Announcing the rollout, Anil Ambani told reporters that the company has invested over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the project, which was completed six months ahead of schedule. Reliance Communications mobile users will now have a choice of both CDMA and GSM services, Ambani said, adding, "the project was completed within 15 months", six months ahead of schedule.
Buoyed by the entry of new telecom players and entry of Reliance Communications in the GSM space, the Indian telecom industry clocked the highest subscriber-addition in a month, by adding 15.87 million subscribers in March 2009.
A total of 10.42 million wireless (GSM, CDMA and WLL) subscribers have been added during October 2008 against 10.07 million wireless subscribers added in September 2008, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said. The total wireless subscribers stood at 325.73 million at the end of October 2008.
Reliance Communications (RCom) has served legal notice to the government on allocation of additional spectrum to existing GSM operators.
According to the figures released by industry, GSM operators added 7.69 million new subscribers, while CDMA operators added 2.34 million new users taking the total mobile subscriber base to 310 million. Out of the 310 million, GSM subscriber base stood at 233 million, with a market share of 75 per cent.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has prepared an internal note that suggests reversing spectrum allocation norms by giving new applicants for telecom licences preference in spectrum due to be released by the defence forces early next year.
Ambani termed COAI's appeal to the telecom tribunal against the government granting RCom dual-use technology (CDMA and GSM) as "unnecessary and unwarranted". RCom, the country's largest provider of CDMA mobile services, recently received permission to start GSM services under its existing licence for which it paid a fee of Rs 1,651 crore (Rs 16.51 billion).
Tata Teleservices on Wednesday became the second major CDMA operator, after Reliance Communications, to get GSM radio frequency under the dual technology along with other new telecom players.Tata Teleservices has been given start up 4.4 MHz GSM spectrum in Tamil Nadu along with five new telecom players, company officials said.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal will hear the petition, asking for a stay against the government order permitting crossover allotment, on Wednesday. In its petition, the COAI has said the DoT's decision has been taken with 'unseemly' haste to benefit a few operators that have made a 'backdoor entry' on the basis of 'invalid applications' given in February 2006.
The petition filed by a host of GSM operators along with COAI also sought quashing of department of telecommunication's decision, dated October 19, to allow enhanced subscriber-linked criterion for spectrum allocation. They also sought non-implementation of these decisions terming them unfair, unjust, illegal, arbitrary and violative of level-playing field and principles of natural justice.
About 11.90 million wireless (GSM, CDMA and WLL(F)) subscribers were added in April 2009 as against an addition of 15.64 million during the previous month, taking the total subscriber base to 403.66 million, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said. The total telecom (wireless and wireline) subscriber base stood at 441.47 million at the end of April 2009 as against 429.72 million in March 2009, it added.
A Nielsen research states that it's the network quality which is on top of the consumer's mind. The research, carried out in the top 10 Indian cities, says that 42 per cent of Indian subscribers rate network performance as very important for selecting their mobile operator. In fact, with 34 per cent votes, network-driven choice is ahead of price-driven choice.
The company plans to leverage its tie-up with NTT DoComo to offer many value-added services.
RComm will get GSM spectrum along with other players like Vodafone, Airtel and Idea. This move will bring RComm actively in the GSM field.
Also looks at creating a level-playing field for GSM and CDMA players.
A Get Ahead reader complains about the practices of his cellular service provider. We share his story and invite readers to discuss their experiences.
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies that enable wireless communication. It has been the source of a bitter dispute between mobile operators of the rival GSM and CDMA technologies. In its petition, Tata Teleservices has also demanded immediate allocation of spectrum that is under the contractual obligation in areas in which it has fulfilled its subscriber base criterion.
Key operators of GSM mobile services are working on a counter-proposal on spectrum allocation that would include accepting a 25 per cent increase, at the most, in minimum subscriber numbers for operators to qualify for additional access to the radio frequencies that enable mobile communications.
Corporate giant Tatas on Tuesday asked the government to seek surrender of excess spectrum lying with GSM operators, a line being aggressively pursued by Reliance Communications chief Anil Ambani. With this, the top two CDMA players have joined forces against GSM operators like Bharti and Vodafone to seek return of spectrum beyond the contractual amount of 6.2 Mhz.
Tata Teleservices spokesperson confirmed the development, and said: "We have written to theDoT seeking clarity on the issue."
Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said introduction of mobile number portability is unlikely to affect the company's margins as it expects a major churn out of subscribers in favour of GSM operators.
Virtually bringing the entire industry into the picture, telecom tribunal TDSAT on Monday directed Reliance Communications, HFCL, Shyam Telelinks, BSNL and MTNL to become a party to a petition challenging changes to spectrum allocation norms among others.
Struggling US telecom giant Motorola is exploring the possibility of shifting part of the manufacturing facility it is closing in Singapore to India. China and Thailand are also on the radar. Top sources said India is high on the list since Motorola already has a plant in Chennai and a large domestic mobile phone base of over 120 million phones annually.
Commenting on the development, Rajiv Mehrotra, Chairman of Shyam Group, told PTI: "We are delighted that the government has opened up the way for new telecom players to operate telecom services as soon as possible and this is a major step towards offering cost-effective mobile services." Russian conglomerate has already announced up to $5 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) investment in the Indian telecom sector.
Mobile operators have strongly opposed the decision of telecom regulator Trai to impose penalties on them for unsolicited calls, saying the move is "unfair" and would discourage service providers which cannot be blamed for the nuisance.
"We will start our GSM services soon. We have got spectrum in 13 circles in one or two months. We expect to get spectrum in all the circles barring one or two," TTSL managing director Anil Sardana said. RCom has launched GSM services in 11,000 towns, which would be extended to 22,000 towns in the next few months.
Confirming this, Chief Financial Officer S Venkatesan said that the company has passed an enabling resolution to raise around $200 million from foreign investors either through an FCCB or a private placement.
Tata Teleservices on Saturday said it would invest $2 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore) in rolling out GSM-based mobile services in the country.
TRAI may recommend the DoT to levy one-time non-refundable fee of Rs 50,000 per operator for each service area in which they opt for spectrum sharing.
Making its foray into mobile content outsourcing, the CDMA major, Reliance Communications, has signed its first contract with a Singapore-based GSM service provider.
The department of telecommunication had earlier said a CDMA operator had written a letter to the government seeking auction of additional spectrum against the current subscriber-led allocation.
The government struck a cordial note with the GSM mobile lobby by agreeing on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) norms for spectrum allocation, a move described by rival CDMA player Reliance Communications (RCom) as "succumbing to pressure".
Taking the government head on, four GSM mobile operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice -- have decided to "unitedly" approach the Delhi High Court against telecom tribunal TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.
Telecom Secretary DS Mathur has told the finance ministry that a change in the entry fee that operators must pay for a telecom licence cannot be considered since the matter was approved by the Cabinet in October 2003. The letter, written late last month, was in response to a letter by Finance Secretary D Subbarao, who had requested the department of telecommunications to "stay" the issue of new licences and those for cross-over technology (from CDMA to GSM services).
Consider these numbers. The latest figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reveal that the number of Indians using their mobiles to logon to the internet has increased from 16 million in 2006 to 38 million in 2007 (both GSM and CDMA).
Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Authority had on December 12 refused to stay the government's process of awarding new licences and allocating airwaves to mobile firms, a decision which existing GSM players say would hurt them Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular are the major GSM players in Cellular Operators Association of India, but it is learnt that there is no consensus within the lobby group over moving the high court.
B K Modi-controlled Spice Mobile is all set to launch its GSM phone for Rs 800 this month. Branded as the 'People's Phone', the handset, a very basic model, doesn't have a display screen. Spice officials believe the company will sell around one million units in India and 10 million globally over the next 12 months.
The Rs 6,700-crore (Rs 67 billion) deal likely in a fortnight. News of the likely transaction first broke a few weeks ago. Investment banking sources now suggest that the deal will be announced in a fortnight, if not earlier. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson refused to comment, saying: "As a policy in the Tata group, we do not comment on speculative queries."
High-end mobile device Blackberry, which was till now available only with the GSM operators, will be soon launched on CDMA platform by Reliance Communications.
The total number of telephones (wireless and wired) in the country stood at 248.66 million, compared with 241.02 million in August this year.
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