Indian Stock Market

Tata Teleservices has selected Nokia siemens networks for rolling out 3G in India.

NSN will supply its LTE-ready Flexi Multiradio Base Stations. It will also provide network implementation and managed services.

TTSL had won licenses across nine circles — Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (West), Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana — for offering 3G services. It paid Rs 5,864.29 crore to the government for the spectrum.

Tulip Telecom has won an order from Uttarakhand Government .

Value of the order: 12.2. crores

The order has to be executed in 16-18 months

Tulip Telecom, one of India’s leading enterprise data connectivity services provider has bagged projects worth Rs 158 crore. The company has been selected as the network bandwidth service provider (NBSP) for deploying data connectivity services in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat under the R-APDRP scheme.

The company has been selected for the execution of these orders for the supply, installation and commissioning of MPLS VPN, internet and other connectivity services to all the project towns under the R-APDRP scheme floated by Power Corporations of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

The projects are required to be delivered over a period of 12 to 18 months and maintained over a period of 5 years.

Recently, the company had entered into a strategic partnership with Wireless Services, which is Qualcomm Incorporated’s subsidiary, for a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) venture.

Tulip Telecom is a data telecom service and IT solutions provider. The company offers an innovative IP based infrastructural solutions to its customers.

Reliance Communications will start its 3G GSM services by Jan 2011. It currently provides 3G data rates through its EVDO CDMA platform. Though operators never call it 3G , it gives 3G speeds.

Reliance com has won 3G licences in 13 circles. It said 3g will be launched next year if govt gives spectrum by september 2010.

RCOM has entered into exclusive strategic partnership with the world’s leading music company, Universal Music. I guess company is preparing for 3rd generation.

Telecom sector IPO after years. Im excited so do you.

Vodafone Essar IPO might go live soon. Essar group is trying to sell stake in vodafone through IPO.

Essar is British firm Vodafone’s partner in India’s No. 3 mobile firm, Vodafone Essar, in which it holds a 33 per cent stake. The talks are preliminary, and Essar has not yet appointed banks to handle the process, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak with the media. Essar and Vodafone declined to comment.

In 2007, Vodafone bought a controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa Ltd’s mobile business in India, in which Essar had been a partner. The deal gave Essar the option to sell its entire 33 per cent stake in the telecom venture to Vodafone for $5 billion between the third and fourth years after the deal’s completion.

Alternatively, Essar could sell shares worth between $1 billion and $5 billion in the company to Vodafone at an independent valuation. The option for the sale opened in May and runs for 12 months. News of the potential listing of Essar’s stake in the venture was earlier reported by Bloomberg. Vodafone has yet to decide on its response and is waiting for Essar to make a proposal, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

In April, Essar, controlled by billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, raised 1.27 billion pounds through a London IPO of its energy and power businesses. In February, Essar sold its telecoms tower unit to American Tower Corp for about $432 million, and in November, it agreed to buy a majority stake in Dhabi Group’s telecommunication businesses in Uganda and Congo.

Economictimes News article

India’s telecom tower sector, which has been buzzing with deals, is likely to see another one in the near future. An infrastructure fund set up by Macquarie, the Sydney-headquartered financial services company, and State Bank of India is close to buying a stake in Wireless Tata Tele Info Services (WTTIL), widely known as Tata-Quippo .

The Macquarie-SBI fund, or MSIF, is likely to pay $310 million for around 10% in WTTIL, though a final agreement has not been signed. Sources close to the deal said valuations are still under discussion. A 10% stake would value WTTIL, or Tata-Quippo, at about $3 billion.

WTTIL came into being in early 2009 by the amalgamation of the tower belonging to Kolkata-based Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, or QTIL, with Tata Teleservices, India’s sixth-largest mobile phone company. The Tatas own 51% of the company, while 49% is owned by QTIL, which has management control.

QTIL is controlled by Kolkata-based Srei Infra Finance, which is promoted by the Kanoria family. Sunil Kanoria, a director of SREI Infra Finance, confirmed they were in talks with investors and that a deal was close to fruition. “We are looking to raise about Rs 1,500-1,600 crore and talking to investors for this,” he said. Mr Kanoria did not want to comment on whether MSIF was the investor. Macquarie was not reachable for comment.

At $3 billion, if that turns out to be the final valuation, the company seems undervalued if it is benchmarked with similar deals. Aircel, another cellular operator, sold its towers to Manoj Tirodkar’s GTL Infrastructure in January this year. GTL paid Rs 35 lakh per tenant in the deal.

The performance of companies owning towers is measured by the number of cellular operators using each tower, which is referred to as the tenancy ratio. Tata Quippo has 39,000 towers with a tenancy ratio of 2.1, a total of just under 82,000 tenants. The valuation of Tata-Quippo, using the benchmark of Rs 35 lakh per tenant, should come close to $6 billion, compared with the $3 billion being offered in the proposed deal.

Last month, Reliance Communications announced that it would merge its tower arm, known as Reliance Infratel, with GTL Infrastructure, though details of that deal are not in the public domain.

All shareholders of QTIL, the 49% owner of Tata-Quippo, will dilute stake to accommodate the new investor. QTIL is promoted by SREI, Kanoria family, GIC Singapore, Oman Investment and IDFC. The Tatas do not intend to dilute their equity holding.

The deal, company insiders indicate, will be completed over the next two weeks.

Macquarie is likely to have a representation on the board. QTIL will use the money to pay some of the Rs 4,500 crore of debt raised to fund the Tata-Quippo deal. This is the first investment being made by the Macquarie-SBI Fund.

Reliance Digicom is the new baby from ADAG.

It comes from acquisition of Digicable. By this Reliance Digicom will be India’s largest cable network provider.

Merger:

The merged entity, Reliance DigiCom, is expected to cater to the 4-screen strategy of RCom — that is to own mobile, cinema, TV and computer screens.

About Reliance Digicom:

Reliance DigiCom will be an integration of RCom’s direct-to-home (DTH), internet protocol TV (IPTV) and retail broadband operations along with Digicable.

Reliance Communication entered into an all-stock deal with Digicable, though financial details were not divulged. Banking sources put the value of the merged entity at around $1 billion.

Reliance DigiCom will start with a combined subscriber base of 11 million homes, and is targeting a nationwide rollout of digital TV and broadband.

ANIL AMBANI’s Speech:

Anil Ambani said in a statement, “RCom led the telecom revolution in India by growing its subscriber base to over 100 million customers in a short span of just five years. The digital TV and broadband space is poised for similar explosive growth in the years ahead.”

He added that with this game-changing move, “we hope to lead the next revolution in digital home entertainment in India, by offering a world class TV experience and ultra high speed broadband capability to a billion people.”

Reliance Globalcom is planning to sell stake in this venture.

About Reliance Global com :

Reliance Globalcom operates the undersea cable business.

Plans:

Reliance Communications would begin the process of inviting bids for the stake in Reliance Globalcom only after it concludes the demerger of Reliance Infratel.

Morocco bank Order:

Reliance Communication’s global subsidiary Reliance Globalcom is in the final stages of signing a fiveyear deal with Morocco’s largest bank, Attijariwafa Bank, for managing the lender’s services, according to officials close to the deal. Estimated at Rs 250 crore annually , RCOM will review and service the entire international network of Africa’s third largest bank to help it expand into new locations. The bank has more than 850 branches in Africa.

The deal with RCOM is part of Attijariwafa Bank’s expansion into Europe and the Middle East regions. RCOM is set to provide support for the bank’s expansion into France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Morocco, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

‘‘ The deal with the African bank will maximise network performance while ensuring the reliability of business-critical services for the bank. Connectivity between the remote sites and central data centre will be delivered via ethernet,’’ the official said.

Tulip telecom to partner Qualcomm in BWA

As per Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, only 74% stake can be held in an Indian telecom operator by way of foreign direct investment.

Qualcomm had won BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) unpaired spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band in four telecom circles in India: 20 MHz each in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala for a total of Rs. 4912.54 Crore or approximately $1.045 Billion. More details on the auction winners here. It bid for the spectrum with the objective of rolling out LTE infrastructure for deploying its 3G/LTE multi-mode chipsets, complementing 3G HSPA and EVDO networks; EVDO services are already operational in India.

Qualcomm needs an Indian partner. Are you interested ?

Qualcomm Inc. is in talks to sell 26% stake in the subsidiary that will do this to an Indian firm. According to Indian laws, Qualcomm needs an Indian partner which holds at least 26% stake in the venture to apply for an Internet service provider (ISP) licence from the department of telecommunications (DoT). The US chipset manufacturer paid Rs 4,912.54 crore for spectrum to offer wireless broadband services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana. Qualcomm is expected to finalize the discussions and make the announcement on their Indian partner is within the next 15 days

Full press release from Mint

Qualcomm Inc., the US chipset manufacturer that paid Rs4,912.54 crore for spectrum to offer wireless broadband services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana, is in talks to sell 26% stake in the subsidiary that will do this to an Indian firm.

According to Indian laws, Qualcomm needs an Indian partner which holds at least 26% stake in the venture to apply for an Internet service provider (ISP) licence from the department of telecommunications (DoT).

Qualcomm, which is pushing its technology to operators that will offer broadband services, paid Rs4,912.54 crore for spectrum in four key markets in the recently concluded auction for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.

“Qualcomm will finalize the discussions and make the announcement on who their Indian partner is within the next 15 days,” a person familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. “They are talking to a number of operators,” he added without getting into the details of which these companies are.

The plan is for Qualcomm to identify a partner and sell stake to it, apply to DoT for a licence and seek required clearances from the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB), which regulates all foreign investments in India, among other regulatory clearances before rolling out its network. The winners of the auction are expected to be allotted spectrum in September.

“We cannot comment on our partner strategy and related details at this point,” said Kanwalinder Singh, president of Qualcomm India and South Asia, and senior vice-president of Qualcomm.

Apart from this, Qualcomm plans to create a consortium of telecom companies that offer 3G (or third-generation telecom) services in the country, said the person cited in the first instance. According to him, telecom firms that start offering services on 3G spectrum that they have won in the auction will face a capacity constraint in the next two years, especially in the more congested parts of the country. Qualcomm will offer these operators the option of latching on to its network, thereby reducing congestion in the 3G network “through some commercial arrangement”. The telcos will also be offered the option of investing in the Qualcomm subsidiary, this person added.

Qualcomm plans to use the BWA spectrum to build an overlay network over the 3G networks that will be built by the telcos that won spectrum in the earlier auction. This would allow 3G operators to easily latch on to the so called LTE (long-term evolution) network when needed. LTE technology is considered the next generation of 3G mobile telephony and when the time comes the operators would be able to seamlessly hand off their subscribers to that network. The building of an LTE network on the ground would also allow operators, wanting more information on the technology, to see it working on the ground. The technology, incidentally owned by Qualcomm, is still in its infancy and is being tested.

Qualcomm’s strategy to build an LTE?network would also appear to be the logic behind its approach to the BWA auction. Qualcomm only bid for circles where the capacity constraint from 3G services would start the earliest due to the demand for high-speed data connectivity on mobile phones.

“Our bidding objective was to secure an enabling role in the continued success of Indian operators with 3G and beyond, and we are extremely gratified we met that objective. With its ecosystem partners, Qualcomm will now foster the deployment of LTE, so Indian consumers can enjoy the benefits of 3G now and 3G plus LTE in the future,” Singh said in a statement after the auction results were announced.

Reliance Digital Work is the next baby coming out of ADAG.

Here is a piece of interesting article from Moneycontrol

Article about Reliance digital works:

Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Communication is likely to hive off its direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV business into a separate company Reliance Digital Works, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.
It is learnt that the new company Reliance Digital Works may offer 25% to some unnamed overseas investors and 10% stake to digital cable subscription of multi-system operator (MSOs).
Sources also add that its DTH arm under the brand name Big TV, which already has 23 crore subscribers is likely to acquire 60 crore digital cable and TV subscribers from North India MSOs

Reliance Communication planning to sell tower and fibre optic biz to RIL

The country’s second-biggest mobile operator Reliance Communications is said to be in advanced talks with Reliance Industries to sell its fibre optic cables and telecom tower businesses, according to people close to the deal. RCOM is also set to provide infrastructure and back-end support to Mukesh Ambani’s re-dialled telecom plans, sources said.

Anil Ambani-controlled RCOM has decided to offload its stake in its tower company, Reliance Infratel, by hiving it off into a separate entity. “While the proceeds will be used to clear debts, the RCOM board has approved the proposal to restructure the ownership of its tower arm and make it an independent tower company,” said an official in the know, requesting anonymity. RCOM was earlier in talks with other suitors to sell its tower business.

On his part, Mukesh Ambani has announced plans to usher in the next level of growth through broadband. RIL has an immediate need for 15,000 towers for its broadband venture, with its Rs 4,800 crore Infotel buy. It might decide to therefore “lease RCOM’s infrastructure towers,” the official added.

RCOM has more than 50,000 telecom towers in its portfolio and around 190,000 km of fibre optic cable distributed across 44 cities in the country. Earlier on two occasions, Reliance Infratel had tried to launch an IPO to raise funds, but adverse market conditions had forced it to call off the plan.

RIL has been eyeing the lucrative data market more than that of voice, which RCOM has cornered with its CDMA and GSM capability. With data growing at around 70% per year, easy access and leasing out options to corner fibre optic capability are crucial for RIL, sources said.

When contacted, both RIL and RCOM spokespersons declined comment. An RIL spokesperson termed it market speculation.

An analyst with a foreign brokerage tracking the company said RIL “could look at a lease-model type of operation and not a buy-model for the tower business of RCOM.”

The demand for telecom infrastructure is set to increase in the coming months with new players entering the 2G space, apart from 3G auction winners.

Immediately after the Ambani patch-up, the teleco\m industry was rife with rumours that RIL would either go for HCFL or Aircel to get back into the telecom arena. With RIL’s Infotel buy, competition is set to heat up in the coming months, with telecom players gearing up for another tariff war, especially in the broadband, enterprise segment.

IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday said it has inked a multi-year outsourcing contract with Telenor Norway.

Contract details:

The contract comprises IT application maintenance and development services and will involve modernisation of Telenor Norway’s application portfolio across its fixed, mobile, data warehouse and accounting system domains, a release said here.

Through the initiative Telenor Norway will improve its operational efficiency, refresh its IT stack and will become more agile to respond to its customers’ changing needs, it said.

About Telenor:

Telenor is a leading mobile communications services provider to customers in 13 markets across Asia and Europe.

“This contract underscores TCS’s ability to help global corporations optimise its ‘run the business’ cost and channel those savings to undertake modernisation projects that are delivered with reduced risk and increased certainty,” said TCS Vice President and Head of Europe A.S. Lakshminarayanan.

“Our selection by Telenor to drive this modernisation demonstrates the headway we have been making in the Nordic market and highlights our strong telecom domain expertise,” he said.

Reliance Communications has announced plans to offer unlimited internet access in mobile phone for Rs.99 per month.

The offering is part of the company’s plans to launch third-generation (3G) services in India, Reliance Communications, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said in a statement. The company had won key licences to offer 3G services in several regions across India, including Delhi and Mumbai, the biggest markets in the country, at the end of a government auction in May.

Stake sale:

Last week, debt-laden Reliance Communications unveiled plans to sell up to a 26 percent stake in itself, after India sold licences for 3G wireless services at a price far higher than expected.

Tower Arm demerger:

On Monday, the company said its board approved a proposal to bring investors into its tower arm and help create an independent tower company.

Reliance Infratel and GTL may be merged according to details emerging.

Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infratel has all but approved a complicated merger deal that could see its tower assets combine with smaller rival GTL Infrastucture in exchange for Rs 15,000 crore in cash and a significant stake in a new entity for shareholders of its parent company.

The proposed deal, which is yet to be signed, values Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) tower assets at around Rs 30,000 crore and GTL Infrastructure at just short of Rs 15,000 crore, according to a person familiar with the discussions at a recently-held board meeting.

RCOM, which owns 95% of its tower subsidiary, will get Rs 15,000-crore cash and its shareholders will get a 50% stake in the new combine entity, should the deal go through. RCOM will not hold any shares in the combined entity to preserve the company’s vendor neutrality or its independence from telecom operators, the person said.

Anil Ambani, who owns 67% of RCOM, will keep 26% of the combined entity while GTL Infrastructure promoter Manoj Tirodkar is expected to control 30%. The other shareholders of RCOM will receive 24% in the new tower company created by the transaction while the rest will be held by GTL Infrastructure shareholders.

Reliance Infratel is the telecom infrastructure arm of Reliance Communications comprising optic fibre and tower infrastructure. The towers will be moved into a special purpose vehicle that will be sold while the optic fibre network will be retained by RCOM, according to the person quoted earlier who has seen a presentation on the deal structure that was approved by the board of Infratel. Both the companies declined to comment on the matter. A senior Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group official, however, denied that GTL Infra was best placed to acquire Infratel.

On Monday, RCOM had told exchanges that its board had approved restructuring of Reliance Infratel “to facilitate creation of the world’s largest independent telecom infrastructure company, not owned or controlled by any telecom operator”.

ET had reported that a number of potential strategic investors, including GTL Infrastructure, could buy the tower assets. But the person quoted earlier said a transaction with GTL Infra was the likeliest. Bankers had worked on a detailed deal structure intended to ensure that the company was independent of telecom operators.

The board of Reliance Infratel had met a week earlier to discuss the deal structure. On Monday, the boards of both RCOM and Infratel met again to give in-principle approval for the tower company’s restructuring. RCOM had also said on Monday that an announcement will be made shortly.

“Reliance Communications needs money,” said Kamlesh Bhatia, principal analyst, Gartner. “Any asset that is market worth and easy to liquidate will be an early target,” he said. The towers are currently most easily bankable.

Reliance Infratel has around 50,000 towers, with 1.9 tenants per tower, according to the documents presented to the subsidiary’s board, said the person who had seen the minutes of the meeting.