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Tag: Maharashtra

  • Jivi Mobiles marketing budget 5 per cent

    Jivi Mobiles marketing budget 5 per cent

    NEW DELHI: Jivi Mobiles, a division of Magicon Impex Pvt Ltd, proposes to spend five per cent of its total investment into marketing of its mobiles.

    Jivi Head Marketing Harsh Vardhan told indiantelevision.com that the company is only advertising on FM and in newspapers at present in view of its target to reach rural audiences as the mobiles launched by it are not smart phones. However, it will ultimately go 360 degrees in its campaign at a later date. At present, Jivi already has the Jivi Shoppe channel on Dish TV (209) and Reliance (313).

    Jivi Mobiles CEO Pankaj Anand said that seventy to seventy-five per cent of the parts of its mobiles are still imported from China, but was quick to add that the country had the potential to produce all the parts if the government gave the right incentive, including increasing the duties on imported parts.

    Earlier, Jivi announced the launch of seven feature mobiles ranging between Rs 699 and Rs 1199. Anand said this had become possible because of the encouragement given under the Make in India scheme.

    Demonstrating style combined with advanced technology, the devices aspire to be the ideal companion for people who are looking for offering seamless and enhanced user experience at an affordable price.

    Anand said “We are one of the very few companies in the country to offer such a wide range of feature phones at these price points. All our devices and chargers are Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) approved. The products would be ‘Made in India’, in our newly opened facility in Delhi. ”  

    JIVI Mobiles is setting up two new facilities with an investment of Rs 200 crores. JIVI Mobile first factory is in Mahipalpur, New Delhi, built up on an area of 15000 sq. ft. which would cater to the north and east India demand of JIVI Mobile phones. The facility in Mahipalpur will have  a capacity to roll out 700,000 phones per month and it employs some 350 employees in the first phase.

    The second facility of JIVI Mobiles is located in Lonavla, Maharashtra, to cater to the south and western parts of the country and would be operational in the coming months.

    “This investment of Rs 200 crore in our manufacturing units would be made in phases and would have a capacity to generate employment for nearly 1000 skilled workers over a period of time. The purpose of setting up these manufacturing facilities is to save on the imports duties and hence cut on the manufacturing cost by 10 to 15 per cent. We would pass on the benefit to our customers.”  He said there were over 550 service centres all over the country with eighty per cent of them being in rural areas.

    The company proposes to tap the huge potential for feature phones in the country and manufacture all its devices in India in the days to come. Jivi Mobiles would be manufacturing battery, chargers and handsfree in India to cut the cost of duty which is 29.5 per cent currently.  The benefits would be passed on to the customers.

    Answering a question, he said the phones at present only had the option of Hindi and English but would soon have other languages as well. Every feature phones comes with a scheme of ‘Dugni Bachat Dugna Fayada’ – free LED bulb – 9W. 
     

  • FY-2015: Nestle ups marketing spends to Rs 525 crore

    FY-2015: Nestle ups marketing spends to Rs 525 crore

    BENGALURU: That the Maggi fiasco was going to cost Nestle India Limited (Nestle India) dear was a given. Post the relaunch of one of the most staple dishes of modern India, the company had to follow up with a massive damage control and marketing push. Not only has the company had to pay more towards marketing, for the first timein this century, it has reported a drop in revenues. Also for the first time in this century, profit margin in terms of profit after tax (PAT) as percentage of total revenue from operations (TIO) has slipped down to a single digit. Further, in September 2015, the company completed 100 years in India. In its corporate campaign, the Swiss major conspicuously avoided mention of its biggest brand Maggi noodles while mentioning features of its other brands such as Nescafe and KitKat .

    Nestle India hired McCann World Group for the Maggi Noodles relaunch, with the agency’s India unit chief executive Prasoon Joshi in charge of the creatives for the campaign. Reportedly the largest food company in the world, Nestle India kicked off there launch campaign in October 2015 with a print advertisement that said: ‘Your Maggi is safe, has always been.’ The ad went on to explain that around 3,500 samples of the noodle brand were put to rigorous test in India and in places such as the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.During the Maggi noodles recall and ban, the brand’s past and present endorsers, including actors Madhuri Dixit, Amitabh Bachchan and Priety Zinta, were served notices by the Uttarakhand Food and Drug Administration for making false claims.Further, since a court case had been filed against the brand’s ambassadors in Uttar Pradesh for their endorsement of Maggi, the relaunch communications did not carry any brand ambassadors.

    As is known, Maggi noodles were banned by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra (FDA) in June 2015, mainly due to the allegation that they contained higher than the permissible limits of the metal lead. The company had to stop production of Maggi noodles, recall existing stocks of the noodles from the market and destroy them.The company says that it conducted extensive tests of over 3,500 samples representing over 200 million (20 crore) packets of Maggi Noodles in both national and international accredited laboratories. It said that all the results showed that the levels of lead were below permissible limits The companyalso claimed that several other countries also found Maggi noodles safe after testing samples of the product exported from India.

    Court orders directing fresh testing of samples from three national laboratories, while revoking the ban on Maggi noodles, were issued. Nestle India says that all the results from three National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) said that 100 per cent of samples were clear, with lead within the permissible limits. Manufacture of Maggi noodles was recommenced from November 2015 onwards. FSSAI has challenged the judgement that lifted the ban on Maggi noodles and the matter is still in court.

    Brand and trust had to be re-built, and is still an on-going process. Nestle India is one of the biggest spenders on advertising in the country. Nestle India’s new chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan said in a financial release, “I am happy to report that despite the exceptional toll the Maggi noodles crisis took on our financials, our optimism about the future helps us with a healthy dividend payout. The high point of the last quarter has been the return of Maggi noodles to the market and the consumers to whom it rightfully belongs. The sales evolution and reception in the marketplace gives us satisfaction, but we have ambitions ahead to strengthen the brand. Following the reintroduction of the Maggi Masala variant, we have launched another favourite Maggi Chicken noodles. As a team we are committed to serving our consumers with more offerings from Maggi and our other brands by accelerating the pace of innovation and renovation.”

    Ad spends and other numbers

    Nestle India increased its advertisement and sales promotion (ASP, marketing) spends by 18.9 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2015 (FY-2015, current year) to Rs 525.21 crore (6.42 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 445.47 crore (4.52 per cent of TIO) in the previous year (year ended 31 December 2014, FY-2014).

    Note:(1) Nestle India financial year is the calendar year. It reports annual results for the period 1 January to 31 December. Hence FY-2015 represents the period between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015.

    (2) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR or ).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values in this report. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 10,000,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 billion = 1 arab.

    Over a 12 year period starting FY-2004 until FY-2015, Nestle India’s year on year ASP spends had been dropping in terms of percentage of TIO from a high of 5.5 per cent in 2005 to a low of 4.3 per cent in FY-2011, FY-2012 and FY-2013. The previous year saw a slight percentage increase of 20 basis points in ASP to 4.5 per cent, and this year saw a massive 190 basis points increase in ASP as percentage of TIO to the above mentioned 6.4 per cent as compared to FY-2014.

    During the 12 year period under consideration, ASP has seen a CAGR of 14.3 per cent from the Rs 251.92 crore (5.4 per cent of TIO) to the above mentioned Rs 525.21 crore in the current year. Until the previous year, ASP at Rs 445.47 crore (4.5 per cent of TIO) had seen CAGR of 13.9 per cent since FY-2004.

    The FMCG major’s TIO declined 17 per cent to Rs 8,175.31 crore in FY-2015 as compared to Rs 9,854.84 crore in FY-2014. Please refer to figures 1 and 2 below.

    During the same twelve year period under consideration, Nestle India’s TIO has shown a CAGR of 12.5 per cent from Rs2,227.57 crore in FY-2004 to the above mentioned Rs 8,175.31 crore in FY-2015. Last year, the company’s TIO had a CAGR of 16 per cent since FY-2004 with TIO of Rs 9,854.84 crore in FY-2014. CAGR at 16.9 per cent since FY-2004 was even higher in FY-2013, when Nestle India had reported TIO of Rs9,101.05 crore.

    Nestle India’sPAT had crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark in FY-2013, when the company had reported PAT of Rs 1,067.93 crore (12.8 per cent margin) on TIO of Rs 8,334.53 crore.

    PAT in the current year declined to less than half – declined by a massive 52.5 per cent to Rs 563.27 crore (6.9 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 1,184.69 crore (12 per cent of TIO) in FY-2014. Please refer to figure 3 below.

    In terms of percentage of TIO, Nestle India’s simple avarage PAT between FY-2004 and FY-2014 was 12.3 per cent. This has dropped to 11.8 per cent of TIO between FY-2004 and FY-2015.

    Between FY-2004 and FY-2014, Nestle India’s PAT had shown a CAGR of 16.7 per cent growth from Rs 251.92 crore (11.3 per cent of TIO) to the above mentioned Rs 1,184.69 crore (12 per cent of TIO). Between FY-2004 and FY-2015, PAT CAGR declined to less than half at just 7.6 per cent.

    Report background: Being a part of a multi-national group, the company is generally quite tight lipped about sharing financials unless it has to legally do so. Details about the company’s advertisement spends are not indicated even in the company’s annual reports – what you have is a combination of the Advertisement and Sales Promotion spends declared as a single entry in the notes forming the part of the company’s annual financials. There is really no way that one could pin an exact number for these spends unless one has an inside track on the company’s marketing budgets. The projections and numbers in this report are pure conjecture based on the author’s statistical tools used on the historical annual numbers revealed by the company in its annual reports. The author has no knowledge about Nestle or Nestle India’s strategy, past or present.

  • FY-2015: Nestle ups marketing spends to Rs 525 crore

    FY-2015: Nestle ups marketing spends to Rs 525 crore

    BENGALURU: That the Maggi fiasco was going to cost Nestle India Limited (Nestle India) dear was a given. Post the relaunch of one of the most staple dishes of modern India, the company had to follow up with a massive damage control and marketing push. Not only has the company had to pay more towards marketing, for the first timein this century, it has reported a drop in revenues. Also for the first time in this century, profit margin in terms of profit after tax (PAT) as percentage of total revenue from operations (TIO) has slipped down to a single digit. Further, in September 2015, the company completed 100 years in India. In its corporate campaign, the Swiss major conspicuously avoided mention of its biggest brand Maggi noodles while mentioning features of its other brands such as Nescafe and KitKat .

    Nestle India hired McCann World Group for the Maggi Noodles relaunch, with the agency’s India unit chief executive Prasoon Joshi in charge of the creatives for the campaign. Reportedly the largest food company in the world, Nestle India kicked off there launch campaign in October 2015 with a print advertisement that said: ‘Your Maggi is safe, has always been.’ The ad went on to explain that around 3,500 samples of the noodle brand were put to rigorous test in India and in places such as the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.During the Maggi noodles recall and ban, the brand’s past and present endorsers, including actors Madhuri Dixit, Amitabh Bachchan and Priety Zinta, were served notices by the Uttarakhand Food and Drug Administration for making false claims.Further, since a court case had been filed against the brand’s ambassadors in Uttar Pradesh for their endorsement of Maggi, the relaunch communications did not carry any brand ambassadors.

    As is known, Maggi noodles were banned by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra (FDA) in June 2015, mainly due to the allegation that they contained higher than the permissible limits of the metal lead. The company had to stop production of Maggi noodles, recall existing stocks of the noodles from the market and destroy them.The company says that it conducted extensive tests of over 3,500 samples representing over 200 million (20 crore) packets of Maggi Noodles in both national and international accredited laboratories. It said that all the results showed that the levels of lead were below permissible limits The companyalso claimed that several other countries also found Maggi noodles safe after testing samples of the product exported from India.

    Court orders directing fresh testing of samples from three national laboratories, while revoking the ban on Maggi noodles, were issued. Nestle India says that all the results from three National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) said that 100 per cent of samples were clear, with lead within the permissible limits. Manufacture of Maggi noodles was recommenced from November 2015 onwards. FSSAI has challenged the judgement that lifted the ban on Maggi noodles and the matter is still in court.

    Brand and trust had to be re-built, and is still an on-going process. Nestle India is one of the biggest spenders on advertising in the country. Nestle India’s new chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan said in a financial release, “I am happy to report that despite the exceptional toll the Maggi noodles crisis took on our financials, our optimism about the future helps us with a healthy dividend payout. The high point of the last quarter has been the return of Maggi noodles to the market and the consumers to whom it rightfully belongs. The sales evolution and reception in the marketplace gives us satisfaction, but we have ambitions ahead to strengthen the brand. Following the reintroduction of the Maggi Masala variant, we have launched another favourite Maggi Chicken noodles. As a team we are committed to serving our consumers with more offerings from Maggi and our other brands by accelerating the pace of innovation and renovation.”

    Ad spends and other numbers

    Nestle India increased its advertisement and sales promotion (ASP, marketing) spends by 18.9 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2015 (FY-2015, current year) to Rs 525.21 crore (6.42 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 445.47 crore (4.52 per cent of TIO) in the previous year (year ended 31 December 2014, FY-2014).

    Note:(1) Nestle India financial year is the calendar year. It reports annual results for the period 1 January to 31 December. Hence FY-2015 represents the period between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015.

    (2) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR or ).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values in this report. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 10,000,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 billion = 1 arab.

    Over a 12 year period starting FY-2004 until FY-2015, Nestle India’s year on year ASP spends had been dropping in terms of percentage of TIO from a high of 5.5 per cent in 2005 to a low of 4.3 per cent in FY-2011, FY-2012 and FY-2013. The previous year saw a slight percentage increase of 20 basis points in ASP to 4.5 per cent, and this year saw a massive 190 basis points increase in ASP as percentage of TIO to the above mentioned 6.4 per cent as compared to FY-2014.

    During the 12 year period under consideration, ASP has seen a CAGR of 14.3 per cent from the Rs 251.92 crore (5.4 per cent of TIO) to the above mentioned Rs 525.21 crore in the current year. Until the previous year, ASP at Rs 445.47 crore (4.5 per cent of TIO) had seen CAGR of 13.9 per cent since FY-2004.

    The FMCG major’s TIO declined 17 per cent to Rs 8,175.31 crore in FY-2015 as compared to Rs 9,854.84 crore in FY-2014. Please refer to figures 1 and 2 below.

    During the same twelve year period under consideration, Nestle India’s TIO has shown a CAGR of 12.5 per cent from Rs2,227.57 crore in FY-2004 to the above mentioned Rs 8,175.31 crore in FY-2015. Last year, the company’s TIO had a CAGR of 16 per cent since FY-2004 with TIO of Rs 9,854.84 crore in FY-2014. CAGR at 16.9 per cent since FY-2004 was even higher in FY-2013, when Nestle India had reported TIO of Rs9,101.05 crore.

    Nestle India’sPAT had crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark in FY-2013, when the company had reported PAT of Rs 1,067.93 crore (12.8 per cent margin) on TIO of Rs 8,334.53 crore.

    PAT in the current year declined to less than half – declined by a massive 52.5 per cent to Rs 563.27 crore (6.9 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 1,184.69 crore (12 per cent of TIO) in FY-2014. Please refer to figure 3 below.

    In terms of percentage of TIO, Nestle India’s simple avarage PAT between FY-2004 and FY-2014 was 12.3 per cent. This has dropped to 11.8 per cent of TIO between FY-2004 and FY-2015.

    Between FY-2004 and FY-2014, Nestle India’s PAT had shown a CAGR of 16.7 per cent growth from Rs 251.92 crore (11.3 per cent of TIO) to the above mentioned Rs 1,184.69 crore (12 per cent of TIO). Between FY-2004 and FY-2015, PAT CAGR declined to less than half at just 7.6 per cent.

    Report background: Being a part of a multi-national group, the company is generally quite tight lipped about sharing financials unless it has to legally do so. Details about the company’s advertisement spends are not indicated even in the company’s annual reports – what you have is a combination of the Advertisement and Sales Promotion spends declared as a single entry in the notes forming the part of the company’s annual financials. There is really no way that one could pin an exact number for these spends unless one has an inside track on the company’s marketing budgets. The projections and numbers in this report are pure conjecture based on the author’s statistical tools used on the historical annual numbers revealed by the company in its annual reports. The author has no knowledge about Nestle or Nestle India’s strategy, past or present.

  • DAS Phase III stay extended in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

    DAS Phase III stay extended in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

    New Delhi: With the Supreme Court stating that the stay on Phase III of digital addressable system by the Bombay High Court is not pan-India, stakeholders in three states – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh – have received further extensions for varying periods.

    While the Hyderabad High Court has clubbed the two cases of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and granted a four week extension, the Allahabad High Court extended the stay for three more months.

    The Hyderabad High Court which received the counter-affidavit from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, gave time to the petitioners in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – AP MSOs Federation and Federation of Telangana MSOs – to file their replies,

    The plea taken by both the petitioners had been the shortage of set top boxes, which had in late December led to a two month extension.

    The Supreme Court had made the observation on an appeal by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, which was subsequently withdrawn.

    In Allahabad, where the petitioners have also taken the plea of shortage of STBs, the High Court directed I&B Ministry as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to file counter-affidavits within four weeks.

     “In the meanwhile, we direct the respondents not to disconnect the cable TV network operated by the petitioner through the analogue system for a period of three months from today,” the court said.

    DAS Phase III has already been stayed for varying periods by High Courts in Assam, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, for the entire states, apart from Tamil Nadu where prolonged legal cases have been pending since Phase I.

    In Karnataka, three individual stakeholders have got stay orders in Mangalore and Mysore areas while there is no state-wide stay. However, MSOs and Local Cable Operators in various parts of Karnataka told indiantelevision.com that transmission is still being use in analogue mode even in areas that fall in Phase III but for which no stay has been obtained.

    Interestingly, Ministry sources admitted to indiantelevision.com that there was a misreading of the Bombay High Court directive. The Court had merely refereed to the Kusum Ingots & Alloys Ltd vs the Union of India 2004 case to say that if one High Court gives a stay, another High Court can act in similar fashion if the facts are similar – in this case, shortage of STBs. Thus, they agree that the High Court stay was only confined to Maharashtra and not pan-India.

    The Bombay High Court passed a unique judgment stating that the Hyderabad High Court order would be applicable across India as per the Supreme Court judgment in.

    Meanwhile, The Ministry has filed a similar petition and sought not merely vacation of the stay orders by various High Courts, but also clubbing the cases together.

    The meeting of the Phase III and Phase IV Task Force – the first to be held after the 31 December deadline of Phase III – was told by Ministry Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) R Jaya that the percentage achievement had increased from 76.45 per cent as on 30 December 2015 to 90.44 per cent as on 15 February 2016.

    It was also claimed that the seeding of set top boxes by multi system operators increased from 6.91 million (69.1 lakh) to 12.43 million (124.3 lakh) for the same period.

    DAS Phase III covers 33.18 million (331.8 lakh( TV households across 29 states and five Union Territories, after changes made in updates for various states.

    Although Phase III was aimed at covering all remaining urban areas in the country, Ministry sources admitted that several urban may now be clubbed with the rural areas where the deadline is 31 December 2016.

  • DAS Phase III stay extended in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

    DAS Phase III stay extended in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

    New Delhi: With the Supreme Court stating that the stay on Phase III of digital addressable system by the Bombay High Court is not pan-India, stakeholders in three states – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh – have received further extensions for varying periods.

    While the Hyderabad High Court has clubbed the two cases of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and granted a four week extension, the Allahabad High Court extended the stay for three more months.

    The Hyderabad High Court which received the counter-affidavit from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, gave time to the petitioners in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – AP MSOs Federation and Federation of Telangana MSOs – to file their replies,

    The plea taken by both the petitioners had been the shortage of set top boxes, which had in late December led to a two month extension.

    The Supreme Court had made the observation on an appeal by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, which was subsequently withdrawn.

    In Allahabad, where the petitioners have also taken the plea of shortage of STBs, the High Court directed I&B Ministry as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to file counter-affidavits within four weeks.

     “In the meanwhile, we direct the respondents not to disconnect the cable TV network operated by the petitioner through the analogue system for a period of three months from today,” the court said.

    DAS Phase III has already been stayed for varying periods by High Courts in Assam, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, for the entire states, apart from Tamil Nadu where prolonged legal cases have been pending since Phase I.

    In Karnataka, three individual stakeholders have got stay orders in Mangalore and Mysore areas while there is no state-wide stay. However, MSOs and Local Cable Operators in various parts of Karnataka told indiantelevision.com that transmission is still being use in analogue mode even in areas that fall in Phase III but for which no stay has been obtained.

    Interestingly, Ministry sources admitted to indiantelevision.com that there was a misreading of the Bombay High Court directive. The Court had merely refereed to the Kusum Ingots & Alloys Ltd vs the Union of India 2004 case to say that if one High Court gives a stay, another High Court can act in similar fashion if the facts are similar – in this case, shortage of STBs. Thus, they agree that the High Court stay was only confined to Maharashtra and not pan-India.

    The Bombay High Court passed a unique judgment stating that the Hyderabad High Court order would be applicable across India as per the Supreme Court judgment in.

    Meanwhile, The Ministry has filed a similar petition and sought not merely vacation of the stay orders by various High Courts, but also clubbing the cases together.

    The meeting of the Phase III and Phase IV Task Force – the first to be held after the 31 December deadline of Phase III – was told by Ministry Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) R Jaya that the percentage achievement had increased from 76.45 per cent as on 30 December 2015 to 90.44 per cent as on 15 February 2016.

    It was also claimed that the seeding of set top boxes by multi system operators increased from 6.91 million (69.1 lakh) to 12.43 million (124.3 lakh) for the same period.

    DAS Phase III covers 33.18 million (331.8 lakh( TV households across 29 states and five Union Territories, after changes made in updates for various states.

    Although Phase III was aimed at covering all remaining urban areas in the country, Ministry sources admitted that several urban may now be clubbed with the rural areas where the deadline is 31 December 2016.

  • MIB grants provisional licence to 32 MSOs in three days

    MIB grants provisional licence to 32 MSOs in three days

    NEW DELHI: In perhaps the largest clearance of provisional licences in such a short time, a total of 32 multi system operators (MSOs) got provisional licences after 8 February, raising the total of MSOs operating in the country to 727 including the 231, which have permanent (ten-year) licences.

    The last list of 8 February had put the figure of provisional MSOs at 464. All the new provisional licencees have got the clearances between15 and 17 February.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had by 12 January cancelled the licences of 26 MSOs and closed their cases.

    According to the list issued today, the areas of operation of some of the MSOs have been revised or amended.

    Of the new licensees, only one has got the licence for pan-India for the first three phases of digital addressable system (DAS). The rest are from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Utar Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

  • MIB grants provisional licence to 32 MSOs in three days

    MIB grants provisional licence to 32 MSOs in three days

    NEW DELHI: In perhaps the largest clearance of provisional licences in such a short time, a total of 32 multi system operators (MSOs) got provisional licences after 8 February, raising the total of MSOs operating in the country to 727 including the 231, which have permanent (ten-year) licences.

    The last list of 8 February had put the figure of provisional MSOs at 464. All the new provisional licencees have got the clearances between15 and 17 February.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had by 12 January cancelled the licences of 26 MSOs and closed their cases.

    According to the list issued today, the areas of operation of some of the MSOs have been revised or amended.

    Of the new licensees, only one has got the licence for pan-India for the first three phases of digital addressable system (DAS). The rest are from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Utar Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

  • MIB grants provisional licence to 13 MSOs in February taking total to 695

    MIB grants provisional licence to 13 MSOs in February taking total to 695

    NEW DELHI: With 13 more multi-system operators (MSOs) getting provisional licences in the week between 2 – 8 February, 2016, the total number of MSOs operating in the country has risen to 695 including 231, which have permanent (10-year) licences.

    According to list released on 2 February, the number of provisional licences was 451, which went up to 464 by 8 February.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had by 12 January cancelled the licences of 26 MSOs and closed their cases.

    According to the list issued today, the areas of operation of some of the MSOs have been revised or amended.

    Of the new licensees, only one provisional MSO is from the northeast – Mizoram – while the rest are from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.

    With the Home Ministry directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, the pace remains slow.

    The permanent licence issued to Kal Cable of Chennai had been cancelled on 20 August, 2014 but this cancellation was set aside by Madras High Court on 5 September the same year. However, Kal Cable’s name continues to be in the cancelled list – presumably because the cases are still pending. 

     

    Sources said many MSOs holding provisional licences had not completed certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

  • MIB grants provisional licence to 13 MSOs in February taking total to 695

    MIB grants provisional licence to 13 MSOs in February taking total to 695

    NEW DELHI: With 13 more multi-system operators (MSOs) getting provisional licences in the week between 2 – 8 February, 2016, the total number of MSOs operating in the country has risen to 695 including 231, which have permanent (10-year) licences.

    According to list released on 2 February, the number of provisional licences was 451, which went up to 464 by 8 February.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had by 12 January cancelled the licences of 26 MSOs and closed their cases.

    According to the list issued today, the areas of operation of some of the MSOs have been revised or amended.

    Of the new licensees, only one provisional MSO is from the northeast – Mizoram – while the rest are from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.

    With the Home Ministry directive about doing away with security clearances for MSOs not being communicated in writing to the MIB, the pace remains slow.

    The permanent licence issued to Kal Cable of Chennai had been cancelled on 20 August, 2014 but this cancellation was set aside by Madras High Court on 5 September the same year. However, Kal Cable’s name continues to be in the cancelled list – presumably because the cases are still pending. 

     

    Sources said many MSOs holding provisional licences had not completed certain formalities relating to shareholders and so on.

  • Idea expands 4G service across 39 Karnataka towns

    Idea expands 4G service across 39 Karnataka towns

    MUMBAI: Idea Cellular has expanded its high speed 4G LTE services across 39 towns in Karnataka.

     

    What’s more, by March 2016, the company will extend its services to three more key markets namely, Maharashtra & Goa, North East and Orissa, and by June 2016, Idea’s 4G footprints will cover 750 cities across 10 telecom circles.

     

    Within a month, the company has expanded its 4G LTE service footprint to 24 districts, including major towns of Bangalore, Mysore, Madikeri, Karwar, Chikmagalur, Belgaum and Chitradurga; covering 20 per cent of the state’s total population.

     

    In addition to Bangalore metro, Idea has launched its 4G services in other towns of Channarayapatna, Udyavara (CT), Harihar, Kunigal, Mulbagal, and Toranagal. Additionally, Idea is planning to launch its 4G services in Mangalore, Udupi-Manipal, Bijapur, Bellary and 18 more towns by end of this financial year, taking the total tally to 61.

     

    It can be recalled that last year in December, Idea Cellular had launched 4G LTE services in all four telecom circles (five states) of South India, namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, and Karnataka. Earlier this month, the company launched services across three more circles (four Indian states) – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab, expanding its 4G LTE service footprint to 7 telecom service areas.

     

    Idea Cellular deputy managing director Ambrish Jain said, “Since last week of December 2015, Idea has rapidly rolled out its high-speed 4G LTE network to cover seven major markets in India.”

     

    Idea Cellular currently holds 1800 MHz 4G spectrum in these 10 telecom circles, which cover 50 per cent of telecom market but over 60 per cent of Idea’s gross revenue. Additionally, Idea has recently signed an agreement with Videocon Telecommunications for acquiring ‘Right to Use’ 1800 MHz spectrum under Spectrum Trading Agreement in two of its key telecom leadership markets of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West). Post completion of this transaction, 4G services will be extended to 12 service areas, covering 75 per cent of Idea’s revenue base in the country.

     

    Idea Cellular chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar added, “Idea customers with 4G devices in these 183 towns can now start experiencing super fast speeds by simply upgrading their existing SIM cards to new 4G SIM cards. The company is also offering attractive subscription plans to digital content including a wide range of the latest music, movies and games. Idea has also partnered with leading handset manufacturers and e-commerce retailers for special data bundling offers on new 4G smartphones.”

     
    Idea’s 4G Prepaid & Postpaid tariff plans are priced at par with existing 3G plans. The company is also offering ‘4G Packs’ starting as low as Rs 21.

     

    Digital Content for 4G consumers 

     

    Idea, marking its first foray in the digital space, is launching an assortment of digital content in partnership with content aggregators.

     

    For music, it has tied-up with Hungama Digital, wherein it will offer content at a monthly subscription price of Rs 99 for all its consumers. For movies and videos, Idea has partnered with Eros International, wherein content will be offered at a monthly subscription price of Rs 49 for all its consumers. Idea will also be launching ‘Idea Games Club’ powered by Opera for all its consumers from 1 February, 2016, at a monthly subscription price of Rs 150. However, as an incentive for new 4G customers, a special offer for subscription at just Rs 29 per month till 31 March, 2016 is available for these packs.

     

    Idea will also unveil ‘Ultimate Plans,’ which provide a Bundleof 4G Data, Unlimited Voice calls and Content subscription, which is powered by Hungama.

     

    Wide Portfolio of 4G Smartphones & Devices

    Currently, 2.7 million 4G devices across these seven circles are registered on Idea’s network and growing at an exponential rate. To facilitate 4G device upgrade, Idea has launched branded 4G devices namely Idea 4G Dongles, 4G Mi-Fi (connects 10 users) and Home Wi-Fi (connects 32 users), which are now available at Rs 2,599 onwards with 4G Data offers.

     

    Idea has partnered with Samsung for special offers on its 4G Smartphones, wherein the two companies will launch a variety of programmes to offer differentiated and significant value to customers.

     

    The TSP has also tied up with smartphone manufacturers including Intex Technologies, Lava, Lenovo and Xolo to offer bundled 4G data plans on smartphones.

     

    A tie up is also in place with e-commerce retailer Snapdeal for providing bundled data offers on 4G devices.

     

    Launch of 4G website

    The company has also launched its responsive 4G website -www.ideacellular.com/4G, wherein consumers can log on to get more information about 4G services, tariff plans and recharges, locate the nearest Idea stores offering 4G SIMs and much more. Idea is also rolling out a smartphone e-store on its website. Consumers can now buy 4G smartphone brands, Mi-Fi and Dongles. 

     

    The company has also rolled out its FDD platform enabled 4G LTE services on the 1800 MHz frequency band, which is the most preferred spectrum band for deployment of 4G services globally, and is supported by the majority of 4G handsets available in the market.

     

    Idea Cellular’s 4G LTE Network will be equipped with the enhanced ‘Fast Return’ feature enabling seamless and quick toggle for consumers across Idea’s 4G, 3G and 2G networks, offering superior experience for both mobile data and voice services. While the company possesses the capability to introduce VoLTE feature, existing customers’ current 4G devices do not support this feature. Accordingly, the deployment of VoLTE will be evaluated at a later stage.

     

    Idea is deploying state-of-the-art, ‘Single RAN’ equipment, which supports multiple technologies in a given frequency band. For every 4G site on 1800 MHz, this equipment also provides additional 2G voice capacity on GSM spectrum.

     

    For FY16, Idea Cellular’s capex guidance is Rs 6,500 crore, significantly higher than earlier years’ annual capex spends. In this fiscal year, Idea plans to add 40,000 – 45,000 sites on 2G, 3G and 4G technology platforms, complete a cumulative roll out of 111,000 kms of Fibre, and add an incremental 175-200 million population to the mobile broadband (3G & 4G) population coverage. The 4G launch in Southern India is part of the capex guidance by Idea.

     

    The roll out of Idea’s 4G services will be financed through internal accruals. The company recorded an EBITDA of Rs 5,739 crore in H1-FY16, a growth of 27.6 per cent  over H1-FY15 and cash profits of Rs 5,085 crore, a robust growth of 32.5 per cent over H1FY15.