ITV

Category: Telecom

  • TDSAT upholds RCom petition against DoT on one-time spectrum charge

    TDSAT upholds RCom petition against DoT on one-time spectrum charge

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and  Appellate  Tribunal (TDSAT) upheld Reliance Communications Ltd’s (RCOM) petition against the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), challenging DoT’s decision to impose One-Time Spectrum Charge  (OTSC)  on  its  contracted  CDMA  and  GSM  spectrum resources on 4 February 2019.

    Passing this order, TDSAT held that any telecom operator’s spectrum holdings of upto 5 MHz in the CDMA band and upto 6.2 MHz in the GSM band were exempt from any OTSC levies. TDSAT hence set aside the levy of OTSC on RCOM’s said spectrum.

    TDSAT has also directed DoT to return Rs 2,000 crore bank guarantee to RCom as per its earlier order passed on 3 July 2018.

  • Vodafone Idea partners Sun NXT

    Vodafone Idea partners Sun NXT

    MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea, the telecom service provider in India, today announced a strategic partnership with Sun TV Network. Network’s OTT platform, Sun NXT, which has over 50,000+ hours of content will now be accessible to Vodafone Idea customers. This partnership will offer Vodafone Idea’s customers access to Sun NXT’s exclusive digital content which caters to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam audiences.

    Customers are increasingly looking forward to entertainment in regional languages. Through this partnership, Vodafone Idea has widened its bouquet of regional content through Sun NXT on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV app respectively.

    Commenting on the partnership, Vodafone Idea CMO Sashi Shankar said, “When it comes to content, we are singularly focused on providing entertainment to our customers keeping in mind their consumption, languageand culture. We believe that video and vernacular are the new growth drivers in digital content consumption today, especially in markets of South India. Regional content creates affinity amongst the consumers. We are delighted to partner with Sun TV Network to provide enriched entertainment to our customers by offering high quality regional content on Vodafone &Idea’s Mobile apps.”

    Sun NXT will power 30 + Live TV channels, 4000+ movies and a huge repository of TV shows, music videos and short format content on both Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV App. Vodafone Idea is first in the industry to launch this partnership for the entire catalogue including movies.

    Sun NXT Spokesperson said, “Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV app has built a robust portfolio of regional content. Now with Sun NXT, customers will have access to South India’s biggest movie library, Top TV shows and Live TV in their native language.”

    The customers will be able to access top TV channels like Sun TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV, Surya TV and many other such channels and also popular movies and top-rated TV shows across the four languages on Sun NXT through Vodafone Play and Idea Movies &TV.

    From its launch in June 2017 till now, Sun NXT has fast become the most preferred content consumption destination for South Indians, not only in India but also across the World.

  • Sunil Mittal advocates hiking minimum tariff, strategic content deals for ARPU growth

    Sunil Mittal advocates hiking minimum tariff, strategic content deals for ARPU growth

    MUMBAI: India’s telecom industry has been bleeding losses for some time now. The entry of Reliance Jio in the market has only made things even more challenging. Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal thinks 2020 could be the year when this haemorrhaging may stop. He also thinks that taking the lower table of tariff up and strategic content deals with online video platforms can help the industry to improve ARPUs which has been sliding continuously.

    In an interview with BloombergQuint at the World Economic Forum, Mittal said that getting more customers is necessary for telcos to drive up ARPUs. He mentioned Airtel’s recent move of limiting its minimum to Rs 35. If customers positively respond to the step, then Airtel may take it up to Rs 60 or 80.

    “There’s got to be a minimum ARPU coming in. Even for Reliance Jio, their minimum pack is Rs 50, there’s nothing below that. So you’ll have to keep taking the lower table up. And those people who are gouging a lot of data will have to start giving more than Rs 399. They were comfortably giving Rs 500-800,” Mittal added.

    Mittal also pointed out that right segmentation is a necessity and providing high-end customers access to content platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Zee or Wynk for music will also help telco players. He is also hopeful that the trend of ARPUs going up will be visible from 2019.

    After disrupting mobile broadband sector, Jio is now prepping up for its grand entry in fixed line broadband also. Although Mittal thinks there will be some turbulence in the sector, he is confident about surviving the upcoming storm on the back of previous experience. Despite the segment being a small part of the business, Airtel is planning to grow there. “We have been reducing our tariffs from Rs 1100 to now around Rs 700. So it will settle at around Rs 500 depending on where Jio comes in with pricing,” he commented.

    In the changing scenario, many telecom players both in India and outside India are eying on building a content library while some of them are venturing into content creation. Though Airtel is striking strategic partnerships with various OTT players, it isn't interested in investing in content creation.

    “We are not going to develop content on our own but we are partnering with Netflix, Amazon, Eros, Zee, Hulu. We are becoming the partner of choice as a telecom carrier for all the content players. That’s our strategy. We are not going to make investments in the areas we don’t understand very well. Similarly, we will go for e-commerce. Eventually, if that plays out then there are enough e-commerce companies who will seek us out,” Mittal commented on partnerships over acquisition of digital content.

  • Vodafone Idea board approves raising Rs 25K crore by rights issue

    Vodafone Idea board approves raising Rs 25K crore by rights issue

    BENGALURU: Vodafone Idea Limited has intimated the stock exchanges that its board of directors has considered and aprroved the offer and issue of fully paid-up and/or partly-paid up equity shares of the company and/or other securities convertible into equity shares of the company, including but not limited to, compulsorily convertible debentures, for an amount aggregating up to Rs. 25,000 crore (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand Crore), by way of a rights issue to existing eligible equity shareholders of the company as at the record date, in accordance with applicable laws, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.

    Vodafone Idea further stated to the Stock Exchanges that the tromoter shareholders (Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group), have re-iterated to the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs.11,000 crore and up to Rs.7,250 crore respectively as part of such Rights Issue. Further, the promoter shareholders have indicated that in case the Rights Issue is undersubscribed, each of the Promoter shareholders reserves the right to subscribe to part or whole amount of the unsubscribed portion, subject to applicable law.

    For the purposes of giving effect to the Rights Issue, the board has authorized the Capital Raising Committee to, inter-alia, decide the terms and conditions of the Rights Issue, including the instrument, issue price, rights entitlement ratio, record date, timing of the Rights Issue and other related matters.

  • Jio continues to lead broadband internet growth in Oct-18

    Jio continues to lead broadband internet growth in Oct-18

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s largest start-up in the world in the form of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (Jio) continued to lead broadband internet subscriber growth for the month of October 2018 (month ended 31 October 2018, Oct-18, period or month under review). Jio registered a net growth of 1.302 crore (13.02 million, 130.20 lakh) subscribers or 5.4 per cent during the month of October 2018. Since 31 December 2017 (Dec-17) or 1 January 2018, Jio’s subscriber base grew 9.216 crore (92.16 million 921.6 lakh) until 31 October 2018. At present, Jio’s subscriber base comprises only mobile device users – phones and dongles.

    The Vodafone and Idea merger has made the new entity Vodafone-Idea the second largest wireless or mobile broad services provider in the country after Jio. Bharti Airtel is the second largest broadband internet services provider in India if one were to consider its wireless and wired internet subscriber base.

    Overall, 1.442 crore (14.42 million, 144.2 lakh) net broadband subscribers were added in October 2018 – India’s broadband subscriber base grew by 2.99 percent in Oct-18.  

    The largest growth was by mobile device users (phones and dongles) or mobile wireless users, followed by wired broadband subscribers which registered a small growth of 0.011 crore (0.11 million, 1.1 lakh) or 0.60 per cent in Oct-18. Fixed wireless subscribers base declined by 0.0003 crore (0.003 million, 0.03 lakh) or declined by 0.43 per cent in October 2018

    Mobile device users subscriber base grew the 1.431 crore (14.31 million, 143.1 lakh) or 3.09 per cent during the month under review. India had a mobile device users subscriber base of 47.72 crore (477.20 million or 4,772.0 lakh) at the end of Oct-18 as compared to 46.289 crore (462.89 million, 4,628.9 lakh) at the end of Sep-18.

    As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for Oct-18, the top five service providers constituted 98.42 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Oct-18. These service providers were Jio 26.275 crore (262.75 million, 2,627.5 lakh), Bharti Airtel 10.139 crore (101.39 million, 1,013.9 lakh), Vodafone Idea 10.133 crore (101.33 million, 1,013.3 lakh), BSNL 2.03 crore (20.30 million, 203 lakh) and Tata Tele. Group 0.251 crore (2.51 million, 25.1 lakh).

    As on 31 October, 2018, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Jio 26.275 crore (262.75 million, 2,627.5 lakh), Vodafone Idea 10.132 crore (101.32 million, 1,013.3 lakh), Bharti Airtel 9.914 crore (99.14 million, 991.4 lakh), BSNL 1.115 crore (11.15 million, 111.5 lakh) and Tata Teleservices 0.199 crore (1.99 million, 19.9 lakh).

    As on 31 October, 2018, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL 0.915 crore (9.15 million, 91.5 lakh), Bharti Airtel 0.225 crore (2.25 million, 22.5 lakh), Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) 0.137 crore (1.37 million), 13.7 lakh, MTNL 0.079 crore (0.79 million, 7.9 lakh) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (Hathway) 0.075 crore (0.75 million, 7.5 lakh).

    The public sector MTNL continued to lose subscribers in Oct-18. As per TRAI data, MTNL’s subscriber base declined by 10,000 during the period nunder review. Among the top 5 wired broadband internet services providers, while Airtel and ACT added 10,000 subscribers each, besides MTNL, the other two players – BSNL and Hathway had no change in the number of subscribers in Oct-18 as compared to Sep-18. However, it is heartening to note that other smaller players, which could include MSOs and LCOs added 0.01 crore (0.1 million, 1 lakh) subscribers in the month.

    Notes: According to Trai, Broadband internet means services with speeds equal to or higher than 512 kpbs.

    Trai provides data in millions and to the second decimal place, hence the granularity of the data in this report is 10,000.

  • Samsung India revenue grows by 10% in FY18

    Samsung India revenue grows by 10% in FY18

    MUMBAI: As per regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Samsung India saw a net profit fall of almost 11 per cent in FY18. Meanwhile, the revenues of the South Korean giant managed to lead the Indian smartphone market as they grew by 10 per cent to cross Rs 60,000 crore.

    Despite its mobile business gross profit dipping in FY18 to Rs 3,415.9 crore crore from Rs 3,474.1 crore in the fiscal earlier, Samsung still emerged as the most profitable consumer electronics and smartphone maker in India. Total income of the company touched Rs 61,065.6 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 55,511.9 crore in the previous year, while net profit dipped by 10.7 per cent to Rs 3,712.7 crore, as per its latest filings. The company witnessed a sales growth of 37 per cent to touch Rs 37,349 crore.

    However, Samsung’s television business took a hit last fiscal with sales declining by as much as 3 per cent to Rs 4,512 crore. The gross profit improved by 88 per cent to about Rs 222 crore.

  • Bharti Airtel to sell 32% stake in Bharti Infratel

    Bharti Airtel to sell 32% stake in Bharti Infratel

    MUMBAI: On Thursday’s Bharti Airtel board meeting, the telecom company decided to take some vital steps in order to remain in competition of the Jio dominated telecom industry. Bharti Airtel has decided to sell a 32 per cent stake in Bharti Infratel. With this happening, the telco may raise over Rs 15,500 crore.

    Furthermore, the company has also appointed Badal Bagri as its new CFO and KMP which will be effective from 1 March. He will replace the company’s current  global CFO and KMP Nilanjan Roy whose resignation was approved in the BOD meeting. The outcome of the meeting was announced in a regulatory filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

    Exploring fund raising options, the company board agreed to sell stakes to cut the ridden debt and boost its struggling business in the country.

    Confirming its decisions in a regulatory filing, the telco wrote that the board has authorised and, “approved the sale/transfer of up to 591.87 million equity shares (32 per cent) of Bharti Infratel, to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments Ltd, to explore a potential monetisation of its (Bharti) Infratel stake, subject to the approval of shareholders.”

    Additionally, in a separate filing concluding the meeting, it informed that the company “has formed and authorised a ‘special committee of directors for fund raising’ to comprehensively explore/evaluate various options of fund-raising for the company to strengthen its capital structure and balance sheet.”

  • 5G to challenge 4G services: Jio President

    5G to challenge 4G services: Jio President

    MUMBAI: With time, third generation services (3G) were replaced by fourth generation services (4G) and Reliance Jio played a vital role in the transforming phase. And once again India’s youngest telecom company is eager to quickly roll out the ultra-fast fifth generation services (5G).

    While speaking to the Economic Times, Jio president Mathew Oommen spoke about the challenges which 4G will face after the deployment of 5G.

    Oommen explained, “Once 5G digital services arrive, business will be based on the actual value that the telcos offer a consumer in terms of digital solutions, content, and services.”

    He briefed about traditional pricing models being revamped, “4G will be challenged by the imminent wave of 5G services that will no longer be charged based on minutes, bits or bytes anymore.” Rather telcos would adapt to a new pricing mechanism which would look to measure the “overall revenue per subscriber” for a combination of digital services.

    With that being said, Jio believes that it’s high time for telcos to “either disrupt the marketplace or face disruption”.

    Oommen stated that “normalcy would soon get restored” in the telecom sector as once the telcos catch up with the technological advancement which will only increase usage that would drive compensation from newer services.

    The 5G spectrum allocations will take place by the second half of 2019 according to the government. Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani recently had said that India would be ready for 5G services by 2020. Jio has indicated its eagerness to roll out 5G services as it seeks an early auction of 5G airwaves, whereas Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea want the auction dates to be pushed back to late-2019 and 2020, respectively.

  • Adarsh Nair appointed chief product officer of Bharti Airtel

    Adarsh Nair appointed chief product officer of Bharti Airtel

    MUMBAI: According to an Economic Times report, Adarsh Nair has been appointed as Bharti Airtel’s new chief product officer (CPO). Before this, Nair was the head, product and growth of US-based trucking start-up Convoy Inc. Now at Bharti Airtel, Nair will report to the company’s CEO Gopal Vittal.

    The CPO position at Bharti Airtel has been vacant since the previous product head Anand Chandrasekharan quit to join Snapdeal three years ago.

    Speaking to ET, a top company executive said that Nair will be “custodian of Bharti Airtel’s digital products and platforms” and work closely with the leadership team and partners to identify and prioritise market opportunities.

    Another top executive at Airtel said that the products head position had now evolved and taken on a much more strategic role. Chiefly, since the telco decided to evolve into a digital company as part of its Airtel 3.0 vision, Airtel would be deploying new age technologies and this is where the products head would come into play.

    With Airtel’s ongoing digital transformation, the CPO leadership position is reviving, said the executive.

  • Nokia Networks’ Ashish Chowdhary to lead Apple India ops

    Nokia Networks’ Ashish Chowdhary to lead Apple India ops

    MUMBAI: Ashish Chowdhary, the chief customer operations officer of Nokia Networks has been appointed as Apple India head. He will take over as Apple India head from January next year.

    Nokia, confirming his departure, said that Chowdhary will be leaving “at the end of 2018 after 15 successful years”.

    Nokia also said, “Chowdhary will continue to lead customer operations and remain a member of the Nokia Group leadership team until the end of 2018. He will then leave Nokia to take a leadership position in another company.”

    Chowdhary has 25 years of international experience in the enterprise and telecom side. With Nokia he was in charge of its sales and operations worldwide. Before that, he was the head of Asia Middle East and Africa and earlier, head of Global Services Business Unit.

    On 1 November, Apple CEO Tim Cook had admitted that his business was sluggish in the country and would like to do something about it. Just after that, came the appointment of Chowdhary.

    “I am a big believer in India. I am very bullish on the country and the people and our ability to do well there,” said Cook.

    Apple India is currently under Michel Coulomb who took over from Sanjay Kaul in December last year.