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Tag: Airtel

  • The rising trend of coopetition among brands

    The rising trend of coopetition among brands

    MUMBAI: Who would have thought that companies would overcome their ego and actually collaborate with other brands to come up with joint advertisements? That is the new trend in the market-coopetition (a combination of cooperative and competition).

    Companies are willing to do anything today, including riding along with other brands just because it will benefit them. Coopetition essentially involves one company advertising through another company, so that each can benefit from the brand loyalty and reputation of the other. It is also called brand partnership and the term is relatively new to the business vocabulary and is used to encompass a wide range of marketing activities involving the use of two or more brands.

    An early instance of co-branding occurred in 1956 when Renault tied up with French jeweller Jacques Arpels to turn the dashboard of one of its newly introduced Renault Dauphines into a work of art. A unique case of coopetition was when Burger King made a proposal to archrival McDonald’s to create a unique burger McWhopper but Ronald McDonald frowned on it.

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    The most infamous case was the success story of Samsung and Sony partnership back in 2004. Two competitors who operate in the same television manufacturing business decided to come together in a joint venture to develop and produce LCD panels for flat screen TV sets. Teaming with a rival produced two innovations, knocking down other competitors from their positions and more than doubled the combined market share of these two companies. The companies ended their partnership of liquid-crystal displays for televisions in 2011.

    Although a common practice internationally, the phenomenon is fairly new in India. The most acknowledged has been Ariel washing powder and LG washing machine coming together for a brand alliance. The partnership was strengthened by a TVC that showcased LG as the best washing machine to wash your clothes using Ariel washing powder.

    Indian two-wheeler motorcycle company Hero Group and Japanese Honda Motor Company entered a joint venture to set up Hero Honda Motors Limited in 1984. The joint venture not only created the world’s single largest two-wheeler company but also one of the most successful joint ventures worldwide. But, on 16 December 2010, the companies signed an agreement to dissolve their partnership.

    We have also witnessed telecom companies partnering with handset manufacturers to strengthen their position jointly in the market. This results in an increased sale of handsets and mobile network subscribers. In 2017, Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Airtel launched Android-powered 4G smartphones in partnership with Karbonn Mobiles. Domestic handset maker Micromax and Vodafone also came together to offer a smartphone at an affordable price hence increasing the mobile and network penetration in smaller markets.

    The latest addition to the list is sanitaryware Parryware joining hands with toilet cleaner Harpic to educate and promote imperative lifestyle habits. Emphasising the need for hygienic and clean toilets, the duo has even jointly launched a television commercial which revolves around the need to keep toilets sparkling clean and germ free for maintaining hygiene as well as longevity, while showcasing bathrooms as an important factor that drives health and well-being of consumers in their living spaces.

    Additionally, various food delivery apps have also been tying up with cab hailing services and e-commerce websites tie-up with mobile handsets as an exclusive seller such as OnePlus with Amazon. Although the trend is fairly new, it is an interesting space to see two brands coming together to achieve marketing and revenue goals together.

    Also Read:

    Indian TVCs that rapped with consumers

    The attention grabbing gimmick of comparative advertising

    Why do we lack animated ads despite their popularity

  • Airtel offers free Amazon Prime subscription on plan

    Airtel offers free Amazon Prime subscription on plan

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel and Amazon India have joined hands to ring in an entertaining new year for customers. New and existing Airtel postpaid customers with an infinity plan of Rs 499 or above will get a one-year Amazon Prime membership, worth Rs 999 for free.

    Customers can watch Amazon Prime Video and access over 11 million Prime-eligible products while shopping on Amazon.in. The offer for one year of Amazon Prime is activated exclusively through the Airtel TV app. Access to Prime Video is available after downloading the Prime Video app on supported devices.

    Amazon Prime Video India director content Vijay Subramaniam said, “We are delighted to associate with Airtel to bring Prime membership to Airtel’s consumers. At Amazon Prime Video, we are focused on bringing the latest and exclusive content to India. This exclusive offer enables us to reach Airtel’s significant customer base across the country, providing entertainment—anytime, anywhere on a reliable service, with great playback quality and low data usage.”

    Wynk CEO Sameer Batra said, “This partnership is a major milestone in Airtel’s endeavour to build a world-class content platform. With Airtel TV, we are stepping up the value proposition and offering a complete digital entertainment experience to our postpaid and home broadband users.”

    Also Read:

    Cartoon Networks with Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime plans to add more originals & evaluating regional content

    Amazon India seasonal sale boosts Prime Video subscribers 

  • TRAI tightens the screws on interconnectivity for telcos

    TRAI tightens the screws on interconnectivity for telcos

    Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a mandate to service providers directing them to enter into an interconnection agreement on a “non-discriminatory basis” within 30 days of receiving a connectivity request from another mobile operator.

    The regulator’s release on the subject comprises regulations on important aspects of interconnection such as interconnection agreement, provisioning of initial interconnection and augmentation of points of interconnection (Pols), interconnection charges, disconnection of Pols, and the financial disincentive on interconnection matters.  

    The regulations will come into effect from 1 February 2018 and “will apply to all the service providers offering telecom services in India,” the TRAI release stated.

    Through these regulations, the TRAI has mandated that every service provider shall, within thirty days of receipt of request from a service provider, enter into an interconnection agreement. In has also laid down the framework for provisioning and augmentation of ports at Pols, which stipulates a step­by-step process for provisioning of ports at Pols.

    In October 2016, the TRAI had issued a consultation paper on ‘Review of Regulatory Framework for Interconnection’ for seeking comments of the stakeholders. The comments and counter-comments received from the stakeholders were uploaded on the TRAI’s website.

    The issue of interconnectivity was a bone of contention in 2016 between then newbie Reliance Jio and other established telecom companies such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

    Also Read:

    TRAI open house to discuss ease of doing broadcast biz

    TRAI landing page norms stayed till 22 December 2017

    Trai to make recommendations on net neutrality today 

  • The year the telecom sector quaked

    The year the telecom sector quaked

    An interplay of myriad factors contributed to India’s telecom industry witnessing both turmoil and revolution in 2017. Consolidation was the buzzword as some of the largest telecom operators merged even as Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJio) emerged as a frontrunner for Reliance Communications’ (RCom) assets according to reports. RJio can also take credit for ushering in a data revolution in the country.

    Moreover, smartphone penetration during the year increased three-fold with the aggregate number of users at more than 300 million. With smartphones still accounting for less than 50 per cent of handset users (650 million) in the country, another surge in data consumption is on the anvil.

    The price war

    Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani sparked a price war in 2016 with the launch of Reliance Jio. As a consequence, the country’s large telcos have been burning through cash this year to hold on to their market share. Vodafone and Airtel tried luring customers through cheap data and unlimited calling offers. Reliance Jio, however, clearly won that battle. Within the first month of commercial operations, Jio announced that it had acquired 16 million subscribers. This was the fastest scaling up by any mobile network operator anywhere in the world. The operator crossed the 50 million subscriber mark 83 days from its launch, crossing 100 million subscribers on 22 February 2017. By October 2017, it had around 130 million subscribers. 

    With telcos looking to push for higher data pack purchases, 4G became cheaper than 3G. Today, 4G data costs are as low as 1 paisa per MB.

    Sectoral consolidation 

    From as many as 13 players at one point in time, we are now left with just five major contenders even as RCom sits on the brink of leaving the fray. Earlier this year, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular decided to merge operations to create India’s largest telecom operator worth more than $23 billion beating Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Airtel. With this deal, Vodafone India’s valuation stood at Rs 82,800 crore and Idea’s at Rs 72,200 crore. 

    RCom, reeling under a debt of around Rs 46,000 crore, shut down its voice services from 1 December 2017 after it failed to close its wireless business merger deal with Aircel. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a directive to RCom’s customers to move to other networks by the end of this year. Vodafone, Airtel, and Jio created special packs for RCom customers to lure them to their networks. 

    Telcos and handsets 

    In July 2017, Jio introduced JioPhone–the company’s first affordable 4G feature phone powered by KaiOS. The phone was made available for a security deposit of Rs 1500, which could be reimbursed on returning the phone after three years. This phone was released for beta users on 15 August 2017 and pre-booking for regular users started on 24 August 2017. 

    To strengthen its presence amidst the battle for market share, Airtel launched Android-powered 4G smartphones in partnership with Indian cellphone manufacturer Karbonn Mobiles. Airtel also partnered various other mobile handset manufacturers, including Intex, to create an ‘open ecosystem’ of affordable 4G smartphones.

    Not one to be left out of the party, Vodafone and domestic handset maker Micromax came together to offer a smartphone priced a shade under Rs 1000 with a three-year rider.

    Internet of Things

    Despite posing privacy risks, Internet of Things, or IoT, remained one of the buzzwords in tech circles this year. According to Vodafone Plc’s annual IoT barometer report 2017-18, the percentage of companies with more than 50,000 connected devices active has doubled in the last 12 months with over 84 per cent of IoT adopters saying that their use of IoT has grown in the last year. From the Indian organisations that were a part of the study, 81% felt that IoT was key to digital transformation.

    In India, Vodafone marked itself as the first brand to undergo this evolution. The telco repositioned itself as a contemporary and future-fit brand. It is a significant metamorphosis for one of India’s most iconic and loved brands since the ‘Power to you’ tagline was introduced in 2009. This new positioning, a part of Vodafone’s rebranding exercise across 36 countries, is designed to underpin its belief in new technologies and digital services playing a positive role in transforming society.

    Net neutrality  

    In what was seen as a sign of things to come, the US Federal Communications Commission voted in December to scrap net neutrality, which requires internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally. The TRAI, not too long after, came out in strong support of net neutrality in a series of recommendations following a long process of consultations on the issue. The regulator believes that the licensing terms should be amplified to provide explicit restrictions on any sort of discrimination in internet access based on the content being accessed, the protocols being used or the user equipment being deployed. 

    With IoT being the talk of the town, networks fighting to grab RCom’s assets and customers, and an ongoing telco war between Airtel, Vodafone, and Jio to become the country’s numero uno operator, it will be interesting to watch how the industry shapes up in 2018.

  • Bharti Airtel to acquire Millicom’s Rwanda operations

    Bharti Airtel to acquire Millicom’s Rwanda operations

    MUMBAI: Telecommunications services provider Bharti Airtel Limited, through its subsidiary Airtel Rwanda, has entered into a definitive  agreement with Millicom  International  Cellular S.A. to acquire 100 per cent equity interest in Tigo Rwanda.

    The acquisition will consolidate the Rwandan telecom market and position  Airtel as a strong operator  in Rwanda.  The acquisition cost is approximately six times EBITDA multiple payable  over  two years.

    Bharti  Airtel  chairman Sunil  Bharti  Mittal said, “Airtel   has  taken  proactive   steps  in  Africa  to consolidate and  realign  the market  structure in the last few remaining  countries where  its operations are lagging on account of lower market share and presence of too many operators. Airtel and Tigo have already merged their operations to create a strong viable entity in Ghana. Today, it has taken yet another  important step to acquire  Tigo Rwanda  to become a profitable and a strong challenger in a two-player market.”

    Mittal added that Airtel Africa was committed to the long-term viability of the operations in Kenya  and Tanzania to ensure that in 2018 all its 15 operations in Africa started contributing positive  margins and cash flows towards a healthy and profitable Airtel Africa.

    The agreement aims to bring together the strengths of Airtel and Millicom in Rwanda and offer benefits to customers in the form of a wider network and affordable voice and data services. The existing customers of Tigo Rwanda will join Airtel’s global network, which currently serves over 370 million customers across 17 countries.

    Airtel Africa MD and CEO Raghunath Mandava said, “The acquisition reinforces our commitment to the Rwanda market and is a significant step towards creating a stronger presence in the country. It will create synergies with  our  existing  business and  help  boost  operational efficiencies in the  market.  The Rwandan  telecom  market  will significantly benefit  from this acquisition, further  reiterating our stand that in-market  consolidations do  not just  help  achieve better  market  positions  but  benefit  customers and  the industry  as a whole.”

    Also read:

    Airtel TV valuation at $1.75 bn as Warburg Pincus picks up 20% stake

    Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books

    Airtel Digital TV revenues, op profits rise in Q2 FY 2018

  • Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books

    Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel’s wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited (Nettle) has acquired a strategic equity stake in Juggernaut Books. Juggernaut is a popular digital platform to discover and read high quality, affordable books and to submit amateur writing.

    The investment is in line with Airtel’s endeavour to build an open content ecosystem and bring world-class digital content to its customers. The investment will enable Juggernaut to ramp up content acquisition, digital marketing and prepare for a subscription offering launch in the next few months.

    Bharti Airtel chief financial officer Badal Bagri said, “Juggernaut is an exciting digital platform and complements our content vision. We look forward to working with them and supporting the next phase of their growth journey.”

    Juggernaut founder and publisher Chiki Sarkar said, “We are excited to partner with Airtel in our journey ahead. Airtel has a great understanding of digital content consumption and we have much to learn and benefit from this strategic partnership”.

    “Our ambition is to get many more Indians to read and write and our partnership with Airtel will allow us to expand our distribution manifold,” said Juggernaut CEO Simran Khara.

    Juggernaut’s former investors include Infosys co-founder and current chairman, Nandan Nilekani and Boston Consulting Group India CEO Neeraj Aggarwal. Launched in April 2016, the platform has close to 1 million downloads across Android and iOS. In May 2017, the writer’s platform went live to offer amateur writers the ability to digitally publish their content and stand a chance to win publishing contracts. The writer’s platform, in the past six months, has received just under 500 stories with nine of them securing publishing contracts.

  • Vodafone to get new shine from Idea; merger on its last leg

    Vodafone to get new shine from Idea; merger on its last leg

    MUMBAI: The team at Vodafone India is gung-ho about its merger with the Aditya Birla-owned Idea Cellular.

    Consolidation between the networks is in its last leg with most of the approvals already through. “We are just awaiting approvals from National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and it should happen over the next few months,” says Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood.

    What the senior executive is quite keen on is building a new fighting-fit telco machine with the right imagery. Says Vodafone India COO Balesh Sharma: “We are very optimistic about the merger. We want to give Vodafone a new shine with this merger. All options are open in terms of branding. However, haven’t decided what our brand journey after the merger will be.”

    While that may be true, with the two major behemoths coming together, they will have to deal with the strong messaging that each of these has been pushing out to customers. Vodafone is known for its ZooZoos while Idea rolled out its new tagline of ‘LookLook’ early this year. Vodafone will continue to push the characters of Asha and Bala for all its campaigns post the merger as well.

    While Vodafone has a strong presence in urban areas, Idea has captured a significant chunk of interior India. Together they will surpass Bharti Airtel to become the largest telecommunication company with a combined subscriber base of over 400 million.

    Idea Cellular, our own homegrown brand that was launched in 1995, has a subscriber base of 193.96 million as of July 2017 whereas Vodafone India is the Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Group, the world’s second-largest mobile phone company. The network enjoys a subscriber base of 250 million and has a 20 per cent market share.

    Under the terms of the deal, Vodafone will hold 45.1 per cent stake in the combined entity, the Aditya Birla Group will hold 26 per cent and the remaining shares will be held by the public. With this deal, Vodafone India would have a valuation of Rs 82,800 Crore and Idea at Rs 72,200 Crore.

    In the ongoing battle for customer acquisitions, Vodafone and Airtel have revamped their tariffs to lure customers. With IoT being the new talk of the town, networks are fighting to seize Reliance Communication customers.

    With the current telecom war between the giants – Vodafone, Airtel and Jio – it will be interesting to watch which one bites the bullet and which bites the dust.

  • Airtel ad most watched on Youtube India in Q3 ’17

    Airtel ad most watched on Youtube India in Q3 ’17

    MUMBAI: YouTube has released the Q3 ’17 India Ads Leaderboard, a list of the top ads that Indian audiences consumed the most during the third quarter of the year. These ten ads clocked an astounding 3.5 million hours of watch time, with mobile devices accounting for 69 per cent of total watch time. As per App Annie*, every month, 180 million Indians watch YouTube on the mobile.

    Long format ads have emerged as the winning formula for Indian viewers this quarter. Five out of the 10 most watched ads in the quarter were over one-minute long. This clearly points to audiences’ willingness to invest their time and attention on ads that are narrative-driven – Xiaomi, Oppo, Panasonic, Droom and MuscleBlaze all capitalised on this. Anticipating consumer demand for electronic gadgets during this festive season, Oppo’s new six-and-a half minute ad, for F3 device garnered close to 30 lakh views in around 20 days.

    1. Airtel India

    2. MuscleBlaze

    3. Bajaj Finserv

    4. Panasonic Smartphones

    5. Flipkart

    6. OPPO Mobile India

    7. Xiaomi India

    8. ICICI Bank

    9. Let’s Droom

    10. Durex India

  • Hathway Bhawani MD and CEO Sameer Joseph quits

    Hathway Bhawani MD and CEO Sameer Joseph quits

    MUMBAI:  Hathway Bhawani Cabletel and Datacom’s managing director and CEO Sameer Joseph has resigned with immediate effect, that is, 4 October, 2017. 

    With an experience of 20+ years of successful track record in service, financial service, FMCG and telecom industry working with brands like TNT, Coke, Idea, Airtel, Tata & Uninor.

    Joseph had joined Hathway Bhawani in November 2016 as the senior vice-president – operations and managing director. Prior to joining Hathway Bhawani, he worked as the vice-president and national sales and distribution head with Sun Telenor Payment Bank. 

    He also worked with Uninor as the associate vice-president and regional sales and distribution head (north and west ) for six years.

  • Airtel forges partnership with Korean mobile broadband co SK Telecom

    Airtel forges partnership with Korean mobile broadband co SK Telecom

    MUMBAI: India’s largest telecommunications services provider Airtel will partner Korea’s SK Telecom to potentially create the country’s finest telecom network and leapfrog into being a next-gen future-ready telco.

    The partnership will work across several areas including developing bespoke software to dramatically improve network experience, leveraging advanced digital tools including machine learning, big data and building customised tools to improve network planning based on every customer’s device experience. The capacity to identify, monitor and deliver improvements to the network experience on an individual device basis will be a first in India, helped by SK Telecom’s global leadership in this area.

    The two companies will also collaborate on an on-going basis to evolve standards for 5G, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Internet of Things (loT), and jointly work towards building an enabling ecosystem for the introduction of these technologies in the Indian context.

    Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “This partnership will bring an improved experience to Airtel customers in India by leveraging the expertise of a company that has built one of the best mobile broadband networks in the world.”

    “We will work closely with Bharti to achieve new network innovations so as to deliver a greater value to Bharti’s customers,” SK Telecom president and CEO Park Jung-ho.