anshu_s09 18 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 Virgin Mobile India, a JV between Tata Tele (TTSL) and Virgin Group which started in 2008 has come to an end as Virgin Group is planning to exit from the venture. TTSL will buy the shares of Virgin Group and will sell their services under Virgin brand. For that TTSL will pay to Virgin Group for brand royalty. Still spokesperson of both TTSL and Virgin India did not comment on this. It is also not clear for how much Tata is buying Virgin’s share in the JV. It is expected TTSL will buy the share in phased manner. Virgin Mobile chose wrong operator -it made entry into India partnering TTSL in March, 2008.That time TTSL was offering mobile services only on CDMA as Tata Indicom. Tata Indicom has no circles where it is positioned 1st or 2nd or 3rd as per subscriber base. Virgin Mobile chose wrong technology – CDMA while it targets youth population. CDMA is not a preferred technology for youth as to be a Virgin one need to get a CDMA handset. Virgin did not introduce any great CDMA handset which can attract youths. Also limited choice of CDMA handsets keeps people to be a Virgin. Virgin Mobile did not offer OMH RUIM, OMH handsets and data services (1X or EVDO) on handsets. Even VMI plans are not really cheap, often hidden with daily rentals. With excellent TVC, presence over social networking sites and paying for incoming calls Virgin Mobile India did awesome work for Brand Awareness. But nothing works! Virgin’s foray into data card market (vFlash and vLink using TTSL CDMA 1X and EVDO network) never works because TTSL never wanted to give competition to its own Photon+. No cheap tariff of vFlash and vLink for youth certainly gives a thumbs down! I always believe being under the hood of TTSL and not being a MVNO, venture of Virgin Mobile in India suffers a lot. TTSL treated VMI as stepson! Even Tata Indicom shoppe do not sell VMI connection, but they sell Tata Docomo. But TTSL can make really good with its CDMA services using Virgin branding. GSM Service from Tata Tele as Tata Docomo was introduced in India in 2009 and CDMA business goes under more negligence. Source: http://telecomtalk.info/analysis-on-exit-of-virgin-group-from-tata-teleservices/63994/#more-63994 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ravi_patent 28 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 as long as MTS/Reliance are present , the future of CDMA is bright. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUDYEcaZ 67 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 as per one of the employee of Tata Docomo... Virgin has already left all operations to Tata(from last 2 months) ALl the employee of virgin has been absorbed by Tata In short...only official declaration is yet to be made.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sougatadc 358 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 Virgin started with CDMA but gradually introduced GSM also. So, the report here is partial and is not providing the full picture. @ Ravi, Tata Indicom is much bigger an operator than MTS and MTS uses Tata's network for the circles where they doesn't have license. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ravi_patent 28 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 @sougata i am aware about it(mts and tata network sharing) .somehow indicom's action doesnt instill confidence.they have been treating indicom as stepson ever since dodcomo was born! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgiitk 32 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 I have a feeling that Tata may be hurt in case DoCoMo leaves. They are the pioneers of 3G and beyond. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karthik R 246 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 Highly unlikely as they (DoCoMo) have invested as much as Rs. 13,000 crores for a 26 per cent stake in Tata Tele and even put in Rs. 800 crores in the rights offering last month to maintain stake. The additional investment is being described as a part of their ongoing business strategy to expand presence in India - the fastest growing mobile market in the world. They are in for a ''long term relationship'' 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 NTT DoCoMo also have option to increase their stake in Tata DoCoMo so yes they are here for long haul. Surprised Virgin left TTSL, the other UK provider Vodafone is doing quite well so why did Virgin pull out of an emerging market with good growth prospect? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hritik123 4 Report post Posted April 21, 2011 Actually TATA is not able to handle so many operations -- virgin , docomo, T24 , Tata indicom , so it wants to consolidate, infact both virgin and docomo are competing with the same target group --youth segment, hence Virgin is out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
me_saket 73 Report post Posted April 22, 2011 it's correct, That virgin is abosbed by tata few month ago. One of good strategy to keep virgin mobile in india is Rebrand all tata indicom CDMA customer to Virgin mobile benefit 1)As TTSl are agree to pay royalty after exiting venture 2) too many brand will make more confusion, 3) Virgin mobile brand for CDMA, will attract more youth youth, that way increase tata subsciber base. 4) no interested config between DOCOMO and VIGIN. both foreign partner will cater to different need 5) DATA yasge on mobile( currently branded as SPEEDLIVING) can be extented with vigin mobile brand as Vbyte(international brand) with EVDO backbone. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anshu_s09 18 Report post Posted April 22, 2011 Nice observation @ Saket Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
inception 75 Report post Posted April 23, 2011 Virgin in USA and Canada left the 50:50 venture of the MVNO and parent operators pay to Virgin for using Virgin brand. Same thing is done by TTSL . @topic starter - please edit and copy the full post from Teleocmtalk. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted April 23, 2011 Virgin in USA and Canada left the 50:50 venture of the MVNO and parent operators pay to Virgin for using Virgin brand. Same thing is done by TTSL . Indeed, a very good observation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KanagaDeepan 1,084 Report post Posted April 23, 2011 Wow.. So they are playing this drama all over the world and NOT only in our country.. Nice trick... 1. First go for 50:50 agreement... 2. Then Give some nasty (GFs mom) and attractive ads, to earn some name like youth-centric operator quickly... 3. Next bring complicated tariffs to earn some quick money, first call Rs1.50 then 50p on second call onwards.. 4. Later if customer finds their true-face, pack your things and go back to UK... 5. Finally ask the partner to pay for using their BRAND... Seems VIRGIN is no-more virgin every-where... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACS 130 Report post Posted April 23, 2011 ^^ LOL, Good one. But nor sure whether TATA was really taken for a ride Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
