Mobile rechargers to resume work from tomorrow

Coimbatore, Jul 9 (PTI): The one-week-old strike by Mobile Recharge and Retailers Association here will end tomorrow,even as 200 association members observed a one-day fast here today, in protest against reduction of commission by major mobile service providers. In a resolution,the association said it has decided to sell recharge coupons and Easy recharge from tomorrow or just after the fast in the evening, considering the problems being faced by the public. Nearly 5,000 retailers are on strike since one week in reduction of commission charges from 3.8 to 3.3 per cent by major service operators, without any proper communication. In another resolution,it said members would stop activating SIM cards of operators like Airtel, Aircel and Vodafone until further orders. It also decided to remove signboards of these operators from their shops. source

Aircel looking forward for 5 mn 3G users by year end

Wireless carrier Aircel hopes that by the end of the year about ten percent of its current user base of over 50 million subscribers will be using the faster 3G data and voice services, a top company official said here on Thursday.

The company announced the launch of their 3G telecoms services in India on Thursday.

Aircel Chief Operating Officer Gurdeep Singh said, We believe that by the end of this year 10 percent of the customers will be using 3G facility and by the next 3 to 4 year the figure will rise to 30 percent."

Speaking on the 3G connectivity, Singh said: "The launch of 3G services on Aircel will address the high speed digital needs of the customers thus unleashing the power of the internet further creating the opportunities for education, employment, engagement and entertainment which will empower the consumers and impact their lifestyle."

The Aircel 3G Pocket internet portal will enable its users to watch video entertainment such as fashion, music, movies and sports.

The customers can also watch multiple TV channels live on Aircel 3G network in different languages.

Aircel crossed an all India subscriber base of over 50 million subscribers in 2010 besides recording a revenue growth of 44 percent over 2009 and the incremental market share growth of 19 percent in 2010.

"Our commitment to the market is underlined by the investment of over USD 8 billion we have made already and a further USD 3 billion we plan to spend in the next three years," Singh added.source

Aircel launches 3G services; soon to roll out in 11 circles

Aircel will invest nearly Rs 23,000 crore in 3G and 2G operations in the next 3-4 years. This will take the company's cumulative investment in India by then to around Rs 45,000 crore or $10 billion, according to the company's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Gurdeep Singh.

Launching Aircel's 3G services, Mr Singh said the youth comprise over 50 per cent of the country's population and are among active Internet users and also avid users of Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites. This service will address the high speed digital needs of such consumers with the power of the Internet creating new opportunities in sectors such as education, entertainment and employment.

After Chennai, Aircel will roll out the 3G services in 11 telecom circles, excluding Punjab and West Bengal, in the next one week. It will cover all of its 13 circles with 3G network by mid-March, he said.

Aircel, a part of Malaysia's Maxis Communications, has bagged 3G spectrum for 13 telecom circles. Mr Singh said the ‘value added service' (VAS) and ‘data' will drive the growth of 3G in the country. At present, revenue from VAS and data is only 10 per cent in India, while in other developed countries it is nearly 40 per cent.

The company has tied up with Samsung, BlackBerry, Dell and Nokia for ‘smart' mobile devices with 3G compatibility. The base rate will be 3 paise per 10KB. At an inclusive price of Rs 132, Rs 252, Rs 502 and Rs 802, consumers can have 75 MB, 150 MB, 350 MB and 1024 MB data, respectively, a month with in-built voice and SMS, he said.

Mr Singh said in the next five years nearly 35 per cent of Aircel's customers would be using 3G services. Aircel has a subscriber base of around 50 million subscribers.source

Travelling Numbers

Almost all mobile service brands say the much anticipated and much delayed mobile number portability is not going to be a game changer in their industry. And yet, not one of them is holding back on doing their best — in effort and expenses — to get subscribers to port from competing service brands best — in effort and expenses — to get subscribers to port from competing service brands to their own.

Idea Cellular started advertising before the launch of MNP in November 2010. By now, there is a communication deluge as MNP cuts across India. Leading players such as Airtel and Vodafone have gone aggressive across TV, print, radio, outdoor, at points of sale and online.

Newer entrants Uninor and MTS have been advertising over the past two months or so. To Idea’s celebrity endorser Abhishek Bachchan, Airtel has roped in AR Rahman, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

Vodafone has a TV ad featuring a kiddie photo session and hoardings welcoming subscribers to much better services and quality without changing their mobile numbers.

And riding on the din, though perhaps not specifically MNP-driven, is Videocon with its zero-paisa per second call offer — for the period of one year — on its TV ad and outdoor media.

So is it much ado about nothing?

Mritunjay Kapur, MD, Protiviti Consulting India (Protiviti is an international risk management and business consulting group), said, “Because one brand is doing it, others are also doing it. It’s a very competitive market.”  With as many as 15 mobile service brands fighting for business, no one would miss out on any action, not even in a market with a subscriber base as large as 75.22 crore as on December 31, 2010, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) figures.

Atul Bindal, president, mobile services, Bharti Airtel, said, “Pre-paid subscriptions make up 95% of the total mobile customer base in India. With already very high monthly pre-paid churn at around 7%, MNP will have very small impact at an industry level.”

Samaresh Parida, director, corporate strategy, Vodafone Essar, said, “In most countries where MNP has been launched, the action mostly lasted over three-four months, by which time subscribers settled down with the service of their choice.”

However, port-outs and port-ins are happening with every service, big and small. “We have seen 2,17,000 port-ins and 1,25,000 port-outs,” said Parida.

While attractive price deals are very visible, the bigger players insist that low pricing cannot be a sole driver for MNP movement. “We find customers changing operators due to network issues. Our research also indicates that they are switching operators because of service and not pricing issues,” Bindal said.

But, he added, “the possibility of ongoing tactical promotional offers at the local level cannot be ignored. As prices in India are already very low, there is no further scope for a sustainable price drop. With MNP launch, all existing operators will be working on improving their quality of services — network, customer service, products.”

“Customers responding to MNP are making more considered choices. Their requests are on network quality, service, brand strength and also tariffs,” Parida observed.

Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer, Idea Cellular, said, “Consumers, our research shows, are looking for a pan-India network offering seamless connectivity; affordable, relevant products and service offerings; accessible and humane customer care; accurate billing systems; voice clarity; and no call drops. These are the key parameters for satisfaction and will ultimately be the deciding factors for exercising choice, post MNP. These were the highlights on our ad campaign, with its key message, ‘No Idea, Get Idea’.”

Newer operators are, however, more upbeat on the mix of attractive pricing and less cluttered networks since their subscriber bases are smaller.

“We expect MNP to boost our subscriber base. January-November 2010 TRAI numbers show that 14% of incremental subscribers were brought in by new operators. Post MNP, 60% of our port-ins were GSM consumers. The new operators received licences at varied intervals between 2008 and 2009, so their achievement is even more significant,” said Leonid Musatov, chief marketing officer, MTS India, which offers CDMA services.

Olav Sande, EVP, western circle, Uninor India, said dynamic pricing has worked wonderfully for Uninor. “We see MNP as an excellent opportunity to grow. In itself, MNP is not a basic need. The basic need is the attractiveness of the plan in terms of price and the services we offer on that plan,” he said.

Every mobile service brand wants the high ARPU (average revenue per user) subscriber — who is mostly a post-paid customer — but is not averse to lower revenue customers too.

Parida explained, “Naturally, I would give higher priority to my high ARPU customer. Below that, based on usage segmentation, I would offer different services to different customer sets.”

Airtel’s Bindal was more direct: “We remain focused on delivering complete ‘value’ as against offering just the price proposition. We hope to acquire few customers in the category of deal seekers that keep switching operators depending upon ‘offer of the day’ schemes. Our early analysis indicates that among MNP port-ins, Airtel is getting disproportionate share of high value customers from other operators.”

Does MNP impact anything then? Protiviti’s Kapur concluded, “It gives consumers choice. It puts greater pressure on mobile service operators to improve their products, services and quality. Overall, MNP can create better balance in overall deliveries. Consumers gain.”source

Old Telcos Likely To Challenge TRAI Fine

 Old telecom players — Bharti, Idea and Vodafone are considering a legal challenge against Trai’s recent recommendation to levy heavy spectrum charges on them. Trai has recommended this penalty for excess spectrum held by these companies.

The CAG, which had pegged the exchequer’s loss due to the 2G scam at Rs 1.76 lakh crore had also ascribed Rs 37,000 crore of the total to the excess spectrum held by these firms. “If the telecom department accepts the Trai recommendation, we will have no choice but to challenge them in the courts. The Trai recommendation are unjust and the charges they have announced are too high,” said a senior official from a telecom company.

In fact last year Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had challenged in TDSAT, Trai’s recommendation which had first talked about levying one time charge on these old telecos for the spectrum they hold beyond 6.2 Mhz based on the price discovered in then on-going 3G auction. These companies were forced to withdrew their petition because at that time telecom department had not accepted these recommendations and therefore the petition was not “maintainable.”

However, then Trai on its own had told the telecom department that it will study the matter in detail and will give recommendations separately on how to charge the spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz. Last week, Trai finally came out with its report recommending that companies be asked to pay Rs 4,571 crore for every MHz of spectrum they hold on a pan-India basis over the contractual limit of 6.2 Mhz.

The government is expected to get additional revenue of Rs 16,000 crore if it accepts these recommendations, an analysis by Emkay Global Financial Services shows. BSNL, which holds the maximum amount of additional spectrum, will have to pay Rs 7,000 crore. BSNL has excess spectrum in 19 circles (61 Mhz), Bharti in 13 circles (32 Mhz), Vodafone in seven circles (19.6 Mhz), Idea in six circles (12.6 Mhz), MTNL in two circles (12.4 Mhz), BPL in one, Reliance in one, Aircel in one and Spice (now Idea) in one, according to CAG report.source.

Aircel plans 3G roll out before World Cup

Aircel will become the fourth private sector telecom company to launch 3G services with a roll out across 13 circles 
before February 19. “We will be launching our 3G services commercially for our subscribers before the cricket World Cup that begins February 19,” said Aircel’s chief operating officer, Gurdeep Singh.

Singh said it would be a phased launch across 13 circles where it has 3G spectrum and all circles will be covered by the time the World Cup gets underway. However, he refused to identify the circle from which the services will be launched.
Singh said it would be a phased launch across 13 circles where it has 3G spectrum and all circles will be covered by the time the World Cup gets underway. However, he refused to identify the circle from which the services will be launched.

The prices for its 3G services will be competitive, Singh added. Aircel won 3G spectrum for 13 circles in the auctions conducted last year. It paid Rs 6,499.46 crore with the maximum amount going for Karnataka circle where it forked out Rs 1,579.91 crore. The country is divided into 22 circles and no operator won a pan-India licence for 3G services. “The roaming agreements with other telecom companies are still being worked out and they would take some time, possibly after the World Cup,” he said.

Aircel also won bids for broadband wireless access (BWA) for eight circles, paying Rs 3,438.01 crore. “The BWA roll out will happen towards the latter half of the year and we will take a call on whether to opt for LTE or WiMAX technology towards end of March,” Singh said.

Aircel will be the second private sector telecom company after Bharti Airtel to launch 3G services this year. Last year, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Reliance Communications (RCom) had launched their 3G services at similar tariffs. TTSL that launched its 3G services in November last year, set the ball rolling with tariffs that work out to less than a paisa per second.

Its tariffs start from Rs 350 for pre-paid offering of 500 minutes talk time and 150 MB of 3G data while for post-paid subscribers, tariffs start from Rs 500 for offering 750 minutes of talk time and 250 MB of 3G data. Its stand-alone data packs start from a minimum of Rs 90 for pre-paid offering of 100 MB of 3G data and Rs 200 for post-paid offering of 200 MB of 3G data.

Rcom that launched its 3G services last December, offers its prepaid customers packages between Rs 299 and Rs 699, with a talk time of 300 and 600 minutes and data of 200MB and 500MB respectively. For post paid subscribers, the company offers three plans – Rs 199 for 300 minutes of talk time with 50MB data, Rs 499 for 1,000 minutes of talk time with 100 MB of data and Rs 2,499 for 6,000 minutes of talk time and 5 GB data. Tariff at the highest end works out to 42 paisa per minute.

Airtel’s tariff structure offers time-based plans for light users of data, with usage and billing by the hour while for heavy users the company offers flexi-shield plans where usage and billing will be capped.

Accordingly, light usage subscribers can choose from packs of value Rs 10, Rs 45 and Rs 60 packs, medium users can pick a 30-day pack of either Rs 200, Rs 450 or Rs 750, while heavy users get 1.25 GB free by paying Rs 650 and in case data usage exceeds the limit, they would be charged 10 paisa per MB.source

Aircel ready to launch 3G services in one go

Aircel today said the company will launch 3G services before start of worldcup cricket in all 13 telecom circles where company has won spectrum for the services.

"We expect 3G presence in all circles where we have bagged spectrum before world cup begins on 19th February," Gurdeep Singh, chief operating officer, Aircel said today.

When asked about the tariff, Singh said it will be competitive.

Talking about broadband wireless access (BWA) services, Singh said the high speed internet services will be launched by end of this year.

"We want to roll out 3G services first and see the response before launching BWA services which will be available by end of this year. By March, we should be able to decide whether we are going for LTE or wimax for BWA,"Singh said.

He declined to comment on investment the company will pump in for marketing of 3G and BWA services.

Aircel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles in auction for Rs Rs 6499.46 crore and BWA spectrum in eight circles for Rs 3,438.01 crore.source

ICICI Bank & Aircel Tying Knot For Financial Inclusion

ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector bank and Aircel, one of the leading Mobile Network Operators in India, today announced a joint initiative to drive financial inclusion in the country. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ICICI Bank will offer, in partnership with Aircel, various financial products including savings accounts, pre-paid instruments and credit products.

This partnership is expected to bring the un-banked and under-banked population into the organised financial services framework and assist in furthering the electronic payments market in India. ICICI Bank will leverage the distribution strength of Aircel, which has the required reach to drive the initiative.

The Government of India and the Reserve bank of India have been working towards ensuring that financial products and services are within reach of the entire population. The partnership between ICICI Bank and Aircel sets out to achieve the goal of financial inclusion in the country. With the use of the mobile phone, ICICI Bank and Aircel will target the unbanked and under-banked population by bringing a cost effective solution to this space. 

Speaking on the alliance, Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said, “We are excited about this partnership with Aircel, which will help ICICI Bank in deepening its base within the country. Mobile penetration currently stands at 60% in the country of which the rural market forms a major contributor. There is a huge potential for offering mobile banking in these regions, which will facilitate access to the financially excluded parts of the society and ensure that benefits from various welfare and growth programs of the government reach them along with other financial services and products. ”

Talking about the joint initiative, Mr. Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel    said: "We are very pleased to partner with ICICI bank in their endeavor towards financial inclusion. The partnership would enable the companies to unleash exciting products and services that will empower enterprise and retail customers across rural and urban India. The partnership will leverage on Aircel's rich experience and infrastructure in IT, customer services and extensive sales and distribution network which will facilitate the delivery of financial products and services. Aircel also brings to the partnership proven capability of providing differentiated products, focus on non-voice services and vision to connect people to their world of possibilities.”   

Both parties will work out the specific arrangements in the coming few weeks and chart out a go-to-market plan.

About ICICI Bank: 
ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE:IBN) is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in the country, with consolidated total assets of over $115 billion at December 31, 2010. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank’s global presence currently spans across 18 countries.

About Aircel: 
Aircel, a part of Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 50 million and is the fastest growing mobile operator in the country. It is the market leader in Tamil Nadu, Assam, North-East and Chennai. . Aircel is now present in 23 Telecom Circles and is a Pan India operator (Mumbai, Pune, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Assam, Bihar, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, North-East , Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, MP & Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat & Rajasthan).For more information, please log on to www.aircel.com

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this release, which contain words or phrases such as 'will', 'would', etc., and similar expressions or variations of such expressions may constitute 'forward-looking statements'. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to obtain statutory and regulatory approvals and to successfully implement our strategy, future levels of non-performing loans, our growth and expansion in business, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, technological implementation and changes, the actual growth in demand for banking products and services, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by us with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. ICICI Bank undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof. source

Top 10 Operators in INDIA 2011

Top 10 Mobile service Providers in India 2011

List Of Mobile Phone Service Providers in India: 

Below You can find the list of Mobile Service Providers and their Market Shares

	Operator	Subscriber base	Market Share
1	Bharti Airtel	146,293,078	21.34%
2	Reliance Communications	119,351,438	17.37%
3	Vodafone	118,038,438	17.08%
4	BSNL	80,739,935	11.31%
5	Tata Teleservices	80,817,298	11.47%
6	Idea	76,023,551	10.84%
7	Aircel	47,519,629	6.64%
8	Unitech	13,748,300	1.05%
9	Loop	3,009,445	0.45%
10	Sistema	7,121,765	0.86%
11	MTNL	5,342,039	0.81%
12	Videocon	5,616,152	0.43%
13	Stel	1,867,060	0.22%
14	Etisalat	70,829	0.01%
15	HFCL Infotel	1,132,477	0.13%
	All India	706,691,164	100.00%

Top 10 Mobile Service Providers in India:

1	Bharti Airtel
2	Vodafone
3	Idea
4	BSNL
5	Aircel
6	Tata Serviceable
7	Reliance Communications
8	MTNL
9	Unitech
10	Loop

State wise Mobile Phone Subscribers: 

	State	Subscriber base	Population (01/08/2010)	Mobile phones per 1000 population
1	Uttar Pradesh	92,867,835	199,415,992	427
2	Maharashtra	84,543,727	110,351,688	707
3	Tamil Nadu	63,671,528	67,773,611	881
4	Andhra Pradesh	54,000,379	84,241,069	600
5	West Bengal	51,901,967	90,524,849	520
6	Bihar	46,311,291	97,560,027	430
7	Karnataka	43,802,688	58,969,294	709
8	Gujarat	40,158,662	58,388,625	618
9	Rajasthan	38,649,784	67,449,102	535
10	Madhya Pradesh	38,295,896	72,362,313	489
	India	706,691,164	1,188,783,351	580