Frost & Sullivan, the USA-based research company, said in an analysis that South Asian countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan are characterized by a low mobile penetration rate despite having several operators. India has the highest subscription growth rate, followed by Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The study carried out by Frost & Sullivan says that the low penetration levels in these countries indicate that there is a huge untapped market, which will translate into high subscriber growth rate between 2009 and 2015. The rise in the subscriber base will come mostly from prepaid services resulting in a rise of prepaid subscriber percentages in these countries.
Frost & Sullivan’s report, Market Engineering Research for Mobile and Wireless Market 2008, compares the scenario in South Asian countries with that in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and says that most of the countries in the MENA region have crossed 100 per cent penetration level even under controlled competition or duopoly environment (with only two operators).
The report added that all these markets are in the growth phase leading to a fall in average revenue per user (ARPU). Therefore, telecom service providers are introducing attractive packages to push Mobile Data services for better ARPUs.
Lokeshwari Nautiyal, senior research analyst, Frost & Sullivan, said in an official statement, “Although customers are benefiting from the declining call rates and innovative tariff plans, low call rates are pressurising mobile operators due to the decline in revenue margins. This is likely to result in consolidation in some markets like India and Sri Lanka.”
Frost & Sullivan finds that total market revenue for these countries was over $55 billion in 2008 and estimates it to reach over $89 billion in 2015.
Santosh Kumar Sinha, industry analyst, said in the same statement, “High uptake of services such as MMS, mobile web browsing, call conferencing, call forwarding, call waiting, mobile banking, and access to other data services are enhancing the outlook for the mobile data services market. The rollout of 3G services in some countries is expected to further bolster market progression.”
The Frost & Sullivan analysis also highlights trends in mobile data usage. It says that Israel, with 15 per cent data revenue contribution, ranks first in terms of data usage among the covered list of countries in the MENA region. This is attributed to the difficulties of growth through new customer acquisition and high voice tariff competition. Therefore, operators are focusing on mobile data and extending their services to provide bundled services. Barring Israel, all other countries in this region prefer prepaid subscription. New mobile operators are introducing services at low prices, especially in the prepaid segment, driving the growth of prepaid subscribers in these markets.
Market Engineering Research for Mobile and Wireless Market 2008 is part of the Mobile & Wireless Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following fields: value added services, telecom passive infrastructure market, enterprise mobility market in India, and an assessment of the potential 3G market in India.
Further growth will come from prepaid segment: F&S
BSNL starts fixed mobile convergence trials
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) plans to implement fixed mobile convergence (FMC) technology in India. The trials for FMC services are on at four places and the services are targeted to be launched by early next year. The company had invited expressions of interest from vendors to set up the system on the BSNL network in August 2009.
FMC technology enables seamless connectivity between fixed and wireless telecommunications networks. What FMC does is to enable the transfer of voice calls between fixed lines and wireless networks using WiFi-Broadband connectivity. A single device can be used to switch between a wired and wireless network without the user being aware of the switch. For example, when a caller (using the cellular network) walks into his office or home with a WiFi enabled Broadband network, the call is automatically switched from the mobile network to the callers WiFi network. The mobile network provider’s services are used if the WiFi signal deteriorates and vice versa.
Explaining the advantages of FMC, RN Padukone, principal general manager, corporate planning and monitoring, told Telecom Yatra at the sidelines of a conference here, “65 per cent of calls made by a user are either when he is at home or at office and the signal strength reduces significantly when inside a building. By transferring your mobile calls on to the fixed line, the quality of the voice improves greatly due to the good signal.” He further adds, “The second advantage of the technology is that it helps off-loading the spectrum. Hence, this helps in saving on the spectrum and more subscribers can be added. With the available spectrum able to accommodate more subscribers for voice calls, the 3G one can be used for data.”
FMC requires a WiFi enabled dual mode handset and the service provider has to support the service through deployment of FMC client on handset and managing that client through an FMC server.
BSNL will launch a pilot service to be used by a customer base of 10,000. The usage pattern will be studied for three months and customer feedback will be taken. As far as the charges are concerned, nothing has been decided as yet. It can either be subscription-based or use some other model. The company will decide on the tariffs on the basis of three months of research. Padukone expects the service to be released next year.
Talking about competition, Padukone stated, “With its huge wireless and fixed line subscriber base, BSNL is well poised to implement the FMC technology. However, this might not prove very fruitful for other existing operators because of their lack of fixed line connections.”
BSNL is the fourth largest mobile operator in India, as per subscriber figures released by COAI for December 2009. As far as fixed lines are concerned, BSNL is the country’s largest operator. Even though the demand for fixed line is decreasing, especially due to the emergence of mobile phones, BSNL has a subscriber base of around 28 million.
Internationally, there are many examples of this technology being used. For instance, British Telecom (BT) introduced an offer wherein a Vodafone handset is capable of making calls through ADSL via a local wireless connection.
Maximum mobile ad impressions in India come from Nokia phones: AdMob
Close to 60 per cent of mobile ad impressions are served on Nokia handsets, followed by Sony Ericsson users who comprise about 10 per cent of the total number.
These findings are extrapolated from a sample surveyed by AdMob, a USA-based mobile advertising network. AdMob Mobile Metrics Report is based on a study first carried out in August 2009 and repeated six months later in February this year. The survey was conducted with 960 respondents over a two week period in February, spanning consumers of Android, iPhone, iPod touch and webOS (internet-enabled) devices who accessed more than 15,000 mobile web sites and applications, which comprise AdMob’s network.
This method is used for international results, while India-specific results are obtained in the following manner: Each time an internet user’s Browser requests information from a web content server, the content server requests advertising distributors such as AdMob for relevant ads to display alongside the content on the user’s web browser. Each time an ad request occurs, AdMob, using its analytics software, and other resources, can determine various facts about the end user. In other words, an ad request is when an ad appears on a user’s browser, in this case, on the mobile web.
About Indian mobile web users, the report said that AdMob received the maximum number of requests from Nokia users at 59.7 per cent, 9.4 per cent from Sony Ericsson users, 7.5 per cent from Samsung users, 2 per cent from Motorola, 1.9 per cent from Apple users and the remaining 19.5 percent from users of other brands. Another insight from the survey is that out of the total mobile phone users in India, 76.3 per cent had handsets that supported polyphonic ringtones, 74.6 per cent supported video streaming, 84.8 per cent had the ability to download video clips and 84.8 per cent supported WAP push messages. It also said that 21.1 per cent of handsets had small screens, 22.3 per cent had medium, 39.5 per cent had large screen size and 17.1 per cent had extra large.
Globally, Android and iPhone consumers download approximately the same number of applications and spend approximately the same amount of time using them. However, iPhone users download more paid applications, with 50 per cent of users purchasing at least one paid application a month compared to 21 per cent of Android users who do so.
The survey also said that consumers on webOS devices were active but downloaded fewer applications. It revealed that 91 per cent of iPhone users and 88 per cent of iPod touch users would recommend their device, compared to 84 per cent of Android users and 69 per cent of webOS users. iPod touch users spent an average of 100 minutes per day using applications. webOS users spent an average of 87 minutes per day, followed by Android users at 80 minutes and iPhone users at 79 minutes per day.
The study also highlights that 73 per cent of Android users are male, compared to 56 per cent of iPhone OS users, and the average iPhone user is 14 years older than the average iPod touch user, of which 78 per cent are below the age of 24.
Reliance Mobile launches weekend-based plan
Reliance Mobile has launched an offer titled ‘Weekend Masti’ for its CDMA and GSM subscribers. The ‘Weekend Masti’ pack enables Reliance prepaid subscribers to make unlimited local calls to any other Reliance mobile (GSM or CDMA), during weekends. A weekend plan is currently not on offer by any other operator.
The pack can be subscribed to on any day of the week and costs Rs 33. It is valid for one weekend and is available only through e-recharge. The pack can be availed from 00:01 hrs on Saturday to 23:59 hrs on Sunday, during which calls within the Reliance network are not charged.
All calls to non-Reliance Mobile phones are charged as per the prevailing tariff plan that the subscriber has opted for.
The weekend plan targets all Reliance Mobile subscribers; especially working people who use the weekends to catch up with family and friends.
BSNL plans to have 250,000 WiMax users by December
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has said that it is planning to have a base of at least 250,000 WiMax customers by the year end.
Speaking to Telecom Yatra, Pradeep Nagpal, general manager, BSNL national network planning, CDMA and WiMax said, “As on date, BSNL has approximately 3,000 WiMax customers and we intend to have a customer base of at least 250,000 by December 2010.”
Nagpal said that the company has recently launched WiMax services in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, with 25 base stations in each of these states. It has also rolled-out the service with 210 base stations spread across North and East India. Its present roll-out has covered approximately 4000 common rural service centres. A base station is a wireless communications station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate with WiMAX or any other wireless system.
On future plans, Nagpal added, “BSNL plans to launch urban WiMax in Kerala and Punjab by March this year. Apart from that, we intend to launch urban WiMax on a revenue share basis in other states. Also, 1,000 base stations will be commissioned in rural areas in the coming month.”
For rolling-out its WiMax network, BSNL is currently working with HCL; Chinese telco Huawei; Gemini Communications, a technology and network provider headquartered in Chennai; Pointred, a Bangalore-based wireless design and product company; ICOMM, a Hyderabad-based company with interests that include telecom and Harris Stratex, a network provider with global presence and headquarters in the USA and in Singapore.
CDMA industry seeks growth
As per Qualcomm, a company that serves the wireless industry, there are 110 million CDMA subscribers in India at present; the number accounts for about 20 per cent of the total mobile subscribers in the country.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI’s) figures on the telecom sector’s performance between January 2009 and September 2009 show that there has been a constant fall in the number of additional CDMA subscribers with every quarter. The sector saw a growth of seven per cent during January to March 2009, four per cent during April-June 2009 and one per cent during July-September 2009. This trend highlights the fact that the CDMA market is steadily declining.
As a result, the CDMA players – including operators, handset manufacturers and Chipset companies – are now trying to make this segment more profitable for both, consumers and themselves.
Making a move towards this, the USA-based trade association, CDMA Development Group (CDG), had launched an initiative known as Open Market Handsets (OMH) in early 2008, which enables handset interoperability among OMH-compliant operators. OMH handsets can use SIM cards of any CDMA operator, and hence, are operator-independent. For example: If a subscriber is using a Micromax mobile phone, he can insert the SIM card of either Tata Indicom, Reliance Communications, Virgin Mobile or MTS, and use it for both voice and data.
The concept of OMH was introduced in India in August 2009 and the industry is now positive about the growth of the industry. Sandeep Sibal, country manager and vice-president of technology, Qualcomm India and South Asia, told reporters at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, “OMH is creating a greater selection of devices for consumers. It increases handset availability and variety, allows the same device to be used with multiple operators and uplifts handset tier and subscriber ARPU (average revenue per user). We will see the launch of more than 25 OMH-compliant handsets this year. Qualcomm as a chipset vendor will ensure that all chips for devices and dongles are OMH-compliant.”
Atul Joshi, head of sales, MTS, added, “CDMA players are well positioned to capture the future industry growth in India. It is the right time for the CDMA industry. We are positioned better than GSM players since 3G has not yet been launched by GSM players and they are facing congestion problems due to lack of spectrum. Moreover, CDMA has cost advantage for rural areas.”
Samsung launched the first Indian OMH-compliant handset, Mpower 699. Currently, Tata Indicom, Reliance Communications, MTS, Virgin Mobile, Samsung, Micromax and Qualcomm are part of the OMH alliance in India, and there are five OMH-compliant handsets in the market. The CDG is now taking OMH to South East Asia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
SBI plans mobile banking expansion
State Bank of India said on Wednesday at the CII Banking Tech Summit held in Mumbai that it is focusing on mobile banking and will soon issue tenders for the payment system gateway solutions.
OP Bhatt, chairman, State Bank of India, said in a statement issued by CII, “We are emphasising on mobile banking along with some major technology projects like data warehousing this year. Tenders will be issued for the payment system gateway solutions to increase the use of technology (in SBI banks).”
In November last year, SBI had launched a service which allows customers to open no-frills savings accounts called SBI Mini savings bank accounts that can be operated with zero minimum balance through a mobile phone. The customer’s mobile phone number becomes the account number and he is given simple PINs to operate the account.
SR Rao, additional secretary, information technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said in that mobile banking would improve and encourage banking in rural areas. “In India, the average population (using each bank) branch is 16,129 whereas in the USA and UK it is 2702 and 4,484, respectively. There is huge scope for mobile banking in rural areas (where physical banks are still absent).
In 2009, there were 136 million mobile subscribers in rural areas; the number is estimated to increase to 280 million by 2012 and 320 million by 2015. By next year, mobile subscriptions will cover India’s entire rural population,” he added.
WSJ India to launch mobile app, ties up with Naukri
Dow Jones & Co, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and Naukri.com have announced an agreement under which premium jobs from Naukri.com will be listed on Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Indian website.
The job section will enable WSJ users to search for and browse jobs across various industries. The listings will be for job opportunities of $30,000 (Rs 15 lakh) and above and job seekers will by and large be required to have experience of around eight years or more.
Mitya New, managing director, Dow Jones India told Telecom Yatra, “The tie up with Naukri.com is very important to us. It will help us attract more traffic to our site. WSJ content would be integrated with the relevant sections of Naukri.com, encouraging people to visit our site.”
The service can currently be availed via WSJ’s Indian website, india.wsj.com. Soon, a mobile application of the same will also be available for consumers.
The mobile application, explained Singh, is developed by WSJ, and Naukri.com will be a part of it. She added, “While a Naukri.com user will be able to search and apply for the desired job then and there, users not registered with Naukri.com will be able to view the contact details and apply as they wish.” The mobile application, which New said was developed in India, will be soon be available to users, probably in March.
A co-branded newsletter will be distributed to clients and other users of Naukri.com for which WSJ will offer comprehensive content. “The weekly newsletter would be a value addition given to Naukri.com users and hence will be distributed free of cost”, said Sumeet Singh, national head, marketing, alliances and corporate communications, Info Edge, which owns Naukri.com. She further told Telecom Yatra, “The newsletter would contain macro level news and at present cannot be customised.”
New further said, “WSJ is open to more such deals that would enhance the value of the website. In fact, (we) are already talking to some potential partners.” Though New declined to comment on the revenue sharing model with Naukri, Singh informed us that the collaboration is based on barter.
Mobile phone sales at 1.2 billion units in 2009
Gartner, the USA-based global research firm, said that mobile phone sales to end users worldwide stood at 1.2 billion units in 2009, a 0.9 per cent decline from 2008.
In 2009, the top five handset companies were Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, which continued to lose market share to Apple and other vendors, with their combined share dropping from about 79 per cent in 2008 to 75 per cent in 2009. Nokia’s annual mobile phone sales, to end users, was 441 million units, 2.2 per cent lower than the market share Nokia had enjoyed in 2008. Samsung was the clear winner among the top five with market share growing by 3.2 percentage points from 16.3 per cent in 2008. Motorola saw the sharpest drop in market share, to 4.8 per cent in 2009 from 8.7 per cent in 2008.
The study by Gartner says that throughout 2009, intense price competition put pressure on average selling prices (ASPs). Major handset manufacturers had to respond more aggressively in markets such as India and China to compete with white-box (lower rung) producers, while in mature markets they competed primarily with each other. However, a better economic environment and stabilisation of fluctuating ASPs is expected in 2010.
Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said in a statement, “The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smart phones and low-end devices. In 2009, smart phone sales reached 172 million units, increasing 23.8 per cent from 2008. In 2009, smart phone-focused vendors like Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), owner of BlackBerry, successfully captured market share from other larger device producers, controlling 14.4 and 19.9 per cent of the worldwide smart phone market, respectively.”
In the smartphone operating software market, Symbian continued its lead, but its share dropped 5.4 percentage points in 2009. The two best performers in 2009 were Google’s Android and Apple. Android garnered a market share of 3.5 per cent in 2009, while Apple’s share grew by 6.2 percentage points from 2008.
Tata Docomo offers SIM-based value added services
Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices has announced its partnership with Gemalto, a European digital security company that designs security solutions. The partnership will enable Tata Docomo to provide its subscribers with easy-to-navigate menus to access a variety of value added services (VAS).
Gemalto’s offering will free subscribers from having to remember complicated codes and configuring services each time they change their mobile handset because TATA Docomo’s services will be located on the SIM, making them accessible on any type of mobile phone.
Interestingly, Tata Docomo will also be able to keep track of users’ preferences. A content gateway at the operator’s end will ensure that content is updated in real time. For example, if a user selects an ongoing India-South Africa cricket series as an option, he will receive all the related content on his mobile phone without having to stream news from the services menu.
While activating the service, Tata Docomo subscribers will have to choose between Hindi and English language options and will thereafter be able to access services such as mobile banking, mobile chatting and information-on-demand in their preferred language through a user friendly interface. They will also be able to customise their mobile phones with wallpapers and ringtones, and enjoy games and infotainment services.
Gurinder Singh Sandhu, head of marketing, Tata Docomo, said in a press statement, “We were looking for a reliable partner, with the expertise and capability to implement such a large-scale project. Gemalto was able to keep up the challenge and we are very pleased that the deployment of our new services was completed in a timely manner.” Sandhu was not available for further comments.