Aircel likely to elevate COO Kaizad Heerjee to CEO’s position

NEW DELHI: Aircel, a debt-ridden mobile phone operator, is likely to shortly elevate chief operating officer Kaizad Heerjee to the chief executive officer's position, two people aware of the development told ET.

The company's former CEO, Sandip Das, left the company about eight months ago to join Reliance Jio Infocomm, the mobile broadband venture of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Aircel hasn't had a top officer since.

Heerjee joined the mobile phone company in August of 2012 from U Mobile, a Malaysian telecom services provider where he was the CEO. Chennai-based Aircel is 74% owned by Malaysia's Maxis while Apollo Group owns the rest.

According to one of the people, Aircel has already sought security clearance from the telecom department, as per rules, for Heerjee's appointment since he holds a Singapore citizenship.

Aircel declined to comment while Heerjee couldn't be reached for comment.

The mobile phone operator, with licences to offer services in all of India's 22 circles, was once gunning for top three status by number of users. But, caught in a vicious circle of cash and credibility for the past nearly three years, it has been languishing for several months now at number seven with some 64 million users, a far cry from leader Bharti Airtel which has around 200 million subscribers.

Heerjee's move to the top comes amid the company's struggle to service its Rs 24,000-crore debt, due in January 2014. According to people aware of the company's financial details, the telecom operator was losing aroundRs 1,680 crore annually at the operating level till last fiscal year ended March 31.

ET had earlier reported that the company had tied-up loans for Rs 8,000 crore from a clutch of Indian and foreign banks to refinance the debt that it accumulated while purchasing third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) airwaves in auctions held three years ago.

Aircel paid Rs 9,937 crore for 3G airwaves — in 13 service areas — and broadband wireless, in eight circles. While it has launched 3G in different circles, its plans to launch high speed broadband 4G services have not taken off for the want of investments of around $1.5 billion and development of the handset ecosystem.

The company though recently conducted 4G LTE trials in Andhra Pradesh, but said it doesn't have immediate plans of launching services.

The company also faces major regulatory challenges in India on account of a CBI investigation into the circumstances under which Maxis acquired the shareholding of serial entrepreneur C Sivasankaran in the company in 2005.

Aircel's struggles have given rise to talk that the company is up for sale. Maxis had segregated the Indian operations back in 2011, indicating the group's intention to put the company on the block. At various points, there has been speculation about Aircel dialing Tata Telesevices and Sistema Shyam TeleServices for a merger. All three companies haven't previously confirmed any discussions.

India's rules on mergers and acquisitions are expected to be announced before the end of the month, which may trigger much wanted consolidation in the fragmented sector with more than 10 players in some circles.

source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-28/news/44547056_1_maxis-aircel-phone-operator

BICS Enables Africa's First 4G Video Roaming Call With Royal Approval

BICS, a global provider of wholesale carrier services, today announced it has enabled the first 4G video roaming call (data roaming session) made in Africa, in the presence of HRH Princess Astrid, Princess of Belgium, on an official state visit by the Belgian Economic Trade Mission to Angola.

The video call took place during the official signature ceremony of the trade mission. It was performed between the Belgium Deputy Prime Minister / Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Didier Reynders in Luanda, and BICS' SVP Operations and Customer Services, Mr Johan Wouters, located in Belgium, using BICS' LTE signalling platform.

This milestone marks the launch of LTE roaming services from Unitel, a leading Angolan mobile operator based in Luanda, which allows customers to access LTE services while roaming in partner countries already signed-up to the BICS IPX network. The deployment confirms BICS' position as a leading provider of LTE roaming solutions.  

Mr Amilcar Safeca, Deputy CEO and CTO at Unitel commented: "This agreement with BICS will allow us to offer our customers an entirely new range of quality services when abroad. It will also allow visitors in Angola to roam onto Unitel's network with a very high speed. With its extremely fast data transmission, the technology opens a new dimension with a multitude of communication possibilities."

Unitel launched its 4G LTE service in 2012 allowing its mobile customers to utilise high performance mobile data applications, including video, voice, and messaging. Its implementation of LTE roaming is expected to further stimulate the use of new technology by mobile subscribers, contributing to Angola's rapid social and economic growth.

BICS assists mobile operators around the world address the growing demand for LTE by rapidly enabling LTE connections with their roaming partners.

Clémentine Fournier, Regional Vice President Africa, BICS said: "We have a long-standing partnership with Unitel for voice and 2G/3G roaming services. While extending this partnership to our 4G LTE roaming solution is a natural step, we are very excited to see Unitel become the first mobile operator in Africa to realise a 4G roaming session."

Daniel Kurgan, CEO, BICS said: "This landmark partnership marks the next stage of the evolution of the telecom market in Africa and the further realisation of LTE roaming across the globe, brought about by the increasing usage of Internet-enabled mobile or tablet handsets and the high workforce mobility on the continent."

About BICS

BICS delivers best-in-class international wholesale solutions to any communication service provider worldwide. Through its Mosaic portfolio, a comprehensive, flexible and innovative suite of solutions designed to be used individually, or collectively, BICS meets the existing and future requirements of the global telecoms industry.

BICS' headquarter is located in Brussels with regional offices in Bern, Dubai, New York and Singapore. We also have a satellite office in Beijing and local representation in Accra, Cape Town, Miami, Montevideo, Nairobi and Toronto. Our team continuously strives to provide our customers with the highest levels of quality, reliability and interoperability enabling them to maximise their end-user value.

With our successful consolidation strategy, and a continuing focus on technological advancement and innovation, we have achieved a world-leading position in the international Voice and Mobile Data markets.

LTE RADIO PROTOCOLS

LTE RADIO PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE ACCESS STRATUM

LTE network can be divided into control plane which is responsible for managing the transport and user plane which is responsible for transporting user traffic.

USER PLANE PROTOCOLS: this shows the protocol stacks for the user plane where PDCP,RLC,MAC and PHY sublayers perform functions like header compression, ciphering, scheduling.

CONTROL PLANE PROTOCOLS: PDCP sublayer perfoms ciphering and integrity protection.

RLC,MAC and PHY sublayers perform the same function as in the user plane.

RRC performs functions like system information broadcast, paging, RRC connection management , mobility control and UE measurement reporting and control.

WHY MOVES TOWARDS 4G? - LTE CAPABILITIES AND SERVICES

                      WHY MOVES TOWARDS 4G?   

1. Wider bandwidth   
2. Limitations to meet expectations of applications like multimedia, full motion, video, wireless teleconferencing.
3. Global mobility and and service portability.
4. Need all didital network to fully utilize IP and converged video and data.

                      LTE CAPABILITIES AND SERVICES

It is a 4G wireless communications system developed by 3GPP (3 generation Partnership Project).  This technology is expected to provide speed 10 times more than 3 generation.

It is designed to provide IP based voice, data and multimedia at a maximum speed of 1gbps and minimum of 100 mbps.

4G LTE— it is one of the several competing 4G standards along with ultra mobile broadband (UMB) and WIMAX (IEEE 802.16). both iphone 5 and ipad 3 are expected to have built in 4G LTE capabilities.