The weekly newsletter highlights : policy news, industry & investment news and weekly snapshot.

1. ©
Gyan
Research
and
Analytics
Pvt.
Ltd.,
2015 1
Policy
News
❑ “Digital
India”
goes
hand-­‐in-­‐hand
with
“Skill
India”
Focusing
on
the
concept
of
Digital
India,
the
union
government
highlighted
the
importance
of
technology
in
the
fields
of
education
and
health.
While
a
total
of
1.5
lakhs
community
service
centres
have
been
started,
2.5
lakhs
panchayats
were
being
digitally
connected
by
laying
optical
fibres.
So
far,
70,000
km
optic
fibre
has
been
laid.
In
India,
out
of
the
125
crore
population,
98
crore
use
mobile
phones
and
50
lakhs
are
added
every
year.
❑ Two
pleas
against
2G
court’s
jurisdiction
dismissed
A
special
2G
court
dismissed
separate
pleas
filed
by
two
telecom
firms,
which
were
charge
sheeted
in
the
2002
additional
spectrum
allocation
case
challenging
its
jurisdiction
to
deal
with
the
matter.
Special
CBI
judge
dismissed
the
case
at
a
cost
of
INR
25,000
each
on
the
two
firms
-­‐
Hutchison
Max
and
Sterling
Cellular.
Final
hearing
on
the
charges
in
the
case
will
be
on
August
17,
2015.
Department
of
Telecommunications
had
allegedly
resulted
a
loss
of
INR
846
crore
for
the
same.
❑ India
has
broadband
user
base
of
25.51
million
Telecom
Regulatory
Authority
of
India
(TRAI)
reported
that
India
had
25.51
million
broadband
users
in
rural
areas
as
compared
to
73.69
million
subscribers
in
urban
areas
as
on
March
2015.
Karnataka
had
the
highest
number
of
broadband
users
in
rural
areas
at
22.7
million
subscribers,
followed
by
Kerala
2.52
million,
Tamil
Nadu
2.27
million.
For
urban
areas,
Delhi
had
the
highest
number
of
user
base
at
8.7
million
subscribers,
Tamil
Nadu
at
7.56
million
and
Maharashtra
including
Goa
had
7.44
million
at
March
2015.
The
union
government
had
released
funds
of
INR
26.75
crore
in
2014-­‐2015
for
the
State
Service
Delivery
Gateway
project.
Of
which,
the
highest
fund
was
released
to
Andaman
and
Nicobar
at
INR
4.30
crore
followed
by
Tamil
Nadu
at
INR
4.01
crore,
and
Daman
&
Diu
at
INR
3.54
crore.
❑ Zero
Rating
Plan
is
open
to
all
users
Department
of
Telecommunication
offers
zero
rating
platform
option
to
all
mobile
subscribers
of
all
telecom
companies.
The
companies
must
follow
same
terms
and
conditions
for
entry
to
all
content
providers
and
websites.
Zero-­‐rate
packages
are
offers
where
telecom
operators
and
internet
service
providers
make
commercial
agreements
with
content
providers,
either
on
exclusive
or
non-­‐exclusive
basis,
to
offer
content
free
of
cost
to
the
end
user.
But
the
entry
to
these
platforms
comes
at
a
fee
for
the
content
providers
and
only
those
with
deep
pockets
can
afford
to
come
on
board.
This
is
seen
as
violating
net
neutrality,
as
startups
and
smaller
players
will
not
be
able
to
join
the
platforms
and
thus
stay
at
a
disadvantage.
The
committee
also
suggested
two
routes
for
TRAI
to
look
at
zero
rate
tariff
plans
-­‐
ex-­‐ante
determination
or
ex-­‐post
regulation.
Telecommunication
News
July
18,
2015
-­‐
July
24,
2015

2. ©
Gyan
Research
and
Analytics
Pvt.
Ltd.,
2015
Industry
News
❑ Most
telecom
operators
are
not
meeting
standards
on
call
drop
issue
TRAI
stated
that
the
telecom
operators
are
not
meeting
the
prescribed
standards
on
call
drop
issues
in
Delhi
and
Mumbai.
In
Mumbai,
Idea
has
a
call
drop
rate
of
5.56
percent,
Tata
has
5.51
percent,
Vodafone
has
4.83
percent,
Aircel
has
3.19
percent
and
Reliance
has
2.29
percent.
Only
Airtel
meets
the
benchmark
with
a
call
drop
of
0.97
percent
in
Mumbai.
In
Delhi,
Reliance
has
a
call
drop
rate
of
17.29
percent,
Airtel
has
8.04
percent,
Aircel
has
5.18
percent,
Vodafone
has
4.28
per
cent
and
Idea
has
2.84
per
cent.
Only
Tata
meets
the
benchmark
with
call
drop
rate
of
0.84
percent
in
Delhi.
❑ Idea
Cellular
adds
maximum
GSM
subscribers
in
June
2015
Idea
Cellular
included
1.62
million
GSM
subscribers
in
June
2015,
exceeding
Bharti
Airtel
which
added
1.2
million
users
at
the
same
time.
Idea’s
overall
subscribers
base
stands
at
162
million
while
Bharti
Airtel
stands
at
230.6
million.
Vodafone
added
0.39
million
new
subscribers,
Uninor
0.42
million
subscribers,
followed
by
MTNL
with
0.2
million
during
the
same
month.
The
overall
GSM
subscriber
rose
by
0.58
percent
from
last
month
and
reached
720.3
million.
❑ Bharti
Airtel
starts
4G
trials
in
Bhubaneswar
and
Cuttack
Bharti
Airtel
launched
4G
trials
in
Bhubaneswar
and
Cuttack
on
July
21,
2015
.
The
company
will
assimilate
customer
feedback
from
early
adopters.
Airtel
declared
go-­‐to
market
partnership
with
Samsung
and
Flipkart
for
4G
services.
It
also
plans
to
launch
4G
handsets
at
the
price
of
INR
4,000-­‐12,000.
Investment
News
❑ UT
Starcom
plans
to
invest
USD
20
million
to
set
up
a
manufacturing
base
in
India
The
telecom
infrastructure
provider,
UT
Starcom,
plans
to
invest
USD
20
million
for
setting
up
a
manufacturing
base
and
expanding
its
brand
in
India.
The
company
plans
to
restart
R&D
operations
in
India
and
expects
to
touch
USD
100
million
in
revenues
from
India
operations
by
the
end
of
2015.
❑ Bharti
Airtel
plans
to
raise
USD
1,000
million
via
ECB
route
Bharti
Airtel
plans
to
raise
USD
500
-­‐
1,000
million
to
partly
fund
its
spectrum
related
payments,
meet
capital
expenditure
for
network
expansion
and
also
to
partly
pay
its
debts.
Terms
of
the
loan
is
yet
to
be
decided.
Airtel
had
raised
USD
1,000
million
early
last
month
by
selling
bonds
to
global
investors.
2
Telecommunication
News
July
18,
2015
-­‐
July
24,
2015

3. ©
Gyan
Research
and
Analytics
Pvt.
Ltd.,
2015
❑ Tata
Communications
plans
to
divest
its
data
centre
business
Tata
Communication
plans
to
sell
its
data
centre
business
at
USD
500
million.
It
has
hired
Nomura
Bank
for
finding
suitors
for
the
data
centre
business
spread
across
44
locations
in
India
and
abroad.
NTT,
Providence
and
Advent
has
shown
interest
in
the
data
centre
business.
Generally
M&A
deals
in
data
centre
have
fetched
companies
at
least
12-­‐15
times
on
forward
EBITDA
which
could
peg
the
valuation
of
TATA
between
USD
500
-­‐
750
million.
Currently,
the
company
has
a
debt
of
about
INR
10,000
crore
and
the
cash
flow
from
the
divestment
will
be
used
to
pay
debts.
3
Telecommunication
News
July
18,
2015
-­‐
July
24,
2015
Weekly
Snapshot
Highlights
of
Telecom
Subscription
Data
as
on
March
31,
2015
Particulars Wireless Wireline Total
(Wireless
+
Wireline)
Total
Telephone
Subscribers
(million) 969.89 26.59 996.49
Net
Addition
in
March
2015
(million) 9.31 -­‐13.00 9.19
Monthly
Urban
Growth
Rate
(percent) 0.97 -­‐0.48 0.93
Urban
Telephone
Subscribers
(million) 555.71 21.47 577.18
Net
Addition
in
March
2015
(million) -­‐1.56 -­‐0.01 -­‐1.57
Monthly
Growth
Rate
(percent) -­‐0.28 -­‐0.06 -­‐0.27
Rural
Telephone
Subscribers
(million) 414.18 5.12 419.31
Net
Addition
in
March
2015
(million) 10.88 -­‐0.12 10.76
Monthly
Growth
Rate
(percent) 2.70 -­‐2.22 2.63
Overall
Tele-­‐Density 77.27 2.12 79.38
Urban
Tele-­‐density 143.08 5.53 148.61
Rural
Tele-­‐density 47.78 0.59 48.37
Share
of
Urban
Subscribers
(percent) 57.30 80.73 57.92
Share
of
Rural
Subscribers
(percent) 42.70 19.28 42.08
Broadband
Subscribers
(million) 83.68 15.52 99.20
Source:
Ministry
of
Communications
and
Information
Technology

4. ©
Gyan
Research
and
Analytics
Pvt.
Ltd.,
2015 4
GYAN
RESEARCH
AND
ANALYTICS
PVT.
LTD.
Corporate
Office:
LG
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Ansal
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Arcade,
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INDIA
Phone:
+91-­‐120-­‐4235181
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064,
INDIA
Phone:
+91-­‐33-­‐40060084
E-­‐mail:
reports@gyananalytics.com
Website:
www.gyananalytics.com
Telecommunication
News,
July
18,
2015
-­‐
July
24,
2015
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