Reliance Communications plans to expand its pan-India network significantly through strategic 2G GSM Intra-Circle roaming agreements with existing operators, offering its customers wider coverage and uninterrupted service across the country. Under this arrangement, Rcom will be able to increase its network footprint by ~10,000 base stations following ‘pay as you use model’ with no additional capex. Alliance with Aircel (pan- India) is already in place and talks with Loop in Mumbai are ongoing. Potential alliance with Loop will help provide better coverage (Loop has 900 Mhz).
Month: June 2013
NFC Mobile Payments Growth Slower – Gartner
Gartner reduced its forecast for NFC mobile payments volume for 2016 by 40% to $22bn. Gartner attributed the revision to slower-than-expected uptake of NFC by consumers and merchants as well as the limited success of the Google Wallet and Isis Mobile Wallet initiatives.
Gartner noted that it expects NFC to account for 5% of total mobile-payments volume in 2017, up from 2% in 2013. Gartner forecasts that the global installed base of NFC-enabled phones will grow from 170mn in 2012 (3% of total handsets) to 2.1bn (32% of handsets) by 2017.
In India, >75% of payments are done by cash. Less than 3% is by credit and debit cards (owing to penetration being held back by high cost POS machines).
PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One Console Pricing
Sony and Microsoft exhibited their respective consoles, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Significantly, the companies indicated that the PS4 will sell for $399 compared to $499 for the Xbox One. Bloomberg reported that pre-orders for the PS4 exceed those for the Xbox One at both Amazon and Gamestop and cited the Xbox One’s restrictions on game sharing as a drawback for the console.
According to Bloomberg, Sony has delayed a decision to begin selling its console in Asia before the end of the year in order to
meet strong demand from the US and Europe.
Idea Spends 1/3rd of Fresh Investments on 3G
Idea Cellular continues to heavily invest in 3G – currently spending ~1/3rd of capex on 3G (network equipment + backhaul). It Expect mass market adoption of data (500m + data subs users) over next 3-5 yrs, with the mkt size expanding to Rs500-700bn.
Idea continues to gain both VLR (reflects active subs) sub share (+0.6% qoq in 4Q13 qtr) and rev mkt share (+0.9%qoq). Moreover,
its incremental share for both these metrics is 40-50%. Driven by (a) Increase in mobile penetration – Physical penetration is still only ~ 50%; (b) Increase in MoU per sub in part helped by lower incidence of multi-SIMs and (c) Improvement in voice
LG Android SmartPhone Shipment Strong in Europe / South America
LG Electronics indicated that its smartphone volume growth (+20% QoQ to 10.3 mn units) was largely supported by its share gains in Europe and South America but its US presence is still not as strong. This tells us that LGE actually has built the needed scale per platform first through relatively less costly regions, which is one of the reasons why LGE’s 1Q13 margin was better than expected as reported. Also, this could imply that its further efforts to expand its presence in the US going forward (even with added and usually costlier promotions and marketing support) may not result in margin’s sharp ups and downs we saw in recent terms due to this improved scale per platform now.
That said, however, we still think that at least in the next couple of quarters there could be a headwind for its handset margins
Reliance 3G Offers Unlimited Access to All Matches of ICC Champions Trophy
Reliance Communications (RCom), country’s no 4 mobile phone carrier by customers, has entered into partnership with Star Sports to offer unlimited live streaming of all ICC Champions Trophy cricket matches for 3G and prepaid GSM customers in the country.
With this partnership, Reliance customers can now avail unlimited live streaming of the matches on their smartphones by subscribing for a tournament pass of Rs 301 without paying any additional data consumption charges. Customers will also benefit from the package being inclusive of the Rs 50 subscription fee for access on www.starsports.com.
Comparison of Mobile Money Transfer vs Postal Money Order
The Internal Remittances Market in India is to the tune of USD 40 Bn with money flowing from Urban to Rural Parts of India. The Following Chart Shows the Comparison of Mobile money Transfer vs Indian Postal Money Order on Parameters such as, Min requirement, Limits on Transaction, Technology, Advantage and Dis-advantage.
Mobile Money Transfer & Commerce – Poised for Big Growth
Mobile money will witness rapid growth over the next 3-5 years in India due to increased rural presence of Mobile Operators in Rural India fueled by favorable regulation, rising penetration of smartphones as their prices are more affordable, and acceptance by retailers.
What is Mobile Money ?
We define it as mobile banking, money transfer, and m-commerce. This includes using Airtel Money to transfer money into another Airtel Money account or bank account or mobile number. One could pay one’s driver his monthly salary by transferring money using bank’s smartphone into his mobile linked bank account using his mobile number and mobile money ID. Alternatively, paying from one’s smartphone into the driver’s Vodafone mpesa wallet would allow him to
Is Reliance Jio Infocomm Rolling Out FTTH Broadband Network along with 4G/ LTE ?
Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch 4G / LTE Services by the end of this year, at least in Delhi NCR and Mumbai region. According to Analysts in the Research community, their is a buzz that Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch FTTx [Home / Enterprise]
G V Giri @ IIFLCap said,
RIL may also use FTTX (Fibre to the x) to service the home and enterprise broadband market, chiefly the former. It may bundle broadband services of various hues above in a single offering
Goldman Sachs Report said,
RIL’s focus is on offering high speed services and considering that TDLTE ecosystem is at a nascent stage, we believe the company will focus more on fiber based fixed-line services and nomadic LTE (in limited areas) in the near term
Other Device & Services that Reliance Jio will launch along with 4G LTE Launch is as follows,
Idea Cellular Withdraws Benefits on Pre-Paid STV / Packs – May 2013
Idea Cellular the plain vanilla wireless operator in India continued to withdraw benefits in bits & pieces provided to its 90% of its pre-paid subscribers by means of Special Tariff Vouchers / STV or STD Packs, etc. This is in-line with Airtel and Vodafone as these operators have come under pressure from the Corrupt Government and DoT increasing il-legal levies and charges on spectrum not permissible under the law.
The STV / Recharge Vouchers and Packs Modified in may 2013 are as follows,