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Tag: Bharti Airtel

  • 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.

  • Sep-18: Wireline broadband subscriber base continued to fall

    Sep-18: Wireline broadband subscriber base continued to fall

    BENGALURU: India’s broadband internet subscriber base increased 3.89 per cent or by 1.805 crore (1805 lakh or 18.05 million) in September 2018 (month ended 30 September 2018, Sep-18, period under review) according to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data. There were 48.170 crore (4,817 lakh or 481.70 million) broadband internet subscribers as on 30 September 2018 as compared to 44.518 crore (4,451.8 lakh, 445.18 million) at the end of August 2018. Broadband subscribers through mobile devices such as phones and dongles grew 3.98 per cent or 0.774 crore (77.4 lakh, 7.74 million) in Sep-18 to 46.289 crore (4,628.9 lakh, 462.89 million from 44.518 crore (4,451.8 lakh, 445.18 million) at the end of August 2018.

    Wired internet services lost around 30,000 subscribers (0.18 per cent) in Sep-18 according to TRAI data.  The total number of wired broadband internet subscribers declined to 1.799 crore (179.9 lakh, 17.99 million) in Sep-18 from 1.802 crore (180.2 lakh, 18.02 million Aug-18.

    The number of broadband internet subscribers availing services through WiFi, Wi Max, Point to point, Radio, Vsat increased 81.67 per cent to 0.082 crore (8.2 lakh, 0.82 million) in Sep-18 from 0.045 crore (4.5 lakh, 0.45 million) in Aug-18.
    Please refer to the figure below:

    The top five broadband internet service providers constituted 97.86 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Sep-18. These service providers were Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd (Jio) – 25.225 crore (2,522.5 lakh, 252.25 million), Bharti Airtel or Airtel 9.929 crore (992.9 lakh, 99.29 million), Vodafone 5.182 crore (518.2 lakh, 51.82 million), Idea Cellular 4.79 crore (479 lakh, 47.90 million) and BSNL 2.012 crore (201.2 lakh, 20.12 million). 

    Wireless Internet

    As on 30 September 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio 25.225 crore (2,522.5 lakh, 252.25 million), Airtel 9.705 crore (970.5 lakh, 97.05 million), Vodafone 5.181 crore (518.1 lakh, 51.81 million), Idea Cellular 4.789 crore (478.9 lakh, 47.89 million) and BSNL 1.079 crore (107.9 lakh, 10.97 million). Please refer to the figure below:

    The public sector BSNL continued to bleed subscribers in Sep-18. BSNL lost 0.022 crore (2.2 lakh, 0.22 million subscribers) in the month. BSNL’s wireless broadband internet subscriber base declined 2 per cent to 1.097 crore (109.7 lakh, 10.97 million) in Sep 18 from 1.119 crore (111.90 lakh, 11.19 million). BSNL’s wireless broadband internet subscriber base has declined to just half in Sep-18 from 2.195 crore (219.5 lakh, 21.95 million) as on 31 December 2017 (Dec-17) or 1 January 2018.

    Vodafone’s subscriber base grew by 0.056 crore (5.6 lakh, 0.56 million) in Sep-18 as compared to Aug-18, but has declined by 0.063 crore (6.3 lakh, 0.63 million) as compared to its base as on 1 January 2018. This was because of its merger with Idea cellular in August 2018. The Vodafone India and Idea Cellular combine had to forego about 140 lakh (14 million, 1.4 crore) subscribers in six circles and revenues of more than Rs 2,000 crore in three circles as the merged Vodafone and Idea Cellular entity would breach the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)-prescribed 50 per cent cap on subscribers and revenue in the respective states.

    Wireless Broadband Internet

    As on 30 September, 2018, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (9.15 million), Airtel (2.24 million), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT (1.36 million), MTNL (0.80 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.75 million). Three of the top 5 wired broadband internet services providers lost about 10,000 subscribers each, while the other two – Airtel and did not show any growth.

    Airtel added the highest number of wireline broadband subscribers in calendar year 2018 until Sep-18 with 90,000, followed by Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) which added 80,000 subs during the period.

    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.
     

  • Airtel partners Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi

    Airtel partners Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi

    MUMBAI: Hoichoi, the over-the-top platform exclusively for Bengali content, has entered into a partnership with leading telco player Bharti Airtel. The former’s exclusive content will be available now on the Airtel TV app following the partnership.

    Hoichoi’s library includes original shows as well as chartbuster movies. After completing one year since its launch, the company recently announced 30 original shows and 12 original films for the next one year. This entire originals catalogue will also come to Airtel TV.

    “It gives us immense pleasure to announce this partnership with Bharti Airtel to offer complete digital entertainment experience to their customers. This will help us in extending our content distribution network through Airtel TV’s fast-growing user base,” Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta said.

    Moreover, some of their original shows like Hello, Byomkesh, Dupur Thakurpo, Cartoon, Mismatch and Charitraheen are dubbed in Hindi and Tamil to reach out to a wider audience base. As the platform claims, two leading shows Hello and Byomkesh are also performing extremely well on the Airtel TV app.

    “We are delighted to bring Hoichoi’s quality content to Airtel TV that will offer our Bengali users access to their favourite digital content in their local language, with a simple click of a button. With consumption of regional content going up significantly, we will continue to focus on adding diverse entertainment content to our kitty as we work towards building a world-class digital content ecosystem,”  Bharti Airtel West Bengal and Orissa CEO Sameer Anjaria commented on the partnership.

  • Abhishek Kapadia joins iGKnights Digital Media Works as COO

    Abhishek Kapadia joins iGKnights Digital Media Works as COO

    MUMBAI: Ad network and value-added-services firm iGKnights Digital Media Works has brought on board Abhishek Kapadia as the chief operating officer. The new appointment is a strategic move with the aim of strengthening and expanding the India leadership team of iGKnights Digital Media Works. Based out of UAE and Delhi, he will look after the overall functioning of the company and allied businesses.

    Prior to his role at iGKnights Media Works, h was associated with digital media firm Globocom as a partner and led multiple projects and businesses of the firm. With over fourteen years in the sales, business development and marketing sectors, Kapadia has also been associated with industry companies like Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Indiatimes.com, Hungama, Symbiotic Infotech, and mobile performance advertising agency Mobusi.

    Speaking about his new role, Kapadia said, “The dynamic and fast expanding digital advertising industry has always enticed me into taking up greater initiatives and responsibilities. With this opportunity, I plan on leveraging my knowledge and expertise with a company whose beliefs resonate with mine. I am excited to join the team and ready to explore additional facets of the trade!”

  • Now learn cooking with Airtel Digital TV

    Now learn cooking with Airtel Digital TV

    MUMBAI: One Take Media Co., leading content production and Value Added Service provider company based in Mumbai, today announced that it has partnered with Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel to launch a new cooking channel – Aapki Rasoi.

    With a collection of the finest Indian recipes and Celebrity Chef Based Cooking Shows, Aapki Rasoi will enable customers to learn unique recipes. The channel will be available to customers on channel number 407 on Airtel Digital TV for a nominal subscription fee of of Rs. 45/- per month.

    Richa Kalra, Product Head– Airtel Digital TV added, “We are delighted to launch an unique cooking channel for our customers. We promise to continue adding innovative content to our portfolio enabling customers to make the most of their television time.”

    Mr. Anil Khera, Founder & CEO – One Take Media Co. said “Aapki Rasoi” every episode is a clutter breaking show by internationally acclaimed Celebrity Master Chefs from India and abroad who takes the audience on a journey taking humble, home grown Indian dishes and elevating it to new heights by adding an international twist.”

    The list of Celebrity chefs on the channel include Vicky Ratnani, Ajay Chopra, Aditya Bal, Harpal Singh Sokhi, Nilesh Limaye, Bhairav Singh amongst others. Customers have to simply give a missed call to 9109454545 to activate the service.

  • 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.

  • Reliance Jio adds 13.1 mn mobile subscribers

    Reliance Jio adds 13.1 mn mobile subscribers

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio has added 13.1 million mobile subscribers in September where other telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea lost 2.3 million, 2.6 million and 4 million respectively.

    Airtel, Vodafone Idea combined lost over 9 million subscribers in the month, according to telecom industry body, COAI’s data.

    COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said, “All the operators have expanded their services across the country, and have begun heavily diversifying their services beyond voice & data for the consumer.”

    As of September, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea held market shares of 33.75 per cent, 21.80 per cent and 20.94 per cent respectively, according to the reports. In August, Jio had over 239 million subscribers. Airtel continued to be at top position with 343.52 million subscribers followed by Reliance Jio which recently crossed the 250 million mark for its subscriber base, taking its total subscribers to over 252 million at the end of September. Moreover, Vodafone and Idea had subscriber base of over 221 million and 213 million respectively. The UP (East) circle remained at the top with a total of 87.53 million subscribers followed by Maharashtra at 84.70 million subscribers, the report said.

  • Interoperable Bharat Wi-Fi to provide 1mn hotspots by ’19-end

    Interoperable Bharat Wi-Fi to provide 1mn hotspots by ’19-end

    NEW DELHI: Indian Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha has said the country will rollout one million Wi-Fi hotspots in the country by December 2019 via Bharat Wi-Fi, a country-wide common inter-operable platform. His colleague, IT and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad later highlighted the government was also taking steps towards effective data protection as the country becomes more digital.

    Announcing the connectivity initiative at the inauguration of the second edition of the India Mobile Congress 2018 (IMC) yesterday here, the Telecom Minister said Bharat Wi-Fi will be owned and operated by telecom service providers, ISPs and virtual network operators (VNOs) and consumers will have access to Wi-Fi hotspots of any of the partnering operators.

    The interoperable Wi-Fi initiative is part of the Indian government’s fibre optic project BharatNet that aims to connect the country’s 250,000 gram panchayats or local village administrations and has “put mobility in the centre of next digital revolution”, the Minister highlighted, adding rise in convergence of services has led to adoption of new technologies.    

    Pointing out that revenue generation in India’s telecom sector has seen a rise of 220 per cent in the last four years, Sinha said, along with the information technology segment, the two sectors presently contribute approximately 6.5 per cent to the country’s GDP and has the potential to grow further.

    Sinha, along with his other ministerial colleagues and industry stalwarts, including Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, also unveiled the National Frequency Allocation Plan 2018 (NFAP), a roadmap for the Indian digital communications industry.

    The NFAP released a quantum of 605 MHz license-exempt spectrum in 5GHz band for wireless access services and radio local area networks in outdoor to meet the ever-growing appetite for data (from a current figure of 50 MHz since 2007).

    The frequency allocation plan also offered over 30 license-exempt bandwidths for short range devices (SRDs), ultra-wideband devices (UWDs) and additional spectrum for M2M services, creating opportunities for the public to enjoy benefits from technologies and enabling the industry to build domestic manufacturing eco-system. India has signalled its spectrum plans for 5G services aspiring to adopt the next generation technology.

    “The country is at the cusp of a digital revolution with disruptions happening in each and every sector and industry. With growing smartphone and internet penetration and with the finalisation of National Digital Communication Policy 2018, these are exciting times for the telecom sector, and the society at large,” Sinha said, adding that the launch of several innovative products will pave the path to accomplish Prime Minister Modi’s “vision of a digitally connected India”.

    The three-day India Mobile Congress 2018 has been organised by Department of Telecoms and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

    Earlier in the day while RIL’s Mukesh Ambani said Jio is ready to again disrupt the market with its fixed-line broadband service, Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal exhorted the government to make more telecom industry-friendly policies as the sector continues to be highly taxed, similar to the tobacco industry, which is proving to be detrimental.

    Among the key highlights of the first day of the IMC was the participation of 5G trials by companies like Reliance Jio InfoComm, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm.

  • Jio juggernaut continued to add as Vodafone shed subs in Aug-18

    Jio juggernaut continued to add as Vodafone shed subs in Aug-18

    BENGALURU: MukeshDhirubhai Ambani’s largest startup in the world in the form of Reliance JioInfocomm Limited, or simply Jio, continued adding subscribers in the month of August 2018 (Aug-18, month under review) according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Telecom subscription data. According to the available Trai data for Aug-18, Jio’s subscriber base had been growing at about 5 percent compounded rate month on month (m-o-m) in calendar year 2018. Aug-18 was no different. Jio’s subscriber base grew by 5.7 percent (5.2 percent in Jul-81) to 2,393.53lakh in Aug-18 from 2,270.50 lakh in Jul-18. Since December 31, 2017, Jiohad added 791.40 lakh subscribers until Aug-18– it grew 49.4 percent in the period.

    In the meantime, Vodafone lost 125.4 lakh (12.5 million, 1.25 crore) subscribers (20 percent) in Aug-18 as compared to Jul-18. Vodafone had a subscriber base of 637.90 lakh in Jul-18, while in Aug-18 the company had 512.5 lakh subscribers according to Trai data. The Vodafone India and Idea Cellular combine had to forego  about 140 lakh (14 million, 1.4 crore) subscribers in six circles and revenues of more than Rs2,000 crore in three circles as the merged Vodafone and Idea Cellular entity would breach the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)-prescribed 50 percent cap on subscribers and revenue in the respective States.

    Trai data for Aug-18 says thatas per the reports received from 296 operators, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 4,602.4 lakh (460.24 million, 46.042 crore) at the end of Jul-18 to 4,636.6 lakh (463.66 million, 46.366 crore) at the end of Aug-18 with a monthly growth rate of 0.74 percent.  Subscriber numbers for all the three broadband services segments – wireline or wired; mobile devices comprising of phones and dongles; and fixed wireless  (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to- Point Radio & VSAT) grew in Aug-18. Please refer to the figure below:

    The top five service providers constituted 97.80 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Aug-18. These service providers were Jio( 2,392.3lakh, 239.23 million23.923 crore), Bharti Airtel or Airtel (983.6 lakh, 98.36 million, 9.836 crore), Vodafone (512.5 lakh, 51.25 million, 5.125 crore), Idea Cellular (442.4 lakh, 44.24million, 4.424 crore) and BSNL (203.5lakh, 20.35 million, 2.035 crore). 

    Wireless broadband internet

    Wireless broadband subscribers growth in absolute numbers was led by Jio, followed byAirtel, Idea Cellular and the public sector BSNL. Vodafone was the only player among the top 5 wireless broadband internet services providers that lost subscribers in Aug-18.

    As on 31Aug, 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio (2,392.30 lakh, 239.23 million, 23.923 crore), Bharti Airtel (961.2 lakh, 96.12 million, 9.612 crore), Vodafone (512.5  lakh, 51.25 million, 5.125 crore), Idea Cellular (442.4 lakh, 44.24million, 4.424 crore) and BSNL (111.90 lakh, 11.19 million, 1.119 crore). Please refer to the figure below:

    Wired broadband internet

    Wired broadband internet subscribers grew by 70,000 in Aug-18 as compared to Jul-18 with four of the top 5 Wireline broadband services providers showing growth while one, Mahanagar Telcom Nigam Limited (MTNL) showing a decline in subscribers by 20,000. The top 5 wired broadband service providers added 50,000 subscribers during the month under review, 20,000 subscribers were added by other service providers.

    As on 31 August, 2018, the top five wired broadband serviceproviders were BSNL (91.6 lakh, 9.16million, 0.916 crore), Bharti Airtel (22.4 lakh, 2.24 million, 0.224 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies (13.6 lakh, 1.36 million, 0.13 crore), MTNL (8.10 lakh, 0.81 million, 0.081 crore) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (7.6 lakh, 0.76 million, 0.076 crore).

    Airtel added the highest number of wireline broadband subscribers in calendar year 2018 until Aug-18 with 90,000, followed by Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) which added 80,000 subs during the period.

    Please refer to the figure below: