Indian Telecom: News & Discussions: All Cable COs must become digital by 2013: TRAI

Singh

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NEW DELHI: Indian telecom companies added a record 15 million customers in January, indicating that the world�s fastest growing telecom market
remains untouched by the economic slowdown.

This is a global record for any telecom market. The number of phone connections in the country � mobile and landline � has crossed 400 million as of January-end, telecom regulator Trai said on Friday. Mobile phone users now account for close to 91% of the country�s telephone base with 362.3 million connections, the regulator said. The robust growth has also helped push the country�s teledensity to 34.5%. This means, there are 35 phone connections for every 100 people in India.

The industry maintained the growth momentum with operators expanding networks to smaller towns and villages. Besides, cheap call rates, which are among the lowest in the world, have also helped the record growth.

January growth was led by Reliance Communications that added close to 5 million new subscribers, GSM and CDMA combined, taking its subscriber base to 66.2 million. RCom had launched GSM services in January with an aggressive pricing strategy that enabled the company to garner a third of the total customers added by the industry in the month.

The wireline segment continued its declining trend, with the subscriber base going down to 37.75 million in January, registering a drop of 0.15 million from 37.90 million subscribers in December 2008. BSNL�s wireline subscriber base dipped by 0.2 million to reach 29.29 million in January 2009 compared to 29.50 million in December 2008.

MTNL too registered a drop of over 10,000 customers in the wireline space to take its total subscriber base to 3.5 million. However, private telecom operators providing landline services like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices recorded positive growth.

The broadband sector also recorded positive growth. The country added 0.20 million new users in January, taking the total customers using high-speed internet services to 5.65 million. However, this is well below the target of 9 million usersby 2007, laid out in the broadband policy.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-telecom-users-in-Jan/articleshow/4163653.cms

PS: There are 1100million Indians and 400million phone connections. The notion that some harbour of India having more than 800million below povery line has yet again proved to be false. :)
 
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nitesh

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Wow that's a tremendous increase. If the momentum continues we will soon have highest number of phone users.

PS: I want to rename the thread as "Indian Telecom News and Discussion." What you guys say
 

nitesh

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http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bsnl-launches-3g-services/19/57/55533/on

BSNL launches 3G services
Press Trust of India / Chennai February 22, 2009, 19:07 IST

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) today launched next generation 3G mobile services in the country even as the private operators are still waiting to get spectrum through auction process.

BSNL and another PSU MTNL (for Delhi and Mumbai) were given 3G spectrum last year ahead of auction for private players keeping in mind the cumbersome tendering process involved in the public sector procurement system.

For the private operators, the government has referred the issue of 3G spectrum auction to a Group of Ministers in view of inter-ministerial differences over the reserve price.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had earlier announced a reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore for pan India 3G spectrum but later the Finance Ministry proposed doubling it.

The DoT later took the matter to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which referred it to the GoM, which is yet to meet for the first time.

The 3G mobile services would be made available on commercial basis from April 20 this year in Tamil Nadu, BSNL CMD Kuldip Goyal said.

Goyal said 3G services customers would have three monthly subscription options of Rs 350, Rs 650 and Rs 1,350. Apart from this, customers would also get the 3G services through a bundle offer.
 

nitesh

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This is good news:

http://sifybroadband.techwhack.com/1319-mobile-number-portability-3


Mobile Number Portability coming to India by August this year
Telecom News February 22nd, 2009 30 views

Mobile Number Portability coming to India by August this year

Indian Union Minister for IT and Communication A Raja has said in a statement that the government aims to bring mobile number portability in the market by August this year.

Mobile number portability has been massively delayed and is much awaited.

This feature would allow mobile users to switch their mobile service providers without changing their old numbers.

Raja said in a statement: “The mobile number portability enabling customers to retain their old number while shifting from one operator to another would be launched in major cities by August this year.”

It is likely to be launched in the major cities in the country by August. It would be further expanded to other markets at a later stage.

We are big supporters of this move by the government. A lot of mobile users are stuck with their providers just because they cannot afford to change their numbers. This would be a huge relief for them.
 

nitesh

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That's interesting development:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4158371.cms?frm=mailtofriend

Bankrupt Nortel selling a business to Radware
20 Feb 2009, 0749 hrs IST, REUTERS


NEW YORK: Nortel Networks Corp, the Canadian phone equipment giant that filed for bankruptcy protection last month, on Thursday said it agreed to
sell parts of its application delivery portfolio to Radware Ltd, pending the results of a court-supervised auction.

North America's largest telephone equipment maker said it filed the agreement with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware. Nortel said it also asked the court to establish bidding procedures to allow others to submit higher or better offers, as required under U.S. bankruptcy law. It said it filed a similar motion with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Both courts must approve any sale, it said. The purchase agreement calls for Radware to assume ownership, product development and outstanding warranties, but Nortel said it would continue to promote the products. Nortel added the application switch product line in October 2000 when it acquired Alteon WebSystems Inc, Radware said in a separate statement.

Once a stock market darling during the 1990s technology bubble, Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Jan. 14, after its liquidity deteriorated in the wake of a sharp slowdown in many major markets including the United States, as well as competition from lower-cost rivals. Analysts have expected Nortel to shed some assets, likely at low prices in light of the recession and tight credit conditions. A copy of the Radware agreement was not immediately available. The case is Nortel Networks Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No. 09-10138.
 

A.V.

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Wow that's a tremendous increase. If the momentum continues we will soon have highest number of phone users.

PS: I want to rename the thread as "Indian Telecom News and Discussion." What you guys say
that would be just apt considering the telecom industry plays a great role in the modern world and india is advancing at a breakneck spped as evident from the last few posts.
thnx
 

Vinod2070

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While this is good news, I think we are not making sufficient progress in broadband connections. They should be cheaper and faster.

Also I don't see the wimax technology catching very fast in India. That can make the rollouts faster and cheaper in the Indian scenario.
 

nitesh

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Guys I have changed the name all telecommunication industry related discussion here please
 

thakur_ritesh

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PS: There are 1100million Indians and 400million phone connections. The notion that some harbour of India having more than 800million below povery line has yet again proved to be false. :)
the figure of 800m is any day a load of crap, a figure that even the organisation that did the study was doubtful of. the head of that study went on record (on ndtv iirc) to say that they were not very sure about the figure to be 800m, so that in it self says a lot about the autenticity of such a report. even a begger in ends his day with more than a dollar a day, least we start talking about "better", organised sectors and if the GoI puts the total employed people in india at around 500-600m (just cant recall the exact figure), then that totally kills the argument of 800m on less than a dollar a day.

here is some thing for people to reflect on, is it recession or a sheer panic gone real bad, and some thing that has taken the whole industry with it.

a quote from the article

Surprisingly, his research found no evidence of a big economic crisis. Even in markets like the US, where the meltdown began, the fall in retail sales was in single-digit percentage points. "To find the cause of the steep fall in demand, we looked at the demand and supply of companies in the value chain. What we found was that the fear of a slowdown had led retailers to reduce [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]inventories[/COLOR][/COLOR]. Because of this, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were experiencing a substantial decrease in orders,'' he says.

For OEMs, this sales reduction was interpreted as a clear indication that the economic crisis was materializing. "Like the retailers, they too reacted by lowering their [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]inventory[/COLOR][/COLOR] levels which, in turn meant that they lowered their purchases from suppliers even more than the level their sales had dropped. This explains why the electronic components manufacturer suffered a dramatic 50% decrease in sales even though the consumer demand stayed about the same,'' he says.
 

nitesh

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While this is good news, I think we are not making sufficient progress in broadband connections. They should be cheaper and faster.

Also I don't see the wimax technology catching very fast in India. That can make the roll outs faster and cheaper in the Indian scenario.
Vinod we need to consider the RoI in this thing. Also some spectrum needs to be freed up by armed forces so that it can be used for civilian purpose. Regarding broadband, once the rollout for IPTV starts then we will see there prices coming down drastically as then we will have one bill for cable, phone and Internet.
 

Vinod2070

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Vinod we need to consider the RoI in this thing. Also some spectrum needs to be freed up by armed forces so that it can be used for civilian purpose. Regarding broadband, once the rollout for IPTV starts then we will see there prices coming down drastically as then we will have one bill for cable, phone and Internet.
Its all taking just too much time. I am hearing of IPTV for more than 2 years now. I think the babus and the netas are just sitting on the files and the industry has not shown enough initiative to make bold rollouts like we say in the mobile space earlier.

Everyone is waiting for the government to take the lead and that is not happening fast enough.
 

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Ericsson and BSNL in India's biggest roll-out of 3G to boost mobile broadband

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, Feb 27, 2009 Ericsson is using its WCDMA/HSPA technology to help BSNL, India's second largest telecom operator, achieve India's biggest simultaneous launch of 3G services to date, across 11 leading cities. The commercial launch of much awaited 3G services in India will allow consumers to experience enriched communications including rich voice, video and data services.

The successful launch of 3G services in India's across multiple cities in Northern and Eastern parts of India brings 3G access to more than 15 million people and will help in driving quicker uptake of 3G services to a wide customer base.

As part of its roll-out strategy, BSNL plans to launch 3G services using WCDMA/HSPA technology across more than 700 cities in the first phase. Ericsson is BSNL's strategic partner for 3G roll-out in over 400 of these cities.
Speaking on the launch occasion, Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL, says: "Today is a significant day for BSNL. The commercial launch of 3G services represents a major milestone in our journey of realizing 3G services for the country and our customers. Ericsson's leading position and professional services capabilities have allowed us to make available a range of premium services, including rich voice, data and video services in record time.

"The widespread roll-out of 3G network will also help in propelling telecom and broadband growth in India and will help us meet India's target of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010."

Gowton Achaibar, President, Ericsson India and Sri Lanka, says: "Ericsson is proud to partner with BSNL in the roll-out of 3G services in India. This not only helps us in bridging the urban-rural digital divide, but is also a step forward in actualizing our vision of driving communications for all. Innovative services such as mobile health, m-learning and m-governance that are eventually offered to masses, using HSPA technology, shall ultimately drive socio-economic development in the country."

Today's launch will bring high quality voice services along with high speed data and video services with speeds of up to 2 Mbps. While certain applications such as video telephony, mobile broadband, mobile TV and video on demand are being offered with immediate effect, others such as music downloads, video tones, instant messaging, on line gaming, bill payment, and so on will be offered by BSNL in the future.

The mammoth roll-out will also strengthen BSNL's position as a leading player with a broad offering including Wireline, GSM Mobile, CDMA mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services to Indian consumers.

This roll-out is part of the contract announced by the companies September 7, 2007.
 

thakur_ritesh

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While this is good news, I think we are not making sufficient progress in broadband connections. They should be cheaper and faster.

Also I don't see the wimax technology catching very fast in India. That can make the rollouts faster and cheaper in the Indian scenario.
vinod, this is from the last post on this thread, they are talking big numbers for 2010.

from the present level of 5.65 million to 20 million is quite ambitious, if we consider the present levels of yearly addition of some thing like 1.5million, though most of this growth will come from the mobile phones and not IPTV as is being discussed on the thread.

"The widespread roll-out of 3G network will also help in propelling telecom and broadband growth in India and will help us meet India's target of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010."
 

Vinod2070

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vinod, this is from the last post on this thread, they are talking big numbers for 2010.

from the present level of 5.65 million to 20 million is quite ambitious, if we consider the present levels of yearly addition of some thing like 1.5million, though most of this growth will come from the mobile phones and not IPTV as is being discussed on the thread.
China is having more than 250 million internet users (this is a bit old data) and most of them are on broadband. So we are targeting a fraction in two years!

I think the government and the private sector have done a poor job in the internet sector. We call 256 kbps as broadband and even that is normally "up to 256 kbps"! The actual speed is a fraction of that. Nowhere in the world is it called broadband. In most advanced countries you get 8 Mbps or more unlimited broadband and at less rates than India. I was using a Sify connection for more than 2 years and there was no improvement in speed or reduction in rates at all.

I switched to Airtel recently and even they don't offer unlimited plans at 2 Mbps speed.

Lets hope things will improve but I do feel internet in India is not the same success story as mobile telephony is.
 
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India to be largest IT country in next 3 years'

http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14870541



India to be largest IT country in next 3 years'
Sunday, 15 March , 2009, 13:30




Mumbai: Infosys chief and co-founder S Gopalakrishnan today said the IT industry would tide over the current downturn and offer significant opportunities over the next 30 years, with much wealth to be created.

Technology Slideshows | More technology news

"We are at the very early stages of the IT industry. Only 25 per cent of the full leverage of IT is understood and used. The impact of IT will be significant in the next 25-30 years. There is still money to be made and wealth to be created in IT," Infosys Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan told reporters here.

He said IT was "exciting as ever" and that there was probably still 25-30 years of impact left before the industry becomes mainstream.

He was speaking at 'Systems Continuum 2009', organised by IIT Bombay's Shailesh J Mehta School of Management.

Gopalakrishnan said India was at the centre of the IT revolution and might surpass the US in the next three years in terms of having the largest IT professionals in the world.

"In the IT revolution, we are at the centre. We are underinvested, but that is an opportunity. A lot of investment is being done in R&D here because talent is available here. Our education system provides for that," he said.

More India business stories

"We will be the largest IT country in the world, second only after the US. In the next three years, we will be the largest in the world," he said.
 

Pintu

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According to the Economic Times Bharati Airtel pioneers 16Mbps Broadband on DSL in India.

The link and the report from the The Economic Times are follows herewith:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ps-broadband-in-India/articleshow/4366090.cms

Airtel pioneers 16 Mbps broadband in India
6 Apr 2009, 1656 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Print EMail Discuss Share Save Comment Text:
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has pioneered 16 Mbps broadband - the fastest wireline broadband on DSL in
the country.

This service, powered by Airtel's Carrier Ethernet Network, will be initially available in the cities of Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore with phased roll-out to additional cities of Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Announcing the launch of the service, K Srinivas, Joint President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, "Airtel has constantly strived to innovate and deliver high quality products to its broadband customers.

We are the leading private broadband service provider in the country and pioneered 8 Mbps broadband. It gives us great pleasure now to be able to introduce the fastest, wired broadband service on DSL.

We will be able to offer 16 Mbps broadband to 70 per cent of the households in the three cities of Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore."

Airtel delivers its broadband service to customers through a fibre backbone of Carrier Ethernet Network with last mile delivery on copper using ADSL2+ technology.

This technology enables ultra high-speed broadband which is scalable and affordable. Airtel is the leading private broadband service provider in the country offering its services across 95 cities in the country with approximately 9.92 lakh broadband customers as on December 31, 2008.

Customers can gain access to 16 Mbps broadband by choosing from 2 Tariff Plans -

-- Speed Combo 2999 - receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 20 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 2999 per month

-- Speed Combo 4999 - receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 50 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 4999 per month.
 

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Competition catching up with India: IT honchos; Don't take IT's success for granted: Premji

13 Jun 2009, 0259 hrs IST, ET Bureau


BANGALORE: The competitiveness of the Indian IT sector could be seriously threatened by other emerging locations globally unless innovative practices are employed to keep the momentum going, leading captains of the industry said.

“One cannot take any success for granted,” said Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, while delivering the keynote address at the CII India Innovation Summit here on Friday.


Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan feels that the Indian IT
industry had not yet reached the saturation point.



Citing the example of the Philippines BPO industry, he said, the country was just about a tenth of Indian IT/BPO sector five years but now it is in a position to either overtake or equal the status.

The Indian BPO sector recorded exports of $12.8 billion for FY09 with the projection that it would grow by low double-digit during FY10 while on the other hand, Philippines recorded revenue of $6.8 billion in 2008 with a likely 20-30% growth during 2009.

Mr Premji felt that growth is going to be a major challenge for the Indian IT industry in the current fiscal and even a 15% rise in numbers would require certain amount of innovation.

The Wipro chairman said the Indian economy is going to open up further leading to increased competition and only innovative practices will see companies growing.

Concurring with the view of Mr Premji, Infosys Technologies CEO S Gopalakrishnan, while interacting with mediapersons said, “we have to be always on our toes as every country globally wants to participate in the growth of the IT industry and they want to learn from us and understand.”

Maintaining that the Indian IT industry had still not reached the saturation point and some of the factors that led to its growth were still very much in play, he, however, remarked, “commoditisation starts when innovation ends.”

On the ongoing impact of the global economic downturn on the IT industry, Mr Gopalakrishnan said, there is a consensual opinion that the worst of the crisis is over but it would take some time for recovery to begin. He also felt that the government could help the Indian IT industry by speeding up the e-governance projects as this would improve citizen services as well as stimulate the economy.


Competition catching up with India: IT honchos- ITeS-Infotech-The Economic Times
 

Pintu

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washingtonpost.com

mocoNews - Nokia Commercially Launches 'Life Tools' Services In India

Tricia Duryee
mocoNews.net
Friday, June 12, 2009; 1:00 PM

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) may be having difficulties breaking into the content arena, but there's a few sectors remaining, where it likely won't bump into the likes of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) or Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO)?that's in providing services to emerging markets.

Nokia said today it was rolling out its "Life Tools" product in India, where it will deliver news, entertainment, educational and agriculture services. Practically speaking that means, people will be able to access weather and crop information, or tips and advice for studying for exams, and entertainment services, which includes things like astrology, jokes and ringtones.

The service will be launched in the state of Maharashtra, where Nokia successfully conducted a trial. The service will be rolled out in conjunction with the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). Nokia said MSAMB will provide expertise in the areas of commodity prices from their network of 291 local mandis (markets). Nokia is also working with Reuters Market Light, Syngenta, Madison Research, Skymet and others. Nokia Life Tools is hosted by OnMobile in India.
 

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