India could have more than one billion mobile phone users by 2015, with the bulk of that growth in rural areas, one of the country's top telecom executives said on Wednesday.
Manoj Kohli, chief executive of India's biggest mobile phone group Bharti Airtel, told an industry conference in Hong Kong that his firm is aiming to almost double its customer base to 200 million people in the next few years.
"Achieving a billion plus (Indian mobile users) by 2015 is possible," he told the Mobile Asia Congress, the region's largest telecom industry gathering.
"The largest growth will happen in the rural market," he said, adding that pricing wars between providers were knocking down rates in the Indian market and making phones affordable to more people.
Competition in India has become even more aggressive as new players unleash deeper price cuts with innovative per-second billing plans that have pushed call costs down to less than a cent a minute.
"There is hyper-competition like no other place in the world," he said.
India is the world's second-biggest cellular market with more than 400 million users, lagging behind only China, which has over 600 million users.
Rural customers are also seen as key to growth in China, said Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom, one of the nation's three major telecoms operators.
The company aims to tap "vast rural areas" for growth as demand for basic mobile voice services slows in saturated urban markets, he said, with customers now looking for multi-function devices that can send emails or play movies.
"Voice is a mature market in some areas, but we still see some growth potential," Chang told the conference. "Voice will be in continuous demand (in China)."
But Chinese operators must boost their data business to offset falling prices on voice calls, he said.
Chang has said he expects Apple's iconic iPhone, which Unicom distributes, will be China's highest-selling smartphone despite disappointing results after its official launch this month.
Mobile connections in Asia Pacific are expected to cross the two billion mark this year, more than triple the level in 2003, according to statistics released by conference organiser GSMA, a mobile industry trade group.
Agencies
Showing posts with label Bharti Airtel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bharti Airtel. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Where is the $23-bn telecom Bharti-MTN merger heading?
The $23-billion deal for the merger of Bharti Airtel and South African giant MTN, which would have been the world's largest in the telecom sector, today fell through.
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti called off discussions with MTN citing the South African government's rejection of the proposed merger structure, which would have created the world's third largest telecom company with combined revenues of over $20 billion annually and a subscriber base of over 200 million.
The issue of dual listing of MTN to maintain its identity in the merged company appears to have been the deal-breaker during the tough negotiations lasting well over four months.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had strongly backed the deal which he took up with South African President Jacob Zuma at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last week.
While announcing the calling off of the talks, Bharti in a statement expressed the hope that the South African government "will review its position in the future and allow both companies an opportunity to re-engage".
This is the second time in just over a year when Bharti has been forced to abandon talks for amalgamation of the two organisations in a complex deal that also hinged on Indian government's clearance for dual listing.
"This transaction would have been the single largest FDI into South Africa and one of the largest outbound FDIs from India," Bharti statement said, adding "the structure needed an approval from the government of South Africa, which has expressed its inability to accept it in the current form".
Senior management of Bharti, including Sunil Mittal, could not be reached immediately for comments as they are on a annual off-site, most likely in Pataya, Thailand.
After Bharti had called off negotiations with MTN last year accusing the South African entity of reneging on its commitment and presenting a different structure, Anil Ambani-led RCom had entered into negotiations with MTN for a deal.
This was also called off after Anil's elder brother Mukesh Ambani asserted the first right of refusal and
threatened a legal action. As per the proposed structure, Bharti would have acquired 49 per cent shareholding in MTN and in turn MTN and its shareholders would acquire about 36 per cent economic interest in Bharti.
The South African government had demanded dual listing of MTN in order to protect the character of MTN as a South African entity.
While starting the negotiations for the second time in May this year, Sunil Mittal had said "we see real power in the combination and we will work hard to unleash it for all our shareholders."
India Inc feels let down by deal failure Corporate India today felt let down by the failure of the $23-billion proposed merger deal between telecom giants Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN but said the south-south co-operation was still alive.
"In this particular proposed deal they (South African government) could have said they will make an exception in their law in terms of dual listing norms," Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra said.
He, however, said there was still scope in South Africa where Indian companies are preferred by "black administration" which today controls the country.
Assocham President Sajjan Jindal described the development as "the most unfortunate". He said the merger between Bharti and MTN would have provided a "golden opportunity" for India Inc to spread its wings in the global business space.
"It is most unfortunate. The MTN deal has been called off despite full support from the Indian government. It was a golden opportunity for India to globalise its wings," he said.
In a consolatory tone, CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said the MTN deal not going through should not be seen as a dampener.
"India Inc has had many success in the past and in future too we can hope to see some large merger and acquisitions by Indian companies, including the likes of Bharti," he added.
PHDCCI president Satish Bagrodia, however, said: "Indian industry is quite disappointed with the proposed deal being called off. In future Indian companies will be over cautious."
Agencies
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti called off discussions with MTN citing the South African government's rejection of the proposed merger structure, which would have created the world's third largest telecom company with combined revenues of over $20 billion annually and a subscriber base of over 200 million.
The issue of dual listing of MTN to maintain its identity in the merged company appears to have been the deal-breaker during the tough negotiations lasting well over four months.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had strongly backed the deal which he took up with South African President Jacob Zuma at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last week.
While announcing the calling off of the talks, Bharti in a statement expressed the hope that the South African government "will review its position in the future and allow both companies an opportunity to re-engage".
This is the second time in just over a year when Bharti has been forced to abandon talks for amalgamation of the two organisations in a complex deal that also hinged on Indian government's clearance for dual listing.
"This transaction would have been the single largest FDI into South Africa and one of the largest outbound FDIs from India," Bharti statement said, adding "the structure needed an approval from the government of South Africa, which has expressed its inability to accept it in the current form".
Senior management of Bharti, including Sunil Mittal, could not be reached immediately for comments as they are on a annual off-site, most likely in Pataya, Thailand.
After Bharti had called off negotiations with MTN last year accusing the South African entity of reneging on its commitment and presenting a different structure, Anil Ambani-led RCom had entered into negotiations with MTN for a deal.
This was also called off after Anil's elder brother Mukesh Ambani asserted the first right of refusal and
threatened a legal action. As per the proposed structure, Bharti would have acquired 49 per cent shareholding in MTN and in turn MTN and its shareholders would acquire about 36 per cent economic interest in Bharti.
The South African government had demanded dual listing of MTN in order to protect the character of MTN as a South African entity.
While starting the negotiations for the second time in May this year, Sunil Mittal had said "we see real power in the combination and we will work hard to unleash it for all our shareholders."
India Inc feels let down by deal failure Corporate India today felt let down by the failure of the $23-billion proposed merger deal between telecom giants Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN but said the south-south co-operation was still alive.
"In this particular proposed deal they (South African government) could have said they will make an exception in their law in terms of dual listing norms," Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra said.
He, however, said there was still scope in South Africa where Indian companies are preferred by "black administration" which today controls the country.
Assocham President Sajjan Jindal described the development as "the most unfortunate". He said the merger between Bharti and MTN would have provided a "golden opportunity" for India Inc to spread its wings in the global business space.
"It is most unfortunate. The MTN deal has been called off despite full support from the Indian government. It was a golden opportunity for India to globalise its wings," he said.
In a consolatory tone, CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said the MTN deal not going through should not be seen as a dampener.
"India Inc has had many success in the past and in future too we can hope to see some large merger and acquisitions by Indian companies, including the likes of Bharti," he added.
PHDCCI president Satish Bagrodia, however, said: "Indian industry is quite disappointed with the proposed deal being called off. In future Indian companies will be over cautious."
Agencies
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Will $1-b BSNL outsourcing deal impact 30,000 jobs?
Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is planning to outsource the management and maintenance of its towers and cable networks to compete more effectively with private players like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, which dominate the booming industry and also unlock the value of its assets, reports the Economic Times.
The deal, which could be worth more than $1 billion (Rs. 5,000 crore) over the next five years, might receive stiff resistance from about three lakh employees as it will impact close to 30,000 jobs. "The company plans to train and redeploy a significant section of these employees to marketing roles," informed two executives requesting anonymity, as many employees are expected to be transferred to the IT firms that win the outsourcing deal.
Through this deal, BSNL will outsource more than 50,000 towers and over one lakh kilometers of optic fibre cable. "The telecom company is in process of finalizing tender conditions for inviting bids for the contract," said these executives.
"The move will help BSNL unlock the value from its towers and passive infrastructure as the once monopoly tries to play catch up with private rivals," said BK Syngal, Senior Principal, Dua Consulting.
"Successful bidders for this contract can share company's networks with private players for a fee and this could result in a revenue boost for BSNL," added Syngal, who is also a former Chairman of VSNL (now Tata Communications).
Reliance Communications had formed a joint venture with Franco American networks major Alcatel-Lucent last year and outsourced the management of its GSM and CDMA networks and infrastructure such as optic fibre cable in a deal worth $500 million over a five year period. The deal had crossed $750 million mark in July 2009.
Bharti Airtel also entered into a $500 million joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business in April 2009. Around 4,000 Airtel employees were transferred to this new venture, which is a front runner to bag another $500 million contract from Airtel to manage and maintain its 80,000 kilometers intercity optic fibre cable network.
BSNL had recently postponed plans to hive off its towers and other related infrastructure into a separate company. The company felt it would be difficult to unlock value by merely hiving off its infrastructure and listing it due to falling valuations for the tower sector, said the executives.
Agencies/Economic Times
The deal, which could be worth more than $1 billion (Rs. 5,000 crore) over the next five years, might receive stiff resistance from about three lakh employees as it will impact close to 30,000 jobs. "The company plans to train and redeploy a significant section of these employees to marketing roles," informed two executives requesting anonymity, as many employees are expected to be transferred to the IT firms that win the outsourcing deal.
Through this deal, BSNL will outsource more than 50,000 towers and over one lakh kilometers of optic fibre cable. "The telecom company is in process of finalizing tender conditions for inviting bids for the contract," said these executives.
"The move will help BSNL unlock the value from its towers and passive infrastructure as the once monopoly tries to play catch up with private rivals," said BK Syngal, Senior Principal, Dua Consulting.
"Successful bidders for this contract can share company's networks with private players for a fee and this could result in a revenue boost for BSNL," added Syngal, who is also a former Chairman of VSNL (now Tata Communications).
Reliance Communications had formed a joint venture with Franco American networks major Alcatel-Lucent last year and outsourced the management of its GSM and CDMA networks and infrastructure such as optic fibre cable in a deal worth $500 million over a five year period. The deal had crossed $750 million mark in July 2009.
Bharti Airtel also entered into a $500 million joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent to manage its landline and broadband business in April 2009. Around 4,000 Airtel employees were transferred to this new venture, which is a front runner to bag another $500 million contract from Airtel to manage and maintain its 80,000 kilometers intercity optic fibre cable network.
BSNL had recently postponed plans to hive off its towers and other related infrastructure into a separate company. The company felt it would be difficult to unlock value by merely hiving off its infrastructure and listing it due to falling valuations for the tower sector, said the executives.
Agencies/Economic Times
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Now pay your bills through an SMS
Making a payment can just be an SMS away, thanks to the latest offering by mChek that allows consumers to make payments through their mobile phones. mChek, a company that has developed several patent-pending applications in the areas of security and banking announced the launch of mChek/Payment.
mChek/Payment enables consumers to shop with their mobile phones in a convenient and safe manner, either across the counter or with remote merchants. The service enables consumers to easily link their mobile phone with their existing credit card without any software to be installed on their mobile, and subsequently transact on the Internet, call centers or over a simple SMS.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has signed up with mChek to offer its post paid subscribers in Karnataka, to make payments by using this application. "Our consistent focus on innovation has enabled us to connect with customers strongly. Services like mChek revolve around Airtel's philosophy to delight customers with newer technologies," said Venkatesh V, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, Karnataka.
BIGFlix.com, a part of Reliance BIG Entertainment, an online and offline movie rental service has also joined hands with mChek to enhance its value proposition for its customers. Kamal Gianchandani, Chief Operating Officer, BIGFlix.com, said, "Today the mobile platform is the fastest growing platform and the most personalized form of marketing to reach customers. Our partnership with mChek will definitely get us one step closer to our customers and ensure faster and convenient value added services."
Through this new application, mChek is all set to transform the way people live by making use of electronic money. Do you know 'How mChek transformed the lives of these people?'
Agencies
mChek/Payment enables consumers to shop with their mobile phones in a convenient and safe manner, either across the counter or with remote merchants. The service enables consumers to easily link their mobile phone with their existing credit card without any software to be installed on their mobile, and subsequently transact on the Internet, call centers or over a simple SMS.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has signed up with mChek to offer its post paid subscribers in Karnataka, to make payments by using this application. "Our consistent focus on innovation has enabled us to connect with customers strongly. Services like mChek revolve around Airtel's philosophy to delight customers with newer technologies," said Venkatesh V, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, Karnataka.
BIGFlix.com, a part of Reliance BIG Entertainment, an online and offline movie rental service has also joined hands with mChek to enhance its value proposition for its customers. Kamal Gianchandani, Chief Operating Officer, BIGFlix.com, said, "Today the mobile platform is the fastest growing platform and the most personalized form of marketing to reach customers. Our partnership with mChek will definitely get us one step closer to our customers and ensure faster and convenient value added services."
Through this new application, mChek is all set to transform the way people live by making use of electronic money. Do you know 'How mChek transformed the lives of these people?'
Agencies
Monday, June 8, 2009
Ten Indian companies make it to FT Top 500
Ten Indian companies are listed among Financial Time's top 500 global companies for 2009, in terms of market capitalization. The list was led by American energy giant ExxonMobil, followed by the oil major PetroChina and U.S. retailer Wal-Mart at the second and third positions respectively.
Reliance Industries is the only Indian company which has been listed among the top 100, taking the 75th place with a market capitalization of $47.25 billion. Last year, the company occupied the 80th position in the list. The companies were ranked by market capitalization, the greater the stock market value of a company, the higher it's ranking. Market capitalization is the share price as on March 31, 2009 multiplied by the number of shares issued.
Other Indian firms featuring in the list are Oil & Natural Gas (ONGC) (120th rank), National Thermal Power (NTPC) (138), Bharti Airtel (188), Infosys (330), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) (345), ITC (362), State Bank of India (372), Tata Consultancy Services (483) and Hindustan Unilever (495).
Reliance Industries is the only Indian company which has been listed among the top 100, taking the 75th place with a market capitalization of $47.25 billion. Last year, the company occupied the 80th position in the list. The companies were ranked by market capitalization, the greater the stock market value of a company, the higher it's ranking. Market capitalization is the share price as on March 31, 2009 multiplied by the number of shares issued.
Other Indian firms featuring in the list are Oil & Natural Gas (ONGC) (120th rank), National Thermal Power (NTPC) (138), Bharti Airtel (188), Infosys (330), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) (345), ITC (362), State Bank of India (372), Tata Consultancy Services (483) and Hindustan Unilever (495).
Friday, May 29, 2009
Will telecom BPO revenue to touch $2 Billion in 2012?
The outsourcing revenues from the telecom sector in India are set to grow at a CAGR of 31 percent to nearly $2 billion in 2012, says a report by Ernst & Young in a first of a kind study on potential of domestic BPO industry. The telecom industry has been growing fast in spite of recession adding around 10 million subscribers every month with a subscriber base of 375 million in 2008-09.
In 2005, Bharti Airtel, which has been growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate [CAGR] of 41 percent in last two years, started the trend of outsourcing its call center to other global companies like Mphasis, IBM Daksh, Teletech and HTMT at $272.2 million. Since then there is pressure on other telecom providers to do the same. "This domain (telecom) has already witnessed a couple of large outsourcing deals in recent months and the trend is expected to continue," said Ernst & Young partner Milan Sheth. In 2008, Telecom revenues added upto 50 percent of the domestic BPO revenues at $661 million.
BPO is also a huge job creator for telecom industry. According to the study, in 2008 telecom BPO hired over 1,22,440 people and by 2012 this number is expected to double. Banking is the second biggest employment generator for domestic BPOs. The banking sector employed around 70,100 people in 2008 and by 2012 this is projected to go up to 2,25,900. The two sectors contribute 80 percent of the domestic BPO revenues and is expected that revenues will reach $6 billion by 2012.
According to the report the key driver for BPOs in telecom is demand for customer care and sales and marketing services.
Agencies
In 2005, Bharti Airtel, which has been growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate [CAGR] of 41 percent in last two years, started the trend of outsourcing its call center to other global companies like Mphasis, IBM Daksh, Teletech and HTMT at $272.2 million. Since then there is pressure on other telecom providers to do the same. "This domain (telecom) has already witnessed a couple of large outsourcing deals in recent months and the trend is expected to continue," said Ernst & Young partner Milan Sheth. In 2008, Telecom revenues added upto 50 percent of the domestic BPO revenues at $661 million.
BPO is also a huge job creator for telecom industry. According to the study, in 2008 telecom BPO hired over 1,22,440 people and by 2012 this number is expected to double. Banking is the second biggest employment generator for domestic BPOs. The banking sector employed around 70,100 people in 2008 and by 2012 this is projected to go up to 2,25,900. The two sectors contribute 80 percent of the domestic BPO revenues and is expected that revenues will reach $6 billion by 2012.
According to the report the key driver for BPOs in telecom is demand for customer care and sales and marketing services.
Agencies
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