Lankan mobile providers gear up to take on Airtel

Sri Lankan telecom operators are gearing up to take on India’s Airtel, which is launching its operations in Sri Lanka next year. "Sri Lankans are very quality conscious. Good customer services and uninterrupted facility will help us to stay ahead in the mobile service sector," Lankan telecom major Dialog Telekom’s General Manager Nushad Perera told reporters here.
He was speaking at a conference to announce the company’s plan to strengthen telecom services in rural areas of the country. "We welcome competition from any company including Airtel," Perera said, adding that Dialog Telekom had done well to overtake other competitors in Sri Lanka to become the number one mobile service provider with a 60 per cent market share.
Experts here feel the telecom operators in Sri Lanka would initially have the advantage of the advanced 3G mobile services that would give them a headstart over Airtel as this service is still to be launched in India.

Airtel to connect Haryana IT park

Aug. 19: Bharti Airtel said on Sunday that it has entered into an agreement with Selecto Systems as a preferred partner for providing telecom network infrastructure and services for its IT SEZ-Haryana Technology Park (HTP). The HTP, a notified SEZ, is promoted by Selecto Systems Pvt Ltd and technically assisted by Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park. Under the MoU, Airtel has being assigned the ‘preferred telecom service provider’ status and will be given preferential rights to establish and provide telecom infrastructure and services at the HTP.
Airtel will be laying the telecom network infrastructure at the SEZ. Airtel will also establish a dedicated help centre to address the telecom requirements of the SEZ clients.

Airtel to launch 2G and 3G in Sri Lanka

Bharti Airtel will launch 2G and 3G services in Sri Lanka by the end of the financial year 2007-08. Airtel was recently awarded the licence to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka. The company plans to invest $ 200 million in the next five years in Sri Lanka. "Since the company is currently setting up its operations, a major portion of the committed investment will be made during the next 12 to 18 months," said a spokesperson from Airtel. Mobile services in Sri Lanka will be launched under the Airtel brand.
"We are committed to offering world-class and affordable 2G and 3G services in Sri Lanka. With mobile penetration of around 30 per cent and growing at a rate of approximately 2 million mobile users per annum, we are excited about our entry into this market. Our plans for Sri Lanka clearly demonstrate our commitment to the market and also our confidence in the potential that this market holds in Airtel's overseas expansion journey," said Mr Sanjay Kapoor, president (mobile services) Bharti Airtel.

Airtel and Hutch hike local rates by 20 paise

It looks like the party for mobile users who were enjoying one of the cheapest tariff in the world is over. The country’s two top mobile operators Airtel and Hutch on Monday increased the local charges within their own network to Rs 1.20 per minute for prepaid customers from Re 1 a minute. This comes days after both the operators had hiked their STD tariff rates.
Other operators like Idea, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance and Tata could raise local rates following the move by Hutch and Airtel. The new tariff will be for prepaid customers for Airtel-to-Airtel and Hutch-to-Hutch calls. The two operators have also increased local SMS rates to Rs 1.20 per message for all users — both prepaid and postpaid — from Re 1 earlier.
Last week Hutch had raised STD rates by 10.41 per cent for its pre-paid users and Airtel had hiked STD charges by 32 per cent for both pre-paid and post paid customers. Prepaid users of Hutch will have to pay Rs 2.65 from Rs 2.40 previously for STD to all other networks and Bharti Airtel’s prepaid and postpaid mobile customers in Delhi region would pay STD rates of Rs 2.65 and Rs 2.40 a minute respectively from Rs 2 earlier.
According to analysts there is pressure on operators to revive their bottom line as revenues from value-added services are not bringing expected returns. Also with the subscriber base increasing, it is difficult to maintain networks to support huge additions of new users without raising tariffs.