MTNL 3G Services Demo’ed; Commercial Launch By Mid Feb

Updated below
At the India Telecom 2008 Summit today, 3G services were launched with an inaugural video conversation between Telecom Minister A.Raja and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. However, that was just a “soft launch” - 3G infrastructure has not been fully deployed yet, and MTNL sources told MediaNama that the 3G network is present only in a 10 km radius around Central Delhi.

According to our sources, the commercial launch of 3G services is planned for the middle of February, though it could also stretch to early March, depending on the infrastructure rollout. MTNL is yet to finalize a tariff plan, and despite repeated prodding, the executives at the MTNL stall did not comment on the tariff.

We did get to try out some of the services that have been launched:

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3G In India: MTNL Inks Mobile TV Deal With Aksh Optifibre; What About Apalya?

Aksh Optifibre has announced a partnership with MTNL to launch Mobile TV services in Delhi and Mumbai. These services will essentially be delivered over 3G networks. Remember that there are two ways for mobile devices (whether handsets, TV sets in cars etc) to receive TV content - via the mobile operator or as a terrestrial, satellite or hybrid broadcast. Aksh’s deal is essentially for content delivery over the mobile network.

Aksh will offer high quality MPEG 4 content at high resolution. They’ve already got content from DD, Neo Sports, CNN and NDTV, and plan to also include music channels. While the consultation process for Mobile TV is over, the policy is yet to be announced. We believe the battle over Mobile TV has not yet begun, and it will take at least six months, if not over a year for the policy to be finalized.

Franchise Route To Mobile TV? What About Apalya Technologies?

MTNL already provides quite a few channels over the 2.75 G networks, powered by Hyderabad based Apalya Technologies (now rebranded as MiMobi.tv). The Apalya powered service includes channels like Zoom, Times Now, Aaj Tak, NDTV 24×7, NDTV India, Bindass, NDTV Profit, Headlines Today, CNN, BBC World, FTV, India TV, among others. So happens to Apalya’s service, now that Aksh is launching the same? Is MTNL taking the franchise route to Mobile TV?

Aksh already has franchise agreements with MTNL for IPTV (iControl) and Voice Over Internet Protocol (Pigeon) with MTNL, but these are landline based services. Smart Broadband (HFCL), IOL Netcom and Time Broadband are other IPTV service providers with franchise agreements with MTNL and BSNL.

I don’t agree with the idea of having franchise deals for content services from a single operator - it leads to a lack of standardisation in what the telco is marketing as its own service.

How Prepared Is MTNL For The 3G Launch?

How prepared is MTNL to launch 3G services? It’s certain that the company is going to launch 3G services tomorrow - the CMD RSP Sinha is now on record stating that the service will be made available to its existing “premium” customers in Delhi for two months, before being launched in Mumbai. They want customers to try out the services before paying a premium for them.

But in its rush to launch the service - indeed, officially be the first 3G carrier in India - MTNL doesn’t appear to be adequately prepared. The network in Delhi is not yet complete, and the service will be restricted to NDMC areas and Gurgaon. What’s more, I just called the MTNL mobile helpline to inquire about how I can sign up for 3G services, and I was assured that “There is no such service being launched.”

The governments annual telecom conference, India Telecom 2008, begins tomorrow, and there is little doubt that the 3G launch has more to do with the conference than the actual preparedness of the company to launch 3G services. And that is sad, but symptomatic of the government owned telco’s approach.

Says Sinha, to the Hindu, “We were the first to launch broadband service, IPTV and Voice over Internet Protocol. Now, we are all set to become the first to launch 3G services in the country.”

3G In India: MTNL To Launch 3G Services On December 11th; Limitations?

MTNL has set to launch 3G services on December 11th, according to several media reports. This is in line with something that D Shivkumar, MD of Nokia India had said at the launch of the Nokia Music Store: that Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh will make the first 3G call in India on December 11th. This also co-incides with the Department of Telecom’s year-end conference - India Telecom 2008.

MTNL is getting a significant head start over private 3G operators, since the license auction is expected to be in January. There are murmurs that the 3G auction will be delayed further. I think if it gets delayed beyond February 2009, then it’s likely to be postponed until after the May 2009 general elections in India.

Will MTNLs 3G Service Really Be Useful?
MTNLs opearations are limited to Delhi and Mumbai, and it’s unlikely that 3G infrastructure has been laid out beyond these cities. Which means that even if you sign up for MTNLs 3G services, you can only use them within city limits.

There are likely to be interoperability agreements between the two public sector carriers - MTNL and BSNL; when BSNL had initially launched its mobile services, users were able to switch to MTNL networks when in Delhi and Mumbai, where BSNL wasn’t allowed to operate. But how much of BSNLs infrastructure has been laid out so far?  Remember that BSNL already has EVDO services live in Bangalore.

Will I Sign Up For MTNLs 3G Service?
Not for video streaming or whatever else they have planned, but I will sign up for fast Internet access/Mobile broadband. I’m using a Reliance Net Connect data card which is good for emails, and occasionally for posts, but the bandwidth and network availability is rather poor. 

P.s.: time for MTNL to change its logo, yes?

What Operators Need To Learn For 3G Rollout; Video Streaming Issues - Rajat Mukarji, Idea Cellular

At the 3G India Forum yesterday, Rajat Mukarji, Head of Corporate Affairs for Idea Cellular gave the mobile operators perspective on adjusting as an organization, to a 3G environment. Some inputs from his presentation:

Video Coverage: During the Q&A, Mukarji was asked about whether coverage will be seamless when one travels from Delhi to Jaipur (i.e. from one state to another). His response: When moving from one state to another, you will be moving out from one network, into another network, and you will have a call drop. We have no control of that - that’s the way our circles are structured.

In todays 2.75G environment, you can get a mobile TV experience with appropriate buffering, but at a different price point. If the demand is such, it will be buffered all the way down to Jaipur. All we have set up is a voice network - it is seamless, and the same across the board, with the single objective of voice calls. In case of 3G, I will have to tailor the network according to the new demands, and the price points will reflect that. Ian Locke, VP for Envivo added that there is technology which allows for a seamless switch will switch seamlessly between low, medium, and high resolutions streams, depending on the bandwith avalable. If users have to choose between between stopping the stream altogether, or it being live and with switches in quality, they tend to choose the latter.

Inputs from Mukarji on what operators need to figure out: (more…)

IGNOU Plans To Provide Education Via Mobile…Obscene Targets

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), in partnership with the Communication and Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI), has launched an initiative to deliver educational content via the mobile phone. Content will be delivered through text and audio and video, to students who register for the courses. What’s rather odd, is that they’re also planning to experiment with conducting exams via mobiles…this, in a country where students aren’t allowed to carry mobile phones to their exams.

They’re setting themselves some rather high, obscene targets - they’ve given themselves six months to create mobile-compatible content, and another year for starting the mobile exams project; unviable targets - 25 million mobile education students by 2009, and 50 million by 2010.

There are no inputs on how much the content will cost to consumers, but like most other content, the CMAI is hoping that Advertising will play a key part. I guess that’s the long term plan, since we’ve heard that online advertising has more or less dried up. However, there are few key challenge:
– Distribution of this content: SMS text isn’t enough for “education”, GPRS/EDGE networks don’t have enough bandwidth for video content that will be long enough. and the in taking care of the distribution of the content - the wireless connection is hardly enough for distribution.
– Handsets: If the distribution of video content will be via 3G, the price of 3G handsets is key. The indication from the Bharti Airtel earnings call was that there’s no way operators will subsidise 3G handsets.
– Usability: Mobile handsets are not ideal for video content - screen sizes are small, and though handsets with adequate resolution are getting becoming cheaper. Ever tried watching a 3 hour film on a handset?

So while the parternship has been announced, I do believe that they won’t reach 25 million by 2009, and 50 million by 2010. That’s a pipe-dream.

P.s.: I haven’t heard of the CMAI before, but according to Cellebrum CEO Saket Agarwals blog, it’s an association that includes a large number of mobile VAS companies - ACL Wireless, Active Media, Air2Web, AOL Mobile, Cellebrum, Cellnext, HungamaMobile, IMIMobile, Indistimes Mobile, Jataayu, Mauj, Mobile365, One97, OnMobile, Phoneytunes, Roamware.

Delayed 3G Auction By Jan 15; RBI-ECB; Gambling On 3G With Borrowed Money?

Given credit crunch, the Department of Telecom has deferred the 3G auction till January 15th. Earlier the auctions were to be completed by the end of the year. A revised timeline, via the Hindu, is as follows:

Nov 30: Auction design, bid document to be prepared
Dec 15: Inviting operators to bid
Dec 31: Prequalification of bidders
Jan 15: Auction to be completed
Jan 25: Signing of contracts with successful bidders
Jan 31: Depositing of first tranch of auction money

Note that we couldn’t independently locate the schedule on the DoTs site.

What’s also interesting is that the Reserve Bank of India has also allowed telecom companies to raise funds from overseas, in order to acquire 3G licenses. Note that some mobile operators, namely Unitech Wireless and Datacom, are yet to close deals with potential partners/investors, while some have already done so. I wonder if the valuations of these companies may have been impacted over the past month or so, and perhaps rationlized. Take look at how expensive rollouts have been Idea cellulars profitability was severely hit in the last quarter, when they rolled out in Mumbai. The RBI go-ahead thus allows companies to gamble on 3G with borrowed money…