4G LTE Broadband

Will Reliance Jio 4G Launch Dent 3G Subscriber Additions ?

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Reliance Jio 4G to Impact 3G in India3G adoption in India has been much slower than initially expected. We think dismal 3G penetration was due to a combination of reasons – (a) 3G speed not really being perceptibly better than 2G due to operators’ reluctance to invest in the network and smaller spectrum holdings/size, (b) unavailability of affordable devices (which was the case at the time of launch, but not anymore though), (c) lack of subscriber data usage behavior. However, 3G adoption has picked up over the last few quarters as 3G handsets are much more affordable and the handset replacement cycle has shortened, while a larger proportion of subscribers are willing to use data services.

2G & 3G Shift to 4G Mobile Data ?
It is conceivable that a generation of data-hungry subscribers in India may leapfrog from 2G to 4G bypassing 3G (or at best remaining using 3G for

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Reliance Jio Infocomm Launch – What will be Similar to 2003 and Different in 2014 ?

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Reliance Jio Infocomm LogoReliance Jio Infocomm launch is expected to be a game changer in the Indian Telecom Industry. We believe Reliance Jio will help increase the affordability of data services, by reducing tariff / equipment costs, and evolve consumer usage patterns, by introducing several unique and new services.

We’d like to compare the similarities and differences between Reliance Infocomm’s [Now RCom] 2003 launch [Launched on 28-12-2002, but took off in mid 2003] and the current one [Reliance Jio]. The key similarities, in our view, are the aggressive offerings with newer technologies, which would likely lead to an expansion in the market. The key differences, in our view, will be the relatively late entry this time, which would lead the company to follow an aggressive subscriber poaching strategy, and R-Jio’s inclination to use / share

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Why Airtel’s 4G Tariff Converge with 3G in some Circles ?

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In circles where Airtel offers 4G services, it now offers 4G-LTE data at the same tariff as 3G (in some higher-end dongle plans 4G is even cheaper than 3G). We believe this is a significant event in the life cycle of 3G in India. While we are yet to see any operator launch 4G on 1800 MHz, if the pricing here is the same as on 4G on 2300 MHz (very likely), we foresee a situation where 3G networks will be competing against newer networks of far superior capability (on speed, coverage and cost).

How Profitable is 3G Data Service as an Incremental Offering in India ?
While world over the experience on data profitability is not clear, Indian telcos have consistently claimed that the data business

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How to Access Reliance Jio Wi-Fi Broadband for FREE ?

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A Consumer once registered can browse on Jio WiFi from any city pan India. However an important point to note here is that as per the Government mandate, a user can use free WiFi for a maximum of 72 hours. Post that, he needs to do OTP verification once again to continue enjoy browsing at high speeds. During 72 hours, user can access the Jio Wi-Fi across all locations in all cities.

Customers can now connect their existing devices to Jio WiFi and enjoy high speeds of up to 100mbps to its users. With such a blazing speed, the customers can stream or download music, movies etc. in a just a jiffy! On a Trial basis, Reliance Jio Wi-Fi is available for FREE access in Gujarat, Navi Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh.

Jio WiFi can be accessed through any

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Bharti Infratel Riding Reliance Jio Network Expansion

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Bharti Infratel TowersBharti Infratel [Telecom Tower & Infrastructure Company] together with Indus towers, has been gaining market share. Bulk of tenancy additions during the quarter came from data networks (by definition, this excludes the 3G loading sites which do not contribute to the tenancy number). This suggests that a decent amount of new 3G/4G site demand is coming up already (as against the expectation of 3G loading continuing on existing 2G locations continuing). Reliance Jio contributed significantly to qoq surge in additions reported by Bharti Infratel standalone [agreement with Indus signed end of 2Q]. However, strong 2Q volume growth did not translate into commensurate rev growth given late quarter tenancy pick up.

Bharti Infratel Fiber Backhaul
Mgmt said that Under its current IP-1 license, BIL / Indus are allowed to deploy only dark fiber, but to run active fiber business, it would have to come under current licensing regime that would result in 8% license fee payment to government. The differences between tower business and fibre business in terms of the pace of technological change, duration of contracts and pricing, that have forced the company to deliberate more on fibre business opportunity. Mgmt. acknowledged the need for fibre in the country given expected data growth, and therefore it would be looking at this opportunity much more

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Which Way will India Go 3G or 4G-LTE ?

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India Mobile Data 3G 4GDespite growth takeoff, 3G penetration is merely 7-10% of the existing mobile subscriber base in India. One key deterrent to a broad based data adoption has been expensive 3G handsets. With the launch of Android One the USD 100 handset segment has seen more depth. With the availability of low-cost 3G smartphones, existing subscribers are unlikely to continue using 2G feature phones, opting instead to make the switch to 3G smartphones; in this respect, the trends over the last six months have been very encouraging. We believe the trend will now change in favour of low cost smartphones versus feature phones.

Furthermore 3G coverage is expected to improve; more so as incumbent telcos gear up to contest 4G launch by Reliance Jio. Given this first positive

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4G VoLTE Networks to be Powered by IMS Core

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If you have been following the Telecommunications industry for a decade or more you will likely remembers IMS (IP multimedia system) as the technology architecture developed by the leading circuit switch voice vendors (i.e., Lucent and Nortel) in the late 1990s as the technology that would save their declining voice businesses but they were far ahead of time.

This vision eventually came to fruition, but in a much smaller way in the long-distance network (4ESS) which was rebuilt using soft switches and media gateways to enable the use of

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How VoLTE Can Enhance Voice Quality / Data & Transition from 2G/ 3G

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4G LTE Voice Data Capacity The greatest benefit of pushing voice over LTE [VoLTE] is the opportunity to increase capacity for faster 4G mobile data services by redeploying spectrum currently used for older 2G and 3G services. For example, we have learned that Voice over LTE or VoLTE is roughly 2-3 times more efficient than 3G voice services and 4-6 times more efficient than 2G voice services. VoLTE is very sensitive to cell hand-off for customers on the go. As such, carriers need to optimize and tighten their grid of cell sites to ensure a high quality voice experience, as a dropped data connection can lead to a dropped call. With data, connections can drop and become quickly reestablished, which is unlikely to be detected by the customer given the likelihood for

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Can Reliance Jio Launch 4G-LTE Data / Broadband at 50% Discount to Incumbents ?

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Reliance jio Infocomm Launch Data RatesIn our previous report we have analyzed the need for disruption by Reliance Jio Infocomm in the Indian Telecommunications space. Today we’d like to throw some light on what will likely happen to the Hottest Area of Telecom – Mobile Broadband / Data Services if Reliance Jio were to launch at 50% discount to incumbent players.

The current realization is 25-29 paise/MB for incumbents; this is not the most aggressive disruption assumption), it would mean R-Jio starts selling at 15 paise/MB. Current 3G usage in India (on a base of around 52 mn subs) is

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How Can Reliance Jio Disrupt Indian Mobile / Wireless Market ?

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We Probably have the highest coverage on Reliance Jio Infocomm in the public domain analyzing each and every move the company makes openly. In the absence of any clear road map being portrayed by the Ambani’s team to Public / Shareholders; we try to address three main issues on the Disruption in Indian Wireless by the launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Does Reliance Jio intent to disrupt the Telecom space in India which is stabilizing after the 2G Spectrum Scam – The honest answer is

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