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Tag: Uninor

  • The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    MUMBAI:The Social Street is making significant investments in its senior leadership team. The agency has roped in Shonali Sharmaa as the managing partner for the experiential business vertical and Shilov Mani as the senior vice president in planning. Both the senior executives will report to Mandeep Malhotra and will be based in Mumbai.

    The Social Street CEO and founding partner Mandeep Malhotra said, “Both of them come with exceptional capabilities and inherent understanding of brands, markets and consumers.”

    Sharmaa added, “We have heard it for years; collaborate, work together, integrate. Yet, we still seem to push our clients agenda, be it in digital, activation, retail, OOH, et al in silos. My aim is to have ‘One seamless thought process across media’ to make The Social Street the most effective marketing communications agency.”

    Mani said, “What drew me to The Social Street was Pratap and Mandeep’s vision to build a future-ready agency.”

    Sharmaa has 15 years of experience in experiential marketing. She has worked with agencies like Ogilvy, Bates, among others, as an integrated marketing specialist and has built the requisite skill set and experience to lead from strength to strength. She has serviced clients in telecom (Idea, Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung), FMCG (Pepsi, Cadbury’s) and Media (National Geographic, Discovery Networks).

    In his 16 years of work-experience, Mani has spent five years in supply chain management, working with Mahindra and Total Fina Elf, before joining Ogilvy & Mather handling media buying, planning and client servicing. He moved to the DDB Mudra Group to handle their OOH, activation, events and retail executions. Mani has won numerous awards at MAA, PMAA, Abbies, Effies, Emvies, OAC and WoW. He has worked with clients such as HUL, HSBC, HT, Ashok Leyland, ITC, Uninor, HCC, Idea, among others.

  • The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    MUMBAI:The Social Street is making significant investments in its senior leadership team. The agency has roped in Shonali Sharmaa as the managing partner for the experiential business vertical and Shilov Mani as the senior vice president in planning. Both the senior executives will report to Mandeep Malhotra and will be based in Mumbai.

    The Social Street CEO and founding partner Mandeep Malhotra said, “Both of them come with exceptional capabilities and inherent understanding of brands, markets and consumers.”

    Sharmaa added, “We have heard it for years; collaborate, work together, integrate. Yet, we still seem to push our clients agenda, be it in digital, activation, retail, OOH, et al in silos. My aim is to have ‘One seamless thought process across media’ to make The Social Street the most effective marketing communications agency.”

    Mani said, “What drew me to The Social Street was Pratap and Mandeep’s vision to build a future-ready agency.”

    Sharmaa has 15 years of experience in experiential marketing. She has worked with agencies like Ogilvy, Bates, among others, as an integrated marketing specialist and has built the requisite skill set and experience to lead from strength to strength. She has serviced clients in telecom (Idea, Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung), FMCG (Pepsi, Cadbury’s) and Media (National Geographic, Discovery Networks).

    In his 16 years of work-experience, Mani has spent five years in supply chain management, working with Mahindra and Total Fina Elf, before joining Ogilvy & Mather handling media buying, planning and client servicing. He moved to the DDB Mudra Group to handle their OOH, activation, events and retail executions. Mani has won numerous awards at MAA, PMAA, Abbies, Effies, Emvies, OAC and WoW. He has worked with clients such as HUL, HSBC, HT, Ashok Leyland, ITC, Uninor, HCC, Idea, among others.

  • Uninor makes leadership changes in telecom circles

    Uninor makes leadership changes in telecom circles

    NEW DELHI: Uninor has made leadership changes in its three circles – east, west and south. Additionally, the telecom company has also appointed a circle business head (CBH) for Assam.

     

    Uttar Pradesh (West) CBH KC Narendran will take over as UP (East) CBH, whereas Satish Kumar Kannan will move to UP (West) as its CBH.

     

    Shrinath Kotian, the current sales and distribution head of Maharashtra and Goa circles, will replace Kannan as the circle business head of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

     

    Uninor has also appointed Anil Kumar as the Assam CBH, where its service will be commercially launched later this year.

     

    All changes are effective 1 June this year.

     

    “The current organisational changes are example of how Uninor believes in growing and developing its own people to take newer challenges. I am confident that they will do their best to further grow our business in their respective circles. I wish all of them a great success and request all of us to provide necessary support in making Uninor successful,” said Telewings Communications Services (Uninor) CEO Vivek Sood.

     

    Narendran joined Uninor in 2008, and has served as CMO and head of sales & distribution in UP (W) before taking the helm. He has 23 years of experience in the telecom industry and will be now responsible for UP (East), the largest circle for Uninor. Kannan will take over UP (West) from Narendran.

     

    Kannan, the current CBH for Andhra Pradesh, has been responsible for growing Uninor business to over 5.5 million subscribers in the circle. He had earlier served as the head of marketing AP. He joined Uninor in 2009 from Vodafone India.

     

    The new Assam CBH Anil Kumar has over 18 years of experience in handling distribution, retail channels and cluster strategy. Before being elevated as Assam circle head, Kumar was the sales and distribution head of Maharashtra and Goa circle.

     

    Kotian joined Uninor in 2009. He moved to M&G as sales head in October 2014 from Gujarat where he was the marketing head of circle.

  • Govt earns about Rs 96,000 crore in telecom spectrum auction; 16% spectrum still available

    Govt earns about Rs 96,000 crore in telecom spectrum auction; 16% spectrum still available

    NEW DELHI: Approximately Rs 96,000 crore has already been committed in the sale of about 84 per cent of the spectrum provisionally allocated to bidders. Around 43 rounds have taken place in the auction of spectrum in 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz Bands with six rounds today.

     

    As spectrum is still available, auction recommenced this morning. The bidding is taking place in all bands. Brisk bidding was seen on seventh day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 per cent.

     

    There is aggressive bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands.

     

     A majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price. With 100 per cent activity requirement and activity in new service areas, competitive bidding is expected to continue.

     

    The government had initially expected to reap around Rs 49,000 crore from the auction.

  • Telecom spectrum bid: Rs 77,000 crore committed by end of round three

    Telecom spectrum bid: Rs 77,000 crore committed by end of round three

    NEW DELHI: A total telecom spectrum of Rs 77,000 crore (provisional figure) was reached by the end of the week with 17 rounds.

     

    Eight telecom operators — Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Idea Cellular and Aircel attended the six fresh rounds of bidding. 

     

    On day one, bids value was Rs 60,000 crore, while day two bids value reached Rs 65,000 crore. The bids were held for spectrum in 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands.  

     

    The bidding has taken place in all bands, according to the Communications and Information Technology Ministry. There is still some spectrum available and auction will continue for this. 

     

    The reserve price value was around Rs 49,000 crores of provisionally won spectrum.

     

    The estimated revenue from the auction of spectrum is targetted at Rs 64,840 crore (excluding 2100 MHz spectrum) of which Rs 16,000 crore is expected to be realized in the current financial year.

     

    The reserve price approved is Rs 3646 crore pan-India per MHZ in 800 MHz, Rs 3980 crore for 900 MHz band pan India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, and Jammu and Kashmir; Rs 2191 crore pan India (excluding Maharashtra and West Bengal) in 1800 MHz band. 

     

    A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, early in January, approved the proposal of the Department of Telecom to proceed with auction in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands. 

     

    The quantum of spectrum to be put to auction was 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band in all service areas, 177.8 MHz  in 17 LSAs in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 15 LSAs in 1800 MHz band. Thus a total of 380.75 MHz in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz was being put to auction.  

     

    Payment terms, eligibility criteria and auction objectives shall be as in the previous auction of February 2014. 

     

    The Cabinet had also decided that intent to put 2100 MHz to simultaneous auction may be announced along with auction of other bands. Details of this will be announced later on.

     

    Later that month on 15 January, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India opined that clubbing the 2100 MHz band spectrum with the spectrum of other bands for auction in February will be defeated if sufficient spectrum is not made available in the 2100 MHz band.

     

    “A split auction of 2100 MHz (one in February 2015 and remaining say, in December 2015 after availability from Defence Ministry) will artificially increase the market price of 2100 MHz in February because of the severe supply constraint. The 15 MHz of spectrum in the 2100 MHz spectrum being vacated by the Defence Ministry should be auctioned in view of the in-principle agreement reached with MoD, even if it is not available immediately,” TRAI had said. 

     

    The Authority reiterated that in the auction of 2100 MHz band spectrum, an auction-specific cap should be placed that no bidder would be permitted to bid for more than two blocks in a local service area if three to four blocks are available in that local service area. 

     

    TRAI had said there was no change in the reserve prices for spectrum in the 2100 MHz bands from what were recommended earlier.

     

    It said the Department of Telecom is responsible to ensure that the spectrum being auctioned is either interference free or to share information upfront about the areas where interference is likely to occur so that the telecom service providers participating in the auction can take informed decision.

     

    These views were given to the DoT in Clarifications/Reconsideration of Recommendations on ‘Valuation and Reserve Price of Spectrum: 2100 MHz Band’.

  • Telenor Group completes 100% ownership of Uninor

    Telenor Group completes 100% ownership of Uninor

    NEW DELHI: Telenor Group announced that it has completed acquisition of the 26 per cent ownership stake in Telewings, held by Lakshdeep Investment & Finance.

     As a result, Telenor now takes full ownership of the company that operates under the brand name Uninor. The process was finalised after Telenor received approval from the Indian government’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to increase its stake from 74 per cent to 100 per cent.

     “Telenor Group has a long-term view on India, and we are encouraged by the strong growth of our Indian operation. The company continues to capture market share every month and is leading in new subscriber additions in many of its circles,” said Telenor Group EVP and Board of Telewings chairman Sigve Brekke.

    Telewings’ revenues in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period last year have increased by more than 40 per cent. Earlier this year, the company expanded its service portfolio from voice to basic internet services. Close to 20 per cent of the company’s subscribers are now active internet users.

     Telenor’s Indian arm is present in seven circles with a total population of around 600 million people. The company has participated in two separate auctions to acquire spectrum in the range of 5 Mhz to 7.2 MHz in seven circles.

     With a network of more than 1,500 stores and 365,000 points of sale, Telewings has the second largest distribution network in its operating circles. The company will also launch services in Assam early next year.

  • Uninor appoints Storyboard Brandcom as its OOH media AoR

    Mumbai: Mobile telecom company Uninor, a part of Telenor Group, has appointed Storyboard Brandcom, a division of Milestone Brandcom Group, as its out-of-home media agency of record (AoR).

    Storyboard Brandcom won the account following a multi-agency pitch that was conducted in October 2012. It saw participation of agencies such as Bates Wallstreet, Madison Outdoor Media Solutions and Kinetic (WPP‘s OOH wing).

    DDB MudraMax is the incumbent agency.

    Milestone Brandcom Group founder and managing director Nabendu Bhattacharyya said, “This is a significant business win for the Group, and I am delighted to win this emerging brand. We are happy to partner Uninor in establishing itself as the ‘value for money‘ brand for the mid-crust Indian youth.”

    Uninor chief sales officer Sharad Mehrotra said, “Storyboard Brandcom, exhibited better local insights into the needs of a challenger brand and for Uninor, OOH has always played a critical role in establishing the brand as the ‘best in voice‘ at the local level. Storyboard Brandcom‘s out of the box innovation and low cost mass market ideas differentiated them.”