UnwireIndia

Competition in Kenya’s telecommunications industry is heating up as the latest entrant in the market announced plans to make the biggest investment in the industry in recent years.

India’s Essar Global Ltd. will invest US$500 million over two years in Kenya’s newest mobile phone service operator, Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd., to set up a network, among other things, said S. Srinivasa, the East Africa director for the group. Srinivasa spoke to journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, late Wednesday.

Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd. CEO Michael Foley said the investment will also pay for licenses for other telecommunications services and the establishment of a wireless broadband service. Foley said the mobile phone network would be running by the end of November. Read the rest of this entry »

Idea Cellular, India’s fifth-largest mobile operator, on Wednesday launched services in Mumbai, with aims of getting 20 percent of the city’s new users over the next year and breaking even in the zone in four years.

India’s financial capital has been a lucrative zone for telecom firms, but with more than 80 percent of the city’s population owning mobile phones, compared with an all-India average of just 26 percent, the pace of addition has slowed down.
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After scouring the world, Spice Global, an Indian telecommunication and entertainment conglomerate, has picked Singapore for its global office, the company announced Thursday.

Spice Global Chairman Dr B.K. Modi said the city-state was chosen for its strategic location as a launching pad for its global business. The company had set aside US$200 million for its operations here, he told a press conference.

Modi said the right place to do business now was in Asia as it had the world’s fastest growing mobile society and was becoming a lucrative market and Singapore had all the world-class facilities and services plus the highly skilled and knowledge-based workers it needed.
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Shaadi.com, on of the largest matrimonial service provider and Vodafone Essar, launched ‘Shaadi.com on Vodafone’- a matrimonial service on Vodafone mobile phone. This tie-up will enable Vodafone customers in India to access Shaadi.com’s matrimonial services on their mobile phones.

‘Shaadi.com on Vodafone’ will enable Vodafone users to search and view profile details of other members without the need to log on to the Internet. Mobile phone users will be able to browse through profiles, express interest in members, accept/ decline interest sent to them by other members and send personalized messages to prospective matches.
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Tata Teleservices has said it will invest Rs 8,000 crore over the next 24 months to expand its telecom networks. Of this, about Rs 6,000 crore would go in building a pan-India GSM network, while the remaining Rs 2,000 crore would be used to strengthen its existing CDMA networks. Tata Teleservices managing director Anil Sardana told ET that the company would launch GSM services across India by March ’09.

Tata Teleservices will also launch BlackBerry handsets for its customers by September. “The platforms are ready and the soft launch has already taken place. We are sorting out some minor issues in logistics before we launch it finally,” Mr Sardana said.
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TRAI on August 6 released recommendations on Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), enabling the introduction of MVNOs in the Indian telecom network.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), vide its letter dated March 20, 2008, had sought TRAI’s recommendations on the need and timing for introduction of MVNO as well as terms and conditions of the license to be granted to such operators.

TRAI had undertaken the public consultation process on the various underlying issues relating to the introduction of MVNO in India such as concept and definition of MVNO, different models, need and timing for entry of MVNO, regulatory approaches, licensing issues, etc., by issuing a consultation paper on May 5, 2008, followed by an open house discussion in Delhi on June 16, 2008.
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The 3G guidelines rolled by government is set to revolutionise India’s mobile phone services and take it to the next technological level.

The 3G policy announcement paves the way for high-speed mobile connectivity in the country. Here’s looking into what 3G will mean for you as a consumer.

What exactly is 3G
3G is short for third-generation mobile telephony services.

3G phones work in higher bandwidths of 15-20 MHz. Currently mobile phones work on 2G or 2.5G, and use 30-200 KHz bandwidth. Bandwidth is a measure of the width of a range of frequencies used while transferring data from one point to another and is measured in hertz.
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Diversified Indian conglomerate the Future Group plans to enter the fast-growing mobile services space as a franchisee for network operators, it said, and is in talks with several firms for a potential launch next year.

“We are not in a hurry,” Chief Executive Kishore Biyani said in a monthly newsletter. “We have just begun talking with some network operators.”

The Future Group, which has interests in retail, real estate, insurance, financial services and logistics, has appointed consultancy McKinsey & Co and UK’s Value Partners Group as advisers for its telecom plans, it said.
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Country’s second largest real estate firm Unitech Ltd has appointed swiss investment banker UBS to look for a global partner to dilute the company’s 26 per cent stake in its telecom business.

Unitech Wireless, which has received pan-India telecom licences, today said it would launch operations in the first quarter of next year.

“We have appointed UBS for searching partners and divestment while management consultant McKinsey has been hired for overall telecom business plan,” Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra told reporters.
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Mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, may have to cough up at least Rs 1,600 crore each, as one-time payment for having spectrum beyond the stipulated 6.2 Mhz in the licence for cellular services (2G).

The Department of Telecom on Monday held a meeting with industry representatives to discuss the proposal whereby operators may be asked to pay on Mhz basis for spectrum held beyond what was promised in the licence agreement. While the GSM licence does not mention spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz, some of the operators, including Bharti Airtel, have been given up to 12 Mhz based on their subscriber numbers.

The new formula being suggested by DoT will do away with the process of allocating spectrum without any upfront fee. This means that an existing operator, such as Bharti, will have to pay for the additional 5.8 Mhz that it already holds in some circles, such as Delhi.
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