2G GSM / CDMA

GSM subscriber base grew strongly in September 2013 led by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea

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The GSM industry added 4.4mn subscribers (net) during September 2013 led by the incumbent operators— Airtel, Idea and Vodafone (3.6mn combined). All private operators added subscribers, with Idea leading the way with net additions of 1.2mn.

The incumbents represented 81% of the additions, significantly higher than their GSM market share, which reflects the continued consolidation in the industry. We note that since January 2012, the top three players (Bharti, Vodafone India and Idea) have been able to increase their

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CDMA Voice Business Weakens Further – GSM Strengthens

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Tata DoCoMo CDMA Business WeakThe long-term prospects for CDMA are challenging, and according to TRAI, at a time when the subscriber base for GSM increased by 65% in the last three years, CDMA recorded a decline of 30%. ARPU for in Dec-2012 for GSM (Airtel) was Rs 185 and that for CDMA (RCom) was Rs 117 a difference of 60%. RCom ARPU includes that of GSM as well.

Separately, we believe there could be a potential voluntary exit by CDMA players, provided the government/regulator agrees to compensate the CDMA players for forming the E-GSM band. We note that GSM players have suggested forming of the E-GSM band, which should release addition spectrum in

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Aircel Mobile Hikes Tariffs Along with Industry

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Aircel IndiaAircel Mobile with limited 2G and 3G Cellular Operations across India stopped the undercutting to capture market share and shifted focus to Revenue Market Share. In-line with the rest of the industry Aircel has hiked tariffs in the last two months. Our analytics team tracking the tariff illustrate circle name, old tariff followed by new tariff, the change and the impact.

  • Bihar Combo pack of Rs29, validity 90 days, local & STD calls @ Rs0.02/3 sec Cost of pack Rs29 – validity 90 days – local & STD calls to mobile no. @ Rs0.02/3 sec – local & STD calls to landline no. @ Rs0.03/sec Increased cost of calls made to landline nos RPM will increase for a user with a higher proportion of landline calls
  • Chennai STD pack of Rs27,

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Uninor Tariff Hikes in UP Circle in Aug / Sept

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Uninor IndiaChallenger and New Entrant Uninor has also resorted to 2G Voice Call Tariff hike in August / September Quarter. Uninor is no more a PAN India Operator and has operations in limited circles. Here is a brief summary on how the company hiked tariffs in UP(E) and UP(W) circles of India. Here are the details of the Hike which shows circle name, old tariff followed by new tariff, the change and the impact.

  • UP-E Minutes pack of Rs11 – 111 local mins free to own network – validity 5 days Minutes pack of Rs11 – 111 local mins free to own network – validity 4 days Reduced validity RPM impact of 25%
  • UP-E Minutes pack of Rs33 – 99 mins free to local no. – validity 7 days

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Modest Mobile Subscriber Addition in August

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The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) has released August 2013 subscriber data for Bharti Airtel (Bharti), Idea Cellular (Idea), Vodafone, Aircel and Uninor. The all-India GSM subscriber base rose 0.26% to 674.4mn during the month versus 0.22% rise in July.

Airtel subscribers grew 0.44% in August versus 0.25% in July primarily led by Delhi, Assam, Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Kerala circles. Idea Cellular’s subscriber growth of 0.60% (0.24% in July) was led by Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Delhi and Kerala circles. Airtel has outpaced Vodafone and Idea in absolute subscriber addition for the third

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Implications of TRAI Recommendations of 1800Mhz Spectrum Auction

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1800MHz Spectrum Auction IndiaTRAI in its recommendations released yesterday said that for the upcoming 1800Mhz spectrum auction, a 40-70% cut to reserve prices is necessary and suggested that spectrum trading should be allowed and ensure need for a successful auction. We analyze the implications of TRAI Recommendations of 1800MHz.

Lower reserve price by 40-70% for 1800MHz and 900MHz bands – hopefully the operators can at least turn up to the auctions and find some benchmarks for spectrum renewals starting late-2014.

Spectrum trading is allowed but only for

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How Airtel, Vodafone Mobile operators Fine Tune and Optimize Radio Networks ?

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With Scarce Spectrum and Number of users per BTS going up, Mobile Operators are looking at optimizing their networks and fine tune the performance to accommodate more. We’ll discuss the Fine-tuning / optimizing radio networks so that any Mobile Network enthusiast can get to know the same without actually being an engineer.

Radio networks comprise a large number of base stations, where each base station covers a limited area called a ‘cell’. Boosting the signal capacity at each cell level can result in a significant reduction in congestion at the network level. Some ways of
addressing this include,

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A-Vo-ID Group Control 70% Revenues of Indian Telecom Industry

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Airtel Vodafone Idea - The AVOID Group MarketshareThe Indian telecom industry reported robust revenue growth of 5.6% q-q in the Apr-Jun quarter. Revenue growth was driven by increases in revenue per minute with most large operators reporting 4-6% increases in pricing. Year-on-year growth also improved to 9.7% after having slowed to 6.5-7% in last two quarters. Industry revenue growth picked up across circles.

Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Corner 70% Revenue Market Share.
Airtel, Vodafone and Idea combined revenue market share (RMS) crossed 70%, the highest market share of the top three in over five years. Despite India still having 12 telecom operators, industry revenue is consolidating. This quarter, Bharti, Idea and Vodafone gained RMS while RCOM, Tata and Uninor lost share. Uninor’s market share peaked at 2.6% in 1QFY13 but, post the SC directive on licence cancellation, the company has reduced its operations and its national RMS has reduced to 1.7%. The top three operators reported strong market share gains in each of the 22 circles in India, alleviating any concerns on market share

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How Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance Optimize their Voice Networks ?

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Indian Telecom Saga is still about 2G Voice as operators strive to bring in the most interior rural parts on to the telecom network. Apart from expanding the number of cell sites, the operators have alternative methods to boost capacity. These include usage of 3G network, fluid ICR agreements and vertical expansion. The following 4 Methodologies are Widely used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Reliance to optimize and enhance the Voice Services in India

Vertical expansion – Cell sites can be expanded vertically by adding

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Is TRAI Hinting at More Balanced Telecom Regime Ahead ?

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In the aftermath of the 2G Spectrum Scam engineered by Politicians and Cronies in the Congress Party, the near-term positive is likely to be in the form of reduced spectrum prices recommended to the Government. Moreover, with the possibility of penal powers shifting to TRAI (from DoT), the regulatory outlook is likely to improve further. Whilst we do not expect a complete end to punitive actions from the DoT, a

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