How SmartPhone Purchase Cycle Volatility has shifted towards First Quarter of Launch ?
In July 2013, we highlighted the impact of saturation of smartphones in developed markets, asserting high-end handset sales were apt to decelerate in coming quarters. As a supplement to this report, we next looked at product life cycles, where we showed that lifecycles for progressive new product types are increasinglyContinue Reading
TRAI Vs DoT – War of Words on Spectrum Sharing in India
Ahead of the release of the Government Policy on Telecom Spectrum Sharing, M&A, etc we’d like to highlight the War of Words between the TRAI and the DoT in this context since 2010. A gentle reminder would be that the interest of the Nation comes last and the agenda drivenContinue Reading
M&A in Indian Telecom – Corruption & Intense Lobby Influence Rules for Spectrum
It is surprising that despite Multi Billionaire Dollar Spectrum Scam, the same officers continue to occupy the seats of power and write the rules for M&A. We’d like to highlight without naming anybody on how Massive Corruption & Intense Lobbying is happening in the Indian Telecom Sector evident from theContinue Reading
Will the new Facebook Video Ads Product become Billion Dollar Business ?
Social Networking Giant, Facebook recently began testing auto-play videos in users’ mobile news feeds. When it does eventually launch its video product, the first videos will be user generated content, and we won’t expect to see video ads until the format has been refined over time. This strategy should getContinue Reading
900Mhz Spectrum Good for 3G but Not Critical + 3G Capacity no constraint yet
Even though the position of the incumbents is that auctioning 900MHz is illegal, TRAI’s proposed base price cuts make it reasonably priced. In Delhi, Airtel and Vodafone are very dominant (35% and 28% Revenue Market Share). They would place a much higher value on 900MHz retention than a challenger likeContinue Reading
Airtel Acquires 42.45% more stake from Qualcomm’s 4G LTE Venture in India at 58% Discount
Airtel has acquired a further 42.25% stake from Qualcomm in the 4 License Areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala held by Qualcomm India through a subsidiary Wireless Business Services (WBSPL). In the first tranche of the transaction, in May 2012, Airtel acquired 49% stake at 60% discount to theContinue Reading
Airtel Vodafone Idea 2G Data Tariff Increase Confirms Cartelization
At a time when Indian Telecom Operators are dropping 3G prices, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular [A-Vo-Id] have bucked the trend and are instead raising 2G data prices offering pathetic data speed and have refused to move an inch on 3G data pricing. A-Vo-Id Cartel have increased 2G data tariffsContinue Reading
Airtel Mobile myPlan aimed at Converting Pre-Paid base to Post-Paid
Tata DoCoMo disrupted the Indian Mobile Services market with Per Second billing in 2009 which led to the subsequent Tariff War over the next 2 years. This time around, India’s largest Wireless Carrier, Airtel is trying something on the Billing front where it aims to convert Pre-Paid subscribers to Post-Paid.Continue Reading
3G Mobile Data Challenges – 27% of Subscribers have just Rs 30 Balance on Pre-Paid Accounts
We’ve seen that just 35% of the Towers are 3G Lighted implying slow deployment of 3G data Services even 3 years after the auction. From a demand perspective, we believe that the challenge from a 12-15 month perspective is increasing 3G penetration. Even though it is a daunting task, theContinue Reading