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Tag: Reliance Communications

  • Mindshare wins media agency of the year at Spikes Asia ’12

    MUMBAI: Mindshare India walked away with the media agency of the year award at the Spikes Asia 2012 on Tuesday. The agency also won the grand prix in the media category for its campaign ‘Where What You Grow Is What You Eat‘ for Hindustan Unilever‘s (HUL) ketchup brand Kissan.

    The agency picked up a Gold Spike for ‘Tomato Ketchup Grows Tomato Farmers‘ (Kissan) along with two Silver Spikes; one each for HUL‘s Bru Gold coffee and Rin detergent. Mediacom also picked up two Spikes, a silver and a bronze, for the ‘You Shave. I Shave.‘ campaign for P&G‘s brand Gillette. Another GroupM agency, MEC, won a Bronze Spike for its ‘My Network Versus Your Network‘ campaign for Reliance Communications.

    BBDO India brought home a Creative Effectiveness Spike for their work on the Gillette Mach3 Turbo Sensitive Shavesutra project. Indian indie agency, which is now a part of the Dentsu Group Taproot, ranked second in the independent agency of the year category.

    Apart from the above, work from Indian agencies was awarded in Design (TBWA), Digital (BBH India), Film (Contract Advertising, Taproot India, DDB Mudra), Film Craft (Ramesh Deo Productions, BBH India, Taproot India, McCann Worldgroup India), Radio (Leo Burnett), Print and Poster (Leo Burnett, Taproot India), Outdoor (McCann Worldgroup, Ogilvy and Mather), Print (Grey Worldwide, DDB Mudra), PR (Bang Bang Films, Cheil Worldwide) and Promo and Activation (O&M) categories.

    India took the gold medal in the Young Spikes Media Competition whilst the team from Hong Kong took gold in the Young Spikes Integrated Competition. The winning entry was by Maxus.

    This year, the awards received 4860 entries of which 397 were awarded.

  • 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.

  • Reliance Netconnect’s campaign has Anoushka & Rannvijay as brand ambassadors

    NEW DELHI: Reliance Communications, which claims a wireless broadband in over 1,300 towns, announced the launch of a new marketing initiative for its latest unique offering, the ‘My Best Plan’.

    The ‘My Best Plan‘ is based on the consumer insight that most internet data dongle users have to pre-determine their data usage and confine themselves to a fixed data usage plan. In fact they have to ensure that their usage is within the limits of the plan to avoid paying high over usage charges. Despite this, most users have gone through ‘Bill Shocks’ at some point, where they’ve had to pay exorbitant overage charges, in other cases most people don’t end up using the data limit they’ve signed up for.

    To address this ongoing consumer dilemma, Reliance Netconnect introduced the ‘My Best Plan’. As the title suggests, it’s a data plan that automatically adjusts itself to generate the lowest bill every month. This eliminates bill shocks & also takes away the hassle of choosing the right data plan basis a customer’s usage.

    The ‘My Best Plan’ TVC featuring Anoushka Sharma and Rannvijay went on air on 6 June. Through a fun, engaging, slice of life situation, the TVC persuades the consumer to make the smarter choice by selecting the ‘My Best Plan’. The pairing has already created quite a lot of buzz through their previous campaigns and this campaign only heightens the drama & the chemistry between the two of them.

    Reliance Communications Limited Group Head – Brand & Marketing Sanjay Behl said, “In line with our customer centric approach, this plan not only takes away the restrictions which internet users have had to contend with, it’s also another step towards enabling growth of data consumption in India. We already provide superfast broadband speeds in more than 1300 towns in the country & this initiative ensures that we continue to deliver superior value to our customers.”

    The campaign has been conceptualised by Grey India and has been directed by Shoojit Sircar, a well known ad film maker whose directorial venture of 2012 – Vicky Donor was a runaway success at the box office.

    The integrated campaign leverages key mediums like Television, Digital, Cinema, BTL, etc: and will be complimented by a first of its kind app on Facebook.

  • Bindu Sethi returns to JWT as chief strategy officer

    Bindu Sethi returns to JWT as chief strategy officer

    MUMBAI: JWT has appointed Bindu Sethi as chief strategy officer India.

    The appointment is close on the heels of appointment of Bobby Pawar as its chief creative officer and managing partner for India. The creative agency said that with Sethi‘s appointment will further strengthen the senior leadership of the agency and complete its senior management.

    Earlier this year, Sanjeev Bhargava had joined the agency as managing partner in Delhi and Max Hegerman as head of digital.

    “The Indian market is becoming increasingly complex. Choice has a whole new meaning for the consumer; the strategic challenge is high,” said Bindu. “A smart perspective and smarter ideas can unravel the complexity. It is the creative solution that then finally dissolves complexity and resolves the choice preferences of consumers. Joining JWT puts me in a position to take on these marketing challenges.”

    JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris added, “We are moving decisively to build our bench strength, and bringing Bindu into this role is an important part of that strategy. We are pleased to have Bindu back in the fold. We know from experience that she‘s a valuable asset, and she‘s gone on to grow her skills at the national and Asia Pacific level. Now she brings all that experience back to us, and our clients. Bindu‘s mandate will be to develop and integrate our strategic planning capabilities and help deliver on our vision to be a creative powerhouse as we create the best value proposition for our clients.”

    It‘s a home coming for Sethi as she had worked with JWT in 1988 (then known as Hindustan Thompson Associates or HTA). She comes with experience from both the advertising industry and the corporate sector. She was most recently the Asia Pacific strategy officer for Grey Worldwide, including Grey India‘s national planning director, where she worked with a wide range of clients including GSK, Honda, Reliance Communication, Britannia and Ferrero.

    “Bindu is extremely talented and I am delighted to have her back on board,” said JWT Asia Pacific president Michael Maedel. “She brings depth, experience and insight to this critical leadership role. Given India is an increasingly important market for many of our global clients, this appointment is both vital and timely.”

  • Reliance teams up with Yahoo! India to offer instant messaging service

    Reliance teams up with Yahoo! India to offer instant messaging service

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has teamed up with Yahoo! India to offer instant messaging service to its customers.

    Mobile IM will allow Reliance Mobile customers to chat live with other Reliance customers, as well as any Yahoo! IM user in the world using their PC.

    Customers can send instant messages and chat online using all of the Yahoo! IM features such as simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icon, emoticons, Yahoo! personal contact list and profile, multiple chat windows and view off-line messages. Reliance’s Yahoo! IM is “always connected” to deliver instant messages, informs an official release.

    “Reliance is bridging the Digital Divide by extending the Internet-rich IM experience of the PCs to its mobile subscribers for the first time in India”, said Reliance Communications president – applications content and solutions Group Mahesh Prasad. “This brings us one step closer towards the convergence of the mobiles and the PCs”, he added.

    Yahoo! India MD George Zacharias said, “We are glad to partner with Reliance for Mobile IM services, in India. This unique service will add a new dimension in enhancing our user experience and provide yet another compelling way to stay connected, instantly and at all times.”

    Yahoo! Instant Messenger service client interface for Reliance was developed by ACL Wireless. Yahoo! Messenger for mobile is available on all BREW, WAP and Nokia colour handsets using Java technologies.

    Reliance Mobile customers can access Mobile Instant Messenger by clicking on Reliance Mobile World > hot n new > Yahoo! Msgr. Customers will be charged Rs. 5 for each session logged and can send and receive unlimited instant messages.

    This is not the first time that Reliance Mobile has collaborated with Yahoo! Infact, Yahoo! Mail has been part of Reliance Mobile World’s suite of WebMail services for over two years.

  • Reliance Communications announces financial results for the quarter ended 31 DEC 2006

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications Limited today announced
    its unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter ended
    31 December 2006. The highlights of financial performance are:

    Net Profit of Rs. 924 crore (US$ 209 million), higher by 198% compared to Net Profit of Rs. 310 crore (US$ 70 million) in the corresponding quarter last year

    EBITDA at Rs. 1,527 crore (US$ 346 million), growth of 76% over the corresponding quarter last year

    Revenue growth of 26% at Rs. 3,755 crore (US$ 851 million) from Rs. 2,991 crore (US$ 678 million)

    EBITDA margin expands to a record 41% from 29%, with strong contributions across all businesses – Personal, Global and Enterprise.

    Shareholders Equity crosses Rs. 20,000 crore (more than US$ 4.5 billion). Net Debt to Equity Ratio further reduces to 0.07:1, providing substantial borrowing capacity to fund future growth

    Capex for FY2007 now expected at over Rs. 7,700 crore (US$ 1.75 billion) Commenting on the results, Mr Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Communications Limited said:

    “We have delivered another quarter of strong revenue and EBITDA growth across all our business segments. Net profits have increased by 3 times in the past year.

    This performance has lifted Reliance Communications into the select group of companies with annualised EBITDA of well over Rs 5,000 crore (US$1.1 billion), EBITDA margins above 40%, Shareholders Equity of over Rs 20,000 crore (US$4.5 billion), and a Stockmarket Value of nearly Rs 94,000 crore (over US$21 billion). Reliance Communications is now one of Asia’s most valuable telecom companies.

    We remain focused on further strengthening our position within India’s rapidly growing telecom sector, achieving profitable growth, and delivering long term value for our 2 million shareholders.”

    UNLOCKING VALUE

    FLAG TELECOM

    The Board of Reliance Communications has approved the global listing of FLAG Telecom.

    Reliance Communications has turned around the performance of FLAG Telecom over the past year and aligned it with the Indian franchise.

    FLAG Telecom sees enormous growth potential in bridging the digital divide and had recently announced its nearly Rs 7,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) Next Generation Network project which on completion will make the company the largest fully IP-enabled global undersea cable system operator touching 80% of the world population.

    The potential global listing of FLAG Telecom would highlight the hidden value created in its business and provide further focus on the unique growth opportunities.

    RELIANCE TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE

    The Board of Reliance Communications noted the shareholder approval given to the scheme of demerger of the wireless towers business. The Board approved Reliance Telecom Infrastructure to examine options for unlocking the value of its assets.

    BUSINESS REVIEW

    PERSONAL (wireless)

    Reliance Communications added a record 4 million wireless customer (net) during the quarter, compared with 2.1 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

    At end-December 2006, the Company had over 30 million wireless customers on its network, representing a market share of 20.5% of the All India wireless market. It maintained market share of net wireless customer additions at 20.2% in Q3 FY2007.

    Revenues of the Personal business increased by 39% to Rs. 2,752 crore (US$ 624 million) from Rs. 1,981 crore (US$ 449 million). EBITDA increased 62% to Rs. 1,029 crore (US$ 233 million) from Rs. 636 crore (US$ 144 million).

    Global

    FLAG Telecom won major new contracts worth more than US$ 100 million (about Rs. 440 crore) during Q3 FY2007.

    In the increasingly competitive ILD market, Reliance Communications maintained its leading market share of 40%.

    Reliance India Call has recently been introduced in Australia and the worldwide access of our Reliance Global Call service has been extended to 200 countries.

    EBITDA increased by 68% during the quarter to Rs. 355 crore (US$ 80 million). The Global business achieved higher profit margins, with an increased contribution from the portfolio of data services. EBITDA margins increased to 27% from 15%.

    ENTERPRISE (broadband)

    The number of access lines increased to 530,000 in Q3 FY2007 from 217,000.

    Leveraging the 20,000 kms of metro fiber optic cables, the number of buildings directly connected to the Reliance network increased by 110,000 in the past quarter to 379,000.

    Major new orders booked by the Enterprise business during the quarter increased by over 25%. Reliance Communications has 50% market share of new Enterprise business acquisitions.

    Enterprise achieved revenue growth of 149% to Rs. 316 crore (US$ 72 million) and an EBITDA margin of 47% in Q3 FY2007.

    * * * * *

    Background

    Reliance Communications Limited is part of the Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

    Reliance Communications is India’s largest integrated communications service provider in the private sector with over 32 million individual consumer, enterprise, and carrier customers.We operate pan-India across the full spectrum of wireless, wireline, and long distance, voice, data, and internet communication services. We also have an extensive international presence through the provision of long distance voice, data and internet services and submarine cable network infrastructure globally.

  • Jump Games, Reliance Communications launch gaming contest ‘Don Kaun’

    Jump Games, Reliance Communications launch gaming contest ‘Don Kaun’

    MUMBAI: Jump Games and Reliance Communications have announced the launch of nation-wide mega mobile contest ‘Don Kaun’ on the Reliance Mobile World platform.

    The grand winner of the contest will win a date with the Bollywood actor Sameera Reddy. Other daily, weekly and monthly winners can take home gifts like Ipods, PS IIs, XBoxs along with a Plasma TV for one lucky winner, asserts an official release.

    The contest will sport Jump Games’ ten Mobile games that include titles like Sameera the Street Fighter, Bappi Da Disco King, Run Maddy Run and Baichung Bhutia – Pro Striker as well as a few international titles like Maradona and Van Damme Kick Boxing.

    The games featuring in the contest will be available for Reliance Mobile World (R World) subscribers across the country. The users will be able to access the games on Reliance Mobile World. To be eligible to take part, users need to submit high scores for each game.

    Commenting on the contest, Jump Games CEO Salil Bhargava said, “Mobile gaming is on a steady rise in India and this countrywide contest on Reliance Mobile World is an excellent platform to reach out to our audiences. We have some of our best games up for Don Kaun Contest and we hope that people have a good time playing them and of course, winning prizes that are up for grabs.”

    Reliance Communications president application solutions and content group Mahesh Prasad added, “Reliance Mobile’s innovative sachet-based pricing for mobile games has created a large mobile gaming community within the Reliance network. The Don Kaun contest is sure to create excitement among our subscribers.”

  • Reliance Communications launches ‘CricGenie’

    Reliance Communications launches ‘CricGenie’

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has announced the launch of Reliance Mobile ‘CricGenie’, a new service addition to its portfolio of cricket related mobile services. This application allows Reliance mobile customers to enjoy a match in progress in animated simulation format.

    “In our effort to enrich cricket experience for our customers on Reliance Mobile World we have enhanced our services to offer our cricket fans an experience on the mobile that matches the excitement on the grounds. Reliance Mobile Customers now have the added advantage of visualizing the match in addition to getting match updates,” says Reliance Communications president, applications and solutions group, Mahesh Prasad. The initiative goes beyond the current mobile cricket offerings like cricket scores while on the move, expert comments or updated tickers on your mobile phone.

    ‘CricGenie’ is priced at Rs. 25 per India-playing match day and all A Grade match days. For other match days, Reliance mobile users can enjoy Cricgenie at only Rs 10. CricGenie is supported on most colour handsets and efforts are underway to bring this experience to other Reliance Mobile World supported phones. This application has been designed by Dhruva Interactive, a Bangalore based company, specializing in mobile games.

    Apart from CricGenie, Reliance Mobile crickets lovers can also DIAL 1234 and say ‘SCORES’ and subscribe to special Cricket SMS updates for Rs 49 per month only. The pack is available throughout India and customers who subscribe to this pack would receive SMS updates after a certain number of overs.

  • Reliance Communications selects Aicent MMS gateway

    Reliance Communications selects Aicent MMS gateway

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has selected Aicent MMS Gateway, developed by Aicent Inc. – the California-headquartered provider of mobile data network services and solutions – to offer domestic and international Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to its mobile subscribers.

    Reliance has launched its MMS service which offers a vibrant and personalised messaging experience to its subscribers. By utilising the Aicent MMS gateway service, Reliance mobile subscribers can stay in touch by sharing photos, audio and video messages with their friends and family across India and around the world, informs an official release.

    “Reliance has been at the forefront to introduce innovative applications that have redefined the scope of mobile telephony for our many million customers. We are glad to offer domestic and international MMS services to cater to the fast growing popularity of data and video applications among Reliance Mobile customers. With the launch of this interconnectivity we invite all other operators to integrate and to connect with Reliance’s subscriber base,” says Reliance Communications Application Services president Mahesh Prasad.

    “We are excited to partner with Reliance to add value to their subscribers’ messaging experience in India,” says Aicent president-CEO Lynn Liu. Aicent’s global footprint and flexible, innovative service features enhance user’s experience and operator’s revenue streams. We continue to demonstrate our world-class mobile data expertise established by our data roaming, messaging and other next generation mobile data services.”

  • Reliance Communications’ Falcon Cable System becomes operational

    Reliance Communications’ Falcon Cable System becomes operational

    MUMBAI: Reliance Communications owned Falcon Undersea Cable System has started its operational from today unleashing international bandwidth between India, Middle East and Europe.

    The Flag Telecom Global Network would be the world’s largest undersea cable system covering 65,000 route kms, with the launch of Falcon. The current bandwidth on India-Europe route is controlled by VSNL and Bharti.

    “Falcon will have an equally powerful impact on the economic front, driving higher levels of trade, commerce and global integration,” Reliance ADA chairman Anil Ambani said.

    The vision at Reliance ADA group is to ‘give millions of ordinary people across the world the means to realize their dreams, the power to shape their destiny, the chance to fulfill their true and diverse potential,” Ambani added.

    The Flag Global Network bridges the distance between 35 diverse developed and developing economies, connecting the global economic hubs in USA, UK, Germany, France, Middle East, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Japan to name a few.

    The Company’s Flag is the first global network of this scale to provide integrated connectivity on one seamless network to the three highest growing regions; India, Middle East and China; in terms of international bandwidth demand.