3G Roaming Deal By Top Indian Operators

Three of India’s largest mobile operators – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular – have reportedly struck an intra-circle roaming agreement that will allow them each to offer a countrywide 3G service. In a statement to the Hindu Business Line, Vodafone said it “has entered into a bilateral roaming agreement with Idea and Airtel in circles where we have not built our own 3G network. With this agreement, Vodafone / Airtel / Idea will bring a pan-India experience of 3G services to their customers.” The other two operators have yet to confirm the deal. Last year’s 3G spectrum auctions saw all the country’s operators fall short of acquiring nationwide coverage. Bharti, Aircel and Reliance Communications each own 3G spectrum licences in 13 of the 22 telecom circles, while Vodafone, Idea and Tata each have licences in nine circles.
According to the Hindu Business Line, the latest deal will see Idea use Vodafone’s 3G services in Delhi and Kolkata circles, while Vodafone will use Idea’s network in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala – plus Bharti’s network in Uttar Pradesh (West). Bharti and Idea will tie-up in Karnataka and Gujarat. The report notes that the operators have been “tight lipped” about the specific commercial agreements in the roaming pact, notably with regards to pricing. “This sort of arrangement is relatively new in the Indian market. Perhaps operators want to be sure on the outcome before highlighting them,” said Gartner analyst Shaily Shah. She noted also that “more such tie-ups amongst operators are in the pipeline.” source

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

From Generation To Generation

The lure of 3G notwithstanding, telecom players have a long road ahead if they are to monetise it
That which is well built
will never be torn down.
That which is well latched
cannot slip away.
Those who do things well
will be honoured from generation to generation
Tao Te Ching
The auction of 3G or ‘third-generation’ spectrum has been followed up by the rollout of services that will enable the delivery of a range of next generation services — video streaming, movie downloads, video calls and so on. With as much as Rs 67,719 crore invested by operators in 3G spectrum, they are bound to follow Tao Te Ching’s wisdom in introducing 3G services in the market.

Bharti Airtel is using experiential marketing wherein it has several red-coloured “3G buses” on the move in major cities. Users can step into these buses and have a firsthand experience of 3G mobile services like mobile TV, video calls, high-speed downloads and so on. Its print and outdoor ad screams: ‘Airtel 3G is here’. Tata DoCoMo, known to have one of the largest footprint in retail stores amongst telecom operators, is turning thousands of its shops into “experience stores”. Consumers can walk in and experience services like video SMS, video streaming, mobile television, ultra-high-speed data transfers, route-finder, and live aarti. This assisted experiential marketing would help in making the millions who have not used GPRS yet more familiar with what 3G is all about.
Many of us are familiar by now with Superhero ZooZoo flying all over our TV screens. That was Vodafone’s 3G launch strategy, that is, use its much-appreciated TV ads to announce the introduction of 3G services in India. Superhero ZooZoo stands for the brand personality of 3G — Faster, smarter and better — and helps educate subscribers on this new technology in a simple manner. The different things Superhero ZooZoo does in the TVC indirectly point to the quality of the 3G network that Vodafone aspires to offer. Vodafone is also offering free time-bound 3G trial to its current GPRS subscribers. This not only serves the purpose of pre-purchase service trial but also provides Vodafone with valuable usage data from which it can infer which services are more sought after, how the data consumption is likely to change after mass introduction of 3G services and so on.
On the other hand, Reliance is focusing more on partnerships to offer popular value-added services. It has tied up with Universal Music Group so as to offer music streaming and is promoting its new App Store on Reliance 3G that enables you to get directions while on the road, tips on cooking and yoga, and so on.
Lessons from PSUs
There are some lessons to be learned from BSNL/MTNL in terms of 3G strategies that did not work well. Users found their 2G to 3G SIM card exchange system complicated since one was required to send an SMS as “M3G120” to 53733 and confirm the SMS you get back as “M3G120 Y” to 53733. BSNL’s strategy of offering 3G services at the same price as 2G perhaps weaned subscribers from competition. However, this did not lead to higher data average revenue per user (ARPU) vis-à-vis the 2G network. (In Japan, innovative data plans and highlighting the relevance of 3G services have enabled high penetration and data ARPU.) Moreover, MTNL and BSNL were not able to provide enough marketing thrust to 3G services, thus leading to a lack of awareness of their 3G services. It must not be forgotten that the target customers for a service like 3G prefer young and energetic brands like Airtel and Vodafone.
To provide critical insights in order to close in on a strategy for the deployment of 3G services, the eTech Group@IMRB, active in the area of telecom-related market research for several years now, recently carried out a Syndicated Study on 3G Mobile Services in India christened “The World Of 3nity”. The first round of the study has been conducted amongst as many as 10,000 mobile subscribers and 1,520 establishments across top cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The study also covers views of several industry experts on the India 3G market. Mobile operators seem to be on the right track since as many as 72 per cent of mobile users assume understanding usage of 3G services would be complicated and someone would need to demonstrate it to them first.
The study reveals that only 9 per cent own a 3G-enabled handset, but 82 per cent are willing to switch to a new (3G-enabled) handset to avail 3G services, provided it lies in the Rs 4,200- 6,400 price band. This is in line with the fact that Indian handset manufacturers have already started offering 3G-enabled handsets at ‘middle class affordable’ prices. With a plethora of handsets in the market, the bigger issue is the pricing of the 3G services. As we know, India is a price-sensitive market and for 3G to percolate to the masses the price would need to be quite low and attractive — to start with. However, that is unlikely to happen given the huge cost of spectrum which itself is scarce and the fact that some of the winners are operating in the low-ARPU voice market.
The consumer segment study was carried out using random sampling with a minimum quota for some aspects such as SEC A, B, C & D and subscribers of the 3G spectrum winners while. The fieldwork was completed in December 2010.
As per the IMRB study, 32 per cent are aware of 3G mobile services. Amongst those who are aware, as many as 93 per cent associate video calling with 3G. Here is what an industry expert says about other 3G services: “Purely utilitarian stuff like traffic signal, map, directions, facilities, restaurants and purely entertainment stuff like gaming, infotainment will be very big. Casual gaming will dominate.”
Video versus voice
The report also reveals even more interesting information — that while video calling may be the most awaited 3G application, the main reason people would consider subscribing to 3G services is that 73 per cent of mobile subscribers believe it will mean better voice quality. Experts believe that in the first instance, 3G will be used by many operators to improve their overall network quality and retain voice customers.
Video calling could well emerge as the next big mobile application. Even the unlettered can use it to communicate. However, there are certain constraints — both sides need a double camera phone. It is ironical that rural citizens who require high-speed applications (telemedicine, e-education) the most can afford them the least. In Korea, the government accelerated the adoption of 3G with subsidies for operators as well as mobile phone manufacturers. In India too, the government and industry would need to work together to take 3G to the villages.
The business segment study was done purposely amongst those involved with mobile/telecom decision-making. In case of SMEs, mobile usage is restricted to voice. Besides, messaging is also used especially by small enterprises. However, awareness of specialised enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM on mobile was found to be abysmal. In order to increase penetration of 3G amongst enterprises, it is important to create higher awareness about how they can utilise 3G for business purposes.
We have seen in global markets that it takes time for 3G to transcend from a technology to becoming a household need. The recent rollout of 3G in China has seen only 4 per cent adoption after two years of aggressive marketing by the players and evident government backing. Since none of the operators have a national footprint we are likely to see partnerships being forged amongst operators to weave together a national offering. And with consolidation in the telecom industry on the cards in the next few years, only time will tell who religiously followed Tao Te Ching’s wisdom.

The author is Group Business Director, IMRB

source

An Insight Into OnMobile's Birth... A True Story

In 2002, Arvind Rao and Mouli Raman came close to shutting OnMobile, the company they had founded two years prior to that. They had nearly exhausted their $15 million of venture capital money , partly because of extensive travels around the world in search of the first customer.

Telecom operators were large, and none wanted to be a guinea pig for OnMobile's untested mobile products such as ringtones, alerts and voice-based searches. Rao remembers sitting in his California office wondering how to lay off his 30-40 people.

"The VC was acting tough. We wondered whether we should shut shop, and just tell the VC we gave it our best shot."
But somewhere deep within, they believed in their idea. "That's what I feel strongly about in entrepreneurship. You have to have conviction that the product will work. We had that conviction. So we decided to stick through the bad phase."

It's not official, but it's possible that OnMobile is today the world's biggest company providing mobile value-added services (VAS) other than voice-calls and SMSes. They have been told by one of the world's largest mobile operators that they account for 30% of the operator's global contentbased VAS revenues. The remaining 70% is fragmented. Large telecom operators in India have said that OnMobile accounts for 2-4 % of their overall revenues. "Worldwide, we have 90 million paying users every month," says Rao.

The story of OnMobile actually begins in Infosys Technologies. Mouli Raman, who grew up in a small town in Tamil Nadu and who had joined Infosys in 1988 after an engineering course in REC Allahabad, was servicing startups in California in the late 1990s. Raman felt it was possible to do in India what these tech startups were doing. It was the peak of the internet boom and he and a group in Infosys thought of developing internet products, and started with one that sent alerts to websites. Infosys encouraged the effort.

"But when the product's first version was ready, we realized we would have to spin it out from Infosys. The people, the risk mindset required for this venture were very different from that of a services company," says Mouli. That's when Rao entered. Rao, who grew up in Mumbai and had left for the US in 1980 after an engineering degree from IIT-Bombay , was in the venture capital industry in New York. He was interested in starting an India technology fund.

"For that, I was one day meeting Nandan (Nilekani) and Phaneesh Murthy in New York. It were the rah-rah days of the internet, and Phaneesh envied the lives of VCs (the superstars of those days). He wanted to get involved in the buzz. Nandan had been funding this Infy (Mouli) group, and he was keen to get it off his back."

Thus was born OnMobile. Rao found Mouli and team to be very good. "But I felt they missed the business model and the target . I was coming to it from the target of mobile and VAS; I felt the internet had a difficult-to-prove business model."

So the website alert product was turned into a mobile alert one. They introduced other applications, including one that allowed users to call up to get cricket scores and cricket biographies.

The first customer break came with Orange (later Hutch) in Mumbai. Asim Ghosh and Sandeep Das, who headed that operation, liked OnMobile's work. "Das was a big cricket fan. He liked our cricket app, but said he cannot pay us anything. So we agreed on a revenue share model," Rao says. This was also around the time that OnMobile went through its crisis , with cash nearly depleted.

The Orange service slowly gained acceptance , and it later took it all-India . "That's when others saw it; Airtel called us, Idea called us. After that we never looked back."

OnMobile's strength was its risk sharing and joint work with operators to make the products a success, instead of simply licensing its technology. It made gaining operator acceptance easy; it also brought them so close to customers that they innovated fast. "We evolved the ringback tone product so well, that though we were not the first with it in the world, ours became a blockbuster success ," says Mouli.

In 2008, they signed two agreements, with Vodafone and Telefonica of Spain, which expanded their global presence phenomenally. Vodafone wanted them to replicate their India success around the world. Telefonica wanted them to launch in 13 countries in Latin America. Mouli says they frequently receive requests from developed market operators to teach them the things being done in Asia. "They are hit by Google and Apple (app stores), and they believe we can help them counter this." source

Essar to ask Voda to pay $700 mn more for 33% stake

Vodafone's $5-billion deal to buy out Essar in India's third-largest mobile phone company may run into trouble with the local partner seeking $600-700 million more for its 33% holding. 

Essar group, known for its strong-arm negotiation tactics, will invoke a Reserve Bank of India resolution that stipulates a minimum value for Indian shares in privately-held companies, two people familiar with the development said. 

The April 2010 RBI resolution, which sought to protect domestic companies from aggressive multinational buyers, mandates that Indian shares in privately-held firms should be valued under the discounted cash flow method. Under this method, Essar's 11% stake in Vodafone Essar is worth $1.8-1.9 billion, compared with the purchase option that pegs it at $1.2 billion. 

Vodafone purchased 67% interest in the Indian telco from Hutchison Whampoa and two Indian shareholders Analjit Singh and Ashim Ghosh in 2007 in a $11-billion deal. At that time, Essar and Vodafone agreed that the former could sell its interest in the company to the latter for $5 billion till May 2011. 

The agreement was formed in two parts - one a put or sell option for 22% held by the Essar group overseas and the other a call or buy option for Vodafone to buy 11% stake the Essar group held in India. 

Essar had the first right to exercise its option, but if it tendered its entire 22%, Vodafone's option would become valid. 

The partners had agreed that should only a part of the option be exercised, the value of the stake changing hands would be ascertained by three investment banks, but the amount would be capped at $5 billion if the entire option was exercised. 

The options were to expire on May 8, after which both sides would have been forced to negotiate a price, which, industry analysts say, would have been less much than $5 billion. The country's top mobile company, BSE-listed Bharti Airtel, was valued at $33 billion when Vodafone bought a 67% stake in the then Hutchison Essar in February 2007. 
Bharti is now valued at around $30 billion, despite adding some 180 million customers since then. 

In March, Vodafone said it would purchase Essar's 33% stake for $5 billion as per the agreement. However, the Essar group now plans to argue that since the 11% held in India is being bought by Vodafone it is subject to Reserve Bank regulations. 

"We are mindful of the new Reserve Bank of India guidelines and fully expect the current transaction to comply with them," Vodafone group spokesman Simon Gordon said. A spokesperson for Essar declined to comment on the matter citing a confidentiality agreement. 

Essar had claimed an additional facilitation fee of $500 million from Hutchison during the latter's negotiations with Vodafone. The group may be able to achieve a similar result with Vodafone too, said an industry analyst. 
For Vodafone, much is at stake. It has already locked horns with the Indian tax authorities that claim that the UK-based operator owes the state $2 billion in taxes. The Essar option also will come under similar scrutiny. 
"With the Essar group support and the option to set a benchmark, Vodafone's case in the Supreme Court could get a real boost," said an analyst, who asked not to be named. 

An Essar official said the amount payable for the domestically-held 11% would be subject to capital gains tax, but not the remaining 22% held in the Mauritius subsidiaries. 

Vodafone bought Hutchison's stake through a Cayman Islands company that held shares in a series of Mauritian companies. Given this situation, Vodafone may accept an additional payment to the Essar group as the lesser devil, the analyst said. source

Vodafone 3G at Zoozoo World

Spread across 1000 sq ft area the Zoozoo world will give customers a firsthand experience to try out a host of 3G services like high speed internet, video calling and better gaming experience.

Vodafone Essar Ltd, one of India’s leading cellular service providers, invites everyone to experience Vodafone’s 3G services at the exciting world of Super Zoozoo on 9th -10thApril & 16th - 17th April at Inorbit Mall, Malad and High Street Phoenix, Mumbai Respectively. This unique experience zone will give fans and visitors an opportunity to enter the fascinating world of Super Zoozoos, and enjoy the 3G services in an interactive and fun way.

Spread across 1000 sq ft area the Zoozoo world will give customers a firsthand experience to try out a host of 3G services like high speed internet, video calling and better gaming experience.

Speaking on the occasion, Anuradha Aggarwal, Vice President – Marketing, Brand Communication and Consumer Insights, “With this initiative we are giving our customers a chance to peep into their much loved Zoozoo’s world and letting them engage with the iconic Super Zoozoo. Here, they can also get a step closer to the ‘Faster, Smarter, Better’ world of Vodafone 3G services and experience it in a fun and interactive manner.”

Fans and visitors can get free pictures clicked with their much loved Super Zoozoo, play fun games, take home Zoozoo goodies and win exciting prizes. At the Zoozoo world, visitors can put on their dancing shoes at the ‘dance zone’ where Super Zooozoo will follow and copy your dance moves.

To create awareness for 3G, Vodafone has outlined a full 360-degree campaign that includes a good mix of print, television and outdoor. source

Constraint In Video Telephony and High Usage of Data and Mobile Internet

A limitation in the number of 3G-enabled handsets with forward facing cameras, privacy issues and a limited bandwidth that might hinder user experience may limit the usage of video telephony as telecom companies in India progressively roll out their 3G networks and services.

Globally, the introduction of 3G services in a country has seen subscriber usage patterns tilt towards accessing the internet, either for downloads or browsing and telecom industry officials as well as analysts say the pattern is likely to be repeated in India as 3G services cover more geographies in the country. Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications (RCom), Bharti Airtel and Aircel have already launched their 3G services while Vodafone Essar is currently conducting subscriber trials in Delhi and Chennai and Idea Cellular is expected to announce its 3G launch later this month.

“Initial indications are that data usage will shoot up. Besides, video telephony is very device dependent,” said chief corporate affairs officer for Idea Cellular, Rajat Mukarji. While agreeing that some voice traffic from existing 2G networks will be offloaded by telcos on their 3G bandwidth, he added that may not be a hindrance in user experience for video telephony despite the 5 MHz bandwidth of 3G spectrum. “The offloading will primarily be for customers who opt for 3G networks,” he said.

Data from Indian Cellular Association (ICA) reveals that smart phone sales in the present financial year will number 10-11 million units and for 2011-12, the figure could touch 40 million. “In three to four years, there is going to be a huge acceleration in smart phone sales in India, with annual sales in excess of 50 million handsets,” said ICA’s president, Pankaj Mohindroo.

According to him, internet will be the ‘killer’ application and not video telephony, and there might not be much impact on sales of handset manufacturers that do not offer video calling feature on their devices.

That, in effect, could be a saving grace for Research In Motion (RIM) that manufactures and sells its handsets under the BlackBerry range, which enable other 3G services such as data downloads and mobile internet access but are bereft of the crucial forward facing camera feature that is necessary for enabling video calls.

“As of now, BlackBerry handsets do not come with forward facing camera. I don’t think there is an application that can build on that feature in to BlackBerry smartphone,” said a spokesperson for RIM India, who declined to divulge if the company was planning to incorporate the feature in any future models.

Moreover, as Director of Com First, Mahesh Uppal, points out, usage of video telephony might be restricted among family and close friends due to privacy issues.

“A subscriber on a call with a professional or social acquaintance may not want to share the details of his location, through a video call. That can limit its appeal,” he said.

Low broadband penetration in India is also cited as a reason why mobile internet may pick up faster than mobile video telephony.source

Airtel and Vodafone Concentrating on 3G

With Bharti Airtel launching its 3G services in Mumbai, the telecom operator is looking at multiplying its data subscribers in the 13 3G circles and over 40 cities, by March 2011.
“Data subscribers comprise about 13.5 per cent of revenues on Saturday and broadband penetration in the country hovers at under one per cent. It is only logical to assume that 3G on mobile will be the first internet experience in 2011,” said Atul Bindal, president (mobile services), Bharti Airtel, who is expectant to grow its subscriber volumes, specifically in the pre-paid segment.
With data becoming critical to operator’s revenues, metros like Mumbai that boast of data penetration of about 20 per cent among the subscribers, remain a critical hotbed. Bharti, which, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, added about 33 lakh subscribers in Mumbai in January, has launched 3G data plans starting at Rs 8 onwards. Bindal believes that most subscribers will experiment with 3G trial plans before adopting services.

“Mumbai is the 11th city where we have unveiled 3G networks, but are hopeful of widening the enterprise customer base here,” he said.
Vodafone, which added 56 lakh subscribers in Mumbai in January, said it has set up the experience zones at stores across cities and is inviting customers to experience the same. “The commercial roll out of the services across all our circles will be announced shortly. Vodafone 3G services will be available to all our customers by the end of this quarter,” said a spokesperson from Vodafone Essar.
Meanwhile, Vodafone with a 16 per cent market share, has also announced its plans to launch 3G services in Mumbai in the next 15 days. “Over 100,000 customers have already started using our 3G services and are providing valuable feedback, which we are using to enhance the customer experience,” said an official company spokesperson, Vodafone Essar. The company is currently offering 3G services on trial to selected consumer base.
Bharti Airtel, which according to TRAI data commands over 20 per cent of the total telecom subscriber base, has already added around six lakh 3G users to its kitty. This number includes its existing 3G users. The company has already launched in the service in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Manipal, Udupi, Jaipur and Delhi NCR.
Both Airtel and Vodafone are launching their 3G services much later than Tata DOCOMO and Reliance Communications, which launched 3G service last year. However, experts opine that bigger telecom companies are likely to get a bigger share of the 3G subscribers as they own high average revenue per user (ARPU) customers, who are more likely to sample premium services like 3G.
Analysts, Business Standard spoke to, claimed that a significant portion of Bharti’s subscriber base uses 3G enabled handsets. “This proportion, according to our estimates, is 12 per cent and 10 per cent of the subscriber base in the top-50 cities and top-100 cities, respectively,” said an analyst. Analysts also believe that it may be possible to expect data (especially 3G) revenues to contribute 30 per cent of Airtel’s total revenues in two years (with voice revenues growing at a modest rate).source

Vodafone 3G available in Delhi

It is no less than Superman, claims Vodafone. The 3G service from Vodafone has begun in Delhi (we just got a call from Vodafone to confirm that), but the damper is it will only be available in south and central Delhi, and Gurgaon, with other regions being covered later. The good thing is that as of now, there are no activation charges (you just need to call the call centre) and that Vodafone is offering 3G speed browsing and Live TV, although the much-hyped popular video calling facility is yet to be made available. The bad is that these come at a staggering cost. The rates are Rs10 paise per 10KB which does not sound like much, but stretch that and it works out to be Rs 10 per MB and Rs 10,000 per GB. So clearly those who use a lot of data on their devices should be ready to shell out about the cost of a new handset every month to enjoy Vodafone’s 3G!

The Vodafone call centre executive we talked to said that there were no other 3G plans as yet. We are hoping some will come around soon, as the current one is frankly unaffordable. Who said Superman was cheap? Do let us know if you have heard of other Vodafone plans in your city – we would love to read about them.source

Vodafone emerges biggest gainer of MNP,adds nearly 1.9 lakh users

Nearly a month after the nationwide rollout of mobile number portability services, Vodafone Essar has emerged as the biggest gainer, notching up 1.9 lakh new subscribers, whereas state-owned BSNL lost more customers than it attracted from other service providers. 

Since the launch of MNP services, nearly 20 lakh mobile subscribers have switched service providers using the facility. 

MNP allows users to change service providers while retaining their phone numbers. 

"A total of 19,79,600 numbers of subscribers have ported their numbers so far using the MNP facility," according to official figures provided in the Rajya Sabha by the Department of Telecom ( DoT )). 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had launched nationwide MNP services on January 20 this year. It has been a month since the service was started and as expected, older GSM operators like Vodafone Essar, Airtel and Idea Cellular continue to lure the bulk of subscribers to their networks. 

According to latest available figures, Vodafone Essar gained as many as 1.9 lakh customers, followed by Idea Cellular, with a net gain of 1.5 lakh subscribers. 

The figures denote the difference between the number of customers porting in and porting out. 

The country's largest operator, Bharti Airtel remained at number three with a net gain of about 1.48 lakh subscribers till date. 

However, most operators stick by the theory that MNP will not be a game-changer for the industry. 

CDMA operators are facing a huge exodus of subscribers, with RCOM, Tata Teleservices and BSNL losing subscribers to old and established GSM service providers. 

In the case of RCom (CDMA), as many as 1.34 lakh subscribers ported out, while 5,717 ported in. Similarly, TTSL (CDMA) lost over 1.04 subscribers while attracting only 8,298 subscribers to its fold. 

All that a customer needs to do for changing his telecom operator is pay a maximum of Rs 19. He/she will get a new service provider within seven working days as per the guidelines of the sectoral regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India . 

Among the new operators, Uninor and Sistema Shyam attracted more subscribers than they lost, but others were hit by the facility as they lost more subscribers, the data revealed. 

To combat this, these operators had lowered tariffs along with doling out freebies. Regional operators have also upped the ante, as they feared losing customers. 

MNP services were first launched in Haryana in November last year and according to industry estimates, less than one per cent of subscribers opted for changing their operators. 

Both pre-paid and post-paid consumers can use the MNP service. source

Vodafone kicks off Land Line Business

Vodafone is entering India's landline market, but only for business customers



Vodafone plans to enter the leased landline and business solutions space, competing with larger private peers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, and Tata Communications .
Vodafone is looking at entering the country's landline market, but only for business customers. The market for domestic landline services is much smaller and less reliable, as most consumers prefer to use mobile services.
Last year December,Vodafone Essar joined hands withWipro to manage its fixed line telecom services business. Vodafone agrees that they are a late entrant in the business but that puts them in an advantageous position of nothing to lose. Vodafone’s entry may intensify price wars in the enterprise business just like new entrants in the mobile telephony space did since late 2008.
Although landline costs have been falling by around 10-15% per year as the competition is increasing, it is still favorable compared to the cut-throat competition in the mobile market where tariffs have halved over the past two years.
With the retail customer tariffs down to one paisa per second, enterprise businesses presents high margin data revenue for telecom operators. Unlike mobile telephone call rates that have halved over the last two years, telephony solutions for enterprises have been falling 10-15 % every year.
The financial year which end in March 2016, enterprise business would account for nearly 20% of the company’s revenue. In October-December, the quarter revenue of Vodafone Essar was approximately 7,126 crore, UK-based parent Vodafone Group said and did not disclose the profitability of the region. It will also give preference to the enterprise customers on its 3G services to be launched before March-end. Vodafone Essar bought 3G airwaves in nine service areas for 11,618 crore in a government auction last year. The service is expected to bring about more profit-making data business to telecom operators.
Vodafone across the globe have been quite an upfront in innovations. In Netherlands, Vodafone is the first telecom operator to offer 'VastOpMobiel' in which entrepreneurs can receive fixed line phone calls on their mobile without the need to have a fixed line subscription and redirecting. With 'VastOpMobiel', they can be reached anywhere, anytime, and savings can be as high as 50% of the cost of a landline subscription.
In the landline business in India, Vodafone is offering free connection, free local, national calls, and free calls to Vodafone mobiles from your fixed line and a simple flat rate for calls to non-Vodafone mobiles ie 20c per minute.source

Sony, Vodafone, Reliance 3G top advertisers of WC11

AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, which monitors ad volumes and other cumulative analysis, has revealed the top advertisers on Day 1 of the ICC World Cup 2011 that began on February 19.

Commercial Players
AdEx divides advertisers into On-screen and Commercial Breaks during Live telecast of the matches, which exclude Pre-, Mid- and Post-Analysis and ranks brands based on ad volumes in seconds.

As per the data, top five advertisers in the commercial space were from the telecom sector. The bulk advertising visible was from sponsors and associate sponsors with Reliance Communications Ltd at the top, followed by Nokia Corporation, Hero Honda Motors, Sony India, Vodafone Essar, PepsiCo, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Spice Mobile and Cadburys India. Sony Bravia Full HD 1080 was the top brand during commercial breaks.

In terms of specific brands, Sony Bravia Full HD 1080, Vodafone Cellular Phone Service and Reliance 3G emerged in the top three, followed by Spice Video Phones, Airtel Cellular Phone Service, Nokia N8, Lehar Slice, Micromax Psych X505, Pepsi and Hero Honda Karizma ZMR.

On-Screen Advertisers
The on-screen space was ruled by Action Replay sponsor (Union Bank of India). Four of top 10 advertisers were official sponsors, while some were pure advertisers, respectively, such as LG Electronics, Yahoo India, United Spirits, MRF, Rupa & Co and Philips Electronics India.

The on-screen advertising mix saw a diverse range of advertisers from categories such as Banking-Services & Products, Corporate/ Brand Image, Internet Service - General, Internet Service Providers, Cellular Phone Service, Liquor (surrogate advertising), Hosiery, Lighting Products, Tyres and Cellular Phones.source

Mobile money transfer service wins award

VODAFONE's mobile transfer services including M-PAiSA in Fiji scooped the Mobile Money for the Unbanked award at this year's Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain.

M-PESA in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa in association with M-PAiSA in Fiji, Afghanistan and India, and Vodafone Money Transfer out of Qatar came out tops at the event this week.

The awards are part of the annual Mobile World Congress which brings together players in the global telecom market and is organised by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

The category topped by M-PESA and M-PAiSA recognised innovative, sustainable, pioneering mobile money services around the world that brought low-cost financial services, through mobile, within the reach of low income groups.

The award also recognised the mobile money service that has had the most significant impact on unbanked customers in developing markets over the last year.

"This year's entry, put together jointly with Vodafone, covered M-PAiSA in Fiji, M-PESA in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, M-Paisa in Afghanistan and India, and Vodafone Money Transfer in Qatar, bringing together the strengths and benefits of the service to the firm's customers across the group," a Vodafone statement said.

"The success story continues," the judges said in their citation.

"This solution is enhanced further with the addition of new features and territories.

"It is winning ground in a way seldom seen in the mobile industry and is a true and sustained success story."

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.

Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA united nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations.

For M-PAiSA and Vodafone Fiji, this marks a second, in terms of such recognition, at an international level. M-PAiSA was short-listed as one of the five finalists at the Global Mobile Money Transfer awards in Dubai in November 2010.

"We have been confident of the prospects and range of possibilities with M-PAiSA," Vodafone Fiji M-PAiSA product manager Shailendra Prasad said.

"The recognition at the highest echelons is testament to the ingenuity and effectiveness of this service particularly for taking basic financial services to the unbanked. "With over 310,000 customers adopting this service in seven months it is an indication of how desperate people have been for the launch of such a service.

"Whilst there is still work to be done particularly in improving M-PAiSA footprints and accessibility in rural areas.

"For a completely new product in a market the size of Fiji the results are very promising indeed."

Mr Prasad said the results so far had been most satisfying with more than $4 million in transactions to-date.

M-PAiSA now offers a range of business to customer (B2C) and customer to business (B2C) payment options such as bill pay, loan payments, wage and salaries payment and even payment for any goods and services that can be customised to individual business needs.source

Vodafone says - Auctioning is the only way out of 2G mess

 

Vodafone Essar has told the Department of Telecom that auctioning 2G spectrum is the only right way forward to deal with the current mess. The mobile phone company said that recommendation by the telecom regulator to price spectrum based on calculations was incorrect and unjustifiable.

“Even though the one-man committee has criticised DoT for not implementing the 2003 decision of the Cabinet to move to auctioning of spectrum….even today the TRAI refuses to advice to move to an auction model and has come out with an arbitrary and flawed administrative way of charging for spectrum, designed to aggravate the discrimination between different operators,” the Vodafone letter to DoT Secretary said.

“We believe that there is only one way out of this mess viz. allocation of spectrum through transparent auctions. In respect of an administrative approach to address legacy issues, we believe that it at all it has to be applied, the only acceptable way forward will have to be a solution that is anchored around on uniformly applied principles — i.e. no distinctions between below and beyond 6.2 Mhz or between GSM and CDMA,” it said.

The TRAI has suggested that the Government should collect a one-time fee from operators with 2G spectrum at the rate of Rs 1,769 crore per Mhz of spectrum up to 6.2 Mhz and Rs 4,571 crore per Mhz for anything beyond that. This will cost the telecom firms about Rs 16,000 crore, according to Government estimates. Over the next few years, this could go up to Rs 40,000 crore, when the operators go for renewing their licences

Vodafone said that the TRAI had not granted a hearing. The company said that TRAI has no powers to impose retrospective charges for spectrum already allocated.

Last week, Reliance Communications had come out saying that the TRAI recommendations benefitted incumbent operators such as Vodafone as it had reduced the per Mhz price compared with the May 2010 proposals. In May last year, TRAI had said that 2G spectrum should be priced on a pro-rata based on 3G auction price.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.

A Mobile service that saves voicemail and recordings to the cloud

Irish company RecordMyCall.ie has developed a new service that allows the user to record all important phone calls and save all valuable voicemail messages to the internet cloud.

The service requires no purchase or installation of equipment and works from mobiles and landlines. The cloud-based offering works by dialling just one number.

RecordMyCall.ie also allows you to record a meeting or dictate notes and as such this service will prove hugely beneficial for solicitors, doctors, accountants and journalists, amongst other professional users.

Recordings can be immediately emailed for dictation and backup, eliminating the need to return to the office with a dictaphone.

Adventurer Pat Falvey has also started using RecordMyCall.ie to record his daily reports as he treks across the ice and snow to the North Pole - he wanted a solution that took his call recording at any time and had the ability to email the MP3 file to his website.

Voicemail has become a critical part of people’s lives

With more than 5m mobile phones in use in Ireland, voicemail has become a critical part of people’s personal and business lives.

The voicemail service is operational across O2, Vodafone, Meteor, 3 and Tesco Mobile.

Users register using a mobile phone by calling 01 52 42 171. RecordMyCall sends you a welcome text – you reply with your email address and all recordings are automatically sent to this email address (recordings are in a standard MP3 format).

Recordings are securely encrypted, and users must comply with the Irish Data Regulator.

The cost of using the service ranges from 1 cent per minute to record a meeting or dictate notes, to 10 cents a minute to record a landline call, to 25 cents a minute to record a valuable voicemail message.

“We believe Recordmycall.ie will prove an invaluable service in people’s lives and we are currently offering a free trial,” Paul McCarthy of RecordMyCall.ie said.

“For now, you can use this service to call any landline or mobile numbers, 0818 and 1850 numbers.

“And we will soon be able to offer international call recording. Our secure computer data centre is located in Ireland and our website was designed and developed in Ireland. We’re an Irish business supporting Irish businesses.” source

22.62 million mobile users added in December

India added 22.62 million mobile phone subscribers in December, taking the total number of cellular users in the country to 752.19 million till Dec 31, official data said. 

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI )), the wireless phone user base grew 3.10 percent in December 2010, from 729.57 million in November. 

But the report said that in December the total number of active subscribers was only 529.22 million. 

The growth in wireless phone category was led by Reliance Communication with an addition of 3.3 million users, 14.54 percent of the country's net addition in December, taking its user base to 125.65 million. 

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel followed next with an addition of over 3.1 million subscribers accounting for 13.71 percent of the net addition in December, taking its total number of subscribers to 152.5 million 

Vodafone stood at the third spot with an addition of 3 million subscribers, taking its total subscriber base to 124.26 million. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 2.98 million subscribers and thus has 86.71 million subscribers. 

Other telecom players such as Idea Cellular performed remarkably well with the addition of 2.95 million users, closely followed by Uninor, which added 2.31 million users. This took their total subscriber base to 81.78 million and 18.51 million respectively. 

According to the data, the broadband subscriber base grew 1.88 percent from 10.71 million in November to 10.92 million in December 2010. 

However, the wireline segment declined marginally from 35.19 million in November to 35.09 million at the end of December 2010.source

World Cup matches on your Mobile by VODAFONE

Cellular service provider Vodafone Essar on Thursday said it has tied up with the official broadcaster of the upcoming cricket World Cup ESPN Star Sports (ESS) for live streaming of the matches on mobile phones.

As a co-presenting broadcast sponsor, Vodafone will enable its subscribers to see ‘ball-by-ball’ live coverage of 49 matches of the event that begins from February 19 onwards.

“The 2011 cricket season in India coincides with an exciting time in the telecom industry, when mobile number portability and 3G are buzz words and the entire consumer base is being wooed afresh by incumbent and new competitors alike,” Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer Mr Kumar Ramanathan said in a statement.

Live streaming of the matches on ‘ESPN Mobile TV’ can be availed on both 2G (GPRS enabled) and 3G handsets, the statement said.

Vodafone will also launch an on-air advertising campaign around the World Cup soon. source