This is an Ovum comment!
LONDON, UK: Bharti and MTN announced that the proposed $24 billion deal to merge the two companies has fallen apart, four months after restarting negotiations. This is the second time negotiations have failed, after an unsuccessful attempt to merge last year.
This time the South African government failed to give its blessing to the proposed deal structure. In Bharti’s words, “this structure needed an approval from the government of South Africa, which has expressed its inability to accept it in the current form.” Angel Dobardziev, Practice Leader, based in London comments:
A political decision overriding compelling strategic reasons
There were always lots of things that could go wrong with this proposed deal. In the end it seems to have been derailed by political decisions rather than issues of price and/or management control. The South African government was keen not to be seen as ceding control to one of its key national champions.
In order to maintain MTN’s South African identity and to provide cover for potential accusations of ‘selling off’, the South African government required the future entity to have dual listing on both the South African and Indian bourses. Indian law does not currently allow dual listing, and the Indian government was apparently unwilling to make changes to its laws to accommodate this.
After two extensions to the current negotiations, this was the final blow. Bharti was careful to leave the door open for restarting negotiations in the future, although having failed twice it is hard to see this deal being resurrected again.
We maintain that this deal was a good fit strategically and operationally, over and above the issues of economies of scale and complementary footprints. MTN’s strong retail mindset and experience from over 20 different African and Middle Eastern markets would have been a good complement to Bharti’s strong operational experience in network and IT outsourcing, and infrastructure sharing.
For example, MTN was one of the first telcos globally to successfully introduce dynamic mobile pricing and Bharti was one of the first telcos to outsource its IT to IBM on a revenue-sharing model (which has since been replicated by many other telcos) and has recently followed that with a network outsourcing deal with Alcatel-Lucent. For now, all of this remains an academic consideration.
Emerging market consolidation will accelerate
It is interesting to contrast the position of the South African government with that of the Kuwaiti government, which for some time has been keen to sell Zain, either as a whole or in parts.
Leaving aside political considerations, from an investment perspective right now may be a good time to sell an attractive emerging market player. The financial markets are opening up and many stock market valuations have rebounded strongly. There remains a massive interest in emerging market companies as mature market growth has slowed down to a trickle.
Emerging market subscriber and revenue growth is still in strong double-digit numbers, and the leading players have attractive margins. In addition, smart financial investors are looking to cash in their chips while things are still looking good.
However, over the next few years’ competition in many emerging markets is set to rapidly increase due to the entry of new players in the markets and slower subscriber growth as the quality (i.e. higher-spending) market segments start to saturate. This will lead to a slowdown in subscriber and revenue growth, and ARPU and profit margins will decline as a result.
Bharti is a prime example of all of these factors at play in the intensely competitive Indian market –- hence its drive for an ambitious M&A deal in search of growth and diversification.
Other emerging market players such as Reliance, Etisalat, Batelco, Qtel and STC, not to mention Vodafone and Orange, remain on the lookout for M&A targets, so further consolidation and increased M&A activity from strategic investors in the emerging markets will be the norm in the coming year.
Showing posts with label Bharti Airtel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bharti Airtel. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Europe leads mobile managed services market at nearly $9 billion
NEW YORK, USA: When it comes to managed services for mobile operators, Europe leads the world’s most active regions this year.
ABI Research forecasts indicate that the European managed mobile services market will total nearly $9 billion in 2009. The Asia-Pacific region follows a distant second, with a market size of about $5.7 billion. Total managed services revenue for 2009 is forecast to reach $22.2 billion.
“Just a few large companies account for the lion’s share of the network-related managed services market,” says senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. “Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are the leaders in this space with both vendors recently announcing new managed services contracts and agreements. Among them: Ericsson’s $5 billion contract with Sprint – the first major penetration in North America. The company also signed a seven-year contract with Vodafone UK.”
In 2008 Alcatel-Lucent concluded a three-year managed services deal with Saudi mobile operator Mobily.
Nokia Siemens ranks third in the world in terms of market share, and recently announced managed services contracts with the Brazilian operator Oi valued at $1.57 billion.
Meanwhile the major managed services providers are working to extend their IT capabilities through partnerships or on their own; Alcatel-Lucent, for example, has established a global alliance with HP. The company also entered a managed service joint venture with Bharti Airtel in India.
ABI Research forecasts indicate that the European managed mobile services market will total nearly $9 billion in 2009. The Asia-Pacific region follows a distant second, with a market size of about $5.7 billion. Total managed services revenue for 2009 is forecast to reach $22.2 billion.
“Just a few large companies account for the lion’s share of the network-related managed services market,” says senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. “Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are the leaders in this space with both vendors recently announcing new managed services contracts and agreements. Among them: Ericsson’s $5 billion contract with Sprint – the first major penetration in North America. The company also signed a seven-year contract with Vodafone UK.”
In 2008 Alcatel-Lucent concluded a three-year managed services deal with Saudi mobile operator Mobily.
Nokia Siemens ranks third in the world in terms of market share, and recently announced managed services contracts with the Brazilian operator Oi valued at $1.57 billion.
Meanwhile the major managed services providers are working to extend their IT capabilities through partnerships or on their own; Alcatel-Lucent, for example, has established a global alliance with HP. The company also entered a managed service joint venture with Bharti Airtel in India.
Friday, August 28, 2009
150 Indian cities to have WiMAX in 90 days
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Some 150 cities in India would have wireless broadband through WiMAX technology in just 90 days once the 20 MHz spectrum is allotted at the base reserve price of 250 million dollars (Rs. 1,010 crores) to four operators in each circle.
Each operator could serve 15 to 20 million subscribers with good quality service. But much would depend upon early implementation of the proposed auction of the spectrum for the service.
This perspective emerged at the WiMAX India 2009 conference being organized by Bharat Exhibitions. “India is ready for broadband experience” said C.S. Rao, chairman of WiMAX Forum India. “Wireless is the key to broadband” he said recalling the projection in the President’s address to Parliament setting 100 million subscriber target for broadband by 2014 and 20 million by 2012. The fact of India having a social demographics of over 600 million young people underlined the need for rapid roll out of broadband in the country, Rao pointed out.
Despite this national vision for broadband penetration, why the ground level progress so slow was, asked several telecom experts participating in the day long discussion. Telecom experts contrasted the huge push in cellular phone subscription to 14 million per month in June with the total users of a mere 6 million in broadband.
“Against over 40 percent penetration of cellphone at 450 million, Internet penetration is just 0.6 percent” regretted Naresh Ajwani, secretary, Internet Service Providers Association of India. “Roll out the bidding for spectrum. The delay is stopping India from developing” he said.
On the issue of poor broadband penetration despite huge WiMAX potential, Bharti Airtel group CTO Jagbir Singh found that price points “are not good and scalability is an issue.” He and several other experts who participated called for early conducting of the spectrum auction to get the WiMAX based broadband penetration roll out fast.
Jagbir Singh also expressed concern over backhaul costs that have become “a huge issue”. Several other speakers agreed with him on the backhaul issue, especially the problems being faced by service providers in getting right of way permissions from local authorities. “RoW cost should be near zero if rural broadband is to be affordable”, he added.
“Backhaul cost is killing us” revealed Mallikarjuna Rao, Head technology and network planning Aircel, adding that government intervention was needed to bring down the high costs of carrying and Internet bandwidth if broadband were to be available at affordable price.
On how operators and government could work together to reduce total costs to improve affordability for rural customers, A. Sethuraman, executive director of Huawei, a leading global telecom equipment company, listed several factors like smaller footprints, natural cooling, advanced technologies to save energy, could reduce the huge operational costs.
Converged platforms putting together optic fibre and microwave and use of multiple technologies in the same equipment were some of the available options. User end costs were also going down with many PCs and laptops now becoming WiMAX embedded. “New innovations in terminals combining WiFi and WiMAX” were also coming up he disclosed.
Sethuraman, Executive director, Huawei Telecommunication India also disclosed that a new technology by his company “CSR initiative” for rural India was available especially useful in connectivity in education.
WiMAX Forum has over 500 members. It sees India as a large market. IIT-Delhi hosts a WiMAX applications laboratory. That technology and equipment for commercial operation of WiMAX was already available, was underlined in the presentation that Motorola India country head for home and networks mobility business, Subhendu Mohanty gave at the conference.
He found great [prospects for future broadband penetration in the rising sales of PCs and laptops. Notebook growth has crossed 114 per cent last year. Worldwide 133 million broadband subscribers were expected by 2012 of which 70 per cent would use mobile WiMAX devices. “WiMAX is here, LTE would be available by next year” he revealed. LTE is a high speed wireless on GSM platform for cellphone services, faster than 3G. “WiMAX is a step towards LTE”, he said.
As many as 25 applications on WiMAX were already available. Low cost chipsets “critical for India” roll out of WiMAX were being provided by his company. He claimed “total cost advantage’ in using WiMAX for broadband expansion.
Calling for a “faster auction” of 3G and WiMAX spectrum, Neeraj Sonker, vice-president, Tata Communications defined the challenge in wireless broadband was to make business plan viable at an average revenue per user of four to five dollars per month. The equipment and technology must be looked at “differently” for India operations to make WiMAX affordable. The roll out should be such as to enable seamless transfer from WiMAX to EVDO(the cellular platform for triple play connectivity).
Through wireless broadband it was now becoming possible for housewives to work from home for providing many services notably as call centre operators, Sonker said listing several new openings that WiMAX was offering to broader user audience.
There should be 27.5 million WiMAX users by 2012, according to Bharat Exhibition Managing Director Sasidharan, organizers of the conference.
Each operator could serve 15 to 20 million subscribers with good quality service. But much would depend upon early implementation of the proposed auction of the spectrum for the service.
This perspective emerged at the WiMAX India 2009 conference being organized by Bharat Exhibitions. “India is ready for broadband experience” said C.S. Rao, chairman of WiMAX Forum India. “Wireless is the key to broadband” he said recalling the projection in the President’s address to Parliament setting 100 million subscriber target for broadband by 2014 and 20 million by 2012. The fact of India having a social demographics of over 600 million young people underlined the need for rapid roll out of broadband in the country, Rao pointed out.
Despite this national vision for broadband penetration, why the ground level progress so slow was, asked several telecom experts participating in the day long discussion. Telecom experts contrasted the huge push in cellular phone subscription to 14 million per month in June with the total users of a mere 6 million in broadband.
“Against over 40 percent penetration of cellphone at 450 million, Internet penetration is just 0.6 percent” regretted Naresh Ajwani, secretary, Internet Service Providers Association of India. “Roll out the bidding for spectrum. The delay is stopping India from developing” he said.
On the issue of poor broadband penetration despite huge WiMAX potential, Bharti Airtel group CTO Jagbir Singh found that price points “are not good and scalability is an issue.” He and several other experts who participated called for early conducting of the spectrum auction to get the WiMAX based broadband penetration roll out fast.
Jagbir Singh also expressed concern over backhaul costs that have become “a huge issue”. Several other speakers agreed with him on the backhaul issue, especially the problems being faced by service providers in getting right of way permissions from local authorities. “RoW cost should be near zero if rural broadband is to be affordable”, he added.
“Backhaul cost is killing us” revealed Mallikarjuna Rao, Head technology and network planning Aircel, adding that government intervention was needed to bring down the high costs of carrying and Internet bandwidth if broadband were to be available at affordable price.
On how operators and government could work together to reduce total costs to improve affordability for rural customers, A. Sethuraman, executive director of Huawei, a leading global telecom equipment company, listed several factors like smaller footprints, natural cooling, advanced technologies to save energy, could reduce the huge operational costs.
Converged platforms putting together optic fibre and microwave and use of multiple technologies in the same equipment were some of the available options. User end costs were also going down with many PCs and laptops now becoming WiMAX embedded. “New innovations in terminals combining WiFi and WiMAX” were also coming up he disclosed.
Sethuraman, Executive director, Huawei Telecommunication India also disclosed that a new technology by his company “CSR initiative” for rural India was available especially useful in connectivity in education.
WiMAX Forum has over 500 members. It sees India as a large market. IIT-Delhi hosts a WiMAX applications laboratory. That technology and equipment for commercial operation of WiMAX was already available, was underlined in the presentation that Motorola India country head for home and networks mobility business, Subhendu Mohanty gave at the conference.
He found great [prospects for future broadband penetration in the rising sales of PCs and laptops. Notebook growth has crossed 114 per cent last year. Worldwide 133 million broadband subscribers were expected by 2012 of which 70 per cent would use mobile WiMAX devices. “WiMAX is here, LTE would be available by next year” he revealed. LTE is a high speed wireless on GSM platform for cellphone services, faster than 3G. “WiMAX is a step towards LTE”, he said.
As many as 25 applications on WiMAX were already available. Low cost chipsets “critical for India” roll out of WiMAX were being provided by his company. He claimed “total cost advantage’ in using WiMAX for broadband expansion.
Calling for a “faster auction” of 3G and WiMAX spectrum, Neeraj Sonker, vice-president, Tata Communications defined the challenge in wireless broadband was to make business plan viable at an average revenue per user of four to five dollars per month. The equipment and technology must be looked at “differently” for India operations to make WiMAX affordable. The roll out should be such as to enable seamless transfer from WiMAX to EVDO(the cellular platform for triple play connectivity).
Through wireless broadband it was now becoming possible for housewives to work from home for providing many services notably as call centre operators, Sonker said listing several new openings that WiMAX was offering to broader user audience.
There should be 27.5 million WiMAX users by 2012, according to Bharat Exhibition Managing Director Sasidharan, organizers of the conference.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Airtel expands rural footprint in Karnataka
BANGALORE, INDIA: Bharti Airtel, Karnataka’s No. 1 mobile network and the first telecom circle in India to go past the 1 crore customer milestone, announced a unique initiative to penetrate deeper into the remotest villages of Karnataka.
Airtel Service Centre (ASC) is an ideal combination of distribution and service to reach out to rural customers and an important step in Airtel's objective of expanding its presence in the state.
ASCs are Multi Brand Outlets (MBOs) located in a good, easy accessible location, preferably in the main market in a village that attracts high footfalls. This new initiative is based on meticulous consumer research and insight highlighting different behavioral patterns of a customer in rural/smaller towns and villages, thus marking Airtel’s strategic intent to service customers differently. Airtel plans to set up many more ASCs in Karnataka by the end of this financial year.
Announcing the launch of ASCs in the state, Venkatesh V, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka, said: "Airtel is undertaking concentrated efforts to make mobile communication available in the smallest and remotest villages of the state, which otherwise do not have the same kind of communication facilities enjoyed by customers in a big town or district.
"We are now focusing on a dominant rural strategy to strengthen the 4A’s in mobile communication, i.e., –- Availability, Affordability, Awareness and Acceptability. A one-stop shop for customers’ immediate communication requirements, ASCs will revolutionize the lives of our rural customers with localized mobile communication and service at closer locations”.
ASC objectives
* One-stop shop for information about the entire gamut of Airtel products and services.
* Helps in removing barriers towards availing mobile communication.
* Handling customers queries and complaints.
* Reducing rural calls per customer.
This unique rural model of distribution and service has been developed on the basis of multiple Consumer Studies, which reflect that rural consumers are hesitant to speak with machines and most rural people are not comfortable speaking with the call centre executives – these customers prefer to be served in the local dialect, by a local representative.
Services available to rural customers
* Sale of connections.
* Exchange of damaged or lost SIM cards.
* Best value recharge and offers of the day.
* Educating and subscribing to relevant value added services.
* Handling customer queries and complaints.
Enabled with a Multi-function printer and a photocopier machine, ASCs are suitably equipped to ease documentation required for new connections. ASCs provide rural mobile customers the convenience of availing all Airtel’s services under a single roof.
ASCs are empowered to resolve consumer queries by a direct routing channel to trained agents on behalf of customers for solving queries that are specific to customers’ needs.
Airtel Service Centre (ASC) is an ideal combination of distribution and service to reach out to rural customers and an important step in Airtel's objective of expanding its presence in the state.
ASCs are Multi Brand Outlets (MBOs) located in a good, easy accessible location, preferably in the main market in a village that attracts high footfalls. This new initiative is based on meticulous consumer research and insight highlighting different behavioral patterns of a customer in rural/smaller towns and villages, thus marking Airtel’s strategic intent to service customers differently. Airtel plans to set up many more ASCs in Karnataka by the end of this financial year.
Announcing the launch of ASCs in the state, Venkatesh V, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka, said: "Airtel is undertaking concentrated efforts to make mobile communication available in the smallest and remotest villages of the state, which otherwise do not have the same kind of communication facilities enjoyed by customers in a big town or district.
"We are now focusing on a dominant rural strategy to strengthen the 4A’s in mobile communication, i.e., –- Availability, Affordability, Awareness and Acceptability. A one-stop shop for customers’ immediate communication requirements, ASCs will revolutionize the lives of our rural customers with localized mobile communication and service at closer locations”.
ASC objectives
* One-stop shop for information about the entire gamut of Airtel products and services.
* Helps in removing barriers towards availing mobile communication.
* Handling customers queries and complaints.
* Reducing rural calls per customer.
This unique rural model of distribution and service has been developed on the basis of multiple Consumer Studies, which reflect that rural consumers are hesitant to speak with machines and most rural people are not comfortable speaking with the call centre executives – these customers prefer to be served in the local dialect, by a local representative.
Services available to rural customers
* Sale of connections.
* Exchange of damaged or lost SIM cards.
* Best value recharge and offers of the day.
* Educating and subscribing to relevant value added services.
* Handling customer queries and complaints.
Enabled with a Multi-function printer and a photocopier machine, ASCs are suitably equipped to ease documentation required for new connections. ASCs provide rural mobile customers the convenience of availing all Airtel’s services under a single roof.
ASCs are empowered to resolve consumer queries by a direct routing channel to trained agents on behalf of customers for solving queries that are specific to customers’ needs.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Hopes of upturn in 2Q09 telecom financial deal flow despite unfriendly public markets
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: According to a new study from Ovum, the global analyst and consulting company, telecom sector financial deal activity in 2Q09 reflects a modest, but tangible, increase in confidence among the major players: carriers, vendors, their financial and legal advisors, and the investment institutions looking for reasons to pull their money off the sidelines.
Based on Ovum’s report, titled Financial Deals Industry Insight -– Telecommunications (2Q09 edition), public stock offerings remain nearly nonexistent even as market volatility lowers, and venture capital (VC) investments in telecom continue in similar volumes but at a much lower average deal size: from $13.0M per deal in 2Q08, the 2Q08 average was $9.8M.
However, the private placement market -– issuance of debt securities for fundraising –- has actually picked up nicely as public markets have fallen: 19 deals in 2Q09, in line with the quarterly average since 4Q07 –- but the total deal value increased again, nearly double 1Q09 to $18.0B, up from $3.6B in 2Q08.
One significant deal as of yet unclosed –- South Africa-based MTN’s pending merger with Indian carrier Bharti Airtel (partly funded by a separate private placement deal) –- does sway the average upwards, but there were three other closed deals above $1B in 2Q09: Qtel, Crown Castle, and Cricket/Leap.
Matt Walker, Ovum principal analyst and author of the report, noted that there is also promising news from the world of mergers and acquisitions: “We are starting to see more big, complex deals; these often entail long negotiation cycles and carry regulatory uncertainties. In late 2008 the financial market’s volatility killed interest in such transactions.”
For 1H09 overall, M&A deal count in telecom was 315, down significantly from the 391 deals announced or closed in 1H08. But total deal value for 2Q09 was roughly $35B, or twice the average seen in the previous three quarters.
Watching the announced but not yet closed deals will also help gauge market stability, especially MTN-Bharti, but also Verizon’s sales of select assets to (in separate deals) Frontier and AT&T; Greece’s sale of a 5 percent stake in OTE to DT; and Russia-based Rostelecom’s sale of a 40 percent stake in itself to two separate investment entities.
In addition, Walker noted that governments and deep-pocketed vendors are helping to close the gap as public markets remain tough. Governments are doing this by directly funding broadband infrastructure buildouts, licensing new wireless spectrum at favourable terms, subsidizing private sector R&D (e.g. at the European Investment Bank), and lending money in special cases, as when Export Development Canada offered NSN $300M for its initial bid on Nortel’s CDMA and LTE assets.
As for vendors, Cisco is one example: it is using its Cisco Capital unit to leverage its notoriously rich cash horde -- over $33B of cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet -- to offer financing to customers and channel partners. In 1H-FY09, it was responsible for $2.1B in lease and long-term loan arrangements.
In addition, Chinese vendors ZTE and Huawei both have billions of dollars in either explicit or implicit credit lines with various Chinese banks: the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank, and the Bank of China.
Walker said: “This subsidized financing helps these Chinese vendors’ carrier customers expand more easily and quickly, which also facilitates deal activity (e.g. cross-border M&As to grow wireless footprint).”
On net, Walker concluded that, while the outlook remains cloudy, steps taken in 2Q09 by vendors, governments, and private financiers to compensate for weakness in the macroeconomy and public equity markets bode well for the remainder of the year in telecom.
Based on Ovum’s report, titled Financial Deals Industry Insight -– Telecommunications (2Q09 edition), public stock offerings remain nearly nonexistent even as market volatility lowers, and venture capital (VC) investments in telecom continue in similar volumes but at a much lower average deal size: from $13.0M per deal in 2Q08, the 2Q08 average was $9.8M.
However, the private placement market -– issuance of debt securities for fundraising –- has actually picked up nicely as public markets have fallen: 19 deals in 2Q09, in line with the quarterly average since 4Q07 –- but the total deal value increased again, nearly double 1Q09 to $18.0B, up from $3.6B in 2Q08.
One significant deal as of yet unclosed –- South Africa-based MTN’s pending merger with Indian carrier Bharti Airtel (partly funded by a separate private placement deal) –- does sway the average upwards, but there were three other closed deals above $1B in 2Q09: Qtel, Crown Castle, and Cricket/Leap.
Matt Walker, Ovum principal analyst and author of the report, noted that there is also promising news from the world of mergers and acquisitions: “We are starting to see more big, complex deals; these often entail long negotiation cycles and carry regulatory uncertainties. In late 2008 the financial market’s volatility killed interest in such transactions.”
For 1H09 overall, M&A deal count in telecom was 315, down significantly from the 391 deals announced or closed in 1H08. But total deal value for 2Q09 was roughly $35B, or twice the average seen in the previous three quarters.
Watching the announced but not yet closed deals will also help gauge market stability, especially MTN-Bharti, but also Verizon’s sales of select assets to (in separate deals) Frontier and AT&T; Greece’s sale of a 5 percent stake in OTE to DT; and Russia-based Rostelecom’s sale of a 40 percent stake in itself to two separate investment entities.
In addition, Walker noted that governments and deep-pocketed vendors are helping to close the gap as public markets remain tough. Governments are doing this by directly funding broadband infrastructure buildouts, licensing new wireless spectrum at favourable terms, subsidizing private sector R&D (e.g. at the European Investment Bank), and lending money in special cases, as when Export Development Canada offered NSN $300M for its initial bid on Nortel’s CDMA and LTE assets.
As for vendors, Cisco is one example: it is using its Cisco Capital unit to leverage its notoriously rich cash horde -- over $33B of cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet -- to offer financing to customers and channel partners. In 1H-FY09, it was responsible for $2.1B in lease and long-term loan arrangements.
In addition, Chinese vendors ZTE and Huawei both have billions of dollars in either explicit or implicit credit lines with various Chinese banks: the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank, and the Bank of China.
Walker said: “This subsidized financing helps these Chinese vendors’ carrier customers expand more easily and quickly, which also facilitates deal activity (e.g. cross-border M&As to grow wireless footprint).”
On net, Walker concluded that, while the outlook remains cloudy, steps taken in 2Q09 by vendors, governments, and private financiers to compensate for weakness in the macroeconomy and public equity markets bode well for the remainder of the year in telecom.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
New Executive Council takes over at COAI
NEW DELHI, INDIA: The COAI Annual General Meeting held on May 29, 2009 at New Delhi saw a smooth transition with the new Executive Council taking over the reins of the industry association.
The event saw the General Body ratify the nominations of Ms. Suneeta Reddy, Chairperson, Aircel Ltd. and Vice Chairperson, COAI as Chairperson, COAI, and Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel as Vice Chairperson of COAI for 2009-2010. The nominations for the Executive Council were also ratified by the General Body.
Outgoing Chairman, Asim Ghosh thanked the members for their unwavering support during his tenure as Chairman. He reminisced fondly about his long association with the industry and the several challenges that the industry had faced and overcome in the last decade.
He noted that 2008 was a landmark year for the Indian industry as it had reached global scale. He pointed out that the job was never done and there would always be challenges ahead. He thanked Ms. Reddy for her support as Vice Chairperson, the Executive Council and the Secretariat team for their efforts and contributions and wished them all the very best for the future.
Ms. Suneeta Ready, Chairperson Elect thanked the members for the trust and faith reposed in her. She emphasized that COAI had always stood for inclusive growth. She noted that the industry still had many challenges ahead.
She pointed out that the agenda for the industry for the next 12 months included ensuring availability of adequate 2G spectrum, an early auction of 3G and BWA spectrum to facilitate the leap to the next generation of services, bridging of the digital divide, improving the financial viability of the industry and making it globally competitive..
She added that with the imminent introduction of mobile number portability, the SIM card would become like a vote that could be exercised anytime by the consumers and the industry should make all efforts to ensure that mobile is viewed as a service that adds value to the consumers lives.
TV Ramachandran, Director General, COAI, presented the Annual Report of the COAI activities to the members. He pointed out that the Association had undertaken several landmark initiatives over the last 12 months. This included strengthening subscriber verifications processes under the aegis of ACT -- the apex Advisory Council; efforts to minimize unsolicited commercial communications through a joint working group set up by TRAI; engaging with the Reserve Bank of India through the Mobile Banking Payment Forum for encouraging the use of mobile as a payment platform; working with the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology in IIT, Chennai for developing coding for
SMS in vernacular languages; ensuring environment protection with the adoption of ICNIRP guidelines, introduction of Mobile Instant Messaging, etc.
The event saw the General Body ratify the nominations of Ms. Suneeta Reddy, Chairperson, Aircel Ltd. and Vice Chairperson, COAI as Chairperson, COAI, and Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel as Vice Chairperson of COAI for 2009-2010. The nominations for the Executive Council were also ratified by the General Body.Outgoing Chairman, Asim Ghosh thanked the members for their unwavering support during his tenure as Chairman. He reminisced fondly about his long association with the industry and the several challenges that the industry had faced and overcome in the last decade.
He noted that 2008 was a landmark year for the Indian industry as it had reached global scale. He pointed out that the job was never done and there would always be challenges ahead. He thanked Ms. Reddy for her support as Vice Chairperson, the Executive Council and the Secretariat team for their efforts and contributions and wished them all the very best for the future.
Ms. Suneeta Ready, Chairperson Elect thanked the members for the trust and faith reposed in her. She emphasized that COAI had always stood for inclusive growth. She noted that the industry still had many challenges ahead.
She pointed out that the agenda for the industry for the next 12 months included ensuring availability of adequate 2G spectrum, an early auction of 3G and BWA spectrum to facilitate the leap to the next generation of services, bridging of the digital divide, improving the financial viability of the industry and making it globally competitive..
She added that with the imminent introduction of mobile number portability, the SIM card would become like a vote that could be exercised anytime by the consumers and the industry should make all efforts to ensure that mobile is viewed as a service that adds value to the consumers lives.
TV Ramachandran, Director General, COAI, presented the Annual Report of the COAI activities to the members. He pointed out that the Association had undertaken several landmark initiatives over the last 12 months. This included strengthening subscriber verifications processes under the aegis of ACT -- the apex Advisory Council; efforts to minimize unsolicited commercial communications through a joint working group set up by TRAI; engaging with the Reserve Bank of India through the Mobile Banking Payment Forum for encouraging the use of mobile as a payment platform; working with the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology in IIT, Chennai for developing coding for
SMS in vernacular languages; ensuring environment protection with the adoption of ICNIRP guidelines, introduction of Mobile Instant Messaging, etc.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Frost on MTN and Bharti Airtel Round 2
SOUTH AFRICA: MTN announced that it is exploring a potential transaction with Indian telecommunications giant Bharti Airtel. The proposed deal would see MTN acquiring 25 percent of Bharti, and Bharti acquiring effectively 49 percent of MTN’s share capital.
This is the second time that MTN and Bharti have entered into discussions. There were attempts to come to some sort of agreement last year, but the proposed transaction fell through, apparently due to disagreements about what each partner wanted to achieve.
“I think the important thing is that this time there is a clear definition of what MTN and Bharti are looking for,” says Frost & Sullivan senior ICT industry analyst Lindsey McDonald. “Last time, Bharti wanted to buy MTN, then MTN turned around and wanted to buy Bharti. What eventually led to the breakdown was that the management of MTN didn’t want to give up their ability to steer the company in the direction they think best.”
The transaction proposed today however seems to offer clearer benefits to both participants.
“It’s a partnership,” McDonald explains. “Basically what will happen is that both companies will get exposure to new revenues from areas they are not already in, without having to go there and establish new operations themselves.”
She says that, given the current economic climate, it would be difficult for MTN to launch its own operations in an entirely new market.
“MTN is trying to increase its exposure to new revenue streams without taking the risk of having to start operations in a new market,” she says. “It’s always difficult to go into a new country, install new infrastructure and come to grips with a new group of customers and a new culture. But the economic conditions are such that going into a new market now would be even more risky.”
MTN has already given a hint of its new approach this year through its partnership with Neotel.
“The company has made it clear that it is looking to ensure it maintains margins by taking an approach to the market that is more cautious than the MTN we might have known a few years ago,” McDonald says.
She believes that the two operators need to concentrate on what they have in common. Bharti is the market leader in India and MTN is a market leader in Africa.
“The good thing about this is that this partnership would see the two companies cooperating with each other,” she adds. “As there is no overlap in footprint, their operations would be complimentary.”
This is the second time that MTN and Bharti have entered into discussions. There were attempts to come to some sort of agreement last year, but the proposed transaction fell through, apparently due to disagreements about what each partner wanted to achieve.
“I think the important thing is that this time there is a clear definition of what MTN and Bharti are looking for,” says Frost & Sullivan senior ICT industry analyst Lindsey McDonald. “Last time, Bharti wanted to buy MTN, then MTN turned around and wanted to buy Bharti. What eventually led to the breakdown was that the management of MTN didn’t want to give up their ability to steer the company in the direction they think best.”
The transaction proposed today however seems to offer clearer benefits to both participants.
“It’s a partnership,” McDonald explains. “Basically what will happen is that both companies will get exposure to new revenues from areas they are not already in, without having to go there and establish new operations themselves.”
She says that, given the current economic climate, it would be difficult for MTN to launch its own operations in an entirely new market.
“MTN is trying to increase its exposure to new revenue streams without taking the risk of having to start operations in a new market,” she says. “It’s always difficult to go into a new country, install new infrastructure and come to grips with a new group of customers and a new culture. But the economic conditions are such that going into a new market now would be even more risky.”
MTN has already given a hint of its new approach this year through its partnership with Neotel.
“The company has made it clear that it is looking to ensure it maintains margins by taking an approach to the market that is more cautious than the MTN we might have known a few years ago,” McDonald says.
She believes that the two operators need to concentrate on what they have in common. Bharti is the market leader in India and MTN is a market leader in Africa.
“The good thing about this is that this partnership would see the two companies cooperating with each other,” she adds. “As there is no overlap in footprint, their operations would be complimentary.”
Monday, May 25, 2009
Bharti Airtel renews MTN partnership efforts
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel Ltd announced that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group Ltd (“MTN”) and is exploring a potential transaction whereby, pursuant to a scheme of arrangement, Bharti would acquire a 49 percent shareholding in MTN and, in turn, MTN and its shareholders would acquire an approximate 36 percent economic interest in Bharti, of which 25 percent would be held by MTN with the remainder held directly by MTN shareholders. Bharti and MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with one another until July 31, 2009.
The potential transaction between Bharti and MTN would create a leading telecom service provider group aligning Bharti’s market leading Indian business with MTN’s market leading African and Middle Eastern operations.
The broader strategic objective would be to achieve a full merger of MTN and Bharti as soon as it is practicable to create a leading emerging market telecom operator which today would have combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti, said: “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. Both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from enhanced scale. We see real power in the combination and we will work hard to unleash it for all our shareholders. This opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation.”
The discussions contemplate that the potential transaction, which would be achieved through a scheme of arrangement, would include the following principal elements:
• MTN would acquire approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti for an effective consideration of approximately $2.9 billion in cash and newly issued shares of MTN equal to approximately 25 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN.
• Bharti would acquire approximately 36 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN from MTN shareholders for a consideration comprising ZAR 86.00 in cash and 0.5 newly issued Bharti shares in the form of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) for every MTN share acquired which, in combination with MTN shares issued in part settlement of MTN’s acquisition of approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti, would take Bharti’s stake to 49 percent of the enlarged capital of MTN. Each GDR would be equivalent to one share in Bharti and would be listed on the securities exchange operated by JSE Limited, South Africa.
• Bharti would have substantial participatory and governance rights in MTN enabling it to fully consolidate the accounts of MTN.
• MTN's economic interest in Bharti would be equity accounted and would have appropriate representation on the Bharti Board.
Singapore Telecommunications, a major existing shareholder of Bharti, will continue to be a strategic partner and significant shareholder after the implementation of the potential transaction.
The potential transaction, when completed, would be expected to create value for Bharti shareholders due to, among others, synergistic benefits and further diversification of Bharti income streams into the fast growing and relatively under-penetrated African and Middle Eastern markets.
This potential transaction would combine the strengths of two leading emerging market telecom operators to create a leading telecom group serving the large populations of Asia, Middle East and Africa. The potential transaction will represent a significant development in South-South cooperation between India and South Africa. Additionally, along with Bharti’s partner, Singapore Telecommunications, and its Bridge Alliance the combined networks will cover a geography spanning Africa to Australasia.
Bharti would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in India and Asia while MTN would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in Africa and the Middle East.
The discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to any transaction. The structure and terms of the potential transaction may be adjusted to reflect further discussions between the parties and discussions with lending banks and applicable regulators. No decisions or agreement to acquire any shares or implement the transactions outlined above have been made by the Boards of either MTN or Bharti.
Standard Chartered Bank and its affiliate First Africa SA (Pty) Ltd are the financial advisers and AZB & Partners and Bowman Gilfillan are the legal advisers to Bharti.
The potential transaction between Bharti and MTN would create a leading telecom service provider group aligning Bharti’s market leading Indian business with MTN’s market leading African and Middle Eastern operations.
The broader strategic objective would be to achieve a full merger of MTN and Bharti as soon as it is practicable to create a leading emerging market telecom operator which today would have combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti, said: “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. Both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from enhanced scale. We see real power in the combination and we will work hard to unleash it for all our shareholders. This opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation.”
The discussions contemplate that the potential transaction, which would be achieved through a scheme of arrangement, would include the following principal elements:
• MTN would acquire approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti for an effective consideration of approximately $2.9 billion in cash and newly issued shares of MTN equal to approximately 25 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN.
• Bharti would acquire approximately 36 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN from MTN shareholders for a consideration comprising ZAR 86.00 in cash and 0.5 newly issued Bharti shares in the form of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) for every MTN share acquired which, in combination with MTN shares issued in part settlement of MTN’s acquisition of approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti, would take Bharti’s stake to 49 percent of the enlarged capital of MTN. Each GDR would be equivalent to one share in Bharti and would be listed on the securities exchange operated by JSE Limited, South Africa.
• Bharti would have substantial participatory and governance rights in MTN enabling it to fully consolidate the accounts of MTN.
• MTN's economic interest in Bharti would be equity accounted and would have appropriate representation on the Bharti Board.
Singapore Telecommunications, a major existing shareholder of Bharti, will continue to be a strategic partner and significant shareholder after the implementation of the potential transaction.
The potential transaction, when completed, would be expected to create value for Bharti shareholders due to, among others, synergistic benefits and further diversification of Bharti income streams into the fast growing and relatively under-penetrated African and Middle Eastern markets.
This potential transaction would combine the strengths of two leading emerging market telecom operators to create a leading telecom group serving the large populations of Asia, Middle East and Africa. The potential transaction will represent a significant development in South-South cooperation between India and South Africa. Additionally, along with Bharti’s partner, Singapore Telecommunications, and its Bridge Alliance the combined networks will cover a geography spanning Africa to Australasia.
Bharti would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in India and Asia while MTN would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in Africa and the Middle East.
The discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to any transaction. The structure and terms of the potential transaction may be adjusted to reflect further discussions between the parties and discussions with lending banks and applicable regulators. No decisions or agreement to acquire any shares or implement the transactions outlined above have been made by the Boards of either MTN or Bharti.
Standard Chartered Bank and its affiliate First Africa SA (Pty) Ltd are the financial advisers and AZB & Partners and Bowman Gilfillan are the legal advisers to Bharti.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Manchester United signs five year content deal with Bharti Airtel
MANCHESTER, UK: Bharti Airtel, Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider, announced a five-year partnership with Manchester United Football Club. The partnership is first of its kind for both Manchester United and Airtel.
L to R: Carlos Tevez, Darren Fletcher, Shireesh Joshi, Director Marketing, Bharti Airtel, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel and Wayne Rooney at the signing of a five year exclusive agreement between Bharti Airtel and Manchester United at Old Trafford, Manchester (UK).
With this, Airtel customers across India, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles will get exclusive access to rich football content of Manchester United (MU) on Airtel mobile phones.
In addition, Airtel users will also get an opportunity to participate in the Manchester United Soccer Schools program currently operated by Manchester United Merchandising Limited. Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to watch football matches at Old Trafford and travel to Europe to watch Manchester United play the UEFAChampions League.
The announcement was made by Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel in the presence of Manchester United Club CEO David Gill, Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United players Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Darren Fletcher at Old Trafford, Manchester City, UK.
“We are very excited to partner with Manchester United, a powerful global brand with huge following across the world and in India.” said Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel. He added “Football is definitely seeing a growing interest amongst the young population in India. Therefore, we are making a pioneering effort to bring to them rich football content on their mobiles, a fantastic opportunity to be part of the world’s leading football club through participation in soccer schools, and also an opportunity to watch football matches across Europe.”
Manchester United Club CEO David Gill said: “Manchester United is delighted to announce the partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications company and one of Asia’s emerging global brands. This partnership demonstrates the enduring strength of the Club internationally. We are very proud to have Bharti Airtel as the first Indian company to partner with Manchester United Club. This major partnership will bring the action and the passion of Manchester United directly to the millions of fans of Manchester United across India and other Asian countries."
Key highlights of the agreement
* Airtel will be able to bring for its customer rich exclusive content such as video clips of Premiership matches and UEFA Champion’s League Highlights, Classic Goals and Games of Manchester United, Match Feeds & reports and editorial features. Also, downloads of Mobile Games, Ringtones, animations, and Wallpapers of popular Manchester United first team players such as Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand.
* Airtel customers will be able to access the internationally popular Manchester United mobile portal where rich mobile products and content will be exclusively available for the Airtel customers.
* Airtel customers can also watch Manchester United Football matches at the Old Trafford Ground in the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, UEFA Champions League. A few lucky Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to travel with the Manchester United first team during their away UEFA Champions League matches.
* Football enthusiasts among Airtel customers will get an opportunity to train at one of the Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS). MUSS are currently run in Hong Kong, Seattle, Toronto and Dubai as well as Manchester, and it enables people around the world to participate in soccer activities. These programmes take their lead from the coaching at the Manchester United Academy and First Team training sessions.
L to R: Carlos Tevez, Darren Fletcher, Shireesh Joshi, Director Marketing, Bharti Airtel, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel and Wayne Rooney at the signing of a five year exclusive agreement between Bharti Airtel and Manchester United at Old Trafford, Manchester (UK).With this, Airtel customers across India, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles will get exclusive access to rich football content of Manchester United (MU) on Airtel mobile phones.
In addition, Airtel users will also get an opportunity to participate in the Manchester United Soccer Schools program currently operated by Manchester United Merchandising Limited. Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to watch football matches at Old Trafford and travel to Europe to watch Manchester United play the UEFAChampions League.
The announcement was made by Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel in the presence of Manchester United Club CEO David Gill, Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United players Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Darren Fletcher at Old Trafford, Manchester City, UK.
“We are very excited to partner with Manchester United, a powerful global brand with huge following across the world and in India.” said Sanjay Kapoor, Deputy CEO, Bharti Airtel. He added “Football is definitely seeing a growing interest amongst the young population in India. Therefore, we are making a pioneering effort to bring to them rich football content on their mobiles, a fantastic opportunity to be part of the world’s leading football club through participation in soccer schools, and also an opportunity to watch football matches across Europe.”
Manchester United Club CEO David Gill said: “Manchester United is delighted to announce the partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications company and one of Asia’s emerging global brands. This partnership demonstrates the enduring strength of the Club internationally. We are very proud to have Bharti Airtel as the first Indian company to partner with Manchester United Club. This major partnership will bring the action and the passion of Manchester United directly to the millions of fans of Manchester United across India and other Asian countries."
Key highlights of the agreement
* Airtel will be able to bring for its customer rich exclusive content such as video clips of Premiership matches and UEFA Champion’s League Highlights, Classic Goals and Games of Manchester United, Match Feeds & reports and editorial features. Also, downloads of Mobile Games, Ringtones, animations, and Wallpapers of popular Manchester United first team players such as Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand.
* Airtel customers will be able to access the internationally popular Manchester United mobile portal where rich mobile products and content will be exclusively available for the Airtel customers.
* Airtel customers can also watch Manchester United Football matches at the Old Trafford Ground in the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, UEFA Champions League. A few lucky Airtel customers will also get an opportunity to travel with the Manchester United first team during their away UEFA Champions League matches.
* Football enthusiasts among Airtel customers will get an opportunity to train at one of the Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS). MUSS are currently run in Hong Kong, Seattle, Toronto and Dubai as well as Manchester, and it enables people around the world to participate in soccer activities. These programmes take their lead from the coaching at the Manchester United Academy and First Team training sessions.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Bharti Airtel, Alcatel-Lucent in managed services JV for broadband and telephone services
PARIS, FRANCE & NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading integrated telecom service provider, and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that they have formed a joint venture to manage Bharti Airtel’s pan-India broadband and telephone services and help Airtel’s transition to next generation networks.
Under the joint venture, Alcatel-Lucent will design, plan, deploy, optimize and manage Bharti Airtel’s broadband and telephone network across India. A new legal entity is being formed which will be operated by Alcatel-Lucent.
Manoj Kohli, CEO & Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said: “This joint venture is another step towards Bharti Airtel’s vision to continuously redefine and deliver the benchmarks of customer experience. We will leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s global expertise in IP transformation and network management while allowing us to focus on customer delivery and market growth. It will also help us accelerate performances as we migrate to next generation networks for our broadband and telephone customers, opening the door to advanced services and applications.”
“We appreciate the opportunity that Bharti Airtel has given us to demonstrate our worldwide expertise in network transformation, managed network services and IP transformation”, said Ben Verwaayen, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent. “The expansion of our relationship is drawn on our strengths as a global services player, ready to partner with innovative customers in their business transformation plans,” he added.
This managed services partnership will include all end-to-end activities -- service rollout, installation and fault repair, service continuity and transformation. It will support Bharti Airtel’s transformation to next generation networks, offering advanced services like high-speed internet, triple play, media-rich VAS, MPLS, VPN for both retail and business customers. The partnership will also drive optimal capital investment and increase operational efficiency by moving voice and data traffic onto a single, 'packetized' infrastructure.
Under the joint venture, Alcatel-Lucent will design, plan, deploy, optimize and manage Bharti Airtel’s broadband and telephone network across India. A new legal entity is being formed which will be operated by Alcatel-Lucent.
Manoj Kohli, CEO & Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said: “This joint venture is another step towards Bharti Airtel’s vision to continuously redefine and deliver the benchmarks of customer experience. We will leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s global expertise in IP transformation and network management while allowing us to focus on customer delivery and market growth. It will also help us accelerate performances as we migrate to next generation networks for our broadband and telephone customers, opening the door to advanced services and applications.”
“We appreciate the opportunity that Bharti Airtel has given us to demonstrate our worldwide expertise in network transformation, managed network services and IP transformation”, said Ben Verwaayen, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent. “The expansion of our relationship is drawn on our strengths as a global services player, ready to partner with innovative customers in their business transformation plans,” he added.
This managed services partnership will include all end-to-end activities -- service rollout, installation and fault repair, service continuity and transformation. It will support Bharti Airtel’s transformation to next generation networks, offering advanced services like high-speed internet, triple play, media-rich VAS, MPLS, VPN for both retail and business customers. The partnership will also drive optimal capital investment and increase operational efficiency by moving voice and data traffic onto a single, 'packetized' infrastructure.
Strong growth momentum for Bharti Airtel as income grows by 21pc!
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel Ltdannounced its audited US GAAP results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2009. It has once again maintained its strong growth momentum.
The consolidated total revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 of Rs. 9,825 crore grew by 26 percent and EBITDA of Rs. 4,001 crore grew by 23 percent on a year on year basis. The cash profit from operations of Rs. 3,788 crore grew by 25 percent over last year. The net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 was Rs. 2,239 crore, a growth of 21 percent over last year.
The revenues and net income for the full year ended March 31, 2009 was Rs. 36,962 crore and Rs. 8,470 crore, a growth of 37 percent and 26 percent, respectively, over the same period last year respectively.
Bharti had 9.66 crore subscribers, as on March 31, 2009, an increase in the total subscriber base of 50 percent over the corresponding period last year and maintained its leadership position through an improved market share of all India wireless subscribers at 24 percent as on March 31, 2009, up from 23.7 percent corresponding to the same period of last year.
Commenting on the results and performance, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said: “I am happy to share the results and performance for the year ended 31st March 2009. Bharti Airtel has had an excellent year with revenue growth of 37 percent. Our focus on rural penetration and customer affordability has been instrumental in delivering this strong growth. The India growth story continues, and we expect revival of the economy in the second half of this fiscal year. I have no doubts that the telecom sector will lead the economic revival and Bharti Airtel will be at the forefront. I am also delighted that the shareholder’s patience is being rewarded with the Board having decided to give a maiden dividend of 20% of face value for the year. Further Board has proposed sub-division (share split) of existing equity shares of Rs. 10/- each into two equity shares of Rs. 5 each."
The consolidated total revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 of Rs. 9,825 crore grew by 26 percent and EBITDA of Rs. 4,001 crore grew by 23 percent on a year on year basis. The cash profit from operations of Rs. 3,788 crore grew by 25 percent over last year. The net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 was Rs. 2,239 crore, a growth of 21 percent over last year.
The revenues and net income for the full year ended March 31, 2009 was Rs. 36,962 crore and Rs. 8,470 crore, a growth of 37 percent and 26 percent, respectively, over the same period last year respectively.
Bharti had 9.66 crore subscribers, as on March 31, 2009, an increase in the total subscriber base of 50 percent over the corresponding period last year and maintained its leadership position through an improved market share of all India wireless subscribers at 24 percent as on March 31, 2009, up from 23.7 percent corresponding to the same period of last year.
Commenting on the results and performance, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said: “I am happy to share the results and performance for the year ended 31st March 2009. Bharti Airtel has had an excellent year with revenue growth of 37 percent. Our focus on rural penetration and customer affordability has been instrumental in delivering this strong growth. The India growth story continues, and we expect revival of the economy in the second half of this fiscal year. I have no doubts that the telecom sector will lead the economic revival and Bharti Airtel will be at the forefront. I am also delighted that the shareholder’s patience is being rewarded with the Board having decided to give a maiden dividend of 20% of face value for the year. Further Board has proposed sub-division (share split) of existing equity shares of Rs. 10/- each into two equity shares of Rs. 5 each."
Monday, December 17, 2007
Kodiak brings PTT conferencing, group SMS to India
US-based Kodiak Networks is in the business of voice-based VAS for mobile networks. It has a large presence in Bangalore ~200 full-time employees, with a total global workforce of 260. All R&D, testing and customer support are handled out of India.
Kodiak's worldwide growth and application adoption puts a spotlight on this region for innovation and business success. The demand for wireless voice services continues to grow globally, but especially in this region.
According to Dr. Giridhar Boray, Country Manager - India, Kodiak Networks, three major operators have deployed the Kodiak Connected Portfolio [Idea, Airtel and Tata], and that Kodiak will continue to announce new applications geared toward business users and consumers.
He said that operators faced a common trend worldwide -- increasing subscriber growth and declining revenues. Hence, the operators are now looking at VAS. Push-to-talk (PTT), as a solution, is becoming popular in the USA. An example is Nextel, which grew out of Fleetcall, has evolved into cellular.
Dr. Boray said: "Initially, all operators were waiting for 3G, but they could not wait. They wanted PTT in 2G, with migration into 3G." Delving into history, he pointed out that AllTell, a CDMA operator and Kodiak's first customer, agreed to trial PTT product in 2002. Kodiak's customer base has swelled to 16 globally, since!
Dr Boray said: "In PTT, you need to have a dedicated button and a speaker. Our solution goes into the voice channel." He explained that for 2G PTT, the industry adopted two approaches -- PTT on the voice channel or PTT on the data channel.
Some of Kodiak's competitors reportedly introduced PTT on data channel. India's Tata Teleservices was the first to use PTT, but the service was discontinued after some time. Dr. Boray also added that for using PTT, the US government mandates that any service that is put on to the network can be legally intercepted or tapped as a matter of national security.
Kodiak's next big customer was AT&T Wireless, which tested its PTT solutions. A lot of its customers in the US are regional operators, who have roaming agreements with the bigger operators, which also helped Kodiak.
AT&T Wireless was also able to drive handset vendors to use PTT via Kodiak's solutions. "Right now, 45+ handset models carry our solutions," added Dr. Boray. "These include Blackberry, LG, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, ZTE, etc."
Conferencing, group SMS trials in India
India hosts Kodiak's development center. He mentioned TRAI's statement on PTT that, PTT is legal as operators are able to meet the ADC requirements, plus all regulatory requirements related to voice, such as lawful interception. "They did not say that PTT on data channel was incorrect. To do that, you would need to first build the infrastructure," he added. Kodiak's solutions work on both GSM and CDMA standards.
Kodiak has now evolved PTT into two-way conferencing. As an example, on the Airtel Blackberry, users can select up to six people and do conferencing. Dr. Boray said: "We also have the application on the SIM card as AVS (advanced voice services). From our side, you can conference with up to 30 users, but operators generally allow the selection of up to five to six users from your contacts list."
Kodiak will be offering conferencing as well as group SMS with Airtel. "Only one SMS goes to the server, which distributes it," he said. "Group SMS, conferencing, etc., should be helpful during emergencies."
Touching on Kodiak's partnership with Airtel, Dr. Boray said: "Airtel started over six months back as a market trial. It is offering the services to some corporates, but only on postpaid. We will be extending it over prepaid as well over the next few months." As for the charges, he said that the customers would probably get deducted as per the existing and applicable NLD and ILD call charges.
Kodiak is also trialing the service with Idea in New Delhi. The next trial is with Tata Teleservices over BREW-enabled handsets. Kodiak offers applications for BREW.
Dr. Boray added: "We also want to enter into the prepaid coverage. Prepaid is widely used in enterprises as well." Besides these three -- Airtel, Idea and Tata -- Kodiak is in discussions with some other operators as well. Kodiak also offers voice SMS, which it is not pushing hard enough for the moment. Kodiak's India chief said that the enterprises may find value in this application.
PTT rollout with JMCC in China in Q1-08
Kodiak has also announced the first commercial PTT deployment in China for China Mobile's Jiangsu Mobile Communications Co. (JMCC). Its target are corporate users with an emphasis on transportation, municipalities, and retail segments. The PTT subscribers will be billed a monthly service charge (bundled service offering).
The initial launch will include Nokia Symbian GSM handsets. According to Dr. Boray, the roll-out is scheduled for Q1-2008. "JMCC is a big operator. This win will also help us get into the other provinces of China as well," he added.
The Kodiak PTT voice-based solution provides superior mobile coverage compared to previously trialed data/GPRS solutions. It is the only solution with QoS resulting in best-in-class reliability and speed for JMCC customers. Also, Kodiak PTT provides users with a convenient alternative to trunked radio (one handset provides function of both a radio and a mobile phone).
Some of Kodiak PTT's unique features include: real-time presence and availability indicators; quick group calling up to 10 group members; convert to cellular (upgrade a one-way PTT call to a two-way cellular call); PTT/GSM call waiting; permission-based contact management; and contact alerts.
Dr. Boray added: "Lot of IM features are also making their way into PTT. Our focus is on group communications."
Continued growth in 2008
To add to Kodiak's PTT success in 2008, eight new PTT handsets are likely to be announced in the first half of the year. Significant PTT customers in three regions are likely to be announced as well. Finally, 2008 will also see two Open OS, downloadable PTT client versions announcements with commercial customers.
Research firm In-Stat believes that the number of PTT global subscribers will grow to 67.8 million by the end of 2009. PTT/PoC has an opportunity to reach non-traditional business and consumer (especially youth) markets. One-third of In-Stat respondents would consider switching carriers in order to be able to use PTT/PoC.
According to a Wintergreen Research report from September 2007, there were 45.6mn PTT subscribers in 2006 and 64mn in mid 2007. This is likely to reach 340mn by 2013. The PTT subscriber revenue of $1.2bn in 2006 is also likely to reach $16.7 billion in 2013.
Multi-generation platform support
Kodiak's solutions are built on the Kodiak RTX platform, which will support the converged IMS network architecture with a software upgrade.
Kodiak RTX is a multi-generation platform that spans 2G and 3G network technologies, and extends services to social networks and IM communities. Kodiak IMS applications also leverage the Kodiak IMS Client framework.
Kodiak's worldwide growth and application adoption puts a spotlight on this region for innovation and business success. The demand for wireless voice services continues to grow globally, but especially in this region.
According to Dr. Giridhar Boray, Country Manager - India, Kodiak Networks, three major operators have deployed the Kodiak Connected Portfolio [Idea, Airtel and Tata], and that Kodiak will continue to announce new applications geared toward business users and consumers.He said that operators faced a common trend worldwide -- increasing subscriber growth and declining revenues. Hence, the operators are now looking at VAS. Push-to-talk (PTT), as a solution, is becoming popular in the USA. An example is Nextel, which grew out of Fleetcall, has evolved into cellular.
Dr. Boray said: "Initially, all operators were waiting for 3G, but they could not wait. They wanted PTT in 2G, with migration into 3G." Delving into history, he pointed out that AllTell, a CDMA operator and Kodiak's first customer, agreed to trial PTT product in 2002. Kodiak's customer base has swelled to 16 globally, since!
Dr Boray said: "In PTT, you need to have a dedicated button and a speaker. Our solution goes into the voice channel." He explained that for 2G PTT, the industry adopted two approaches -- PTT on the voice channel or PTT on the data channel.
Some of Kodiak's competitors reportedly introduced PTT on data channel. India's Tata Teleservices was the first to use PTT, but the service was discontinued after some time. Dr. Boray also added that for using PTT, the US government mandates that any service that is put on to the network can be legally intercepted or tapped as a matter of national security.
Kodiak's next big customer was AT&T Wireless, which tested its PTT solutions. A lot of its customers in the US are regional operators, who have roaming agreements with the bigger operators, which also helped Kodiak.
AT&T Wireless was also able to drive handset vendors to use PTT via Kodiak's solutions. "Right now, 45+ handset models carry our solutions," added Dr. Boray. "These include Blackberry, LG, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, ZTE, etc."
Conferencing, group SMS trials in India
India hosts Kodiak's development center. He mentioned TRAI's statement on PTT that, PTT is legal as operators are able to meet the ADC requirements, plus all regulatory requirements related to voice, such as lawful interception. "They did not say that PTT on data channel was incorrect. To do that, you would need to first build the infrastructure," he added. Kodiak's solutions work on both GSM and CDMA standards.
Kodiak has now evolved PTT into two-way conferencing. As an example, on the Airtel Blackberry, users can select up to six people and do conferencing. Dr. Boray said: "We also have the application on the SIM card as AVS (advanced voice services). From our side, you can conference with up to 30 users, but operators generally allow the selection of up to five to six users from your contacts list."
Kodiak will be offering conferencing as well as group SMS with Airtel. "Only one SMS goes to the server, which distributes it," he said. "Group SMS, conferencing, etc., should be helpful during emergencies."
Touching on Kodiak's partnership with Airtel, Dr. Boray said: "Airtel started over six months back as a market trial. It is offering the services to some corporates, but only on postpaid. We will be extending it over prepaid as well over the next few months." As for the charges, he said that the customers would probably get deducted as per the existing and applicable NLD and ILD call charges.
Kodiak is also trialing the service with Idea in New Delhi. The next trial is with Tata Teleservices over BREW-enabled handsets. Kodiak offers applications for BREW.
Dr. Boray added: "We also want to enter into the prepaid coverage. Prepaid is widely used in enterprises as well." Besides these three -- Airtel, Idea and Tata -- Kodiak is in discussions with some other operators as well. Kodiak also offers voice SMS, which it is not pushing hard enough for the moment. Kodiak's India chief said that the enterprises may find value in this application.
PTT rollout with JMCC in China in Q1-08
Kodiak has also announced the first commercial PTT deployment in China for China Mobile's Jiangsu Mobile Communications Co. (JMCC). Its target are corporate users with an emphasis on transportation, municipalities, and retail segments. The PTT subscribers will be billed a monthly service charge (bundled service offering).
The initial launch will include Nokia Symbian GSM handsets. According to Dr. Boray, the roll-out is scheduled for Q1-2008. "JMCC is a big operator. This win will also help us get into the other provinces of China as well," he added.
The Kodiak PTT voice-based solution provides superior mobile coverage compared to previously trialed data/GPRS solutions. It is the only solution with QoS resulting in best-in-class reliability and speed for JMCC customers. Also, Kodiak PTT provides users with a convenient alternative to trunked radio (one handset provides function of both a radio and a mobile phone).
Some of Kodiak PTT's unique features include: real-time presence and availability indicators; quick group calling up to 10 group members; convert to cellular (upgrade a one-way PTT call to a two-way cellular call); PTT/GSM call waiting; permission-based contact management; and contact alerts.
Dr. Boray added: "Lot of IM features are also making their way into PTT. Our focus is on group communications."
Continued growth in 2008
To add to Kodiak's PTT success in 2008, eight new PTT handsets are likely to be announced in the first half of the year. Significant PTT customers in three regions are likely to be announced as well. Finally, 2008 will also see two Open OS, downloadable PTT client versions announcements with commercial customers.
Research firm In-Stat believes that the number of PTT global subscribers will grow to 67.8 million by the end of 2009. PTT/PoC has an opportunity to reach non-traditional business and consumer (especially youth) markets. One-third of In-Stat respondents would consider switching carriers in order to be able to use PTT/PoC.
According to a Wintergreen Research report from September 2007, there were 45.6mn PTT subscribers in 2006 and 64mn in mid 2007. This is likely to reach 340mn by 2013. The PTT subscriber revenue of $1.2bn in 2006 is also likely to reach $16.7 billion in 2013.
Multi-generation platform support
Kodiak's solutions are built on the Kodiak RTX platform, which will support the converged IMS network architecture with a software upgrade.
Kodiak RTX is a multi-generation platform that spans 2G and 3G network technologies, and extends services to social networks and IM communities. Kodiak IMS applications also leverage the Kodiak IMS Client framework.
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