1. 2G: Finance Ministry note casts a shadow.
A document brought out by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), dated 25th March, 2011 and submitted to the Supreme Court recently, states that the MoF had implicitly agreed to impose the same entry fees as that which prevailed in 2001 for 2G spectrum licences allotted up to December 31, 2008.
When the 2G licences were allocated, the Finance Minister was Mr. Chidambaram.
The above document was submitted by Janata Party President, Dr. Subramanian Swamy.
MoF raised the issue of updating the entry fee albeit only for the licences allotted after January 1, 2009.
2. Reliance-Siemens to offer homeland security.
Pan India BWA spectrum winner Reliance Infotel plans to offer fourth generation wireless networking services for safety, security and other advanced applications.
Reliance Security Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and Siemens Ltd have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop Homeland Security Solutions for Safe, Secure and Smart Cities and Highways in India.
Reliance and Siemens will combine to leverage the launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) based 4G network (BWA) for the low latency and assured Quality of Service (QoS) required for video and security applications.
According to our sources, Reliance – Infotel plans to launch BWA Data service in approx 700 cities in the first phase of its BWA launch with data speeds from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.
Presently RIL is finalizing vendors who would supply broadband equipment based on the so- long term evolution (LTE) technology so as to roll out wireless broadband services by the end of 2011.
3. Video calling ISD Booths in Kerala.
Idea cellular today inaugurated Kerala’s first Video Calling ISD booth in Malapuram Kerala.
4. Nokia Siemens launches Liquid Net.
Nokia Siemens Networks announced the launch of Liquid Net a new way to deliver broadband.
Liquid Net will now allow operator to set up its network to self-adapt to meet capacity and coverage requirements based on demand.
Nokia Siemens Networks has created Liquid Net2, to free-up unused capacity and allocate it instantly across the whole network wherever and whenever it is needed.
Liquid Net uses automated, self-adapting broadband optimization to deliver services.
In addition, Liquid Net channels traffic in the transport network along the path of least resistance and lowest cost between operator sites.
5. BSNL launches mobile Apps Store.
Pan India 3G Mobile Service operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) officially announced the launch of mobile applications store – BSNL Apps Store.
Now, BSNL mobile (2G and 3G) customers in all telecom circles across India can transform their basic phone into a Smart Phone by accessing over 4500 Apps across 25 categories for their business, games, books, social networking and other needs.
Some applications are available for Free and would display only a “Download” option with Zero price point and Premium apps starting as low as just Rs. 8, BSNL Apps Store will offer local and regional Apps for customers across the country.
6. Indian Telecom Industry Restructuring.
The telecom industry does not use the word ‘Job cuts’, instead it resorts to ‘organization restructure’ whenever its profits is under pressure.
During June 2011, India’s largest mobile company, Airtel announced its restructuring plan to reduce excesses and drive efficiencies. Even though the company expected ‘minimal impact’ on the jobs, according to the industry observers, the company will reduce nearly 2000 jobs out of its total 11500 employees by the year end.
Approximately 20 days later, Tata Teleservices merged its CDMA and GSM divisions. It is estimated that this unification will result in the reduction of 15% of its employees.
In September 2011, RCom merged its three business divisions, a move that will make about 10% of its 7,000 executives redundant and result in redeployment of another 2,000 employees to ‘field functions’. The company merged its existing three business regions into a single entity reporting to a chief operating officer. Earlier these three regions were headed by Regional Heads.
Indian Telcos resort to restructuring to ‘drive efficiencies’ which is the need of the hour as the industry is facing dwindling profits, lowest rates in tariff and cut throat competition.
The other reason for the restructuring is because of the transformation from mobility to data business. The businesses are transforming from being distribution driven to content driven.
7. GSM subscriber additions continue to dip.
The slowdown in the telecom industry in India does not seem to abate with only 5.33 million users added in August (GSM).
GSM subscriber base thus stood at 611.75 million at the end of last month.
For the fourth month in a row, subscriber additions continued to decline. In May for the first time since October 2009, the subscriber additions were below the 10 million mark when 9.53 million GSM users were added.
8. Mobile phone shipments into India fall 3%.
Mobile handset shipments to India declined by 3 per cent in the April-June period compared to the previous quarter due to inventory build-up and reworking on product line-up by vendors, says research firm IDC.
However, on a year-on-year basis, the shipments were higher by 6 per cent in the period under review.
Shipments cooled down a bit in the April-June quarter of 2011, partly due to an inventory build-up from the preceding quarters and partly because vendors apparently paused to take a re-look at their product portfolio strategies.
India-based vendors have particularly been busy planning their debuts in the smart phone category.
9. Brown labeled ATMs from Hughes Comm.
Hughes Communications India, a broadband satellite service provider, today said it will set up 5,000 brown label ATMs in the country.
In a ‘brown label' ATM, the hardware as well as lease is under the ownership of the service provider, while connectivity and cash handling and management is the responsibility of the sponsor bank.
There are twin benefits here. One is that the capex is associated with the service provider. Second is that since the vendor gets a fee for every transaction from the bank whose ATM card is being used, there is an incentive to ensure efficiency in terms of usage.
Out of a total base of 75,000 ATMs in India, 18,500 have been installed by Hughes.
10. Deutsche Bank looks to TCS for IT solutions
Deutsche Bank has asked TCS to provide IT solutions for its financial services firm's capital markets business unit. Deutsche Bank has taken the decision to align itself with ITIL (IT infrastructure Library) standards.
Deutsche Bank has taken this decision so as to achieve an improved service delivery through the best practice framework provided by ITIL. The improved service delivery will also help in the bank become cost effective. TCS has the enviable task of delivering a global application service desk ITIL services besides deploying its software solutions in all the seven locations of the bank spread across the US, UK, Germany, Hungary, Philippines, Singapore and India.
