Indian Spectrum Auction Ends the Week at $9.1 Billion:

India's radio spectrum auction ended the 40th round and its 6th day with bidding topping Rs 56,555 crore (US$9.1 billion), with Delhi retaining the main focus from the big bidders.

As Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio Infocomm fought over the Delhi licenses, the bidding more than doubled the reserve price for the circle. Kolkata also saw its prices edge up, although Mumbai's prices were flat for the second day running,

Even if the companies take up the deferred payment option, the government can expect to gain at least Rs 16,750 crore this financial year, which is higher than the government had expected for the entire auction proceeds.

Bidding will continue on Monday, when it will enter its second week and is already far longer than any commentators had expected.

Moody's: Bharti's Strong Financial Results Support its Rating:

Bharti Airtel's strong financial results for the third quarter of the 2014 financial year ending March 2014 (Q3 FY2014) continue to support its debt ratings, says Moody's. The ratings outlook remains stable.

"Underpinned by solid growth in its operations in India, Bharti reported strong nine-month results with year-on-year growth of 11% and 19% in reported revenue and EBITDA respectively," says Laura Acres, a Moody's Senior Vice President.

"Apart from its telemedia business, Bharti's main businesses in India all reported healthy year-on-year improvements and contributed to a 20% year-on-year increase in India's reported EBITDA," adds Acres, who is also the Lead Analyst for Bharti.

Building on the positive momentum in H1 2014, Bharti's mobile business in India added a further 5 million subscribers in Q3 2014, with the customer base now exceeding 198.5 million. While the subscriber base remains predominantly prepaid, the company also made good progress in increasing its data subscriber base, which increased 31% year-on-year. This growth contributed to a year-on-year increase of 5% in its mobile segment's overall average revenue per user (ARPU).

Vodafone in Talks to Buy India's Tata Teleservices:

Vodafone India is reported to be in talks to buy a local rival, Tata Teleservices in a deal that could spark long expected consolidation in the market.

The Tata Group owns just under 60% of the mobile network, with the rest held by Japan's NTT DoCoMo. The Japanese company also holds a right of first refusal to buy the Tata's stake if it is put up for sale, but is itself generally thought to be looking to sell as well.

An unnamed source told the Economic Times that "Discussions are at an early stage. It is difficult at this stage to say what the outcome of these talks will be,"

The agreement between the Tata's and DoCoMo expires in March, and the company is generally expected to have missed minimum performance agreements. Under the circumstance's the Tata's could be required to either buy back the DoCoMo stake, or find an alternative owner for it.

A deal with Vodafone could see both companies extracting themselves from a poorly performing subsidiary, while Vodafone would be able to extract the usual cost savings and synergies to make the deal financially viable.

If the deal were to go ahead, the merged company would overtake Bharti Airtel to become the country's largest mobile network, with around 248 million subscribers.

Airtel offers Facebook access in 9 Indian regional languages:

Indian telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will provide its prepaid customers with access to Facebook at no extra cost in nine regional Indian languages. The offer is available across India. During a limited period, Airtel customers are given 30 MB per month to access Facebook at no cost. Airtel's mobile customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) are able to do social networking activities in their language. Existing Airtel mobile internet customers can connect with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site.

Airtel offers free pre-paid mobile access to Facebook in nine Indian languages:

Bharti Airtel will offer free access to social networking site Facebook in nine regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across the country for a limited period, the company said on Friday.

"...it will offer free Facebook access in 9 regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across India," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The company said its customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) will be able to access Facebook in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

According to Airtel, existing mobile internet customers on Airtel can immediately start connecting with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site m.facebook.com. Customers accessing the mobile internet for the first time need to register at m.facebook.com to avail of this special offer.

"A limited period offer, Airtel will allow customers to access Facebook free of cost with a cap of 30MB per month to add joy to the festivities," the statement added.

The company said the interface is compatible with feature, Java, Android, iPhone & Windows devices alike.

Airtel Extends Malawi License for a Further 10 Years:

Bharti Airtel's subsidiary in Malawi has secured a 10-year extension to its mobile operating license, although it has been censured for missing customer care obligations in the past.

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) confirmed the renewal of the license with effect from next February. The 10-year license follows on from the original 15 year license awarded in February 1999 to the company's previous name, Celtel.

"The performance assessment conducted revealed significant contributions of Airtel Malawi to the country's socio-economic growth, developed innovative products and services," the regulator said in a statement. It did however fault the network for missing customer care obligations.

The two sides have to negotiate the technical details of the license conditions before it is formally handed over by next February.

Mobile users form 89 percent of total Internet subscriber base in Q2 2013: TRAI:

Driven by growth in Internet usage through mobile phones, total Internet subscriber base in the country increased by 20.38 percent to reach 198.39 million during the April-June quarter.

"Total number of Internet subscribers including Internet access by mobile device subscribers increased from 164.81 million at the end of March'13 to 198.39 million at the end of June'13, registering a quarterly growth of 20.37 percent," TRAI said in its latest performance indicator report.

The total telecom subscriber base at the end of the quarter was 903.09 million, out of which 873.36 million were mobile subscribers.

Internet usage through mobile phones dominated the total subscriber base with about 89 percent share.

Total number of subscribers who accessed Internet via mobile devices stood at 176.5 million during the quarter ended June 2013.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel led Internet access through mobile phones with 26.16 percent market share, followed by Vodafone - 23.34 percent. Idea Cellular's share was 18.94 percent and Reliance Communications had 16.25 percent market share during the reported quarter.

Shares of rest of the players in mobile segment stood in single digit.

The number of Internet subscribers, excluding mobile Internet users, increased from 21.61 million at the end of March to 21.89 million at the end of June, up 1.3 percent.

Broadband subscribers, excluding mobile devices, grew by 0.98 percent to 15.2 million at the end of June.

Bharti and Reliance Jio announce comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement:

Reliance Industries, set to launch 4G services into the highly competitive telecoms market, has signed a deal with the country's largest telecoms operator Bharti Airtel, to share telecom infrastructure.

The two companies will share inter and intra-city optic fibre network, submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services.

The arrangement may be extended in future to roaming services on 2G, 3G and 4G platforms, and any other mutually benefiting areas relating to telecommunication, the two companies said.

"The cooperation is aimed at avoiding duplication of infrastructure, wherever possible, and to preserve capital and the environment," Bharti said in a statement.

The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, but an identical statement by both companies said the pricing would be at "arm's length, based on prevailing market rates".

Reliance Industries, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, plans to roll out a nationwide 4G network as part of its foray into telecoms. The company's unit Reliance Jio Infocomm won airwaves in 2010, but is yet to start commercial services.

Telecom tariffs may go up every year: Vodafone MD:

India's second largest telecom operator Vodafone expects phone call and other mobile services rates to go up every year, indicating that low tariff regime may not be sustainable any longer for the industry.

"We have lower tariffs for 18 years against inflation of 8-9 per cent per year. Now, can you do that forever? No you can't," Vodafone India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Marten Pieters said in an interview.

"So the point has come where lowest has been seen, we will have to increase our tariffs every year depending on cost levels," he said.

He said that like everyone else, the telecom industry too has to increase the prices.

Last month, the company increased 2G mobile Internet rates along with two other players,  Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, in the range of 25-30 per cent.

Peiters said that going forward 2G data rates and 3G data rates will be at same level indicating a further hike in 2G mobile Internet rates.

"We started 6-7 times high tariff rate when we opened up 3G network. It is now back to 1.5 to 1.6 times of 2G data rates. It over time will come together. But it can't come over time just by lowering 3G tariff, it needs to also see increase of 2G tariffs. Once it is equal, it doesn't matter to customer anymore," Pieters said.

Bharti Airtel to take 4G to Punjab, plans Rs 4,000 crore investment over 5 years:

Bharti Airtel will invest over Rs 4,000 crore in Punjab in the next five years in order to expand and contribute towards the digital inclusion drive in the state.

The telecom major and the Punjab government on Monday signed an agreement on the sidelines of the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, under which Airtel will take its high speed 4G LTE services to all towns and villages across the state.

As part of the agreement, the company will lay an additional 10,000 km of optic fiber cables across Punjab and expand its 4G footprints to cover most of the state's population over the next few years. This will provide a major boost to growth of broadband services in rural areas and enable delivery of services such e-governance, e-education and e-health, the statement said.

"Just like the mobile phone connected millions across Punjab, this high speed data connectivity initiative will further empower people with information and services available at the touch of a screen. I am confident that this initiative will make Punjab a model State for rest of the country," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group chief executive officer, Bharti Enterprises, said.

The company hopes the move will provide fillip to the growth of the digital economy in the state and support businesses as well as the government.

Bharti Airtel will also invest in its existing 2G mobile operations, Wire-line & DSL Broadband, DTH services, M-Commerce Services offering in the State. It will also expand its Enterprise Services offerings that provide end-to-end technology solutions to corporates and small and medium entreprises.

Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal may join hands for 4G services in Punjab:

Two of the country's biggest business moguls could come together to set up a digital infrastructure in the country. Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani has said that he is open to joining hands with telecom giant Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.

"Punjabis are the brand ambassadors of India. We are present in Punjab in manufacturing, retail. We are also rolling out our first digital infrastructure for 4G in the state with an investment of about Rs 2,500 crore," Ambani said at the Progressive Punjab Summit in Mohali on Monday.

"For further enhancing the digital experience, we can have a collaborative partnership with our friend Mr Mittal," Ambani further said. Reliance Jio Infocomm is the only company which has pan-India airwaves that can be used for 4G services. In April, Reliance Jio and Airtel joined hands to share capacity of a submarine cable.

"We are working towards making Punjab a digital technology hub in the near future. We also have large retail presence in the state, and also as part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative, our Bharti Foundation is working in 80 villages educating close to 13,000 children," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Group, said.

Ambani added that his company would look forward to forge a partnership with Airtel. "We look forward to Sunil and me for a partnership to serve people and build infrastructure." Meanwhile, Airtel signed an initial agreement with the Punjab government committing an investment of Rs 4,000 crore towards building digital infrastructure for 4G services.

Bharti Airtel hits int'l bond street for 3rd time this year:

Country's largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel on Tuesday hit the international market with a benchmark Euro bond offering, merchant bankers said.

The company is offering the five year Euro bonds for investors and the money is being raised through its wholly owned Bharti Airtel International (Netheralnds) BV, sources told PTI.

It had conducted road shows for the bond sale, its third this year, last week in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Merchant bankers had last week said the company is mulling to raise over $1 billion through bond sales, ahead of the spectrum auction slated next month.

Bharti could not be reached immediately for comments.

This is the third major bond sale by domestic companies after the May 24 tapering talk by the US Fed, which spiked interest rates in western markets.

The company's arm Bharti Airtel International Netherlands is raising the money, which will be fully guaranteed by the parent company.

According to one I-banker, StanChart, Barclays, JP Morgan, UBS and BNP Paribas are the joint book-runners and lead managers to the issue.

In March this year, the company had raised $1.5 billion in overseas debt in two tranches.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings has assigned BBB- ratings to the proposed senior unsecured Euro notes.

Fitch Ratings has assigned Bharti Airtel International Netherlands' proposed notes an expected rating of 'BBB-. The notes will be unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Bharti Airtel, and are therefore rated at the same level as Bharti's foreign currency senior unsecured rating of 'BBB-', Fitch said in a statement issued from Singapore.

Airtel Africa joins Bridge Alliance:

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced that it will join Bridge Alliance, a leading mobile alliance that is made up of 14 operators, serving over 500 million customers.

The 17 Airtel operations across Africa will join the alliance and gain access to the latest Bridge Alliance enterprise and roaming services. “It is important to be part of a strong alliance which can enhance the efficiency of our business operations,” said Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtel Africa. “Airtel Africa will benefit from joining the group as the alliance will enhance our provision of corporate solutions and forward-thinking roaming services.”

“We are very pleased to have all of Airtel Africa operations join us: this strategic partnership enables us to achieve another milestone” said Alessandro Adriani, CEO of Bridge Alliance.

“We are deeply committed to help Airtel Africa enhance its market position and gain competitive advantage. Our partnership will enable Airtel Africa to provide tailored solutions to serve enterprises wishing to procure mobile services regionally. Additionally, sharing our expertise, research and empirical evidence gathered from other markets within the Alliance, Airtel Africa will be able to deliver geographically extended, simplified and competitive data roaming and voice services.”

With a presence across 17 African countries, Airtel is the largest telecom service provider across the continent in terms of geographical reach and had over 66 million customers at the end of quarter ended September 30, 2013. Globally, Airtel is ranked as the 4th largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers.

Bharti Airtel asks DoT to liberalise allocation of numbers:

Taking a stand in contrast to GSM industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airtel on Friday asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to liberalise the allocation of numbers to operators. 

As per existing guidelines, a new operator is allocated 10 lakh numbers per circle and thereafter, more are allotted based on subscriber additions. 

There is a critical need to reconsider the criteria for allocation of new number series, the country's biggest mobile operator by subscribers said. 

In a letter to DoT Secretary MF Farooqui, Airtel said, "The present policy is extremely stringent, resulting in inordinate delays, seriously limiting the customers and operators ability to seek or add new customers." 

The Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents GSM players, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular , had recently written to DoT to allocate only 10 lakh numbers per circle to Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), in accordance with current guidelines. 

As per media reports, Reliance Jio Infocomm had asked for 4 crore numbers to launch 4G operations in the country. 

RJIL holds pan-India spectrum for this service in 22 circles. 

COAI had said the existing guidelines should apply to all service providers and should be applicable to new operators. 

Airtel seeking DoT's approval to migrate to unified licence regime:

Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has sought DoT's approval to migrate to new licensing regime provided the outcome of various court cases against the department is extended to the new framework.

The migration to Unified Licences (UL) allows telecom companies to provide all services under one permit using any technology as against the existing regime which places various restrictions.

Besides, the UL allows operators to share active infrastructure like spectrum, take part in mergers and acquisition activity that were not part of earlier Unified Access Service Licence (UASL).

In a letter to DoT, Airtel has said: "It is our submission that certain terms and conditions of the UL & UL Guidelines already form the subject matter of pending court proceedings, to which the DoT is also a party.

"These proceedings are at an advanced stage of adjudication before various courts and tribunals across India and both parties are bound by and will continue to be bound by the interim orders that have been passed therein till the final disposal.

"Therefore, the rule of sub-judice will apply to all clauses of the UL & UL guidelines, which forms subject matter of proceedings, and would be subject to the final orders and principles laid down by courts/TDSAT," the letter said.

The company said it seeks to "DoT' approval to apply for migration from UASL to UL" with the above understanding.

Liquid Telecom Bought Rwandatel Landline Assets:

Pan-African landine network operator, Liquid Telecom says that it has acquired most of the telecoms network assets belonging to Rwandatel, Rwanda's fixed line network operator for an undisclosed amount.

The deal includes Rwandatel's copper and fibre network and its customer base but excludes most of the land (which remains the property of Rwandatel).

Rwandatel, which is 80% owned by the Libyan investment group - LAP Green filed for bankruptcy in 2011. At the time, it was estimated to have debts of US$89 million against assets of US$50 million. Its mobile towers network was sold to Bharti Airtel last April for US$15.5 million.

Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group, said: "Liquid Telecom is expanding rapidly and this is an important and strategic investment. Rwanda is an outstanding FDI destination and we are very confident in the country's economic future and growth prospects."

Liquid Telecom operates Africa's largest fibre network which runs from the north of Uganda to Cape Town.

This transaction comes four months after Liquid acquired the East African assets of The Altech Group ncluding a controlling interest in Kenya Data Networks.

Airtel Zambia Called on to Improve Network Quality:

A Zambian consumer rights organisation has called on Bharti Airtel to improve their network quality following a recent spate of complaints.

The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) called on Airtel to improve its operations following calls from consumers on the poor services being offered by Airtel.

"As a consumer body, we are disappointed with the poor services which are being offered by Airtel. We have received numerous calls from consumers complaining that they are failing to make calls, calls are being dropped and some are failing to recharge their mobile phone, among others."

"I challenge the mobile phone provider to improve its operation. Airtel is the biggest mobile phone provider in the country but it has failed to satisfy customers' needs," he said.

He also urged the telecoms regulator to step up its efforts to regulate the industry.

For its part, Airtel admitted to congestion problems on the network over the past week or so, but said that these had been resolved.

Airtel to acquire Warid’s Congo Brazzaville operations:

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today said that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the Warid Group (“Warid”) to fully acquire Warid Congo SA. The agreement is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.

The agreement marks the second in-country acquisition by Airtel in Africa. It had acquired Warid’s Uganda operations earlier this year. The latest acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in Congo Brazzaville with around 2.6 million customers. At present, Airtel is the second largest operator in the country with over 1.6 million customers, while Warid is the third largest with around one million customers.

The agreement aims to bring together the strengths of Airtel and Warid in Congo Brazzaville and benefit customers in the form of affordable tariffs, superior 2G/ 3G network, affordable voice and data services and superior customer care. In addition, existing Warid customers in Congo Brazzaville will join Airtel’s global network of over 280 million customers and enjoy the benefits of ‘One Airtel’ network with affordable roaming rates across Africa and South Asia, besides other exciting bouquet of innovative 2G and 3G services.

Telecom Commission to discuss M&A guidelines on October 29: report

Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), is likely to discuss telecom merger and acquisitions (M&A) guidelines in its meeting on October 29, according to official sources.

"The merger and acquisition guidelines are on the agenda," the sources said.

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had said earlier the guidelines will be issued by November 1.

The sources said that DoT is considering allowing market share of up to 50 per cent of the resultant entity in case of merger and acquisitions from 35 per cent earlier.

The DoT sources also said that "transfer of licences consequent to compromise, arrangements or amalgamation of companies shall be allowed where market share for access services in respective service area of the resultant entity is up to 50 per cent".

The companies will also be allowed to retain two blocks of 3G spectrum in respective areas as a result of the merger, they added.

The resultant entity has to surrender the excess spectrum within one year of the permission being granted failing which action will be taken by the government, the sources said.

The guidelines, if approved, is likely to benefit telecom players such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. As per the guidelines, incumbent service providers participating in consolidation activities will have to convert their old licence to unified licence, they added.

In the revised guidelines, a DoT panel on M&A has proposed one year time for completing transaction and exemption from cross holding norms that prohibits incumbent companies from having more than 9.9 per cent stake in competing firms.

Airtel (Bharti Group) to expand in Africa: Sunil Mittal

Indian telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal 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.

If you can have hard infrastructure in 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.