Bharti and MTN walk away from merger

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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.

TATA DOCOMO launches 'diet-sms'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd, India’s fastest-growing pan-India dual-technology telecom service provider, has announced another innovative offer in the country, diet-sms, with customers being given the never-before option of paying for any SMS they send on a per-character pricing plan.

The cost of any ‘diet-sms’ will be only 1 paise per character used, thereby providing complete value to customers. Furthermore, there will be no charge for spaces between words, living up to TATA DOCOMO’s promise of not charging subscribers for the ‘unused’.

TATA DOCOMO has launched services in eight telecom circles in just two months, and the countrywide rollout of its GSM services is expected to be completed by this year.

“In all of the eight Circles where we have launched our GSM services, we made the promise of introducing path-breaking innovative products and services, and never-before tariff options. The diet-sms service is another way of fulfilling that promise,” Deepak Gulati, President, TATA DOCOMO, said.

“Today’s customer is discerning and seeks transparency, innovation and differentiation. Our products and services are tailored to uphold the trust associated with the House of Tata—and TATA DOCOMO follows the concept of fare being fair. From today, all TATA DOCOMO subscribers will be able to enjoy the benefits of pay-as-you-use even in SMS,” he added.

The unique part of the offer is that any customer can choose the diet-sms option when he/she has short text messages to send—he/she can continue to use the regular SMS option for longer SMS. “Our diet-sms concept is a result of thought leadership, creativity and innovation, riding on TATA DOCOMO’s customer-centric approach to doing business,” Mr Gurinder Singh Sandhu, Head of Marketing at TATA DOCOMO said.

“We broke the per-minute pricing paradigm for voice calls when we launched our services—with diet-sms, we are doing it again, this time on the SMS front. At TATA DOCOMO, we believe in taking the best that technology has to offer to make life more refreshing for our customers,” Gulati said.

To send a diet-sms, a customer has to:
* Go to the SIM-based menu on the phone (called Dive-in Now), scroll to the diet-sms option under the English Language menu, open it and send the SMS; or

* TATA DOCOMO has also launched a phone application which can be downloaded from TATA DOCOMO ‘Dive In’ WAP portal, or by simply sending a SMS “diet” to 54321. * Using this diet-sms application, the customer can send short text messages easily; or
* TATA DOCOMO customers can also send a diet-sms using the normal SMS menu. They need to type the mobile number followed by a space followed by the message and sms this to the short code 52208.

The downloaded diet-sms application also contains a bank of most common short SMS as templates. Customers can select from any of these templates and send the message by simply clicking ‘Send’.

“The diet-sms service is revolutionary and tailor-made to suit Indian customers—a survey conducted by TATA DOCOMO found out that a majority of SMS sent in India are very short—we designed this application after studying trends such as this, in order to benefit the customer,” Gulati said.

The diet-sms service is available to customers on the per-character pricing plan on the TATA DOCOMO network only.

Ericsson completes world’s largest live network upgrade for Vodafone Essar in record time

INDIA: Ericsson has completed the world’s largest upgrade of a live mobile network, and done it at a record pace.

To improve quality of service for more than 13 million Vodafone Essar subscribers in India’s four key zones including three large metro cities, Ericsson replaced more than 10,500 of the operator’s GSM radio sites, reaching a peak rate of one site every minute.

The network modernization project began in February 2008 and ended first quarter 2009, two months ahead of schedule. During this time, Ericsson delivered more than 16,000 base station cabinets and more than 250 base station controllers, completing the project in only 13 months.

As part of the agreement, Ericsson also provided an expansion of the layered architecture circuit core including mobile packet back bone (MPBN) and microwave transmission equipment.

For Vodafone Essar, this means improved network performance, with state of the art equipment and functionalities.

Throughout the project Vodafone maintained uninterrupted network services in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, as well as the Punjab region.

Acknowledging the milestone, Naresh Gupta, Technical Director at Vodafone Essar, says: “Swapping a commercially live network with near zero service deterioration is a very demanding task. I am pleased that Ericsson managed to undertake and complete such a challenging project in record time.”

Gowton Achaibar, President of Ericsson India and Sri Lanka, says: “This record-breaking network modernization project demonstrates Ericsson’s end-to-end capacity and expertise in carrying out large and complex projects. It was made possible by our highly competent and dedicated team.”

Nokia Siemens Networks helps IDEA create new revenue streams

BANGALORE, INDIA: Indian mobile operator IDEA Cellular is upgrading its network in 22 telecom service areas to tap into the lucrative value added data services market. By March 2010, IDEA subscribers will be able to enjoy multimedia messaging, email, web browsing, online music and other innovative mobile services.

The services will be enabled by Nokia Siemens Networks’ GPRS (general packet radio service) technology and Unified Charging Solution (UCS evolve).

Nokia Siemens Networks will add GPRS capability to 10 IDEA telecom service areas, while the existing GPRS capability in 12 other areas will be expanded.

“The value added services market in India holds tremendous potential. The greater opportunity lies in data services, and in expanding our capabilities and service portfolio in this area. The right technology foundation is fundamental to our success, and it needs to include not just a method of delivering services, but of monetizing them effectively. Nokia Siemens Networks has strong credentials in this field and has played an important role in the development of our technology strategy for data services,” said Anil Tandan, CTO, IDEA Cellular.

As part of the project, Nokia Siemens Networks has also designed and will implement a charging solution that will enable IDEA Cellular to use a single system across these locations for real time charging of the new services for both prepaid and postpaid subscribers.

Michael Kuehner, Country Head, Nokia Siemens Networks, said: “Customer lifecycle management entails building a flexible ecosystem of multiple partners that can develop innovative applications and content quickly, and at the right price points. The volumes and complexity are high, which makes billing and charging of these services difficult. As its technology partner, we are confident that our solution will not only help IDEA Cellular build new revenue streams but also deliver greater quality of service.”

The IDEA service areas where Nokia Siemens Networks will add GPRS capability are Mumbai, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Kolkata and West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Assam and North East.

Nokia Siemens Networks will upgrade IDEA’s existing GPRS capacity in the service areas of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Haryana, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra and Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Tata Teleservices, ECI Telecom to offer fixed broadband services across India

MUMBAI, INDIA: ECI Telecom, a global provider of networking infrastructure solutions optimized for NGN migration, and Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), have partnered to deliver India's largest fixed-broadband access network supporting speeds of up to 18 Mbps.

As part of the frame agreement, TTSL will deploy an all-IP next-generation network featuring ECI's award winning Hi FOCuS Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) and SR9000 Carrier Ethernet Switch Router (CESR) platforms.

This end-to-end broadband access solution for TTSL's 'Photon Pro' network has already been successfully deployed across eight cities: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vizag, Vijayawada, Surat and Baroda.

ECI's solution, part of the company's 1Net framework to simplify networks and allow for a smooth transition to NGN, represents one of the most comprehensive multi-service, IP-based, broadband access networks on the market today, simultaneously supporting next-generation data, video and voice, over both fibre and copper infrastructure.

The state-of-the-art solution will enable TTSL to lead the market with innovative triple-play services and applications such as IPTV, video on demand, high speed broadband Internet, VoIP and other bandwidth intensive services.

"ECI's expertise and in-depth understanding of broadband access solutions were key factors in our decision to choose ECI for this important project. The company's market leading solutions allow us to deliver a full spectrum of next-generation services today, well ahead of other operators in the market, while addressing our evolving needs as network architecture and technologies change in the future," commented A.G. Rao, President & Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices.

The contract marks a significant milestone in the long-term relationship between ECI and the Tata Group. Israel-based ECI has been successfully providing the India communication conglomerate with network infrastructure solutions, such as wireless backhaul, WiMax backbone, and broadband access and transport solutions for over five years.

"We are proud of our long term partnership with TTSL and honored to be chosen as a trusted partner for this inaugural project. ECI brings proven experience and excellence in the broadband access market, servicing and supporting some of the world's largest tier-1 networks," commented Rafi Maor, President and CEO, ECI Telecom.

Newgen to increase focus on telecom sector

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Newgen Software, a leading provider of Business Process Management and Document Management System solutions, announced that it shall enhance focus on the fast-growing and lucrative telecom sector to accelerate its growth.

In the ever-evolving and competitive environment, telecom sector is facing tremendous pressure from the customers regarding the quality of service offered in terms of time taken to resolve a customer query and a strong and flexible infrastructure platform that allows management of end-to-end business processes.

Newgen with its powerful web-based document management, business process management, bill management and output management solutions helps Telecom Service Providers gain new agility in responding to dynamic changes. Newgen solutions help operators enhance customer service by reducing cycle times of query handling, increasing coordination with subscribers, reducing errors in billing processes, presenting bills/statements online and improving responsiveness to customers.

Diwakar Nigam, Managing Director, Newgen Software Technologies said: “The sector has maintained growth momentum with operators now expanding networks to smaller towns and villages. We believe that with our domain knowledge and technology thought leadership, we can offer expert solutions to telecom service providers around the world and establish ourselves as the vendor of choice.”

Telecom companies can achieve operational excellence with the help of the Newgen solutions. The solutions help in cost efficiency, better storage, improving customer care, compliance to regulatory needs and faster verification.

Besides this focus on the Telecom sector, Newgen has also expanded its attention on industry verticals such as Retail, Hospitality, Insurance and Government departments.

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.

SMSGupShup grows to 20 million users

MUMBAI, INDIA: SMSGupShup, a Twitter-like service in India, is getting a ton of buzz over here in the US, too. In an interview with CEO Beerud Sheth now says the service now has 20 million users (and that’s without an appearance on Oprah), nearly all of which are in India. That’s up from 7 million late last year.

The service can only be accessed via SMS, which works just fine for India’s 400 million mobile phone users (there are just 40 million broadband Internet users, Sheth says). Users sign up and use the service all via text messages. They never need to visit the website at all.

The service’s main variable costs are fees for text messages, and Sheth says that they’ve had to implement caps to keep costs under control. But as the service grows, says Sheth, they are able to negotiate much better pricing. Already, SMSGupShup accounts for 400 million monthly text messages, around “5-6 percent” of the total Indian market.

Three months ago the service added advertising to messages. Three months in and they’re making $150,000/month in revenue. Not bad for an SMS-based service!

Unitech Wireless selects Wipro to create Telecom Company of the future

BANGALORE, INDIA: Unitech Wireless, the newest telecom services player in India, today announced that it had awarded a multi-hundred-million long term outsourcing contract to Wipro for creating the next generation telecom company.

Unitech Wireless, with licences to operate in all 22 circles across India, is launching state-of-the-art telecommunication services to provide advanced wireless voice, data and ILD/, NLD services. Unitech Wireless proposes to succeed in this highly attractive and fast growing telecom market, with a strong differentiator in customer experience and service delivery. To achieve its ambitious goals, Unitech Wireless has structured its organization and operational architecture around innovation, scalability and flexibility. Its partnership with Wipro will enable this uniqueness and provide non-linear, scaleable growth, while delivering the highest levels of customer service to their subscribers.

Commenting on the association with Wipro, Rohit Chandra, Chief Operating Officer, Unitech Wireless, said: “We are launching a Greenfield telecom operation and want to create a strong customer proposition for our services based on cutting edge technology and business processes aligned with IT. We chose Wipro as our partner because among the service providers in this field, we felt that they brought a unique combination of domain expertise, market knowledge and a customer-centric approach that allows us to grow together.”

Suresh Vaswani, Joint CEO, IT Business & Member of the Board, Wipro Ltd, added: “We are excited to partner with Unitech and Telenor to help build Unitech Wireless which promises to be one of the leading differentiated telecom service providers in India in the years to come. Unitech Wireless has a unique customer-centred approach and the business-technology alignment will ensure that subscribers get the latest services. India is a huge growth market and we are delighted that Unitech Wireless has offered us this opportunity to work with them."

Wipro is a leader in the telecom service provider space and will leverage its global expertise to implement a future-ready IT architecture in accordance with industry standards. This will deliver a scalable, flexible and secure platform comprising a suite of industry leading software applications.

Wipro will also deploy component based Service Delivery Platform (SDP) for Unitech Wireless to deliver wide range of services including Multi Channel Access, Real Time Information Delivery, Multimedia Content and VAS. It is expected that the Wipro’s-Unitech Wireless partnership will transform the way in which the telecom industry operates, and create new benchmarks for business-technology alignment. Wipro will be working with Unitech Wireless right from the launch and taking responsibility for key aspects of the service infrastructure.

Ericsson deploys India’s first commercial fiber-to-the-home (GPON-FTTH) solution

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Ericsson’s fiber access solution is connecting homes in India for the first time with a breadth of high-end data, TV and communications (triple-play) services. A milestone agreement with one of India’s leading in-building management solution companies is the first step in bringing high-speed connectivity to millions of homes in this rapidly flourishing nation.

In a 3000-unit complex near New Delhi residents are enjoying personalized IPTV in high-definition, video-on-demand and other advanced entertainment services. They can download data content at 100Mbps and access Wi-Fi in the complex’s common areas and gardens.

Automated lighting, electricity bill payment and security services are also being made possible with Ericsson’s high-speed fiber access solution. Ericsson’s Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) solution has been used as an open access solution enabling residents to select services from an internet service provider of their choice.

Demand for broadband services is quickly growing in India’s dynamic market, and Gowton Achaibar, President, Ericsson India and Sri Lanka, predicts that adoption of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology will be dramatic.

“Real estate developers and property management companies realize that high-speed broadband access in the home is a value-added differentiator,” Achaibar says. “Gratifying user experience, greater convenience and a large and rapidly growing telecom market are all pointers to the immense potential of GPON in India.”

The contract with property management services provider Radius Synergies is the first such agreement for Ericsson with a customer in India’s real estate sector. AK Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of Radius Synergies, says: “This is a great achievement and a significant development for India’s economy, and it would not have been possible without Ericsson’s platform expertise and solution-driven approach. Ericsson’s solution enables us to cost-effectively offer residents a superior communications experience.”

The end-to-end fiber access solution from Ericsson is based upon its EDA 1500 GPON system, which offers the highest capacity on the market and its Micronet and Ribbonet air-blown fiber and microcable solutions. The contract also covers systems integration, consulting, training and support services for Radius Synergies.

The GPON network enables converged services for consumers, allowing for a range of operator offerings –- including voice, data and video (triple play services), as well as services such as connected-home activation, security and lighting control -- delivered over Ericsson’s deep fiber access network.

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."

SatGuide appears on small screen with .mobi version

HYDERABAD, INDIA: With the increase in growth for handheld devices, the future unfolds itself through Internet access on mobile devices. This being a prediction for future, is the next best marketing strategy for all consumer driven organizations in the country.

Keeping the same strategy in view, SatNav Technologies has launched their website as a .mobi version making it highly accessible for all existing and potential customers on their GPRS enabled handsets. This version is compatible with all Windows and Symbian operating phones.

Earlier, people were not comfortable using the GPRS technology to browse for information due to various reasons like slow data transfer speed, network coverage for GPRS services and limited performance of the handset browser software. Also, the handsets had low resolution screens and the price for the usage of the data was really high.

However, all these excuses have now become pre-historic. People are now more dependent on their handsets than before. Since mankind is on the move at all times, they depend on their handsets to be their extra helping hand in communicating to the outside world, in capturing important information and also gathering necessary information for them.

For a consumer driven company, to be able to reach-out to their customer no matter what given situation they are in, is a priority. With the .mobi version of the website, SatGuide customers as well as others interested in the navigation products of the company can browse and get all the required information on their handsets.

The company said that the launch of this version of the website was done by only keeping customers benefit in mind. The .mobi version is optimized to browse the website on a mobile phone as it tackles all the hard factors like screens, device size, input/output options etc and soft factors like immediacy of the results.