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Tag: RComm

  • Videocon d2h & Reliance Digital finding ways to wriggle out of tough situations

    MUMBAI: DTH companies in India are facing a tough time. While Videocon is making several significant moves to reduce its heavy debt, Reliance Digital TV is reportedly in talks with a Malaysian company to sell the business.

    Videocon is trying to repay its debt by selling some of its businesses such as Kenstar and merge its direct-to-home (DTH) division with Dish TV. But, if the Petrobras project takes off, it will be in a comfortable position, and could look at exiting the project at a later stage, a
    Videocon lender, who would accompany petroleum ministry’s delegation to Brazil, told the Financial Express.

    On the other hand, Astro Malaysia is reportedly doing the due diligence of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Digital TV, the DTH business of the listed Reliance Communications, for working out a suitable valuation, a source told the Times of India. An RCom spokesperson, it was reported, has denied commenting on the story.

    Videocon was recently declared a NPA by Dena Bank. The visit to Brazil was postponed to June; it will be a meeting between the governments of Brazil and India, but the bankers hope to lobby for faster resolution of the project so that Videocon’s cashflows improve.

    Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h have about two-thirds (65 percent) of market share of the DTH universe by private players in India. However, the DTH industry seems to be on a downward slide. Reports submitted by the carriage industry indicate that DTH subscriber additions in the extended period have been low.

    Now, if the transaction between Ambani and Astro goes through, it will be the second deal between the two. Astro shareholder T Ananda Krishnan’s Maxis Communications is a significant shareholder of Aircel, which is about to be combined with RCom’s wireless unit.

  • RComm signs $1 bn deal with Ericsson to manage network services

    RComm signs $1 bn deal with Ericsson to manage network services

    MUMBAI: Billionaire Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications today signed an eight-year full-scope managed services agreement with Ericsson for $1 billion to operate and manage the wireline and wireless networks in the Northern and Western states of India.

    As per the contract, Ericsson will manage the day to day operations across wireline and wireless networks and will take over responsibility for field maintenance, network operations and operational planning of Reliance Communications 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

    This agreement is aimed to meet the fast evolving customer demand for communications applications and services in one of the world‘s most dynamic telecom markets.

    Reliance Communications will benefit from Ericsson‘s world-class processes, methods and tools and the partnership will allow Reliance Communications to free up resources to focus on user experience, as well as improving innovation power, agility and speed across the specified geographies. Reliance Communications‘ infrastructure covers 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages in India to which it offers converged services including voice, data and video.

    Ericsson will streamline Reliance Communications‘ operations by bringing all aspects of fiber, tower operations, wireless networks and wireline access networks to Reliance Communications‘ wireless and global enterprise business, across differentiated product lines. Ericsson will also drive a modernisation of the tools, processes and best practices that are applied across the business resulting in operational efficiencies by managing cost through consolidation.

    Commenting on the agreement, Reliance Communications CEO – Wireless Business Gurdeep Singh said, “We are happy to announce our partnership with Ericsson to manage our wireline and wireless network enabling us to provide a higher level of customer experience in terms of network and services. Given the complexity of network increasing with platforms, technologies and application offerings, we are banking on the experience, innovation and technical expertise of Ericsson to improve the productivity of our network and ensure that it delivers to its full potential. We are confident that they will exceed the expectations of our customers through optimization of resources and provide us cost effective solutions.”

    Ericsson EVP and Head of Business Unit Global Services Magnus Mandersson said; “We are excited to partner with Reliance Communications for this strategic multi-technology managed services deal. The increasing uptake of new technologies requires an increased focus on customer experience management in the hyper competitive and highly dynamic Indian telecom market. With this partnership Reliance will increase focus on their core business and innovation. We are pleased to welcome more than 5,000 employees who will join us from Reliance Communications and support our long term commitment to India‘s ICT market.”

    This agreement will be driven by defined service level agreement governance. Ericsson will be responsible for improving network performance and ultimately service quality, with the goal of increasing customer satisfaction and retention. Ericsson will also work closely with Reliance Communications to identify opportunities to introduce new services and expand its existing businesses to help realise the full potential of its network.

    “This partnership will enable our enterprise customers to deploy state-of-the-art data services on our integrated network through the global expertise of Ericsson. This is one of the first times that wireless and wireline enterprise network is being outsourced to deliver world-class service and performance assurance,” added Reliance Communications CEO, Global and Enterprise Business Punit Garg.

  • Mogae Media taps RComm’s Rajendra Gupta

    MUMBAI: Mogae Media has appointed Rajendra Gupta as chief value officer.

    Gupta moves from Reliance Communications where he spent the last 10 years in a broad variety of functions. His last designation at RComm was VP marketing.

    He will be based at Mogae‘s Gurgaon headquarters.

    Mogae Media is the new venture launched by Sandeep Goyal focused on mobile monetisation.

    Mogae Media director Tanya Goyal said, “Guptaji is a veteran of both mobile and of advertising. It is a rare combination. And that is what makes him a really valuable asset on any team. We look forward to Guptaji carving out a new business out of creating customer value and delight through options on hi-value brands”.

    Gupta said, “Moving to Mogae is like home-coming. I have worked with Sandeep Goyal for many years and his new venture really excited me. So here I am.”

    Gupta started his career at Dunlop where he worked across different geographies. He then spent a few years at Wipro in their lighting division.

    In 1994, he moved to advertising to Rediffusion DY&R as national head of business development. He stayed there till 2001 and helped the agency win businesses like Atlas Cycles, Singer, BPL, HFCL, BPL Mobile, Sony Ericsson, LIC and Tata Tea.