Bharti Airtel Ltd Bharti Airtel Ltd needs no introduction of its own as the company is one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in 19 countries including India & South Asia and Africa. The Company is the largest wireless service provider in India, based on the number of customers. The Company […]

Indian Telecom Industry 929 million – the number of subscribers, the Indian telecom sector has achieved to become one of the major indicators of and contributors to the economic growth of India. Indian telecom sector is one of the fastest growing telecom sectors in the world, with over 16 million subscribers being added every month. […]

Telecom Companies in India are in general an unscrupolous lot with the 2G Scam showing the whole telecom industry of India in a Bad Light.While a number of top executives of telecom companies spent time in jail,it seems that these companies have learned nothing.They continue to find loopholes to take both their customers and government for a ride.Indian Broadband and Telecom companies have made defrauding customers an art by illegally adding value added services and charging for them.They also burn millions of dollars in subsidized diesel to power their telecom towers since there is no restriction on that.Now these comapnies have been caught again in another manipulation trick in 3G services.

The Indian telecom industry is the world’s fastest growing industry with 792 million mobile phone subscribers as of February 2011. It is also the second largest telecommunication network in the world in terms of number of wireless connections after China. The industry will reach around $80 billion in revenues by next year showing an astounding CAGR of over 25% and will employ a stupendous 1 crore employees making it one of the biggest value creators in India in recent times. The introduction of mobile phones brought a major revolution in the industry. Mobile phones have become a modern day necessity. Be it a professional, a trader, a housewife or a student, everyone has one. The availability of cheap mobiles in the Indian market, is also a major factor in making it available & affordable to the common masses. Today’s mobile phone is not just a phone, it has a built in camera, music system, games & internet enabled networking. These facilities entertain you as well as make you available to work as & when required.

One97 a Private Equity Backed Mobile Value Added Service (VAS) Company is raising Rs 120 crore ( $25 million) from the Stock Market in an IPO.The Company operates in India’s Telecom Sector which is the fastest growing in terms of subscribers and represents a good growth opportunity as 3G services starts to roll out.

The Company has not indicated the pricing of shares as of now ,only that it wants to raise Rs 120 crore.Note the VAS Category is seeing increasing competition with a number of new entrants.One97 has diversified into a combined VAS player cum Technology Investor makings its valuation difficult.Note the VAS sector is no longer a unique or fancied one as OnMobile has already listed sometime ago and its valuation has decreased dramatically since then despite improved profits.I would sit out on this one due to the complicated nature of the business,slowing growth and valuation difficulties.A higher risk investor probably might want to buy this one.

Nokia is trying to turnaround its sinking fortunes with a radical change in strategy which involves New Hardware – N8,Software – Meego Operating System with Intel,AMD and Management – Elop from Microsoft.However the changes don’t seem to be working as of now.White Box Mobile Phones from China continue to erode Nokia’s marketshare in emerging markets while Google and Apple finish it off in the high end smartphone segments.N8 with its 12 Megapixel Camera was supposed to be Nokia’s answer to the iPhone and Android handsets Galaxy,Incredible and Droid.However N8 is already facing teething problems with Delays,Lack of Sex Appeal and the latest power problems with some of its handsets.This is not going to do any good to Nokia’s smartphone prospects as it lacks the aura of the iPhone.Despite some Signal problems,iPhone sales have continued to power through while Nokia does not have anything near the same brand power.It is playing the role of a challenger despite its dominant marketshare in the world smartphone market and can’t afford any missteps.