Bharti group to expand in Africa: Sunil Mittal

Indian telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal on Wednesday said that Bharti group wants to expand presence in Africa, which has high growth potential and needs huge investments for infrastructure development.
The chief of Bharti group, which already has significant presence in Africa's telecom space, said that infrastructure could become a major challenge for the continent's growth.
The commitment that people like us have made in the continent (Africa) is good.
We want to expand in Africa," Mittal said at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting Davos.
Participating in a session on 'De-risking Africa', Mittal expressed happiness over the active participation of African governments in working with investors.
Even USD 93 billion (investment) in infrastructure (in Africa) is not enough.
It is a large continent, it has got a lot of catching up to do," Mittal noted.
Mittal is the Founder-Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises.
According to him, Africa would need a lot of investment in infrastructure.
It (infrastructure) is to my mind the greatest risk to Africa's growth story.
If you can have hard infrastructurein place, that is where the governments must concentrate," Mittal said.
In a deal that made Bharti Airtel one of the world's biggest mobile phone company (in terms of subscriber base), the company in 2010 had snapped up Zain's Africa operations in a deal worth over USD 10 billion.
The transaction bolstered Bharti group's presence in the fast growing African telecom market, where it had more than 5.86 crore customers at the end of September last year.
Mittal also noted that the narrative in Africa is changing very fast and many countries are moving up the good growth curve.
From the point of view of investors, one of the things to see is the political leadership, to secure investments, to ensure that there are no major fallouts of any terror activity which have recently developed, importantly manage foreign exchange which does not deliver shocks, develop robust financial sector like India, deeper stock markets and the rest will follow," the Bharti chief noted.

Government demands Rs. 23k crore from telcos for excess spectrum

The government has issued demand notices totalling over Rs. 23,000 crore to telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL, for the excess spectrum they hold beyond the prescribed limit.
"The notices have been issued to the operators Wednesday," an official source said.
The government is likely to get Rs. 4,251.83 crore from retrospective charges, and Rs. 18,925.82 from prospective charges for excess radiowaves held by mobile operators.
In all, around Rs. 23,177 crore is expected from levy of one-time spectrum fee, sources added.
State-owned BSNL will have to pay around Rs. 6,912 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel - Rs. 5,201 crore, Vodafone - Rs. 3,599 crore, MTNL - Rs. 3,205 crore, Idea Cellular - Rs. 2,113 crore (includes Rs. 231.5 crore of Spice), Aircel - Rs. 1,365 crore (includes Rs. 14 crore of Dishnet), Loop Mobile - Rs. 606 crore and Reliance Communications - Rs. 173 crore.
Initially, telecom firms were given 4.4 MHz spectrum along with licence for Rs. 1,658 crore for pan-India operations and later they were entitled to get another 1.8 MHz on fulfilment of certain subscriber-base criteria.
In November, the government decided that the operators should pay for holding spectrum above 6.2 MHz retrospectively, from July 2008 to January 1, 2013.
After that, for spectrum above 4.4 MHz, they would have to pay for the remaining period of their licences based on auction held last November.
Sources said the Department of Telecom (DoT) has tentatively fixed provisional rate for spectrum in 1800 Mhz band for Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka circles where it did not receive any bids, as also for the more efficient 900 MHz band.

Airtel increases 2G data rates by 25 percent

Bharti Airtel has increased the 2G tariffs in the country by 25 percent. India's biggest telecom operator will now be offering 1GB 2G data for Rs. 125 per month instead of Rs. 99. Additionally, the 2GB unlimited pack, which was earlier priced at Rs. 149 will now come for Rs. 199.
There are speculations doing the rounds that the other telecom operators might also announce an increase in their 2G tariffs soon. As a matter of fact, some media reports are even claiming that Vodafone and Idea have also revised their 2G data prices to match that of Airtel.
However when contacted both Vodafone and Idea Cellular denied these reports. Vodafone's spokesperson shared, "We are aware of some of our competitors increasing tariffs for 2G data recently. We see this as an encouraging step for industry and are taking corrective measures accordingly at our end."
Idea spokesperson on the other hand shared that the company has so far not announced any such revision in 2G tariff.
Even though Airtel has increased its 2G data packs, the pricing for the 3G packs remain intact and even the unbundled data usage continues to be charged at 10 paise per 10 KB.
The Indian telecom sector has had a turbulent 2012 and most companies in the sector had indicated that they will be looking at increasing tariff in order to sustain operations. Airtel seems to have taken the lead in this direction to announce an escalation in the 2G tariffs. It is expected that the telecom companies might also be considering increasing the prices of call rates.

Bharti Airtel seeking South African partner again: Report

Bharti Airtel is trying to get a South African partner again, three years after its failed bid to link up with local giant MTN, a media report has said.
The weekly Sunday Times, citing an unnamed source close to Bharti Airtel Africa, said the company is still seeking expansion on the African continent after it gained a presence in 15 north, west and east African countries following its acquisition of Zain Telecom's business on the continent soon after the MTN deal fell through.

Industry speculation has been that Bharti Airtel wants to make a bid for either Cell C, the third largest mobile company in South Africa, or latest entrant 8ta, an offshoot of former state monopoly Telkom, the report said.

With 8ta battling to gain a foothold, analysts felt that any bid by Bharti would be for Cell C instead, it added.

The report said Cell C and Bharti Airtel did not comment on the latest speculation, while Telkom said there had been no approach made to it.

There has also been speculation in recent weeks about a merger between Cell C and 8ta after Cell C Chief Executive Officer Alan Knot-Craig hinted that a consolidation within the industry in South Africa was inevitable for it to be viable.

Analyst Chris Gilmour told the weekly that although Cell C would be a likelier acquisition for Bharti Airtel than 8ta, it would probably be more expensive as it had a well-established infrastructure and customer base.

8ta's main attraction to Bharti Airtel would be the access it currently has to a lot of 2.3GHz spectrum, which was a legacy from Telkom.

But the industry regulator was unlikely to approve 8ta selling off this spectrum to anyone buying the company, especially since it was awarded to Telkom and not 8ta directly after hot contestation and protests by the other operators in the industry, according to analyst Arthur Goldstuck of Worlwideworx, who advised Bharti Airtel to look at other ventures in South Africa instead.

Bharti Airtel launches emergency alert service

Bharti Airtel on Sunday launched an 'emergency alert service' enabling its subscribers to send alert message with location details to 10 mobile numbers.
"During an emergency, Airtel mobile customers can now send an alert with their geographic location to their closest 10 loved ones simultaneously with just a call, facilitating an access to easy and quick help," Airtel said in a statement.

Subscribers can even send a 'SAFE' SMS indication to a pre-defined group of 10 family members and friends and keep them informed of their wellbeing in case when out alone and during any natural calamity or disaster with just one click, it added.

Customers opting for 'Emergency Alert Service' will be charged Rs. 30 for 30 days and they can send this alert even if they don't have minimum balance in their account.

To send an emergency alert, the subscribers can give a call to 55100 and the number registered by him or her will receive voice and SMS alerts with location details of the customer.

Airtel customer can also send this alert through SMS by typing HELP in the message box and sending it to 55100 which will be then transmitted on all the 10 numbers.