Month: September 2013

Reliance NetConnect / Tata DoCoMo E-VDO Dongle Business Saturating

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Reliance NetConnect Wireless BroadbandIdea Cellular Executives who discussed 3G Data Uptake in India are of the view that the Dongle or Data-card business (dominated by CDMA EV-DO operators: RCOM, Tata, MTS) may face growth-constraints over the medium-term due to the following factors,

  1. Slowdown in laptop and Desktop PC sales
  2. Growth in Tablets and Phablets [Mobile Smartphones with 5-to-6inch screen]
  3. Growing tendency to use 3G-activated smartphones as personal Wi-Fi hotspots and
  4. Narrowing of the price-performance and network coverage gap

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Idea 3G Data Usage Per BTS Exceeds 120 GB / Month + Bid for 900MHz EGSM Band

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Idea Cellular 3G dataIdea’s 3G network usage at 122 GB per BTS per month [Includes Total Traffic of Intra-Circle Arrangements as well] in 1Q is less than 10% currently; each 3G BTS deployed in heavy traffic area can be potentially upgraded to exceed capacity throughput of 3,000 GB per month. To drive greater 3G penetration, customer education (about benefits of mobile data, apps) and cheaper smartphones are more important that lower data pricing per se, according to Idea CEO Himanshu Kapania.

He further said that 3G data business may be unviable at current pricing

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Implications of Microsoft Nokia Deal on Handset Supply Chain

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Microsoft Nokia Mobiles IndiaMicrosoft has announced to acquire Nokia’s Devices & Services (D&S) business and license Nokia’s patents and mapping services. As the original leadership team from Nokia’s D&S business will remain intact (as stated by Nokia), we believe the ongoing project planning and rollout strategies would see limited impact with respect to Nokia’s supply chain, pending the close of the proposed transaction, including implications for Nokia’s sole Windows Phone (WP) ODM partner, Compal Communications.

According to Microsoft, the main strategic rationale behind the proposed transaction is to accelerate phone share. Microsoft believes the proposed collaboration would help make the market for WP, and

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Broadband LTE Vs LTE-Advance Vs LTE – What is the key difference ?

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LTE vs LTE-A Seminar in KoreaAt a time when their is Huge Demand for Affordable Broadband in India, the Corrupt Government along with Vested Private players is stalling the development of the 4G LTE Eco-System to favor selected couple of business houses who back the Thugs in the Government.

However, the World’s doesn’t stop innovating as we have seen Korea is now ready to serve her citizens with Broadband LTE / LTE-A after the recent spectrum Auctions.

We’ll disucss what is the Difference between Broadband LTE Vs LTE-Advance Vs LTE – Broadband LTE offers same theoretical speed as that

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Airtel Advantage 199 Plan Tariff Hiked

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Airtel Mobile is increasing voice tariffs for post-paid customers under one of its per-minute billing plans, Advantage 199, with effect from 8 Sep. This is in-line with our thesis of expected ARPM increases going forward.

Adhering to TRAI guidelines, Bharti Airtel has informed its customers that it will raise tariffs on the Advantage-199 plan. Under this plan, per-minute on-net local and STD rates will be raised to 60 paise from the current 50 paise. Rates for calls to

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Investors Seek Clarity on Reliance Jio Infocomm 4G LTE

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Telecom Invetsors Meet IndiaInvestors in the Indian Telecom Space focused on two important issues – Indian Currency and the 4G-LTE Space.

Foreign Investors Wary of Indian Government Flip Flop Policies – We believe that, despite the government’s decision to allow 100% FDI and a depreciating rupee, the experience of some of the players – such as Telenor, Etisalat (licence cancellations), and Vodafone (tax dispute) – has not been encouraging. Separately, the last set of new players giving up their pan-India dreams and shutting down circles suggests that it is hard to make a case for a foreign player to take the new-entrant

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Two Losers – Microsoft & Nokia in SmartPhone Trying to Make a Winner

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Mobile IndiaMicrosoft has announced it would purchase Nokia’s entire devices & services business and its over 8,500 design patents, and license Nokia’s utility patents (including 60+ third party license agreements) for a total transaction price of $7.2Bn.

Given NOK’s small presence in the smartphones market (only 3% market share), this transaction isn’t a major event for anyone in the smartphone space in the near term, in our view. However, it does ensure the continued availability of Windows Phone hardware. Nokia has had a high market

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Baidu World Developers Conference – Light Apps to Take on Google Apps

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Baidu World Developers ConferenceBaidu CEO Robin Li spent much of the AM session of Baidu World discussing new mobile constructs. He noted that the Baidu open platform already has 700,000 developers and has a distribution platform capable of delivering 69mn apps on a daily basis, which we believe leads the industry. The 0.1% most popular apps represent 70% of all downloads.

Baidu and Concept of Light Apps
Baidu’s solution offers to replace native apps with “light apps” for long tail app developers, with a set of light app tools including

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