Archive for 'internet' Category
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 »
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 »
Limited Spectrum and High Population Density Restricts Operators from 3G Data Tariff War
A section of newspapers [Full of Hype without any Analysis] have reported that Indian Telecom Operators have started a 3G Data Tariff War. Well, we’d like to enlighten the initial cuts in 3G tariffs cannot be termed as a Tariff War like we have seen in the 2G Voice between 2009 and 2011.
Why India Cannot Afford 3G data Tariff War – Mainly due to two reasons as discussed below
1. High Mobile Subscribers Density – Population density is a clear positive in a 2G voice driven environment, as 2G base stations have a comparatively fixed coverage diameter. This implies that a base station in a very dense city will “capture” a higher number of subscribers. 3G base stations operate somewhat differently – There are two key points here. First, the higher speeds are only available much closer to the base station itself. Second, the coverage area actually shrinks as more users use more data. This implies that cell site coverage shrinkage will progressively get worse, leading to requirements for significant base station proliferation over time.
2. Limited Spectrum – 5MHz grant of 3G spectrum in the 2100Mhz band is rather poor when compared to other countries. A single webpage today is approximately 10x the size of a webpage 10 years ago, due to the heavier use of graphics, scripts, and the like. Even if user behavior did not change, this would represent a significant increase in data usage. We also have Rich Multimedia such as Video and Gaming which require higher capacity data channels. A case study of Hyderabad Vs Singapore presented here concludes HIGHER CAPEX for Telecom Operators.
So what is the Potential Solution to India’s 3G problem ? Read the rest of this entry »
Maharashtra has the Largest Subscribers of Broadband in India – Statewise Breakup
Maharashtra in India is the state with Highest Number of Broadband Subscribers classified in DSL / Cable Categories only. Wireless EVDO /3G and 4G are excluded in this report.
45% of the Village Panchayats in India have Broadband Internet facility. There are wide disparities across states in terms of coverage of village panchayats under Broadband. While on the one hand, village panchayats in states like Pondicherry, Kerala and Chandigarh have 90 to 100 per cent broadband coverage, villages in states such as Manipur, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh have less Read the rest of this entry »
Airtel 4G LTE Review + Performance Test – Tepid Sales
India’s Largest Wireless operator Bharti Airtel Ltd became the first Telco to launch 4G TD-LTE based Wireless Broadband Services in India, a substitute for Fixed DSL / Cable Broadband. Three weeks after the launch in Bangalore / Bengaluru, we decided to review and test the performance of Airtel 4G. Tests were carried out at a dozen locations at various points in the city – Commercial as well as high-end residential areas were included.
What is the Maximum Download Speed on Airtel 4G LTE ?
Anybody going for 4G LTE is definitely looking for high Speed broadband for business productivity. Though Airtel advertises 100 Mbps peak speed, in reality we’d be satisfied with even 50 Mbps speed. However, the peak speed which we got is just 27 Mbps at only one location and on an average we’d like to say we got 18 Mbps outdoor and the test setup being stationary [non-mobile] while connecting to Indian Servers.
Airtel 4G LTE Speed dropped drastically as much as 40-50% while we were indoors in Commercial as well as Residential Apartments. Thus we’d say the Average 4G Speed Indoors is around 9 Mbps while connecting to an Indian Server.
Speed While Connecting to BroadbandIndia’s SpeedTest Benchmarked Server
While testing Airtel 4G LTE against our own Speedtest Benchmarked module, we found that the speed further dropped by a fourth. Thus the Average Outdoor Speed was around 14 Mbps and Indoor Speed was 6.5 Mbps. Still far better than any 3G or EVDO Wireless Internet Services. The wide difference in Read the rest of this entry »
4G-LTE – 3 Years Away to be Mass Market in India
Now that Airtel has been selectively launching 4G LTE Wireless Broadband services, we thought of an ears on the ground survey by talking to vendors, resellers and service providers.
India has traditionally been a late adopter of technology, as it has less purchasing power than other countries. With voice taking 7 years to achieve mass penetration and 3G failing to achieve critical levels mass even after a year. We believe that the market is not yet ready for 4G LTE.
Eco-system TD-LTE Vs FDD-LTE – US have adopted FDD-LTE, China Mobile has every incentive to rapidly migrate to TD-LTE. Indian operators are set to adopt TD-LTE. LTE handsets don’t support voice[seamless voice like 2G, VoIP is a different story] today which will be essential in the Indian context. Led by Qualcomm their are some technology advances that will be inducted into the high end smartphones which is not relevant in the context of India.
Telecom Customers in India are very sensitive to affordability and the slow pick-up in 3G is a reflection of the challenges the operators face to drive data take-up in an environment with no handset subsidies. Mass production of LTE handsets – wherein there are economies of scale to produce phones at a cheaper price – is not happening anytime soon. Moreover, not all operators are in a hurry to develop the technology to support voice in the LTE ecosystem. The primary intention of scaling up 4G is to support the burgeoning data traffic.
We feel that India is an unusual market Read the rest of this entry »
Aircel 3G – Pocket Internet Smart Plans go Unlimited – Lowest Pricing
Aircel which revolutionized Pocket Internet Plans in India is back with another disruptive offer but favorable to consumer – All Aircel 3G Pocket Internet Smart Plans come with UNLIMITED Usage, of-course there is a Fair Usage Policy – FUP, but still compared to other 3G Plans in India, Aircel will be the cheapest.
Aircel is in pact with Tata DoCoMo to offer its consumers 3G Data in circles where it has not Won the spectrum. Thus subscribers of Aircel will have seamless coverage of 3G Internet and at places where the same is not available, you will definitely have 2G GPRS Connectivity.
Why Should Consumers opt for Aircel 3G ?
Currently with 3G/2G packs, customer has to keep switching between the networks of 2G / 3G on his phone so that he doesn’t end up using his expensive 3G data in 2G network. With the plans from Aircel, he no longer needs to do this.
Most Operators Offer 3G Plans in Limited Data Usage Capacities. However, with Aircel 3G you have no headache of Billing Shocks or anything as the speed automatically drops to 128 Kbps after exhausting the limit under the plan you have chosen.
Aircel 3G USB Dongle Plans start as low as Rs 198 / Month with 1 GB Data Usage and also their is no restrictions on type of device. You can use Aircel Card on your existing Micromax/ Huawei/ etc. dongles and benefit from these new plans
Even the Lowest Plan of Rs 7 comes with Full 3.6 Mbps Speed without any rider. Here is a summary of the Plans Offered by Aircel 3G, Read the rest of this entry »
Bharti Airtel launches 4G LTE Wireless Broadband in Kolkata
Bharti Airtel today became the first operator in India to launch 4G LTE Services in Kolkata. The airtel wireless 4G LTE service breaks free of everything you knew about the internet. Features include – wireless and blazing fast High-speed mobile internet access with bandwidth up to 40Mbps. See on What all You can Experience with 4G
What is Airtel 4G LTE ?
Airtel’s 4G LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is the latest (4th) Generation in Mobile Network Technology. Get speeds up to 100mbps while downloading, and 40mbps while uploading. Break free of buffering and waiting, and manifest your will online instantly and seamlessly. The internet will never be the same again.
How is 3G Different from 4G ?
Theoretically, 3G technology provides faster / higher data transfer rates compared to the 2G network (EDGE & GPRS).This technology can offer speeds up to 21 Mbps. An in case of 4G LTE, Data Downlaod Speed under Ideal Conditions can be as high as 100 Mbps. You can see the complete difference between GPRS / EDGE /3G and 4G here.
How to Access 4G LTE ?
Airtel is Offering Two Choices Read the rest of this entry »
