TDSAT disposes of Tata Communications pleas against MTNL

Telecom tribunal TDSAT has allowed the plea of Tata Communications and directed state- owned MTNL to produce the documents showing the ISD call rates that it charged from customers in Delhi and Mumbai.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal however denied the plea of Tata Communications to direct the PSU to produce the internal letter based on which IUC amounts were paid by MTNL to the company.
The pleas relate to the dispute Tata Communications and MTNL have over the payment of Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) charges for the period between May 2005 to May 2008 and the matter is before TDSAT.
In the first plea, the tribunal was of view that ISD rates were already available on MTNL's website and in public domain, and Tata Communications can get those by paying the charges.
"Without going into the merits and relevance of these documents and in view of the statement made by the learned counsel for the respondent (MTNL), it is directed that a copy of these published documents may be supplied to the petitioner (Tata Communications) subject to the payment of Rs 2,000 by the petitioner," TDSAT said while allowing Tata's application.
Meanwhile, on the issue of internal correspondence on payment and adjustment of IUC charges, the tribunal was of view that there was no need for those documents at this stage as payments have been made.
TDSAT said "I am of the opinion that any approval made internally by the MTNL may not be relevant for adjudication of this petition specifically when the Tata Communication is admitting the bills paid. The adjudication will depend upon whether the parties have made payments based on the existing terms and conditions of the contract.
"So, there is no need to call for the records of the respondent at this stage. However, if it is considered relevant, this Tribunal may consider to call for any record from the respondent at the time of final hearing.

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.

Government got Rs. 5.7 crore fine from RCom for USOF rule violation

Government has received penalty of about Rs. 5.7 crore imposed on Reliance Communications (RCom) and its subsidiary Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) for switching off USO Fund-supported mobile towers leading to interruption in mobile services.
"A financial penalty of Rs. 4,63,22,000 has been imposed and recovered from RCom and Rs. 1,07,67,500 from RTL for the period of interruption in mobile services caused due to shutting down of services by these companies," Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said RCom and RTL switched off their mobile Base Transceiver Stations, also known as mobile towers, at Universal Services Obligation Fund supported sites from November 2010 to February 2011.

The Government has received total penalty of Rs. 11.04 crore between Financial Years 2007-08 and 2011-12 (up to October 30, 2011).

Funds collected under USOF is utilised by central government from telecom companies in various schemes for provision of telecom services in rural and remote areas of country.

USOF data presented by the minister shows that Bharti Airtel is highest contributor to this fund followed by state- run BSNL in the last three year.

During the current financial year, the leading contributors to the fund have been Bharti Airtel with Rs. 897.86 crore, BSNL Rs. 364.96 crore, Idea Cellular Rs. 346.34 crore, Vodafone Essar South Rs. 286.24 crore and RCom with Rs. 188.84 crore.

BSNL, MTNL hit by competition, rising costs: Government

Government on Wednesday said state-run BSNL and MTNL suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 12,960 crore in 2011-12 as a result of stiff competition in mobile sector, high staff cost and payment of spectrum charges.
"The loss of BSNL during 2011-12 stood at Rs. 8,851 crore and MTNL at Rs. 4,109 crore," Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

BSNL suffered a loss of Rs. 1,823 crore in 2009-10 and Rs. 6,384 crore in 2010-11 while MTNL's loss stood at Rs. 2,611 crore in 2009-10 and Rs. 2,802 crore in 2010-11, Deora added.

Citing reasons for losses of the two state-run telecom companies, Deora said the revenue has decreased because of fixed to mobile substitution and stiff competition in mobile sector.

"Staff cost is very high as compared to the other private operators. In case of BSNL, it is around 50 percent and in case of MTNL, it is more than 70 percent of the revenue," Deora said.

He added both BSNL and MTNL have paid Rs. 18,500 crore and Rs. 11,098 crore respectively as upfront spectrum charges for 3G (third generation) and broadband wireless access (BWA).

The market share of two telcos has also declined in the last two years.

"Market share of BSNL stood at 17.34 percent as on March 31, 2010 which has declined to 14.14 percent as on September 30, 2012 while that of MTNL has declined to 10.67 percent from 14.21 percent in the same period," Deora said.

On a query if both PSUs have taken loan and sold their properties to meet administrative expenses, Deora said BSNL and MTNL have not sold land assests but have taken loans.

"During the last three years, BSNL has taken a loan of Rs. 1,320 crore for capex and has paid Rs. 99 crore as interest on loan whereas MTNL has taken a loan of Rs. 11,264 crore and has paid Rs. 2,064 crore as interest on loan till October 2012," Deora said.

He added both the PSUs have taken a number of steps to improve their financial position.

In order to strengthen its sales and distribution channel of mobile, BSNL has started Project Vijay and also plans to augment capacity by 15 million in phase VII.

The telecom PSU holds weekly meetings with retailers and sales team at district level and also fixes targets to sales team.

In the same way, MTNL is reviewing its tariff for various products and services so as to make them customer friendly and has launched loyalty scheme and special care services of corporate customers.

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.