Mobility

` 20/-

JUNE 2011

Celebrating

Convergence

www.mobilityindia.com

Vol. 8

Issue # 5

SMART PHONES

Ruling the Handset Turf

Mobile Talk

iBuzz Mobiles Providing SAR Certified Handsets MOBILITY Sutikshan Naithani, Director & CEO, iBuzz Mobiles

Mobility Analysis

Utilising Spectrum, the Efficient Way

www.mobilityindia.com

Telecom Talk

Fixed, cable and mobile networks are getting onverged JUNE 2011 | 31

Aashu Virmani, Senior Director of Marketing at Sonus Networks

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MOBILITY

Content

Mobility Voice

2

International News

3

India News

5

8

14

Telecom Talk “As a catalyst we bring disruptive technologies to make a difference�

Event

CMAI Awards Telecom Ecosystem

17 10

COVER STORY

SMART Phones Ruling the Handset Turf

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Trends in Telecom

Trends in Telecom

Betting Big on VAS for 3G

Mobility India Funneling the Mobile Market with Services

Mobility Analysis

Utilising Spectrum, the Efficient Way VAS Pushing the Telecom Envelope

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21 23

Telecom Talk

Fixed, Cable and Mobile Networks are getting converged We are expanding our channel base

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An Opportunity Called

iPhone

25

Mobile Talk

iBuzz Mobiles Providing SAR Certified Handsets MOBILITY

www.mobilityindia.com

JUNE 2011 | 1

Mobility News

VOICE

Editorial Front Editor Chief Editor Asst. Editor

: Swapan Roy : Manoj Jha : S. Goswamy

Design Desk Art Director

:

Anit Kumar

Acct. & Finance Finance

India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, but the industry needs to make sure that this fast pace of telecom adoption does not become a big roadblock for health related issues.

:

Sandip Sarkar

Marketing & Sales Marketing Manager Staff Photograph Circulation Manager Production System Manager

Government of India has already issued a directive towards checking the radiation level coming from handsets and the telecom companies should now work towards realising it at a wider level and dimension.

: : : : :

Tridip Dey Ajay Kumar Pratap Biswas Ashish Ghosh Ajay Biswas

H.O.: Delhi / Editorial Office Roy Mediative S-39, 1st Floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110020 (INDIA) Mob: 09810380882, 09811346846 Ph: 91-11-41602841, 65683896, 40536384-87 Redg.Off.: 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Branch Office: Mumbai: E-mail: roy@ mobilityindia.com Kolkata: 105/12B, Dum Dum Road, Sil Colony, Kolkata-74 Contact: 09330922965; 09903392620 E-mail : roy@ mobilityindia.com Orissa: Krushna Nagar, 5th Lane, Lalji Palli, Berhampur-760008 (Orissa) (India) Contact : Raj Kumar-09338410809 Email : info@mobilityindia.com ncn_reporter@yahoo.com Mobility monthly News Paper, Printed, Published & Owned by Swapan Roy at 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).

Printed at Pushpak Printer, C-96, Okhla Industrial Area-I, New Delhi-20. Retail selling price of News Paper Rs. 20/-. Annual subscription Rs. 240.

Need to address Cellphone Radiation Issue

Government has amended the Access Service Licenses, mandating self-certification radiation levels of cellphone towers to ensure stricter compliance with WHOdriven guidelines of International Commission for Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The stricture led 5, 88,645 out of 6, 05,859 base stations to get selfcertification till March 31, 2011. And any non-compliance to the stipulated radiation limits is liable to a penalty of Rs five lakh for every mobile tower.

It may be recalled that the department of telecommunications set up an Inter Ministerial Group in August, 2010, to evaluate the evidence, revisit radiation guidelines for mobile towers and adopt guidelines for radiation emission by cell phones.

The Inter Ministerial Group in its report made some recommendations about mobile handsets. The group proposed revising the limit of 2 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams tissue to 1.6 watts per kilogram averaged over 1 gram tissue. It also called for mandatory declaration of radiation level on each mobile handset. As far as mobile towers are concerned they recommended radiation norms which are ten times as strict as the existing ones- from f/200 watts per square meter to f/2000 watts per square meter.

Moving forward, the Indian tele-density is only likely to move upwards and mobiles and its related mobility would ensure that telecom infrastructure reaches the rural parts of the country as well. In such a scenario, telecom industry should reflect on itself in terms of solving this issue in a manner that ensures zero per cent health risk from radiation.

Editor : edit@mobilityindia.com roy@ mobilityindia.com Marketing : tridip@mobilityindia.com marketing@mobilityindia.com Info : info@mobilityindia.com Subscribe : subscription@ mobilityindia.com 2 | JUNE 2011Web

: www.mobilityindia.com

Swapan Roy

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MOBILITY

International News

Etisalat Unveils BlackBerry service

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ow Indians living in Dubai can avail a free 15-minute international call every month, thanks to UAE-based telecom giant Etisalat’s new BlackBerry H o m e l a n d p r o m o t i o n scheme.

Priced at 49 dirhams per month, the offer is valid for a period of six months from the date of subscription.

Omar Al Muzakki, vice president of product marketing at Etisalat, explained: “It not only addresses our

customers’ growing interest in smart phones, but also meets their demand for fast and constant communication with their social networks.”

To avail of the BlackBerry Homeland promotion benefits, customers can subscribe to the Unlimited Domestic Social Package by sending an SMS, “HL49”, to 1010. Customers can also visit the Etisalat business centre or Etisalat outlets and subscribe to the service.

Airtel delpoys MCommerce solution in Sri Lanka

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harti Airtel Lanka together with Bank of Ceylon and Ceylon’s mobile payment facility, BOC Paymate, India’s leading mobile payments company, today announced the launch of the MCommerce solution to all Airtel subscribers in Sri Lanka. These services are available to all customers of Airtel, enabling them to make instant payments of phone and utility bills, account balance inquiries, mini statements, fund transfers and also, instant post paid account bill payment and pre paid recharge connections, using their BOC account .

This simple text based platform offers Airtel and Bank of Ceylon customers the convenience of making utility bill payments for water, electricity and telephone along with account balance inquiries, mini statements and fund transfers through SMS. Additionally, Airtel recharge facilities as well as postpaid bill-payment facilities are also available to customers over SMS. Bank of Ceylon customers who are already registered with the Airtel network can continue to use their current connection and enjoy the service over their Airtel mobile. This service does not require any GPRS/ MOBILITY

EDGE connectivity nor does it require an application download as it is an SMS based service which works on any mobile making this service handsetagnostic, and therefore accessible to the entire 7.5 million customer base of Bank of Ceylon Amali Nanayakkara, CEO Bharti Airtel Lanka stated “The Airtel mCommerce solution offers all Bank of Ceylon customers the opportunity and convenience of transacting need based services over SMS. Through this co-created initiative to enrich customers of Bank of Ceylon and Airtel we are happy to engineer yet another avenue of service delight while facilitating a paradigm shift in the way customers conduct economic transactions”.

Dr. Gamini Wickramasinghe, Chairman, Bank of Ceylon stated, “With the changing lifestyles ushered in by the mobile phone over the last few years, a significant opportunity to combine banking and mobile services has arisen. The mobile phone is increasingly becoming the one-stopshop for customers and a simple and secure service like the BOC Paymate Solution offered over Airtel, provides unparalleled convenience to all our customers”. www.mobilityindia.com

KT Selects Juniper to Deliver Mobile Security Junos(R) Pulse and Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite to Provide Secure Access and Protection to KT Mobile Device Users Juniper Networks, a prominent South Korean integrated wired and wireless telecommunication service provider, today announced an agreement that enables KT to secure the mobile life of their corporate customers via the Junos Pulse and the Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite.

KT will market the solution directly through established sales channels, and its established partnerships. Junos Pulse will provide KT’s customers an efficient, secure and cost-effective solution for today’s organizations struggling to manage consistent security and user experience across a wide variety of devices, users, and locations. With Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite, KT can provide their customers antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, loss and theft protection, parental controls, and monitoring and control services purpose built for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Additionally, KT users will be able to remotely backup and restore data, locate and track a mobile device in the event it is lost or stolen, remotely lock and wipe it, activate an alarm, and can send an alert when a SIM card has been removed, swapped or replaced.

“Individuals today rely on smart mobile devices for both personal and business use, making mobile security a serious concern for businesses and consumers alike,” said Sanjay Beri, vice president and general manager, Junos Pulse Business Unit, Juniper Networks. “Juniper Networks facilitates secure mobility which ensures people and businesses enjoy the value of mobile services and applications without risking loss of sensitive data. As the leading service provider in Korea, KT is setting the standard with their mobile security solution.”

“We are pleased to partner with Juniper Networks to deliver comprehensive mobile security to our customers,” said Jongin Chai, general manager of KT product department. “Providing secure access to rich mobile content and applications is extremely important to KT and our users; a standard we will now provide for corporate users.”

JUNE 2011 | 3

International News

Shanghai Unicom awards NSN Rerearch In Motion Samsung Unveils sells 250,000 five-year maintenance deal Prototype of Foldable PlayBook tablets Shanghai Unicom, the second-largest mobile operator AMOLED Display In a revolutionary development, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, South Korea, has recently introduced a prototype of foldable AMOLED display, which will never crease. This display can be used to make foldable touchscreen mobile devices.

Researchers at the institute

discovered that despite putting the screen through 100,000 foldingunfolding cycles found that relative brightness at the junction decreased by just 6% compared to regular devices. This difference is considered negligible as the human eye cannot spot the difference easily. This technology will enable mobile device manufacturers to create smaller devices with larger screens.

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in Shanghai, has awarded a five-year contract for network maintenance services to Nokia Siemens Networks. As a result, the operator aims to provide uninterrupted, high-quality services while reducing operating and maintenance costs across one of the largest cities in China.

Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will offer field maintenance*services, covering the base stations, transmission and fixed line networks of China Unicom’s Shanghai branch.

Delivery of the services starts in May, 2011. This is the second managed services agreement signed between a China Unicom subsidiary and Nokia Siemens Networks. In October, 2010 it was announced that Anhui Unicom had outsourced field maintenance to the company.

“Shanghai is an important and challenging telecom market because of its sheer size, population and position as the financial hub of the country. Therefore, operators like Shanghai Unicom are increasingly taking the managed services route to optimize their network investments while providing high quality services to their subscribers”, said Cheng Gang, head of the China Unicom customer business team at Nokia Siemens Networks. “Nokia Siemens Networks brings its global managed services experience and multi-vendor network expertise to the fore to support this approach.”

Canada based, BlackBerry brand maker Research In Motion (RIM) has sold about 250,000 Playbook tablets in the first month after its launch. Launched April 19, the PlayBook failed to make an initial impact as pre-launch reviews had described it as a ‘half baked’ product by RIM in an attempt to project it as a rival to Apple’s iPad. But in a research note sent to its clients, RBC Capital Markets - an investment bank of the top Royal Bank of Canada - says the PlayBook is on target to meet its sale target of half a million by the end of the current quarter.

Though nowhere near the iPad which sold 4.69 units in its last quarter, the note said the BlackBerry tablet was selling much better than Motorola’s Xoom tablet which runs Android. Apple’s first-generation iPad sold over 15 million units last year and the iPad2 launched in March is even doing better.

Comviva to Powers Orange Jordan’s Colour Ring Back Tones

omviva, a global provider of mobile solutions beyond VAS, has announced that it has partnered with Orange Jordan, the sole integrated telecom operator licensed to provide 3G+ services in the Kingdom to offer Color Ring Back Tone (CRBT) services. With this new service Orange subscribers can reflect their personality and emotions by playing different ring back tones for different callers. With Comviva’s CRBT service, subscribers can replace the ring tone that callers normally hear with a personal choice of music or audio content - bringing a more enjoyable calling experience to their subscribers.

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva said, “We are committed

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to bringing innovative value-added services that enrich the lives of people across markets globally. We are excited to have Orange Jordan as our customer and about the prospects of working with them to deliver new and exciting infotainment services to their rapidly growing customer base. CRBT has enjoyed enormous success with operators throughout the Middle East and we are confident of replicating its success with Orange Jordan.”

“The service will bring a livelier call experience for callers to Orange subscribers in Jordan. This is a perfect offering for our subscribers as they can change their ring back tone based on user mood and context, or use the www.mobilityindia.com

varied features to gift or copy a ring back tone. In today’s dynamic world, we want to make Orange the natural choice for value added services,” explained Mohamed Benhamadi, Portal & Contents Marketing Director, Orange Jordan.

“Among the varied portfolio of mobile music offerings, ring back tones have achieved killer application status with mobile subscribers in many markets worldwide. CRBT constantly evolves, creating long-term customer stickiness and providing a sustainable revenue stream for operators. By enabling a high level of service personalization, CRBT taps into user creativity enhancing loyalty,” added Sabri Amireh, VP, Middle East and North Africa, Comviva.

MOBILITY

India News

Vodafone appreciates DIT’s m-governance initiative Welcomes the move and recommends ideas for a smooth exchange of information through mobile

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odafone Essar, one of India’s websites are mobile compliant. leading cellular service Vodafone also highlighted providers, has welcomed that M-governance will get the steps taken by the Department strengthened with the launch of Information Technology to of 3G and 4G technologies leverage the power of mobile and users will be able to access phone through m-governance. health, educational, agricultural, Enabling the policy framework infotainment services on their for mobile governance will build mobile phones.

Pieters, MD & the digital bridge between the Marten Speaking on the DIT’s CEO, Vodafone Essar Ltd government and citizens for direct initiative, Mr. Marten Pieters, MD delivery of government service. & CEO, Vodafone Essar Limited said. “At In a letter to the national Vodafone, we always recognize and applaud e-governance division, Vodafone shared the initiatives that promise to make the its recommendations to make the process lives of the customers simpler and better. of m-governance seamless that will add M-governance holds a great potential to maximum value to citizen’s life. In the maximize the usage of mobile telephony in letter, Vodafone expressed the necessity of keeping the citizens aware and informed. focusing on smooth delivery of content to We will support the government fully in this majority of mobile users who are using basic initiative and encourage it in its efforts to 2G handsets and ensuring all government expand the base of active data users.”

BB Forum, IPv6 Work for Global Adoption of IPv6 First collaboration efforts integrate Broadband Forum’s architecture into IPv6 Forum’s Certification Program The Broadband Forum and the IPv6 Forum announced their cooperative effort to empower the successful adoption of IPv6 in broadband deployments worldwide, creating the ecosystem that will ensure the continued success of the Internet as new applications and user expectations grow beyond the bounds of the IPv4 protocol. The two organizations are collaborating to incorporate Broadband Forum network

Array Networks Wins Frost & Sullivan Telecom Excellence Award

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rray Networks Inc., a global leader in application, desktop and cloud service delivery, has announced that it has been selected to receive the Frost & Sullivan 2011 India IT & Telecom Excellence Award for ‘Application Delivery Controller Vendor of the Year’. As stated by Frost & Sullivan, this award is a testament to the relentless efforts of Array Networks team in delivering exceptional business performance within the India application delivery networking market for the year 2010.

Frost & Sullivan recognizes outstanding industry achievements by presenting IT and Telecom Excellence Awards to top companies in regional and global markets. The methodologies of determining the awards recipients are uniform.

Frost & Sullivan analyst teams conduct detailed research and assessment on the market performance of companies such as revenue growth, market share growth, portfolio diversity, major customer acquisitions and business and MOBILITY

market strategy to select the recipients in each category. After which, an independent and distinguished panel of judges comprising senior executives from the industry deliberate on the findings of the analyst team to decide on the deserving award recipients.

“We are delighted to be recognized by Frost & Sullivan as being the leading ADC vendor in India,” said Michael Zhao, President and CEO at Array Networks. “Being rated as the fastest-growing ADC vendor in this region validates our efforts to help our customers grow their businesses in banking, government, telecommunications, software, education and many other enterprise verticals with the most costeffective, scalable and secure application delivery solutions. With India’s rapid adoption of IT, we are committed to continuing to deliver top-notch innovative technology solutions to meet evolving demands in the Indian market place.” www.mobilityindia.com

Christophe Alter, Broadband Forum's Technical Chair

and testing specifications into the IPv6 Forum’s Certification Program.

“BroadbandSuite™ 4.0 is already becoming a globally accepted reference on IPv6, ensuring that the industry can address the exponentially growing device and smart gateway requirements of next generation broadband,” said Christophe Alter, Broadband Forum’s Technical Chair.

“The work delivered through BroadbandSuite 4.0 allows service providers to activate IPv6 in their networks today.

The IPv6 Forum’s Certification Program will ensure interoperability, allowing the industry to deploy with confidence.”

JUNE 2011 | 5

India News

Renesas Mobile Inaugurates R&D iBUZZ Unfurls i4242 Video Buzz Phones BUZZ Mobiles announces the coming soon i4242 (Video Center in Bangalore BUZZ). This stylish dual SIM phone is

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enesas Mobile Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced cellular platforms and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), announced the inauguration of its research and development (R&D) centre in Bangalore, India which develops 2G, 3G and 4G modem technologies.

Renesas Mobile held an official opening ceremony of the office ofRenesas Mobile India Private Limited, a whollyowned subsidiary of Renesas Mobile, with attendees from the executive team of Renesas Mobile Corporation, including Heikki Tenhunen, Senior Vice President, Jean-Marie Rolland, Chief Technical Officer and Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing, and Shinichi Yoshioka, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.Renesas Mobile India is a member of the Software Technology Parks of India, and currently has about 230 employees. Renesas Mobile India expects to invest approximately USD 115 million within five years, which includes personnel and capital costs.

“Today Renesas Mobile India is a key R&D centre in wireless modem technology, performing leading edge technology development, as exemplified by the demonstrations in today’s opening ceremony, where VAMOS calls (2G), HSDPA data transfer (3G) and LTE data transfer, were demonstrated with Renesas Mobile Corporation chipsets” said Heikki Tenhunen, Senior Vice President Renesas Mobile Corporation. “In addition to 2G, 3G, and LTE, Renesas Mobile India is performing core technology development within TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE technologies.”

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designed to provide unmatched functionality at affordable prices.

Ideally dubbed the Video BUZZ, the i4242 is equipped with a big battery of 1500mAh, big sound speaker with 20*30mm audio amplifier, opera mini browser, stereo Bluetooth, privacy protection, 1.3 MP camera, auto call recording and a lots of other features that make it a must buy. What makes it so special is its entertainment value as it supports MP3/MP4 and 3GP @ 30 frames per second. Apart from its incredible internal features, its attractive layout with a 2.2 inch QCIF and 262K color display surely makes a perfect style statement too.

For people on the move, the i4242 (Video BUZZ) offers various exceptional features including mobile tracking facility.

This phone not only has wireless telescopic FM but also offers schedule FM recording for song lovers which enable them to record their favorite songs while playing live on FM. This phone comes pre loaded with Java applications and supports popular social networking sites like Facebook and messaging service Nimbuzz. It also offers dual external memory support of upto 16 GB, which will give you enough space to store your ,pictures, songs and videos and a special privacy protector to lock phonebook/SMS/call log and file manager to keep your personal information intact. The i4242 Video BUZZ, comes with an Indian touch. Also, it includes Indian calendar with Tithi’s and Festivals and also supports the Hindi language. Available in all leading Outlets.

Micromax Unveils Qube X560 - the 3D Handset

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he Micromax X560 Qube is designed for a superior communication experience at a competitive price. With an 8.13cm full touch lens for easy handling and enhanced readability, the X560 Qube boasts of a 3D interface.

The customizable widget arc gives the option of easy access to a list of applications like messages, camera, phonebook and many more. Similar to the popular G4 Gamolution mobile by Micromax, the X560 Qube allows users to enjoy motion sensor games to keep you entertained wherever you go.

The X560 Qube is wifi-enabled and is loaded with Nimbuzz to stay in touch with friends.

The X560 Qube offers touch

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sensitive wallpaper that comes with a range of animated and exciting wallpapers for a neverseen before experience of playing with vibrant colors and animated wallpapers on your mobile screen. The 3D Qube User Interface will give the option of viewing all features of the phone at a glance.

The X560 Qube comes with a Dual SIM and Dual standby option to access the best of both worlds.

Besides the preloaded social networking applications like Facebook, Nimbuzz and Snaptu, the X560 Qube also brings an advanced multi-format music player with WAV, MP3 and AMR for playing and sharing of the most desired songs. www.mobilityindia.com

22,000 plus customers ask Airtel to go Green

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lose on the heels of Greenpeace’s online initiative, more than 22,000 customers across India recently joined the public campaign asking telecom giant Bharti-Airtel to go clean by shifting the powering of the company’s network towers to renewable energy.

The public campaign follows the release of Greenpeace’s report ‘Dirty Talking -Case for telcom industry to shift from diesel to renewable’, which exposed how the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer.

Greenpeace’s campaign asks Airtel to act in line with its professed environmental commitments by publicly disclosing the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets and commit to shift the sourcing of its energy requirements 50 p.c towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.

MOBILITY

India News

MAXX Mobiles unveils MAXX GLO MX388 Mobile

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riced at only Rs. 2361, MAXX GLO MX388 is coming with free 2 GB memory card, and is JAVA enabled, with Bluetooth, FM Radio and MP3/MP4 player, making it a feature-rich yet affordable for the aspiring youth of India.

MAXX Mobiles, has announced the launch of a new gaming phone – MAXX GLO MX388. With 250 preloaded games and dedicated gaming buttons, MAXX GLO MX388 is the perfect choice for mobile gaming enthusiasts in India.

Mobile gaming is an INR 2.8 billion market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 45 percent to reach INR 17.4 billion by 2015, according to FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2011. With mobile phones becoming increasingly popular in India, mobile gaming is expected to bring in large traction from the youth.

Priced at only Rs. 2361 (MRP),MAXX GLO MX388 comes with a free 2 GB memory card, and is JAVA enabled, with Bluetooth, FM Radio and MP3/MP4 player, making it a featurerich yet affordable for the aspiring youth of India. MAXX GLO MX388 is packed with games across categories like action, racing, puzzles, adventure, fighting, shooting and sporting.

Some of the games preloaded are Super Mario, Pacman, Race, Trojan, Battle City, etc.

Acer all set to Unveil Tablet PCs, Smartphones

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cer is all set to expand its business and position its brand aggressively in Indian market. As part of its new strategies, it will be launching five tablet PCs and five smartphones. For Acer’s Iconia tablet PCs, the company has planned a total expenditure of $1 million.

At present, Acre has 11.3% share in the PC segment and 10.6% share in the notebook segment. The launch of its new products is likely to strengthen its position in the market.

The company will also organize ATL and BTL activities to attract the customers and provide them more information about its new products.

Managing Director of Acer India, WS Mukund, says that the company has done its ground work and it quiet confident but it’s still not sure about how many tablet PCs and smartphones the company will sell in India. He further added that these products will be more affordable and easy to use.

MTNL partners DigiVive LG likely to release for mobile TV services Firmware Update Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) for Optimus 2X has partnered with mobile value added service provider DigiVive to offer mobile TV and interactive voice response (IVR) services to its customers.

The services offered are nexGTv, a next generation mobile TV service offering live TV channels and a list of video-on-demand (VOD) content on mobile and Vmotion, a video IVR solution that combines voice and video services and is compatible with all 3G handsets. nexGTv service would be available on a monthly subscription of Rs.99, weekly for Rs.35 and per day for Rs.8 for all the channels while the subscription charges for Vmotion will be Rs.30 per month, Rs.10 per week and Rs.3 per day with no video call charges.

“This is yet another endeavor to provide to our customers a chance to view a whole range of live TV channels and VOD. The content has been chosen to suit the need of every customer,” said Kuldip Singh, chairman and managing director, MTNL. MOBILITY

As early adopters of LG Optimus 2X noted the Android-based smartphone was plagued by random reboots and shutdowns and now LG has confirmed that its customers from Europe will be getting a patch for the issues this week.

Users of the Optimus 2X, running on a 1 Ghz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, had voiced their frustrations on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter.

There is no explanation as to why these problems occur, but LG stated the Optimus 2X reboots arbitrarily or shuts down when the device is charging, the power button is pressed, or the phone is in standby. www.mobilityindia.com

Apple To Launch Sandy Bridge MacBook Air

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pple’s MacBook Air is all set for an update in the coming few months. The 2011 refesh will feature the much delayed addition of Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge line of processors. Intel’s processors sport a smaller 32nm fabrication process that leads to a smaller die size and hence an even more petite MacBook Air. The new range is widely speculated to be clocked at clock speeds of 1.7 to 1.8 GHz, which can then be souped-up to 2.9 GHz with the turbo boost feature. While Apple has updated its MacBook Pro and iMac range with Sandy Bridge versions of Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in dual and quadcore configurations, the MacBook Airs will most likely be dual-core. The Sandy Bridge line is also expected to carry over its remote wipe feature to the Apple platform.

While Apple isn’t a stickler for delivering value to its customers, it’s still embarrassing to demand the price of a healthy kidney for something that wheezes along on previous generation Core 2 Duo processors. There may be no official word out on the impending MacBook Air release, but the Sandy Bridge versions are expected to hit sometime around this June or July.

JUNE 2011 | 7

Event

CMAI Awards Telecom Ecosystem In its bid to recognize the efforts being put in by telecom organizations in India, 5TH National Telecom Awards were presented by CMAI Association of India in partnership with Star News. These awards were held on the occasion of World Telecom Day on 17th May, 2011 at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi.

These prestigious Awards were presented by Shri Jyotiraidtya M Scindia, Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Shri Sachin Pilot, Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications & IT in the august presence of Dr. J S Sarma, Chairman Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Shri V

N Dhoot, Chairman CMAI, Shri Ravi Sharma, Executive Chairman CMAI, Shri Ajay Aggarwal, CMD, MAXX Mobile and Shri NK Goyal, President CMAI Association of India.

Over 30 Award categories were presented and the recipients included BSNL, Delhi Government, PGCIL, Ericsson, Beetel, Railtel, HCL, Wipro, Comviva, Radius, Tata, MTNL, AICTE etc The 6th National Telecom Awards were announced on this occasion and are now scheduled to be held on 11th May, 2012 at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi.

2011 NTA Awardees: Ceo Of The Year For Telecom Services

Sanjay Kapoor, Ceo India And South Asia

Excellence In Innovation With Rural Telecom Focus

Canvasm Technologies Limited

Largest Broadband Operator

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

Innovation In State Governance Through Wireless Technology Delhi Government Department Of It Emerging Mobile Handset Company

Beetel Teletech Ltd

Largest Systems Integrator

Tata Consultancy Services Limited

Excellence In Infrastructure For Application Services

Wipro Ltd

Best Telecom Support Services Company

Hcl Infosystems Ltd

Fastest Implementation Of Complex Multimedia Network

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

Innovative Broadband Service Provider

Bharti Airtel Airtel Limited

Largest Telecom Equipment Manufacturer

Ericsson India Pvt Ltd

Value Added Services Innovation

Aircel Limited

Excellence In Education Through E-Governance

All India Council For Technical Education (Aicte)

Best Technology For Mobile Phone

Mediatek Inc

Largest Indian Enterprise Telecom Company

Tulip Telecom Ltd

Fastest Growing Cdma Operator

Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd

Best Vas Provider Company

Comviva Technologies Ltd

Excellence In Rd In Manufacturing

United Telecoms Limited

Excellence In Innovation In Tower Management

Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited

Emerging Telecom Infrastructure Provider

Railtel Corporation Of India Limited

Best Data Centre

Sify Technologies Limited

Emerging Telecom Vas Provider

Telcordia Technologies India Private Limited

Largest Independent Tower Company

Indus Towers Limited

ExcellencE In Innovation For Telecom Services

Tekelec

Largest Mobile Phone Indian Brand

Micromax Informatics Ltd

Best Innovation In Multimedia Services

Radius Infratel Private Limited

Best Emerging Convergence Company

Sai Infosystem (India) Ltd

Fastest Growing Mobile Phone Indian Brand

Lava International Ltd

Innovation In Turnkey Solution Products

Elitecore Technologies

Emerging Green Telecom Services Company

Acetel Technologies Pvt Ltd

Largest Telecom Allied Equipments Distributor

Tirumala Seven Hills Private Limited

Best Online Information Dissemination Company

Telecomwatch

Global Cyber Security Ambassador

Ankit Fadia

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JUNE 2011 | 9

Cover Story

SMART Phones Ruling the Handset Turf W

ith telecom networks moving towards 3G and 4G, heralding new technological revolution in the market, it is clearly a smart phone age. And most of the handset vendors are vying this segment to increase their profitability Whether it is the handset features, stylish looks or independence to embrace mobility, a smart phone has all these qualities and hence, it is fast becoming the most sought after segment to conquer for all the handset vendors. From Nokia, to Research in Motion and from Samsung, Micromax to HTC, all these vendors coming up with their smart phone options for the end users and LFRs (large format retailers) and MBOs (multi brand retail outlets) are in turn keeping themselves busy with regards to making these smart handsets available for the users.

The year 2010 can undoubtedly be called as the year of Smart Phones.

Suddenly the smart phone has become such a sought after device that experts feel it is going to become really big in the coming months.

The smart phones are turning out to be the true numero uno devices of the future, that take care of literally every digital need of their users, be it providing an email service, or catching up with social networking sites such as facebook or twitter, photography, chatting, messaging, gaming. You name it and today’s smart

10 | JUNE 2011

phones have it in them.

Talking on the sidelines of Mobile Broadband Summit in New Delhi, Sanjay Sharma, Head, Applications and Software division at Huawei Telecommunications, said that India is witnessing a boom in smart phone sales today. “Close to 2 million smart phones are being sold in India every month. So the opportunity is huge and the potential looks to be equally promising.� He added.

Talking about the operators need to deploy localized content driven applications, Sharma said that the key is to inject local flavor into applications that can generate interest among masses at a bigger scale. www.mobilityindia.com

What is driving the Smart Phone intake in India?

If we closely look at the Indian market, smart phones are largely being taken by the informed users, who are looking at a solution to solve their mobility and work related issues. This is where a smart phone is helping them and hence, segments such as SMB or small and medium businesses are quite actively looking for handling their problems in a smarter manner and in the process, tilting their focus towards smart phones.

Indian SMBs set to spend $173M on smart phones With a lot of India medium businesses MOBILITY

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(MBs, companies with 100-999 employees) currently using these devices and a slew of innovations on the horizon, smartphone penetration and spending are poised for further growth in India as well as globally.

In 2011, Indian SMBs (companies with less than 1000 employees) are set to grow that spending to $173 million, according to New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc report.

With the advent of 3G spectrum we are observing an increase in the coverage that phone companies are able to offer and in turn smartphone penetration levels and data plan usage are on the rise.

Smartphone vendors can improve demand for smartphones by continuing to reduce prices as well as teasing up with operators to offer more and varied plan options to the end customers.

Smart phones are specially generating interst among the SMB level as these devices hold potential to eliminate the need for having multiple devices such as a projector, computer and a phone when conducting normal business and personal transactions. Now you can simply have one smart phone that can do all such activities alone.

Most importantly, the Internet landscape of India has changed to such an extent that in some cases the first hand internet experience is now most likely with the help of a mobile phone rather than a PC. Search, financial services, sports, online trading and entertainment take a big share of smartphone usage and people spend more time on smartphone entertainment than talking or sending messages.

Moving forward, Indian SMBs are planning an increased spending on

Close to 2 million smart phones are being sold in India every month. So the opportunity is huge and the potential looks to be equally promising.

Sanjay Sharma, Head, Applications and Software division at Huawei Telecommunications smartphone data plan services. With more and more enterprises recognising the advantages of using social networking, podcasting and micro-blogging, it seems that the full potential of smart phones will be realized in the coming months.

3G and the pricing factor With India leapfrogging into the 3G arena, handheld devices which provide smart capabilities are surely considered to be in today.

Arjun Rishi, Director, MVL Mobiles says that pricing of smart phone devices is still an issue in India. “3G has thrown open a new avenue for handsets which were otherwise more focused on minor innovations. 3G is the next leap not only in cellular services but also for mobile handsets as it will challenge the status quo. The current set of Smart phones are not affordable by the mass market and hence all the players are trying to rationalize the cost to increase acceptability, we are also exploring this area and working aggressively to introduce pocket friendly 3G enabled smart phones

The current set of Smart phones are not affordable by the mass market and hence all the players are trying to rationalize the cost to increase acceptability, we are also exploring this area and working aggressively to introduce pocket friendly 3G enabled smart phones by beginning of Q4.

Arjun Rishi, Director, MVL Mobiles MOBILITY

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by beginning of Q4,� he adds on.

As India Inc continues to moves with 3G and LTE based networks towards a more agile and mobile workforce, the smart phone will essentially become an important tool for quenching the thirst for communication as well as networking needs that all employees will require.

With the improvement in the quality of applications like navigation maps and simplification of licensing terms, phones with GPS capabilities are expected to become more in demand here in India.

The emergence of 2GHz microprocessors and also the availability of open source operating systems will surely help give a big flip to smart phones intake in India.

Smartphone Market Demand Experts in the industry feel that users cutting across different market segments want to move towards Smartphones, given the kind of features it offers, but the intake of smart phones will be strongly driven by the push and availability of highly demand driven localized content ecosystem. And operators need to play an important here in terms of making sure that proper applications are developed keeping in mind certain potential market dynamics and localisation at the end user level.

The sales of smartphones actually saw tremendous growth only in last few months, specifically due to fall in prices of phones as well. Smart phones used to cost a lot, but the scenario has changes drastically in favor of the end user today. Thanks to local Indian brands like Micromax, Zen Mobile, Wyncomm, Maxx, MVL and others, who have bought smartphones in every ones reach. Today one can buy a decent smartphone for as low as 3000 rupees. But, still the market potential remains huge as close to 80 JUNE 2011 | 11

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“We expect to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian Smartphones” Q) What is the focus of Nokia today, when it comes to targeting the smart phone segment?

Nokia continues to be a clear market leader in the smartphone segment in India. The launch of Nokia N8 received an overwhelming response and helped more than triple the top end Indian smartphone market. Our smatphone journey continues with the Nokia E7 and on April 12, we have announced the Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7, two new smartphones aimed at business people and entertainment enthusiasts respectively. The two devices are the first Nokia smartphones to contain the updated Symbian software, nicknamed Symbian Anna, with new icons and usability enhancements such as improved text input, a faster browser and refreshed Ovi Maps.

We have a healthy pipeline of Symbian products, and expect to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian smartphones and will continue to provide software support for Symbian devices until at least 2016.

Going forward, per our new strategy, Nokia has partnered with Microsoft to use Windows Phone Finland based, global as our primary smartphone handset provider, Nokia platform. With Microsoft, we is bullish about the plan to bring a combined services smartphone opportunity. portfolio covering location, In an exclusive interaction search, entertainment, social, with Mobility, Viral Oza, advertising and commerce, with Director Marketing, Nokia a fantastic opportunity to create India, reveals Nokia’s new experiences through the current strategy to target integration and combination of India and the challenges core services assets. We expect that the company is facing to ship the first volume of Nokia here.

Windows Phones in 2012.

Q) What kind of market trends are governing the smart phone uptake in the Indian market? What is your strategy towards pushing the smart phone into the market?

The smartphone segment is poised to grow exponentially in the country and some of the key factors that will drive this growth include o Launch of 3G and BWA networks that will drive increased data consumption o Replacement market becoming bigger than first time user market in India translating into existing consumers buying more sophisticated phones o Falling smartphone prices on the back on strong demand and a competitive local environment Nokia is also working with leading Indian mobile operators to create an ecosystem that drives data Nokia has focused its strategy around massification of experiences, platforms and products for consumers and as a part of this initiative we have been consistently launching feature rich products in the mid-tier segments.

Q) In your opinion how big is the smart phone market in India? and where is it likely to move ahead?

As per Canalys, the smartphone market in India stood at 12 | JUNE 2011

6,322,970 units in CY 2010 and Symbian’s share in that was 63%.

By 2014, Canalys predicts that the smartphone will reach 38,571,970 units, recording a CAGR of over 75% from 2009 to 2014.

Q) What do you feel about the introduction of new technologies like 3G or LTE in India? are these technologies likely to increase uptake for smart phones in India?

We strongly believe that 3G services will drive data consumption for consumers across segments. It will also drive an explosion in the kind of applications and services that will be available to consumers to experience the possibilities on 3G. Today, we have a wide portfolio of 3G enabled handsets across all price points i.e. entry, mid as well as high-end and a wide consumer base ready for 3G services. Our portfolio consists of over 20+ 3G enabled handsets with our most affordable 3G device Nokia C2-01 priced at Rs. 4279/.

Q) What are some of the biggest challenges that a company like Nokia is facing in India today?

We believe that the market globally has evolved from being a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems.

It is important to note that today the Indian consumer is not looking for a standalone handset but also for Services and experiences that that the handset can deliver. In fact the demand for services is consistent across rural and urban consumers. The differentiation exists in economic enhancement services. Nokia is the only handset vendor to have a comprehensive suite of applications and Services on ground today across entertainment, commerce, messaging and economic enhancement categories.

Q) Please share with us some of your recent milestones?

In 2010 – we expanded our services portfolio greatly and launched services including Nokia Messaging Services, Ovi Music Unlimited, Nokia Money and Nokia Tej. We also launched the very popular Nokia 2690 and N8 in this year. Our services have been immensely successful in India (details enclosed above) In 2011 – we partnered with Union Bank of India to launch Union Bank Money services, powered by Nokia across the country.

We also launched our flagship business phone Nokia E7 and our dual-sim portfolio with the launch of Nokia C2-00 and X1-01.

www.mobilityindia.com

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percent of Smartphone market is still there for the taking.

Some of the smart phone options available in India and upcoming smart phone models Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 The Korean handset maker, Samsung’s Galaxy S2 i9100 is having 4.3 inches Touchscreen display. A camera of this model is 8.0MP with 2.0MP front camera facility. Dual core 1.2GHz processor is also supported in this smart phone with up to 32GB external and 16GB internal memory. Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 is price at Rs. 33, 000.

Nokia E7 The global handset major, Nokia’s E7 is supported 4 inches AMOLED display screen. The model is having 16GB internal memory.

8.0MP camera facility is also available in the handset with secondary camera. The mobile phone is integrated Symbian^3 OS. The Nokia E7 price in India is around Rs 30, 000.

Blackberry Playbook in India by 22nd June Canada based RiM’s Blackberry mobiles are well known for the latest technology that is implemented in the mobility realm. RiM has announced to launch the all new Blackberry Playbook mobile on June 22nd. The Blackberry Playbook is well enabled with lots of technology.

The Blackberry Playbook is likely to be priced in India at Rs. 32, 000.

Micromax Bling 2 The India’s very own, Micromax brand has got Bling 2 which is powered by v2.2 Android Froyo OS and a 600 MHz processor.

3MP camera feature of this mobile is integrated in this handset and Internal & external memory is of superlative MOBILITY

nature. The Micromax Bling 2 is priced at Rs. 8000.

Apple iPhone 4G The Apple IPhone 4G is available in black and white colors. 3.5 inches Touchscreen display is integrated in the cell phone. The handset is having 5 MP camera facilities. Up to 32GB external and 16GB internal memory is enabled in this model. The Apple IPhone 4G price in India is Rs. 34, 500 for the 16GB version and Rs. 40, 900 for the 32GB version.

HTC EVO 4G with upgraded OS With the world facing a drastic change in technology wise, there are lots of mobile phones being launched in the Indian mobile market. The HTC EVO is a superb mobile from the company which has received Gingerbread recently. HTC EVO price in India is Rs. 26, 000.

HTC Salsa in India New and wide ranges of mobiles are launched in the Indian mobile market.

There are many mobile companies that are manufacturing good range of mobile phones. HTC Salsa is a new mobile from the HTC Company which has been launched www.mobilityindia.com

in the Indian market. The HTC Salsa price in India is Rs. 20, 500. The price of the mobile matches the performance level of the mobile. The HTC Salsa features are superb. The mobile phone is having features of 2G and 3G networking.

LG all set to unveil Optimus 3D in India The LG is a Korean based company in India. The company has provided excellent handset to Indian mobile lovers.

The company will go to launch its new attractive mobile phone in Indian mobile Bazaar and that is LG Optimus 3D. The company has not been announced the LG Optimus 3D price in India yet. The LG Optimus 3D features are very impressive. Internal memory of the phone is capable t store 8GB data and it supports 512MB RAM. SMS, MMS and Email communication messaging service is providing nice communication.

HTC’s Blast Concept Phone HTC is one of the best brands in the mobile manufacturing business. There are lots of brands in the mobile manufacturing business and thus India is fully crowded with varieties of mobile models. There are large numbers of mobile models which are launched and some are about to be launched. HTC Blast is a new mobile model and it is to be launched very soon.

The HTC Blast price in India is not known yet.

JUNE 2011 | 13

Trends in Telecom

An Opportunity Called

iPhone

iPhone is largely viewed as a huge business opportunity for retailers in India The iPhone is a gizmo that brings together several portable technologies like the mobile phone, camera, Web browser, music and video player into one pocket-sized must-have 14 | JUNE 2011

www.mobilityindia.com

MOBILITY

Trends in Telecom

A

s usual, there was a lot of hype created around the iPhone 4 from the mysterious stable of Apple that has been launched recently in India.

Today, the phone is available with the help of Apple’s distribution arrangement with Aircel and Bharti Airtel. The hype behind the iPhones launch globally has already hit the Indian shores. There are quite a few people waiting to grab the latest gizmo and move towards the Apple side.

However, there has been a lot of speculation about the latest of the iphone series in India and as to who would be probable distributors for the iPhone. There was news brewing up from all frontiers stating that a lot of mobile retail stores such as UniverCell or Sangeetha, which already have a lot of focus towards Apple products, may bring the latest version of Apple’s iPhone to India closer to the end user community.

Apple iPhone 4 Unfurled in India at Rs 34,500 for 16 GB Eleven months after Apple’s nextgeneration smartphone hit stores worldwide, the iPhone 4 was launched in India, the world’s second biggest market for mobile phones today.

Mobile phone carrier Aircel launched the iPhone 4 with a new pricing model, allowing customers to recover the upfront cost of the smartphone on select plans over 24 months.

Aircel will charge Rs 34,500 for iPhones with a 16 GB capacity and Rs 40,900 for the 32 GB model.

Bharti Airtel Launches iPhone Declaring the roll-out of one of the most expected smartphones in the world by Bharti airtel here and in 34 other cities in India, Bharti Airtel has also launched the iPhone 4 that is set to create a separate space from the clutter of smartphones in the market, many of them having copied Apple features. iPhone 4 will stand out for its original applications and cater to the middle segment as well, with attractive pricing which will not create a pinch both in the long and short term.

MOBILITY

The handset will be priced at Rs 34,500 with 16-GB capacity and Rs 40,900 with 32GB capacity, which is attractive considering the long-term use. The set is powered by Apple’s A4 (operating system), boasts of a retina display, FaceTime for video chat, 5-MP rear facing camera with LED flash and HD video recording.

The iPhone 4 boasts a higher-quality screen and longer battery life than the previous model, he said, adding that Bharti already sells earlier models of the iPhone in India. The iPhone 4 was launched way back in June in the US, followed by other countries.

What’s special about an iPhone?

There have been a lot of mixed reviews even before the iPhone was launched. The iPhone is a gizmo that brings together several portable technologies like the mobile phone, camera, Web browser, music and video player into one pocket-sized must-have. Phone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply tapping a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log.

It also automatically syncs all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet service.

And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want just like email. Sporting a three-and-a-half-inch touch-screen, iPhone has 16 to 32GB of flash memory to store all kinds of media files.

The iPhone also features a predictive QWERTY touch keyboard, where you type by tapping at the screen with your fingers.

Again, while this enables the iPhone to have a larger screen, how comfortable it will be to use remains to be seen.

The battery has enough juice for five hours of talk, video or browsing. Apple promises up to 16 hours of audio playback, which is on par with the top MP3 players.

Videos will look good, thanks to the 320x480 screen resolution.

It also supports IMAP, POP3 email and Yahoo Push email. With POP3 you can download mail and contacts from the server on to your device, while IMAP will allow you to access your email directly from

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the server without having to download it.

Via push mail service, you will be updated about your emails as you receive them. You can even use the on-screen display to make three-way conference calls or manage calls from two different sources.

To browse the web, the iPhone will make use of Safari browser. It has Wi-Fi wireless technology for high-speed Internet access and Bluetooth for use with wireless accessories and other devices.

It has a 2-megapixel camera. It measures 2.4 inches by 4.5 inches, and is less than 0.5 inches thick. It weighs 4.5 ounces.

Aggressive pricing Though it may seem a bit on the higher side to some, but when compared to phones in the same genre, iPhone offers better bang for the buck, especially with so much ported on to it.

It employs advanced built-in sensors, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor, that automatically enhances the user experience and extends battery life. Its built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a Web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

What’s not hot?

However on the negative side, it is rumored that the iPhone won’t support MMS messaging for pictures or videos.

Also like the iPod, users will be able to play, say a DivX or any other video file other than what iTunes supports. It doesn’t have video capture capacity, it is not 3G and you cannot transfer music from one device to another, the way you do with your regular smarter smartphones. Its battery cannot be replaced. One will have to send it to Apple for replacement. And it will take at least three days to change the battery costing around $79, plus $6.95 shipping, i.e. $85.95 per unit. In Indian currency, it’s around Rs 3,434.962. Besides one will have to pay local taxes on this.

JUNE 2011 | 15

Trends in Telecom

5 Advantages for using iPhone 4 iPhone 4 Business Usage The iPhone 4, Apple’s latest offering for cell phone users, is said to be a better option for business users. iPhone 4 advantages and disadvantages are too many to list. iPhone 4 Mail Smartphones are not only for talks, SMS or MMS. It is also a handy tool for sending and receiving emails. Mail exchange is one of the greatest advantages of iPhone. iPhone4 has awesome mailing capabilities. Setting up a mail account is very easy in iPhone4. Once the account has been created, business users can exchange emails very easily. No matter where you go, there is no question of missing out on important reports and updates any more. iPhone 4 Browser The iPhone4 is also loaded with Safari, said to be the world’s fastest browser. If your business involves internet surfing more often, this is going to come handy. Web pages load fast and come perfectly optimized for mobile devices with the Safari browser. It can access and display corporate intranets very securely over the iPhone4. This allows you to view your business resources with the utmost safety. iPhone 4 Intelligent Call Facility The iPhone4 takes calling to another level with its intelligent dialling option. If you have a giant phonebook consisting of hundreds of entries, you need not scan through them all to find a contact number.

Just mention the name or contact number of the person you are searching for and the phone will automatically call him or her. If you are simply looking for the number and do not want to make a call, there is also the Spotlight search feature that you can make use of.

Great options for busy business people who want things fast and easy. iPhone 4 Connectivity The iPhone4 comes with a range of functionalities that extend appropriate features to business users. You can have a video conference with your colleagues and employees at the same time. There is also the provision to view all your accounts in a single inbox. You can switch between accounts very quickly and see threaded messages by viewing the subject line. iPhone 4 Applications As more and more business users are taking up iPhone for their daily use, a wide variety of business applications are also being released into the Apple apps store. Softwares like Oracle Business Indicators, Analytics App, SiteCatalyst, Workday, QlikView, InerTrak and Roambi make work easier for business users by providing them with diverse functions.

Apple however has a solution, one can avail an AppleCare Service Phone. All the data of one’s iPhone will be erased during replacement process, so one needs to take a backup on iTunes and transfer the data to the AppleCare Service Phone. The only problem is that one will have to pay Apple around $29 to get this AppleCare Service Phone. Also the iPhone too will support content that is compatible only with iTunes, many users have been complaining of activation problems. iPhone is definately a revolution in the way we use phones. The iPhone has about 60 features on its panel, which makes 16 | JUNE 2011

it easier for the individual to access the features. So there will be greater usage of features like the web, e-mails, apart from usage of other features like the SMS. In a typical phone getting the GPRS activated is a big task but such issues will be easily resolved with the iPhone.

Apart from the challenges that already exist, in terms of activation and its low functional battery, price is a huge challenge since a phone of such a range has a limited market. Once it is launched through the local telecom channel partners, it will be a huge opportunity for retailers who are servicing the local customers in a better manner. www.mobilityindia.com

The iPhone is for a niche market and wont drive volumes of business. It a technically advanced phone and would find buyers who are actually gizmo freaks.

New technology will always have its initial glitches and acceptance by the masses but that would not pose as a huge threat.

Apple as a brand will have its segment of buyers who will buy the phone pertaining to the loyalty to the brand. iPhones seems to be the buzz for now with the retailers however seeing it as a big business opportunity. q MOBILITY

Trends in Telecom

Betting Big on VAS for

3G

A

s service providers entrench themselves fully into a 3G era, the mobile value-added service market is expected to generate revenues of over Rs 550 billion for the industry in the next four years. Taking a cue from this, VAS companies in India are betting on scaling up their operations in India getting themselves ready in terms of providing their technological advantage on the next generation mobile networks of operators.

India has a number of consumer segments based on socioeconomic, cultural and linguistic diversity. This diversity, coupled with a young and affluent population and the fact that India is yet to reach its potential in terms of broadband penetration, are indicative of the huge opportunity that mobile VAS offers in the country.

In India, which is the world’s fastest growing telecom sector, the VAS market size is valued at Rs 97.6 billion. According to research firm IMRB International, this market is expected to witness an annual growth of 70 per cent till 2014-15.

OnMobile If we look at the VAS market in India, it is governed by a number of focused players like OnMobile, IMImobile, Spice Digital, Comviva, One97 Communications, Mobile2win, Mauj Telecom, mChek, Roamware etc.

Today, Bangalore based OnMobile is India’s largest Mobile VAS company with revenues of over Rs 4 billion. An early entrant in the Indian VAS segment, OnMobile has a product portfolio comprising telecom VAS, mobile content distribution, and m-commerce solutions as well. The company is directing its efforts towards targeting the service provider community.

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Comviva Comviva is a Bharti Enterprise subsidiary, and specializes in developing software that allows operators to provide value added services such as music and video on mobile phones.

Besides its biggest customer Bharti Airtel, today, Comviva has customers in more than 85 countries. The company’s key focus area has been business expansion in emerging markets in Africa and Asia.

IMImobile Conceptualized in 1999 by Vishwanath Alluri, IMImobile came into the limelight as one of the key VAS players in the Indian sub-continent and is set to make a mark in the global VAS space as well. Within a year of starting operations, the company raised funds of $1 million. In 2005, it raised about $3 million from NewMedia Spark, a UK-based venture capital fund, for the expansion of local development teams, setting up its research and development unit, and for overseas expansion.

In 2006, the company raised another $10 million from Pequot Ventures. In yet another round of funding, in 2009, IMImobile raised $13 million from Sequoia Capital and First Mark Capital.

These funds were mostly used for acquisitions.

In the month of November 2008, the company acquired dx3, a London-based digital content delivery service provider. With a presence in 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, IMImobile’s acquisition of dx3 was its first step towards business expansion to Europe. With the industry moving towards 3G and even LTE kind of scenario, the market of VAS solution providers is surely moving at an exciting pace and coming years would surely bring better fortunes for the VAS segment in India.

www.mobilityindia.com

JUNE 2011 | 17

CMAI Association of India Communication Multimedia And Infrastructure

Over the past 6 years, ICOMM has grown into a world leading trade show that offers the best venue for overseas Mobile, Tablets, Consumer Electronics manufacturers to exhibit the latest products and technologies. ICOMM2011 focuses on Telecommunication Devices, Mobile Phones, Parts, Components and Accessories, Design House, Test Instruments, Digital Devices, Tablet PC etc. ICOMM is the single point source to meet all Asian Buyers, Indian Phone Manufacturers, Distributors, Telecom Operators, Technology Providers and Manufactures.

6TH CMAI India International Communications Fair 2011 Mobiles Tablets Consumer Electronics 21-22 August 2011 | NSIC Expo Grounds | New Delhi | India

SNAPSHOT OF ICOMM 2010

Inauguration ICOMM2010 India Event 15-16 December, 2010 New Delhi, India

Inauguration by Mr. Ajay Mkan, Minister of Home Affairs, Government of India CMAI International Mobile Sourcing and Investment Fair 2010

COUNTRY PARTICIPATIN IN 2011 JAPAN, TAIWAN, CHINA, HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, KOREA TECHNOLOGY PROVIDER MEDIATEK, MOBILE COMPANIES LIKE MAXX MOBILE, LAVA

18 | JUNE 2011

For Participation, contact Mr. NK www.mobilityindia.com Goyal, President CMAI : nkgoyals@yahoo.co.in Mobile: +919811129879

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Mobility India

Funneling the Mobile Market with Services Today India is considered to be one of the fastest and most attractive communications market in the world.

Mobile market in India which has over 750 million connections is all set to rise to 1.159 billion by the end of the year 2013, and become approximately $35.5 billion market by then, making it the world’s largest mobile market, London-based Informa Telecoms and Media’s latest forecast has revealed this information.

This means that there would be more handsets being sold on a monthly basis and dedicated retail chains of different

Whether it is the global handset maker Nokia or local handset providers like Maxx Mobile or Micromax, dedicated chains need to push mobile based services in order to innovate and move forward MOBILITY

www.mobilityindia.com

JUNE 2011 | 19

Mobility India

vendors would surely play a key role in terms of pushing handset sales in the country’s urban as well as rural parts.

Finnish handset maker Nokia claims that it has presence in 200,000 retail outlets out of which 70,000 are its own outlets.

Nokia also have around 120,000 selling points in rural parts of the country. This makes it perhaps the most connected rural handset player of the country.

Handset Vendor

Retail Outlets covered (Approximate figures)

Nokia

200,000

Maxx Mobile

40,000

LG

30,000

Sony Ericsson

15,000

Micromax

8000

HTC

700

The Difference of Dedicated Centers Most of the vendors are working towards having their own dedicated point of contact center, in order to get closer to their end customers. While it may differ from vendor to vendor, most of these dedicated centers provide better technical support, a complete display of the latest handsets being provided by different vendors and a comfortable customer lounge for visiting customers, space to touch and feel their products.

MobileShopping What should be done to infuse enthusiasm in the market?

In our search for a killer application, mobile based shopping is perhaps one of the biggest candidate to qualify on being a possible killer application. And there are multiple reasons for this.

Numero Uno, being the availability of mobile broadband infrastructure with the introduction of 3G networks and secondly, the ease of use that is likely to drive consumers towards shopping with their mobiles.

As a result, today India’s consumers and ready for mobile retail services, especially those who are urban dwellers and more affluent they are already using their mobiles, to the full and are likely to 20 | JUNE 2011

use it for making the shopping decisions on their mobile.

Market for Retail Services Could Be Deep in India Consumers in emerging markets show high interest in mobile based services and potential usage. In part, their interest can be attributed which captured a technologically advanced, affluent, and urban segment. But there is reason to believe the desire for mobile services may cut across other consumer segments in rural parts of the country as well.

In emerging countries like India, mobile penetration is significantly high. Mobile focused retailers in India must continuously look up to move up the value chain and be innovative in order to succeed well in the industry.

There is also need for mobile retailers to provide better price comparision related windows to their end customers. This is a very interesting approach and it has been quite successfully done by large format retail success stories such as the Chennai based UniverCell or Hyderabad based BigC Mobiles.

Similarly other mobile chains such as Sangeetha Mobiles of Bangalore or Mumbai based TheMobileStore are also giving special focus to providing meaningful information to their set of end customers in order to become different and project themselves as unbiased towards any brands. This thought also gives rise to respect in the market, because if you are not being looked at supporting any big brand, than you can only be supporting the end customer. This is surely one way to differentiate yourselves from the crowd and noise that rules the mobile handset industry.

Other focused companies like MobileMagic or Poorvika Mobiles are also looking at putting end customer at the helm and providing an ease to navigate price comparison and also a check on different parameters for different handsets.

India offers a great opportunity for telecom handset players.

And this is the reason why we see more and more focused mobile retailing companies coming into picture. This also translates into the big opportunity that is still there in the Indian market and possibly answer why there are huge number of handset providers that are thronging the market from every nook and corner of the country.

If we look at the overall market picture, on an average, a customer in India has more than 300 mobile phone brands to choose from. It is a clear indication that it is the distribution network, whether dedicated or stand alone and ease of availability for a particular brand in urban and rural areas of the country that can determine the true winners of the mobility in India.

www.mobilityindia.com

MOBILITY

Mobility Analysis

Utilising Spectrum, the Efficient Way G

like radio spectrum requires more than a purely technical consideration of efficiency. From a user’s perspective, the effectiveness with which the spectrum use meets the requirement may be far more important than simply squeezing the maximum amount of data into the available bandwidth. This is particularly so where health and safety is involved, or where reliable radio based communication is an essential requirement of the user’s business.

Economic factors are of course also crucial in evaluating the overall efficiency of spectrum utilisation. The potential economic value of radio spectrum has been highlighted by recent auctions, which Stakeholders in the telecom resulted in multi-billion dollar payments for the industry must define right to use spectrum for 3G and 4G mobile technical, economic and and wireless services. functional efficiency of Optimal use of spectrum in order to utilize spectrum requires the needs of users of the it in an efficient manner spectrum to be met in the most efficient

lobally as well as in India, an ever increasing demand for spectrum in recent years has led to a greater emphasis on the efficiency with which spectrum is used. This is reflected in European telecommunications licensing legislation, which makes specific provisioning for maximizing the use of scarce spectrum resources when setting up national licensing systems. But what factors determine whether spectrum is being used efficiently, and what steps can be taken by users and regulators to achieve optimal use? Is it possible to “measure” spectrum efficiency in any meaningful way?

Optimal use of a scarce resource

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JUNE 2011 | 21

Mobility Analysis

and effective manner possible, taking account of the economic, functional and technical constraints that apply to different services. Assessing how well this is achieved in practice requires a large degree of qualitative judgment as well as quantitative measurement – hence measuring efficiency is an art as much as a science.

Defining Spectrum Efficiency Spectrum efficiency can be viewed in several ways, however there are three principal dimensions, namely technical, economic Technical efficiency essentially means conveying the maximum volume of data or voice traffic with a given amount of spectrum resource, which typically includes geographic area or volume as well as pure bandwidth.

Economic efficiency can be expressed in terms of the maximum revenue, profit or added value that can be generated from a finite amount of spectrum resource.

This measure has become increasingly important with the advent of market based licensing and spectrum pricing.

Finally, functional efficiency may be regarded as the extent to which the use of radio spectrum meets a user’s specific needs, so enabling a particular task to be carried out more efficiently or effectively than would otherwise be the case. For example, a taxi firm or fleet operator’s business may depend heavily on the ability to communicate instantly and reliably at minimal cost whilst on the move, which may not be compatible with a public network’s objective to maximise overall traffic throughput on its network.

Reliability and speed of connection are even more paramount for public safety applications such as the emergency services or air traffic control.

Typically all three of these aspects need to be considered when assessing how optimally spectrum is being used. For example, when comparing the efficiency of mobile radio services, cellular networks may score highly in terms of technical efficiency relative to private mobile radio, but the latter may well win out on functional efficiency.

Technical Efficiency The approach to measuring technical spectrum efficiency depends on the nature of the service. Efficiency may in the future be further enhanced by developing multimode delivery platforms. For example, a joint working group addressing possible 22 | JUNE 2011

synergies between 3G mobile and digital TV standards compared the delivery of a 100 second video clip to a million mobile subscribers, using UMTS and DVB technologies. Assuming a 100 kbit/s data rate and a latency of 1000 seconds, the report suggests that delivery of the clip via a conventional 3G network would require the entire network capacity for up to fifteen minutes. The same video clip could be delivered, in the same time, via a broadcast network using around 0.1% of its capacity, thereby offering a far more economical solution.

Economic Efficiency The gains in technical efficiency of cellular networks highlighted above translate to some extent into economic gains, since more traffic over the network means more revenue. However, the gains are not realised without cost, e.g. a denser or more complex network infrastructure.

Economic efficiency can be encouraged by applying market-based mechanisms such as auctions or secondary trading to radio spectrum.

However, assigning a monetary value in advance to radio spectrum is not without risk, as some of the bidders in early 3G mobile auctions have found to their cost.

Also, the demand for mobile voice communication can be largely met by existing GSM networks, so a simple expansion of voice capacity is unlikely in itself to justify a multi-billion pound investment in a new generation network.

Where 3G really scores is in its ability to deliver high speed, multimedia services that were simply beyond the reach of previous technologies. The availability of faster speeds and flexible packet based transmission enables a wide range of value added services to be developed, such as multimedia messaging and entertainment services, enhancing the potential revenue that can be generated from the spectrum.

Economic efficiency can be encouraged by applying market-based mechanisms such as auctions or secondary trading to radio spectrum. However, assigning a monetary value in advance to radio spectrum is not without risk, as some of www.mobilityindia.com

the bidders in early 3G mobile auctions have found to their cost. The following graph shows the estimated price per capita paid by bidders in European 3G auctions.

Functional Efficiency It is very important to note that simple functionality and reliability are the most important aspects of a radio based communication service. Such needs may not be fully met by a cellular service geared towards maximum call capacity.

So private mobile radio (PMR) systems continue to play a vital role for those who need instant connectivity, tailored coverage and modest, fixed operational costs. Public access mobile radio can provide similar benefits for those who do not wish to run their own systems.

This can be expressed quantitatively by conducting “stated preference” research where users are asked to state what they would be prepared to pay for various service attributes. Subtracting this value from the amount users actually pay for their service yields the “consumer surplus”, a measure of the benefit derived from the service functionality relative to the price paid for it.

The Road Ahead All in all there are three key dimensions that are considered to influence the optimal use of radio spectrum, and examples are given of how these might be “measured” in practice. The key efficiency dimensions are technical, economic and functional.

All of these should be considered when assessing the extent to which optimal use of spectrum is being achieved.

In general, maximising economic efficiency would seem to be the priority in the case of larger, national services such as cellular or wireless network. Conversely, for more specialist applications such as private mobile radio or air traffic control, functional efficiency or “suitability for purpose” should be the overriding concern.

In both cases, there is a need to optimise the technical efficiency in so far as this can be achieved without negating the functional benefits or rendering the service economically non-viable. There is no single, all-embracing algorithm that can compare the efficiency of one spectrum-using application with another.

Hence the measurement and comparison of spectrum utilisation efficiency may rightly be considered to be as much an art as a scientific process.

MOBILITY

Mobility Analysis

VAS

Pushing the Telecom Envelope

A

s India moves ahead with its telecom revolution there are a number of service providers and handset vendors vying to catch hold of more and more subscribers, in such a scenario, it is getting down to the bouquet of value added services being provided by the operators that catches the eyeballs of consumers the most.

With a number of telecom service providers and handset vendors to match, the competition is no longer just price it is all about providing the much sought after value. Here VAS is playing a very important role. In fact, the playing field is getting complex and moving with the rural wind with more parameters such as price, MOBILITY

features, ease of purchase and after sales service getting into the consideration.

The cut-throat competition by telecom providers is no longer on how much a call costs per second or per minute. Today it is all about delivering the right kind of VAS to their end customers. It is about whether the handset manufacturer and also the service provider have teamed up to provide mp3 format ring tones and caller tunes for the subscriber.

To start with, the first people to buy cellular telecom connections in India were corporate users. Slowly, the user base spilled over to personal users as the price point got lowered every month. Now the individual user wants more and he will get www.mobilityindia.com

more. For instance, service providers are busy launching their latest VAS offerings through SMS in not only big metros but also in rural parts of India.

Today, the Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries of the world. Talking of telecommunications sector in India today, there are two major segments that can be identified - Fixed Service Provider (FSPs) and Cellular Services. Some of the essential and basic telecom services forming part of Indian telecom industry include telephone, radio, television and Internet.

The biggest telecom success story today is the sheer size and dimension of its competition and this has pushed telecom JUNE 2011 | 23

Mobility Analysis

industry deeper and wider into the real walls of India. Many people are now buying their first handset and simcard , opening up a new world of connectivity and access to information. For those who already have a mobile subscription there is now more operators to choose from, creating a vibrant double and even triple SIM segment. This scenario is driving operators towards pushing more meaningful VAS offerings. Needs focused VAS like the ones purely focused towards medicine or agriculture are truely helping the end consumer and becoming a big differentiator for the operators.

The entry of new telecom operators has further expanded the Indian telecom market. The challenge is to stay ahead of the curve and offer innovative propositions to customers along with quality service. VAS is turning out to be an easy answer here. With over 13 telecom operators competing against each other, the market is extremely competitive in India. Given the scenario, the challenge is to drive growth by offering innovative VAS. VAS is becoming one of the most critical elements of an operator strategy today. It is providing an enhanced customer experience and value for money to the customers. The challenge is all about staying ahead of the curve and providing innovative Voice and Data solutions to customers.

Apparently, the market is growing at a rapid pace. The tele-density of the country has increased immensely in the recent past. With 3G coming into picture, the possibilities in VAS are exponential in nature. Moving forward, VAS will continue to drive growth

24 | JUNE 2011

opportunities for operators.

India’s Mobile VAS set to be Rs 550 bn opportunity by 2015 With India moving into a 3G era, Mobile VAS is surely going to play a key role in terms of deciding the winners amongst the operators here. According to a recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Mobile VAS market has a potential to generate over Rs. 55,000 crore by the year 2015.

Termed as Value Added Service: The Next Wave, this report has undertaken a detailed and wide scale market research with the objective of understanding the behavior of Indian mobile subscribers towards VAS and off take of services in future.

PwC research focused on urban India wherein respondents were spread across different Socio Economic Classes (SEC), age groups, education, backgrounds, working status and it covers 1050 respondents across 10 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Kolkata.

Today Broadband Wireless Access and 3G network roll outs are happening across the country and end user focused applications are likely to drive mass adoption of VAS by the end consumers not only in big metros but also in the rural parts of the country.

This report also provides an insight towards the primary challenges that are holding back the growth of Mobile VAS in India and map future consumer preferences that are likely to govern the growth of this segment in India. q

www.mobilityindia.com

The key findings of the report are as highlighted below: • Communication VAS Services: Video Calls, MMS and Email will be the key drivers for the communication VAS services. The total revenue from communication services is expected to cross Rs. 20,000 crore by 2015. SMS will contribute 72% of this revenue.

• Entertainment VAS Services: There is a growing demand for entertainment services which will be adopted by masses. The users are willing to pay most for entertainment services as compared to all other categories of VAS. The total revenues from entertainment services is expected to reach 25,000 crore by 2015 • Information based VAS: News updates and medical services over mobile, etc would also see uptake in the next 3-5 years. The total revenue from information services is expected to cross 7,900 crore by 2015.

• Transactional VAS Services: Appetite for transactional services is going to remain low. Average awareness of transaction services is 69% with future adoption levels of 39%. Transactional VAS services have the potential to contribute nearly Rs. 16bn as revenue by 2015 provided operators and banks successfully respond to challenges of concerns of users around data privacy, usability and language independence of the applications.

• 87% of the people surveyed are aware of VAS based on regional entertainment, in the form of regional music videos and movies clips; 47% are ready to adopt the services in future and are also willing to spend Rs. 50 per month on regional entertainment.

• 71% survey respondents are aware of the VAS of medical advice from doctor; 49% of the users are willing to adopt the service in future at a price of Rs. 73 per month.

• Four out of five people are willing to use SMS in future and spend monthly average of Rs. 42. In terms of revenues, SMS can contribute nearly Rs. 14,000 crore of revenue by 2015 for the mobile VAS value chain players. The operators, however, would need to focus on the multilingual SMSs and handset manufacturers would need to design keyboards (or applications) which are designed for ease of typing in Indian languages.

MOBILITY

Mobile Talk

iBuzz Mobiles Providing SAR Certified Handsets With an eye on the A, B and C class cities, iBuzz Mobiles is set to garner better marketshare in the coming months, Mobility spoke with Sutikshan Naithani, Director & CEO, iBuzz Mobiles about the company’s current plans for India.

Q: What is the biggest USP for iBuzz Mobile handsets? How do you differentiate with the rest of competition in India?

The main differentiator in our phones is the fact that all phones are SAR certified which basically means that all are phones emit far less radiation than even the permissible limit. All our accessories (battery & charger) are CE certified which means that it matches european standards in terms of quality. Our attempt is to always get the maximum features in a phone for the most competitive price.

Q: What kind of market trends are governing the handset intake in the Indian market?

If we look at the Indian handset market, there are certain trends like design, high quality display and multimedia features that are leading the market acceptance of handsets here.

Q: What is your go to market strategy for pushing your handset range in India?

Firstly, we need to get to our distribution in place. The idea is to get the strongest like minded and stable partners on board. Also, they should have the capability to penetrate rural markets. Our partners are very important for us. We want our partners, products and after sales service to speak for us and help us establish our brand.

Q: How many distributors and channel partners are working with you here?

In the 5 states that we have launched as of now, we have partners in all critical distribution points.

Q: How do you look at the upcountry opportunity in India?

Do you haveany specific handsets to cater to the upcountry needs?

All handsets are catered to the demands of the upcountry consumer. Features like big battery, big sound, multimedia features are the kind of features that define the consumer of this market.

MOBILITY

Q: When compared with different channels like the MBOs, dedicated chains or LFRs where do you see most of your phones being sold in India?

We see our phones being sold at small and medium size retail counters across A, B & C markets. The price band that we operate in, we don’t see too many sales coming from MBO’s or LFRs. Q: What do you feel about the introduction of new technologies like 3G or LTE in India? are these technologies likely to increase intake for smart phones in India?

Smart phones as a category needs to get established first. It is still at a nascent stage. Currently people are still warming up to the smartphone category. 3G will only be impactful if a lot of users buy into it. And that in turn will only happen if smart phones as a category is lapped in by a larger majority of mobile users.

Q: Do you have any plans to start manufacturing of handsets in India? Please share details?

No, not in the near future.

www.mobilityindia.com

JUNE 2011 | 25

Telecom Talk

“Fixed, cable and mobile networks are getting converged” Sonus Networks has a wide portfolio of products that make it possible for mobile operators to exploit the industry transformation towards convergence of fixed, cable and mobile networks, and position their networks – as well as their business models—to take advantage of the new wireless market’s dynamics. Mobility spoke with Aashu Virmani, Senior Director of Marketing at Sonus Networks about the company’s current focus of activities in India.

Q) What is the present focus for Sonus Networks in India?

Sonus has invested in India for two reasons: 1. Engineering Talent: Sonus has a Bangalore facility with more than 77,000 square feet located in the heart of the city’s IT hub. With 7000 square feet of sophisticated lab space, it is a hub for the company’s growing employee base in India, which currently stands at nearly 430 employees.

2. Business Opportunity: Because India is one of the fastest-growing markets in the telecom sector, we have ramped up our sales presence to expand our business within the current customer base as well as new customers. Two of the country’s top carriers are Sonus customers.

Q) What kind of go to market strategy does Sonus have in India?

How many channel partners are working with Sonus here?

Our strategy is to leverage channels and strategic customers to sell both directly and indirectly to India’s service providers and enterprise customers.

Q) Please share with us some of your recent milestones and achievements?

Sonus recently appointed several new members of the senior management team: President and CEO Ray Dolan (October 2010), CTO Dr. Rajiv Laroia (February 2011) and SVP of Worldwide Sales Todd Abbott (April 2011). The new leadership is making investments in both products and people. We are hiring people all over the world including in India. In addition, many former Sonus employees are returning to the company, including Uma Reddy, VP & General Manager of Sonus India, who rejoined Sonus in March 2011. We continue to introduce new products and enhance existing products in the areas of modernizing legacy voice networks to all IP, providing a class 5/voice application server and session border control for both fixed and mobile networks. In addition, we are actively exploring other solutions for the 3G/4G/LTE market. We recently introduced new solutions in IPv4-IPv6 migration, IPX (IP Packet Exchange) solution for fixed and mobile markets).

Q) What more needs to be done in the Mobility segment in order to realise its full potential?

The mobility segment in the midst of a major industry transformation as fixed, cable and mobile networks converge.

4G/LTE technology holds the promise of exciting and previously unimaginable multimedia services. At the same time, 4G/LTE eliminates one of the most fundamental services in mobile 26 | JUNE 2011

networks - circuit switched voice. Wireless products and solutions offered by Sonus encompass: • Session Border Control • IP Voice/Class 5 feature server, IPX/Interconnect • VoLTE, and Service continuity between 3G and 4G • Fixed Mobile Convergence • Softswitch/Media Gateway • Voice Security.

Q) What kind of trends do you see in the market that are likely to redefine the way people look at Mobility and convergence related products and solutions?

The mobile industry is in the midst of a major transformation.

• Fixed, cable and mobile networks are converging • Tablets and other types of devices are transforming the devices market • Machine-to-machine applications are creating new markets for mobile • The application and services market, led by Apple and Android, is growing exponentially • New non-traditional services are competing with traditional operators for the same set of services (today, the largest voice operator in the world is not a mobile or fixed operator, but a PC software maker – Microsoft); and • Operators are entering into network-sharing agreements to reduce costs.

These are some of the trends that will redefine the mobility segment and products.

Q) What are your plans to expand here in India?

Our facility in Bangalore will continue to play an important role in supporting Sonus’ continued growth in South Asia, Asia Pacific and Middle East. Sonus will continue to adjust its presence as needed to meet these market demands.

Q) How do you look at the service provider space when it comes to pushing your networking focused products and solutions?

Our solutions for the Service Provider space are targeted at fixed, mobile and cable market segments. Sonus provides trunking, access and session border control solutions for these market segments. In the trunking business, we have market leadership with over 600 billion minutes of VoIP traffic flowing through our deployed products.

www.mobilityindia.com

MOBILITY

Telecom Talk

“As a catalyst we bring disruptive technologies to make a difference” Q) What is the present focus for Brocade in India?

The focus is to help our customers build networks that are simple, flexible, scalable and deliver high performance with technologies that conform to open standards. Some of the key focus technology areas are Virtual datacenters, IPV 6 migration, application delivery platforms and converged networks.

Brocade is focused on the 5 verticals for the Enterprise/IP business- Service providers; government, financial segment, healthcare, media and entertainment and education.

Q) How would you define your journey so far? What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced here?

Brocade is a catalyst – we bring disruptive technologies to make a difference Brocade is not into “me too” products – we believe in building for the next decade – technologies that make address the needs of the customers. Brocade has enjoyed market leadership positioning in SAN because of its ability to deliver best-in-breed products that require minimal management resources. Now, 3 years after the acquisition of foundry networks, Brocade is very well positioned in the IP space. Brocade solutions are built-for the cloud, so cost 40% less than current technology. In addition it provides customers investment protection; they don’t need to discard their existing infrastructures.

As more and more customers of today move towards the next generation technologies like the cloud, the CIO’s are coming under pressure because of the shrinking budgets and a need to do more with less. Brocade is presenting innovative solutions that are built-for the cloud, so cost 40% less than current technology. Mobility spoke with K P Unnikrishnan, APAC Marketing Director of Brocade Communications, about the company’s current focus and future prospects to target the Indian market.

Q) What are some of the verticals that you are focusing your product offerings on?

Brocade focused approach is on the 5 verticals for the Enterprise/IP business- Service providers; government, financial segment, healthcare and education. In the SAN segment Brocade already enjoys a strong presence across all verticals and Brocade is increasing its footprint.

Q) How does Brocade differentiate from its competition?

Brocade is focusing on bringing products to the markets that have Unmatched simplicity, Non-stop networking, Application Optimization and Investment Protection. Brocade from a networking stand point gives the customer application provider choice and Infrastructure provider choice, hence allowing business agility and financial efficiency in a cloud atmosphere. Brocade wins customers for its technological leadership, innovation and deep expertise.

revolution by adopting new operating models and creating virtual enterprises. In doing so, they become much more agile and flexible, more efficient and less capital intensive and becoming more competitive, but only if the architecture is affordable and reliable. We expect this trend to continue into 2011 and are rosy about the outlook and opportunities ahead.

Q) What are your plans to expand here in India?

In March 2011, Brocade made the announcement of USD 100 million investments in the APAC region where Brocade has driven 4 major programs 1: TRY BROCADE – the enterprises can have a Test drive of Ethernet fabrics with VDX/VCS technology, if they like it they can ship it or else Brocade take the equipment back.

2: DATA CENTRE MASTER PLAN – where Brocade jointly determine the target environment and business needs and let them learn about the functionality of the data centre as with the new transformation the data centre could be anywhere, it is about handling the data with the flexibility of managing the data without any loss.

3: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER – Brocade understands that the right approach towards the system helps the business and so Brocade ensures that while the architecture grows and the network is building, the team is ready and hence Brocade drives this program.

Q) What is your go to market strategy for India?

Brocade follows a 100 percent indirect model through channels; therefore partners are on top of the agenda. Brocade’s overall Alliance Partner Network with strong focus on profitability and return on partnership has been well received by partners in India. They believe we have good strategy in place for networking landscape.”

Our go-to-market strategy in India would include, • Our Partners • Partnerships with GSIs.

Q) How do you make sure that you develop good customer loyalty on the long run from your customers?

Brocade provides them with simplified architecture so they spend minimal resources for managing the system. Brocade designs around the following basic principles: • Investment protection for customers • Reducing complexities • Non – stop networking • Simplified networks • Best in breed products that require minimal management resources

Q) What kind of trends do you see in the market in terms of converged devices and next generation access technologies being deployed by operators?

Enterprises are taking advantage of the convergence MOBILITY www.mobilityindia.com

JUNE 2011 | 27

Telecom Talk

“We are expanding our channel base” o Unification of disparate security assets for ease of management o Securing network and application layers with a high performance, unified infrastructure o Virtualization of security layer to derive higher productivity & ROI o Need for proactive, consultant grade vulnerability assessment on a continuous basis o Ability to deliver faster security response

Q) What is the present focus for Fortinet when it comes to pushing its UTM in India?

The high-end market is increasingly important to Fortinet India, so we have been concentrating more on it with a specific focus on two key verticals – government and telecommunications. We actually recently recruited two senior appointments to accelerate our penetration in those segments: Digvijaysinh Chudasama joined Fortinet as sales director in charge of the government and defense vertical and Saurabh Chopra joined as sales director in charge of the telecom vertical.

Both executives are well-known industry veterans and network security specialists.

We are also expanding our channel base to add another 30 bronze level partners selectively in tier-2 and tier-3 markets. This will help augment our growth in the SMB market and bring more focus on channel development. Traditionally we are very strong in the enterprise and carrier markets. We will continue to focus on these high-end segments in the four key metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

And 3rd generation UTM solutions, available in the market today, help realize these goals with ease and cost effectively.

Cementing its Indian operations, Main advantages include: Fortinet has expanded its presence o Ease of use - With a unified in India with six offices in Mumbai, threat management system, network Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata administrators need not shift from one and Bangalore. The company has security tool to another when solving a also added Level-2 support in India. threat.

Mobility caught up with Vishak Raman, o Faster Security Response - The Regional Director, India & SAARC, streamlining of security protocols with Fortinet about the company’s current the use of UTM appliance can also help focus of activities in the Indian region. organization to implement faster security response. Because a unified threat management system provides comprehensive security reports, network managers Q. What were the major investments you did in India in the have more time to analyze vulnerabilities and device policies last fiscal? for network users.

Fortinet has expanded its presence in India with six offices (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bangalore) o Cost Effective - There is no doubt also that a unified threat management system is also a cost effective solution and added Level-2 support in India, which allows us to offer for network security. That is because organizations will customers and partners local time zone support. Today, we eliminate the need to upgrade different security appliances of have more than 20 Fortinet engineers providing post-sales and different vendors. This also means more savings and simpler professional services to customers. This significantly helps us administration processes for network security personnel. serve local market needs with customized SLA's. o Comprehensive Security - Based on actual and simulated testing, UTM devices can provide comprehensive security Q) What more needs to be done in the UTM arena in India, protection for networks. In fact, a UTM appliance can match in order to realise its full potential? and even surpass the capabilities of standalone security Globalization, the need for regulatory compliance and device. increasing security threat perceptions, from known and unknown If there’s no doubt that today’s complex and blended security sources, will increasingly push large private and public sector business establishments to become proactive in adoption of threats need to be addressed by multiple security functions, it is also evident that the addition of security functions within an robust security policies and best practices.

In addition, increased management bottlenecks, integration appliance may add to network latency issue as it multiplies the complexity and the excess workload due to the sheer number stop and search inspection for packets of information traversing of systems and applications that an IT organization needs to your network. But here again, all UTM solutions aren’t the same manage will eventually force organizations to adopt unified and hardware-accelerated UTM solutions now exist to solve the latency issue. security environments.

Fortinet enables low-latency security thanks to its custom ‘UTM solutions deliver higher ROI, automate operational requirements and enable organizations to deliver faster security ASIC processors which deliver all the power needed to detect response with ease’ is a message that has to spread far and wide malicious content at multi-Gigabit speeds. Fortinet’s purpose built hardware, combined with its proprietary FortiOS operating by media outlets such as yourself, to realize its full potential. system, provide industry-leading performance for the most Q) What kind of trends do you see in the market in terms of demanding networking environments. We developed our integrated architecture specifically to provide extremely high threat management in converged devices?

Some of the key customer needs impacting the security space throughput and low latency. Our unique approach minimizes packet processing while accurately scanning data for threats. today are: 28 | JUNE 2011

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MOBILITY

MOBILITY

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