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TDSAT delivers split verdict on 3G roaming

The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has given a split verdict on 3G roaming which means that operators will continue to offer roaming services until the deadlock is broken.

The TDSAT chairman, Justice S.B. Sinha, said that the department of telecommunications (DoT) should send out fresh notices to the telecom operators, while another judge on the tribunal called for an immediate end to the pacts.Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular among others had entered into an agreement with one another to offer 3G mobile services in circles in which they could not succeed in getting spectrum in an auction held last year.

Following the development, the Government had issued a notice to the operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and Aircel asking them to stop intra-circle roaming for 3G services.

The Department of Telecom (DoT), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and even Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal were of the view that such an action was illegal and a violation of licence norms.The TRAI went on to say that such an arrangement was not only causing loss to the national exchequer but also affecting the quality of 3G services offered to consumers.

The operators, on their part, have defended their action by saying that the DoT itself had clarified before the 3G auction that intra-circle roaming will be permitted.The operators filed a plea in the TDSAT challenging this order. The operators also obtained a stay on the order from the High Court. Now with the tribunal giving a split order, the case will probably go to the higher court for resolution until which, services would continue to remain operational.

In focus Stories

Q1FY13: What to expect from Telecom this quarter?

Q1 FY13 is likely to see slower volume growth compared to Q4-we factor in ~3-5% sequential rise in traffic for the three frontline telcos

Idea to report wireless revenue growth of 2.5% qoq to ~Rs55bn, ahead yet again of Bharti and Rcom, led by 4.5% rise in total MOUs

Bharti would post a moderate 3.5% qoq increase in traffic which would be somewhat countered by a 0.5% fall in RPM

Airtel Africa US$ revenues are likely to improve 2.8% qoq supported by 5% sequential growth in traffic

Rcom would probably continue to report lackluster performance with overall revenues seen up 1.5% qoq

Margin profile for the three companies would remain largely stable qoq though PAT for Bharti could be impacted by additional amortization due to 4G launch in Kolkata and Karnataka

IIFL recommends 'Buy' on Bharti Airtel

IIFL Institutional Equities, a part of the IIFL Group, one of the leading players in the Indian financial services space, recommends “Buy” Bharti Airtel.

According to IIFL report, Our recent interactions with Bharti suggest that investments in 3G, expansion of 2G coverage and capacity, and strengthening of backhaul will be continued in Africa. Solar power initiatives can boost Ebitda margin by 250bps in the medium term. In India, spectrum auctions (sorely needed by cancelled licensees, not incumbents) look unlikely in FY13, with Tata’s case looking likely to blow up anytime, and DoT not having succeeded in identifying an auctioneer.

DoT’s proposal that all telcos pay up for all spectrum for 20 years would favour financially strong incumbents. We cut FY13/14 EPS by 9%/4% (FX, India diesel costs). BUY (TP Rs364), brokerage added.

The report was published by IIFL’s Institutional Equities Research desk.

Domestic News

Bharti Airtel, Idea to shift data traffic to wi-fi: reports

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and others are looking to shift a part of their data services to wi-fi hotspots, according to reports.

Reports stated that Mobile phone companies are building wi-fi hotspots to accommodate growing mobile broadband data usage among consumers.

Bharti Airtel has already set up more than 1,000 hot spots in top three cities across India where data consumption is very high, says report.

Indian telcos moves to kickstart 3G: Wireless Intelligence

India’s major mobile operators have reduced the prices of their 3G data tariffs in a bid to stimulate the market amid signs that 3G services are struggling to gain traction in the world’s second-largest mobile market.
 
Market-leader Bharti Airtel slashed its 3G tariffs by up to 70 percent in May and its three largest rivals – Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Idea Cellular – quickly followed suit.
 
The aggressive price reductions reflect the fact that 3G take-up in India has been subdued since the first 3G networks were launched by the privately-owned operators 18 months ago following the award of WCDMA licences in 2010 (state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL had launched limited 3G services a year earlier). According to the latest Wireless Intelligence data, Indian 3G/WCDMA connections topped 33 million in Q1 2012, accounting for less than 4 percent of the total Indian market.

Sharad Pawar quits EGoM on Telecom

The Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, has resigned as the Chairman of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Telecom, according to reports.

Pawar reportedly said that his association with the decision-making process could motivate vested elements to drag his name into the telecom controversy.

Earlier, there were allegations that Pawar had links with one of the companies which was given a 2G licence in 2008.

Cabinet hikes budget for laying alternate telecom network for defence

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has approved the enhancement of budget by Rs. 5236 crore for laying of alternate communication network for defence services for release of spectrum over and above Rs. 8098 crore already approved by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure.

The objective of this financial approval is to get the Defence Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) network implemented for which the cost estimate has escalated by Rs. 5236 crore due to change in specifications and other requirements emanating from the user.

This includes the network for Army, Navy and Tri-services backbone.

This network will be implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in 36 months.

BSNL, ZTE Sign India’s Largest GSM Deal

ZTE Corporation, a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions has bagged India’s largest GSM deal from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). ZTE will now support 10.15 million BSNL’s GSM lines across the country and thereby help increase its subscriber base.

Under this partnership, ZTE will be involved in planning, financing, engineering, supply, installation and testing, commissioning and annual maintenance of the GSM lines. The procurement of these lines for expansion of 2G and 3G services will cover all BSNL telecom circles in Northern & Southern Zones

Bharti Airtel launches Cloud Enablement Platform powered by HP

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced the launch of its Cloud Enablement Platform (CLEP) based on the HP Aggregation Platform for Software-as-a- Service (AP4SaaS). Bharti Airtel will offer hosted SaaS and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) applications to the small and large enterprises on a pay-as-you-go model.

Initially, Airtel will offer solutions like ERP, accounting packages, storage and compute on the Airtel CLEP Platform. Going forward the company will introduce diverse SaaS applications on the same platform especially for SMB customers, thereby helping them to meet the ever evolving business demands.

Airtel Cloud Services will enable businesses of all sizes to optimize their IT costs while providing security, scalability and flexibility.

RCOM launches ‘Reliance CeleBlog

Reliance Communications, India's fully integrated telecommunications service provider, has announced the launch of ‘Reliance CeleBlog’ a unique platform for cricket lovers endowing them with the opportunity to closely follow ‘Sachin Tendulkar’; one of the greatest icons of world cricket that India has ever produced.

Sachin Tendulkar’s new voice blog will be available in his own voice and now readily accessible to Reliance subscribers nationally. Devotees of cricket and ardent fans of the cricket icon can now keep a tap on their GOD’s personal space with Reliance CeleBlog; wherein Sachin will be talking on all matters close to his heart; for both on and off the field with his fans.

Reliance Globalcom launches sub-sea cable in Iraq

Reliance Globalcom, the leading global provider of managed network and communication services to Carriers, ISPs and Multinational enterprises, today announced the service launch of the Al-Faw Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Iraq, built in alliance with the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC).

With this development, Reliance Globalcom is now the first private subsea service provider to activate submarine capacity and directly connect Iraq seamlessly to the countries in Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America. Built with an initial design capacity of 680 Gbps with two diverse routes, Reliance Globalcom has initially lit 50 Gbps on each route in order to cater to the existing market demand. The two diverse routes are integrated into the Falcon network, thereby offering a resilient network.  Considering the low broadband penetration in Iraq, the Falcon landing provides a significant milestone towards establishing direct connectivity from Iraq to the rest of the world, and will help boost the nation’s telecom sector. Consumers can now enjoy better quality in broadband services and higher internet speeds.

Commenting on this milestone, Rory Cole, COO, Reliance Globalcom said, "We are delighted at achieving this historic milestone and being the first private service provider to activate submarine capacity in Iraq. Falcon offers seamless connectivity globally and will help connect Iraq to the rest of the world through the reach of our global network. This opens a new opportunity for MNCs around the world to have a better communication with Iraq and operate from this country.” 

Cloud computing important for Govt: Kapil Sibal

Vodafone launches new ad campaign ‘Vodafone Delights 2’

Etisalat welcomes Bombay HC move on India operation

Uninor launches STV 35 in Bihar and Jharkhand

Subex and Idea Cellular bags global telecom innovation award

Sony Mobile wins four Red Dot Awards for product design

T-Systems expands telepresence reach with Tata Comm

Qualcomm and Microsoft tie up for QPrize competition in India

Karbonn Mobiles launches hi-tech Tablet and powerful Smartphones

Seventynine clocks record growth serving 700mn ad requests in 3 months of operation

TATA DOCOMO launches Value for Money offer for GSM Prepay Customers

Tanla Solutions launches Games Club for BlackBerry Smartphones
 
Global News

RCOM arm Global Telecom files preliminary prospectus for Singapore listing

Reliance Communications announced that It was evaluating a potential initial public offering and listing in Singapore of its subset telecommunications infrastructure network business, through a Singapore business trust. On June 12, 2012, the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited granted an "eligibility to list" to the business trust, subject to requisite conditions being satisfied.

Further, on July 05, 2012, the business trust, Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Trust, has lodged a copy of the preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The Company will provide subsequent updates to the stock exchanges in due course.

Apple plans smaller, cheaper iPad: reports

Apple is planning to debut a smaller, cheaper iPad by year-end to help maintain its dominance of the tablet market, according to reports.

Reports stated that the new model will have a screen that is seven to eight inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7-inch version.

The product, which Apple may announce by October, will not have the high-definition (HD) screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, report says.

There are reports that  new device will probably have a price closer to Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire, both of which have 7-inch screens and cost $199.

Nokia warns that Nexus 7 tablet infringes its patents: reports

Nokia has issued a thinly-veiled threat to Google and Asus, the makers of the new Nexus 7 Android tablet, by claiming that the device infringes its patents and recommending that the two companies "simply approach" , according to reports.

Nokia reportedly indicated to The Inquirer that it believes the Nexus 7 infringes on its intellectual property.

The allegedly infringed patents are likely part of the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard, says report.

Develop exciting apps on Facebook and win iPads, Smartphones, iPods and more…
 
Following the astounding popularity of FaceCode Hackathon, the first app development contest of its kind, KRDS, the country's largest Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant (now PMD), is organizing ‘KRDS FaceCode’ for the second year in a row.

‘KRDS FaceCode’ is a 24hr, all-night hack contest for the developer community to build apps exclusively for Facebook. The enthusiastic response displayed by this community last year encouraged KRDS to conduct a second edition, the theme for which is ‘Write the Future’.

FaceCode is one of India’s largest hackathons in scope; it encourages people to develop apps around real-life issues like corruption, education, traffic hauls etc. on Facebook, to lead Indians into a better future. 

Polycom leads Chinese market in video conferencing systems with 51.4% market share in 2011

Fun2Shoot launches live mobile video broadcasting on Android

Amazon.com plans to develop Smartphone to Vie With Apple: reports

BenQ showcase Gaming Monitor Prowess with XL & RL series