Archive for January, 2011
Reliance WiMax – LTE Dilemma Advantage for 3G Operators
Reliance Industries Ltd [RIL] inherited by Mukesh Ambani is in a dilemma to choose WiMax or LTE for providing wireless broadband services. RIL invested close to USD 1 Bn for PAN India BWA license and since then is quiet on its plans. BWA licences are technology-neutral and both WiMax and LTE can be on the same spectrum however these licences allow only data services.
No Tower / Optical Fiber Network deals have been negotiated nor they are in the pipeline. Besides, the handsets/terminal equipment is a significant issue. LTE handsets irrespective of urban or rural rollout will require subsidies while dongles are already available across CDMA 1X and now also 3G mobile networks and tariffs are already competitive. Availability and Read the rest of this entry »
Will Inflation Impact Wireless ARPU ?
Kids in School are aware now talking of Indian Inflation which is unheard off amongst kids in the rest of the World. We ran a quick analysis on the impact of Inflation on Wireless Service Providers and here is our take on the same.
GSM ARPU is at Rs130 (Rs75 for CDMA) – TRAI Average and ARPU is different for Different Operators. The low absolute level and its relatively small contribution to overall household consumption spend (~4%) means that it is less susceptible as families reallocate monthly budgets to counter the food inflation. Interestingly this mobile “budget” spend (%) has remained broadly stable in the last 3-4 years. The high users (post-paid) should anyway be not impacted by this budgetary constraint.
Rural consumers tend to have lower disposable income compared to the national average and as a result Read the rest of this entry »
3G issues nearly resolved, guidelines soon: Sibal
In what would came as a major relief for the telecom operators, the government said on Wednesday that the security related issues that were impacting the launch of third generation (3G) services were nearly resolved and it would soon issue new guidelines in this context.
’3G issue is almost resolved. Soon you will have new guidelines that will resolve the matter,’ said the communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal. On Tuesday, union home minister P Chidambaram too had stated that while the telecom service providers needed to work Read the rest of this entry »
