The Executive strategy team at Idea Cellular acquired capacity bands, citing two reasons: 1. They wanted to be competitive in their leadership circles and offer best services. 2. In the non-leadership circles, they were able to acquire spectrum by spending a modest Rs. 5-7bn, which enables them a good hedgeContinue Reading
Pure Play Wireless Operator, Idea Cellular’s Voice RPM expanded 2.9% QoQ as the company did not increase discounts in the first half of the quarter. Idea’s tactics seem to have backfired as VLR subscribers declined and minutes fell 1.1%. Thus Idea’s sequential voice revenue growth at 1.8% trailed Airtel’s 2.9%Continue Reading
Pure Play Wireless Operator, Idea Cellular believes that wireless internet penetration at less than 31%, mobile data will be the next big opportunity for operators. Current data expansion phase is similar to the 2006‐2010 voice expansion phase wherein telecom operators improved coverage and dropped prices to accommodate a substantial jumpContinue Reading
Idea Cellular, the master of Just in Time expansion and execution analogous to the Java compilers running your Android Apps is in deep trouble when it comes to 4G LTE Mobile Data Networks. In the last 8 years, Idea Cellular improved its revenue market share mostly banking on 2G VoiceContinue Reading
Idea Cellular’s CEO, Himanshu Kapania hosted Analyst meet and here are the key takeaways. Idea Cellular’s spectrum needs are more discretionary now unlike in 2014/15 and hence feels no pressure to invest in 2016 auctions; 700Mhz is not economically feasible at proposed price. Given large supply of spectrum across bands,Continue Reading
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
Idea Cellular has announced purchase of 5MHz paired spectrum in the 1800MHz band in Gujarat and UP (West) circles from Videocon Telecom for INR 33.1bn. This purchase will enable Idea to launch 4G in these 2 circles (currently contribute 14.4% to revenue). Idea is the No. 1 operator by revenueContinue Reading
Idea Cellular’s Mobile data revenues were up 9.3% qoq and 61% yoy in 2QFY16. Share of data in mobile revenues increased by 190bps qoq to 19.6% in 2Q. Data traffic or volume growth was 83% yoy, driven by 118% growth in 3G traffic and 47% growth in 2G [EDGE, GPRS].Continue Reading
Idea Cellular management hosted a conference call today to provide update on data business and 4G in particular. As part of data network expansion [3G + 4G], Idea will deploy 30-35K BTS in FY16 against our forecast of 20K BTS. This should impact capex forecasts favorably, and sure enough, managementContinue Reading
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