Arun

WHILE the wireless GSM operators are chasing their pre-paid customers, trying to bait them with many a juicy post-paid scheme, Reliance Infocomm the largest wireless CDMA player has been offering its customers a scheme for shifting to pre-paid services. The current scene is seeing the GSM and CDMA players in the country charging down opposite lanes, as far as marketing their post-paid and prepaid segments goes, point out industry analysts. Almost a year after Reliance Infocomm's celebrated Monsoon Hungama offer, the company offered the same customers an offer of a pre-paid scheme: the customer clears all his outstanding bills, in return the company waives the instalments on the customer's handset. The customer is now a prepaid one, retaining his number, his handset now his own and also now preloaded with free talktime of Rs 200. "Every wireless operator is looking for an ideal mix of pre-paid and post-paid customers," said a telecom analyst with securities firm. "Pre-paid ones save you a lot of potential bad debts, and post-paid ones get you plumper revenues. By trial and error a player arrives at the right mix and the right customers in each segment." The launch of prepaid services is a godsend to the CDMA operators. Reliance Infocomm had to provision for bad debts worth Rs 436 crore for year 2003-2004, almost 16 per cent of its revenues for the year, at Rs 2,707 crore. While the figures for the other CDMA player Tata Teleservices are not available, the company, which had lost 15,000 players on both the fixed and mobile players in a single month recently (May 2004), accounted for it saying that it was clearing its base of defaulting customers. Both these players had started off as 100 per cent post-paid ones. Having aggressively priced and marketed their services, they were not very careful about their customers some of whom accounted for dreadful bad debts, compounded by billing and other logistical problems, officials of both companies privately admit. For the GSM players, the TRAI quarterly report for Jan-March 2004 says it all. Average revenue per user (monthly) from the post-paid segment was Rs 930 per month and for prepaid a mere Rs 277. "It is obvious which lane the players will charge down," said an analyst. According to the report, the players appear to be actually succeeding, the prepaid component of their base was down from 77.7 per cent (as on December 31, 2003) to 75 per cent (March 31, 2004).

The Hindu - Business Line LABEL it India Calling, if you will. Riding on the entry of Reliance Infocomm and increasingly aggressive marketing pitch by Bharti and Hutch, the attractive plans, more affordable denominations in the pre-paid category and competitive tariffs, the mobile user population has more than doubled, to about 38 million, in the last year. While such a frenetic pace of expansion is expected in an industry that is in the early stages of evolution admittedly, sustaining such a growth rate consistently is going to be difficult. Even if the growth rate settles at 30-50 per cent over the next few years, the market for mobile services will comfortably surpass that for landlines and move closer to the target of 100 million consumers. What are the key drivers of this growth and, more important, what challenges confront it? Before the advent of cellular services, one had to depend on what was offered by the state-owned BSNL/MTNL, and tariffs ruled high in the absence of competition. The entry of cellular services changed all that. Price cuts, especially on long-distance calls, were steep, and public sector telecom companies were forced to respond to preserve their market. Now, however, the pricing environment appears to have stabilised and further price cuts of any appreciable magnitude look unlikely as part of a business strategy to add consumers and gain market share. Price cuts may be on the cards only if a significant regulatory change in the form of a reduction in licence fee/spectrum charges/access deficit charges is announced. Though subscriber additions are robust, it is also important to note that the average revenue per user (ARPU), a closely observed parameter, has been on the decline over the past year. Arresting this decline or, for that matter, even jogging up the ARPU , either through a combination of deft cost management or by cross-selling value-added services to the customer set would be the industry's key challenge. Customer convenience Customer churn is the bane of a mobile service provider's operations; this is especially so in India given the preponderance of pre-paid customers in the total user population. Now, in an attempt to ensure greater stickiness of this user-group, cellular operators are innovating (over-the-air recharge and electronic recharge, for example). Conveniences offered to customers could well be the next plank on which the battle for a greater share of voice could be fought. Affordability, too, is another angle to convenience; this is now being addressed by having pre-paid cards with lower denominations — as low as Rs 54. This would be a key weapon in the arsenal of mobile service providers as they get their act together in straddling a larger footprint. Geographical expansion With subscriber additions in both the metros and the A circle (AP, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) showing signs of slackening, leading operators such as Bharti and Reliance have announced expansion plans to reach more towns; conversely, BSNL is aggressively ramping up services in the metros and circle A towns. With a strong network in the hinterland, once the additional 2.5-million lines of capacity that BSNL proposes to commission comes in, it could well turn out to be the player to watch out for. Were BSNL to show awillingness to share its infrastructure, a player such as Bharti may not need to commission its own set up. With that not being the case, private players will be forced to take on BSNL in a territory where it istruly strong. Further, even in the highly urban markets, once BSNL gets going, its tariffs are the most competitive in the business. Even if the access deficit charges levied on the private operators are going to be phased out over a period, BSNL would still have time to establish a beachhead in the more lucrative markets. Private operators will have to resort to fine-tuning pricing strategies, or ramp up sharply on the innovation scale, if they are to ward off BSNL's competitive threat. As the service footprint expands into towns that are more price-sensitive, the focus would turn to reining in costs, as levers for tinkering with the existing tariff structure are limited. Outsourcing deals, such as the one struck by Bharti with players such as IBM, Siemens and Ericsson, which aims to enhance the quality of service, apart from farming out an activity that can be classified as non-core (in the case of the deal with IBM), could well be the sign of things to come, as companies try to squeeze every cost head to remain competitive. Consolidation trends Over the years, there has been a whittling down in the total number of market participants through acquisitions. This should lead to a situation where the entire market is carved out between 5-6 players (on both the GSM and the CDMA platforms). In this context, the announcement in the recent Budget of a hike in FDI limit in the telecom sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent is a positive. In the case of Idea Cellular (where Telekom Malaysia and ST Telemedia picked up the 33 per cent stake owned by AT&T), it may open an exit window for the Birlas at a later date; though Tatas have indicated they want to invest in CDMA, theymight stick with Idea as the latter offers a platform with a critical mass of subscribers. The hike could also mean that global players (such as Vodafone, ) might evince more than a passing interest in the Indian market now that the FDI limit has been raised to levels that offer global players control. A reduction in the number of market participants could also mean that a regime of stable tariffs, which might over time, even display an upward bias; as spectrum issues get resolved and the data business also becomes an integral part of the mobile phone service, expect value-added services such as downloading ringtones and multimedia messaging, to name a couple, to account for a greater portion of your mobile phone bill. That might give players something to cheer about, as it would mean a thicker coat of black on the bottomline. The investment angle At the moment, Bharti is a favoured stock, thanks not only to the fact that it has a large subscriber base to boast of and a vast geographical footprint, but also because it is the only stock the investors can play if they are betting on the sector's prospects. But that might change as and when the initial public offers (IPO) of players such as Hutch and Idea Cellular hit the market. Hutch would be the one to watch. For instance, a look at the ARPU numbers of the various players for FY04 reveals that Hutch's ARPU for the year was a good 18 per cent higher than that of Bharti's, which is probably reflective of a better quality of customer service. Also, with Hutch signalling its intent about how serious it is about the Indian market with the acquisition of Aircel in Tamil Nadu, the hike in the FDI limit is also a positive. Its global parent has deep pockets and its support could lead to an even more aggressive business strategy by Hutch. Another story that that rivals Bharti's is that of Reliance Infocomm; if it, too, decides to step into the market with an IPO, it is certain to cause a realignment of investor interest. Other mobile service operators getting listed is in itself not a negative for the Bharti stock; what we are likely to witness is a laddering of valuation, much like what is now seen in top-tier information technology stocks. Fresh funds, too, could flow into the sector as it does present a compelling growth story. And going by the way the Bharti stock has moved over the past year, the buzz about the sector only promises to get louder.

Make Way for Massive Mobile Adoption in India The Indian mobile market is poised for enormous growth, according to In-Stat/MDR. The Indian mobile market differs from many other wireless markets in a couple of ways. First of all, about 80% of cellular subscribers pre-pay for their service, which means customers incur limited expenses every month. Additionally, the average revenue per user (ARPU) in India is quite low compared to the US and other countries, meaning that having enough volume is key for operators to be successful. The mobile market in India is competitive, with six operators claiming more than 2 million subscribers. Leading the pack is Reliance Infocomm, with about 7.6 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Televentures with 6.8 million and state-owned BSNL with 5.4 million. Reliance and Bharti, as well as Hutchison Essar and Tata Teleservices, have plans to expand their network to cover more towns and cities. The largest expansions will be undertaken by Reliance Infocomm, which will expand from 1,100 cities and towns to 5,000 by March 2005, and Tata Teleservices, which will expand from 50 cities and towns to 1,000 by March 2005. The Indian mobile market will see tremendous growth in the next couple of years, with 90% growth in 2004 and 79.1% growth in 2005. By 2007, year-to-year growth will slow down to under 10%, and in 2009 the market should rise by only 4%. In-Stat/MDR believes the key drivers for subscriber growth will be affordable handsets, expanding infrastructure, competition between operators (a field which will probably consolidate), low wireless penetration (only 3%) and pent-up demand from consumers. Despite some possible obstacles ahead for the market — economic troubles, increased regulation (India just elected a more left-wing government, which traditionally signals greater regulation), and turmoil resulting from India's strained relationship with neighbor Pakistan — India should experience a boom in mobile phone use over the rest of the decade.

Nice tones, turbasu ! BTW, for more Hindi/English/Tamil MIDI files, check out Varun Online

check out this page

Well, no such plans for now. I guess GSM is discussed at www.blanksms.com forums

Use the service only for your secondary email purposes, which is less important. As 'gtran_rocks' pointed out, better change your password to be safe if you have already signed up. Anyway, its a very useful service for people like us and hopefully it won't be exploited by the webmasters of it

Thanks for asking, rakesh. So here goes... There is a link on top of every forum which says: "Rules for all members" (along with a exclamation mark), which lists the rules that the members are expected to stick with. Anyway, click here for the rules page link. Yes, the member will be sent a Private Message about the 'mistake' he did and which moderator wrned him. The warning level can't be changed by the member. It will be surely reduced by moderators as they will be monitoring your posts. A moderator is selected by the recommendation of other moderators. There is no 'eligibility criteria' for choosing a moderator. Anyway, we assess the ability of a moderator through the posts he makes in the forum. Do let us know if any one is interested ! The Feedback forum is meant for this !

Reuters - Friday, July 02, 2004 Reliance Infocomm Ltd, plans to raise $250 million through an overseas loan, a source close to the deal told Reuters on Thursday. ABN Amro, ANZ Investment Bank and ICICI Bank are the arrangers to the syndicated loan, which is likely to be launched this week. The deal has two tranches carrying maturities of five and seven years, the source said. Reliance Infocomm is 45 per cent owned by petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries Ltd. Earlier this year, Reliance Industries had placed a five-year offshore loan at 90 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor. Indian companies and banks such as Sterlite Industries, UTI Bank and ICICI Bank are also currently in the market to raise foreign currency loans to take advantage of lower interest rates abroad.

Gouri Shukla / Mumbai June 29, 2004 In March 2003, when Reliance Infocomm launched customer service outlets for its CDMA (code division multiple access) phones, their name — WebWorld — didn’t quite seem to fit. Now, it does. By May 2004, customers at 59 of the 250 WebWorld operational across the country could get more than new connections. They could browse the Internet on high-speed broadband, chat on video with multiple WebWorld users across cities, or just sit back and enjoy an espresso. All under one roof. By the year-end, the number of WebWorlds offering these facilities will increase to 241. The new retail initiative from Reliance Infocomm currently accounts for just a fraction of its revenues and customer acquisitions (the company did not share figures). But it marks a radical change in the retail approach. When the Reliance India Mobile (RIM) service was launched in 2002, the retail of new connections was done through direct selling agents called Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneurs (DAEs). Most of the DAEs were small entrepreneurs — shopkeepers (who sold Reliance Industries’ textiles) and individuals who persuaded their family and friends to switch to CDMA phones. At present, Reliance is retailed through more than 20,000 DAEs and 40,000 outlets, and company sources say they still account for the lion’s share of revenues. Still, the DAEs weren’t helping the company tap into what was emerging as the most important segment for cellular services — the youth. Studies have shown that 15- to 25-year-olds account for more than 30 per cent of mobile phone usage, up from 15 per cent in the late 1990s. Nor were the DAEs projecting a sophisticated image of RIM. Also, the service RIM provided — CDMA — had its own peculiarities. One, unlike GSM phones, which can be bought almost anywhere, CDMA handsets are not available off-the-shelf. Also, CDMA features include data applications like fast Internet access, multi-user gaming and data transfer. These need to be explained in detail to prospective customers. Reliance, therefore, needed to set up brick-and-mortar structures that would convey an upscale image of the RIM service as well as provide space for customers to walk in and understand CDMA technology. That decision taken, it was easy to take it a step forward. Reliance Industries can lay claim to a 60,000-km fibre optic network that spans almost the entire country and can support high-speed broadband services. Reliance decided on a three-pronged business model: a broadband centre, café and, of course, the customer service centre. “The idea of a multiple activity centre began from the need to leverage the potential of our fibre-optic network,” says Sarup Chowdhary, chief executive officer, Reliance Webstore. But then, coffee chains and Internet services are not core competencies for the company. So while the idea was conceptualised back in 2002, Reliance played safe and rolled out each business in phases. In March 2003, the first WebWorld opened in Bangalore, but remained just a customer interface point. The broadband centres followed in October, in Bangalore and Chennai. By end-2003, the WebWorlds in those two cities also hosted the Java Green coffee chain. Chowdhary says the south was the ideal learning ground, since it is the hub of software companies and coffee bars in India. What learnings did the WebWorld experience throw up? The first was to be as close to the target audience as possible. All WebWorlds are located within a few km of colleges or youth hang-outs. Then, establishing contact was done in a number of ways: direct mailers and fliers, banners, redemption coupons and contests. Then, in April 2004, Reliance launched a prepaid card, specifically targeting the youth. Now, Reliance could offer cross-promotions for WebWorld services with the RIM Prepaid. For instance, RIM users were offered an introductory discount of up to 30 per cent discount on coffee or broadband surfing at the WebWorlds. Attention was also paid to the interiors since three separate businesses would be housed under one roof. “We didn’t want packed outlets with customers sitting or standing in queues, waiting for their turn,” explains Chowdhary. Digital queue management systems were installed, with customers being called by the number on their token. This also helped in diverting some waiting customers to the Java Green café. In fact, at most WebWorlds Java Green enjoys the maximum visibility from the street, so that the café attracts walk-in customers as well. The broadband centre and video-conferencing facilities are tucked away at the back, so that the store doesn’t look like there’s no room for more customers. The well-planned retail strategy may find favour with customers. But competitors aren’t impressed. CEO of Internet service provider Sify, George Zacharias isn’t in favour of mixing business models. “Coffee and computers don’t go together. You’ll need to hire extra people to keep an eye on people who’re drinking coffee while browsing,” he points out. Others agree, although for different reasons. “It appears to be a confused strategy. Reliance is extending into unknown territories,” says a competitor. “The strategy needs to be sustained nationally to prove it’s working,” says another. That may take time. As of now, only 10 of the 59 integrated WebWorlds have broken even in terms of operating expenses (minus rent). To prune operating costs, it will need to employ multi-skilled employees who can operate the entire store; at present, WebWorlds have an average of 10 employees for all three divisions. “We are working towards that end,” says Chowdhary. And given that Java Green is a completely unrelated line of business, it is being run by a separate business unit within Reliance WebWorld. Reliance is also considering offering franchises for the fully-integrated WebWorlds, where the franchisee will be responsible for only managing the outlet — the infrastructure and investments will remain with Reliance. Since the WebWorlds are dogged by low awareness, it will be the franchisees’ task to grow the business. Next month, 57 stores will be handed over to franchisees, all of whom have completed a nine-week training programme run by Reliance. As more WebWorlds become fully integrated, they’ll be turned over to franchisees within two to three months. The franchisee route has had a mixed history since 2000 with some other Internet café chains. Sify i-ways, for instance, grew to over 1,900 outlets in less than three years after it allowed franchises; Dishnet Hubs, on the other hand, declared 26 franchises out of 136 unviable within two years of franchising its business. Sify grew because it worked on its learnings, says Zacharias. The most important was ensuring franchisees did not dodge revenue-sharing by under-reporting Internet usage on PCs. To counter this, Sify developed its own software to track usage per computer. Reliance is prepared for that, as well. Customers at WebWorld have to use a swipe card on the computer before they can operate it; the card automatically records the usage of the machine and the customer is charged accordingly (charges for the Net and gaming are from 50 to 70 paise a minute). Nevertheless, the challenge of making this business viable remains. Currently, gaming and broadband each account for 40 per cent of WebWorld’s revenues, while the rest is from video chat. Java Green cafis. Java Green’s clientele is still dependent on the broadband centre: it has few walk-in customers. To justify the spend and effort on branding its coffee café, WebWorld will have to see revenues perking up.

I've tried both FWP and RIM, and the speed is almost the same, while the FWP is more stable as the range doesnt vary much unlike the mobile.

I think this topic was discussed earlier. Yeah, it happens to all LG RD2030 handsets (even with new software) and it seems to be a bug.

gr8 review buddy ! Now I feel like ditching my LG and go for a G-TRAN !

I read it somewhere in their website, MAC drivers are not available yet. Hopefully they will release it soon. I've enquired about it now and will post any info I get.

Right said Anujit, they should waive DAPO users from the montly rentals of R Connect. But looks as though we will be forced to pay as the deadline (June 30, 2004) is over now

Still not confirmed whether the rental is flat or prorata basis. R-Connect charges will be added in the next bill for all post paid customers (if you had activated the modem). The pricing for RConnect should be clear from now onwards.

USB cables do not charge the handset, unless it has an extra provision for it (maybe Vishal is having that?). A serial cable is always superior than USB cable as far as speed is concerned, but for R-Connect, the speed doesn't make any difference. I'm using a local serial cable (got it for Rs.275) and it has been working fine for months now. Also, many members have reported problems with uploading ringtones/wallpapers while using the USB.

Check out the new 'World Clock' app from Tinfo Mobile in New Arrivals. Lots of locations around the world available. Note that you can directly select the country by pressing the first alphabet on your handset.

Thanks amtraq, please check your PM.

Good idea Code, all the best for the app !

Thanks for the info Code, I'll search and see if I can find the mod

Can someone who has enough free time volunteer to help me with this ? I am really stuck up wit work now and don't have much time. Please E-Mail/PM me if possible.

You can now view your unbilled amount from R World > RIM Bill > Unbill Info It shows you the pending unbilled amount charged till the previous day.

Press Trust of India - SUNDAY, MAY 09, 2004 02:17:40 PM MUMBAI: Cellular major Reliance Infocomm Ltd will not levy roaming charges for both incoming and outgoing calls in India , in sharp contrast to that of existing GSM players, making the company's cellular services cheaper by over 50 per cent than an average GSM player. "We will continue to offer home tariff rates to customers who travel out of their registered location, even as the stress would be to offer a single rate across the country," Reliance Infocomm President (Wireless Products and Services) S P Shukla told PTI on Sunday. The company does not incur any additional operational overheads, even while a customer is travelling, as the call would originate and terminate on its nation-wide network, he said adding, "so we have decided not to levy roaming rates". "We stick to our philosophy of providing affordable mobile services to masses and now will offer affordable roaming service," Shukla said. All GSM players in the country had hiked roaming rates by Rs 1.50 on May 1, citing an end to the existing promotional offer, which was launched around five months ago. Not levying roaming charges means Reliance would be only charging call-forwarding rates and customers would have to pay only Rs 1.49 per minute (under plan Rs 149) for mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls while away from home turf, he said. This is in contrast to the GSM customer, who would be paying a minimum of Rs 1.99 (under plan Rs 149) per minute (under entry level scheme) and an additional Rs 1.50 per minute as roaming charges while the subcriber is away from home.

The Telegraph - Mumbai, June 24 Reliance Industries expects its infocom venture to reap rich returns for the group in future. A million applications from subscribers within 10 days of the launch did throw up some problems in logistics, billing and collection, but Reliance Infocomm ironed them out, chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said. “This whole issue is now behind us,” he said. Despite an operating cash profit of Rs 596 crore during 2003-04, Reliance Infocomm adopted a very conservative stand and provided for bad debts amounting to Rs 436 crore. Cash profit after provision for bad debt was Rs 160 crore, while depreciation and amortisation stood at Rs 550 crore. As a result, the company suffered a net loss of Rs 390 crore. The impact of the infocom business on the consolidated results of Reliance Industries in 2003-04 was a loss of Rs 265 crore. Despite such initial hiccups, Ambani said the company is now expanding its services to 5,000 towns in a phased manner. It is also trying to bring about a broadband revolution in the country. Reliance Infocomm has an aggressive scheme for migration to pre-paid for its WiLL services. The company will cater to nearly 40 million subscribers on completion of its expansion.