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Yep, Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli has harsh words for Indian MNOs – his view is that there will be acquisitions led by overseas networks (the big Tier 1 Operating groups I would expect), along with other Operator just plain going outta business!
India is a tricky market, and yet an exciting one – as a (relatively) untapped population for numbers of IT services, the “potential” is definitely there – but there are many issues around the geography (size) of the region, and the CAPEX required to lay down a network – particularly given the lower ARPU that has been found to be returned per customer.
Whilst volumes sounds great, if each person is only paying a small (lesser) amount than perhaps traditionally expected, suddenly the economics take quite a bashing. Nevertheless, there is a school of thought that suggests mass-aggregation of many smaller players, could lead to a scale of operations that would prove profitable.
Interestingly, as Mobile Entertainment mentions, NTT DoCoMo have got in on the act, paying $2.7bn for a 26% slice of Indian Operator Tata, who are currently ranked sixth. If DoCoMo are getting involved, you’ve got to think someone has done their maths and come out with a good answer!
[Via: Mobile-Ent.Biz / FT.com]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
