Reliance to Offer Messaging Service Jio Messenger

Reliance Jio, which is expected to launch its 4G services somewhere in 2015, is also planning to offer its own messaging service. The messaging service will be called Jio Messenger and would work on the same lines as WhatsApp or other IP based messaging service like Hike.

“The app has been developed in-house and currently being tested vigorously among a closed user group,” a source close to the development informed.

The company is planning to launch the Jio Messenger along with its 4G services launch.

“Both the 4G as well as Jio Messenger are being planned for a simultaneous launch,” the source added.

The messenger app has been developed for multiple platforms and will be made available in different app stores like Android Play store or Apple iTunes.

“As of now, I believe, the Jio Messenger has been developed for android and iOS as we have got the two versions for testing,” said another source who demonstrated the messenger app to TeleAnalysis.

The app is being tested within the Reliance Jio employees.

The Jio Messenger incorporates almost all the features of some of the existing messenger services like WhatsApp, Hike or Line. With the app an user can send text messages, video and audio messages besides being able to make VoIP calls. Besides this, Reliance Jio is testing the integration of social media on to this application. By making this, an user while sending a text message to a contact, can upload the same to his Facebook wall or his Twitter account, if he or she wishes to.

The Jio Messenger will be pre-installed in the devices that Reliance Jio would be offering as a bundled service when it launches its 4G services. For other mobile devices which are not on contract with Jio, users can download the app from the respective app stores.

Reliance Jio is the only operator to have pan-India license to offer 4G services in all 22 telecom circles in the country. As it is getting ready to offer the high-speed  mobile services, it does not want to leave any telecom service out of its service offerings. Besides wireless broadband, the company is planning to launch fixed broadband, WiFi and now, it also wants to enter into OTT services like Jio Messenger.

Source: http://www.teleanalysis.com/

Trai recommendations on spectrum pricing likely by end of October

Telecom regulator Trai is likely to come out with recommendations on spectrum pricing for the next round of auction by the end of next month.

"The recommendations are likely to come by the end of October," a source in Trai said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in August had started the consultation process for the next round of auctions for spectrum held by mobile operators - Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and RCom - as some of their licences are set to expire in 2015-16.

Trai will recommend the reserve price of spectrum to be auctioned across 18 out of the 22-telecom service areas across the country for 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands, used for providing mobile services based on GSM technology standard.

The Authority has recently conducted an open house discussion with industry players in order to get their views on reserve price, quantum of spectrum and other issues related to auction.

In December 2015, 4 licences of Bharti Airtel, 7 each of Idea Cellular, Reliance Telecom and Vodafone will complete their 20-year term and would require renewal.

The companies can renew their licences by paying a fixed fee but for continuing mobile and other wireless services they will need to buy spectrum afresh through auction at market determined rates. By April 2016, two more permits of Bharti and Idea will come up for renewal.

As per Trai, 184 Mhz of spectrum in 900 MHz band and 104 MHz in 1800 Mhz band can be put up for the auction.

The government, in its Budget Estimates for the current financial year, 2014-15, has projected minimum revenue of Rs 9,355 crore from auction of 800 Mhz as well as the 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands.

Source: ET

Private telcos can play big role in Digital India retail rollout: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The telecom regulator has rued India's dismal broadband penetration and questioned the telecom department's decision to only involve state-owned telecom companies to implement the Rs 21,000 crore national optic fibre network (NOFN) project that is already running three years behind schedule.

In a consultation paper titled 'Delivering Broadband Quickly', unveiled Wednesday, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also invited industry feedback on a relevant "timeframe for auctioning spectrum in the 700 MHz band," to offer the most efficient airwaves to telcos for boosting India's poor broadband penetration.

It has also invited suggestions on awarding engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) contracts to private telecom operators through the international competitive bidding route to speed up NOFN, which will be the core broadband backbone for delivering high-speed internet and government services to the common man under the Centre's Rs 1.13 lakh-crore Digital India drive.

"Are PSUs ideal choices for implementing the NOFN project, and is it not possible to piggyback on existing private sector access networks to minimize costs in reaching remote rural locations,?" asked Trai in its consultation paper.

The telecom department has mandated state-run Bharat Broadband Networks to implement the NOFN venture as the principal bandwidth supplier, and asked state-run firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Power Grid Corp and RailTel to handle the countrywide cable laying, trenching and ducting work.

In an interview to ET in August, Trai Chairman Rahul Khullar had doubted if the government will be able to meet the 2019 timeline to implement the Digital India initiative, given the delays in the NOFN project, and had called upon the centre to evaluate involving private sector telecom players to speed it up.

The telecom regulator's scathing criticism of India's broadband act also come barely 24 hours after telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad deplored the tardy progress of the NOFN project, which he said was contributing to "India's broadband deficit".

To suggestions in a late August ET interview that the private sector may be roped in for the NOFN project to speed it up, Prasad had said the government will continue to implement it through state-run public sector units.

Apart from inviting suggestions on reducing broadband infrastructure development costs, Trai has also sought views on involving the private sector to reduce high-speed internet delivery costs. It has also sought feedback on the quantum of spectrum required to achieve national broadband penetration targets, identifying relevant frequency bands and ways to encourage government agencies to surrender their idle spectrum.

It has also elicited views on potential policy changes needed to ramp up broadband penetration by leveraging India's significant cable TV network. In this case, Trai's poser echoes DoT's recent plans to revisit a proposal of India's broadband policy of 2004, which had suggested using the country's cable TV infrastructure as a franchisee network of internet service providers for delivering broadband.

The DoT is known to be mulling a relook at existing internet service provider (ISP) licence conditions and a separate ISP permit only for cable TV broadband, so that existing cable TV infrastructure can be leveraged efficiently.

The Trai consultation paper also wonders why "wifi hotspots" haven't seen decent traction in all these years, and elicits views on ways to evolve a robust ecosystem for fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.

Issues raised by Trai are likely to mirror some of the highlights of the new BJP-led government's broadband policy that likens broadband connectivity to a fundamental right like education and health. The new broadband policy is likely to also explore ways to attract large investment from potential developers of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.

The broadband focus also stems from India's modest broadband subscriber base of 70.81 milllion as on July 2014, comprising 15.04 million wireline broadband customers and 55.77 million mobile broadband users, as per Trai data. This pales in comparison with the nearly 800 million mobile phone subscribers as on July end.

While the new policy will not tinker with NTP 2012 broadband penetration target of 175 million customers by 2015, it has advanced the 2020 target date for 600 million broadband customers by a year to 2019, according to a recent DoT note seen by ET.

Source: ET

Reliance Industries to raise $800 million from Korea Exim to fund Reliance Jio

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL),is raising $800 million from Korea Exim (K-Exim) in order to finance purchase of telecom equipment from Korean vendors such as Samsung by Reliance Jio (RJio), the telecom arm of the retail to petroleum giant, indicating that the much awaited rollout of telecom services by India's largest private company is gathering pace. The company may launch services in the first quarter of 2015, according to analysts.

This will be the first international financing for RJio, after a $1.5 billion overseas borrowing (ECB) raised in 2010 for spectrum payments. RIL is expected to soon refinance that funding as well. "The new tenor will be for 5.25 years for $1 billion and 6.5 years for $500 million. These will be at spreads lower than the previous loan."

K-Exim will be funding 60% of the amount while standing guarantees for the remaining amount. A number of global banks — three each from Japan and Korea along with ANZ and HSBC, would bankroll the rest. The agreements are expected to be signed within the next 2 days, according to people directly involved in the matter.

Reliance spokesperson was not available for comment.

From 2012 till now, RIL, responsible for about 14% of India's exports, has raised over $11 billion from overseas via bonds, ECBs as well as funding from exim banks. Most of funding till now is to finance the company's capex for a massive expansion of its petrochemicals capacity.

Exim bank are quasi- government organisations that offer cheaper credit (relative to commercial banks) to support exports from its country or region. RIL - the country's largest overseas borrower -- is also the most active Indian corporation in tapping the ECA financing route that offer cheaper credit for a longer tenure. For example, the latest financing is expected to be 12 years, said the sources mentioned above.

ECAs from the US, Korea, France and the UK, have extended ECA-backed funding to RIL during 2013 on the back of its strong balance sheet and credit ratings, the latter being better than India's sovereign ratings.

As a result, Reliance has been to lock in capital commitments for tenors as long as 14 years and at extremely low costs — on average a fixed-rate ECA from the US government carries an interest rate of 3.5% versus 5% to 5.5% for a 10-year dollar-denominated bond.

Reliance has been working towards a 2015 launch for its 4G telecom service and may invest as much as .`70,000 crore towards this end. As per a recent calculation by Moody's, RIL is expected to pump in nearly 42% of that amount over the next two years. The company has said that Jio will initially cover about 5,000 towns and cities, covering over 90% of urban India, as well as over 215,000 villages in India. The target is to expand this to over 600,000 villages.

Reliance Jio acquired telecom spectrum four years ago but has since waited for clarity in telecom policy and for technology to evolve. But earlier this month, analysts from investment bank Credit Suisse said that as per their intelligence, the rollout has been gathering momentum and a March 2015 launch could be expected.

"RJio has completed installation of 32,000 LTE base stations nationwide. The pace of rollout, importantly, has picked up sharply to 6,500-7,000 per month (vs 3,000 per month in May 2014). It seems the company and the rollout partners are maturing in the rollout process (note this is the first major equipment contract for Samsung in India)," wrote analysts Sunil Tirumalai and Chunky Shah in a September 16 note to clients.

In addition to the original base station contract (for 60,000 LTE units for the initial launch network), a second contract for an additional 50,000-70,000 base stations has also been awarded to Samsung. "So we see firm visibility of the network size crossing 100,000 base stations. Since many of these sites will also run on 1800MHz FDD LTE (we expect this to be the base voice network), the network would be quite comparable to other operator's network in terms of reach, in our view," they added.

These base stations are believed to allow multiple technologies to work across multiple bands of spectrum. For Jio the relevant technologies are FDD LTE (frequency division duplexing) and TDD LTE (time-division duplexing), the two rival fourth generation (4G) wireless telephony technologies. The telecom department has also recently issued Reliance spectrum in the 1800 MHz band that it won in the February auctions in 14 circles. Most industry observers feel Jio will initially offer basic voice services on the 1800MHz spectrum, using FDD VoLTE (Voice over LTE).

Source: ET

Govt to spend around Rs 33,000 cr on broadband in 3 years: Garg

Government plans to spend around Rs. 33,000 crore over next 3 years on broadband projects, a top official said here on Tuesday.

“Government will be spending approximately Rs. 33,000 crore in coming three years in these (National Optical Fibre Network, Government Users Network, etc.) programme,” Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said at an Assocham event.

While government has already approved Rs. 21,000 crore for NOFN which aims to connect all 2.5 lakh village panchayat by March 2017, funds for GUN that will be used to deliver broadband service are yet to be approved by the Cabinet.

As per initial estimates, the capital expenditure for GUN is estimated to around Rs. 4,942 crore and operational expense (opex) of Rs. 2,472 crore per annum will be required.

The estimates have been sent to Expenditure Finance Committee for clearance after which it will be placed before the Cabinet for final nod.

Garg said the survey of about 2 lakh village panchayats has been completed and the work will be expedited as the rainy season is now over.

“We believe that by end of this financial, we will be completing more than 50,000 village panchayats,” Garg said.

Source: HBL

Reliance Jio to use Indus' towers to roll out services

Reliance Jio Infocomm has signed a deal with Indus Towers to share the latter's 1,13,490 towers as the Mukesh Ambani-led telecom company prepares to roll out high speed internet services on LTE next year.

In a joint statement on September 22, Reliance Jio said it had signed a master services agreement with the world's largest telecom tower provider that will allow Jio to use all of Indus' towers in 15 circles at prevailing market rates. The companies did not share the duration and the value of the deal. "We are continuing our effort to create a new age network which will provide innovative and empowering digital solutions to every Indian through our high speed 4G services," Reliance Jio's MD Sanjay Mashruwala said.

"The agreement will help in avoiding duplication of infrastructure and preserving the environment, while ensuring "seamless services to Jio customers through Indus' tower infrastructure", the statement added. Indus Towers is a threeway joint venture between India's No. 1 carrier Bharti Airtel, No. 2 Vodafone India and No. 3 Idea Cellular where the first two own 42% each.

"Our footprint in 15 circles in India, coupled with high network uptime levels, cost-effective solutions, faster access to market and lower operational costs will provide Jio a robust and seamless telecom infrastructure," BS Shantharaju, CEO at Indus Towers, said. The agreement will also bring cost benefits to Jio in the form of lower rentals and energy costs, he added.

Reliance Jiois gearing up to start offering high-speed, broadband or 4G services, taking on rivals, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, amid increasing data usage by the country's mobile phone subscribers.

The company owns pan-India airwaves in the 2300 MHz band since May 2010, but it is yet to roll out services. It must do so by May 2015 as per the licence obligation at the time of sale. It also bought airwaves in the 1800 MHz band in a government auction in February. On both bands, it plans to launch fourth-generation data services, along with second-generation voice service on the 1800 MHz band.

With the latest tie-up with Indus Towers, Reliance Jio will have access to over 288,000 towers countrywide. It has already tied up with major infrastructure providers and telecom companies that own towers since April 2013, including Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications, Viom Networks and Bharti Infratel, a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Jio has also partnered with Bharti Airtel to share infrastructure created by both parties. It also shares RCom's inter-city and intra-city optic fiber apart from 45,000 towers

Source: ET

Telecom industry relieved over court ruling on mobile towers

The latest verdict of the Gujarat High Court that base stations for wireless data and mobile communications pose no threat to health if prescribed norms are followed will have far-reaching impact on erasing people's fears, say industry experts.

The 25-page order of a Gujarat High Court bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J.B. Pardiwala said authorities concerned must also educate people that they had no reason to fear for their health due to radio frequency emissions from these base stations in their vicinity.

The order came in the light of a civil appeal by some residents of an Ahmedabad neighbourhood wanting a direction to the authorities to disallow Reliance Jio, which is seeking to extend pan-India 4G services, from using a mobile base station in their neighbourhood.

Reacting to the verdict, K.S. Parthasarathy, former secretary in the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, said the confusion has been created by some companies that are indulging in false propaganda "that mobile tower radiation is bad".

"In the majority of the cases, the radiation levels are within specified limits. It is so low it hardly has an impact. In India, the specified limit is one-tenth the global norms - 90 percent of the countries follow the international limit," Parthasarathy told IANS.

He said some mischief-mongers were showing morphed and scary pictures of the ill-effects of mobile tower emissions. That's why the court verdict was a step in the right direction.

"This is a good decision," he said on the court wanting the authorities to propagate the correct scenario through various media.

The petitioners feared that since the base station in question was just outside the garden of their residential premises, they would be exposed to constant radiation, which could cause severe health hazards - a premise that was dismissed by the court.

The central government, another respondent, told the court that the fear was baseless. Similar suits were filed in the past and the court decisions have also been similar - but for cases where the norms were flouted.

The government said this was also the conclusion of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which was communicated through Fact Sheet No. 304 of May 2006 on electromagnetic fields and public health.

The court ruled: "Considering the very low exposure levels and the research-results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects."

In any case, the court said, there are now strict regulations for companies to follow.

"We are gratified that the Gujarat High Court has recognized the safety measures of the Government of India. It is one of the best in the world. Citizens can feel safe," said Rajan S. Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators' Association of India.

"The court has also recognized the need for the authorities to do more to make the public aware of safety measures and help remove their fears. Our association is actively working on this initiative," Mathews told IANS.

"We believe addressing these concerns will be key to meeting the government's objective of broadband-on-demand for all citizens of India."

Source: BS

Reliance Jio, GTL Infra sign tower infrastructure sharing deal

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Reliance Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and GTL Infrastructure Limited (GTL Infra),today signed a Master Services Agreement (MSA) for tower infrastructure sharing. GTL Infra is a Global Group enterprise,engaged in the business of shared passive telecom infrastructure in India.

Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director - Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited said,“Our mission is to launch a pan India next-generation voice and data services. We will build the same through a judicious combination of own build and rented infrastructure. This agreement with GTL Infra is not only a step in that direction but willalso help us accelerate our roll out.”

Commenting on the tie up, Charudatta Naik, Group CEO - Global Group said, “We are happy to be partnering with a leading 4G player like Rjio. The launch of 4G networks and the rise in the consumption of data services is a growth driver for tower companies, and we at GTL Infra are geared up to capture the opportunity. Our portfolio will play an important role in rolling out broadband net works especially in regions like North East, and South where we hold a leadership position.”

GTL Infra, together with Chennai Network Infrastructure Limited (CNIL), has a combined tower portfolio of more than 27,800 towers spread across 22 telecom circles in India, and serves all the major telecom operators. The company has a pan India tower portfolio that is balanced across key growth regions of metros and B & C class circles.

Source: FE

Reliance Jio awards 50k-70k sites contract to Samsung: Credit Suisse

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm is on track to launch its full bouquet of fourth generation data and voice services by March 2015, given the increased pace and progress of its network rollouts, Credit Suisse said in a note to clients.

The Swiss brokerage said the company had completed "installation of about 32,000 base stations nationwide," that would run on Long Term Evolution (LTE), which is a technology standard for offering high speed broadband services popularly known as 4G.

"The pace of Jio's rollout, importantly, has picked up sharply to 6,500-7,000 per month (vs about 3,000 per month in May-2014)," the brokerage said.

It added that Reliance Jio had "awarded a second LTE base station contract to Samsung, for 50,000-to-70,000 units, which would result in the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco's network size crossing 1 lakh base stations. This, the brokerage said, was in addition to the original contract awarded to Samsung for 60,000 LTE base stations. Samsung didn't immediately respond to request for a comment.

Reliance Jio, the newest entrant in the country's telecom business, is gearing up to start offering high-speed, broadband or 4G services, taking on rivals including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, amid increasing data usage by the country's mobile phone subscribers.It is the only company to hold pan-India 4G licenses - which it got in 2010 - but hasn't started services till now mainly due to the technical limitations of the 2300 Mhz bandwidth it had been allotted as well as the expensive 4G LTE handsets.

According to Credit Suisse, Jio's upcoming launch of 4G voice and data services would now be helped by recent advances in the global LTE handset ecosystem.

It said developments in the global LTE handset ecosystem were "pushing down price-points rapidly", and sub-$100 LTE smartphones could become a reality, which "could be fairly disruptive in India for incumbents (for whom the top 30% customers account for 70% of revenues based on industry discussions)". It added that the rapid fall in LTE handset price-points would also "weaken arguments around expensive handsets".

Credit Suisse also dismissed recent arguments about "Reliance Jio's weak business base" or the poor global experience for new entrants.

"These arguments are no longer relevant from the point of view of a telecom stock investor, especially since Reliance Jio has decided to enter with high investments anyway," said the international brokerage.

It added that India's own telecom experience from 2009 to 2010 indicated that "even if new entrants are not successful, they cause significant damage to industry/incumbent profitability".

The brokerage concedes pending spectrum allocation in the 1800 MHz band could be a short term hurdle, but feels it won't delay a potential March 2015 rollout of 4G voice and data services, given the accelerated pace of Jio's network deployments.

"We understand Reliance Jio will be able to import FDD radio equipment for the 1800 MHz only after formal allocation of the frequency bands by DoT's Wireless Planning Cell (WPC) wing, but the accelerated pace of deployments makes us comfortable with a March 2015 launch timeline for full-fledged voice and data services", the brokerage said.

Source: ET

32,000 LTE base stations goes live for Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio is moving at a fast pace for March 2015 launch of broadband services pan India by making 32,000 base stations live across India.

According to Credit Suisse, Reliance Jio is making live 6,500-7,000 LTE base stations every month and things are moving at a fast pace with respect to launch of 4G LTE services in the country. A few months back, Reliance Jio was making live 3,500 LTE base stations.

In LTE base stations, the base units are multi-mode and can support TDD and FDD but the radio/antenna currently is only for TD-LTE on 2300 MHz.

Credit Suisse feels that Reliance Jio will be able to import FDD radio equipment for 1800 MHz only after formal allocation of the frequency bands by the WPC wing of the government.

On the handset side, Sunil Tirumalai of Credit Suisse believes that sub $100 LTE smartphones could become a reality and $100 LTE smartphone could be fairly disruptive for the market.

This development would definitely cheer up Reliance Jio as its success will now be dependent on quality of service and not on price of LTE handset in the country. First, the perception of LTE will shift from a luxury service to common man service and second it will also give lot of comfort to Reliance Jio in terms of cash flow due to drop in prices of LTE handset in China market.

Source: Teleanalysis.com

Now, a device for Google to take smartphones to the next billion

With the Android One plan, Google has tried to hit two birds with one stone.

On one hand, the Internet giant has taken baby steps in ensuring that the next billion Internet users get access to affordable devices that are of reasonably good quality, and on the other, it has attempted to get greater control over the mobile phone ecosystem.

The deal with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice would allow Google to penetrate into the low and mid-segment of the Indian market. “Android One gives Google tighter control over the operating system. Support for regional languages is going to be a solid plus over competitors – this will not only help consumers use vernacular, it’s also likely to help promote apps in regional language,” said Sanchit Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research.

In India, less than 10 per cent of the population has access to smartphones. Prohibitive pricing and lack of knowledge on operating the devices has been a dampener. The Android One phones at ₹6,399 may not be cheap, considering that there are Android phones in the market that are priced lower, but it brings features so far available on high-end phones to the larger mass.

To educate users, Google has started a programme whereby retailers are being trained to educate potential new users. About 30,000 have been trained under this programme.

“With Android One, Google aims to reach out to a bigger and wider audience in the smartphone market and address the need for an affordable smartphone experience for people still waiting to migrate from feature phones to smartphones,” Manasi Yadav, analyst at IHS Technology, said.

Ties up with Airtel

To enable first time users to experience its services, Google has partnered with Airtel. Android One customers on Airtel will be able to stay updated on the latest Android version and update all their apps at no additional data charges.

Customers can enjoy 100 MB of data a month for six months for software updates and 200 MB a month for six months for app downloads and updates.

Kavin Bharti Mittal, CEO and Founder, Hike Messenger, said: “The emergence of India — a mobile first market— is a reflection of the dynamism and scope of the mobile internet space in India. The launch of Android One series is another step towards equipping a wider range of consumers with the power of mobile Internet through the availability of affordable smartphones.”

The biggest gainers, however, could be the Indian phone brands as they can now compete with market leader Samsung more effectively. “Consumers can be assured of interesting times ahead, with series of devices, with different value proposition. We plan to capture 10 per cent market share of online sales,” said Dilip Modi, Chairman, Spice Mobility Ltd.

Sudhir Hasija, Chairman, Karbonn Mobiles, said faster and automatic updates under the Android One plan will attract consumers. “We expect to sell around five lakh handsets in the next two months.”

Vineet Taneja, CEO, Micromax, said that though the new devices may not disrupt the market it could become big because Google was putting its weight behind. “If that happens we don’t want to miss out. We will now have a portfolio of Android One devices, which will range between lower and higher ends to grow our overall business,” Taneja said.

Source: HBL

Reliance Jio is alive and kicking; to launch services in 400 cities by March

Now there is finally action at Reliance Jio. It seems that the company is serious about launching its services in 400 cities by March, 2015. Equipment is being imported and ready to be installed at many places. Laying of Optical Fibre network (OFC) is being speeded up.

Otherwise Reliance Jio had become a joke like National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN). Mukesh Ambani was under threat of being compared to an Indian Telecom Minister (party agnostic) promising laying a network of lakhs of kilo-meters in villages without knowing how it would be done.

After all, more than four years have passed since Ambani acquired 4G spectrum. Its one fifth of the total licence period of the spectrum has passed without generating any revenue. At one point of time, there were talks in the market that Ambani had surrendered before the GSM biggies.

Now, suddenly the company officials are full of energy. Its Delhi and Gurgaon offices have become hub of activities.

Success of Reliance Jio is important for Indian consumers. It is the first pre-dominantly broadband company in India. In view of low broadband penetration in India, people are eagerly waiting for its services.

Sources say that Mukesh Ambani is now directly leading the project team. This has rejuvenated the team. Now the services are likely to see the light of the day.

Source: Telecom Tiger

India Ranks 4th Among Global Smartphone Markets in Q2 2014: GSMA

With 111 million users, India ranks as the fourth largest smartphone market globally after China, the US and Brazil, global telecom body GSM Association today said.

According to the report by GSMA, China topped the global list of smartphone connections at 629.2 million, followed by the US (196.8 million) and Brazil (141.8 million).

Other countries in the top 10 include Indonesia, Russian Federation, Japan, Germany, the UK and France.

Several industry reports have pegged India as the fastest growing smartphone market in the world.

According to IDC, smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn.

GSMA expects smartphone connections to reach six billion by 2020, fuelled by growth in the developing world and supported by mobile broadband rollout.

"Smartphones will account for two out of every three mobile connections globally by 2020. The number of smartphone connections will grow three-fold over the next six years, reaching six billion by 2020, accounting for two-thirds of the nine billion mobile connections by that time," the report titled 'Smartphone forecasts and assumptions, 2007-2020' said.

Basic phones, feature phones and data terminals like tablets, dongles and routers will account for the remaining connections, it added.

"The smartphone has sparked a wave of global innovation that has brought new services to millions and efficiencies to businesses of every type," GSMA Chief Strategy Officer Hyunmi Yang said.

Smartphones will be the driving force of mobile industry growth over the next six years, with one billion new smartphone connections expected over the next 18 months alone, Yang added.

"As industry evolves, smartphones are becoming lifestyle hubs that are creating opportunities for mobile industry players in vertical markets such as financial services, healthcare, home automation and transport," Yang said.

The report forecasts that by 2020, four out of every five smartphone connections worldwide will come from the developing world.

Asia Pacific accounted for about half of global smartphone connections, even though smartphone penetration in the region is currently pegged to be below 40 per cent.

Source: NDTV

Rel Jio in Pact with Airspan for 4G Gear

Telco places bulk order for small cell wireless emitting points, also picks up a stake in Israeli firm
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has placed a bulk order for equipment with Israeli company Airspan to meet its requirement for low-powered, short-range towers to deploy 4G services, said two people familiar with the development.
The company, which ordered equipment known as small cell wireless emitting points, has also acquired a stake in Airspan, following which Mathew Oommen, president of network and global strategy and service development, joined the board of directors at Airspan in June. Additional details of the order were not known.

Reliance Jio, the newest entrant in the country's telecom business, is gearing up to start offering high-speed, broadband or 4G services, taking on rivals including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, amid increasing data usage by the country's mobile phone subscribers.

The company has deployed about 25,000 regular base stations on towers and hopes to have about 1 lakh sites, including small cells, by the end of the year, one of the two people said. The company is hoping for a soft launch of its services by December, although an official start date hasn't been decided but is likely by mid-2015, said the second person. A Reliance Jio spokesman declined to comment. “As a policy , we don't comment on speculative questions regarding our business matters,“ the spokesman said in response to a query from ET. Mails to Airspan did not elicit an immediate response.

A company vendor said Reliance Jio is now handing out orders and paying up for quicker deployment, unlike earlier, when it would negotiate and test, with no order outcome. The company is also laying optic fibre in some cities at a rapid pace.

“Work in Mumbai and Pune is particularly intense, although elsewhere there is a capacity shortage of people who can render these services because local contractors are busy with other projects,“ the vendor said, referring to the Central government's broadband plan, which involves laying a national optic fibre network across the country , especially in the rural areas.

According to an internal assessment, Reliance Jio will need about 5 lakh sites to offer nationwide 4G services, said another person familiar with the company's plans. However, Jio is not yet ready to invest on such a large scale until launch, he added.

Source: TOI

How Apple iPhone 6 to generate extra mobile data revenue for telecoms

Telecom industry analysts are predicting that the launch of iPhone 6 smartphones by Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to assist telecoms to generate additional revenue from mobile data.

Paul Lambert, senior analyst, Operator Strategy, Ovum, said: “Apple announcement is great news for network operators as it raises to new heights public interest in the latest mobile technology, which now includes Apple’s connected watch that will create more buzz around this to-date niche part of the market. Viewed together, the devices represent a step-change in how mobile consumers’ will be connected to the Internet.”

In March 2014, Juniper Research said telecom operator’s mobile data roaming revenue will reach over $42 billion by 2018.

Data roaming represented an estimated 36 percent of the global mobile roaming revenues in 2013. Total mobile roaming revenue will grow to nearly $90 billion by 2018 from $57 billion this year.

These revenues will largely be driven by increasing data usage, primarily from a reduction in roaming charges. Data roaming represented an estimated 36 percent of the global mobile roaming revenues in 2013.

Cisco, one of the telecom equipment vendors, said mobile data traffic will increase nearly 11-fold over the next four years and reach an annual run rate of 190 exabytes by 2018, while 4G traffic will grow 18-fold from 2013 to 2018, at 78 percent CAGR.

iPhone 6 to boost mobile data

Apple’s new devices – though costly — offer telecom operators a great opportunity to increase data usage and data revenues. Each of the new devices will lead to more cellular data use, which is also great news for operators – especially if they can price data services in ways that capture consumers’ imaginations.

The iPhones support more 4G frequencies and also VoLTE, both of which are welcome additions for 4G operators and will boost global 4G uptake. Both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are compatible to work for China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

Indian 4G telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Reliance Jio Infocomm will be able to offer Apple devices on their TD-LTE network as well.

Global telecom operators have seen that with each new iPhone consumers are willing to pay a premium to own the latest Apple device.

With the new Apple iPhones operators have fresh impetus to help them increase the amount their subscribers spend with them, and how long they stay with them. At the same time, operators can offer iPhone inventory at lower prices to increase ownership of premium smartphones among a broader range of prepaid and postpaid users, said Ovum.

“Crucially, with the new iPhone 6 devices, operators will need to continue to invest in their networks to ensure they offer robust Internet access that can cope with the increase in mobile data traffic the new devices will bring about,” Lambert of Ovum added.

John Abraham, lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s Revenue Management research program, said: “Apple Pay will not have any direct impact on CSP revenue at present. The greater impact will be the loss of potential customer relationship opportunities by letting Apple become the gatekeeper for all mobile commerce transactions.”

This will be limited at first as Apple Pay is limited to new iPhones, but the impact will expand in scope and coverage over the next few years.

Source: Telecom Lead

Telecom super regulator to have seven members

The proposed telecom super regulator, Communications Commission, will have six members and a chairperson. It will have powers to regulate communications-linked sectors and also look into licensing. It will work to ensure better service and prevent monopoly.

The members will have expertise in telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology. They will be nominated by the chairperson, according to a recent communication. The chairperson will have expertise and experience in telecommunications, broadcasting, finance, accountancy, law, management and consumer affairs. The body will have a member each from telecom, broadcasting, law or consumer affairs, management and finance areas. They will get five-year tenures till 65.

The appellate tribunal will have a judicial member, to be appointed by the government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

The Communications Bill was proposed by the earlier the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government in 2001 but was dumped by the United Progressive Alliance government.

Source:BS

Nokia to bring 4G, 3G phones at lower prices in India

4G and 3G mobile phones as it struggles to regain the top position which it lost in 2012 to South Korea's Samsung, presently the largest selling brand in India. BERLIN: Erstwhile market leader Nokia has indicated it may enter into a price war for 4G and 3G mobile phones as it struggles to regain the top position which it lost in 2012 to South Korea's Samsung, presently the largest selling brand in India.

"We want to continue to push price points lower and lower than anything we have today. That's the statement for both 3G and LTE (4G) because that is the thing which gives us scale of the ecosystem," Microsoft's Mobile Device Sales, Corporate Vice President Chris Weber told PTI in an interview.

US IT giant Microsoft now owns Nokia's mobile phone business. The company leadership position was adversely impacted mainly due to abundant flow of cheap Chinese phones.

Nokia's cheapest 4G phone Lumia 635 is priced around Rs 11,300 before taxes but it is not available in India.

"We are also trying to push price point even lower on LTE devices like 635 to take advantage of that (Indian telecom operators plan to launch 4G services) opportunity. The goal is to make sure that we have a full portfolio that plays in to that opportunity," Weber said.

The company has plans to launch its latest 4G-enabled phone Lumia 830 priced at around Rs 26,000 before taxes by October, as per sources.

Microsoft Devices also unveiled another 4G-enabled handset Lumia 735 priced at around Rs 17,500 but sources were not sure about company's plan to launch this model in India.

Shortage of affordable devices to access 4G services has been identified as one of the main reason for many telecom operators not rolling out 4G network in the country.

Consumers may get about 10-12 times more Internet speed on mobile phones in 4G compared to average speed they get using 3G services.

Reliance Jio Infocomm holds pan India broadband wireless spectrum, which can be used for 4G services, since mid 2010.

The company has announced its plan to launch the latest telecom service in 2015. As per rules, 2015 is the last year for all companies who won BWA spectrum to roll out services in at least 90 per cent of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom will have the right to withdraw the radio waves.

Other holders of this spectrum include Tikona Digital and Augere, who are yet to start their services. Aircel has announced launch of its 4G service in 6 service areas against eight circles where it holds BWA spectrum.

Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Telewings (Uninor) in February won spectrum in 1800 Mhz band cumulatively for Rs 37,572.60 crore.

Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Idea have plans to provide 4G services in the 1800 Mhz band, which has been used so far for providing 2G services.

Weber said that Microsoft Devices has been discussing with Indian telecom operators for partnerships.

"We have lot of conversations going on with operators but specifically we are very bullish on LTE opportunity in India. Our conversation had been quite productive," Weber said.

As per market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Nokia was the third largest player in the second quarter of 2014 in the Indian mobile phone market with a 10 per cent market share. Samsung topped the chart with 17 per cent, closely followed by Indian brand Micromax with 14 per cent share.

Source: ET

India helps build telecommunication services in Afghanistan and Nepal

India is helping war-torn Afghanistan to help rebuild its telecommunication services and is also contributing to the development of Nepal.

Telecommunication Consultants India Limited (TCIL), a public enterprise based in New Delhi has been working in Afghanistan since 2001. The company has set up computer education in schools and launched tele-medicine services in Afghanistan.

TCIL also provides training to Afghan government officials for smooth functioning in the offices.

The company trains Afghanistan based doctors through tele-conferencing at its centres based in Lucknow and Chandigarh.

"In 2001 the war was over and India was one of the major players there, TCIL started its journey there in Afghanistan and we started with the computer education and established centers in different places and about 300 top government officers they were trained in computer and computer related education. That was the first beginning", said Vimal Waklu, Chairman and Managing Director, TCIL.

TCIL has also launched Microwave services worth USD 3.5-4 million which helps to increase the bandwidth services in the country.

The microwave network is connecting different parts of Afghanistan to capital Kabul. CDMA for mobile was also rolled out by TCIL in about 11 provinces of Afghanistan.

Despite the threats posed by the Taliban, the company has been working in Afghanistan to improve telecommunication services.

"At the time of roll out of main network also CDMA etc. our people were even captured by some of the people over there. Of course it was possible to release them also and they were caught in cross firing also. There is an incident related by one of our engineers right now he is in Ethiopia he narrates how when he was working for TCIL in Afghanistan he was given gun by the American Army that you have to defend yourself and nobody can defend you. They taught him how to use the gun," added Waklu.

India has contributed about USD 750 million since 2002 to Afghanistan and these funds are invested for the improvement in health, education and infrastructure development.

"India traditionally over the years first as a part of Non- Alignment movement has been a leader of developing nations and it has always been an endeavour to benefit all the developing nations with whatever we have achieved, whatever we have learnt and that applies even to Afghanistan. They are our brothers, neighbours and traditionally over thousands of years relation with Afghanistan is unique," Waklu further added.

TCIL's contribution to Afghanistan in communication, IT, and even health services is remarkable.

India also contributes for the development of Telecommunication services in Nepal and providing an array of services to Nepal and assisting in the capacity building.

Telecommunication Consultants India Limited has been working in Nepal since 2003. The company has commissioned mobile network services, optical fibre network and satellite communication network in Nepal.

The company has commissioned mobile network services, optical fibre network and satellite communication network to the neighbouring country. The company is working closely with Nepal Telecom to help in setting satellite communication network in remote hilly areas.

In collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), TCIL has established a medical telecommunication set up in Nepal.

In collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), TCIL has established a medical telecommunication set up in Nepal.

"For other Telecom players we are rolling out in terms of optical Fibre network and providing them the infrastructure for connectivity with the main stations that also we are doing in Nepal. Apart from that, for Ministry of External Affairs we have rolled out Tele medicine network about 5 years back in Nepal. This benefits people in terms you can say having advised from the best doctors in India. They are connected to PGI Lucknow and PGI Chandigarh, these two hospitals," said Vimal Waklu.

The setting up of fibre network in Nepal by TCIL has improved the bandwidth in the country.

"Nepal did not have the core optical fibre network earlier. This has helped in all the regions connected into the main stream so that has been a main contribution from the Indian side. All the hinter lands were earlier on microwaves there would be limited band width and now there is sufficient band width available to connect to all those people and population for all those areas to the main network. So it has really benefited and you are aware that when you have broad band which can come on the optical fibre media then all other services like governance, like e-governance for example education, health, all these can flow on this network," added Vimal Waklu.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Nepal has improved the bilateral ties between the two neighbours.

More public and private sector Indian companies will invest in Nepal in near future.

Source: BS

Government may float $1 billion fund for 'Made in India' telecom gear push

The telecom department is examining a proposal from the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, at the instance of the Prime Minister's Office, to float a $1 billion (about Rs 6,000 crore) government-sponsored fund to seed 'Made in India' technologies to boost local gear manufacturing.

The proposed telecom manufacturing fund will "infuse equity in start-ups promoted by technocrats and scientists of Indian origin on condition that product development and manufacturing happens in India," says a note forwarded by the PMO to the telecom department, a copy of which was reviewed by ET.

Once promoters of telecom start-ups commit that development and manufacturing will happen in India, the fund will bear full costs through equity infusion. It will retain majority ownership and be the final authority for clearing all proposals related to a potential transfer of management control, measures aimed at ensuring that promising telecom start-ups don't get acquired midstream by multinational firms.

The fund will "maintain over 51% stake to ensure a strong telecom start-up isn't acquired by an MNC and prevented from reaching its full potential in India,"the note says. The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council has suggested in a communique to the PMO that the "government commit at least a billion dollars to support the development of disruptive technologies towards telecom equipment manufacturing in India".

The council was established nearly a decade ago by the Centre to recommend policies to recharge and sustain growth of manufacturing industries across sectors. The PMO has sought the telecom department's feedback on the proposed fund since the previous government's plans to float multiple central funds to support local telecom product development, and research and development, have not seen the light of day.

The thrust on local telecom equipment manufacturing is also at the heart of the Narendra Modi-led government's Digital India project, which aims to deliver citizen services to the common man electronically and completely replace imported electronics with locally manufactured ones.

Significantly, India's preferential market access (PMA) policy, which mandates a minimum 30% local sourcing of telecom gear in its bid to boost local manufacturing, only applies to government contracts and does not extend to private telecom operators or global telecom network vendors.

Source: ET

BSNL and MTNL to be merged by July 2015

The telecom department (DoT) has for the first time set a cutoff date—July 31, 2015—for concluding the much discussed merger of struggling state-run telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

In a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seen by ET, DoT said it expects to "secure Cabinet approval for the proposed BSNL-MTNL merger by June 30 next year".

Towards this, it plans to wrap up merger consultations with the unions of BSNL and MTNL by March 31, 2015, and circulate a draft Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations by April 30 next year. MTNL runs telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai while BSNL offers telecom coverage in the rest of India.

In the run-up to the proposed merger, DoT has set additional deadlines for concluding pending organisational restructuring initiatives in both the telcos. For instance, it has set a December 31, 2014, deadline for hiving off BSNL's mobile towers into a wholly-owned arm and also monetising BSNL and MTNL's property holdings to unlock value for their survival, the minutes of DoT's presentation show.

BSNL has 61,622 mobile towers, the second largest tower portfolio among all telcos. A sizeable chunk of its tower assets are colocated with landline exchanges to meet business needs.

BSNL is also the holder of one of the largest land banks among state-owned firms with properties reckoned to be running into thousands of crores of rupees across 3,500 towns. It had recently said it hoped to raise nearly Rs 500 crore in the first year from leasing parts of its land holdings and would also offer its telecom factories to contract manufacturers to generate cash in its bid to contain losses.

While BSNL is yet to do a valuation of its countrywide property holdings, MTNL's land and building assets are pegged above Rs 3,000 crore, according to a senior company executive.

In addition, DoT plans to provide financial support to compensate MTNL for liabilities stemming from its minimum alternate tax (MAT) payout, which is pegged at roughly Rs 780 crore. It also proposes to fund MTNL's capex needs for expanding its mobile, landline and broadband networks. A top MTNL executive said the company had sought Rs 2,000 crore from DoT for meeting network expansion capex costs over a three-year span.

BSNL and MTNL have an infrastructure-sharing pact for providing joint services to companies. They share assets such as buildings, mobile masts and international longdistance phone networks to service mostly enterprise customers.

DoT's presentation to the prime minister on the BSNL-MTNL merger road map comes at a time when the Narendra Modi government is trying to revive the two financially stressed telcos, which continue to reel under hefty losses. MTNL posted a Rs 733.2 crore net loss in the quarter to June, while BSNL incurred a Rs 7,085 crore loss in 2013-14.

Source: ET

Telecom operators investing in cloud strategy to bring innovative services and products: IBM

Indian telecom operators are now aggressively investing in cloud strategy to bring innovative services and products to the market while looking to implement data analytics to get more revenue from subscribers, technology major IBM has said.

"They (mobile phone operators) have realised that their investment in cloud strategy will be very useful for their overall service portfolio," Suhas Bhide, executive, Global Delivery, India, at IBM, told ET. "We have telecom clients who are innovating in one space and disrupting in another space, leveraging the cloud technology."

For instance, European telcos have started innovative services line 'Gaming on Demand', wherein the gaming structure is on a cloud and a user can play it through a remote control by paying a subscription. Bhide said such innovative offerings open up a new revenue model. "There are a few telcos in Europe who have done this, and we are expecting the trend to come to India soon," he said.

IBM is currently working with all telcos operating in India in the cloud space. On the solutions side, IBM is providing its Smart Cloud Orchestrator, which is the cloud aggregation solution, to some of the leading telcos in the country, Bhide said without naming the telcos.

He said one of the telcos was looking to use Smart Cloud Orchestrator along with Smart Cloud Infrastructure, which is offered to small and mid-sized businesses. "This will enhance the back office, improve collaboration and productivity," he said. The company recently launched BlueMix in India, a free platform that it is offering to start-ups to develop and host mobile applications within minutes.

Bhide said telcos can also leverage this platform to bring out innovative application and services, as it offers greater speed and responsiveness. BlueMix is an open-standard, cloud-based platform for building, managing and running apps of all types, be it web, mobile, big data or new smart devices.

Besides the cloud, IBM is in active talks with India's telecom operators for implementing data analytics tools to help service providers get more revenue out of existing customers. Bhide, however, did not share details of the same.

Source: ET

China Unicom, China Telecom to Extend 4G Network Trial

Chinese telecom companies China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (CHU - Analyst Report) and China Telecom Corp. (CHA - Snapshot Report) have won regulatory approval to expand their 4G network trial to 40 cities, up from the previous 16.

In Jun 2014, the carrier duo received the green signal from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to conduct a pilot test on two of the most recognised 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) standards in 16 different cities. The recent sanction extends the trial by 24 additional cities in the mainland, which includes the likes of Beijing, Guangzhou and Tianjin, among others.

Both the companies run their network trial by integrating the TDD-LTE (Time Division Duplex) and FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplex) standards. The hybrid options will allow the carriers to provide better connectivity through faster Internet download speed.

However, both China Unicom and China Telecom are way behind China Mobile Limited (CHL - Snapshot Report), in terms of adding new LTE customers. China Mobile secured a competitive edge in 4G owing to the compatibility of its 3G standard (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access or TDSCDMA) with TD-LTE. The largest operator by subscriber base, China Mobile currently has 14 million LTE customers.       

China Unicom, the second largest carrier in China, reported top and bottom-line growth in the first half of 2014, while China Telecom, the smallest operator in the mainland, witnessed revenue growth while earnings dipped year over year.   

Though initially expensive, we believe 4G will provide a significant opportunity for the two Chinese operators as this sector is still under-penetrated in the nation. We see this network expansion as an effort by the carriers to curb market leader China Mobile’s dominant foothold in the 4G market. However, to do so, both the carriers need to enhance their handset portfolios, which will duly support their hybrid 4G network. Further, the companies must also focus on aggressive promotion and competitive tariff plans to earn a larger share of the pie, which can, however, impact their margins in the short term.

China Telecom currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) while China Unicom has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). A stock worth considering within this sector is SK Telecom Co Ltd. (SKM - Analyst Report), which bears a Zacks Rank #2 

Source: zacks.com