Instant Messaging Service Nimbuzz Acquired by UK’s New Call Telecom for $ 175 million

India-based Nimbuzz has sold 70% stake to UK-based New Call Telecom for about $175 million putting Nimbuzz value at $250 million as the UK firm plans more acquisitions in the Indian e-commerce, fixed line broadband and Wi-Fi market.

With over 201 million subscribers might be another WhatsApp or Viber acquired for $19 billion and $900 million by Facebook Japanese’ Rakuten respectively.

According to people close to Nimbuzz, the firm processes a billion plus Skype-like calls  and over 100 billion instant messages and also has a huge mobile ad platform serving clients in the MENA region and South Asia. The free messaging,voice and video calling app combines the powers of the Internet and mobile communications into one, and lets users call, text, meet, share and connect with family and friends on any mobile device.

UK’s New Call Telecom on Tuesday announced plans to invest as much as $100 million in acquisitions in India in the next 18 months to grow its presence in India.

Dr. Jerome Booth, Chairman, New Call Telecom and Founder, New Sparta Pvt. Ltd., stated, “The Indian National Telecom Policy 2012 has targeted 100 per cent tele-density and 600 million broadband connections by 2020. We are looking at strategic acquisitions to enable New Call Telecom to make strong organic growth in the fast growing Indian telecom market and establish a pan-India presence. We’ve initially allocated US $ 100 million for the purpose and are optimistic of further growth due to the depth of entrepreneurial talent in the telecom services space in India.”
The firms’ short term vision in India is to capture the massive opportunity that the telecom sector presents surrounding data transit, usage manipulation, and streaming; where ever possible collaborating with other incumbent telecom operators efforts.

With over a billion people, India is a ripe market for New Call Telecom. The acquisition of Nimbuzz gives it faster inroads into the market and saves it the customer acquisition woes.

Source: http://techmoran.com/

Ahead of its 4G Launch, Reliance Jio Plans merging with 2 of its subsidiaries

With an aim of bringing all its telecom related operations under a single entity before the launch of its 4G services next year, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is merging its two subsidiaries with itself.
Infotel Telecom Limited, one of the two merging subsidiaries is the one that owns the long-distance telephony licenses while the other, Rancore Technologies acts as the R&D Unit. Reliance Jio currently holds the unified license for 4G services in India. The merger with Infotel a Telecom will allow Reliance Jio to conduct national as well as international long-distance business with a single license.

Pending Approvals

Already registered with the Registrar of Companies, Infotel Telecom had previously received the company court's approval for the merger. Now, it is seeking an approval for amalgamation from the Department of Telecommunications. Close sources disclose that the department is yet to issue a formal written consent.

Even though the approval is pending, the merger between the two companies is considered effective September 1, 2014. Reliance Jio is yet to submit details with regards to the minimum paid-up capital of the company along with the minimum net-worth details of both companies to the Department of Telecommunications.

Sources say that the department has requested some details including certificates that highlight the Indian and foreign equity held by Infotel Telecom along with the details of minimum paid-up capital. The department has recommended that the Telecom Ministry's wireless planning & coordination wing also take a look at the proposal. This is because Reliance Jio holds 20 MHz of broadband and wireless access spectrum across 22 circles within India.

Reliance Jio has sought similar approvals for the merger of Rancore Technologies with itself.

What to Expect with the Launch of Reliance Jio's Services

The company currently holds 1800 MHz spectrum across 14 circles and 2300 MHz in 22circles. With the much awaited launch of 4G wireless services in 2015, it is expected that a number of customer woes will come to an end.

For instance, after having crossed a major technical hurdle during its testing phase that began a few weeks ago, it is expected that customers will soon be able to enjoy same data speeds even when they move from one state to another while roaming on the 4G network.

A senior Reliance Jio executive belonging to the network team explained, "When a customer is roaming, the critical issue is continuous connectivity. Operators have struggled, when the subscriber moves from one circle to another with problems such as call drops, low connectivity or even no connectivity. With our vast network agreements, it has become possible and tests have shown 99.95% success."

Reliance Jio has also signed infrastructure sharing agreements with companies like RCom and Bharti to share infrastructure, and tower sharing deals firms such as GTL Infra, Indus Towers and Ascend Telecom. The aim is to keep cost down during various stages of service deployment. The company aims to lease out about 70,000 towers and install about 30,000 of their own. This includes smaller cell sites on individual poles.

Source: Meri News

GSM mobile operators add 61.2 lakh users in September: COAI

The GSM subscriber base in the country rose marginally to 75.60 crore in September with mobile operators adding 61.2 lakh users during the month, industry body COAI said on Thursday.

The GSM user base stood at 74.99 crore at the end of August 2014, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said.

COAI, which represents telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, said the data does not include GSM subscriber number of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.

Reliance Jio Infocomm had also joined the body but the company is yet to start telecom services.

“All India GSM cellular subscriber figures as of September 2014 stood at 756.08 million. The GSM subscribers increase by 6.12 million in September 2014 (0.82 per cent increase from previous month),” COAI said.

Idea Cellular added the maximum number of users in September with 17.2 lakh subscribers joining its network. The total base of the company stood at 14.35 crore with a market share of 18.99 per cent at the end of the month.

Vodafone added 13.5 lakh users to take its base to 17.38 crore and market share to 22.99 per cent at the end of September.

Bharti Airtel added 10.22 lakh users in the month to take its subscriber base to 21.15 crore in the reported period. It has a market share of 27.98 per cent at the end of September.

Aircel added 9.56 lakh users in the reported period and its user base stood at 7.58 crore at the end of the month whereas Uninor added 9.41 lakh users to take its base to 4.18 crore.

Videocon added 1.07 lakh subscribers to take its base to 59.41 lakh and state-run MTNL added 14,223 users to take its base to 33.08 lakh at the end of September.

Source: HBL

MediaTek says India its largest market on mobile after China

MediaTek, the Taiwanese chipset maker, expects to ship about 350 million smartphone chipsets to vendors worldwide in 2014, with India one of the top five markets, a top executive said, adding that the company expects affordable 4G smartphones to be launched in the South Asian nation later next year.

"Very clearly, India is the largest market for MediaTek on mobile, outside of China," said Finbarr Moynihan, general manager for international corporate sales at the chipset maker, which has a 30% share globally and shipped 220 million smartphones chipsets till December 2013.

MediaTek ranks India as its largest market for 3G growth in smartphones and 2G feature phones. As the 4G ecosystem develops in India, the company expects affordable, dual-band LTE smartphones in the second half next year, by when Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to have launched its high-speed wireless Internet services.

"We will certainly see entry-level LTE smartphones at affordable price points with reduced feature sets, display, camera quality, less memory, the usual by the second half of next year," Moynihan said.

LTE, or long-term evolution, is a technology that allows telecom companies to provide higher Internet speeds to consumers on their mobile phones. MediaTek, which competes with Qualcomm globally, on Monday launched its 4G LTE chipset compatible with both TDD and FDD modes, using 2300 MHz and 1800 MHz, respectively.

The company expects some manufacturers to launch devices using its new 4G LTE octa-core, multi-mode chipset by December, though on the premium end.

Moynihan added that India will benefit a lot from China, where the band and frequency structures are almost similar and sales of 4G LTE phones are only rising. This can drive economies of scale for India as carriers and handset makers move towards offering 4G smartphones in the mid- and low-price brackets, making the two countries the biggest markets for LTE growth for chipset makers, including Qualcomm and Intel.

"In terms of criticality, India will be the largest 3G market for us over the next two years as China progresses towards LTE," Moynihan said.

At present, Bharti Airtel and Aircel offer 4G services in select areas. Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has 4G airwaves countrywide, is widely speculated to launch low-priced yet high-speed data services on mobile phones that support LTE.

"We are in discussions with them. They will likely be the major drivers for LTE in India," Moynihan said when asked about partnering with Reliance Jio. "When they become mainstream, we hope to be a big part of their portfolio going forward," he added.

MediaTek will work with Reliance Jio to pre-certify its chipsets and modem solutions to meet network or frequency requirements, a practice the company follows with global carriers, more so in markets driven by them. This allows handset makers to create smartphones that will work on the service providers' frequencies and bands, including compatibility on both TDD and FDD LTE.

"We hope we can accomplish the appropriate testing, validation and certifications with Reliance and other carriers in India over the next couple of months or quarters. They (RJio) have some special requirements," he added, without elaborating.

Source: ET

Reliance Jio seeks powerful airwaves in 6 and 7 GHz band

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJio), the telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is seeking Microwave Backbone (MWB) frequency — airwaves used to connect towers — carriers in 6 and 7 GHz band on a “priority” basis.

“We require at least two MWB frequency carriers of 28 MHz paired bandwidth each in the 22 service areas in the 6 and 7 GHz spectrum band for point-to-point microwave backhaul links,” the company said in a request to the Department of Telecom.

The non-availability of MWB frequency carriers is severely hampering the rollout of its network, the letter, a copy of which was seen by BusinessLine, said.

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths with frequencies between 300 MHz (0.3 GHz) and 300 GHz.

The company, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, was allocated “only a few” MWA frequency carriers in 13 and 18 GHz band, which is not suitable for rollout in rural areas.

“These being high frequency bands, the hop lengths are typically short due to the high atmosphere loss as well as high attenuation in rains. Therefore, their usage is limited to intra metro routes or for short distance backhauls only,” the company said.

The MWB carriers in 6 and 7 GHz band are less susceptible to atmospheric vagaries and providing better up time. This will enable provision of good quality services to customers in the rural areas, it said. The rollout clauses of the Government also mention that the company is required to provide coverage across 50 per cent of the rural areas in a time-bound manner.

Backhaul spectrum

Earlier, industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) had sought for release for backhaul spectrum. Prior to which Telecom Regulatory Authority of India rolled out recommendations on the same, while the DoT on its part has constituted a committee to look into this.

RJio holds pan-India unified licence and spectrum in 1800 MHz (across 14 circles) and 2300 MHz (across 22 circles) and is gearing up to launch fourth generation wireless services in 2015.

Source: Hindu Business Line

Reliance to shortly launch 4G services

Indore : Reliance Industries Limited’s sister concern Reliance Jio will shortly debut its revolutionary Internet service 4G via free services to over 1,000 schools in underprivileged villages of MP. The installation of equipment and laying of cable lines for the fourth generation ( 4G) Internet service in 40 cities of the state is nearly complete and services will be rolled out shortly.

Reliance Industries Limited’s state head of corporate affairs Sanjiv Arora pointed out they are planning to roll out their service with a charity objective.

As part of the plan, they are preparing a proposal to offer free 4G connection to 1,000 schools in underprivileged villages so that the students of such schools can also be part of the digital revolution.

Arora said that were preparing a proposal and would hand it over to the state government for their permission. The task of identifying such schools is also underway currently.

On the other hand, additional chief secretary SR Mohanti said that he was aware that Reliance was going to present such a proposal to the government during GIS, but it did not happen.

RIL chief Mukesh Ambani had visited the local company office after attending the inaugural session of the GIS. He had reviewed the preparation for rolling out 4G service in the state and had appreciated the efforts of the team for undertaking the job in a record time.

Source: http://freepressjournal.in/

MediaTek launches the MT6595, a true octa core SoC that supports 4G LTE

The Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek has been pitching itself rather aggressively in the market emerging as the best affordable chipsets for mobile solutions. MediaTek announced the MT6595 which will be the worlds first True Octa-Core 4G LTE SoC. MediaTeks new offering will be available to the Indian consumers commercially as we reach the end of this year. This premium chipset is expected to propel the chip maker to an entirely new level and also help in bringing the 4G technologies to lower end devices.

MediaTek has already got a quantum leap in terms after joining hands with Google to supply the hardware for the ultra affordable Android One devices. It has once again reached out to manufacturers and industry leaders so that these chips will unlock new industrial potential.

Dr.Finbarr General Manager sales of MediaTek said that ”MediaTek is focused on delivering a full range of 4G LTE platforms, and the MT 6595 is the first of many to arrive in India. Our 4G LTE solutions support all modes including TDD LTE, which is important for India because infrastructure providers in the country are currently focusing on the TDD LTE network”.

MediaTek has started a new facility in Bengaluru which will sync up with the one in Noida to boost the R&D capabilities. The 4G LTE is the next big thing in the Indian telecom scene with the Reliance Jio gearing up for the same.

Source: Telecom Talk

Teleco- 4G under incubation; near term favourable:Edelweiss

The optimist in us is justifiably enthused by the ensuing improvement in the sector’s fundamentals triggered by ebbing competitive intensity and improving realisations. However, investors continue to be jittery, perceiving the anticipated launch by Reliance Jio (RJIO) as disruptive. In our view, this apprehension is unfounded as absence of relevant ecosystem for 4G technology renders any big bang disruption untenable. In fact, we are confident that in the near to medium term, the sector will be buoyed by tailwinds riding better-than-expected realisations and higher volume surge (voice and data) rather than headwinds from either the regulator or competitors. Exponential data surge and waning promotions & offers will aid players improve cash flows and thereby pare debt. While we like both  Bharti Airtel  (Bharti) and  Idea Cellular  (Idea), we prefer the former due to its proportionately lower dependency on circles up for renewal (~30% revenue versus Idea’s 70%), thereby capping auction related out flow. Any Africa operations related corporate development will be further upside risk to our target price. We maintain our positive view on the sector with ‘BUY’ on Bharti and Idea.

RJIO: Potent, but distant threat 

Without doubt,RJIO will be a scale player given the technology investments further bolstered by balance sheet might and robust execution record of the parent company. However, we believe, it will gain scale gradually post launch (expected by August 2015). Even in a best case scenario RJIO is unlikely to make profits till FY19 (refer table 1). Also, more established players like Bharti and Idea are in no way resource constrained and are fighting fit to counter any unrealistic offerings.

Limited competition, price discipline to ring in benefits 

Post 2012 auctions, the competitive landscape has narrowed dramatically with only ~5 operators per circle versus ~11 earlier. This proved a boon for the industry, enabling operators regain their pricing mojo. Further, in order to help the sector stand on its feet the new government is likely to adopt a more accommodative stance. Moreover, we expect the industry to adopt a disciplined approach, unlike the earlier price hike regime wherein discounts and promotions had wreaked havoc. Thus, higher tariffs will boost cash flows and reduce net debt of companies. In case of Bharti and Idea we estimate cash flows of INR647bn and INR167bn, respectively, over FY15-20.

Outlook: Positives to play out first 

The sector is at a crossroad with tailwinds like waning competition, improved pricing power, data uptick and more accommodative policies, and headwind in the form of RJIO’s entry. Though investors are jittery about RJIO’s big bang launch, we believe this is unlikely. We firmly believe that sound operational performance will be the wind beneath stocks’ flight in the near term. We reiterate our positive stance on the sector and ‘BUY’ on Bharti and Idea with target prices of INR434 and INR180, respectively.

Source: Moneycontrol

Indian telecom operators need to invest in in-building coverage as 4G grows: Ericsson

Indian telecom operators will have to change their capex strategy and invest more in improving in-building coverage to better serve their customers in the 4G scenario, a top Ericsson official said.

"We see that all of our customers have LTE plans and traffic is expected to increase hundreds times. In that scenario, it would be hard to cater the needs just from the outside or macro network and they would need an underlying layer of small cells," Christian Hedelin, head of strategy for Business Unit Radio within Ericsson told ET.

In India, a new player like Reliance Jio Infocomm and No. 1 carrier Bharti Airtel are investing heavily for in-door coverage. Telcos are trying to provide better indoor coverage, which is still a challenge on the 2300 Mhz band, which is currently being used to deliver 4G services. Reliance Jio has recently placed a bulk order for small cells equipment with Israeli company Airspan to meet its requirement for low-powered, short-range towers to deploy 4G services.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, is also deploying small cells, pico cells and indoor Wi-Fi points, as a part of its heterogeneous network (HetNet) to better serve to its data customers. The telco has deployed a heterogeneous network in Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore.

"Traditionally, investments for indoor solutions have been a smaller part of major capital expenditure of telcos. The investment first goes in population (macro) coverage, followed by capacity in the macro layer. Once the coverage is achieved, telcos do direct investment towards in-door solutions based on what consumers want," Hedelin said.

Ericsson has introduced its small cell radio dot system along with a multi band indoor picocell that aims to solve the challenges mobile operators face with in-building coverage.

The company expects to start the trials of it radio dot system small cell with its partner telcos in the coming months in India.

According to Hedelin, there would be an increased focus on in-buildingcinvestments in India, given the emergence of more traffic hungry applications, which couldn't be catered through the macro network. "A majority of traffic demand is from indoors-homes, enterprise, malls and subway," he explained.

The Indian market is seeing a surge in smartphone penetration, leading to increased traffic on telcos' networks. Hedelin said that growing number of smartphones will be the trigger for 4G LTE pick up in India. "Once we have $100 4G device in the market, we will see a positive uptake of 4G data services in the country."

The amount of time people spend on using internet is increasing drastically with video being the largest tariff driver in India. "We are focused on improving network performance which is now more about user experience of services offered by the operators along with the total cost of providing these services, since it is also a performance parameter," Hedelin said.

The executive reckons that the 4G LTE technology will bring more innovation in the market, which would lead to a reduction in cost to connect.

Source: ET

Smartphones, a tool for driving productivity: survey

Smartphone usage in the country is not only leading to proliferation of entertainment and social networking but also creating a buzz around things such as productivity and achieving more.

According to a global study done by research firm GfK and BlackBerry Ltd, Indian users perceived smartphones as enablers of productivity by saving time, enhancing communication and collaboration with colleagues, providing more flexibility and simplifying their lives.

It saves time
According to the study, 77 per cent of smartphone users in India find that their device saves time. Globally, one-third of business smartphone users said their devices save them more than 5 hours during an average working week. “Smartphones have made a major impact on the way we conduct business and communicate with friends and family, driving our ambitions to be productive in order to change the way we contribute to work, our communities and society,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry.

Rather than simply ploughing through a to-do list, modern productivity means consciously creating more time to focus on the things that matter most. The study found that 67 per cent of business smartphone users globally indicated they are “always looking to improve their productivity” and 69 per cent are “constantly looking for new ways to get things done as efficiently as possible.”

Motivated
The study revealed BlackBerry users to be more motivated by achievement and personal rewards compared to users on competing smartphone platforms.

For example, BlackBerry users were 43 per cent more likely than other users to agree that one of their motivations to be productive is to make a mark in their company and society.

Data related to India further highlighted that BlackBerry end-users are more likely to agree that their smartphone reflects their status, helps them manage communications, is secure, helps them achieve more, is durable, gives them flexibility and simplifies their lives as against other smartphone users.

Source: HBL

No Skype calls within India from November 10

Over-the-top (OTT) telecom player Skype will stop the calling facility from its application on mobile and landline phones within India from November 10. "As of November 10, 2014, Skype will end support for calling within India meaning calls to mobiles and landlines from Skype within India will no longer be available," Skype's parent company Microsoft said in a statement on Monday.
Using a feature of Skype, a user can make video or voice calls using Internet service for which he/she will only be charged for Internet consumed for the service. Microsoft said, "Users in India can still make free Skype-to-Skype calls worldwide, international calls to mobiles and landlines and users outside the country can call mobiles and landlines in India." It added that Skype WiFi and SMSs are also available to users in India.

The development comes after the Union home ministry wrote to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to block voice over Internet protocol offered by OTT companies because it conceals details of the caller, including his or her mobile number, which poses a security risk.

SECURITY RISK
Security agencies have raised alarm over the 'parallel telecom network' being offered by OTTs. Besides, location of OTT servers outside India poses further risk. DoT earlier had held talks with OTT companies after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in August decided not to impose extra fees on these popular services as demanded by telecom companies. A top DoT official said any OTT operator can offer free messaging or even calls across any telecom network in India. This also makes it vulnerable and could pose a security risk. Skype's announcement comes within a week of Microsoft's mobile phone arm launching Lumia 730 smartphone in India which positions itself as phone fit for Skype calls and videos.

'BLOCK WE PHONE APP'
Intelligence Bureau (IB) has asked Department of Telecom (DoT) to block the We Phone application as it facilitates spoofing of caller id and is difficult to identify to locate or identify actual caller.
- IB had written to DoT around a month back to block We phone application, which is freely available on Android Play Store and Apple's application store as it allows user to spoof call, an official source said;

- We Phone, which offers call service similar to Skype, allows user to make free calls using mobile Internet service to other subscriber having same application;
- The application, after verifying the user's phone number at the time of installation, gives an option to disable the number to hide it

- IB has told DoT that in free version of this application, caller id on receiver screen starts with +1777 whereas in paid version, any number can be set to display as caller id;
- IB has written that the server of We Phone is located outside India and any call made from We Phone is routed through the server located abroad and therefore it is difficult to identify and locate the actual calling number or user.

Source: Business Today

4G effect: Call-drops, roaming woes may end soon

Fed up with call drops and loss of data connectivity while on roaming?

The next-generation 4G services may soon put an end to your woes as companies gear up to offer the latest technology to enable smooth connections.

In fact, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm’s proposed high-speed Internet service using 4G technology has crossed a major technical hurdle during its testing phase that began a few weeks ago — it will ensure that customers get the same data speed when they move from one state to another while roaming on its network.

Consumers have long complained of connectivity issues while on roaming and telecom operators have been grappling with the problem.

“When a customer is roaming, the critical issue is continuous connectivity. Operators have struggled, when the subscriber moves from one circle to another with problems such as call drops, low connectivity or even no connectivity. With our vast network agreements, it has become possible and tests have shown 99.95% success,” a senior Reliance Jio executive in the network team explained.

Reliance Jio spokesperson did not respond to HT’s mail till the time of going to press.

The RIL group firm has entered into agreements with a number of firms for leasing towers across India including Indus Towers (113,000 ), GTL Infra (27,800), Ascend Telecom (4,500), Tower Vision (8,400), ATC India (11,000), Viom Networks (42,000), Bharti Infratel (36,000) and Reliance Communications (45,000). It has signed deals with a number of small tower companies as well.

In addition, Reliance Jio also has agreements with RCom and Bharti to share infrastructure created by the groups.

While Airtel already offers 4G services in Kolkata, Bangalore, Ludhiana and Chandigarh and Aircel in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir, Vodafone and RCom also plan to launch such services next year.

Source: Hindustan Times

Towering expectations

After a phase of subdued growth, the fortunes of telecom tower infrastructure companies could see a revival with the entry of fourth generation (4G) mobile technology players, specially Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJio).

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and promoter of Rjio, had in June told shareholders that RJio would roll out 4G services, for both voice and data, in phases in 2015.
Since then, the telco has entered into pacts with several tower infrastructure companies, the latest being with GTL Infrastructure Limited, which has on September 18 signed a Master Services Agreement (MSA) for tower infrastructure sharing with RJio.

A Credit Suisse report last month stated that Reliance Jio Infocomm was on track to launch its pan-India 4G data and voice services by March 2015.

Apart from GTL Infra, RJio has signed pacts with Ascend Telecom for more than 4,500 towers, with Tower Vision for 8,400 towers, with ATC India for 11,000 towers and with Viom Networks for 42,000 towers. It also has an agreements with Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications for sharing the latter’s optic fibre infrastructure and over 45,000 towers. Additionally, RJio already has an agreement in place with Indus Towers (a joint venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular along with another with Bharti Airtel) to utilise its submarine cable.

A JP Morgan report estimates that RJio will roll out at least 150,000 4G tenancies over the next four to five years for a substantial coverage. Of the 1.5 lakh 4G tenancies, at least 50,000 tenancies (one-third) will likely be from Bharti Infratel (standalone) and Indus, which collectively have over 40% total tower share in the country.

“With the entry of an additional pan-India player like RJio, projected market share gains for the big three telecom operators (Airtel, Vodafone, Idea) may need some adjustment, especially on data, but this emerging scenario is an encouraging one for tower companies such as Bharti Infratel and Indus”, the report said.

The report estimates RJio to be paying a monthly rent of R34,000 per tower to the tower infrastructure companies from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2020.

At present, over 75% of telecom towers in India is controlled by mobile operators, while others like GTL Limited and GTL infrastructure, which do not provide for mobile services, have suffered.
GTL Infra, together with Chennai Network Infrastructure Limited (CNIL), a subsidiary of GTL Infra’s parent company Global Group Enterprise, currently holds a combined portfolio of over 27, 800 towers.

Global Group’s CEO Charudatta Naik said in a recent BSE statement that the launch of 4G network and the rise in the consumption of data services will be the major growth driver for tower companies.
Global Group, an infrastructure services company, has two companies listed on Indian stock exchanges, GTL Limited and GTL Infrastructure. Both companies had to go in for corporate debt restructuring (CDR) over the heavy loans taken to purchase Aircel’s tower assets for about $1billion in 2011. The companies are currently pinning their hopes on the roll out of 4G services and the surge in data usage to improve their financial positioning.

The future of the telecom tower companies also looks optimistic with the expansion of existing second generation (2G) networks in the 900 MHz band, and the roll-out of third generation (3G) services in the 2100 MHz band as well as broadband wireless access (BWA) services in the 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands.

A research report by JM Financial, released in February, forecast a 2% CAGR in tower-sites and 4-5% CAGR in total tenancies till FY17.

During his speech to the shareholders in June, Mukesh Ambani called Reliance Jio a “R70,000-crore-initiative,” indicating that RIL is investing more in its new telecom business than what was estimated.
“From the outset, Reliance Jio will cover all states in India, with 5,000 towns and cities and 215,000 villages,: Ambani said.

Telecom Infrastructure companies, especially independent companies, are keen to see the plans fructify, as their own future will be depending on them.

Source: FE