Vodafone India seeks extension of licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata

odafone India has sought extensions of its licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata which is expiring in November 2014. The incumbent GSM operator had received licences in 1994 with 20-year tenures. It has 24 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz band, which is the best quality spectrum, across these circles.

In its letter to the Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar, Vodafone sought the extension under clause 4.1 of the licence agreement. Under the agreement, the government can extend the period of licence by 10 years at one time if the request is made the operator during the 19th year of the licence period.

In addition to other licence conditions remaining same, Vodafone has asked for continuation of existing spectrum too.

“The 19th year of licence has commenced on 29.11.2012 for Mumbai,” Vodafone said in its letter, adding, “We request you to extend the period of our licence …On terms to be mutually agreed”.

Similar letters were sent for the other two circles, which completed the 19th year on November 30, 2012. ”The decision of the licensor shall be final in regard to the grant of extension,” it said.

The government is working on conducting auction of spectrum in 900 MHz band for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles during this financial year, but it is yet to decide on the final date for auction.

TRAI Quality of Service report : Airtel’s Cellular Network is best in Mumbai and Maharashtra

Airtel has delivered on all network quality parameters in Mumbai and Maharashtra circles as per TRAI’s Quality of Service (QoS) report released in the second quarter of 2012.

The report rated Airtel as best on all network quality benchmarks defined by TRAI – For Instance Availability of Network, Ease of originating a Call or a Data Session , Voice Clarity and Ability to successfully complete the Calls and Data Sessions.

As of now Airtel has its network present in 5,115 census towns and 453,148 non-census towns and villages in India, covering approximately 86.3% of the country’s population.

The company offers coverage on approx. 95% of rail routes and has invested in 151,719 RKms of Optic fibre for carrying long distance domestic traffic both captive and for other domestic players. It has ownership in 7 submarine cable systems wholly or through a consortium expanding our global network to over 225,000 RKms, covering 50 countries across 5 continents.

Tata Teleservices and ICICI Bank partner to launch Money Transfer Services

ICICI Bank and MMP Mobi Wallet Payment Systems, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Teleservices has announced a partnership to launch a money transfer service. This would let a customer walk into a retail store of MMP to deposit cash along with details of the account of the payee to transfer money easily.

Once the amount is deposited, this money would be transferred to the bank account of the payee using electronic fund transfer mechanisms such as NEFT, Interbank Mobile Payment Service etc. MMP would also act as a Business Correspondent of ICICI Bank that would allow customers to transfer money for a nominal fee without opening an account.

This is quick and completely secure, where the transactions are provided by the ICICI Bank and the distribution is done by MMP. Airtel launched  a similar money transfer service called Super Account in partnership with Axis bank, earlier this year.

The MMP money transfer service would be launched in Mumbai and Delhi initially and would be gradually rolled out across other parts of India.

Reliance Digital is on Massive Expansion Mode: Infotel 4G’s Official Stores?

In a recent report Reliance Digital, the the retail electronics chain run by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group is undergoing massive expansion mode with the target to make total stores to 500 as well as having warehouse in every state in the country by March 2014. Currently Reliance Digital has only 101 stores with only 21 warehouse in the country. Main focus is to have presence in tier 2 and tier 3 cities of the country.

What does it mean ?

Reliance Group’s flagship telecom company Infotel Broadband‘s 4G/LTE services are going to be launched in the country in coming months. To make 4G a grand success Infotel is focusing on tier II and III cities where broadband demand is high and BSNL can not be a match for the choice of the youngsters there.

Reliance Digital can be the answer of this problem, where Infotel kisoks will take care of 4G sale as well as customer care like other operators’ official stores. Not only that people can buy gadgets at Reliance Digital and get rewards in terms of 4G data, voice or video minutes. Infotel’s devices – tablets, WiFi routers, MiFi devices or smartphones is to be made available on R-Digital stores where you can buy them at best price.

Reliance Communications has 241 Reliance World outlets across 105 cities of the country as per its website. Airtel and Vodafone have more than 500 branded stores across the country. RIL’s approach seems to be in the right way.

Reliance Industries can easily integrate its all retail shops with Infotel 4G – like Tata Tele’s Talk24 branding with Future Group. Buy stuffs at Reliance fresh, Reliance Digital, Time out or Trendsand reward points (RelianceOne) can be converted into 4G data – how good the deal is?

TRAI to MTS India, Uninor, Videocon and TTSL : Inform Customers About Closure of Mobile Service from January 18

India’s telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today issued directive to Uninor, MTS India (SSTL), Videocon and Tata Teleservices who’s licences had quashed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on February 2, 2012,  to inform their customers that they would be suspending their GSM and CDMA Mobile services from January 18, 2013.

TRAI gave a 10 days deadline to the these mobile service providers to inform their subscribers about the closer of GSM/ CDMA mobile service in the respective circles and also send text messages or provide this information in writing to all their customers in those circles where they failed to retain spectrum and renew their licences.

Uninor, MTS India, Videocon and Tata Teleservices have a total of 26 million customers in verious circles where they failed to get fresh spectrum or renew their mobile service licence in the recently concluded 2G auctions.

CDMA Operators MTS India (Sistema Shyam Teleservices – Pan India) and Tata Teleservices (in 3 circles) did not participate in the Spectrum auction process.

TRAI’s order will be ‘Big-Blow for Pure CDMA Operator MTS India as it faces the prospect of mass exodus of its CDMA customers even as the oerator is awaiting the fate of its curative petition in the Supreme Court against its licence cancellation.

Uninor / Telenor who already issued public notice to its customers in Kolkata and West Bengal circles to port-out from its network before 18th January is also trying to approach the DoT seeking an extension of its Mumbai mobile licence beyond January 18 as it is likely to get for 2G spectrum there in the next auction scheduled before 31st March, 2013.

Tata Teleservices (Tata Docomo CDMA), which chose not to bid again for the CDMA airwaves it held in the loss-making telecom circles of Assam,  North East and Jammu & Kashmir, already inform and started the MNP process for its customers in these circles.

Uninor shutting Ops in WB; tells users to port out

Supreme Court has ordered license cancellation of Uninor, the operator will have to close down operations in 2 circles

GSM service provider, Uninor is all set to close down its operations in Kolkata and West Bengal circles as it has now told its users to port their numbers to other service providers.

On February 2, 2012, Supreme Court of India had quashed Uninor's licenses as a result of which the teleco will have to stop its operations in the two circles of Kolkata and West Bengal on January 19, 2013.

To avoid inconvenience for its existing customers, Uninor has requested all its customers in Kolkata and West Bengal to exhaust their balance by January 18, 2013, and utilise mobile number portability to port out to any other operator of choice.

But the teleco's operations in the Mumbai circle are continuing as Telenor Group evaluates the possibility of participating in the second auction for spectrum in Mumbai, indicated Indian authorities of the company.

"While we have ensured continuity in six circles, license cancellation and the unavailability of new spectrums in 2013 auctions means we will discontinue operations in Kolkata and West Bengal. We have all been a part of an extraordinary fight back for which I credit our employees and partners and remain grateful to our customers in each of our circles. In Kolkata and West Bengal our focus now is on conducting the process of closure with full transparency and responsibility to minimise the negative impact this outcome has on all those affected by it," said Sigve Brekke, managing director of Uninor.

In the two circles of Kolkata and West Bengal, Uninor has a total subscriber base of 5.6 million of which 57 per cent are active subscribers by TRAI (October 2012). In a move simplify the process of porting Uninor has further strengthened its MNP code generation processes for customers in these circles.

Uninor has also dropped the 90-day lock in to allow customers to port-out even if they have taken up a Uninor subscription less than 90 days ago. Text SMS'es will be sent to all customers in Kolkata and West Bengal, encouraging them to exhaust their balance and port out to an operator of choice. MNP will also be recommended to customers in the two circles through IVRs on all customer service help lines as well.

The company has suspended the supply of any new SIM cards and recharges in Kolkata and West Bengal circles with immediate effect, as per the license guidelines.

Airtel Mobitude 2012 Announced: In-depth Analysis of Mobile Users Preferences

Bharti Airtel has announced the results for the 4th edition of Airtel Mobitude for 2012. Airtel Mobitude, similar to Google’s Zeitgeist is the annual survey of customers preferences to see-through of consumption likes and dislikes of more than 186 million customers.

This year’s analysis highlights a fast increasing customer preference for MobileTV, thus resulting in a whopping 65% jump in traffic experienced by the service over last year. Within the MobileTV category, IPL viewing minutes jumped a record breaking 74% and viewership increased over 46% from numbers witnessed in 2011. Sony TV ranked number 1 among television channels. The traction seen by MobileTV reinforces India’s growing demand for data driven services that help customers get their dose of the best and latest in entertainment.

In 2012, India went the MMS way by crossing the 1 million mark on Diwali and jumped 145% on the festive day for the first time in the country’s MMS traffic history. The Navratri festival topped all events in terms of specialized content download traffic.

On the data side, maximum data consumption on mobile internet is typically seen during the graveyard shift between 10pm – 11pm. The Airtel mobile internet usage pattern indicates growing customer preference for social networking, looking at pictures, downloading applications, playing games, listening to music, reading news and watching videos. Video consumption is reported at its highest during night hours. Specifically, 3 video streaming and download sites fared among ‘Top 10 websites’ in 2012 (compared with only 1 last year) – thus showing growing popularity of the category.

An average of 3 million downloads on Airtel App Central were recorded every month. With 90% downloads in the ‘Free’ category, customers show a preference for the ‘freemium’ model. While 65% of application downloads are games, other popular categories including social networking, video and music players, sports, health and other entertainment.