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The hyper-competition in the telecom sector is expected to spill over to the coming year as Reliance Jio will continue to dominate the 4G space for next six to twelve months.

Heightened competition would also mean tariffs are unlikely to go up anytime soon as Jio is unlikely to raise prices till it reaches 400 million subscriber base, analysts say.

While tariff hikes from Jio are not unprecedented, competitive pressures may not ebb for another nine to twelve months given the company’s clear focus on subscriber additions, research firm Jefferies said in a note.

“With Rs 3.1 lakh crore already committed as capital spend across telecom and digital services, it may need to garner a substantially high and clearly differentiated market share to eventually succeed. With Jio still a number three player in both revenue and subscriber market share, it is still some distance away from this. Bharti appears to sense an opportunity as well to gain potentially premium Arpu (average revenue per user) in the near term while Idea, Voda work through their potentially complex and challenging consolidation,” analysts at Jefferies said in the report.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) says Jio is aiming for number one position and unlikely to raise tariffs till it reaches 400 million subscribers and with elections around April-May 19, no tariff hikes are expected.

“Vodafone Idea’s integration is progressing at a slower than expected pace and could take at least a year for its network coverage to improve. This would likely give an opportunity to both Jio/Bharti to gain market share from Vodafone Idea. Even refarming of 900 MegaHertz (MHz) spectrum and freeing of 2100 MHz should help Bharti to improve its capacity,” the note by BofAML said.

Vodafone and Idea merger got operational on August 30. Last week, in its first quarterly result for the merged entity Vodafone Idea, the firm announced plans to raise capital of about Rs 25,000 crore; Rs 11,000 crore by Vodafone Group and up to Rs 7,250 crore by Aditya Birla Group.

If approved, the plan of raising capital is expected to be complete in Q4 of this fiscal. Vodafone Idea’s loss after tax stood at Rs 4,974 crore in the July-September quarter, which included a one-time charge of Rs 566 crore, mainly due to integration and merger-related costs.

Deutsche Bank Research says Bharti Airtel believes Arpus have stabilised and expects pricing trends to be stable in the mid-term. Airtel has expanded their minimum Arpu plans (Rs 35) pan-India, which should be supportive of Arpu. The company estimates that 40% of customers account for 80% of revenues.

Going forward, Airtel expects capex to moderate in the mid-term. The estimates for FY18/19 show it would spend Rs 44,000 crore to roll out its 4G network and fibre for backhaul and home broadband business. Going ahead, the mobile capex would be driven by capacity enhancement and network densification. Airtel would raise capital from its long-term partners, if it deems necessary to maintain its competitive position, analysts at Deutsche Bank said.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea are seeing a slow transition of its 2G consumers to 4G, while Jio continues to generate strong demand with its offerings, especially the subsidised feature phones.

India has over 1 billion mobile users and 50-60% of them are still on the 2G network, i.e, not on the internet. The battle for the next round will be fought for these 2G users.

The number of internet users has been growing at a fast pace as access to data services and 4G-enabled handsets became affordable with the entry of Reliance Jio.

The article was first published in DNA as <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-telecom-tariffs-may-not-rise-till-reliance-jio-hits-400-million-subscribers-2688041">'Telecom tariffs may not rise till Reliance Jio hits 400 million subscribers'</a>

The hyper-competition in the telecom sector is expected to spill over to the coming year as Reliance Jio will continue to dominate the 4G space for&nbsp;next&nbsp;six to twelve months.

&nbsp;


Telecom tariffs may not rise till Jio hits 400 mn users: Analysts

Chinese telecom equipment provider Huawei is betting big on its enterprise business in India. It expects India to come under top five revenue generating markets for its enterprise business in the next five years.

Huawei recently started its first OpenLab in India, which will design information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for enterprises, smart cities, smart campus among others.

This is its first lab in India and 12th globally, and will serve clients in India as well as outside. An investment of $200 million will be made by 2020 to increase the number of OpenLabs to 20 across the globe, Huawei India, president - enterprise business group Derek Hao told DNA Money.

Over the next three years, Huawei will be investing a total of $23 million in its OpenLabs in India and Thailand. OpenLab will focus on driving smart city innovations in areas including internet of things (IoT), smart pole, smart building, smart campus, smart transportation, intelligent video surveillance solutions and convergent command and control solutions, he said.

India is among the top 10 countries for enterprise business segment for Huawei. India is one of the fastest growing markets for us. In the first three quarters of current year, we registered a growth of 60% in the enterprise business here, which is more that the global average of around 43%, he said.

The global enterprise business for Huawei stood at about $4.25 billion in 2017.

We are targeting a growth of 60% in enterprise business in India next year because of various government initiatives such as Digital India and smart cities, Hao said.

Various smart solutions will be build from the OpenLab. For instance, there is a smart pole which can be installed on traffic tights through on which surveillance cameras can be installed, people can charge their phone, there will be emergency number which one can call. This will work through mobile connectivity, be it 3G or 4G or 5G as the solutions will be adaptable.

OpenLab Delhi will offer ICT training to nearly 400 personnel per year, provide ICT career certification to 250 engineers per year and proof of concept training to nearly 100 engineers annually. Huawei will start 5G trials in India in the next year and has showcased 5G use cases with Airtel already.

India is a key market for the enterprise business. This OpenLab is an important part of Huawei’s global OpenLab plan. With this, we look to serve India as well as global partners and customers leveraging its global expertise, talents, technologies, and customer business successes.

“We will develop industry ICT ecosystem locally. This will also empower enterprises to quickly respond to new market opportunities and develop competitive, commercialised solutions by testing them in a real live environment,” Hao said.

EXPERIMENT WITH LABS 
$200 mn Huawei will invest in 20 OpenLabs across the world by 2020

60% growth-- Co logged in enterprise business in India

400 No. of people Huawei would train annually in ICT in India

STRATEGIC CALL 
-India is among the top 10 countries for enterprise business segment for Huawei and one of the fastest growing markets for the company&nbsp;&nbsp; 
-In the first 3 quarters of current year, the firm saw a growth of 60% in the enterprise business in India, global average was 43%&nbsp;&nbsp; 
-Huawei is targeting 60% growth in enterprise business in India next year due to government initiatives such as Digital India, smart cities

This story first appeared in DNA Money: <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-huawei-sets-sights-on-enterprise-space-in-india-2687354">Huawei bets on enterprise space</a>

Huawei recently started its first OpenLab in India, which will design information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for enterprises, smart cities, smart campus among others.


Huawei sees India in top 5 revenue generating markets for its enterprise business in next 5 years

The proposed equity infusion of about Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea will keep competitive intensity high in the telecom sector, delaying average revenue per user (Arpu) recovery, experts said.

On Wednesday, in its first quarterly result for the merged entity Vodafone Idea, the company announced plans to raise capital of about Rs 25,000 crore, including Rs 11,000 crore by Vodafone Group and up to Rs 7,250 crore by Aditya Birla Group.

The Board of Directors has set up a committee to evaluate a potential capital raise through options including, but not limited to, a rights issue, qualified institutional placement and a preferential share issue. If approved, the plan of raising capital is expected to complete in Q4 of FY2019. Vodafone Idea loss after tax stood at Rs 4,974 crore in the July-September quarter, which included a one-time charge of Rs 566 crore, mainly due to integration and merger-related costs.

An Edelweiss report said, “Such capital infusion will arm the company with a war chest to hold onto its market share, potentially delaying market recovery. In fact, such capital infusion may also stall undercutting by rivals (all well-funded) as the cost of increasing market share will move up significantly, given the current state of focus on user engagement by market participants, there is a low probability of such an outcome.”

At the industry level, the three well-funded players’ aspirations to be numero uno will keep the competitive intensity high, delaying sector Arpu recovery, Edelweiss said.

Many experts say challenges continue to remain for the merged entity as its balance-sheet is leveraged and the other two private players - Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel continue to spend huge capex on expanding 4G coverage.

The entry of Jio in the telecom space in September 2016 triggered a consolidation spree in the sector, with only three players along with telecom PSUs, BSNL/MTNL, left. The mobile data tariffs have hit a new low with voice becoming virtually free, impacting the margins and financials of incumbents.

The numbers show Vodafone Idea added 4.4 million new broadband (4G) subscribers against 7.5 million for Bharti Airtel and 37 million for Reliance Jio during the second quarter ended September this year.

Vodafone Idea’s user base largely remains voice-driven as data subscribers account for only 33% of total subscribers out of 422 million.

The company’s ability to monetise voice successfully in an industry rapidly shifting to bundled plans remains to be seen and remains a concern as almost two-thirds of its subscriber base is still voice customers, a report by SBICAP Securities said.

The Arpu decline for Vodafone Idea at 4.7 % quarter on quarter (QoQ) was higher than that of Jio, a decline 2% QoQ, but in line with 5% QoQ decline at Bharti Airtel.

This article first appeared in DNA Money as <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-telecom-sector-set-for-more-bloodbath-as-voda-idea-plans-to-pump-in-rs-25000-cr-2686160">'Telecom set for more bloodbath'</a>

The proposed equity infusion of about Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea will keep competitive intensity high in the telecom sector, delaying average revenue per user (Arpu) recovery, experts said.


Why Vodafone Idea's Rs 25,000 cr spend will keep rivalry with Reliance Jio, Airtel fierce

It won’t be a cakewalk for the telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) which will soon address a long pending issue between the industry and over the top (OTT) players including WhatsApp, Skype, Google Duo among others.

The bone of contention is whether any regulatory imbalance exists between the two segments. While some say OTT industry should be regulated, others think that there needs to be a light touch regulation considering the fact that telecom networks are capital intensive.

OTT provider refers to a player which offers information and communication technology (ICT) services, but neither operates a network nor leases network capacity from a network operator. Instead, OTT providers rely on the global internet and access network speeds.

Trai released a consultation paper this week to decide if there is any need for a regulatory framework for OTT players. The views on the current consultation can be submitted till December 10 and counter comments by December 24 this year.

As described by Trai, there are two types of OTT providers - one, OTT communication services (VoIP) providing real-time person to person telecom services using the network infrastructure of the telecom operator competing with them and another, OTT application services such as media services (gaming), trade and commerce services - e-commerce, radio taxi, financial services, cloud services (data hosting and data management platforms or applications) and social media using the network infrastructure of the telecom player but not competing with them.

Ashish Sharma, partner, lead strategy, PwC, says, ”There should be a consistent framework for all content across mediums, be it through OTT, print, radio or digital. This could even be a light touch if that is considered appropriate. The framework should be agnostic to nature of content service or transmission medium as they will continue to change.”

Most importantly, the framework needs to be future proof. The challenge with regulations is that it always tries to adapt to what has happened in the past against making it future ready. “One possible construct to look is content vs carriage. All content offerings should be subject to a certain consistent framework and similarly all carriage players to one. What exactly this framework should consist of can be discussed in light of overall industry economics, existing laws etc,” he said.

A senior executive from a telecom firm adds that no doubt OTT has pushed data consumption across our networks, but the quality of service (QoS) issue remains with us. “We need to constantly upgrade and expand our networks to support the data traffic and at the same time continue investing to improve quality of service norms. There is an arbitrage here as OTT does not need to invest and can earn revenues from advertisements, while we are saddled with multiple levies, are regulated and need to invest constantly ignoring the fact that margins and profits have taken a significant hit.”

A light touch regulation on the OTT industry or a reduction in our levies needs to be done to create a level playing field, the executive said requesting anonymity.

Earlier, voice and SMS accounted for about 60-70% of revenues of telecom players, but after facilities from WhatsApp, Skype and more recent voice calls were made virtually free with the entry of Reliance Jio, the industry revenues have taken a substantial hit and are on a constant decline.

OTT services are mainly free to consumers but monetised through advertisement or other use of customer data such as for the development of technologies that are priced in future products. On the other hand, the telecom services are licensed and paid for directly by the consumers.

Another expert Mahesh Uppal says, “Telecom players face a serious financial crisis. They are burdened with high regulatory levies - over 30% of their revenues. These levies are out of line with international best practices and in marked contrast to the situation in most mature regulatory regimes. However, it will be inaccurate and wrong to suggest that OTTs are the cause of this crisis. “

“It is the result of hyper-competition in the telecom market. In particular, the entry of Reliance Jio has seriously hurt the margins of telecom operators,” he added.

Watch This Zee Business Video Here:

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vc8Kc3MgTdQ" width="100%"></iframe>

Cellular Operators Association of India director general Rajan Mathews said, “We are only talking about same service, same rules or a light-handed regulation. Even, Trai in its paper has limited the scope to similar services offered by OTT players. There is an unlevel playing field telecom operators need to worry about.”

This story first appeared in DNA Money:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-trai-walks-a-tightrope-on-ott-regulation-2685738">Trai walks a tightrope on OTT regulation</a>

A soft regulation on over the top players like WhatsApp or reduction in levies for telcos will create a level playing field


WhatsApp, Skype, Google Duo to be regulated by Trai? 

Telecom regulator has called a meeting of chief executive officers of telecom and broadcasting firms next month in order to set the agenda for the upcoming year. The plan is to understand the issues plaguing the sectors and accordingly come up with consultation papers to frame new policies or revise the existing ones, a senior official from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) told DNA Money.

While the meeting with chiefs of telecom companies is expected to happen on December 4, the regulator is likely to hold talks with heads of broadcasting firms on December 7, sources said.

The main agenda of the meetings would be to gauge the situations impacting these sectors, see what could be done further to improve ease doing of business and discuss other existing policies that need a relook. 
 
For telecom, the government is likely to go for an auction of 5G spectrum next year. While it is learnt that Reliance Jio is in favour of an auction, other telecom firms are unwilling because of the financial stress. The Department of Telecommunications is likely to ask Trai to reconsider the spectrum prices suggested in its recommendations.

In broadcasting, there has been a shift in the entire framework of the TV industry after the Supreme Court upheld the Trai’s tariff order and interconnect regulations for pricing and packaging of TV channels.

The new tariff order by Trai mandates broadcasters to declare the maximum retail price within 60 days and distribution platform operators to declare network capacity fee and distribution retail price within 180 days.

Watch Zee Business tweet video here:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Exclusive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Exclusive</a> | घरेलू पेपर इंडस्ट्री के लिए खुशखबरी, कॉमर्स मिनिस्ट्री ऑफ़ इंडिया ने लिया बड़ा फैसला, क्या है ये फैसला जानिए स्वाति खंडेलवाल से।<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZBusinessInMumbai?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ZBusinessInMumbai</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SwatiKJain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SwatiKJain</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AnilSinghviZEE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnilSinghviZEE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CimGOI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CimGOI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/sureshpprabhu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sureshpprabhu</a> <a href="https://t.co/DH8DekoMFa">pic.twitter.com/DH8DekoMFa</a>
— Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZeeBusiness/status/1061860541784883200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2018</a></blockquote>

Trai has already announced implementation of Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Interconnection (Addressable Systems) Regulations 2017 on July 3 this year.

This article was first published in DNA Money: <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-trai-to-meet-ceos-of-telecom-broadcasting-firms-in-december-2684717" target="_blank">Trai to meet CEOs of telecom, broadcasting firms next month&nbsp;</a>

The main agenda of the meetings would be to gauge the situations impacting these sectors, see what could be done further to improve ease doing of business and discuss other existing policies that need a relook.


Trai looks at boosting ease doing of business, set to meet CEOs of telecom, broadcasting companies

The swift uptake of 4G mobile services in India might push 2G mobile handsets out of business in the next two to three years. Out of a total of over 1 billion users, only 400 million own smartphones, i.e. hooked onto high-speed internet. The number of internet users has been growing at a fast pace, as access to data services and 4G enabled handsets became affordable with the entry of new player Reliance Jio.

The remaining 800 million users are still on 2G feature phones, which offer only basic voice and SMS facilities.

During January-August period, the 4G-enabled feature phones captured 39% of the overall feature phone market, registering a whopping growth of 5,959% (owing to a low base in the previous year) compared to the same period in previous year, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

In the same period, 2G phones saw a decline of 13 % and now account for 61 % of the total handset market.

Prabhu Ram, an analyst with Cyber Media Group, says, “The 2G pie is decreasing and expected to decline gradually over the next two-three years.”

The growth in number of internet users was also bolstered by the launch of Jio Phone, a 4G-enabled feature phone at low cost.

Reliance’s Jio phone is driving 99% of the 4G feature phone market and rest of the market is distributed amongst Lava, Micromax and Intex, Karn Chauhan, an analyst from Counterpoint Research said.

Jio phone is winning the customers with its attractive offerings in prepaid as well as in postpaid channels which provide free calling and the cheapest data packs to users. To get onboard more customers, JioPhone has also strengthened its operating system (KaiOS) with the addition of popular apps such as Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp, he said.

Airtel has recently announced a cashback of Rs 2,000 for upgrading to a 4G new smartphone. It has tie-ups with many handset manufacturers for offering 4G phones across varied price range but does not plan to venture into 4G feature phones as the focus is on high average revenue per user (Arpu), according to people aware of the development.

It is pertinent to mention here that all 2G users are low ARPU users.

Jio phone is highly subsidised, according to many experts, and no other handset maker is willing to go high scale with 4G feature phone because of the economies of scale.

The current market conditions make it difficult for mobile handset brands to venture into 4G feature phones, except a few, like HMD and Lava. To counter the pricing of Jio phones, mobile handset brands require economies of scale with adequate support from telecom service providers which is not the case currently, Ram said.

Currently, the only silver lining is increased data usage following the onset of 4G services, resulting in telecom players expanding their 4G coverage.

Source: DNA Money

The swift uptake of 4G mobile services in India might push 2G mobile handsets out of business in the next two to three years. Out of a total of over 1 billion users, only 400 million own smartphones, i.e. hooked onto&nbsp;high-speed internet.

&nbsp;


4G-enabled phones may soon wipe out 2G feature phones from market

Test use cases of drones with 5G technology being used for medical emergencies, agriculture monitoring, autonomous cars, marked the first day of the biggest telecom event in the country - Indian Mobile Congress (IMC).&nbsp;

The buzz around 5G comes at a time when 4G network is yet to be available fully across India and the mobile users are still bearing the brunt of call drops. Telecom players, equipment makers and even start-ups showcased various applications which could run on 5G network.

Ericsson and Airtel showcased the power of 5G by demonstrating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations. The use cases leveraged the high bandwidth and the ultra-low latency of the 5G network to showcase mission-critical applications such as disaster response and monitoring, emergency delivery services and remote surveillance made possible through drones.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO - Bharti Airtel, said, “5G networks have the potential to truly transform lives. Large-scale deployment of 5G networks over the coming years will open unlimited avenues for innovative use cases that can solve complex problems.” Airtel also showed connected homes, connected cars through 5G-based internet of things (IoT) solutions.

Reliance Jio has tied up with Samsung to showcase multiple test use cases including Skyship drone for public safety and surveillance, agriculture monitoring and disaster response. Ericsson and Reliance Jio also gave a demo of a connected car on a 5G network, which can reduce traffic collisions, help in driver safety and data processing. 
Huawei and Nokia also showcased their 5G solutions.

In the inaugural session, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said, “This is the fastest transition anywhere in the world from 2G/3G to 4G. By 2020, I believe that India will be a fully-4G country and ready for 5G ahead of others.”

His telecom business Reliance Jio (RJio), launched in September 2016, disrupted the sector with free voice calls and dirt-cheap data. RJio has now started rolling out its high-speed fibre-based broadband services for homes and offices. “And from day one, JioGigaFiber will offer complete fixed-mobile convergence where Indians will travel seamlessly between mobile and fixed broadband networks, 4G and 5G when on the move and WiFi when indoors,” he said, adding that India will rise from a lowly 135th rank to be among the top three nations in fixed broadband at a pace that will surprise the world.

“But we have to be mindful that data is the most important resource in this new world. And India and Indians will generate a humongous amount of data. It is important that we utilise this rich resource for the benefit of India and Indians, with adequate safeguards,” Ambani said.

Airtel and Vodafone Group, on the other hand, talked about challenges the industry is facing.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said consolidation in the sector has come at a significant pain of $50 billion of investment write-off and job losses and telecom remains highly taxed just like the tobacco industry, when it is contributing to India’s digital aspirations.

“In India, for every Rs 190 that mobile operators earn, nearly Rs 37 goes towards one form of levy or the other. On one hand, we have PM’s vision of digitally enabled India which requires tremendous amount of investment. On the other hand, we keep the spectrum prices and licence fee very high. How can this contradiction exist? And there GST (goods and services tax) is at 18% which almost at the highest tax bracket,” Mittal said. We have arrived at a point where we are in the right industry structure, he said.

The National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) talks about these issues of doing away with dual taxation, accelerating merger and acquisition and reducing litigation in the sector.

Watch this Zee Business video&nbsp;

<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UEaDX-r6A48" width="100%"></iframe>

Vivek Badrinath, regional chief executive officer, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific at Vodafone Group, taking on the merger with Idea said, “Vodafone and Idea are stronger together and are better placed to compete. We consider that this merger consolidated the market to a sensible number of operators which is similar to other global markets. Now, sustaining and nurturing is vital to drive the growth.”

Source: DNA Money

The buzz around 5G comes at a time when 4G network is yet to be available fully across India and the mobile users are still bearing the brunt of call drops. Telecom players, equipment makers and even start-ups showcased various applications which could run on 5G network.


Happy with 4G? Forget that, here is the future; Airtel, Jio have this in store for you

The blockbuster product from the stables of Hyundai Motor is back. The South Korean carmaker drove in the new Santro on Tuesday amid much fanfare in the presence of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan. Santro, first launched in the Indian market 20 years ago as a family car, had proven to be a runaway success for Hyundai and changed its fortunes in India.

The company expects the product to be a big hit again, which will enable it to close the gap with market leader Maruti Suzuki and increase its market share, Y K Koo, managing director and CEO of Hyundai Motor India told DNA Money.

Hyundai has invested over Rs 700 crore on the development of the new model in the last three years. Santro was phased out in 2014 and was the first entry product for the company in India. According to data from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Maruti Suzuki held 52.10 % market share in the April-September 2018 period, followed by Hyundai with 15.72%.

The company had opened online bookings for new Santro earlier this month without revealing the prices. Till now, the company has received 23,500 bookings and expects 50,000 by this month-end, Koo said.

The new Santro is powered by a four-cylinder 1.1-litre petrol engine, comes with automated manual transmission (AMT) and factory-fitted CNG fuel options.

The manual versions of the Santro start at Rs 3,89,900 for non-ac variant; ac variants go up to Rs 5,45,900. While the two models automatic version would cost Rs 5,18,900 and Rs 5,46,900. The CNG fitted two versions will come at a price of Rs 5,23,900 and 5,64,900. These are introductory prices for first 50,000 customers.

The new Santro will compete with Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR and Celerio and Tata Motors’s Tiago. The mid-compact car segment is around 30,000 units per month, where Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR is the leader.

The company admits that it lost a substantial market share after phasing out of Santro in the compact car segment. Now, it expects to sell 8,000-9,000 units per month, which can translate to a market share of 30%.

The company is also looking to export Santro from next year to markets including South Africa, Vietnam and Latin America. Initially, the plan is to start exporting 15,000-20,000 units per annum, Koo said. The earlier version had sold 1.86 million units, including exports.

Watch this Zee Business video here:

<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yANk5tgtA1U" width="100%"></iframe>

The new Santro has been designed at the research and development centre in Namyang, South Korea, and is being produced at the Chennai plant with a localisation level of about 90%.

“The new Santro users will be for first-time buyers from rural areas and people who want to replace their existing compact cars,” he said. The company is also looking to expand its production facility in Chennai by 50,000 units by next year.

To engage customers, the company had sought online suggestions for new Santro, earlier codenamed AH2. It received as many as 500,000 entries and about two-thirds people opted for the name Santro.

The Santro has retained its tall boy look, which means high headroom. It is built on K1 platform and has many firsts in the compact segment such as rear AC vents, rear parking camera, touchscreen multi-media system with voice recognition.

The blockbuster product from the stables of Hyundai Motor is back. The South Korean carmaker drove in the new Santro on Tuesday amid much fanfare in the presence of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan.


Santro returns in new avatar; powered by 4-cylinder 1.1-litre petrol engine; has AMT

The latest entrant in the fast-growing 4G feature phone market, Nokia, is betting big on the category that has created enough buzz in the last year since the new telecom player Reliance Jio launched its 4G feature phone at dirt cheap prices. Nokia, the erstwhile leader in the mobile handset market, made a comeback in India in June last year.

Earlier this month, HMD Global launched its first 4G feature phone — Nokia 8110, more popularly known as the Banana phone. The device offers access to an app store, for apps like Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google Search and Facebook, and has an option to send and receive emails. With WiFi feature, the device can offer portable hotspot as well.

“While we are a full range player and we play across price points, our main focus is on feature phones, where we have opportunities in terms of volume. The segment is growing rapidly for us. We plan to expand our feature phone offerings. Besides, we are also exploring the possibility of launching a 4G feature phone at affordable prices,” Ajey Mehta, vice president and country head - India, HMD Global, told DNA Money in an interview.

Banana Phone belongs to the Nokia classic series. The Nokia 8110 was first launched in September 1996 but later was overtaken by touchscreen phones. Feature phones is a very important category for Nokia. Its 2G product volumes have gone up and 2G phones are not going to phase out any time soon, Mehta said. While Nokia 8110 is priced at Rs 5,999, Jio’s 4G phones start at as low as Rs 501.

A user can get 4G JioPhone at an effective cost of Rs 501, under exchange offer. Under the offer, one has to give any 2G, 3G phone and pay Rs 1,095, which includes recharge for six months at Rs 99 /per month. JioPhone 2 costs Rs 2,999.

“One of our target consumers is a smartphone user who is looking for a companion phone which can provide basic connectivity and is stylish and reliable. The other target consumers are feature phone users who are looking for a premium experience; they do not have a 4G feature phone,” Mehta said.

“The market has always been very competitive and continues to be the same, 70 % of it is in the price range of Rs 7,000-20,000. It is a hyper-competitive market but we are focused on our strategy of design and craftsmanship and offering real-life experience to our users apart from the Nokia brand and reliability it stands for,” he said. Currently, Nokia has about 10 products available in India.

According to data from Cyber Media Research (CMR), the feature phone market, with 44.5 million shipments during the second quarter this year, registered a growth of 34% as compared to the year-ago same quarter.

As a result of the strong growth triggered by 4G feature phones led by Reliance Retail, the 2G pie is decreasing and expected to decline gradually over the next two-three years, according to Prabhu Ram, principal analyst, and head � Industry Intelligence Group, CMR. “The current market conditions make it difficult for mobile handset brands to venture into 4G feature phones, except a few, like HMD and Lava. To counter the pricing of Jio phones, mobile handset brands require economies of scale with adequate support from telecom service providers. But this is not the case as of today”, the CMR analyst said.

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There are over 1 billion mobile users in India, but only around 400 million are on the internet. This means mobile handset players and telecom operators alike have a long road to travel before everyone is hooked onto internet bandwagon i.e, 4G.

Source: DNA Money

The latest entrant in the fast-growing 4G feature phone market, Nokia, is betting big on the category that has created enough buzz in the last year since the new telecom player Reliance Jio launched its 4G feature phone at dirt cheap prices.


After Nokia 8110 Banana phone, company may launch affordable 4G feature phones

The wired broadband market is not far away from the disruption expected to be created by Reliance Industries which earlier shook the telecom market since its entry in late 2016. On Wednesday, the company announced an investment of about Rs 5,230 crore to buy majority stakes in Hathway Cable and Datacom and DEN Networks.

This will bolster the existing plans of the company in this space.

Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, had announced the launch of its broadband service Jio Giga Fiber across 1,100 cities, the registrations for which started in August this year. The target is to reach 50 million homes.Though analysts expect the wireline broadband market to be around $2 billion, which is small compared to the mobile market at around $22 billion, the future of the industry lies in fibre broadband that will multiply the data speeds and capacity manifold.

This will be critical given the fact that since the onset of 4G services by Reliance Jio, the data consumption has increased significantly.

On the network of Reliance Jio alone, the data consumption is around 11 GB per user/month.

“This could be the headstart for company’s ambitious plans in fibre broadband market. Similar to the telecom industry, the game plan will revolve around low tariffs to make inroads in the broadband market which is under-penetrated,” a senior executive from a telecom firm said.The broadband market is dominated by state-run telecom players BSNL and MTNL, followed by private telecom firm Airtel. Out of the total of 400 million broadband users, just 18 million are on the fixed line, though the mobile user base has been steadily going upwards of over 1 billion. Airtel has also been quite aggressive in broadband space and has launched its V Fiber and FTTH-based broadband services in few cities already with aggressive expansion plans.

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Analysts at CLSA say the acquisitions could help Reliance Jio expand into its existing TV subscriber base of over 14 million. “Reliance may have to invest in laying last mile fibre since the bulk of Hathway and Den Network’s broadband is not on fibre. We expect wireline broadband market potential to be limited to $2billion.” 
&nbsp;

Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, had announced the launch of its broadband service Jio Giga Fiber across 1,100 cities, the registrations for which started in August this year. The target is to reach 50 million homes.Though analysts expect the wireline broadband market to be around $2 billion, which is small compared to the mobile market at around $22 billion, the future of the industry lies in fibre broadband that will multiply the data speeds and capacity manifold.


Now, Reliance Jio set to disrupt wired broadband space too

From next year, mobile users will be able to seamlessly roam on public WiFi hotspots across the country.&nbsp;In simple terms, once a user logs in to a public WiFi network and moves on to a different location/city, the user will automatically be connected to WiFi network available without any need for re-verification.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Private players including Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio and BSNL will be setting up one million WiFi hotspots by next year, a senior executive from a telecom firm told DNA Money.

Currently, when a user logs on to public WiFi, he/she has to log in and authenticate the process every time with a change in location. These hotspots will be set up at airports, major localities, market areas, malls and other locations.

The centralised clearinghouse for billing and other technical issues has been set up by few telecom players already which will allow them to connect automatically to WiFi when they move to different locations or cities while travelling, the executive said.

This will also allow the players to tap the new markets especially in small towns and cities where there will be first-time users and usage will be less initially.

Cellular Operators Association of India director general Rajan Mathews confirmed the development and said such a proposal is in the works and will be implemented by next year.

A proof of the concept has already been showcased to the Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Home Affairs and the project to set up 1 million WiFi hotspots is expected to start by end of this month, Mathews said.&nbsp; 
This will also help telecom players to offload users to WiFi network, freeing up their mobile network for better efficiency.&nbsp;

With data consumption by smartphone users rising manifold over the last couple of years, the operators are working towards freeing the mobile networks by making users shift to broadband, WiFi and fibre to home solutions which will also allow users to access internet at much faster speeds.&nbsp;

State-run telecom player BSNL is the only player which offers its users a seamless access to 44 million WiFi hotspots in over 100 countries including international flights and rail systems in partnership with global payers. The BSNL users just need to download an app for the same.

Once the project is completed, the tariff structure will be finalised by the players, the executive from a telecom firm said. Most likely, it will come bundled with the existing tariff plan with an additional monthly cost. 
Many of the places, public WiFi is free, but in some areas, it is free initially for 15-30 minutes, then a user needs to buy a top- up, which comes in various denominations – Rs 15, 20, 50, 100 and so on.&nbsp;

The private players will be setting up 1 million hotspots through viability gap funding, under PDOA (public data office aggregator – similar to cyber cafes) system as recommended by telecom regulator Trai. Though the players have suggested their own models for setting up these hotspots which have been broadly accepted by the department of telecommunications. 
&nbsp; 
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q9OlWA2WmEU" width="100%"></iframe>The private players will be setting up 1 million hotspots through viability gap funding, under PDOA (public data office aggregator – similar to cyber cafes) system as recommended by telecom regulator Trai

Source: DNA Money

Currently, when a user logs on to public WiFi, he/she has to log in and authenticate the process every time with a change in location. These hotspots will be set up at airports, major localities, market areas, malls and other locations.


Hungry for public Wi-Fi? Use it soon, courtesy Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio and BSNL

As India moves towards the next technological revolution — 5G where applications for e-health, e-education, e-governance among others will gain prominence, a rapid fibre deployment will assume critical importance in achieving this feat. Infrastructure and Right of Way (RoW) - the two key issues that need to be focused upon is required even for expansion of existing 4G services with fibre deployment in the backhaul. The RoW guidelines facilitate a quicker acquisition of land for setting up mobile towers and laying fibre.

To fasten RoW processes, the government has called a meeting of all the state IT secretaries with state ministry officials from home, health and posts to ensure RoW for laying down fibre is put on a fast track, a senior official from the department of telecommunications said. Through BharatNet, the government is laying down optic fibre across all gram panchayats to provide broadband in rural areas. The first phase, which will connect 100,000 gram panchayats, has already been completed while the rest of 150,000 gram panchayats would also be connected soon.

From gram panchayats level, the fibre will then be taken to home premises, where government entities, as well as private players, are participating to offer last mile connectivity. For this, RoW across states need to be fastened to meet the target of offering internet connectivity across India in the next 3-4 years.

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“A committee in each state will be set up which will look into RoW issues for fibre deployment. This is important as even developmental institutions, schools, post offices, police stations will be connected through WiFi hotspots,” the official said.

Ashish Sharma of PwC says a right way to address the concerns of the telecom industry is to lower down cost structure which will happen when more fibre gets laid down. “The government has recognised that and that’s why has come up with a fibre first policy,” said Sharma.

The new digital communications policy, which was approved by the Cabinet recently, talks about the implementation of a “Fibre First Initiative” to take fibre to the home. It will also give telecom infrastructure the status of “critical and essential infrastructure”.

Apart from this, even towers in the telecom industry are far behind the ideal target of fiberisation required for high-speed applications in 5G. Currently, in India, only around 25% of towers are fiberised while globally, it is around 70-80%. Once the global standards are achieved in India, the rollout of 4G across India will be completed in an efficient manner, and there will be a smooth transition to 5G.

Telecom tower players have already initiated discussions with the department of telecommunications to lease fibre from BharatNet.

“The modalities are yet to be finalised. This will enable the players to save 30-50% in laying down their own fibres. The plan is to lease fibre from a gram panchayat and then take it to the tower,” according to another official from the DoT.

If finalised, the proposal will enable telecom players to offer improved quality of services and network coverage, especially data services including 4G, as fibre has more capacity and can cater to a wider base of users. Even for emerging technologies including 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and machine to machine communications, fibre is key, according to experts.

“With less than 25% towers fiberised, fibre leasing market represents a $2.6 billion market by FY20. The estimates imply that fiberised towers will increase from 90,000 to 3,30,000 by FY 20,” Tilak Raj Dua, director general, TAIPA (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association), said.

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“Fiberisation of backhaul networks will meet capacity demands with the growing usage of data. And fiberisation will play a key role in improving the quality of services and network coverage,” Dua said.&nbsp;Currently, the industry has 471,000 towers while the total subscriber base stands at around 1.1 billion.

&nbsp;

Source: DNA Money

Central government is working with state ministry officials to ensure that laying of fibre is put on a fast track&nbsp; &nbsp;


How Modi govt wants to fast-track 5G to a gadget near you

Telecom tower players are in discussions with the government to lease out fibre from BharatNet, the broadband network to connect rural hinterlands. This&nbsp;will enable them to increase their capacity with the rising consumption of data services besides saving costs.

Two rounds of discussions have already happened between the tower industry and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

“The modalities are yet to be finalised. This will enable the players to save 30-50% in laying down their own fibres. The plan is to lease fibre from a gram panchayat and then take it to the tower,” a senior DoT official said.

This will enable telecom players to offer improved quality of services and network coverage, especially data services, including 4G as fibre has more capacity and can cater to a wider base of users.

With rising data consumption, the only way forward for players is rapid fibre deployment.

Even for emerging technologies including 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and machine-to-machine communications, fibre is the key, experts said.

The DoT official said the tower players have asked for concession in leasing rates, but a final call is yet to be taken on this issue.

Currently, in India only around 25% of towers are fiberised while globally, it is around 70-80%.

Once the global standards are achieved, the rollout of 4G across the country will be completed in an efficient manner, and then the country can easily shift to another technological regime of 5G expected to be commercially launched in India by 2020.

“With less than 25% towers fiberised, fibre leasing represents a $2.6 billion market by fiscal 2020. The estimates imply that fiberised towers will increase from 90,000 to 3,30,000 by fiscal 2020,” Tilak Raj Dua, director general, Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (Taipa), told DNA Money.

He confirmed that DoT and Taipa had a brief discussion on the role of infrastructure providers to realise the BharatNet initiative.

“The detailed discussions are yet to take place to understand the modalities and commercial viability of the role that IP-1s can play.”

“Fiberisation of backhaul networks will meet capacity demands with the growing usage of data. And fiberisation will play a key role in improving quality of services and network coverage,” he said.

Currently, the industry has 471,000 towers while the total subscriber base stands at around 1.1 billion. The industry also needs another 100,000 towers in the near future with the rising growth in mobile data services.

Mobile data consumption in India is expected to multiply fourfold in the next five years through fiscal 2022, given low penetration and an expected doubling of data subscribers to more than 900 million, according to a recent Crisil Research report.

By 2022, mobile data subscriber penetration in India will reach 80% from less than 40% currently. Between the fiscals 2012 and 2017, India’s mobile data usage per subscriber climbed to around 80% annually to around 1.25 GB per month on increasing adoption of 3G and 4G services, free data offered by Reliance Jio, and a sharp 40% fall in tariffs in the last fiscal alone.

Through BharatNet project, the government will connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats - the first phase to connect 1 lakh gram panchayats has already been completed while another rest is expected to be completed before its target date of March next year.

Source: DNA Money

Telecom tower players are in discussions with the government to lease out&nbsp;fibre&nbsp;from BharatNet, the broadband network to connect rural hinterlands. This&nbsp;will enable them to increase their capacity with the rising consumption of data services besides saving costs.

&nbsp;


This firm turns key for telecom; here is why

Timely implementation will be the key to the accomplishment of various proposals set out in the New Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), according to experts. However, the telecom industry is not enthused with the policy document as it has not clearly specified the way forward for the reduction in various levies and fees imposed on the industry. For experts, the new policy has been a mixed bag. While some have called it a forward-looking policy, others have mentioned it just as a wishlist and not a realistic document.

Except for setting of an ombudsman and a centralised complaint system, the policy does not address the issue of quality of services/call drops which have become a big problem.

“It’s a good policy but the real test will be on implementation. The financial health of the industry is a function of two things — first, if the sector is attractive for investments and secondly, people who are investing — whether they are investing enough,” Ashish Sharma, PwC, told DNA Money.

The new policy was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The key objectives of the policy include Broadband for all, creating 4 million additional jobs in the digital communications sector, to provide universal broadband connectivity at 50Mbps, provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats of India by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022. It also aims to attract investment of $100 Billion in the sector and expand IoT ecosystem to 5 billion connected devices. It also talks about a review of levies and fees including license fee, spectrum usage charges, the definition of AGR and rationalisation of universal service levy. There is also a plan to rationalize license fees on fixed line revenues to incentivise digital communications.

Harsh Jagnani from ICRA said, “The industry has been facing a double whammy of deteriorating profitability metrics under intense competition and burgeoning debt levels. Improvement in broadband penetration, as well as an emphasis on emerging technologies such as 5G and Internet of Things, would add new revenue streams over long-term and can assist in improvement in the return on capital which has been subdued for some time now. Overall, the key would be the implementation.”

However, a senior executive from a telecom player says there will not be any immediate support to the industry from the new policy which should have been there. “It talks about future technologies and WiFi and other aspects including attracting $100 billion investment but the real issues currently are of financial constraints being faced by the incumbents. From where will the investment come if the financial health of the industry doesn’t improve? The policy is not realistic. It should have given a clear way out on reduction of levies and fees which are highest among the world”

Jagnani adds a rationalisation of levies and taxes will lead to cost savings for the telcos. “With growing data consumption, spectrum requirements would remain high...the policy&nbsp; talks about optimal pricing of the spectrum which also bodes well for the industry.”

Many experts also said there could have been a focus on infrastructure creation for existing networks at a time when call drops have become rampant and there are patchy areas in networks.

Sharma said it’s not the domain of the policy to look into what kind of levy/fees should be there on the sector. “The sector is attractive and has huge potential. There is a huge demand for digital communications globally and in India. We have a big market, companies can come and invest in R&amp;D and make new technologies not just 5-G but telecom equipment and manufacturing as well.”

Source: DNA Money

Timely implementation will be the key to the accomplishment of various proposals set out in the New Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), according to experts. However, the telecom industry is not enthused with the policy document as it has not clearly specified the way forward for the reduction in various levies and fees imposed on the industry.

&nbsp;


New Telecom policy: Industry unhappy over no cut in levies and fees

Mayank Luthra (name changed), a lawyer in the Supreme Court, is eagerly waiting for the government to give a go-ahead for in-flight connectivity services over the Indian airspace. A frequent air traveller, Luthra says he can efficiently use his flying time to respond to emails and WhatsApp messages, which at times are very critical to respond to.

Consumers like him can avail this service as early as November as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is close to finalising the rules for in-flight connectivity in the next few weeks paving the way for service providers to kickstart the whole process.

A senior official from the DoT said a few technical specifications over height restrictions are yet to be sorted and subsequently final guidelines will be released in a few weeks. The last issue to be resolved is a clarification from the shipping ministry about the coverage area over the sea for mobile service.

Though many users are not amused as there is no need for them to be connected 24x7. Eventually, the service would be targeted for the business users, corporates and differentiation of service among airlines may be offered while providing internet connectivity with a limited or full access.

Experts also feel that this will be a niche service catering to a targeted group of users. Mahesh Uppal, a sector expert, says, “There is a significant market for in-flight connectivity service, which may not be big in terms of total percentage of users but in absolute terms, it would be substantial.”

The only worry for airlines would be the nuisance for other travellers if the service is too popular and abused. Despite being a niche service, pricing will be critical. “Pricing may not be less. I would expect it to be around $1 per minute,” Uppal adds.

Airlines would have to bear the cost of installing equipment, but for them, cost should not be an issue, as it would be an incremental but one-time cost for airlines, experts say adding that cost won’t be dramatically high for them. Airlines can bundle this service with their packages just like meals, seat preferences etc, another expert adds.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the minimum height restriction of 3,000 meters can be retained for the compatibility of MCA services with terrestrial mobile networks in the Indian airspace. However, there should be flexibility in terms of use of technology and frequencies for MCA services consistent with international standards, provided no harmful interference is caused.

The DoT official said a clarification is required on coverage for internet/mobile services in water vessels — till territorial waters or EEZ (exclusive economic zone) — territorial water extends up to 12 nautical miles (around 22 kilometers) from coastal line of the country, while EEZ of the country covers up to 200 nautical miles.

In May this year, Telecom Commission - the highest policy-making body of the DoT had approved the proposal for allowing communication services on flights and maritime transport. A separate category of licensees - in-flight service providers - will be created with a licence fee at Re 1.

Globally, about 30 airlines offer WiFi services such as AirAsia, Air France, British Airways, Egypt Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic onboard.

According to a British satellite telecommunications company, Inmarsat’s annual in-flight connectivity survey 2016, it was found that 83% of passengers would prefer to fly with an airline offering in-flight connectivity and over half (55%) of all in-flight connectivity users have connected more than one device to in-flight Wi-Fi.

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Once operational, the use of mobile phones and other internet devices will still be restricted during takeoff and landing. Internationally, more than forty jurisdictions, including the European Union (EU), Asia, and Australia, have authorised the use of mobile communication services on aircraft, according to information from the telecom regulator.

Source: DNA Money

Indian flyers cannot have access to WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter or other social media apps simply because internet is banned on flights by government. However, big changes are afoot and you can do so very soon.


Mansi Taneja