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| Monday, February 23, 2009 |
| Need + Benefits of MVNO Wireless Business in India |
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Indian 2G Wireless Space is getting too crowded with 8+ operators per circle. There is no proper policy and framework for spectrum in place. In our view, the Government should have restricted to 6 operators per circle and encourage other aspirants to take the MVNO route making the existing operators open up their networks for MVNOs without any lobby.
Today, we examine the Need and Benefits of MVNO in India.
- Due to the vast territory of each licence area, diverse customer demographics & various Value Added Services, it becomes difficult for an MNO to serve niche and far away customers. MVNOs may help the wireless operator widen their market & efficiently use its existing infrastructure.
- An MVNO can identify and serve niche segments such as children, students, the elderly or people with disabilities, travelers or business classes like stock markets
- An airline, retail/hotel chain, FMCG, sporting goods or Entertainment Company or a popular beverage brand can leverage its brand appeal with certain segments to cross-sell mobile services
- An MVNO with a strong retail chain may be able to address the issues of customer acquisition and customer care more effectively & can provide several niche value added services like booking and delivery of tickets (air, rail, cinema, etc)
- Specialized MVNOs with tie-ups with global content providers can accelerate 3G usage, facilitate faster 3G rollouts & hence ensure healthy return on investments for 3G Operators
- The margin pressures will force the new entrants & less successful telcos to accept the MVNO route to target specific segments of the market & improve utilization of resources.
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Published on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 11:39 AM  |
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| Friday, February 13, 2009 |
| TRAI's Measures for Value Added Services |
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A month ago, gobroadband had reported on some measures by TRAI for enhancing the VAS in the Wireless industry post 3G launch.
Just a while ago, TRAI has released the complete document on enhancing the same, In addition to what was said last month, the recommendations include,
New Definition of VAS for Mobile Operators in India,
Value added services are enhanced services, in the nature of non-core services, which add value to the basic teleservices and bearer services, the core services being standard voice calls, voice/non-voice messages, fax transmission and data transmission.
DoT has been entrusted in the role of Administrator for the following,
DoT being National Numbering Plan administrator may make appropriate arrangement for allocation of common short codes (CSCs), for specific service areas or on an all India basis, for value added services and also may evolve fee concept for such allocation of common short codes (CSCs).There is no pre-requisite for any license or registration to acquire common short codes (CSCs) serving more than one access service provider.
Revenue sharing of VAS content is still left for mutual negotiations, meaning Wireless carriers will dictate the terms. Instead, they should have recommended to build an ecosystem where even create individuals or micro enterprises could participate. |
| Published on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 1:58 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 11, 2009 |
| Microsoft Stake in SMS 2.0 - Affle |
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 Just when Yahoo's new CEO Carol has asked its company to look for growth in the Asian region, Microsoft India has made its move in the Indian Mobile space despite the layoffs and cost cutting in Redmond. The company just a while ago announced that it has bought 20% stake in SMS 2.0 enabler - Affle.
Microsoft's backing will help Affle expand its reach overseas, especially in the western market. Additionally, Microsoft is on the lookout for BUYING out an Indian Mobile Value Added Service Provider.
Google has several popular products in the Indian Mobile Space - SMS Channels, Search by SMS, Google Latitude etc. Yahoo has introduced SMS backup for mobile customers in India, however hasn't gained much traction.
Well with this investment, it is certain that the Big 3 will fight it out in the Indian mobile space to gain as many customers as possible as India steps into 3G in the next 12 months :-) |
| Published on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 12:27 PM |
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| Friday, February 06, 2009 |
| MTNL - Jadoo 3G Tariff Plan Delhi |
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The MTNLs Jadoo 3G services launched in Delhi / NCR will attract a monthly rental of Rs599. The on net video calls will be charged at Rs1.80/min while off net would be Rs3/min.The NLD video calls are priced at Rs3.75.min and ILD tariff is high at Rs30/min. Further the 3G data services draw a monthly rental of Rs149 with Rs5 per MB usage charge.
MTNL Jadoo Detailed Tariff Chart for the next 3 months.
1. Activation charge Rs.500 + service tax
2. Fixed charges Rs.599/- per month
3. Voice call to own network Rs.0.60 per minute
4. Calls to other network Rs. 1.00 per minute
5. Video call own network Rs.1.80 per minute
6. Video call other network Rs. 3.00 per minute
7. STD/ISD As per Budget plan (2G Plan)
7(a) STD video call Rs.3.75 per minute
7 (b) ISD video call Rs. 30/- per minute
8. Local/STD/ISD SMS As per Budget plan (2G Plan)
9. Data @ GPRS/3G/UMTS/HSDPA usage rate Rs.5/- per MB
10. Data @ HSDPA monthly service charges. Rs.149/-
11. MMS Rs.3/-
12. HSDPA card (Optional) Rs.5000/-
MTNL has invested Rs3-4 billion on the 3G roll out so far and currently has a 3G capacity of 150K subscribers. |
| Published on Friday, February 06, 2009 at 9:02 PM |
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| Tuesday, February 03, 2009 |
| Peek into Vodafone Essar Performance |
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Lets take a look into the results of Vodafone's Indian Wireless operation. Vodafone operates in India with Essar and is a pure play Wireless operator. This is how Vodafone stacks up against its nearest competitors - Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications in India.
- Vodafone recorded revenus of Rs 4,785 cr or $ 1bn. Airtel's Wireless segment had revenues of Rs 7,939 cr and RCom's revenues in the same segment were Rs 4,335 cr
- Vodafone ended 2008 with 60.93 mn mobile subscribers while Airtel had the highest customer base at 85.65 mn subscribers and RCom had 61.34 mn [GSM + CDMA]
- Vodafone saw a small dip in ARPU / Month to Rs 297 from Rs 305 in the previous quarter. Airtel and RCom had ARPU / month of Rs 324 and Rs 251 respectively
- Vodafone India's voice usage is 40% of the total voice usage by Vodafone customers across the world.
Vodafone is very likely to bid for Pan India 3G services license when auctioned. |
| Published on Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 11:42 AM |
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