end well.

World over, teleco operators lost money by overbidding on 3G licenses to ‘stay in the game’. Some bit off more then they could chew and collapsed down the line. Much of the consolidation in the telecom industry in Europe can be traced to their 3G auctions. The German gov made 40B$ from their auctions. They celebrated till they found out, months later, that the burden of the license fee lead to massive losses in the share value of the telecoms. The loss to the German tax payer in telecom shares the gov owned – 40B$. The telecos are going to pass this cost on to us, this auction nothing but a massive tax on telecommunication.
naren
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Post by naren »

^^^ I dont know how much ROI the telcos are gonna make. Internet usage in India is still only ~7% of the pop. There's also the language barrier. Beyond certain numbers, you are dealing with english-illiterate, computer-illiterate, internet-illiterate population. And then there's the learning curve. Apart from the urban young generation, most people I have come across know only basic phone operation.

Ofcourse there must be some creative way to over come this barrier.
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Post by Singha »

but BSNL is not a publicly traded co to my knowledge. its just a govt dept and they are not involved in this bidding presumbably because they are getting some spectrum for free.

if the Pvt players like vodafone, airtel etc suffer and start going under only the holders of their stock will be affected, not the public in general.
Tanaji
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

derkonig wrote:^^^
BWA is not WiMax. Wireless broadband will be delivered via cellular technologies.
That term is ambiguous and generic and can stand for many things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_wireless_access

Personally for me, wireless broadband = mobile broadband (HSDPA/HSPA) + WiMax
chetak
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Post by chetak »

Singha wrote:but BSNL is not a publicly traded co to my knowledge. its just a govt dept and they are not involved in this bidding presumbably because they are getting some spectrum for free.

if the Pvt players like vodafone, airtel etc suffer and start going under only the holders of their stock will be affected, not the public in general.
Singha ji,

BSNL and MTNL usually wind up paying what ever the highest bidder paid. It is just that they are assured spectrum without any uncertainty. I think that these guys are the only ones offering 3G services today even before the dust of the auction has settled down.

And they have made a right dogs breakfast of it so far.

However, in the case of the recently concluded auction there has been some talk of the of some concessions to these guys (from the Fin Min) because the money comes from the government in any case and the transfer takes place from one pocket of the government to another pocket.

Pranab da's pockets are empty after imported nut cases like jean dreze and other motivated NGOs convinced the rajmata to embark on large scale social sector spending in a manner that is not viable at present. This has been further suborned by the babus without adequate checks and balances. There is not enough developmental ROI from these schemes in terms of social uplift and quality of life of the rural populace.

Unless the same spending is sharply focused and has a clear targeted audience, it will go the way of the PDS.

The kangressis have nothing to show for it except increased prices as well as massive surge in rural labor rates because aam jantha prefer to loll around and collect their dole from the rozgar yojana schemes. Rozi roti is assured because the higher ups skim off the top and pay the jantha the balance even when they don't show up for work. Full families including drooling granddads and babes in arms are registered and paid by sly administrators. Nice racket.

The commies and the naxals are laughing all the way to the bank. They are the real beneficiaries. They simply tax the recipients.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sachin »

I thought would just add this here. Shifted to a new location and found out that Airtel which talks about super connectivity has a pathetic network system in this area (it is a bit of a rural area but close to a major highway). Scouts the area and find a shop which sells new connection. As per his opinion IDEA has a better reach in the locality. Pay up Rs.80/- and goes for that. I wanted to have a BSNL connection, but the shop keeper says that BSNL do not accept ID proofs which have an out-of-state permenant address (my DL is from the socialist republic). I really dont know if BSNL insists this, or it is a trick by the "shop keeper-private company combo". I also wanted a telephone connection @ home, and the shop keeper recommends Tata Indicom (Rate: Rs.1500/- only).

Just for curiosity sake I check up the local Telephone Exchange number. It also has a customer care centre. I ring them up and:-
Surprize #1: They picked up the phone, were polite in talking.
Surprize #2: A Wireless on Local Loop connectivity is available. All it requires is copy of rental agreement, ID proof, a photo graph, and Rs.500/-. The chap actually says that if I can land up there in the morning, I can take the equipment and walk off.
Surprize #3: I land up during my office lunch hours. The filling up of forms, paying the money is done in 10 mins flat. Since it is afternoon, I can pick up the telephone equipment the next day.

I land up there today afternoon, the instrument is ready and I walk home a happy man :). And it even works !!! :D.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by ravar »

At the first available opportunity (MNP), I am going to flee Airtel.
found out that Airtel which talks about super connectivity has a pathetic network system
Should share my pathetic experience with Airtel. Having been an NRI and experienced the prompt customer service abroad, I was in for a shock when I took to Airtel for a pre paid mobile connection (they apparently gave the reason that I need to wait for one year to get a post paid connection, i.e., converting the pre-paid to post paid!! I was in a hurry and went as per the advice of a few friends that Airtel was the best!!)

Everytime I used to call the customercare, I would be put on wait for at least 10 minutes before the agent took the call and invariably after spending another 5 minutes explaining my problem, the agent would cut the call….Zing! So, I would try again, wait for another 10 minutes and another agent picks up the call and I would take the pain in explaining again and again the call would go bust!! This happened for around 4 times and I gave up! This was not a one time experience but happened many times over!

The greatest mistake that I committed was in choosing a datacard from them. They assured a min speed of 120 kbps (no brochure though at the outlet!, so that no customer can pick them up at a consumer court on the speed assured!). I pay INR 1800 for their 2G datacard and go in for an unlimited monthly plan of INR 1k. To my surprise, the speed was atrocious (would fluctuate from 0.36 kbps to 40 kbps max for a minute or so and then would sit idle for the next 20 minutes and and it was like waiting for Godot for a site to loadup. I register a complaint with their customer service and after 18 days a network guy rings up and says that the problem is resolved, though I faced the same problem! Over the next month and half, I made over 30 calls to their Customer service and everytime they would answer that ‘your request has been put on priority’ but no timeline is given! After a month, they give me the number of the Nodal network centre which is supposedly meant to resolve the issue (see, the customer can call if he wants to rectify his problem, we will provide the number onlee!!). Incidentally, the nodal centre professed ignorance of any request coming in from their customercare!! I threatened them in taking them to consumer court and guess what they said as a special case, they will send an engineer for site survey within 7 days!! (you see, the customer need not use the net for 7 days onlee!!). The guy does not turn up and I continue to follow up and on the 10 th day a guy turns up and I heave a sigh of relief that things are looking up after all! The guy gives a shocker and says that he came to check the signal strength of my mobile phone and there has been a goof up in communication from his team. The datacard survey has to be done by another team and he assured that by next day someone else would arrive for the same!! As usual, nobody turns up as promised!

Ultimatley, I take the momentous decision to cut the datacard connection once and for all. I make the request and over the next two weeks I receive a flurry of calls from their retention dept (each agent asking afresh what the problem was as if I had all the sweet time in the world just explaining). I was only happy to give them a piece of my mind. In fact, if I had the time, I would have certainly taken them to a consumer court.

And Airtel crossing the seas and going to Africa….??? What a joke!!! First get your house in order and then think of expansion!!! Morons!!
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by merlin »

chetak wrote:


raja! ab tera kya hoga? :evil:
Get away scot free? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by merlin »

Suraj wrote:I've been using a Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ branded EVDO card here in Cochin. The BSNL Dataone line was a nightmare, barely staying connected 2 minutes at a time. The card on the other hand, has been very good - very nice speeds, stable connection, works when the power goes out (which happens once in a while when it rains heavily). I don't think broadband penetration via fixed lines will work well in desh. Wireless is the way to go.
Reliance Netconnect is almost useless for Skype calls, roundtrip times are too large. A simple BSNL 256 kbps connection beats it hollow for that use.

BSNL is great when it works, no problems at all. But when it doesn't you have to move heaven and earth to get it restored - non existent customer service.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by chetak »

Singha wrote:but BSNL is not a publicly traded co to my knowledge. its just a govt dept and they are not involved in this bidding presumbably because they are getting some spectrum for free.

if the Pvt players like vodafone, airtel etc suffer and start going under only the holders of their stock will be affected, not the public in general.
Singha ji,

Here are the figures that MTNL and BSNL are to pay for their 3G licenses.


http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... -offer.htm
BSNL which launched its 3G service in Kerala in January this year, has received a good response. BSNL, which started 3G services in March 2009 already has 1 million 3G subscribers across 240 cities in India, except Mumbai and Delhi, where the Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd offers 3G services.

MTNL and BSNL got an advantage in getting the license to launch 3G two years before the private operators. Private mobile operators have just completed their bidding process for 3G spectrum and it will take them about 6 months to roll out their services.

MTNL has a cash balance of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion). Both MTNL and BSNL face a payment of about Rs 16,500 crore (Rs 165 billion) for 3G spectrum auction licence fee. Of the total, Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion) belongs to MTNL and the rest to BSNL.
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Post by chetak »

http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/ ... ction_id=8
Guest Column
Retrofit: A telecom scam of epic proportions
May 19, 10

Sandeep Bamzai


When media gets that bit between its teeth, it is very difficult to shake off. More so, when the electronic media is involved. As Parliament was coming to a close, the Telecom Minister A Raja tapes rocked the nation. At first, Headlines Today aired the transcripts, but when Raja refused to bite the bait, saying that it wasn’t his voice on the tapes, Headlines Today nailed his lie fairly and squarely despite enormous legal pressure. The tapes, when they were aired, were a bombshell as the voices were unmistakably the Telecom Minister’s and a top female lobbyist’s. All hell broke loose because the conversations showed that the Telecom Minister from UPA 1 was lobbying for the same portfolio with a lobbyist. All this long before the Cabinet was sworn in. The Prime Minister’s sole prerogative had suddenly been usurped by an all powerful lobbyist. Anyway, the Opposition turned into rabble rousers and the AIADMK went on the rampage in Parliament. But strangely, the principal Opposition party maintained its distance from the controversy as speculation was rife in the Capital that some of its top leaders were also involved with the same lobbyist and due to this proximity, they did not want to be ensnared in the maelstrom.

Just as the Raja tapes reached a crescendo, the Parliament session ended and a brilliant expose fell virtually flat on its face. Its lifespan curtailed. The Opposition in any case in disarray conveniently forgot its job of haranguing the treasury. Elephants and camels were intrepidly and conveniently brushed under the carpet. The investigation was not taken to its logical culmination. Why? Primarily, because the rest of media hardly stepped up to the plate. Either Raja or the lobbyist had got to nearly all of it or nobody wanted to tango such powerful personages. I must add that ET did carry a couple of stories, Pioneer did a sterling job and HT, surprisingly, put all the Government investigation missives on its webiste - http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed ... aspx.These letters are a slam dunk indictment of all that is wrong with governance.
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Post by Sachin »

ravar wrote:they will send an engineer for site survey within 7 days!! (you see, the customer need not use the net for 7 days onlee!!).
The most sickening part of the customer care of the so called reputed private service providers is exactly the above. These people come up with a mind-set that their customers are basically jobless people who have 24 hours,7 days a week, 365 days a year to sit idle and wait for the elusive service engineer to turn up :evil:.

I did a recent shifting of home and....
1. The best was Tata Sky (DTH) who noted my transfer request, gave an approximate time, briefed me well in advance. And the day we shifted two chaps landed up fixed up every thing in 20 mins flat and left :).
2. Tata Broadband a distant cousin of Tata Sky did some what better service (when compared to last lime). But being the VSNL in its earlier avathar, the sarkaar attitude is still yet to vanish. More paper work, and VSNL not storing them properly and asking the customer to provide them again and again etc. My earlier interactions with them was a real nightmare.
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Post by Prem »

Spice S7000: 3.2 inch Touchscreen Phone with 3.2MP Camera at Rs. 7000
Spice Mobiles have announced the launch of another stunning handset in India- the S7000. It comes with a brilliant 3.2-inch touchscreen WQVGA display and makes the handset all the more attractive. The phone also boasts of its 3.2 MP camera and comes loaded with social networking widgets like Yahoo, Facebook, Nimbuzz, Ibibo, Snaptu, Wapedia, VuClip and OperaMini.Around a month back, Spice had announced the Spice S-1200 12 MP camera phone and now Spice Mobiles have come up with yet another killer phone at an approximate price of Rs. 7000.ently Spice also joined hands with Disney India and so we might see some movie clips of Prince of Persia – Sands of Time, on the handset.
http://www.blogsolute.com/spice-s7000-3 ... rice/8045/
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Post by Tanaji »

Vipul
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Post by Vipul »

16.7 m new telephone users in April.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 638.05 million at the end of April from 621.28 million in March, thereby registering a growth rate of 2.70 per cent. With this, the overall tele-density in India reaches 54.10 per cent according to numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

During the one-month period, wireless subscriber base, including GSM and CDMA, increased from 584.32 million to 601.22 million registering a growth of 2.89 per cent. Wireless tele-density stands at 50.98 per cent. In the wire line segment, the subscriber base declined from 36.96 million in March to 36.83 million at the end of April. BSNL/MTNL, two PSU operators hold 84.64 per cent of the wire line market share. Overall wireline tele-density is 3.12 per cent.

Total broadband subscriber base has increased from 8.75 million to 9 million, a growth of 2.80 per cent.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/ ... likely.htm

Wow! :eek:

Someone in DoT seems to be going overboard, or perhaps its a calculated move. There will be a lot of pushback, and the govt will then scrap this, along with the restriction on Chinese equipment. Already, the telcos are complaining about the Chinese equipment restriction and the Commies are backing them. The GoI cant seem to back down publicly, so the rumour is that the ministry has come up with this draconian restriction which is sure to get scrapped.
The new amendments also made room for an Escrow deposit arrangement between the equipments suppliers and the telecom service providers wherein the suppliers shall keep all the information and documentation in relation to the supplies.

The informations would include "without limitations, in respect to hardware, software, all source code, high level designs, Detail design documents, listings and programmers note," it added.
Even if a vendor does agree to this, what guarantee is there that the source code put in escrow is the true one? And how is DoT going to verify compliance? There is no way to ensure compliance since it doesnt have the resources...
Vipul
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

RIL has just bought Infotel for 4,800 Crores which has emerged as the only sole Pan India BWA Liscence bidder/winner. RIL is also in talks with the Videocon group to buy a majority in their Telecom company which holds Pan India Spectrum for Cellular services. This is really bad news for Bharti, RCOM and Vodafone and the other 13 operators as there will be more cut-throat competition and very low margins (if at all) till consolidation finally happens.
shyamd
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by shyamd »

shyamd wrote:x post:
IOL:
The Huawei problem and India. The group won a GSM contract in South India. In March 2010, the contract was annulled and last month Huawei was excluded from bidding for a GSM network along the border with China.

To demonstrate to the Indian authorities that it was above reproachment, Huawei had security audits carried out on its equipment by US consultancies Telcordia, formerly Bell Communications Research and electronic warfare associates submitted the results to the Indian Home Minister. The group also gave the Intelligence Bureau a detailed schema of its share ownership - Huawei is controlled by its employees - and even offered access to the source code of the software used in its products.

To assuage Indian and U.S. fears, Huawei always cites the example of Europe, which allows the group to do business

In a bid to change its image, Huawei has launched a global PR campaign, recruiting lobbyists and consultants in the United States and going out of its way to show that it is transparent.
Suraj
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

The 3G and BWA auctions are over. GoT earned Rs.1.06 lakh crore (~$23 billion), thrice as much as the budget estimate of Rs.35000 crore.
India Bandwidth Auction Ends
The government said it will earn INR385.43 billion ($8.23 billion) from the auctions, including payments by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (500108.BY), which were given bandwidth before the auctions but now must match the winning bids.

Together with the INR677.19 billion it received from the auctions of third-generation, or 3G, bandwidth, the government has generated about INR1.063 trillion ($22.7 billion) from the two events, compared to the INR350.00 billion it had estimated in its federal budget.

The windfall revenue from the broadband and 3G auctions is likely to part-fund government payouts toward food, fuel and fertilizer subsidies and also help shrink the fiscal deficit.

The government is pushing to increase broadband usage in a country where broadband Internet services are still in their infancy: only nine million of the country's more than one billion people have access to such connectivity.

India's telecom regulator, in a paper issued June 10, estimated the country to have about 48 million broadband users by 2012, and about 100 million by 2014.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Prem »

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10781416 ... india.html
Qualcomm Nets Wireless Licenses in India
quotes in this article: QCOM , VOD , TCL , MTE Qualcomm(QCOM) won bids for four out of the 22 circles for which broadband wireless licenses were issued. The auction awarded two blocks of 20MHz in the 2.3GHz band in each circle. The company paid a whopping $1.04 billion for these four circles that include Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. Delhi and Mumbai attracted the highest bids of $485 million and $474 million, respectively. After receiving the government's formal approval, Qualcomm plans to announce its Indian partners. Qualcomm will be allowed to provide high-speed internet access, internet telephony and television services in these four circles. India's 2.3 GHz spectrum band and swiftly growing demand for broadband services is well suited for Qualcomm's TD-LTE technology. This auction will help the commercialization of its wireless technology and accelerate the use of TD-LTE. In a press release, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm said "Along with our ecosystem partners, we are now poised to accelerate the mobile broadband revolution with 3G HSPA, EV-DO and
Buy Stock Now!!
Prem
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Prem »

India's Reliance pays $1 billion for control of broadband winner
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15277521?nclick_check=1
MUMBAI, India — Reliance Industries will pay 48 billion rupees ($1 billion) for a 95 percent stake in Infotel Broadband, the only company to win pan-India broadband wireless spectrum in a government auction Friday. The announcement from India's most valuable company came hours after the government closed the 16-day bidding process, which the Press Trust of India said yielded 383 billion rupees ($8.2 billion) in spectrum fees. Add that haul to the $14.6 billion India raked in from third-generation spectrum auctions less than a month ago, and the central government could shave a chunk off its projected 4.0 trillion rupee ($85.5 billion) fiscal deficit. Reliance Industries, a retailing-to-gas conglomerate run by India's richest man, is jumping into telecommunications as the sector struggles with skyrocketing costs, an uncertain regulatory environment and fierce competition.
Abhijeet
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Abhijeet »

I had never heard of Infotel before. It sounds like the most anonymous name for a company anyone could have thought up.

Is it a shell company owned by some bigger group?

---------

Tata and Airtel I think dropped out of the BWA auction because the "business cases" did not justify the price. I wonder whether they or Reliance will be proven right. I hope the TRAI projections of broadband users for 2012/14 are (for once) correct rather than being hopelessly optimistic as they have consistently been so far.
svinayak
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by svinayak »

Abhijeet wrote:

Tata and Airtel I think dropped out of the BWA auction because the "business cases" did not justify the price. I wonder whether they or Reliance will be proven right. I hope the TRAI projections of broadband users for 2012/14 are (for once) correct rather than being hopelessly optimistic as they have consistently been so far.
They will buy out the companies which has the licenses with a reduced prices
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sanjay M »

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