Airtel Voice RPM Down + 900Mhz for LTE in Future
Airtel Voice RPM declined due to higher competitive intensity in a few circles. Recently, competition increased from leading players as opposed to smaller players in the past. In the medium-to-long term, voice RPM needs to rise though there may be quarterly fluctuations. The management was very clear in stating thatContinue Reading
How will Indian Telecom market Progress Post Jio Launch ?
Reliance Jio’s launch will accelerate consolidation leading smaller telcos to exit market overtime. Currently the top 3 telcos have 70% of total market share with remaining 8-9 telcos sharing the remaining 30% market share. The key value proportion of smaller telcos to consumers has been cheaper offerings than larger telcosContinue Reading
Will Telcos BUY 700Mhz Spectrum at TRAI’s Recommended Auction Price ?
TRAI has recommended auctioning 700 MHz spectrum (7 blocks of 5 MHz each) along with spectrum in other bands (800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, and 2500). TRAI has recommended auctioning all spectrum available with the DOT and some more. Recommended reserve price for 700 MHz spectrum is US$8.5 bn forContinue Reading
Idea Cellular Mobile Data Growth Tapers, 21.2 Mn 3G Subscribers
Idea Cellular’s Mobile Broadband Data revenue growth slipped materially. Data revenues grew 45.7% yoy (and 7.2% qoq), sharp deterioration from 80-100% yoy growth levels reported over the past many quarters. Volume growth slowed down to 75.8% yoy while realizations (ARMB) dipped a steep 17% yoy and 4.7% qoq to 22.3Continue Reading
Xiaomi India – Online Sales to Manufacturing SmartPhones / Consumer Electronics
Disruptive SmartPhone Maker Xiaomi started sales in India with the Flash sales model. First flash sale in 2014, 250-300k people showed up interest on FlipKart’s website. Entire sale was over in 2 seconds (10k units). The initial buyer profile was young adults, active on social media and tech savvy, wantingContinue Reading
Did Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Undermine 4G-LTE Which Reliance Jio embraced ?
A key question I’m always asked is whether Airtel should have launched 4G even before to give it more time. The strategy behind Airtel’s 4G LTE launch was to pre-empt Reliance Jio. It launched commercial 4G operations in August-15 across 296 towns. Airtel has subsequently increased its footprint (is anContinue Reading
Spectrum Caps – Reliance Jio in War with A-Vo-Id Operators
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in a recent consultation paper, sought comments from the industry and other stakeholders on a variety of spectrum-related issues. One of the surprising issues raised in the paper was whether there was a need to modify the current regulations around spectrum caps. CurrentContinue Reading
2G, 3G & 4G Will Co-Exist in India – Vodafone
Vodafone believes 2G, 3G and 4G will co-exist in India for years to come and believes multiple networks can help address the needs of all strata of customers and is cost efficient. Management highlighted past failure of a 3G-only network. Vodafone is increasing its own 3G network footprint from nineContinue Reading
Zomato shifts Focus to Monetization from Traffic Building
Zomato recently changed its strategy to focus on monetization vs. the previous strategy of traffic building. Zomato currently operates in 23 countries, of which it is traffic leader in 18. However, traffic levels have reached the critical level in only 12 countries, while other markets are still evolving. The companyContinue Reading