Business Standard reports that Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd’s is eyeing a minority stake in a Chinese telecom company.
The company holds a 26.8% stake in United Telecom Ltd — a joint venture among VSNL (26.6%), Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (26.6%) and Nepal Venture Private (20%). United Telecom provides basic telephony services using the wireless technology in Nepal. The company’s subscriber base is estimated at over 25,000.
MTNL also has a licence to offer fixed, cellular and international long-distance telecom services in Mauritius. The company intends to start the services shortly.
It is also in the race for acquiring a telecom licence in Kenya.
On the earnings side, MTNL reported a 15.40% decrease in net profit at Rs 167.89 crore for the second quarter this fiscal.
Subex Systems is a provider of revenue maximisation software for telcos, which include fraud management and revenue assurance systems.
It is looking at more acquisitions to become a comprehensive player in the telecom revenue maximisation segment. For this the company is looking at various fund raising options including FCCBs and private equity routes.
The inorganic growth will play a major role in Subex’s target of being a $100 million firm by 2009. Said Subash Menon, President & CEO, Subex:
With this step, we get clients as well as credible references, which would have been pretty difficult otherwise. Over the last year, we acquired divisions of Alcatel and Lightbridge in the fraud management area and this has given us significant leeway is getting ahead in the marketplace.
Subex presently has cash reserves of around Rs 25 crore and has announced a 1:1 bonus issue on Friday in an effort to increase liquidity and reward investors.
The company, which was funded by Intel Capital and UTI Ventures, closed last fiscal with a topline of Rs 116.55 crore and for the first half of its present fiscal its topline has touched Rs 83 crore, a growth of 73%.
State Bank of India jointly with Visa International launched pre-paid cards on the mChq platform, which is a mobile-to-mobile payment option. It will enable students, faculty and staff of IIT and those living in nearby areas to pay for their purchases with their Airtel mobile phones.
Here is how the systems works:
The service will be available to Airtel subscribers who have an SBI pre-paid card.
SBI pre-paid cardholders will provide their mobile numbers or a secure identity code. This is keyed into the merchant’s handset with the transaction amount and the merchant’s Personal Identification Number.
The transaction details are then processed and sent to the customer’s mobile for immediate verification. The customer can access funds for the transaction by keying in the PIN number.
The merchant is given authorisation with an electronic message that is recorded and stored on the SIM card by both the customer and the merchant.
Mumbai-based company A Little World is the technology partner of Airtel and powers the mChq technology.
Related: mChq
Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 has managed to garner a total of 10 crore calls and SMSes in 65 episodes, through partner telcos BSNL and Airtel. KBC2 has beaten its own record of 9 crore calls in 309 episodes in 2000.
Of the total 10 crore figure, SMSes accounted for 15 per cent. BSNL contributed about 7.5 crore calls, while Airtel the remaining 2.5 crore. Industry sources also said Airtel has so far received Rs 15-17 crore via SMS revenue.
The numbers recorded, accounted and audited by KPMG, the process auditors reveal that KBC received a peak of 24 lakh calls in one day. Of the calls, 29 per cent came from the north, 39 per cent from the west, 20 per cent from the east and 12 per cent from the South.
A caller was charged Rs 2.40 if he called on the BSNL line and Rs 6 if he used the Airtel SMS or voice-enabled service.
According to industry estimates, Airtel closed an all-episode deal with Star for Rs 22 crore, of which Rs 7 crore was for Airtel being the exclusive telephony partner. There was also a minimum guarantee inked, which stated that a revenue sharing of 50:50 would take place after the SMS and voice call revenue for Airtel crosses Rs 18-20 crore.
Also Read: Is KBC2 lucky key for mobile cos?
GVFL’s investment in ConvergeLabs will be in the form of equity and equity linked instruments. Earlier investors in ConvergeLabs include Anthellion, Global Catalyst Partners and Walden International.
ConvergeLabs had recently launched its patent pending m-commerce solution “M-Bay”, that enables mobile applications and end-to-end mobile commerce transactions.
- Idea to pump in Rs 1,200 cr for expansion this fiscal
Plans to roll out services in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and western UP.
- Spice telecom to invest Rs 2 billion in Punjab and Karnataka circles
Has applied for licences in six states, including Rajasthan, UP, HP and Jammu and Kashmir.
- Tata places Rs 120 crore order for 3 lakh phones with Pantech
Pantech & Curitel Communications is South Korea’s 2nd largest mobile manufacturer.
- Lambent Tech introduces Saarthi & Friend Finder
Lambent is a Nagpur based mobile development company specialising in BREW.
- Indiagames surpasses one million BREW downloads
Will develop 3D BREW games for QUALCOMM’s Mobile Station Modem.
Here are some more articles on Vodafone’s $1.5 billion investment in Bharti. This has been a second coming for Vodafone in the Indian market. It exited its first venture RPG Cellular, by selling its 20.7% stake to Aircel in ’03. The reason given was that the venture’s operation was limited in geographic scope as it was a single circle operator.
CEO of the Vodafone Group, Arun Sarin says they are keen to further hike stake in Bharti Tele.
The CEO of SingTel, Lee Hsien Yang, welcomed Vodafone’s entry. “We welcome Vodafone as our partner to further develop the Indian telecom market and to take Bharti to greater success,” Mr Lee said. The moot point now is will this three-cornered structure last? Analysts say there is speculation that either Mr Mittal or Singtel will dilute their stake further in favour of Vodafone.
He also emphasised his company’s backing for providing mobile services to rural areas of the country.
Meanwhile, Vodafone also announced a grant of $12m to Bharti Foundation for the growth of primary education throughout the country. The money will be spent on providing facilities of primary education at all the 23 circles of Bharti Televentures.
But it the private equity major Warburg Pincus that is laughing all the way to the bank. Warburg entered the Indian market in 1999 by investing about $300m to acquire a total of 18% equity stake in Bharti Tele. It made a profit of $1.6bn, which is more than five times its original.
Also, check out this profile of Vodafone group CEO Arun Sarin.
Two stories on the moves Reliance Infocomm is making in prepartion for its IPO next year. The company posted a net profit of Rs 51 crore on a turnover of Rs 5,387 crore in ‘04-05. The previous year, ‘03-04, it had a loss of Rs 170 crore on a turnover of Rs 2,707 crore.
Reliance believed to be contemplating a $1-bn pre-IPO private placement.
The ADAE Group is looking to sell around 10% of Infocomm’s equity, which would value the company at around $10 bn, or just under Rs 44,000 crore, if the company does manage to obtain such a valuation in the market. Private equity majors active in India such as Newbridge and Blackstone are believed to have been approached by the ADAE Group, sources said.
Reliance Infocomm had a valuation of around Rs 22,500 crore, going by the Rs 32 per share at which RIL converted its preference shares in Reliance Infocomm, as part of the settlement between Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his brother, Anil, chairman of the newly-formed ADAE Group.
Inducting a major investor would help increase the valuation of Reliance Infocomm. However, some issues remain unclear. RIL’s equity stake in Reliance Infocomm has been transferred, as part of the settlement, to a holding company called Reliance Communication Venture (RCVL). Besides Reliance Infocomm, RCVL is also the holding company for an entity called Reliance Communications Infrastructure (RCIL), which owns some telecom infrastructure (such as, the group’s fibre optic cable network), the GSM service provider Reliance Telecom and Flag Telecom.
The point of confusion is this: which company will go public, Reliance Infocomm or holding company RCVL? ET reports that Infocomm may be merged into RCVL.
Anil Ambani had said in August ’05 that RCVL may be listed before March 31, ’06, as part of the settlement process. Once this happens, Reliance Infocomm will itself be automatically listed, albeit through the holding company, early next year. Again, any private placement prior to RCVL’s listing on the Indian bourses could thus be either at the level of the holding company (RCVL) or directly in Infocomm. Any subsequent public offering could also be through the holding company or directly by Infocomm. It is also possible that Infocomm, which accounts for the bulk of the revenues of the holding company, may eventually be merged into RCVL, industry sources said.
Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 11.67 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005, registering a growth of 78% compared Rs 6.55 crore posted during the corresponding quarter last year.
During the quarter, the company successfully launched a new business vertical – Service Providers; signed up and commenced billing for a large global Tier 1 customer A gross total of 474 people were added in the Q2, taking the total employee strength to 2466 as on September 30, 2005.
This quarter also saw Sasken enter the capital markets through a successful IPO, which was oversubscribed 78 times, with 5 million shares allotted at Rs 260.
- Airtel crosses one million customers mark in Mumbai
Claims to be the fastest operator to cross the one-million mark.
- Reliance Info launches Mobile Application Contest 2005
Send your entries on dadp.com by January 31, 2006.
- Hutch brings Diwali Gift Shop through Voice Response on mobiles
Subscribers can pay by credit cards, Itz cash card or Federal Bank Direct Debit option.
- Nokia launches 2 entry level mobiles
Nokia 1110 (B&W) and Nokia 1600 (Colour)
- Batelco announces bilateral GPRS/MMS roaming agreement with AirTel
Batelco is the largest telecommunications company in Bahrain.
South Korea’s largest mobile operator SK Telecom has reportedly ended its alliance talks with Tata Teleservices citing disagreement on price. But says it still remains interested in investing in India.
There were reports in July that it may pick a 33% stake in Tata Teleservices.
Vodafone Group, one of the largest mobile companies in the world, has entered the Indian telecom scene by acquiring a 10% stake in Bharti Televentures for Rs 6,700 crore ($1.5 billion).
Vodafone picked up 5.65% stake from Warburg Pincus and 4.4% through Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Enterprises maintains a controlling interest of 45.9 per cent in the company through its subsidiary, Bharti Telecom Ltd. With the final sale of its stake, Warburg Pincus has now completely exited its position in the company.
This is big news indeed, also the single largest foreign investment in India so far.
Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has announced un-audited results for the second quarter and half year ended September 30, 2005.
It reported consolidated revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 of Rs. 2,709 crores, up 46% Y-o-Y and EBITDA of Rs.1,021 crores, an increase of 47%. The net profit during the quarter was Rs. 521 crores, up 43% from Rs. 364 crores reported during the corresponding quarter of last year.
Bharti had approximately 1.51 crores customers, as on September 30, 2005, an increase in the total customer base of 60%, over the corresponding period last year. It maintained its leadership position with a market share of all India wireless subscribers at 21.8% as on September 30, 2005.
Qualcomm plans to open a pre-certification lab for handset manufacturers in Hyderabad by this year-end. It will enable OEM’s to test their handsets in different environments to meet the CDMA providers’ requirements. At present OEMs normally test handsets on their own, which normally takes around six months. In Qualcomm’s pre-certification centre, OEMs would be able to do testing in a week.
The company is also planning to increase its headcount in Bangalore and Hyderabad design centers from the existing 200 to 350 by this year-end.
- Tata Teleservices crosses 6 million mark
In last 40 days, Tata Indicom has added 1 million customers.
- Mobile music in India shows annual average growth of over 250%
From DhaliwalBrown’s “The Future of Mobile Music” report.
- BSNL, CSG in 10-year deal
For Kenan FX, a convergent billing and customer care package supporting all lines of BSNL’s business, including fixed, GSM and IP services.
- Turner International India ties up with Mobile2Win
Viewers can avail SMS interactive services via the 8558 short code.
- Comba Telecom opens India office
Customer based of the 2G and 3G solutions provider includes Spice, Hutch and Airtel.
Sunil Jain has a good article in Business Standard discussing TRAI’s latest recommendations on rural telephony.
Since 2002, the government has levied a cess of 5% on telephone bills to fund rural phones through the Universal Service Obligation fund. The USO Fund collected a whopping Rs 7,254 crore till April but had disbursed only Rs 1,815 crore of this. TRAI says a total of Rs 30,457 crore will be needed by 2010 to have around 28 million rural phones (as compared to 13.6 million currently), resulting in a rural teledensity of around 4%.
TRAI has suggested an innovative approach for utilising USO funds.
So, Trai’s paper recommends the USO be given for mobiles as well, but the real innovation lies in the approach—let the USO subsidise part of the cost of building the infrastructure required (a tower could cost anywhere around Rs 50 lakh, with another Rs 10 lakh of electronics on it). This dramatically changes the economics, and, according to Trai, could get us a rural teledensity of 15 per cent by 2007.
Here’s the plan. If a Bharti comes up and sets up a tower in a rural area (any place with less than 5,000 persons), the USO will give it a Rs 12 lakh subsidy, and if Bharti gets a Hutch and an Idea to share this tower (they too will put up electronics worth Rs 10 lakh each for their subscribers), Bharti will get another Rs 24 lakh on behalf of the two—Trai wants three operators to share a tower to ensure competition.
Effectively, Bharti’s cost comes to Rs 24 lakh while Hutch and Idea’s cost will be Rs 10 lakh each. Presumably Hutch will be the lead partner in another area, and Idea in yet another—so, the effective investment per tower will be around Rs 15 lakh per telco.
According to Trai, and one cellular firm I spoke to, at such costs, even if they each get 400-500 subscribers who pay around Rs 200 per month, they can break even in 3-4 years. (Since urban teledensity is only 30 per cent and offers a lot more scope for expansion, hoping three operators will collaborate in rural areas appears dicey—a better idea may be to give the entire Rs 36 lakh to one firm, with a proviso that it will have to allow two others to share the tower.)
But the problem, however, can come from the government-owned BSNL.
For the system to work, for Bharti to take its signal from the tower in the village to its base-switching centres and mobile-switching centres around 150 km away, it needs optic fibre lines. Trai’s suggestion is that since BSNL’s 550,000 km of optic fibre reaches most tehsil headquarters, BSNL should provide the connectivity.
Reliance Infocomm users can now enjoy reading comic strips on their mobiles through the Mobile Comics Service launched on R World.
Currently available strips, costing Rs 2 per log-on, feature Indian characters Chacha Chowdhary, Biloo & Pinki and the international teen-favourite Archies.
I think comic strips on mobile phones make a compelling service. I would gladly pay, to be able to read Calvin & Hobbes on my mobile. Strips not only fit the screen resolution of a typical mid-range phone like Nokia 6600 (176*208), but can also be stored in the gif image format which reduces the file size thus making it suitable for slow GPRS connections.
Source: Business Standard
- Income Tax department to send SMS reminders
HT has a story on I-T department’s plans to send reminder SMS for the October 31 deadline for filing tax returns.
- Indian Mobile Gaming market size is approximately $12-15 million
Indiagames claims 5-6 lakh downloads per month.
- Comba Telecom starts India office
Sells antennas and tower top solutions for BTS for cell sites through Subex and Zte.
- BSNL delaying signing of interconnection pact: Tata Tele
Refutes BSNL’s allegation on non-payment of dues.
- Indian Express ties up with Mobile2Win
Readers can access news and other interactive services via the 8558 short code.
Story on the launch of M-Trade application for trading on mobiles. On a related note, Airtel had sometime back launched a mobile stock tracker application.
The mobile trading platform also allows investors to get connected using their mobile handset and see the market rates, enter, modify, cancel orders, view their positions and transactions through a secure encrypted channel, he said.
“We are happy that JRG has become the first commodity broker in India to provide the integrated mobile trading facility through wireless internet on NCDEX and MCM to the investors of the country,” Mathew said.
I can understand the need for real-time alerts for people active in the stock and commodity markets. But if the person has to take action on those alerts like buy and sell, wouldn’t it be more convenient and reassuring for him to just call his broker and place the trade rather than do it over a slow GPRS network.
Ericsson has announced that it will invest several hundred million dollars every year in India. It will set-up a new R&D center in Chennai besides building a Global Services Delivery Centre (GSDC) in Gurgaon. It will convert its India NOC (National Operating Centre) to regional NOC (RNOC) for Asia-Pacific customers.
Ericsson already has a manufacturing facility in Rajasthan, where it manufactures radio base stations with site solutions. The company would now upgrade it to incorporate manufacturing of mobile switching centers and base station controller.
The new R&D center would perform R&D in areas such as service layers and VAS. At present, Ericsson does R&D work along with its partners Wipro and TCS. The company currently employs over 1500 persons in 22 locations in the country.
