ITV

Tag: Vodafone Idea

  • Vodafone Idea & Zee Entertainment add a new dimension to content partnership

    Vodafone Idea & Zee Entertainment add a new dimension to content partnership

    MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea Limited, India's leading telecom operatorandZee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) announced a strategic partnership today for ZEE5 – the fastest growing OTT platform in the country. Under the strategic partnership, aimed at driving the growth of digital ecosystem in India, the content portfolio of ZEE5 will be available to Vodafone Idea customers on Vodafone Play as well as Idea Movies & TV app.

    Customers of Vodafone Idea can now enjoy the entire content catalogue of ZEE5 thereby providing a seamless viewing experience via multiple devices.The association between the two industry leaders will help create a beneficial ecosystem for viewers that will drive the growth of video viewing in smaller cities and towns in times to come. The content of ZEE5 can be accessed by customers through Vodafone Play or idea Movies & TV app. The ZEE5 content is available across 12 languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati & Punjabi across genres like Kids content, Cineplays, Live TV and Health and Lifestyle content.

    Commenting on the partnership, Avneesh Khosla, Operations Director – Marketing, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “Our customers are constantly seeking rich and diverse content options and we aim to provide enriched entertainment to our customers by offering high quality content on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV. We are happy to partner with ZEE5 and bring their library of content to our customers. Our insights on customer preferences, salience and relevance along with ZEE’s deep understanding of the Indian content viewership habits are being brought together through this partnership. We are happy to offer the entire catalogue of ZEE5 along with 2 exclusive channels to our customers as an introductory offer.”

    Speaking about the association, Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India said, “ZEE5 and Vodafone Idea lend themselves to a complementary partnership. Having established ourselves as the fastest growing OTT platform in India with the largest repertoire of content, we have attracted subscribers across geographies and demographics. We have an ambitious growth plan charted out for us and through this partnership with Vodafone Idea, India’s largest telecom company, we will leverage synergies between the brands and further bolster our presence across the country.”
     

  • Vodafone Idea and ShemarooME announce an exclusive content partnership

    Vodafone Idea and ShemarooME announce an exclusive content partnership

    MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea, India’s leading telecom operator, today announced a strategic partnership with Shemaroo Entertainment’s newly launched video streaming service – ShemarooMe. As a part of this exclusive partnership, subscribers of Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV apps will have full access to Shermaroo’s content library across Bollywood, Devotion, Kids and other such genres and languages.

    ShemarooMe has a wide array of content offerings spanning various genres like Movies, shows, music, plays, devotional, kids and similar in Gujarati and many more languages.  This partnership will give all the fans of Gujarati content access to over 400+ latest Gujarati nataks, blockbuster movies and much more through ShemarooMe. The ShemarooMe Gujarati content offering includes movies like Chhello Divas, Gujjubhai the Great, Sharto lagu, Natsamrat, Thai Jashe, and plays like Gujjubhai Banya Dabang, Mari wife Mary Kom, Gujjubhai ni Golmaal and many more. All these titles are likely to reach new viewers through this association.

    Talking about the partnership, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “We are excited to partner with Shemaroo Entertainment to provide rich curated content across genres to our customers. Through this partnership our customers will get access to the best quality Gujarati content on the Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV apps exclusively. Our endeavor is to provide our customers with authentic entertainment keeping in mind their consumption pattern, culture and language preferences. We believe that video and regional content will be the key differentiator and its consumption will grow rapidly in the coming years, more so in the Gujarat market because of its affinity for watching Gujarati plays. We have been working towards strengthening our content offering and this partnership is a step further towards enriching our content portfolio.”

    Commenting on the partnership, Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited., said, “We are delighted to partner with Vodafone Idea. ShemarooMe has a huge plethora of content across genres and an unmatched offering of Gujarati content catering to the Asli fan of Indian content. Through partnerships like these, we wish to bring our content to the end-customers, and we are sure that the subscribers of Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV apps will thoroughly enjoy our offerings.”

    Vodafone Idea customers will get exclusive access on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV apps for a period of one month.

  • Broadband internet subscriber growth rate slowed down in December 2018

    Broadband internet subscriber growth rate slowed down in December 2018

    BENGALURU: Month-on-month (MOM) broadband internet subscriber growth in December 2018 (Dec-18) was the second lowest in 2018 at just 66.5 lakh (6.65 million, 0.665 crore) subscriber additions or 1.3 percent as compared to the immediate trailing month – Nov-18. The lowest growth was in the month of Aug-18 at just 34.1 lakh (3.41 million or 0.341 crore)  or 0.7 percent as compared to the previous month based on Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monthly telecom data reports.Bharti Airtel has lost wireless broadband internet subscribers in the month of Dec-18.

    Broadband subscribers across wired, mobile device (phones and dongles) and fixed wireless grew 42.9 percent from 3,628.7 lakh (362.87 million or 36.287 crore) as of 31 December 2017 by 1,556.8 lakh (155.68 million or 15.568 crore) to 5,185.5 lakh (518.85 million or 51.885 crore) as of 31 December 2018. Please refer to the figures below for MOM subscriber growth trends.

    Mobile devices comprising of phones and dongles is the largest constituent of India’s broadband internet subscriber base at 96.4 percent. Growth in broadband internet subscribers in calendar year 2018 (CY 2018) was led by growth in mobile devices users at 99.8 percent or 1,553.80 lakh (155.38 million or 15.538 crore) of new subscribers added in the year. Broadband internet subscribers through mobile devices grew 45.1percent from 3,445.7 lakh (344.57 million or 34.457 crore) at the end of Dec-17 to 4,999.50 lakh (499.95 million or 49.995 crore) at the end of Dec18.

    Wired broadband internet subscribers grew 1.7 percent or by 3.1 lakh (0.31 million or 0.031 crore) in CY 2018 from 178.6 lakh (17.86 million or 1,786 crore) at the end of Dec17 to 181.7 lakh (18.17 million or 1.817 crore) at the end of Dec-18.

    Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat broadband internet subscribers   declined by about 10,000 (fell by about 2.7 percent) from 4.4 lakh (0.44 million or 0.044 crore) at the end of Dec-17 to 4.3 lakh (0.43 million or 0.043 crore) at the end of Dec-18.

    Please refer to the figure below for details of broadband internet subscribers at the end of each month starting from Dec-17 until Dec-18.

    Airtel loses broadband internet subscribers.

    The top five broadband internet service providers across all segments constituted 
    98.57 percent marketshare of the total broadbandsubscribers at the end of Dec18. These service providers wereReliance JioInfocomm Ltd 28,01.2 lakh (280.12 million or 28.012 crore), Vodafone Idea 1,079.2 lakh (107.92 million or 10.792 crore), Bharti Airtel 1,002.6 lakh (100.26 million or 10.026 crore), BSNL 205.5 lakh (20.55million or 2.055 crore) and Tata Tele. Group 22,6 lakh (2.26 million or 0.226 crore).

    Wireless broadband internet subscribers (mobiles and dongles)

    Bharti Airtel Limited lost 45 lakh (4.5 million or 0.45 crore) wireless broadband internet subscribers in the month of Dec-18. The company’s wireless broadband internet subscriber base fell to 979.9 lakh (97.99 million or 9.799 crore) at the end of Dec-18 from 1,024.9 lakh (102.49 million or 10.259 crore) at the end of Nov-18.

    As on 31 December, 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd 2801.2 lakh (280.12 million or 28.012 crore), Vodafone Idea 1079 lakh (107.90 million or 10.79 crore), Bharti Airtel 979.9 lakh (97.99 million or 9.799 crore), BSNL 113.8 (11.38 million or 1.138 crore) and Tata Teleservices 17.9 lakh (1.79 million or 0.179n crore).

    Wired broadband internet subscribers

    The combined total number of broadband subscribers of the top 5 wired broadband internet service providers fell by about 60,000 in 2018, hence their market share among the wired broadband internet services providers has declined. The biggest losers were the public sector BSNL and MTNL, which lost 23 lakh (2.3 million or 0.23 crore) and 13 lakh (1.3 million or 0.13 crore) subscribers respectively in CY 2018.  Their subscriber bases at the end of 2018 were 91.7 lakh and 7.8 lakh respectively. Airtel added 1.2 lakh (0.12 million or 0.012 crore) subscribers in the year, while Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) added 1.1 lakh (0.11 million or 0.011 crore) subscribers. The fifth wired broadband internet services among the top 5 –Hathway Cable & Datacom (Hathway) added 50,000 subscribers in CY 2018.

    As on 31 December, 2018, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL 91.7 lakh (9.17 million or 0.917 crore), Bharti Airtel 22.7 lakh (2.27 million or 0.227 crore), ACT 13.9 lakh (1.39 million or 0.139 crore), MTNL 7.8 lakh (0.78 million or 0.078 crore) and Hathway7.8 lakh (0.78 million or 0.078 crore). 
     

  • Vodafone Idea plans new music streaming service

    Vodafone Idea plans new music streaming service

    MUMBAI: The largest telecom player of India is now planning to bet on a music streaming service. Vodafone Idea Ltd has plans in store to launch a new music streaming app while its biggest rivals already have ventured into the segment. The telco player will come up with the new app through partnership though did not reveal the name of the concerned company.

    At a time when all the telco players are upping their content game, the strategic move will definitely help Vodafone Idea going forward, especially to take on Bharti Airtel’s Wynk Music and Reliance Jio’s JioSaavn. With the entry of the new music streaming app, the existing Idea Music app will be shut down.

    “We are sunsetting the Idea Music app and we will come up very soon with an offering that will provide the best-in-class music streaming services, through a partnership that we are in the final stages of closing," Vodafone Idea chief executive officer Balesh Sharma said in a post-earnings conference call with analysts.

    The move could help the telco giant to retain subscribers also. Since the entry of Jio in the market, the ARPU of the operators has declined rapidly due to the ongoing tariff war. Two legit players including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea saw revenues from wireless business drop significantly over last two years.

    However, the competition for Vodafone Idea’s new entrant will not be easy. Along with Wynk Music and JioSaavn, there are other players like players Gaana, Hungama, Apple Music and Google Play Music. Moreover, Spotify is expected to enter the Indian market by March as per media reports.

  • SPNI ropes in Rohan Jain as marketing head for English channels

    SPNI ropes in Rohan Jain as marketing head for English channels

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) has hired Rohan Jain as head of marketing – English channels, a source close to the development informed Indiantelevision.com. Prior to joining the broadcaster, Jain was the head of marketing at Vodafone-Idea.

    Jain will report into EVP and business head of English channels Tushar Shah.

    The responsibilities of Jain’s current role were earlier helmed by Neville Bastawalla. The latter is now in charge of marketing for SPNI’s sports cluster.

    Jain’s experience spans over 14 years as a marketing professional with expertise in product management, brand management, customer segmentation, and lifecycle management.

    Before the merger of Vodafone Idea, he worked with Idea cellular for almost eight long years. He has also had stints at other telecom majors like Bharti Airtel and Aircel.

  • Vodafone Idea partners Sun NXT

    Vodafone Idea partners Sun NXT

    MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea, the telecom service provider in India, today announced a strategic partnership with Sun TV Network. Network’s OTT platform, Sun NXT, which has over 50,000+ hours of content will now be accessible to Vodafone Idea customers. This partnership will offer Vodafone Idea’s customers access to Sun NXT’s exclusive digital content which caters to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam audiences.

    Customers are increasingly looking forward to entertainment in regional languages. Through this partnership, Vodafone Idea has widened its bouquet of regional content through Sun NXT on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV app respectively.

    Commenting on the partnership, Vodafone Idea CMO Sashi Shankar said, “When it comes to content, we are singularly focused on providing entertainment to our customers keeping in mind their consumption, languageand culture. We believe that video and vernacular are the new growth drivers in digital content consumption today, especially in markets of South India. Regional content creates affinity amongst the consumers. We are delighted to partner with Sun TV Network to provide enriched entertainment to our customers by offering high quality regional content on Vodafone &Idea’s Mobile apps.”

    Sun NXT will power 30 + Live TV channels, 4000+ movies and a huge repository of TV shows, music videos and short format content on both Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV App. Vodafone Idea is first in the industry to launch this partnership for the entire catalogue including movies.

    Sun NXT Spokesperson said, “Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV app has built a robust portfolio of regional content. Now with Sun NXT, customers will have access to South India’s biggest movie library, Top TV shows and Live TV in their native language.”

    The customers will be able to access top TV channels like Sun TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV, Surya TV and many other such channels and also popular movies and top-rated TV shows across the four languages on Sun NXT through Vodafone Play and Idea Movies &TV.

    From its launch in June 2017 till now, Sun NXT has fast become the most preferred content consumption destination for South Indians, not only in India but also across the World.

  • 5G to challenge 4G services: Jio President

    5G to challenge 4G services: Jio President

    MUMBAI: With time, third generation services (3G) were replaced by fourth generation services (4G) and Reliance Jio played a vital role in the transforming phase. And once again India’s youngest telecom company is eager to quickly roll out the ultra-fast fifth generation services (5G).

    While speaking to the Economic Times, Jio president Mathew Oommen spoke about the challenges which 4G will face after the deployment of 5G.

    Oommen explained, “Once 5G digital services arrive, business will be based on the actual value that the telcos offer a consumer in terms of digital solutions, content, and services.”

    He briefed about traditional pricing models being revamped, “4G will be challenged by the imminent wave of 5G services that will no longer be charged based on minutes, bits or bytes anymore.” Rather telcos would adapt to a new pricing mechanism which would look to measure the “overall revenue per subscriber” for a combination of digital services.

    With that being said, Jio believes that it’s high time for telcos to “either disrupt the marketplace or face disruption”.

    Oommen stated that “normalcy would soon get restored” in the telecom sector as once the telcos catch up with the technological advancement which will only increase usage that would drive compensation from newer services.

    The 5G spectrum allocations will take place by the second half of 2019 according to the government. Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani recently had said that India would be ready for 5G services by 2020. Jio has indicated its eagerness to roll out 5G services as it seeks an early auction of 5G airwaves, whereas Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea want the auction dates to be pushed back to late-2019 and 2020, respectively.

  • Reliance Jio to maintain ARPU lead over Airtel, Vodafone Idea

    Reliance Jio to maintain ARPU lead over Airtel, Vodafone Idea

    MUMBAI: Indian telecom company, Reliance Jio, is most likely to maintain its lead on average revenue per user (ARPU) over its rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The telco’s strategy in the market has paid off well by selectively choosing an inordinate share of 4G smartphone users and continuing to attract them with reasonable high-end voice and data offers.

    However, on Wednesday Jio posted a fall in its ARPU to Rs 131.7 for the July-September period from Rs 134.50 in April-June and from Rs 156 a year back. This was the third straight quarterly dip in ARPU for the telco but still anticipated to fare better than Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which stands with an ARPU at Rs 96 each.
    For the time being, Reliance Jio exhibits an average 35 per cent more ARPU than its rivals, Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

    Speaking to Economic Times, Bharti Airtel former CEO Sanjay Kapoor said, “While Jio’s strategy was centred on garnering and retaining high-paying subscribers, its rivals dominated the lower paying subscriber markets”.

    Further explaining, “Incumbents, on the other hand, have a reasonably large number of customers, in the featurephone segment, who are voice-only users and have extremely low ARPU of less than Rs 30,” added Kapoor.

    And according to Kapoor, Jio is the current thought leader of the market and is likely to determine the future ARPU trends in the Indian telecom market.

    KPMG head of technology media and telecom Mritunjay Kapur explained that Jio has been trying to maintain its ARPU and most probably will continue to have ARPU higher than the current industry average based on its voice, data and media & entertainment strategy.

  • 3 more quarters of losses for telecom industry, says COAI

    3 more quarters of losses for telecom industry, says COAI

    MUMBAI: According to COAI director general Rajan Mathews, the telecom sector will probably experience three or more quarters of losses, as the telcos remain under pressure due to high levies and unsustainable tariffs.

    Speaking to PTI, Mathews said, “Under the current scenario, I see at least another three plus quarters of losses. Why? Because personally, I do not think the present tariffs are sustainable for long term health of the industry.”

    Mathews explained that the high incidence of levies – licence fee and spectrum usage charges – intermingled by upfront payment for radio-waves have added to the operators' woes. Taking that into account he stated that 2018-19 will certainly be a "tough year" in terms of financial performance of the industry.

    “Already we have been through two quarters of losses (this fiscal). So something dramatic has to happen in the next two quarters and we know that is not going to happen. Clearly, 2018-19 will be a tough year in terms of financial performance for the industry but the beginning of fiscal 2019-20 will see clarity (emerging),” he added.

    When asked about whether the mobile rates will fall further or stabilise, he told, “The tariffs are already at affordable levels. It is difficult for me to see how much further the tariffs can drop.”

    He also described that the continuous decline in revenue stream would be unfavourable for the industry as telcos will need investments for updating technology and for wider and better coverage.

    Reliance Jio had set off a tariff war since its arrival in the market. In counter to Jio’s services, rival companies such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had to cut tariffs.

    Bharti Airtel reported a loss of Rs 940 crore from its mainstay India business for the June quarter. However, Airtel in the April-June period reported a net profit of Rs 97 crore on a consolidated basis after taking into account revenues from its Africa business.

  • Idea urges people to use social media responsibly in new ad

    Idea urges people to use social media responsibly in new ad

    MUMBAI: Addressing the growing phenomenon of the need for validation on social media, Idea has launched a campaign titled #MeriRealLife, encouraging people to drop the pressure of chasing and sharing perfection on social media, and instead, share real, unfiltered stories using Idea 4G.

    The campaign went live yesterday with the first two TVCs breaking on the live matches of Asia Cup Cricket Tournament.

    There are over 400 million internet users in India and over 50 per cent are active social media users. Rapid proliferation of 4G has enabled better internet speeds, resulting into Indians now spending almost 28 hours a week on mobile phones. This mammoth increase in consumption of 4G data has been fuelled largely by people sharing and consuming videos and photos on social media.

    On an average, people spend anywhere between 2-4 hours/day on social media platforms. With such high engagement, social media is bound to have a huge impact on the lives of people. The new Brand Idea campaign is designed to propagate ‘Responsible Use of Social Media’ with the tagline ‘Perfect ka pressure hatao, Idea 4G ke saath apni real life dikhao’.

    Vodafone Idea chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar says, “People are constantly, looking for validation on social media for their behaviour – be it what they are eating or wearing or places they are visiting. The growing phenomenon of living to share on social media and not the other way around, is driving people towards a dual life –a social life and their real life.”

    The campaign is developed basis research inputs from mental health professionals from MPOWER, an organisation that aims to end stigma and encourage dialogue around mental health. Insights from research by MPOWER suggest that the constant need for validation leads to a loss of self-worth, a feeling of being ‘not good enough’ resulting in anxiety and related issues, especially amongst the youth actively engaged on social media.

    Staying with Brand Idea’s belief in purpose led advertising, this campaign elevates the role of Idea 4G beyond the category conversation to something that reflects its transformative role in people’s lives and society.

    The high decibel campaign will lead with a series of three TVCs of 40 and 35 secs duration, capturing the concept through the lens of three people from different walks of life, sharing how their social media lives are different from their real lives.

    The Idea ads show people talking about a fancy new car, the perfect look and relationship goals on their social media, while in their real lives they are questioning their own shallow behaviour. The videos end with the characters having their moment of reckoning, where they encourage the world to share their real photos and videos with #MeriRealLife.

    The TVCs have been directed by Shimit Amin, the director of critically acclaimed blockbusters such as Chak De, Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year, Ab Tak Chappan.

    The new campaign has been developed by BBDO India.

    The campaign will be promoted on TV, Radio and Digital through high decibel visibility across 100+ TV Channels and strategic integrations in shows/programs such as Film Companion by Anupama Chopra on Digital, and popular radio shows ‘Heart to Heart with Meera’ and ‘Calling Karan’ on Ishq/Love 104.8 among others.