Month: December 2013

Is Wi-Fi Friend or Foe of Airtel / Vodafone / Idea ?

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WiFi can do the heavy lifting on mobile data traffic. The way your Android devices are configured by default says more about this – all your App updates have to happen through Wi-Fi network, thus can be used as a service differentiation tool.

WiFi usage is gaining a lot more traction – as unlimited 3G data packages become rare for consumers and WiFi is often considered ‘free’. Operators benefit from offloading traffic from macro networks. But not every telco can do this – fixed line connectivity is still critical, hence integrated telcos are relatively better positioned.

WiFi deployment has been widely considered as a cost avoidance / saving strategy, with little evidence of stand-alone revenue contribution so far. Gartner estimates that WiFi

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Idea – 2G Tariff Stable, 3G Expansion, 4G-LTE Not in Medium Term

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Idea Cellular 4G LTE StrategyIdea’s CEO suggests that voice tariffs are still rising and likely to stay firm over the next 3-6 months. In contrast with initial concerns, Idea appears comfortable with market share trends indicated by TRAI’s latest revenue data for the industry. Traffic growth is slower than before and competition from smaller operators has intensified in certain circles but these are unlikely to disrupt Idea’s marketing strategies.

Idea does not foresee any risk of new

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Real Time Entertainment on Internet renders TV Obsolete

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Real Time Entertainment Using iNternet Replaces TVSince the inception of the TV business, the rules have been very clear: If you want to sell TV services, you need something in short supply – Broadcast Spectrum, vast sums of capital to run every home with coaxial cable and the last one in the evolution was DTH/DBS orbital slot and a geosynchronous satellite. Today, to sell video services, you need a web server. Real time entertainment (RTE) is the most significant source of fixed-line data traffic in every region of the world. It makes up 62% of traffic in North America, 46% in Asia and 36% in Europe

We’re in the midst of two revolutions: the rise of broadband and the proliferation of apps. These two revolutions will meet. And, that meeting will likely occur in your living room. In effect,

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What are Essential 4G-LTE Patents and FRAND Practices ?

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Essential LTE PatentsFrom a technical standpoint, an essential LTE patent is a patent that relates directly to technology that is strictly required to meet the technical specifications of the LTE standards. This can differ from commercial standpoint of what an essential LTE patent is, as many a times technologies and procedures that are not strictly defined in the LTE standards and specifications are unavoidable in the development and manufacture of an LTE-related product. For example, components of 2G/3G communications technology may not be defined in 4G LTE standards but from a practical standpoint would be required in next-generation devices since much of the new

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Affordable & Enough 2G /3G /4G Spectrum Auction in 2014 for Voice & Data

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2G 3G 4G Spectrum Auction IndiaThe Department of Telecom (DoT) has released Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for spectrum auctions in the 900MHz & 1800MHz bands to be conducted in January 2014. Analysis of the NIA reveals that the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned in the 1800MHz band is much higher than market expectations. Additionally, in most circles, large tracts of liberalized contiguous spectrum are available in the 1800MHz band, implying that operators will have greater choice for building their data arsenal in addition to 2G Voice Services.

1,800 MHz spectrum will be auctioned in all 22 circles. The quantum of spectrum varies from as low as 2.4 MHz (paired) in UP (West) to as high as 30.2 MHz in the Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) circle. 1,800 spectrum being put up for auction includes the current 1,800 spectrum holdings of

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Stop! The Internet in India – Exponential Growth Ahead!!

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From Shaadi to Shopping, Banking to Travels, Learning to Leasing, The Internet is India’s new mantra—slowly but surely it is gaining commercial scale in areas such as advertising, retail and travel. The Indian Internet story is unique—it is already large (190 mn Internet users), but still has an exponential growth ahead of it in terms of penetration (only 17%) and participation (less than 10% Internet users transact online). Over three-fourths of its users are less than 35 years old and thus keen to embrace this change. The Indian Internet market is driven by (1) High Speed Connectivity (2) Content, (3) Rising Income and

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Reliance Jio Infocomm – Airtel Deal – Mukesh Ambani’s Materstroke

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Reliance Jio Infocomm - Airtel Deal AnalystsReliance Jio Infocomm [Jio] and Bharti Airtel announced a comprehensive infrastructure sharing agreement. The deal encompasses fibre (inter- and intra-city), towers, submarine fibre—and in future even joint laying of fibre and roaming on each other’s networks. In future, the arrangement could be extended into roaming on 2G, 3G and 4G networks, and even jointly laying optic fiber etc.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed except a phrase – arms length pricing which indicates that Jio is willing to pay market prices for the infrastructure and services that it avails from Airtel compared to the deep discounted deals Jio made with Reliance Communications.

Mukesh Ambani delivered a Masterstroke by first silencing his cash starved brother Anil Ambani squeezing the last drop from the two deals

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JustDial from Local Search to MarketPlace e-Commerce – Compete Flipkart / eBay / Amazon

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JustDial from Local Search to ecommerce facilitatorJustDial is likely to generate non-linear revenue growth in the time to come with the launch of new transactional nature services like food delivery, table bookings at restaurants, placing order for wine, taking appointment with a doctor, placing order for flowers and cake (tie-up with ‘Ferns N Petals’), grocery and medicines, courier pick-up service, laundry service, travel booking (Redbus), AC maintenance services etc. Several of the above services are already operational and the rest will likely be launched shortly. These unique services and first mover advantage (as a one-stop shop) in the same should create a diversified scalable revenue stream for Just Dial. These services will allow

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Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication Shifts Focus to Balance Sheet

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Reliance Communications Focus on FinanceVoice realizations continue to inch up across the Indian Wireless sectors due to a combination of reduced discounting and tariff hikes. Encouragingly, this increase in calling rates has thus far not resulted in any significant adverse usage elasticity.

In the prepaid segment, RCOM is following the industry and has cut discounts and raised tariffs. However, it intends to compete aggressively in the postpaid segment where it has both 3G & CDMA spectrum and can offer voice and high-speed

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Google Other Vendors Ignoring India for SmartPhone Launch a Blunder – Big Leap

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SmartPhone Market India Big LeapThe Indian Mobile Handset Market is set for a Big Leap in 2014. The handset market currently is almost entirely replacement market. Encouragingly, there appears to be a constant upgrade cycle toward smartphones and the company believes that over next three-four years, the feature phone segment is likely to diminish significantly.

e-commrerce Mobile Retailer Vs Store Retailing in India
Ecommerce companies, especially the ones with “marketplace” models, are currently the most aggressive on the ground. Organized retailers comprising national players like Mobile Store, Spice, Univercell, Reliance digital, Next, Hotspot, etc. and brand outlets (example Nokia Priority) are finding it hard to compete with the e-commerce retailers – e-bay, Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, etc

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