Qualcomm refuses to bring down royality

Tata group chairman Ratan Tata and his seven-member delegation in a meeting with Qualcomm chief Paul Jacobs have failed to convince him to bring down the 7% royalty charged on CDMA handsets sold in India.
Jacobs expressed his inability to reduce royalty during his meeting with Tata on Tuesday evening. This was Jacobs' first meeting on his India tour. He is scheduled to meet communications minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday and Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday, both of whom will also demand lower royalty. Reliance is being expected to switch completely to GSM if the royalty is not reduced.
Tata group's Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) is the second largest CDMA operator in the country.
Sources said Tatas also sought parity between GSM and CDMA handsets at the operator level but the Qualcomm chief said that since CDMA was a superior technology a $3 differential was bound to be there. However, this would come down over the next four to five years. Tatas are believed to have expressed their unhappiness at this.
Qualcomm chief met with a seven-member Tata delegation, which included Tata and TTSL's CEO, Darryl Green, and discussed ways and means to further develop CDMA technology and offer new state-of-the-art services. While Indian players pay 7% royalty to Qualcomm, in China and South Korea the royalty is about 2%.
The two sides are also believed to have discussed the spectrum policy of the government, which according to them, is loaded in favour of the GSM technology. Tata has already written about the issue to the department of telecommunications (DoT) and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). TTSL has being crying foul over the current spectrum ploicy since long time.
The two sides are also believed to have discussed the scenario if Reliance Communications switches over to GSM technology.

Tata Tele goes for pan-India footprint

Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) is all set to expand its footprint to cover all the 23 circles including J&K, Assam, and North East at an investment of Rs. 2,500-3,000 crore.
The company has applied for universal access service licence (UASL) in the three states and plans to roll out services in the next three years. Company already posseses UASL in all the other circles. Company has also applied for NLD licence. It is being expected that company will set up its own network for NLD over few years. NLD licence would enable TTSL to offer much competetive plans like One India and will also lease out surplus capacity.
Sources in the company told, “This would be one of the most critical roll-outs for the company. Our focus now is to set up the network once we get the licence, then we will decide about our plans to grab market share and tariff plans at a latter stage. With a pan India presence, we would be able to offer better roaming rates and services.” Sources also pointed that the thrust in the three new circles would be to generate revenues from its roaming volumes. In addition, sources claimed that rural thrust in these three circles would be visible, once the company launches the services.
TTSL is confident that it would be able to ride on the code division multiple access (CDMA) technology to offer not only voice but also high-end services. “We would be deploying CDMA1X technology in the new circles,” said sources. The company plans to invest about Rs 1000 crore for its rural thrust, that will include setting up of specialised 3000 base stations in difficult terrains in rural parts of the country.

Hutch launches Fun Cards

Cellular service provider 'Hutch' has introduced 'Fun Cards' that offer pre-defined content for users at one go. The Fun Card which is a scratch card (typically resembles the monthly recharge coupons) has a 16-digit unique pin number.
Speaking at a press conference here Thursday, Kumar Ramanathan, chief executive officer, Hutch - Chennai and Tamilnadu, said customers can purchase the scratch card from any retailers and get their preferred ring tone or caller tunes.
He said, 'most of the content available to customers goes unnoticed as they are in intangible form. Therefore, to make it more convenient for the customers, Fun Cards have been are introduced.' Elaborating, he said, 'these cards offer Hutch customers multiple choices of content. Be it ring tones or caller tunes, customers can purchase them at the nearest shop'.
The Ring Tone Fun Card contains a set of three ring tones and customers can buy it for Rs 20. In the Caller Tunes category, the 'Caller Tune Fun Card' offers a Caller Tune and the subscription rate. This card comes with a price of Rs 45 for the first month and following months, Rs 30 would be charged as subscription rate for the Caller Tune.
Thirdly, the 'Caller Tunes Shuffle Fun Card' is different from the Caller Tune Fun Card. In a Caller Tune Fun Card customers would have only one caller tune whereas Caller Tunes Shuffle Fun Card contains a set of Four Caller Tunes. In response to a query, he said, 'the Fun Card has been simultaneously released across the country and the company has 17 million subscribers'. In Chennai and Tamilnadu, there are about 25 direct Hutch shops and in Chennai there are about 3100 retailers, he said.

Bharti to offer ‘triple play’

Bharti Airtel is all set to launch its 3-in-1 services — phone, internet and cable TV — across 90 cities to its fixed-line customers. Bharti chief Sunil Mittal said, “When we go into the final commercial mode, which will happen in the next 4-5 months, then anybody who has an Airtel connection can get triple play.”

Nokia says no to low-cost mobile phones

NOKIA HAS turned down Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran’s grand proposal of manufacturing a sub $30 mobile phone at its manufacturing plant at Chennai in India in the immediate future.
The Finnish telecom major has also refused to manufacture a sub $100 3G phone advocated by Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) recently at its board meeting held in Delhi early this month.
Speaking to the Indian media, Robert Andersson, Executive Vice President, Customer and Market Operations and member of the Nokia Group Executive Board said, “If you look at the total cost of ownership (TCO), we bring value to our customers. Offering low cost (sub $30) phones is not likely to happen from the Chennai factory in India in the near future.” When pressed whether the company is completely ruling out manufacture of low cost phones from its Chennai factory, Andersson said, “It may happen one fine day.” Andersson said, Nokia phones offer best TCO and, hence, a low-cost phone is not a priority.
The Nokia team responsible for customer care in emerging markets also ruled out any possibility of manufacturing a sub $100 3G mobile phones anywhere in the world.
Mauro Montanaro, VP Customer Market Operations, Asia Pacific Nokia, said, “We are responsive to the markets. Eventually, we will offer 3G phones at certain price points to the emerging markets. Some of the initiatives get good publicity, but the reality of manufacturing does not allow it (of producing a sub $ 100 3G handset.).” “The question now is whether there is a market for handsets at such a price point. Then we will look at the volumes. Only then can we examine offering products at such price bands,” said Montanaro. A plea that Nokia made a few years ago when it was quizzed about the possibility of offering low cost entry-level phones in India.

Aritel FWP

Inspired by the success of Reliance and Tata Tele's FWP, Bharti Televentures have decided to start their own FWP services. Airtel currently offers Fixed Line Phones in few circles. It is being said that the operator will come up with 3-4 plans both in Post-paid and Pre-paid schemes.

Tatas Tele not to switch over to GSM

The Tata group, which provides CDMA-based service through Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and Tata Teleservices Ltd, will not switch over to GSM technology, unlike its competitor Reliance Communications, which intends to expand its presence in a single technology.
Both the companies are planning to garner a 100-million subscriber base in the next five years.
“CDMA is a superior technology for telephony operations and as the subscriber growth increases manifold, this technology is better than GSM. Moreover, CDMA is also the techology of the future as it can provide quality services, support broadband and other emerging technologies in the telecom space,” a Tata group source said.
This technology (CDMA) will also be ideal for launching 3G services, including high-speed broadband and streaming video among others.
The Tata group companies would be looking at offering services over wideband-CDMA (WCDMA), the next generation of CDMA technology - EvDO, that supports 3G cellular network, 3G UMTA, while CDMA is also allied with 2G GSM standard, he said.
According to industry sources, the Tata group has a good relationship with US-based Qualcomm - the developer of the technology. The company gets royalty from the Tata group for every handset sold in the country.
At present, both the Tata group companies use 800 MHz spectrum for their operations in the country, and have operations in 20 circles, excluding the North-East and Jammu & Kashmir. They have over 10 million customers in the country.
The companies are targeting 20 per cent marketshare in the country by focusing more on rural markets as well as two metros - Mumbai and Delhi. They enjoy 12 per cent share of the market.
Apart from a commitment of investing Rs 4,000 crore, they are looking at bringing in new technologies, increasing its value added service (VAS) offerings and introduction of a range of entry-level handsets.
Reliance Communications has sought allocation of 1,800 MHz spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications that enables it to provide both GSM and CDMA services in the country.
Apart from Reliance, stated-ownd Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd are other companies providing services using both the technologies, albiet on a smaller basis.

RCL stuck on choice of tech

REGULATORY impediments could be a major area of concern for Reliance Communications Ltd's (RCL) in its expansion plans using the global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology.
RCL is serious about its plans to roll out services using the GSM technology but is likely to be selective, as it believes that there is a niche of GSM consumers who would not turn to code division multiple access (CDMA) technology and hence wants to address that market.
In a report released on Friday by J M Morgan Stanley (JMMS), it has cautioned that based on its discussions with regulators, “There is a grey area as to whether operators will be allowed to operate two technologies simultaneously under one licence. While the licence agreement gives an operator the right to choose any technology, it does not indicate whether more than one technology can be selected.” JMMS, citing media reports about RCL moving out of CDMA totally and investing heavily in GSM has stated “RCL is serious about its GSM plans but selective. The company mentioned it has applied for licensing selectively in Mumbai, Delhi and other circles for the time being, under the 1800 Megahertz spectrum. Since RCL already has the Universal Access License (UASL), it does not expect to pay any additional amount on the license fee."
JMMS pointed out that "If the company does not get the additional GSM spectrum, the limited size of the spectrum "pie" will reduce for the existing GSM players."

Qualcomm chief rushes to India

IN A move to save CDMA technology from getting marginalised in India, Qualcomm CEO Dr Paul Jacobs will make a crucial visit to India this month end to meet its biggest partner Reliance Communications chief, Anil Ambani, as also the other operator, Tata Teleservices.
Jacob's decision to meet Ambani is significant, considering the recent decision of Reliance Communications to use GSM technology for expanding services in Delhi and Mumbai telecom circle. It needs to be mentioned that Reliance already operates a GSM service through group company Reliance Telecom.
Kanwalinder Singh, president Qualcomm India and SAARC told Hindustan Times, "Dr Jacobs would be visiting India to attend a seminar at our design centre and will also hold a meeting with Anil Ambani on June 29. He is also likely to visit Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran and meet up with Tata Tele."
Industry sources added that the CEO of Ericsson Carl Henrik Svanberg, too, is to visit India soon. Sources indicated that there is talk of Reliance Communications GSM opening a mega tender with a combination of Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens. It is reliably learnt that these companies are in touch with Ambani.
Concerned over losing its market share to GSM, if Reliance decides to go ahead with its GSM plans, were visible in comments of Singh. "India's spectrum policy needs to be immediately rationalised so it does not inadvertently end up influencing technology choices and limiting or limit the migration to top metros only. The current policy is shortsighted, not practiced anywhere in the world, and will cause distortions," said Singh.
Singh also highlighted that the current spectrum policy in India limits the ability of CDMA operators like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices to pursue aggressive subscriber growth plans and to introduce next-generation wireless broadband services Commenting on the controversy relating to the royalty rate that Qualcomm gets for using its technology on every chip in the handset), Singh said that Qualcomm's worldwide standard royalty rate is a percentage of the wholesale net selling price of the handset and the percentage is in low single digits. Industry grapevine is that the royalty rate is pegged at about 2-5 per cent. “In absolute dollars, average royalty per CDMA handset in India is about 85 per cent of what it is in China. In fact, the India region enjoys the lowest royalty overhead of all regions in the world,” said Singh. He also pointed that competition from CDMA operators has resulted in Indian consumers enjoying the benefits of cheapest handsets and tariffs in the world, with both voice and data applications available throughout the country.
The GSM lobby, Singh alleged, would like nothing more than perpetuating a legacy GSM technology in India over the next few years, while in most developing and developed countries, the migration away from GSM to WCDMA is well underway already. He said, “Without CDMA competition, GSM operators in India will not migrate to WCDMA or limit the migration to top metros only. This is counter to Indian consumer interest and Indian government's goal of growing India into a developed economy."

Reliance GSM plans

The Department of Telecom has sought more details from Reliance Communication on its rollout plans on the GSM front for which the Anil Ambani company has sought spectrum from the Government. Highly placed sources said, “We have sought more details from Reliance on their roll-out plans on GSM. The company might have to vacate its current CDMA spectrum to get GSM spectrum for its roll-out.”
Reliance Infocomm is the largest CDMA operator in India. Reliance already has its GSM network in Bihar, West Benagal, Kollkata, Madhya Pradesh and Nort-East. Reliance has asked govt. for spectrum to start its GSM services in Delhi and Mumbai. It is also said that a large order is in the pipeline as the request is fullfiled.

One India rates down

BSNL has announced a reduction in the monthly rental of its One-India plan from earlier 299 to 225. BSNL has also announced 25 free calls in the plan. The plan earlier had no free calls. This reduction came due to the lack of subscribers opting for the plan. BSNL offers a 30 free calls in its regular plan having a rental of Rs. 180. BSNL after reducing the rentals thinks that it will help the plan to become popular

TRAI calls for service-neutral spectrum

TRAI, the telecom regulator in India thinks that the spectrum allocation should be technology neutral and service neutral. This came unde light when the Communications Ministry asked The TRAI to examine the allocation and pricing of 3G spectrum.
Rajender Singh, secretary, TRAI said that there would be gross under-utilisation of a policy or a regulation, if the framework stops one particular service from operating in the market.
Speaking at the Thought Leadership Forum organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Singh said, “The Communications Ministry has asked TRAI to examine 3G spectrum allocation and the consultation paper is likely to be released this week or early next week.” He said, TRAI has always maintained that spectrum should help fuel telecom growth in the country.
Quoting international experience on the issue, Singh said, “Spectrum worldwide is considered as sea and not as land. The allocation and rules are similar to the navigational rules and regulation. This is a good example of better spectrum utilisation.” Highlighting on the theme of the CII conference, ‘Towards a converged World: Seamless Mobility and Connecting the Unconnected,’ Singh said, a major irritant in the telecom sector faced by operators is the interconnection issue. He said, industry should work together and evolve a system of pooling resources and also prepare for the latest technologies like next generation networks (NGN). Singh said non-cooperation in sharing resources has led to higher infrastructure costs for operators.
“Today, we have reached 100 million mobile subscribers, which is a major achievement. In addition to this, we have 50 million fixed-line subscribers. This is just the beginning. We can achieve more if we can resolve these issues,” said Singh.
Mr. Singh admitted that the fast growth in the tecnology was always a challenge for the regulator. But he said that, TRAI was well prepared to meet the challenge.

ZTE to tie-up with Tata

China's second largest telecoms equipment maker, ZTE Corp, is planing to build a wireless network based on the CDMA standard in India with the Tata group. Under its strategic alliance, ZTE would exclusively supply equipment for Tata-Indicom to build networks based on CDMA 2000 technology throughout India's rural areas over the next two to three years.

Ombudsman for redressal of telecom

Telecom Operators of India have joined hands to set up an ombudsman for speedy redressal of consumer complaints. The proposed ombudsman is an industry initiative and would function parallel to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). It would be set up in the next two to three months.
“The ombudsman will be broadly modelled on the lines of the one currently existing for banks. It is important that the operators themselves resolve the grievances of customers,” director general of COAI, TV Ramachandran said.
Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said, “It is heartening to know that the operators themselves have come forward to set up an ombudsman. I hope that the system is in place across the country as it will help speedy resolution of consumer disputes”. He added that India has now become the fifth country to join the elite club of 100 million mobile subscribers along with China, US, Japan and Russia.
Although, the mandate and structure of the ombudsman is yet to be worked out, industry officials said that it would be modelled broadly on the lines of the banking ombudsman.

Laws for IPTV rollout soon

TRAI has proposed the government to amend the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, and the telecom licencing agreement to allow the IPTV to rollout in India.
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) allows digital video streaming through high-speed broadband and thus enabling your computer to work as TV also. It also allows point-to-point distribution enabling stream control (such as pause and rewind) and a free selection of programming.
IPTV had been launched long ago in abroad, but it has not still got to india courtesy slow speed dial-up and non-existence of broadband. But now as no. of broadband are exiding it is being expected that IPTV will soon get wide acceptence in India.
The absence of IPTV was also contributed by absence of any regulator mechanism under the existing Cable TV Act. Even though the unified licensing regime allows telecom operators to offer video services in their bouquet.
The TRAI has proposed to keep IPTV out of the ambit of Cable TV Network (regulation) Act. TRAI has also proposed to amend the unifided access service licence agreement to specifically include transmission of television contents within the definition of video services.

Huawei slips in as DoT looked away

Chinese Major Huawei Telecommunication got into the final rounds of Rs 750 crore BSNL tender for the supply of 25.2 lakhs lines of WLL CDMA 2000 1X/1X EVDO mobile switching centre equipments. This orrcured even after BSNL's plea to debar the company. BSNL had asked this because the company did not fulfills the tender obligations. But DoT did not act on the suggestions.
Nextra Telecom Private Ltd and Teracom Private Ltd, the two companies who has partnered with Huawei to supply the equipment, have already cleared the technical and commercial bids.

Next Gen networks

Communication Ministry is in the process of finalising the road map for adoption of next generation network (NGN) technology which will provide telecom subscribers a slew of state-of-the-art services at a lower cost on a single network. It is also being said that Telcom PSUs BSNL and MTNL are interested in launching services based on NGN. The companies had said that they will launch the services based on NGN within two months, after the government provides the necessary requirments.
NGN is on the top of agendas prepared by the ministry. The committee members will soon be informed aboout the benifits of NGN, recommendations made by TRAI and the roadmap to be followed for it's implementaion.
Pradip Baijal has siad that this will not only benfit subscribers but also the operators.Sources in the Communications Ministry had said, “A number of issues are connected with the implementation of NGN, like number portability, legal interception, privacy, additional spectrum issues, standardisation and interoperability with various networks. We have resolved most of it and should be able to announce the roadmap soon.”