Reliance Communication To Enter Gsm Services

[KumaarShah 143]

Please see the following:-

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecom has sought more details from Reliance Communication on its roll-out plans on the GSM cellular front for which the Anil Ambani company has sought spectrum from the Government.

Highly placed sources said, "We have sought more details from Reliance on their roll-out plans on GSM. The company might have to vacate its current CDMA spectrum to get GSM spectrum for its roll-out. Our understanding is that they might completely switch over to GSM based mobile services and exit CDMA as they have sought spectrum for GSM wherever it is available in their application."

Country's leading operator Reliance Communication with its nearly two crore CDMA based mobile subscribers was one of the most committed CDMA players of the two major CDMA players in the country. The other one is Tatas.

Link:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...ews/1645853.cms

[neerajayshree 36]

Highly placed sources said, "We have sought more details from Reliance on their roll-out plans on GSM. The company might have to vacate its current CDMA spectrum to get GSM spectrum for its roll-out. Our understanding is that they might completely switch over to GSM based mobile services and exit CDMA as they have sought spectrum for GSM wherever it is available in their application."

in this case What will happen to Lifetime Prepaid Users

[KumaarShah 143]

Relax, this will cover only Mum and Del (apart from East India) at present. And the rate at which Rel. operates,it will def. take them atleast a decade to come up with good GSM services for other GSM users to even think of switching.

By that time, if you have Life Time Prepaid , it would have outlived its existence. HA HA HA

Edited June 14, 2006 by khs123

[Puneet 0]

"We have sought more details from Reliance on their roll-out plans on GSM. The company might have to vacate its current CDMA spectrum to get GSM spectrum for its roll-out. Our understanding is that they might completely switch over to GSM based mobile services and exit CDMA as they have sought spectrum for GSM wherever it is available in their application."

Isse kehte hai nehle pe dehla. Now AA cant ditch his 2 cr CDMA subscribers to get 5 lakh GSM subscribers, or am I underestimating him?

Maybe, he will keep CDMA spectrum to provide WLL services ala BSNL/MTNL and will switch mobile services to GSM - this might be one explanation offered to DoT to get the GSM spectrum.

[kshah 452]

It seems Reliance move is smaretr as globally CDMA users are not increasing as much as GSM (If you deduct RIM subscribers). Also with W-CDMA in horizon, CDMA EV-DO will probably prove expensive. Also CDMA equipments manufacturer has to pay about 7% royalties than merely 2% in GSM. Hence CDMA is proving expensive to manufacturers too, that is the reason (Probably) why CDMA handsets are not good featured.

Timely switch to GSM will save RIM from last minute rush as eventually company can not survive on low end users as in case of RIM and TATA INDICOM

Also CDMA system is not getting matured as fast as it should be in this era. Take an example of AUTO REDIAL. That feature is not active any where in the world successfully.

People like us are hooked to CDMA probably becuase of data capabilities. But reliance and tata has failed to open FAX on handsets so either there is a problem with technology or SP are fooling (Even verizon do not provide fax) where as in GSM slow mover like BSNL too provide FAX.

Immagine 2 Billion and 202 millon subscriber difference, even US is switching to GSM faster than CDMA.

http://www.gsmworld.com/news/press_2006/press06_26.shtml

in favour if CDMA

http://cdg.org:80/resources/white_papers/f...0Dec%202005.pdf

Edited June 14, 2006 by kshah

[linuxguy 0]

me thinks, Reliance is gonna go back to its original plan of being a WLL operator in the CDMA segment. And start GSM services to compete with other ops. Wow are we seeing the end of CDMA? If reliance couldn't pull it off then I dont think anybody can...

[abhay 0]

till now its just for mumbai and delhi !! so dont get too excited!!

but i dont know y the hell is AA taking such a step

[solanky 0]

Today I have read in Times of India that AA planning for spending Rs. 1600 Crore on GSM Expansion. This is big amount. Nobody knows what is in his mind????

[abhay 0]

some answers to my ?? here but im more confused now

CDMA or GSM... RCL keeps them guessing

Reports that Reliance Communications (RCL), the Anil Ambani group major, plans to switch over from its existing CDMA-based technology service to the rival GSM-based service created immense confusion among industry watchers, vendors and analysts.

A senior official at the Department of Telecom (DoT) told ET that Reliance seems to be thinking of exiting CDMA-based services. “They (RCL) have broadly said they would like to quit CDMA.

The general plan is to end CDMA, but when they will do it has not been decided. As a matter of policy, they are asking us for more GSM spectrum instead of CDMA spectrum.”

The official was reacting to a TV news report earlier in the morning which said that Reliance had indicated this to DoT in its application for additional GSM spectrum.

Such a move would have huge implications for the industry and the company, as Reliance had been in the vanguard of the CDMA movement in India, touting the technology as far superior to GSM.

By Wednesday evening, Reliance, realising the gravity of the situation, swung into damage-control mode. “We are committed to pursue the world’s mobile leading technologies, whether CDMA or GSM, to provide the best and most competitive services to our many million customers,” a Reliance spokesperson said.

“When more than 80% of the world follows the GSM standard, it makes sense for us to get in and grow the market. After all, the challenge for the industry is to reach 600,000 villages,” said another source in the company.

Other analysts and industry experts too tried to scotch the reports. They pointed out that it would be immensely expensive and time consuming and Reliance would not do such a thing.

The talk had created confusion among equipment vendors too. There are two parts of a telecom network - passive and active.

The active part is electronics and fibre optics, besides others. “Within active, there is general infrastructure as well as CDMA-specific infrastructure, like switches, signals and receivers, which RCL will not be able to use in GSM business.

Since this involves 40-50% of the investment made in the CDMA business, RCL will have to book losses if it decides to move out of CDMA,” said an analyst.

Passive infrastructure comprises towers, shelters, and power back up facilities and it makes up for 30-40% of the total infrastructure. These are technologically agnostic infrast

ructure.

The other part, general infrastructure including IN network, computers, billing systems, voice mail etc can be used by RCL in its GSM business. “However, this is only around 20% of the total infrastructure,” added the analyst.

Some analysts feel this talk of quitting CDMA may have arisen simply because of the aggressive GSM plans that the company has unveiled to DoT.

The company had written to the DoT last week, seeking additional GSM spectrum for Mumbai and Delhi circles. “We have asked them to give detailed plans for the GSM business and then we can work on it. We wrote to them two days ago,” added the DoT official.

Industry watchers say that RCL’s move is also seen as a tactic to pressurise Qualcomm (developer of CDMA technology) to reduce royalties.

However, sources close to RCL denied that the GSM plans are a pressure tactic but indicated that they are not too happy with Qualcomm’s high royalties. “About 7% of the cost of the handset is paid as royalty to Qualcomm for the CDMA chipset, much higher than the 2% per handset paid in China and 0% per handset pain in USA. Why the differential royalties on the same product?’’ they asked.

Considering that Reliance Web Worlds are said to be the second-highest retailers of handsets after Nokia, in the country, the earnings by Qualcomm from royalties on CDMA handsets is quite substantial.

Interestingly, telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran, is also believed to have raised the issue of the royalties payable to Qualcomm at the recent meet of the GSM Association in Delhi.

He is believed to have pointed out that GSM has flourished in India since CDMA has been unable to bring down handset prices to GSM levels, according to industry sources.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Qualcomm said its “Worldwide standard royalty rate is a percentage of the wholesale net selling price of the handset and the percentage is in the low single digits.”

Some industry rivals also view Reliance’s GSM plans as a ploy to grab spectrum and block it so as to inconvenience the GSM players.

“They are trying to gain additional spectrum. Telecom has come down to being a spectrum-grabbing business and this seems to be a way to grab spectrum,” said a rival.

However, sources close to RCL said that there were advantages for the company to focus on GSM. For one, the equipment costs would be much lower than CDMA and is likely to result in considerable savings if the company pursued expansion in GSM compared to the CDMA segment, given that RCL already has in place an existing infrastructure.

Another advantage of offering GSM services is that it would be able to offer roaming services, which is a gap that CDMA has not been able to fulfill so far.

The world phone which allows roaming between CDMA and GSM technologies has not taken off in a big way since it is too expensive -Rs 12,000 upwards.

In the meantime, the share price of the company ended about 0.2% higher to close at Rs 203. However, the volumes in the counter were quite high at 29 lakh shares

now which one is the correct answer i too dont know

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1648618.cms

[linuxguy 0]

lets just wait and watch what happens?

[kshah 452]

me thinks, Reliance is gonna go back to its original plan of being a WLL operator in the CDMA segment. And start GSM services to compete with other ops. Wow are we seeing the end of CDMA? If reliance couldn't pull it off then I dont think anybody can...

End of CDMA era means expensive communication and poor data. Even if it is W-CDMA or EDGE or any GSM technology. Lets see, also expensive RIM means fewer customers for them because of market image.

[Ramchi 0]

Clearly Reliance understood the gravity of the situation. But they seem to be too ambitious instead of fixing their problems and improve the efficiency of their operations. Instead of tinkering with handsets spend extra effort in reducing the features of handsets they could have focused on providing better services.

They thought of making money thru selling handsets but eventually found out that all handsets are sold at cheap rates coupled with rate plans. Only cheap handsets are sold in CDMA segment and sophisticates services are not offered in CDMA network.

Reliance is thinking that by making huge investments they can milk money without sweating much. Building infrastructure, buying equipments etc…are just part of the business but you need to run it efficiently. Otherwise, some other technology may come in the future and Reliance may be again jumping to that technology without understanding it.

Glad that I have sold my Nokia 6255 well in advance otherwise I would face a big problem now because people will not buy expensive Reliance handsets any more. Those who are hoping for 6265 handsets must understand this and stay away from investing heavily in CDMA handsets any more.

[abc123 0]

Today I have read in Times of India that AA planning for spending Rs. 1600 Crore on GSM Expansion. This is big amount. Nobody knows what is in his mind????

What abt the Licence fee to be paid............. they will require almost half money frm that to get licence in the mumbai n delhi circel only...............................b`coz i dont think so they willl get GSM licence in return of CDMA livence...................

[abhay 0]

Today I have read in Times of India that AA planning for spending Rs. 1600 Crore on GSM Expansion. This is big amount. Nobody knows what is in his mind????

What abt the Licence fee to be paid............. they will require almost half money frm that to get licence in the mumbai n delhi circel only...............................b`coz i dont think so they willl get GSM licence in return of CDMA livence...................

they have UNIFIED licence for all circles in india!! they dont need licence now even if they want to shift to GSM or insat

yeah! but the GOVT has indicated that reliance might have to vacate CDMA spectrum in exchange for GSM spectrum!! and the current laws does not allow overlapping of spectrum in the same circle**

so its GSM or CDMA acc to current laws

some more details here

http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/artic...3883&cat_id=613

**but that wont be much of a problem since reliance is known to get laws ammended to suit itself

Edited June 15, 2006 by abhay

[abc123 0]

But they have oerlapping of GSM and CDMa in some cirlce

[KumaarShah 143]

Reliance says GSM plans are customer-centred

Our Bureau

Mumbai , June 14

Reliance Communications, responding to the Department of Telecommunications' indications that it may move out of CDMA technology or that it might have to vacate CDMA spectrum, said it is merely looking for the best competitive services for its customers.

"We are committed to pursue the world's leading mobile technologies, whether CDMA or GSM, to provide the best and most competitive services to our many million customers," said a spokesperson.

According to industry sources, Reliance may not discontinue its existing CDMA services to move over entirely to GSM; but as things stand, it is currently cheaper for the company to expand on the GSM front, using its existing infrastructure.

Since Reliance Communications already has the infrastructure, an overlay of GSM equipment will cost around $40 per digital exchange line (DEL) as compared to $50 per DEL for CDMA equipment, which is the best bargain that they can drive given their ability to get good deals on large orders (otherwise costs could go up to $70 per DEL).

Additionally, the burden of distributing handsets is reduced. Reliance currently ships handsets to different places across the country. Couriering GSM SIM cards instead would cost much less, as GSM customers do not need their service provider to supply them handsets, sources said. They said it was clear that Reliance is also pushing to drive a better bargain with both CDMA equipment providers as well as Qualcomm, the CDMA technology provider.

Link:

http://www.magindia.com/manmain.asp?url=ht...1562006&i=34577

Now what does one make of this?????

Shrewd AA is only threatening Qualcomm to reduce their royalties, or else RCoVL will move to GSM.

Ha Ha Ha

Proof of the above is here: -

Qualcom CEO to visit India; may hold talks with Rel Comm

PTI[ THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006 02:10:00 PM]

Surf 'N' Earn -Sign innow

NEW DELHI: Shortly after Reliance Communications announce plans to roll out GSM-based mobile services, top brass of Qualcom, developer of CDMA technology, will be visiting India next week and may hold discussions with the company on royalty obligations.

Qualcom gets 7 per cent royalty from CDMA operators for using the chips in CDMA-based handsets, thus inflating their operation cost.

Qualcom's worldwide CEO Paul Jacob is also likely to meet Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who recently had said that CDMA operators were at a disadvantage due to their royalty obligations and were unable to bring down the prices of handsets.

Reliance Communication had recently approached the Department of Telecom (DoT) seeking spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band to start GSM operations, starting with Delhi and Mumbai, a development that may cause a loss of revenue for Qualcom.

Although the company officials declined to comment on Qualcom management's proposed visit, sources said discussions may take place between Qualcom and Reliance Communications on terms of royalty payment.

Besides Reliance, Tata is another major CDMA player in India with a virtual pan-India footprint.

DoT has also sought more details from Reliance before taking a decision on its application for release of spectrum.

The DoT is hoping to get 45 Mhz spectrum in the 1800 band by end of this year and most of GSM operators have lined up for additional frequency for their future growth.

Reliance Communications, meanwhile, announced a major expansion plan in existing eight circles where the company is offering GSM-based mobile services.

According to sources, Qualcom has held discussions with the government as well as operators on earlier occasions over royalty payment issues.

Sources said that Indian operators may also raise the issue of differential royalty payment by Chinese operators.

Link:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...ews/1651122.cms

Now look at what TATAs say: -

No plans for GSM service: Tata

REUTERS[ THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006 12:30:59 PM]MUMBAI: Tata group said on Thursday it had no immediate plans to embrace Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, for its mobile phone services and would stick with a rival broadband technology.

The group's firms offer services under Code Division Multiple Access standard, touted as a high-speed technology competing with GSM to attract users in India's booming mobile phone market.

"We firmly believe in the CDMA technology and remain committed to growing the business (in India)," Darryl Green, chief executive officer of Tata Teleservices Ltd, the group's dominant mobile services firm, told media.

India had 101.17 million mobile phone users at the end of May, of whom 75.29 million had taken the GSM service and the rest opted for CDMA. The country adds more than four million users each month.

Tata's statement comes days after its main CDMA competitor, Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd, applied to the Indian government for GSM frequency as part of a plan to expand services.

Indian media have speculated that the Tata group might enter the GSM sector, but Green would only say, "we are watching the situation."

CDMA is a proprietary standard designed by Qualcomm Inc and is the dominant network standard for North America and parts of Asia. GSM is widely used across most of Asia and Europe.

Green also said that Tatas would wait to see what Reliance Communication did with its CDMA network as it expanded in GSM.

Reliance Communication has 19.5 million users, while Tata group firms that operate under the "Tata Indicom" brand together have nearly 10 million users.

Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1650135.cms

Eventually, What Reliance will do is to sell out to Tata's and enter GSM services in a full fledged way.

Edited June 15, 2006 by khs123

[linuxguy 0]

are you crazy? Reliance wont sell out its CDMA network to TATAs. It will be like giving out a HUGE investment to TATA for dirt cheap price.

What I still feel is that Reliance wanna milk the GSM market in Mumbai, Delhi. We have the highest ARPUs here. While doing so it is threatening Qualacomm at the same time.

Ek teer aur do nishane!

Wonderful lil' Ambani! Wonderful!!

[shashank 8]

Today iread in the newspaper(Enadu-telugu) that Reliance plans to enter GSM services in delhi,mumbai...............................andhrapradesh and even tamil nadu.

[srini 1]

Today iread in the newspaper(Enadu-telugu) that Reliance plans to enter GSM services in delhi,mumbai...............................andhrapradesh and even tamil nadu.

Ya..even i read it today...it has been given that along with Mumbai,Delhi..A.P. and Tamilnadu are also under consideration.

[Shiva Bandaru 0]

CDMA Dead?. Future is GSM.

Nope, get your facts right from google searches.

CDMA is nextgen tech while GSM is legacy. North and part of South America, China, India, Japan, Korea all are CDMA. Only EU and some part of North america has GSM.

I dont agree with you.

GSM has more then 75% market share where Cdma just 25%

GSM is more adwanced . we have 2g(gprs), 2.5g(Edge) and finally 3G and more adwancements comming soon..

CDMA is old propertiory technology hence i dont recomend it. it also has incompatible versions . major us telcos also thinking to switch over to GSM.

[abhay 0]

i dont get one thing still though!!

1) few years back when CDMA was launched from RELIANCE << they said that GSM isint gonna keep with with CDMA rates coz GSM is very very expensive and outdated technology

eg :- RELIANCE can afford 40 p / min and other GSM players cant coz their technology(GSM) is very expensive

2) oddly! now the same news people are saying that GSM is lot more cheaper than CDMA

3) i know GSM has evolved !! but on the other hand CDMA has also evolved with EDVO etc etc etc

4) if CDMA is old then GSM is older, coz GSM is there from 80's if im not mistaken

5) linux is right !! reliance would never sell its one and only BIG buissness and built the same from scratch again (it would be better if gives CDMA buissness to me for free than to give it to TATA's)

Edited June 15, 2006 by abhay

[linuxguy 0]

Shiva, GSM is VERY OLD as compared to CDMA. CDMA is more spectrum efficient, advanced technology compared to GSM. Most operators use GSM because its a standard while CDMA is nascent. GSM is more matured and widely deployed. GSM can't deliver the data rates that CDMA can deliver.

[@ksh@T 20]

well as compared to GSM data rates in CDMA is HIT!.....

[abhay 0]

Wary of Anil’s GSM tilt, Qualcomm boss plans visit

Just days after India’s largest CDMA mobile operator Reliance Communications indicated it might migrate entirely to GSM, Paul Jacobs, CEO of CDMA’s global patents holder Qualcomm, is likely to visit India between June 26-29 on a fire-fighting mission.

Mr Jacobs is believed to have sought time for a meeting with Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani in Mumbai. He may try and persuade Reliance to reconsider its plan to migrate to GSM since this move will erode nearly 8% of the global CDMA subscriber base of 318 million.

The Qualcomm chief will have another tough meeting on hand. Though the company refused to comment on the visit, sources said Mr Jacobs would also meet communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran for a likely discussion on how Qualcomm can bring down the royalty charged on CDMA chip sets in India.

Department of telecommunications (DoT) officials had told FE on Wednesday that the government would exert pressure on Qualcomm to bring down the royalty rate. It charges 7% royalty from CDMA handset manufacturers, which gets ultimately passed on to consumers by service providers, thus making it difficult for operators to bring down prices beyond a point. In China, Qualcomm charges only 2% royalty.

This was pointed out by Mr Maran at a meeting with GSM Association two days back. DoT sources said that the Government was keen that Qualcomm brings down the royalty.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_st...ntent_id=130764

hehehe

Edited June 16, 2006 by abhay

[abc123 0]

No Shiva CDMA is much more advance technology then GSM......... it is also a Spectrum efficent....................