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| Saturday, December 13, 2008 |
| American telecom non-presence - Uncle Sam Concerned |
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 The absence of an American Telco in the second largest and fastest growing market in the world has left Uncle Sam worried. Russia's Sistema, Europe's Vodafone and TelNor, Malaysia's Maxis & Telekom Malayasia, Singapore's SingTel, Japan's DoCoMo and UAE's Etisalat have all established presence in the Indian Wireless market which is entering a new era in 2009 with the auction of 3G licenses - Telecom 3.0.
US has been lobbying for the re-entry of AT&T [ AT&T was a part of Idea Cellular and exited India in 2005 ] in India and wants 100% FDI in Telecom. Uncle Sam should know that companies around the world have accepted Indian Telecom Policy and have stuck to the 74% FDI which was seconded by various Indian agencies [TRAI, Telecom Comission, DoT etc] in the interest of national security.
US Telcos should be thankful that DoT for letting them participate in the 3G and WiMax Broadband Spectrum Auction as the same is opposed by TRAI. Additionally, DoT is encashing on the demand and is asking for a hefty license fee of USD 400 mn to get the basic license upon which operators can provide services.
American companies need to be considerate and open while doing business in India. Yes I am referring to Qualcomm's arrogance towards Indian CDMA operators in 2006 who have since then started shifting to GSM. It is unlikely that American requests will be honored by the DoT as the rest of the world has endorsed Indian policies. |
Published on Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 3:00 PM  |
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| Thursday, December 11, 2008 |
| Spectrum Fee Increase + USO Offset |
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TRAI has seconded DoT's line for increasing spectrum charges by 1-2% of AGR across the various bands. TRAI has recommended that the higher % of AGR would be based on only the 2G spectrum held even for those holding 2G+3G (post auction).
The move will impact GSM incumbents' margins by ~1.5% though gets largely offset by DoT's recent decision to reduce USO levy by 2% for operators reaching 95% coverage (effective April-09). Bharti Airtel, with widest coverage, could benefit almost immediately while other operators will gain in a phased manner.
TRAI has further proposed a fixed annual levy (@2% of the winning 3G bid) as admin charge. This is not likely to have any significant impact given that operators will factor it in the upfront 3G bid amount. This will reduce the bid amount by ~10-12%. |
| Published on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 12:06 PM |
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| Wednesday, December 10, 2008 |
| Value Added Service market - $700 mn |
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 The Mobile Value Added Services - VAS market is estimated to be $ 700 mn for the current year and is likely to touch $3 bn by 2012 according to Nitish, CEO of Nazara Technologies.
Mobile Gaming is likely to grow at 100% YoY. The latest trends include the 3G phones with larger screen and multimedia experience. Improving GPRS network is enabling consumers to play multiplayer games on mobile phones. Thanks to 20-20 cricket league Indian consumers are increasingly asking for mobile games based on Cricketers or sports celebrities.
Lack of content localization, preferences for basic handsets that do not support MMS and large pool of pre-paid subscribers relying on small recharges are deterrent for value added service providers as they can use none of their applications. |
| Published on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 1:18 PM |
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| Tuesday, December 09, 2008 |
| Google Android Phone Cost $649 |
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 Google has announced the availability of Android G1 Phone under the open handset alliance. This phone will be Unlocked, without any carrier contract, use any GSM SIM card and no obligation whatsoever. However, there is a caveat - the unlocked version of the phone is not for everybody is is exclusively for Mobile Developers and from time to time you may have to do some tweaking.
Developers can build their custom images as the boot loader is unlocked and can try running any custom application that you build. Best suitable for Linux enthusiasts.
The phone will cost $399 and is shipped for free within the US. However, before you can order the phone, you need to register yourself with Android Developer's community with a fees of $25.
Shipping this phone to India will cost an additional $225 taking the total price of the phone to Indians at $649. You can order the G1 phone here. Shipping to other countries is an additional at least $150.Labels: Google-Android-Unlocked |
| Published on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 2:18 PM |
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| Wednesday, December 03, 2008 |
| Reliance Communications Probed for Evasions |
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Last Month we were the first one to point fingers at Reliance Communications data reporting practices. An Indian Member of Parliament who supposedly knows that corruption that is taking place within DoT on behalf of Reliance Communications, has directly written to the Central Vigilance Commission seeking an inquiry into RCom's reported data.
CVC has instructed DoT to investigate the matter and submit the report in 12 weeks. Further CVC has ordered investigation against the DoT officials. COAI believes that RCOM has been showing revenues from data services of mobile subscribers as ones from their ISP business and has evaded payment of Rs 352 crores (Rs 3.52 billion) to the government in license fees. While there has been no official word from RCOM, the news would further increase worries on RCOM accounting and reporting practices. |
| Published on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 12:15 PM |
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