Bharti Airtel

Govt gets most tele revenue from Bharti Airtel:

The country's largest private telecom operator, Bharti Airtel has paid the highest amount of over Rs 974 crore to the government in terms of licence fee and spectrum usage charge for the quarter ended September 30.
Bharti paid Rs 692.5 crore as licence fee and Rs 282.08 crore as the spectrum charge for the quarter, as per the data compiled by telecom regulator TRAI.
Meanwhile, new players like Etisalat, Unitech Wireless, Loop STel and Sistema Shyam Teleservices -- who got the spectrum (radio waves) in 2008, paid Rs 32.62 crore as the spectrum charge and licence fee to the government.
Bharti was followed by Vodafone Essar, which has paid a combined amount of Rs 625.55 crore for the quarter.
Besides, the two state-run firms BSNL and MTNL have paid Rs 587.17 crore for the spectrum charges and licence fees.
Other private operators included, Tata Teleservices (Rs 281.41 crore), Idea Cellular (Rs 382.98 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs 302.33 crore).

Harry Potter

Harry Potter gets $61.2-m opening:

 Time Warner Inc’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 had sales of $61.2 million its first day of release in US and Canadian theaters, Hollywood.com Box-Office said.

The seventh movie based on JK Rowling’s books is on track to set an opening weekend record for the film franchise, Hollywood.com said. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, from 2005, holds the record at $102.3 million, the box-office tracker said in an e-mail on Sunday.

Friday’s results “would be a great weekend for most movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president, Hollywood.com Box-Office, in an interview. “This is the beginning of the end for the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, and I think that’s drawing more interest.”

Friday’s receipts put the movie at No 5 in terms of single-day sales. The record is held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon with $72.7 million last November, Hollywood.com said.

Dergarabedian estimated the film would earn about $130 million in its opening weekend. The record for a three-day weekend is $158.4 million, set in 2008 by Warner Bros.’ Batman sequel The Dark Knight, according to Box Office Guru.

The franchise ends next July with Deathly Hallows— Part 2.

Deathly Hallows—Part 1 may take in as much as $900 million in worldwide sales during its run in theaters, said Porter Bibb, an analyst with Mediatech Capital Partners in New York.

The film cost about $250 million to make, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Time Warner, parent of Warner Bros., rose 25 cents to $30.76 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The stock has gained 5.6% this year.

Anil Ambani, CBS launch English channel in India:

Anil Ambani, in collaboration with CBS, has launched an English-language channel that will bring shows never before seen in India to a television screen (and set top box) near you.

Ambani’s Reliance Broadcast Network’s joint venture with CBS Studios International has launched shows of sassy Judge Judy, and television personality and cooking show host Rachael Ray will anchor the weekday, daytime line up, reports the Wall Street Journal.

And CBS’s new hit cop show Blue Bloods will be the newest thing for Indian television on Thursday nights.

Also, the shows Ambani is bringing to his new channel will not be old reruns that you may have seen on other channels.

Entertainment Tonight will be broadcast in India 12 hours after the U.S. broadcast as will the nightly broadcast of another celebrity news and gossip show, The Insider.

Both Survivor on Friday nights and NCIS on Monday to Wednesday will be the “Latest Season!” the channel’s news release breathlessly declared. And the “Late Show With David Letterman” will be on every weeknight “24 Hrs after U.S. broadcast!”

Saturdays and Sundays will each have six-hour marathons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami.

CBS has plans to launch two more channels once Indian viewers prove they are willing to pay to subscribe to them.

India's ad spend growth tops in AsiaPac

India's ad spend growth tops in Asia Pacific:

Advertising spend in India in the twelve months period ended June this year stood at USD 6.7 billion (around Rs 29,727 crore) across mainstream media, posting the highest annual growth rate of 28 per cent in the Asia Pacific region, according to a survey.

The Nielsen Company's survey that covered a dozen countries in the region, estimated that ad spends across television, newspaper and magazine in India witnessed 32 per cent growth in the second quarter (ended June) of this calender with total ad spend of USD 1.92 billion (around Rs 8,520 crore).

"...the largest proportion of India's media spend was garnered by newspapers, growing at 32 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y)," the survey said.

The newspaper segment grossed a total of USD 3.9 billion (around Rs 17,300 crore) during the period.

Television followed newspapers in ad spend growth at 24 per cent Y-O-Y in India and stood at USD 2.4 billion (around Rs 10,648 crore). Magazines saw an eight per cent increase YOY at USD 393 million (about Rs 1740 crore).

Over and above the mainstream media ad spend, other media such as radio, outdoor, pay TV, cinema combined showed a growth of 31 per cent in the twelve months up to June 2010 in India totalling USD 1.2 billion (about Rs 5,320 crore).

The top ten categories, including services, personal care and food & beverages represented 51 per cent of all mainstream media ad spend in India.

Commenting on the advertising spend trend, The Nielsen Company President Piyush Mathur said: "The 'recessionary mindset' is fast becoming a thing of the past and marketers are using advertising strategies to reinvigorate brands by strengthening their visibility in mainstream media resulting in accelerated growth in media spends."

According to the survey, advertising spend was highest on television during the year across the region that includes China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand besides India.

The second highest overall growth in ad spend across the region after India was seen in Indonesia at 24 per cent, followed by Hong Kong at 18 per cent during the 12 month period ended June

Honda small car

Honda small car by next Diwali:

Japanese car maker Honda Motor Company is targeting the next festive season (Diwali) in 2011 with its new small car. The company expects the small car to become the “second pillar" for it in the market after the success of the City brand in the country, according to a top company official.

Tatsuya Natsume, director—marketing, Honda Siel Cars India, said, “We will be going into commercial production in 2011 and aiming to hit the Indian roads with our small car in the festive season (Diwali).” The company also plans to start exports to neighbouring markets including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan next year.

The small car will be positioned lower than the Jazz and will be manufactured at the company’s Greater Noida facility. The new car is expected to be priced below Rs 5 lakh and will be positioned in the ‘B+’ segment. It is learnt that the car will come powered by a 1-litre VTEC engine, while the 1.2-litre engine from the Jazz is also a possibility. Incidentally, the diesel engine, the company is working on, is expected to be ready by 2011, the time the small car will be launched.

“Localisation is important for small car to avoid currency fluctuation. We will be looking at procuring a larger amount of components locally,” said Natsume. The company is looking at around 80% localisation on the small car.

It is investing around Rs 250 crore in its Tapakura plant in Rajasthan on a new shop to look into production of cylinder heads for the small car. Currently, the Rajashtan plant produces engine parts and body panels for City and Jazz models. Honda is looking at sourcing certain auto parts produced in India for small car for its other markets as well, said a senior official of the company. The new small car will be showcased at the upcoming Thailand International Motor Expo 2010 starting November 30.

BMW to up India investments

BMW to up India investments to Rs 1.8 bn

German luxury car maker BMW has said that it will increase its investments in India to Rs 1.8 billion by end of 2012.
The company, which commenced its Indian operations by setting up a production plant near Chennai in March 2007, has invested close to Rs 1.1 billion, BMW India said in a statement here.
"Till September 2010, BMW Group invested Rs 1.1 billion. BMW Group's investment in India will be increased to Rs 1.8 billion by the end of 2012", it said.
The BMW Chennai unit produces the BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series sedans in petrol and diesel variants. By end of this year, the Chennai plant would also produce BMW X1, it said.
The Chennai facility has the capacity to produce 5,400 units per year on a single shift basis and the unit employs about 400 people. Besides the production plant, the company also has a central spare parts warehouse unit in Mumbai.
The company said it rolled out its 10,000th unit from the Chennai facility today.
For 2011, the company also plans to ramp up dealership network from the present 18 to 21 outlets and would create 1,200 jobs in dealer and service network, it said.
"Having taken the lead in the premium segment for the first time last year, we aim to maintain our leading position in the Indian market by now embarking on the second wave of our India strategy," BMW India President Andreas Schaaf said.
On the roll out of the 10,000th car here, BMW Chennai Plant Managing Director Juergen Eder said, "The BMW Plant Chennai team is very excited with the achievement of this milestone in less than four years and looks forward to fulfil the increasing demand for BMW cars in India."
Including the Chennai plant, the company has 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries with an employee base of over 96,000, the statement added.

Future Value Retail

Future Value Retail to open stores for fruits, vegetables:

Kishore Biyani-led Future Value Retail is looking to set up a new format of standalone stores only for fruits and vegetables.
"The company is enhancing focus on fresh fruits and vegetables as a category. We are thinking to open new format stores only for that," Future Fresh foods Limited President K Radhakrishnan told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the Nielsen Company today.
According to Radhakrishnan, fruits and vegetables is a profitable category and promises upto 10 per cent margin after taking into account wastages and supply chain losses.
He, however did not give details on the timeline and the number of new format stores the company plans to set up.
Currently, fruits and vegetables are sold at about 160 Food Bazaar outlets located across India.
Within the Food Bazaar outlets, fruits and vegetables currently contribute about 3 to 4 per cent to the total revenues.
"With increased focus on this category, we are hoping to take this figure to about 10 per cent in the next two years," Radhakrishnan said.
The company is working on strengthening supply chain and increasing direct sourcing from farmers going ahead.
"We are targeting to source atleast 80 per cent of fruits and vegetables directly from farmers as a part of the process," he said.
The company is setting up consolidation and collection centres to cater to a set of outlets.
"We have started with Kolkata already and by March next year, Food Bazaar outlets in about 8-10 big cities will see a renewed focus on the category," he added.
According to him, currently there are about 160 Food Bazaar outlets in India and many more are in the pipeline.
The size of Food Bazaar outlets ranges from 8,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet and the company is looking at dedicating an area of 1,000-2,000 square feet only for food and vegetable within the store.

'India is now a hot market for mobiles'

Mobile value added services (VAS) market is the most under utilised cashcow in the Indian telecom operators’ stable. But enter 3G/WiMAX and it would be a big ‘wow’ in m-commerce, says Vinod Vasudevan, Group CEO, Netherlands-based mobile marketing solutions firm Flytxt, busy on a hiring spree in its Indian base. Its facility in Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram is buzzing with the sales activity of the Dutch firm, fanning out its nascent markets in South Africa, Middle East and Latin America. Flytxt is funded by global venture capital giants like Clifton Holdings, IVC Venture Capital AG and Jetzthaus Grundstuecksverwaltungs GmbH. “Cellular operators in India will have to supplement their stagnant voice revenues. 3G would be their opportunity window. Ringtones and wallpapers are not the only form of mobile entertainment—more music, games, jokes, cricket, social networking and other infotainment will soon bring the best out of the VAS market,” says Vasudevan in a free-wheeling chat with M Sarita Varma. Excerpts:

What is the flavour of change for the mobile user in India in the next couple of years, now that 3G is on the way?

The 3G rollout will popularise the excitement of internet user experience on the mobile phone in India. This will significantly benefit the adoption of m-commerce.

We should also look forward to the dot band in LTE (long term evolution) stream. Used with voice-over IP, it will give full bandwidth to iPad, tablets or products like Kindle. This could trigger an education sector revolution.

Near-field communications (NFC) may catch up faster. Mobile couponing has growth potential. Being portable and popular mobile phone will soon turn out to be favoured payment channel. At the same time, regulators and other stakeholders will have to come together to sort out security issues and network challenges.

What would be in it for the VAS market? Would the mobile firms be stumped by agony of too many choices?

The Rs 75,000-crore VAS market in India is now a hot dynamic mobile market. Mobile subscriber base is still growing at a rate of 8 million per month. New players are entering the fray. Competition for customer wallet share is hotting up. At present, in India, the mobile operator’s driving income is person-to-person (P2P) messaging. From 10% of total revenues of telecom operators, this is estimated to grow to 40% within three years.

Cellular operators in India will have to supplement their stagnant voice revenues. 3G and LTE would be their...

iBall launches mobile handsets

iBall launches mobile handsets with SOS service for elders
Computer peripherals brand iBall today launched a range of mobile phone handsets in Rajasthan that include features like SOS button for senior citizens and waterproof handsets 

"Based on in-depth research, we have introduced features like SOS button for senior citizen, waterproof handsets and slimmest 'qwert' phone. Within 7 seconds of pressing SOS button, the handsets sends a siren to alert the surrounding people that the person is in trouble and should be immediately attended to," said Shalesh Agrawal, CEO, Rajasthan Best IT World Pvt Ltd. 

"It also sends SMS to pre-defined 5 numbers and start dialing those numbers automatically one after another till one call is attended," he said, adding that the handsets were priced between Rs 1,250- Rs 6,000. 

"Each of our handsets under the segments--Shaan, Waterproof, Sleec, Flip, Posh, Touch and Senior-- have unique characteristics. The handsets are unique in blending technology with design, aesthetics and innovation," Agrawal said. 

He added that the company was planning to open service centers and increase their dealers network in the state.

Samsung launches 4 new smartphones

Korean handset maker Samsung today launched four new smartphones under its 'Wave' and 'Omnia' series, priced between Rs 8,800 and Rs 13,500. 

"The new smartphones reinforce Samsung's commitment towards enhancing and democratising the smartphone experience in India," Samsung India Country Head (Mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav said in a statement. 

Samsung's smartphone portfolio consists of eight phones in Android, bada and Windows platform at a price range of Rs 8,800 to Rs 31,500.