Together good things happen - Airtel

• Restriction on Sale of Equity
On July 23, 2009, DoT, vide a circular, introduced a lock-in
period for sale of equity by a person who hold 10% or
more share capital in UAS licensee company on the
effective date of UAS license and whose net-worth is
taken into consideration for determining the eligibility for
grant of UAS license, till completion of 3 years from the
effective date of the UAS licence or till fulfillment of all the
rollout obligations, whichever is earlier. The circular
permits issue of additional equity share capital by the UAS
licensee company by way of private placement/ public
issues and bars declaration of dividend in such cases.
However, the provision of lock-in period will not apply, for
transfer of shares in favour of lending financial
institutions/banks in pursuance of enforcement of pledge
of equity shares with them, in the event of defaults
committed by the UAS licensee company.
• Withdrawal of Benefit of Exemption of Licence Fee for
Fixed Wireline Services in Rural Areas
On May 15, 2009, TRAI withdrew its order /benefit of
licence fee exemption for fixed wire line services in rural
areas which they had provided to all operators vide their
earlier order dated August 29, 2008.
• Value Added Services
On April 27, 2009, TRAI issued a direction requiring the
service providers to procure written consent of the
subscriber before activation of chargeable VAS such as
Hello Tunes etc. by dialing certain special keys like ‘*’. The
direction also requires service providers to seek explicit
consent of the customer for activation of the value added
services in case the provision of VAS is through
mechanism of pressing of special keys.
Regulatory Work in Progress
• Subscriber re-verification
On September 30, 2009, DoT issued a direction
mandating the re-verification of existing subscriber base
within a time period of maximum 1 year w.e.f. November
1, 2009.
• DTH Tariff Related
On December 24, 2009, TRAI issued a consultation paper
on tariff related issues for DTH services. The paper takes up
the following important issues for deliberations:
- Need to differentiate various packages for the
purpose of wholesale tariff determination and related
terms and conditions
- Need for a DTH operator to extend a-la-carte mode of
service provisioning of a TV channel to the subscriber
and related terms and conditions
• Passive Infrastructure Related
On January 12, 2010, TRAI issued a pre-consultation paper
seeking views of the industry players to bring the telecom
tower infrastructure business under the ambit of
regulations. TRAI also wanted to review the impact of
radiations from telecom towers and right of way in
erecting these towers.
• Revised Spectrum Charges
On February 25, 2010, DoT announced revised 2G spectrum
charges for both the GSM and CDMA operators, which if
implemented, would be effective from April 01, 2010.
Based on the TDSAT order, as on date the order has not
been enforced by the Government.
• Security Clearance for procuring Telecom Equipments/
Software
On February 25, 2010, DoT made it compulsory for all
telecom operators to get security clearance on all network
equipments before it is imported into India. The direction
also required the equipment vendors to transfer
technology to Indian manufacturers within 3 years of
selling machines to any Indian operator.
• Co-location Charges
On March 17, 2010, TRAI issued Consultation Paper on
co-location charges containing detailed terms and
conditions for co-location, measures to ensure
transparent and non-discriminatory treatment in pricing,
provisioning of co-location facilities and sharing of cost of
co-location by the seeker and provider.
OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
Opportunities
Untapped Landscape
Indian telecom market holds large untapped potential in rural
areas. With majority of the population yet to get access to
telecommunication and teledensity at ~ 53% with rural
teledensity at ~ 24%; there is significant growth potential for
the sector. Urban areas present potential for wireline and
internet services. Rural areas shall provide robust and
sustainable growth in mobile services segment.
New Technologies and Paradigms
Bharti Airtel Annual Report 2009-10
After the exponential growth in recent years, Indian telecom
sector is poised to transit towards better technology and
service delivery. Coming years look even more exciting. One of
the key drivers in this direction is roll out of 3G and BWA
technology. New technologies such as HSPA, Wimax and Wifi
will extend the reach of telecommunication services and offer
new platforms for development of new businesses.
Triple Play services will gather momentum with operators
getting into media space with IPTV and DTH platforms. The
growing demand for digital content will be the driver for
accelerating growth of these services. Teleport Services and
Digital Media Exchange (DMX) will get content aggregation
capabilities and will open avenues for the 4th screen – Cinema
for the telecom domain.
Value Added Services (VAS) is the sum of non-voice consumer
utilities. This includes SMS, MMS, music downloads, various
updates and alerts, mobile TV, video streaming, sophisticated
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