230 results found for: telecom
India suffers from high population density making mobile spectrum a scarce and valuable resource for the 12-13 telecom companies operating in India.Even Vodafone which is the […]
When under the leadership of Arun Sarin ,Vodafone bought Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian telecom operations for $10.7 billion it was seen as a major triumph.India was supposed […]
Huawei and ZTE have been in the eye of a storm with the Indian government banning these companies from selling telecom equipment in India due to […]
Indian mega industrial groups led by Ambani brothers decided to rescind their non-compete agreement which allows oil and petrochemical giant Reliance to enter the financial,telecom and […]
Unique Indian Telecom Market The Indian Telecom Market is a unique market in many ways due to the following reasons Fastest Growing Telecom Market in the […]
The detente between the Ambani brothers which lead to the rescinding of the non-compete agreement has resulted in Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) being the biggest Winner […]
The Indian 3G and Broadband Wireless Auctions finally ended after Two Months resulting in a Massive Windfall for Government Coffers .The combined value of both auctions […]
Indian Telecom Opertors Cup of Woes Indian Telecom Operators have seen Bad News hitting them one by one in a unrelenting way for the past one […]
China's protests over India's Blacklisting of Chinese Telecom Equipment companies seems hypocritical
Huawei and ZTE in the center of the storm Huawei and ZTE have been embroiled in a major controversy over India’s security concerns over using Chinese […]
Huawei faces blacklisting from India on Security Concerns Huawei has been blacklisted by the Indian government from supplying telecom equipment due to security concerns.Despite strong lobbying […]
The Indian Government had blacklisted Huawei and ZTE earlier this year on Security Concerns.These Firms were said to have close relations with the Chinese Government and […]
The Government of India has formed a high powered panel to look into replacing the usage of diesel powered gensets by Renewable Energy in Telecom Towers.India has around 300,000 Telecom Towers most of which are powered by expensive diesel generators.The reason is that a lot of the telecom towers are situated in far flung areas where the grid does not exist.Also the power supply in India is erratic and not reliable with 10 hour electricity blackouts not an infrequent occurrence.In these cases a backup supply of electricity supply is badly needed.Diesel Generators are the most popular form with Diesel heavily subsidized by the government in comparison to normal petroleum.Also Diesel Generators are widely available without huge capital costs.
Now it has come to light that one of India’s Leading Bureaucrats sold sensitive details related to Telecom Security to private firms in return for sex and money.Through an elaborate web of codes and multiple mobile phones,this IAS officer used to sell security information related to India’s recent telecom security to leading telecom firms.Note India had recently taken stringent action against RIMM( Blackberry maker) and some others for failing to provide security codes.It was an opaque regulatory action ripe for bribes and corruption which was taken advantage by Ravi Inder Singh, the Director in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).Note it is openly known that nothing moves through the central ministry without bribing the corrupt officials manning those offices.Powerful Business Houses have most of these bureaucrats on their illegal payrolls as most policies are known much before by bigger corporates before they become policy.The expose done in the magazine “outlook” clearly demonstrates how India’s powerful minsisterships and policy decisions are sold in closed rooms in the capital.Investors should be careful about investing in Indian companies as regulatory/corruption risk remains high as the SKS Microfinance and Unitech/Videocon stock falls show
The Tata Group in India is known for its high standards of corporate governance and ethics.In an environment where Big Business openly colludes with politicians/bureaucrats to blatantly loot and plunder,the Tata Group has stood out for its success and reputation of honesty.While Stock Market Scandals and other Scams happen with great regularity,Tata have generally stayed away from the mess.The Group’s Success in diverse sectors such as Metals (Tata Steel),Automobiles (Tata Motors) ,Software(TCS) have made it the most successful business conglomerate.Audacious acquisitions of overseas companies like Jaguar,Corus,Daewoo have announced the arrival of the Indian MNC.However the recent 2G telecom scam has tarnished this reputation of integrity as Nira Radia tapes reveal the chairman of the group Ratan Tata of hobnobbing with a shady lobbyist.Ratan Tata has gone to court over breach of privacy but has not explained why his group companies has appointed an obviously corrupt lobbyist.His Telecom Companies Tata Teleservices and Tata DocoMo were obvious beneficiaries of the adhoc regulation and policy in the last 10 years.A letter from Rajeev Chandrasekharan has in a succinct and factual manner raised questions about the silence of the Tata Group over the last 10 years as the Telecom Shenanigans were being played out.
Note it would not be surprising if the allegations were true as the Indian stock market is a pump and dump heaven of IPOs with blatant manipulation by market operators.Price Rigging Rings are also present with mid cap and small cap scams happening with an alarming regularity.With Corruption touching a new high,the Supreme Court has taken over the investigation of the Telecom Scam Probe from the Government.This has led the CBI which is mostly a ruling party puppet to question some top billionaires and politicians.However it remains to be seen if some of the top fish are caught or just some small scapegoats are imprisoned.
India has around 300,000 Telecom Towers around the country , a large portion of which is not connected to the electricity grid.Another large portion does not have access to reliable electricity implying they have to install backup power systems in order to run without interruptions.Diesel Generators have been the choice of telecom operators despite their high carbon imprint.This is because of the ease of buying and installing diesel generators as well as the lower fuel costs as the government in India heavily subsidizes diesel.Note India’s Fossil Fuel Subsidies have led to hundreds of distortions in the economy.Corruption,Pilfering,Adulteration is carried out on a large scale due to government subsidies.In fact a senior government official was burnt alive by the Kerosene Mafia a direct outcome of this subsidy policy.But that is a separate issue.
It remains to be seen whether the top corporate executives of India’s topmost conglomerates get prosecuted over these wrongdoings.Essar and ADAG are amongst the top 10 conglomerates in India with wide ranging operations with billions of dollars in revenues nationally as well as internationally.The Supreme Court has been instrumental in bringing this case so far as the government seems totally coopted by corruption.It has been frequently been castigated by the Supreme Court and has shamelessly defended corrupt bureaucrats and politicians.It remains to be seen how this 2G Telecom Case ends.If justice is done,then it may provide a new chapter to India’s corruption ridden story till now.
The Government of India has been trying to put hurdles in the 2G Telecom Scam case right from Day 1.Its blatant shielding of the rich and powerful involved in the massive billion dollar corruption involving ruling party alliance members and top corporate houses has been apparent.The proof of the government malintentions was India’s top court taking over the supervision of the investigation agency CBI with itself.This was a major slap for the government as CBI falls under the authority of the Home Ministry.With the CBI having filed a chargesheet which names the former Telecom Minister Raja and some billionaire businessmen,the government is again trying its stalling tactics.The government and its repsentative lawyers did not agree to the name of U U Lalit as special public prosecutor.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Indira Jaising raised objections despite K K Venugopal, who has been appearing on behalf of CBI and ED suggesting his name.
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.However the telecom companies in India after enjoying a boom period in the early 2000s have faced a couple of tough years with hypercompetition leading to a price war in auction of 3G spectrum.This was followed by one of the most high profile corruption scandals in the country which resulted in the jailing of the former telecom minister in the 2nd auction of 2G spectrum.Most of the telecom companies have been found to be implicated in colluding with sleazy politicians/bureaucrats in looting the Indian taxpayers.India Real Estate Sector is one of the most corrupt in the country and after the 2G Scam,the telecom sector is giving it close competition for the No.1 spot in corruption
Nira Radia the millionaire lobbyist who became a public figure overnight as tapes leaked to her phone conversations were printed by the mass media has revealed sordid details about the politician businessmen nexus.In the chargesheet presented by the CBI to the Supreme Court she has revealed the multi billion dollar realty company DB Realty is a front for Sharad Pawar and controlled by him.This hardly comes as a surprise as powerful Agri Minister Pawar has been linked to a number of corruption scandals like the Lavasa Scandal,2G Telecom Scam,IPL Scam etc.Note DB Realty CEO has been directly implicated in the transfer of bribe giving to Raja the former Telecom Minister in exchange for a Telecom License at dirt cheap prices.It is a tribute to the power of Pawar that despite such massive circumstantial evidence against him and his family,there has been no court case or police charges against him.Note a number of big companies in India are known to be secretly owned and controlled by powerful politicians.Not that politicians don’t own billion dollar businesses openly and use their political muscle to further their own interests in a blatant manner.
It is a common practice amongst these companies to add value added services like caller tunes without the customer’s permission which is totally illegal.Since most of the customers do not know how the billing is happening and do not know how to turn it off,these companies make millions of dollars in illegal profits from such customers.Airtel,Reliance and other major telecom companies in India follow this practice widely and openly.Nobody is going to complain about 50c/month being charged wrongly by the telecom provider.However 50c multiplied by a 100 million customers is neat $50 million in profits for these companies.This overbilling of customers even extends to broadband customers as I recently found out .After a nightmarish experience with Tata Indicom whose pathetic customer service forced me to change to Airtel,I found a blatant case of overcharging of money in my very first bill.
The Tata Group which is known in India for high standards of corporate governance and doing business ethically in a country steeped in corruption too seems to have fallen.Ratan Tata appeared blemished as tapes of his conversations with the now disreputed corporate lobbyist Nira Radia were published in the media.He was caught at least listening and agreeing the the open manipulation of the Indian ministries in government formation if not the architect.Tata Teleservices which was a major beneficiary of the second round of 2G Telecom Auction during Raja’s tenure has now again appeared in the news for the wrong reasons.Despite denials by the Tata Group honchos,the Tata companies seem to be complicit in the billion dollar scam that has shaken the political and business roots of India.
Indian Telecom Companies are using more than $500 million in fuel subsidies meant for the poor and generating more than 6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year by using diesel gensets at telecom towers not connected to the grid.Note the Telecom Industry in India has not exactly covered itself with glory on other matters with the 2G Telecom Scam already putting top executives in jail and implicating top telecom companies as well.The issues of massive fuel wastage in telecom towers has been raised in the past in greenworldinvestor as telecom tower companies viom,gtl,airtel and others have tried to put lipstick on the pig by making a mockery of green initiatives by committing to convert only a minuscule number of total towers to renewable energy.
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.
Reliance has a massive balance sheet which is has used strategically to acquire 4G spectrum (Infotel) and content.The company had revolutionized the telecom space through the Monsoon Hungama campaign when it had provided super cheap telecom mobile plan with handsets. It could do the same in the Internet space through providing super cheap Talbelts like Aakash with super cheap broadband plans on 4G. It already has content to provide its subscribers.Note broadband companies in India provide poor service at high rates, so Reliance can takeover the broadband space in India easily if it executes right.
The relentless rise of Chinese telecom equipment and OEM companies has massacared telecom jobs in the West with major companies like Nokia, Alcatel and others firing in the thousands. Note Huawei and ZTE have become the nemisis of the telecom equipment makers which are showing losses in the last few years. These companies are not managing to compete with the low cost engineer advantage of the Chinese firms . Nokia is also firing thousands in its western factories in Poland and other places as it moves production to Asian factories. Note while Nokia has become unprofitable to other causes like Apple and Android, low cost phones from Asia is the biggest factor in its demise as well.
Smart Phone Industry When you talk of the smartphone market, the talk is all about Apple and Samsung who have cornered over half of the global […]
Under pressure from the Government, telecom tower companies in India have banded together to float a contract to buy green power from privately owned green companies […]
Indian Telecom Industry The Telecom Industry in India has been facing multiple problems of 1) massive 2G scandal in which many telecom companies in India lost […]
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 […]