Idea Cellular, India’s third largest mobile operator, expects higher revenues with the roll out of 3G services across the 11 telecom circles, where it holds the 3G spectrum licenses.
While announcing the launch of 3G services in three circles covering the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Idea Cellular’s deputy managing director Himanshu Kapania said on Monday that the company's total invest towards 3G networks and operations is Rs.10,000 crore.
According to Kapania, the Rs.10,000 crore investment also includes Rs.5,800 crore auction fees paid to government for acquiring licenses in 11 circles while the remaining Rs.4,200 crore would be invested in 3G networks and infrastructure.
“We will have 5,000 3G towers by end of March 2011, and will scale up to around 16,000 new towers by March end next year,” Kapania said. He added these towers will help the company’s mobile services to reach around 4,000 towns across India by next year-end.
Besides, Idea will tie-up with select operators in the remaining telecom circles to facilitate its subscribers for uninterrupted 3G services through intra-circle roaming facility.
“We are in talks with select operators that will enable us to work with them via intra-roaming facility,” Kapania informed.
With 13.3 per cent revenue share in the third quarter of this fiscal, the company claims to be the fastest growing operator in India and among the top 10 global operators in terms of minute usage, which is a billion minutes per day.
Kapania further stressed 3G services-led mobile data will provide the next growth opportunity for operators. “Even in developed countries about 25 per cent revenue comes from data and remaining 75 per cent is from voice and India will also have same revenue mix,” he explained.
“India’s data ARPU (average revenue per user) is one of the lowest in the world, and also the penetration of mobile data has remained very low,” Kapania pointed out. And added that there’s a potential market of 3G services, which include high-speed Internet and mobile TV, video on-demand, video calls and conferencing.
Considering the 3G services market in India, Idea has gone a step ahead to attract customers by introducing tariffs based on time as well as data usage for 3G services.
It has also rolled out ‘sachet’ pricing to offer trial packs to customers. Idea has over 86 million subscribers, of which about 5.5 million users are using 3G-enabled handsets, so they are the potential users of 3G services, Kapania said.
The NSE and BSE listed company earns 80 per cent revenues from 11 circles where it has won 2.1 Ghz (3G Spectrum). This include the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab.
While announcing the launch of 3G services in three circles covering the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Idea Cellular’s deputy managing director Himanshu Kapania said on Monday that the company's total invest towards 3G networks and operations is Rs.10,000 crore.
According to Kapania, the Rs.10,000 crore investment also includes Rs.5,800 crore auction fees paid to government for acquiring licenses in 11 circles while the remaining Rs.4,200 crore would be invested in 3G networks and infrastructure.
“We will have 5,000 3G towers by end of March 2011, and will scale up to around 16,000 new towers by March end next year,” Kapania said. He added these towers will help the company’s mobile services to reach around 4,000 towns across India by next year-end.
Besides, Idea will tie-up with select operators in the remaining telecom circles to facilitate its subscribers for uninterrupted 3G services through intra-circle roaming facility.
“We are in talks with select operators that will enable us to work with them via intra-roaming facility,” Kapania informed.
With 13.3 per cent revenue share in the third quarter of this fiscal, the company claims to be the fastest growing operator in India and among the top 10 global operators in terms of minute usage, which is a billion minutes per day.
Kapania further stressed 3G services-led mobile data will provide the next growth opportunity for operators. “Even in developed countries about 25 per cent revenue comes from data and remaining 75 per cent is from voice and India will also have same revenue mix,” he explained.
“India’s data ARPU (average revenue per user) is one of the lowest in the world, and also the penetration of mobile data has remained very low,” Kapania pointed out. And added that there’s a potential market of 3G services, which include high-speed Internet and mobile TV, video on-demand, video calls and conferencing.
Considering the 3G services market in India, Idea has gone a step ahead to attract customers by introducing tariffs based on time as well as data usage for 3G services.
It has also rolled out ‘sachet’ pricing to offer trial packs to customers. Idea has over 86 million subscribers, of which about 5.5 million users are using 3G-enabled handsets, so they are the potential users of 3G services, Kapania said.
The NSE and BSE listed company earns 80 per cent revenues from 11 circles where it has won 2.1 Ghz (3G Spectrum). This include the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab.
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