Tag: Bharti Airtel

Broadband on cable fibre declining?

BENGALURU: Is broadband on cable fibre on the decline in India? Results over the past few quarters of some of the multisystem operators or MSOs seem to indicate just that. Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s largest start up in the world Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (JIO) is the one of the biggest upheavals that has happened in the Indian telecommunications ecosystem ever. With its operations of scale and low cost services, there just does not seem to be a better bet for the prudent Indian internet user. What is missing is quality of services, but, then that is the case also with all the major mobile and internet service providers in India, be it an Airtel or a Jio or a Vodafone or the public sector BSNL and MTNL.

Wired broadband internet subscriber numbers have been declining, while wireless broadband internet subscribers have been growing according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data. Among the top five wired internet services providers in India, BSNL and MTNL have been slowly and steadily losing subscribers. However, the overall loss of wired broadband subscribers is higher than the numbers bled by these two public sector behemoths. Subscription numbers of the other three players in Trai’s top five wired broadband internet service providers list such as Bharti Airtel, ACT and Hathway have been either increasing slowly or have been steady month-on-month in calendar year 2018 according to Trai data. MSOs and LCOs are among the other wired internet service providers in the country. Financial numbers released by major and other MSO and wired internet service providers such as Siti Networks, Den or Ortel indicate lower revenues from their respective broadband segments, implying either loss of subscribers or lower ARPU due to competitive pricing or both.

Is the laying of fibre cable or FTTH (fibre to the home) that Jio has planned to provide broadband internet services to the doorstep out the right way forward? Anything that Reliance does will be on a huge scale. However, why not pause and limit the size of Jio’s FTTH plans and then leapfrog and start offering 5G services? 5G is a wireless service to the user’s door and needs no messy holes or wires for access into the user’s home. All that is needed by the user is a modem that works like a wireless modem.

Affordable 5G services could effectively change how a user receives internet and related services. It’s not going to be easy and will require a huge amount of capital for the infrastructure for line of sight transmission in crowded cities, etc. But, already players such as AT&T and Verizon in the US have planned a slow but steady rollout of 5G services in the US. One the US majors will roll 5G services first in four cities by the end of 2018 and then across the US over time. Players in the US are planning to bundle 5G services with offers such as free Youtube.com TV and Apple TV 4K for a limited period of time. Jio has the resources, the wherewithal to do so.

Of course 5G could be even more bad news for the current Indian cable TV ecosystem’s wired broadband offerings, maybe even the current Indian media and entertainment ecosystem, but could be a huge beneficial and cost effective game changer for the user. Using the cliché, change is the only constant, well maybe the entire ecosystem that brings entertainment to the common Indian does need a huge shakeup?

August 17, 2018
Gas-O-Fast hands digital duties to Columbus India

MUMBAI: Columbus India, the data-driven digital marketing agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has been appointed as the digital agency for Gas-O-Fast, a product of Mankind Pharma. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office.

As part of the new mandate, the assignment will involve using Columbus India’s expertise in the digital ecosystem for managing digital media, SEO (search engine optimisation), SMO (social media optimisation), website development and maintenance for Gas-O-Fast.

Gas-O-Fast assistant general manager of marketing Joy Chatterjee says, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with Columbus India as our digital social agency. This relationship will help Gas-O-Fast reach out to our potential users across the internet, thereby maximising our reach and keeping our focus on the healthy lifestyle of our customers.”

Columbus India chief business officer Nitin Sabharwal adds, “Getting our first brand from Mankind Pharma is very exciting and we look forward to deploying our complete creative suite of services allowing us to deliver high social engagement for the brand.”

Columbus India CEO Anurag Gupta mentions, “It’s a start to our relationship with Mankind Pharma who have placed their faith in us for their brand Gas-O-Fast. We look forward to making this relationship into a multi-brand and multi-services engagement.”

July 24, 2018
CCI approves merger of Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers

MUMBAI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has finally approved the proposed merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, two large infrastructure providers. The merger will create a $14.6 billion company that will be among the largest mobile tower entities worldwide with 1.63 lakh towers.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Department of Telecommunications also need to give the green signal for the merger.

“We are pleased to inform you that approval of CCI has been received for the proposed merger of Bharti Infratel Limited and Indus Towers Ltd,” said the tower arm of India’s largest telco Bharti Airtel in a regulatory filing to the exchanges as quoted by The Hindu.

Another stakeholder in Indus Towers is Vodafone and will be issued with 783.1 million new shares in the combined company, in exchange for its 42 per cent shareholding in Indus Towers. The transaction values Vodafone’s shareholding at Rs 284 billion ($4.3 billion).

A report by Medianama stated that the providence can choose to either receive cash or new shares in exchange for 3.35 per cent stake. The remainder from the total 4.85 per cent shareholding will be exchanged for shares. Bharti Airtel’s shareholding will be diluted from 53.5 per cent in Bharti Infratel today to 37.2 per cent in the combined company.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone will jointly control the combined company. The merger is expected to close before the end of the financial year 2018-2019.

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July 4, 2018
Jio & Hathway continue to lead wireless and wired Internet subs growth in 2018

BENGALURU: India witnessed 1.74 percent growth in broadband internet customers in the month of April 2018 (Apr-18, month under review) according Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 30 April 2018. Hence, 71.90 lakh (7.19 million, 0.719 crore) broadband subscribers were added in Apr-18.

The smallest segment among broadband internet services providers – the Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat segment, lost about 40,000 subscribers – the segment’s subscriber base fell from 4.6 lakh (0.46 million or 0.046 crore) to 4.2 lakh (0.42 million or 0.042 crore) during the month. The wired broadband internet subscriber base grew by 20,000 to 179.70 lakh (17.97 million, 1.797 crore) in Apr-18 from 179.50 lakh (17.95 million, 1.795 crore) in the previous month.

A major portion-100.42 percent (72.20 lakh or 7.22 million or 0.722 crore) of the new users opted for wireless broadband internet through mobile devices and dongles in Apr-18. The mobile devices and dongles segment grew 1.83 percent in the month. It may be noted that TRAI considers download speeds equal to or in excess of 512 kbps as broadband internet. Also, TRAI subscriber numbers data is published in millions with 2 decimal places, hence the accuracy of this report is limited to the nearest 10,000 (Ten Thousand).

As on 30 April 2018, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 1,961.9 lakh (196.19 million, 19.619 crore), Bharti Airtel or Airtel with 875.1 lakh (87.51 million, 8.751 crore), Vodafone with 599 lakh (59.9 million, 5.99 crore), Idea Cellular with 424 lakh (42.4 million, 4.24 crore) and BSNLwith 115.1 lakh (11.51 million, 1.151 crore) subscribers respectively.

Wireless Internet

Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) showed the largest growth in terms of absolute numbers across all segments. Jio’s subscribers have grown by 17.32 percent in calendar year 2018 (CY 2018) since 31 December 2017 (or 1 January 2018, Dec-17). Its subscriber base has grown from 1,600.9 lakh (160.09 million, 16.009 crore) as on 1 January 2017 to 1,961.9 lakh (196.19 million or 19.619 crore) on 30 April 2018. Jio grew by 95.59 lakh (9.559 million, 0.9559 crore) in April 2018. At present, Jio provides only wireless broadband internet services through mobile devices including phones and dongles. The highest growth rate in CY 2018 until April 2018 was by Idea Cellular at 21.80 percent. Idea Cellular also led subscriber growth in Apr-18 with respect to Mar-18 with 6.45 percent growth. BSNL has being losing subscribers on a regular basis. Please refer to the figure below.

Wired Internet

Growth of the wired internet subscribers until Apr-18 was led by Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited (Hathway). The company added about 60,000 (grew by 8.22 percent) subscribers in CY 2018 until Apr-18 and its subscriber base grew to 7.9 lakh (0.79 million, 0.079 crore) in Apr-18 from 7.3 lakh (0.73 million, 0.073 crore) at the beginning of CY 2018. Hathway subs base grew by 1.28 percent (added 10,000 subscribers) in Apr- from 7.8 lakh (0.78 million, 0.078 crore) in Mar-18.

In Apr-18, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 92.4 lakh (9.24 million, 0.924 crore), Bharti Airtel with 21.9 lakh (2.19 million, 0.219 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT with 13.1 lakh (1.31 million, 0.131 crore), MTNL 8.6 lakh (0.86 million, 0.086 crore and Hathway with 7.9 lakh (0.79 million, 0.079 crore) subscribers respectively. The government’s BSNL and MTNL have in general being losing subscribers. Please refer to the figure below.

All Internet

Top five service providers constituted 97.42 percent market share in Apr-18 as compared to 95.23 percent market share in Mar-18 of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Apr-18. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 1961.9 lakh (196.19 million, 19.619 crore), Bharti Airtel with 897 lakh (89.70 million, 8.970 crore), Vodafone with 599.1 lakh (59.91 million, 5.991 crore), Idea Cellular with 424.1 lakh (42.41 million 4.241 crore) and BSNL with 207.5 lakh (20.75 million, 2.075 crire) subscribers respectively.

July 4, 2018
TRAI fines Jio, Airtel, others for not meeting service quality norms

MUMBAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) rapped leading operators, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular on the knuckles for failing to meet the Quality of Service standards in the December quarter, reported news agency PTI.

Data disruptor Reliance Jio was handed a fine of Rs 31 lakh based on the TRAI-defined service quality parameters such as Point of Interconnect congestion, accessibility of call centres and customer care. TRAI’s fine pertains to multiple circles or service areas in which Jio offers it service.

Idea Cellular was fined Rs 28-29 lakh for the December quarter for its inability to match benchmarks on call drops, metering and billing, both pre-paid and post-paid, accessibility of call centre or customer care and its timelines for multiple circles.

Bharti Airtel, the biggest player in the market, was slapped with a Rs 23 lakh for the same period for non-compliance on parameters entailing metering and billing (postpaid and prepaid) and accessibility of call centres, and stipulated response time on operators answering calls in certain circles.

Vodafone was fined Rs 9 lakh for non-compliance of select criteria like time-bound refund of deposits after closure, response time for calls answered by operators, as well as call drops.

Aircel and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) too were handed fines by the regulator.

The fines were in line with TRAI’s renewed focus on quality benchmarks in the telecom sector.

Last year, the regulator had ordered telcos to adhere to the quality of service benchmarks from October 1, 2017.

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July 2, 2018
Reliance Jio crosses 200 million subscriber mark

MUMBAI: Within two years of its launch, Reliance Jio has crossed the 200 million subscriber mark. The Mukesh Ambani-owned telco reached this milestone in the shortest time ever, according to a report from financial Express.

Earlier Jio reported a subscriber base of 187 million at the end of March. Hence, in the last three months, the company added close to 9-10 million users. Given this speed, Jio is likely to overtake Idea Cellular’s 217-million user base and even Vodafone’s 222 million users. However, Vodafone and Idea are also concluding their merger making it India’s largest telco company.

India’s current largest telco operator Bharti Airtel was the first in the country to cross 200 million subscribers back in 2014 which currently stands with 309 million wireless users.

Jio has seen major success since its launch thanks to free voice calls in domestic territory and competitive data price. While Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India have been adding around 1.5 to two million users every month, Jio’s addition has been in the range of seven to eight million.

After its launch in September 2016, Jio added 50 million subscribers in November of that year itself.

Also Read:

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June 27, 2018
Jio led broadband while Hathway led wired broadband subs growth in 2018

BENGALURU: India witnessed 5.24 percent growth in broadband internet customers in the month of March 2018 (Mar-18) according Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 31 March 2018. Hence, 205.4 lakh (20.54 million, 2.054 crore) broadband subscribers were added in March 2018. A major portion-98.59 percent of the new users opted for wireless broadband internet through mobile devices and dongles. The mobile devices and dongles segment grew 5.24 per cent in the month. It may be noted that TRAI considers download speeds in equal to or in excess of 512 kbps as broadband internet. Also, TRAI data is in millions with two decimal places, hence the accuracy of this report is limited to the nearest 10,000 (ten thousand).

The wireless broadband segment comprising of mobile devices – phones and dongles grew by 5.42 per cent or 202.5 lakh (20.025 million, 2.025 crore) to 3,941.9 lakh (394.19 million, 39.419 crore) from 3,739.4 lakh (373.94 million, 37.394 crore) in the previous month.

As on 31 March, 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 1865.6 lakh (186.56 million, 18.656 crore), Bharti Airtel or Airtel with 834.9 lakh (83.49 million, 8.349 crore), Vodafone with 597.6 lakh (59.76 million, 5.976 crore), Idea Cellular with 398.3 lakh (39.83 million, 3.983 crore) and BSNLwith 117.8 lakh (11.78 million, 1,178 crore) subscribers respectively.

Wireless Internet

Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) showed the largest growth in terms of absolute numbers across all segments. Jio’s subscribers have grown by 5.32 per cent in calendar year 2018 (CY 2018) since 31 December 2017 (or 1 January 2018, Dec 2017). Its subscriber base has grown from 1,683.9 lakh (168.39 million, 16.839 crore) as on 1 January 2017 to 1,865.6 lakh (186.56 million or 18.656 lakh) ion 31 March 2018. Jio grew by 94.30 lakh (9.43 million, 0.943 crore) in March 2018 1771.3 lakh (177.13 million, 17.713 crore) in February 2018. At present, Jio provides only wireless broadband internet services through mobile devices including phones and dongles. The highest growth rate in CY 2018 until March 2018 was by Airtel at 14.97 per cent, while in the case of growth rate in the March 2018 with respect to Feb 2018, Vodafone was the leader with 7.6 per cent growth. BSNL has being losing subscribers on a regular basis. Please refer to the figure below.

Wired Internet

Growth of the wired internet subscribers until March 2018 was led by Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited (Hathway). The company added about 50,000 (grew by 6.85 per cent) subscribers in CY 2018 until March 2018 and its subscriber base grew to 7.8 lakh (0.78 million, 0.078 crore) in March 2018 from 7.3 lakh (0.73 million, 0.073 crore) at the beginning of CY 2018. Hathway subs base grew by fourper cent (added 30,000 subscribers) in March 2018 from 7.5 lakh (0.75 million, 0.075 crore) in Feb 2018.

In March, 2018, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL with 93 lakh (9.30 million, 0.93 crore), Bharti Airtel with 21.8 lakh (2.18 million, 0.218 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT with 13.1 lakh (1.31 million, 0.131 crore), MTNL (0.87 million) and Hathway with 7.8 lakh (0.78 million, 0.078 crore) subscribers respectively. The government’s BSNL and MTNL have in general bring losing subscribers. Please refer to the figure below

Fixed Wireless Internet

The highest growth rate of 13.04 per cent in March 2018 was by the smallest segment – fixed wireless segment comprising of wifi, wi max, point to point, radio, VSAT. Fixed wireless segment increased from four lakh (0.4 million, 0.04 crore) in Feb-2018 to 4.6 lakh (0.46 million, 0.046 crore) in March 2018.The wireline broadband segment grew 1.34 per cent in March 2018 by 2.3 lakh (0.23 million, 0.023 crore) to 179.5 lakh (17.95 crore, 1.795 crore) from 177.2 lakh (17.72 million, 1.772 crore) in the previous month. In March 2018 this segment grew, hence reversing the trend of declining subscriber numbers over the past few months.

All Internet

Top five service providers constituted 95.23 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of March 2018. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 1865.6 lakh (186.56 million,18.656 crore), Bharti Airtel with 856.7 lakh (85.67 million, 8.567 crore), Vodafone with 597.7 lakh (59.77 million, 5.977 crore), Idea Cellular with 398.4 lakh (39.84 million 3.984 crore) and BSNL with 210.8 lakh (21.08 million, 2.108 crore) subscribers respectively.

Also Read:

Feb-18: Mobile broadband numbers increase as wired internet subscribers decline

Nov 2017: Wireline internet bleeds subscribers

Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

May 24, 2018
Airtel introduces 300 Mbps home broadband plan

MUMBAI: Telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel has introduced an all-new home broadband plan with speeds of up to 300 Mbps over Wi-Fi. The fibre-to-the-home (FTIH)-based plan comes at a monthly rental of Rs 2199 and offers 1200 gigabyte of data along with unlimited STD as well as local calling.

Commenting on the launch, Bharti Airtel CEO-Homes George Mathen said, “Following the resounding success of our V-Fiber home broadband offering, we are delighted to introduce the new FTIH-based plans for customers looking for higher speeds. Fixed broadband continues to be the preferred in-home mode for customers to consume online digital content and the average usage per home is growing at a breakneck speed. With this in mind, we will plan to expand our FTIH offerings over the coming days and provide our customers the choice of home broadband plans across a wide range of price points and speeds.”

Customers opting for the plan also get free subscription to Airtel’s Wynk Music and Airtel TV apps. Wynk Music offers 3 million plus songs while Airtel TV offers more than 350 live TV channels as well as 10,000 movies and shows.

Airtel offers Home broadband and fixed line services in 89 cities across India. It is the second-largest fixed broadband services provider in the country.

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Bharti Airtel gets board nod to raise Rs 16,500 cr

April 9, 2018
Bharti Airtel gets board nod to raise Rs 16,500 cr

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel’s board of directors has approved a plan to raise about Rs 16,500 crore through debt, including a fresh issue of $1 billion in overseas bonds, to help refinance loans and pay for spectrum.

The board approved the issue of foreign currency bonds of up to $1 billion (Rs 6,482 crore) and sought fresh shareholder approval for issuance of non-convertible debentures of up to Rs 10,000 crore on a private-placement basis, the company said in a release to the BSE.

At the meeting, the board also approved the transfer of 19 per cent equity stake in its direct-to-home (DTH) subsidiary Bharti Telemedia, which provides DTH services under the Airtel Digital TV brand, to Nettle Infrastructure Investments, a subsidiary company.

A part of the stake will be utilised for the completion of stake sale in Bharti Telemedia to Warburg Pincus Group. In December 2017, Bharti Airtel had agreed to sell 20 per cent equity stake in Bharti Telemedia to Warburg Pincus for approximately $350 million.

In January, the company had decided to transfer 25 per cent equity shares in Bharti Telemedia to its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments. The company had also said that the stake transfer to Nettle does not include equity to be sold to private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

“Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we wish to inform you that the Board in its meeting held on March 12, 2018, has approved the transfer of 19 per cent equity shares of Bharti Telemedia Limited (‘Telemedia’), a subsidiary Company to Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary company,” the release to the BSE stated.

Also Read:

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March 13, 2018
Amagi names Deepakjit Singh as CEO

MUMBAI: Amagi, , today announced that it has named Deepakjit Singh as its Chief Executive Officer. With nearly 30 years of experience in broadcast technology – including executive positions at Encompass, Ascent Media, Bharti Airtel and BT – Deepakjit has been brought in to increase the footprint of Amagi across the globe. He will be closely working with the team to continue and expedite its impressive growth trajectory, particularly in the U.S. where the company expects rapid growth this year following its official launch in the region in late 2017.

“Deepakjit is one of the most well-regarded leaders in broadcast technology today,” said K.A. Srinivasan, Co-Founder of Amagi. “And, he will be a huge part of helping Amagi build upon its global success, especially within the U.S. and other rapidly evolving markets. We are really excited to have him on board.”

Amagi is a first-of-its-kind, true end-to-end cloud playout and managed services provider. Amagi’s products, based on ‘in-the-cloud’ technology and infrastructure, make it possible for content providers to reach their consumers anywhere across the world and on any device of consumer’s choice without the upfront expense of satellite or fiber-based delivery. Content creators can use Amagi’s CLOUDPORT to easily spin up new channels and deliver them to any location, using the cloud, which delivers tremendous benefits in terms of worldwide manageability and cost savings.

“Amagi’s technology is second to none,” said Deepakjit Singh. “Globally, there is a huge void in the media industry to provide distribution capabilities to content owners for both linear TV and non-linear video consumption market. With its technology, Amagi is perfectly positioned to fill this gap, delivering enviable business outcomes to broadcasters addressing their playout operations, management and monetization needs. I’m thrilled to spearhead Amagi’s growth and position into being the technology and service provider of choice for the new-age – anywhere, anytime – content consumer.”

Prior to joining Amagi, Deepakjit served as Chief Innovation Officer at Encompass, and Managing Director for APAC region where he grew the company’s business exponentially. Earlier, Deepakjit served as VP of Sales and Marketing at Ascent Media following a stint as SVP at Bharti Airtel.

Founded in 2008, Amagi offers cloud-managed broadcast services and targeted advertising for TV and OTT, enabling TV networks to launch, operate, and monetize channels anywhere in the world. Amagi now has deployments in more than 40 countries and delivers over 100 feeds to audiences worldwide. Clients include industry heavyweights such as Turner, VICELAND, Scripps Networks, Cinedigm and more.

“The US is an incredibly attractive and competitive marketplace, and it augurs well that we have hit the ground running in the region, thus far. We expect over a third of our revenue to come from the US market in 2018, so continuing our growth here will be huge moving forward. And with Deepakjit now in the fold, we believe we are in an even better place to continue our success worldwide in 2018,” added Srinivasan.

For more information about Amagi and its cloud-based broadcast solutions, visit www.amagi.com.

March 13, 2018