RIL poised for big bang cellphone debut

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run RIL's telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to release four crore new series of phone numbers for all 22 telecom circles as it plans for an aggressive pan-India launch of mobile phone services on 4G (Fourth-Generation) spectrum sometime soon.

The ambitious move is expected to generate fierce competition in the telecom sector and comes at a time when the debt- ridden telcos had started firming up call rates to shore up their bottomlines.

RJI has submitted an application to the telecommunication ministry stating that the company immediately needs 40 lakh phone numbers for each metro city, 20 lakh for A and B telecom circles and 10 lakh for category C circles, which comprises small towns and rural areas of the country.

DoT secretary M. F. Farooqui told Mail Today on Friday that the department has received a letter from RJI for the new series of phone numbers as they plan to launch their telecom services. "I don't recall the quantum of phone numbers they have asked for but we have received their application in this regard," said Farooqui.

"RJI has asked for the same series of numbers for its nationwide operations like the ones given to BSNL. We have to work it out if it is feasible or not. As the quantum of numbers to be released is very high, it could take about 2- 3 weeks for us to clear it. Our team will soon start working on it," said another DoT official.

RJI has already completed trial runs for Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution also called VoLTE) technology that would enable it to provide voice call services on its wireless broadband network. RIL plans to offer 4G broadband data services with voice.

It is the only telecom operator to have a pan-India license for 4G broadband services and has ambitious plans that could erode the market share of large players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

Cash-rich RIL also plans to sell tablets at a much cheaper price of less than Rs  3,000 with much- much cheaper voice rates which could spell trouble for its competitors.

Although Bharti Airtel is already providing 4G data services in Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Chandigarh, it has not been able to attract many subscribers ow- ing to the high tariffs.

Some other 4G operators like Tikona are also planning to launch highspeed Internet services at much lower rates which would make the data market much more competitive.

Videocon Mobile Services has also expressed its interest to launch 4G services at rates that are less than the present 2G and 3G data tariffs, indicating that the 4G race will heat up in the coming months.

RJI has aggressively been pursuing its pre-launch strategy. It has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to fix the reserve price of the 4G spectrum at 7 to 8 times higher than that for 3G radio waves, which has rattled its rivals. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone want the reserve price at a much lower level. While Bharti Airtel has 4G spectrum in 8 circles, Vodafone does not have 4G airwaves. A senior official with a leading telecom company said RJI has excess of 4G airwaves, which offers data transmission almost four times the speed of 3G and 16 times the speed of 2G.

source: http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/ril-mukesh-ambani-poised-for-big-bang-cellphone-debut/1/200437.html

Bharti shifts focus in Africa from volume to value

The game has changed for Bharti Airtel in Africa. Sunil Mittal-led Bharti is now focusing on the value-oriented strategy, rather than the volume game that it played to penetrate the market initially. Africa was never a volume game, rather it was a relatively higher average revenue per user (ARPU) market.

 

In the immediate past quarter (July-September), the company has witnessed a sign of growth after three quarters. This is because; the company has shifted focus from just customer acquisitions. The strategy is now to focus on the markets with high-value customers, retail high-ARPU customers, and get users to its data-based services.

 

“Initially, Bharti needed to grab subscriber marketshare to penetrate the market which it has done. Now, it is time to inculcate value out of it,” said an analyst with a management consulting firm.

 

During the immediate past quarter, Bharti Airtel’s customer base in Africa increased just three per cent, while monthly churn marginally dropped to 6.6 per cent from 6.7 per cent in the previous quarter. During the July-September quarter, voice ARPU increased four per cent, while voice usage per customer rose seven per cent as compared with the previous quarter. Data customer base increased 13 per cent during the quarter with a 15 per cent increase in data ARPU at $1.5 while data usage per customer increased 21 per cent. Total data usage (megabites) on the network jumped 34 per cent. On year-on-year basis, data ARPU jumped 46 per cent, and total MB on network increased 97 per cent. But, voice ARPU declined 15 per cent on the year-on-year basis.

 

“Clearly, Bharti is focusing on the data based services which is under penetrated segment and would boost net realization in the coming quarters,” said a telecom analyst with a management consulting firm.

 

Meanwhile, Bharti’s net realization in Africa on both voice and data have come down during the July-September quarter. Voice realization has come down by about two per cent to US cent 3.3 and data realization (per MB) dropped by about four per cent to US cent 1.74 as compared with the previous quarter.

 

“The Africa market is coming back to growth. After three tough quarters, markets are buzzing again and showing good a growth momentum. Mobile customer base is growing again, rates are stable, mobile internet is growing and mobile commerce is booming,” said Managing Director Manoj Kohli, after announcing the quarterly results.

 

Revenue from the Africa operations rose about two per cent to $1.1 billion during the quarter, as against $1.09 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. However, the quarter-on-quarter revenue growth for the Africa business was about 5.4 per cent, primarily backed by net addition of about 2.18 million subscribers and about seven per cent improvement in minutes of usage on the network. Ebitda margins for the Africa business were almost flat, at 26.9 per cent, during the quarter.

 

Source: business-standard