May

1

Reliance Communications Q4 Fy 2009 Results

Filed Under India Investment Opportunities, Mobile Telecom | Leave a Comment

Reliance Communications (RCOM) Q4 FY09 Results and Highlights

  • consolidated net profit went up 3.12% at Rs 1,454.3 crore from Rs 1,410.3 crore (QoQ).
  • consolidated net sales increased 1.5% to Rs 5,522.8 crore vs Rs 5,441.5 crore (QoQ).
  • Q4 other income up at Rs 325.9 crore vs Rs 178.42 crore.
  • RCOM added 11 million subscribers in Q4.
  • RCOM now has total subscriber base at 73 million (second behind 94 million of Bharti Airtel)
  • Low cost service will help margin despite competitive tariffs.
  • Wireless market share has increased from 18% to 19% in Q4.
  • Communication Towers (Passive Infrastructure) : RCOM added 5,000 towers in Q4; total tower base is 48,000
  • RCOM launched Net Connect broadband programme with speed at 3.1 mbps
  • Capex intensity is to reduce substantially in FY10.
  • FY10 capex guidance at Rs 10,000 crore; lesser than preliminary guidance of Rs 15,000 crore.

We believe RCOM offers a solid and long term India investment opportunity, because it has been building an infrastructure with latest technologies, for economies of scale, and has lined-up diverse services for stability in revenue sources, and actively acquired other companies where RCOM did not have depth. Therefore, we believe in the growth potential of RCOM, and the buisness will generate cash flows in the coming years.

Apr

24

TRAI to Telcos: Get Written Consent from Users on VAS

Filed Under India Business, Indian Government, Mobile Telecom, Regulations | Leave a Comment

To prevent accidental activation of value added services (VAS) like call ring back tone and hallo tunes, Telecom regulator TRAI has directed the operators to seek explicit consent from users who have subscribed such services in writing.

TRAI thinks there could be chances of accidental activation of VAS through Out-Bound- Dialer (OBD)-call method, as children at home, can unintentionally pressed a particular key.

Also a customer, without listening to the announcements fully or without understand the offer may press a particular key unintentionally, thereby activating the chargeable service.

Now, operators will have to convey to the customer in writing or through SMS or FAX or e-mail, all the details of the offer of a value added service.  [source: Asian Cerc]

Most Indian Mobile Service providers are banking on VAS for future revenue growth in next 5 years. The above move will introduce extra work for the Indian Telecom value added services (VAS), but it may not be a hurdle that can pull down the margin from VAS, since SMS has also been called as an acceptable way to get User consent, which is similar to how its being done in Europe and other places.

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