Onmobile plans Rs 600 cr IPO

Bangalore-based VAS provider OnMobile is planning to enter the capital market this financial year with an IPO of Rs 500-600 crore! Onmobile is a network-level VAS provider and powers voice portals of most Indian operators. The company is gearing up to become an end-to-end VAS solution provider, intending to invest the IPO proceeds for its [...]

Telecom subscriber base at 218 million

Total telecom subscriber base (GSM, CDMA, FWP, Landlines) as of May 2007 stood at 21.8 crores (218 million). Net addition in May = 63 lakh subscribers Tele-density = 19.25% GSM additions = 50 lakh CDMA additions = 15 lakh Fixed line base declined by 2 lakh COAI is usually prompt in releasing subscriber growth figures. [...]

Nokia says road to India villages costly for foes

Urpo Karjalainen, head of Nokia’s Asia-Pacific business, tells Reuters that barriers to entry for rivals are high in India. “In India there are today about 93,000 retail outlets. It’s a huge amount, and our phones are being sold in every single one,” Karjalainen said on the sidelines of an industry event, adding that rivals don’t [...]

Idea-Spice merger talks fail

ET reports that merger talks between Idea Cellular and Spice Telecom have broken down due to differences in price. Spice, which offers cellular services in Punjab and Karnataka, had revenues of around Rs 553 crore in 2006. It was looking at a valuation of about $1.3 billion (over Rs 4,300 crore). Idea found it excessive, [...]

Firdose Vandrevala quits Motorola

Firdose Vandrevala, Chairman of Motorola India is quiting the company. Mr Vandrevala had joined Motorola in October 2005. The Hindu Business Line says that Vandrevala’s exit is being seen as the direct fallout of Motorola losing the 45.5 million line contract from BSNL. Motorola officials denied any link between Mr Vandrevala’s exit and the way [...]

Hutch becomes third largest operator

GSM operators added 50 lakh (5 million) subscribers in May, taking the all-India GSM subscriber base to 13.06 crore (130 million). Bharti Airtel = 18.51 lakh new, 4.07 crore total BSNL = 2.38 lakh new, 2.79 crore total Hutch-Essar = 15.06 lakh new, 2.92 crore total Idea = 7.03 lakh new, 1.52 crore total Aircel [...]

Why restrict entry of new players in 3G?

Sunil Jain makes compelling arguments against TRAI’s recommendation of not allowing entry of new operators to provide 3G services in the country. Recommend that you read the full article. This was the import of a recommendation made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on 3G spectrum last September but, thankfully, the then Telecom Minister [...]

9% of mobile web accesses come from India

According to data compiled by UK-based Bango, 9% of all accesses to mobile websites now come from India, up from 4% a year ago. Bango said it expects the mobile phone usage in India to exceed European levels within the next few years. “We see that wherever flat-rate mobile data charges are pervasive in a [...]

Rs 500 penalty for mobile spam

TRAI has decided to levy a fine of Rs 500 for every unsolicited call or SMS sent by a telemarketer. Further, the telemarketer could face disconnection of services. The regulator has exempted messages relating to financial transactions under specific contracts (between the caller and a party), charities, national campaigns, natural calamities transmitted under government directions, [...]

Idea-Spice marriage to happen post IPO

ET reports that talks of merger or acquisition between Idea Cellular and Spice Telecom will continue only after Spice’s IPO. A possible reason for this is that the listing will ensure a robust price discovery process for the company, which is currently believed to be valued at about $1 billion. Besides, any merger post-IPO will [...]

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