Archive for July, 2012
Airtel 3G / 4G TD-LTE Data, Vodafone & Idea Strategy – An Insight
Since the launch of 3G in India, 3G data tariffs in India are down by a further 60-75% across various usage buckets. In India data is sold mostly through add-on plans rather than as bundled plans with voice making it easier for subscribers to select the right plans for their usage. For the top three operators by revenue (Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) data tariffs remain largely flat across volume levels. Idea’s lack of 3G spectrum in key data markets (like Delhi and Mumbai), which forces it to lease capacity from Airtel / Vodafone, prevents it from pricing data at a discount to these two operators.
Airtel offers the lowest 3G data tariffs. Airtel took the lead in above mentioned recent 3G data tariff cuts. Airtel’s 3G data price aggression could be driven by the appearance of 4G TD-LTE over the horizon – With 3G data usage yet to take off and Bharti’s own recent launch of TD-LTE in two circles showing 4G as a credible threat, the company could be aiming to make the most of the time window left before Reliance Infotel Broadband launches 4G services. Airtel has already realigned 3G tariffs closer to 4G.
Monthly ARPUs for various usage scenarios in this report are largely similar for the three operators. Flattish data pricing across usage levels could allow Indian operators to see higher ARPUs at higher usage levels. More importantly, Indian operators have so far resisted offering unlimited 3G plans (though some of the smaller operators like Aircel broke away from this discipline recently).
3G Data ARPU and Margins – What is the Impact ?
Airtel’s smallest 3G data plan comes at Rs101 (US$1.83) per month for Read the rest of this entry »
99Acres – Realty Classifieds on Steady Growth Trajectory
99acres the online real estate classifieds reported 47% Y/Y growth in 1QFY13 quarter. 99acres is more exposed to new project / housing market (compared to secondary market) increasing dependence on new launches. However, management pointed out that the company is making an effort to penetrate the secondary market (property dealers). Management suggested that real estate market continues to be difficult as transactions are down 25-30% Y/Y. New launches in Mumbai, Noida and Chennai remained subdued due to weak market conditions.
The revenue growth in this business is very much dependent on macro factors such as interest rates, inflation and the regulatory environment, but over a period of time, revenue growth tends to normalize as witnessed by similar businesses in other geographies. For example, SouFun.com, a Chinese online real estate classified company, registered 66% revenue CAGR over the last five years, though FY09′s growth rate was only 22% due to a challenging macro environment. 99Acres is consciously making an effort to increase the proportion of business from the resale market, where the interest rate and inflation impact is lower.
The following chart shows the steady growth of Paid Transactions on 99Acres.Com Read the rest of this entry »
Mobile Banking – Long Term Focus Area for Indian Telecom Companies
Mobile-banking, or m-banking, potential is currently a focus for several emerging market telcos in India and Asia. We have already enlightened you about the various Types / Channels, Technologies in m-Banking / m-commerce. Before reading this article, you may also want to get to know the various business models in practice for mobile banking.
Republic of India has unbanked population of 65% and credit card penetration of 2% and a population of over 1bn, India offers a large, and relatively untapped market for m-banking services. For example, we understand there are nearly 100mn migrant workers, of whom 60% send money back home to their families. Most of this is still through informal remittance channels. If you include transactions such as government payments to citizens, peer-to-peer transfers from urban areas into rural areas, bill payments and point-of-sale purchases, and payments in the SME segment could offer a transaction value of over $100 Bn.
The Reserve Bank of India approved “prepaid instruments” which included m-wallets in 2009 and Bharti Airtel was the first operator to launch its m-wallet solution. We note there are 20 companies licensed for prepaid instruments, but Bharti with its 180+mn customers has the Read the rest of this entry »
What are Different Types / Channels of Mobile Banking / m-commerce ?
5 Years ago, we first tested Paymate Mobile payment services tied to a Credit Card and since then the industry has evolved. However, before diving into to check the state of m-Banking, m-Commerce in India, we’ll first have a peek into various types(options) / Channels available for the consumer to go for Mobile Banking.
M-banking is a broad term. It could be as simple as an SMS-based cash transfer between two users, or it could also refer to payments made on mobile-web at different merchant sites. We briefly discuss – various services / transactions offered under m-banking, how different technology channels are used and the merits of each.
Services offered by Mobile Service Providers
Mobile Wallet SIM card is used to store information on cash balance, account and transaction information. Here, the subscriber is not necessarily required to have a banking account, e.g. Airtel Money as he can load cash on to his account. In developed markets, this is expanded to also include credit card information, e.g. NTT DoCoMo’s mobile wallet includes prepaid as well credit card and ID card information. You can also use it for •Retail POS – Contactless (NFC) /Non-contactless, Ticketing – movies, travel, Utility Bill Payments, etc
Carrier Billing This includes purchases that are billed directly to the subscriber mobile phone bill. Such as when subscribers purchase ringtones or games from the carrier using prepaid or postpaid accounts. For example, Facebook is working with Indian telcos to facilitate in-application purchases (for games, credits, Apps, Songs, Ringtones, etc.) which can be directly Read the rest of this entry »
What are Different Types / Versions of Microsoft Office 2013 / Subscription Models ?
Nobody understands Businesses / Enterprise IT as Microsoft does and one of the key components of all its products being released is Cloud & Collaborated work support. Office 2013 will offer full integration with SkyDrive allowing content to be available via the cloud and synched across devices. In addition, personalized settings for Office applications will roam with the user as well.
For the first time, Microsoft is trying Office on Demand – a virtualized full instance of Office to be streamed to a PC if a user is away from one of their normal systems. Microsoft is positioning Office as a cloud service, and part of this Microsoft will be offering Office 2013 through a subscription model across several SKUs ranging from stater home / student usage to small businesses to larger enterprises.
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT [RunTime], which contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications, will be bundled with Windows RT for ARM-based Windows 8 devices. This implies that this version of the software will be ready in time for when Windows 8 ships in October.
The subscription service will be sold under the Office 365 banner and are as below,
Office 365 Home Premium – Meant for consumers and home usage. The service allows for native versions of Office 2013 to be installed on up to 5 devices, as well as an incremental 20GB of SkyDrive storage, and 60 minutes per month of Skype that can be used to dial land-lines Read the rest of this entry »
What’s New with Microsoft Office 2013 – Word / Excel / PowerPoint ?
Microsoft unveiled the new Microsoft Office 2013. The core Office products have been refreshed, as well as adding new Metro applications for OneNote and Lync. Microsoft is also refreshing Office Servers (Exchange, Sharepoint, Lync), as well as Office Web Apps, along with a new version of Office for Windows Phone (no discussion of availability on iOS for the iPad). Lets have a look at what’s new in Microsoft Office 2013.
Microsoft Word 2013
The updated Word 2013 runs in the desktop mode, although the user interface has been re-worked and optimized for touch-based input. Word 2013 takes advantage of pinch and zoom to manipulate documents and objects. A ‘reader’ mode is incorporated that enables a better experience to review documents as well as view and editing of PDF documents. Greater collaboration, comments, and sharing functionalists have also been built into the new release.
Microsoft Excel 2013
As with Word, the updated Excel 2013 runs in the desktop mode, although the user interface has been made to be friendly for touch-based or stylus input. Greater data manipulation tools have been implemented, as well as quick charting, and file sharing capabilities with SkyDrive, Sharepoint, and other social networks like Facebook. The new version also allows users to collaborate and present documents online via Lync. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Advertising + Charging Brand Pages on Social Network?
Facebook offers users reach and engagement like no other internet company and its users spend 370 minutes per month on the site, more than 2x the nearest site, YouTube at about 180 minutes per month. The question is how and when will they be able to improve and re-accelerate their overall ad growth trajectory?
What are the Challenges for Facebook Advertising Business – Facebook faces 3 main issues, 1) the low click-through rates, 2) the currently low advertising ROI, and 3) the mobile monetization limitations. Mobile is not going to be a multi-quarter or multi-month issue; it’s a multi-year issue, and dollars take time to move.
Advertisers tell us that Facebook continues experimenting monthly, if not weekly, with advertising units and ways to improve monetization on the site. In addition, when you have a base of 900 million people and growing, one change can make a big difference. The punch line is, we think charging for branded pages is one change that would dramatically increase this company’s power. There are 16,000 brands that have pages on Facebook that regularly interact with their fans through viral and earned marketing. The biggest is Coca-Cola, with 42 million fans, followed by Disney with 36 million fans.
What Happens if Facebook Decides to Charge Brand Pages with over 1 Million Followers on Facebook ?
We look at the impact of Facebook changing their monetization strategy by charging its largest brands, which we define as the 450 brands with one million-plus fans, for branded pages on Facebook [The Image on the Left Shows Screenshot of Facebook for Business being liked by 1.78 Mn Fans]. In effect, we are asking what happens if Facebook starts to monetize all this earned media and viral marketing on the Facebook platform Read the rest of this entry »
Pure Play LTE BWA Player – Reliance at a Dis-Advantage of 2.3GHz Spectrum – Needs More
Telecom Analysts data suggests that 2.3 GHz band are poor and somewhere in the range of 300m. This raises questions over the quality of coverage for LTE players, particularly those having spectrum only in the 2.3 GHz band and across India. The poor coverage characteristics of the spectrum suggest that pure play 4G player may need to add more spectrum in due course, particularly for coverage.
Reliance Infotel’s 4G BWA LTE rollout faces ecosystem challenges as well. India has traditionally been a late adopter of technology, as it has less purchasing power than other countries. With voice taking seven years to achieve mass penetration and 3G failing to achieve critical mass 5 Quarters after launch, we believe the market is not Economicallyy ready for 4G LTE Broadband in India.
700MHz [Lower Band Spectrum] and 2.3GHz for Wireless Broadband – Poor coverage of 2.3Ghz frequency band suggests that operators need to combine this spectrum with some low MHz spectrum to create a sustainable data business. We believe over time FD-LTE, which is deployed in the 700 MHz frequency band, will be deployed for coverage and and capacity via the 2.3 GHz band.
What are the Options for Pure LTE 4G BWA Players like Reliance / Tikona ? Read the rest of this entry »
