Posts Tagged ‘Andhra Pradesh’

Contrary to the telecom operators’ contention that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) recommendations – hiking the reserve price for the auction of 2G spectrum – will make it prohibitive to operate, an analysis of the recommendation shows that the service providers stand to gain under the new regime over the long run if they have to pay the reserve price for the spectrum.

That’s because while Trai’s recommendations enhance the spectrum fee, they also drastically reduce the proportion of revenues (to a uniform level of 1% as against the existing 3% to 7% depending on how much spectrum an operator uses) that the operators have to give to the government as user charges. Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Infocom will gain Rs 1,20,000 crore in the next 20 years in the circles where old licences will expire between 2014 and 2016, provided their revenues grow at a conservative 12% per annum.

As the revenues earned by mobile phone operators run into tens of thousands of crores, any drop in the sharing of the revenue leads to huge savings. Take the case of Airtel, the country’s largest mobile operator. Its 20-year licences to operate 2G services will expire by 2016 in nine circles – Delhi, Kolkata and Tamil nadu in 2014, Andhra Pradesh, HP, North East and Punjab in 2015 and Karnataka and Rajasthan in 2016.

Sandeep Ladda, telecom consultant with PWC, while refusing to comment on TOI’s calculation of savings under the new licence regime, said the new scheme is regressive as it will help only the established players. It will discourage new players from entering the telecom business as the licence fees are very high. Till an operator generates huge revenues and acquires a large user base, there is no offsetting benefit and hence business becomes unsustainable. The new policy will kill competition, he said.

Under the existing norms, Airtel pays an average of 5.8% of its adjusted revenue, which is 76% of the total revenue of Rs 23,690 crore, as spectrum usage charge in these nine circles. The remaining 24% of Airtel’s revenue is from other income including sales of handsets. Under the new regime, it will have to pay only 1% of the adjusted revenue as the spectrum usage charge. This leads to a savings of Rs 1,208 crore in the first year itself under the new regime, provided its revenue continues to grow at 12%.

Over 20 years, the operator would save Rs 87,065 crore under these assumptions. At the same time, the company will have to pay Rs 19,838 crore towards licence fees, if it gets the spectrum at the reserve price.

Tata DOCOMO Introduces 3G Wi-Fi Hub

Tata DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, India’s fastest-growing dual-technology telecom service provider, today announced the launch of a revolutionary internet access device—3G Wi-Fi Hub—enabling multiple users and devices to share wireless Internet access and stay connected on the go. The device offers uninterrupted connectivity for specific Wi-Fi devices like Laptops, Tablets, Gaming Consoles and Wi-Fi-enabled Televisions.

The evolved device takes wireless mobile broadband to the next level, offering dual-mode internet connectivity to users—a first in the Indian market. The device enables users to maneuver between Tata DOCOMO’s Next-Gen 3G GSM network and Tata Photon Plus on the CDMA platform—one technology at a time—offering speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. In one small stroke, it allows users to access the Internet at 3G speeds in all the nine Tata DOCOMO circles where the company has the license, while allowing them to seamlessly switch to the high-speed Tata Photon Plus platform in other locations.

3G Wi-Fi Hub Plans
There are two plans available—the Wi-Fi Rs 750 and Wi-Fi Rs 1,000 plans. The Wi-Fi Rs 750 Plan comes with a monthly rental of Rs 750, wherein customers can enjoy data usage of 2GB. Post the 2 GB being consumed, customers will have to pay a nominal cost of 50 paise per MB for additional data usage. Similarly, the Wi-Fi Unlimited Rs 1,000 Plan comes with a monthly rental of Rs 1,000, wherein customers will get 5GB of data usage. The device offers speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps in the 3G mode, while the Photon platform offers speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps. Post exhausting this 5GB, customers can enjoy unlimited data usage under the ‘throttle option’, wherein surfing speeds will be determined by user location, number of people accessing the network and device configuration.

The device is priced at Rs 5,999 and is available across Tata DOCOMO and Tata Photon stores. Tata DOCOMO customers can call up 1800-2660000 for details.

About TATA DOCOMO
TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited’s telecom service on the GSM platform—arising out of the Tata Group’s strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata Teleservices Limited has received a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has been allotted spectrum in 18 of these Circles. It has rolled out its GSM services in all of these 18 Circles—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Haryana-Punjab, Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP (East), UP (West), Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan (subsidiary company Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited has launched GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand in the Mumbai and Rest of Maharashtra Circles). TATA DOCOMO recently became the first Indian private operator to launch 3G services in India in all the nine telecom Circles where it won the 3G license. In association with its partner NTT DOCOMO, the brand finds itself suitably positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. With 3G, TATA DOCOMO stands to redefine the very face of telecoms in India. Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile operators—in the Japanese market, the company is the clear market leader, used by over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users.

Aircel has set for 4G the targets for 4G services, when other operators are just planning to launch 3G service in India.

The telecom major will commercially launch its 3G services in another 45 to 60 days depending on some government clearances, while test run for 4G is likely to start by the first quarter of the next financial year. It plans to start 4G operations commercially in eight circles by December 2011 or January 2012.

“We are planning to launch our 3G services across 13 circles where we have got the licences in another 40 to 60 days. Moreover, Aircel will be one of the first firms in the country to usher into the fourth generation era. We are planning to start 4G trials by the first or second quarter of the next financial year,” said Mallikarjuna Rao, chief technology officer of Aircel, on the sidelines of Intaglio 2011, an international school meet at IIM Calcutta on Thursday.

Rao said the firm would come up with 4G facilities on all the eight circles allotted to it by December 2011 or January 2012.

On the broadband wireless access auction — for access to 4G services — held last year, Aircel got Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, North-East, Jammu & Kashmir circles. While it will provide services for 3G is 13 circles — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir

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Aircel 3G India

Telecom service provider Aircel said it would spend over $500 million to roll out its third generation (3G) service in India in the January-March quarter of 2011.

While interacting with the media on the sidelines of the launch function of Aircel-Apollo Mobile Healthcare here today, Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh said that it would cover top ten cities in each circle where it is present.

Initially the company will launch 3G in top 10 cities of each circle and then will cover the rest of the states in which it has received spectrum.

The company had won spectrum for 13 new circles across India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East).

Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. UTSB has a 74% stake in Aircel and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals.