India Seeks Minimum $52 Mln as 3G Mobile Fees in Biggest Cities

India will get at least $52 million each from Bharti Airtel Ltd. and its rivals for airwaves that will allow mobile-phone companies to offer video-streaming and similar high-speed services in the nation’s four biggest cities.The government will set a base price and auction radio frequencies instead of an entry fee for third-generation services, Nripendra Mishra, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in New Delhi today. Existing operators, too, will have to go through the process for extra bandwidth, he said, after releasing the regulator’s recommendations. There will be no ceiling on the number of bidders.

The base price for the New Delhi and Mumbai circles will be 800 million rupees ($17 million) each and half that amount for Chennai and Kolkata, Mishra said. The regulator has recommended three radio frequencies for third-generation services. These radio frequencies may be available in six to nine months, Mishra said. Smaller cities will cost 150 million rupees.

Bharti, part owned by U.K.’s Vodafone Group Plc., and rivals such as the local unit of Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. and Idea Cellular Ltd. want to start third- generation services to spur spending and reverse a steady fall in average revenue per user. These services, which allow a subscriber to download television programs and real-time stock prices to their handsets, will also mean increased sales for such companies as Ericsson AB and China’s ZTE Corp. that supply the equipment for third-generation networks.

Spectrum Sale

India is assessing how available frequency bands, locally called spectrum, may be sold without significantly raising subscription costs for third-generation, or 3G, services. The south Asian nation, which along with China adds more phone subscribers than any other country, wants auctions to determine the cost of spectrum across various telecommunications zones.

Pricing will determine whether Bharti, the biggest mobile- phone company in the country, will start 3G services.

“We will withdraw if the auctions are headed that way,” Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal said in the northern Indian town of Ludhiana, referring to the high fees paid by European mobile operators for 3G spectrum.

India trails Indonesia and Malaysia in offering third- generation cellular technology. Maxis Communications Bhd., Malaysia’s biggest operator, plans to spend 2.85 billion ringgit ($408 million) in the next four years to expand its high-speed Internet and mobile-phone networks. Indonesia’s PT Telekomunikasi Selular, which plans to start its high-speed services within a month, will spend 3 trillion rupiah ($330 million) developing 3G in three years.

“The process for introducing 3G services in India has already been initiated and it’s expected to be launched by the second half of next year,” Dayanidhi Maran, communications and information technology minister, said in New Delhi today. “India will no more remain isolated from the 3G wave.”

Next Year

Third-generation services in India are expected to start by June next year, Mishra said.

Sri Lanka, the island-nation off the coast of southern India, last month became the first South Asian country to allocate frequencies to operators for starting these services.

China’s government hasn’t said when it will give out 3G licenses, or how many it will issue. Companies may spend 80 billion yuan ($10 billion) on 3G networks in the first year licenses are issued, according to Beijing-based researcher BDA China Ltd.

Source- http://www.bloomberg.com

Bharti, Ericsson in Expansion Deal

Bharti Airtel has signed a $1 billion (approximately Rs 4,500 crores) network expansion contract with Ericsson, a Swedish telecom equipment maker.Under this contract, Bharti Airtel will expand and upgrade its GSM and GPRS network, as well as managed services. The deal will enable Bharti Airtel to rapidly extend its GSM footprint in the country, and increase its network capacity.

The three-year services agreement will see Ericsson manage design, development, and deployment of Airtel’s network, including capacity and coverage, enabling the operator to expand in rural India, and reach out to all towns and cities in around 15 regions.Speaking at the occasion, Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Airtel, said that their partnership with Ericsson allows them to focus on delivering better customer experience, even as they leverage the world-class expertise of their partners to roll out their networks across all census towns by March 2007.

Kohli said that they are also sourcing next generation products that will allow them to deliver innovative products and services to customers.

The contract also involves Ericsson upgrading the Airtel network with mobile softswitch (Media Gateway and MSC server), the solution that paves the way to an all-IP network. Bharti Airtel will be able to cut operational costs, and introduce new services in a cost-efficient way.

The scope of the agreement extends to 15 Airtel circles of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, and the North East.

In a statement, Mats Granryd, managing director, Ericsson India, said that rollout speed plays an extremely important role in large expansions of this nature, and that Ericsson has demonstrated expertise in this area. They are honored and pleased that Bharti Airtel has chosen them as a partner to expand its coverage across the country, particularly in untapped rural areas.

Source- http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=75406&cat_id=613