Spice Mobiles To Embed Nimbuzz, Ibibo; Will Operators Allow Nimbuzz VoIP?

Spice Mobiles has tied up with Ibibo and Nimbuzz: Spice’s WAP portal wap.Spicegang.In links out to Ibibo Mobile (view it online, here), as well as Thomson Reuters news service.

Interestingly, Ibibo’s WAP site also features MyGamma. You may recall that MyGamma/MyGamma had raised $10 million from Naspers (Ibibo’s parent company) for a 25 percent stake.

The Problem For Nimbuzz And Other VoIP Applications

Spice will embed the Nimbuzz mobile application on their handsets, starting with the S-940 phone, and that is where it gets interesting. Nimbuzz is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application which allows users to make calls over the Mobile web, or WiFi, if the user has access to it. Now this essentially competes with the business model of mobile operators, as per which they charge according to minutes of use, and not data transferred. 

There’s a tendency for mobile operators to disallow such mobile applications. For example, Airtel Live, Bharti Airtel’s pay-per-use data plan that is being used by most pre-paid customers with data access, didn’t allow the use of Fring, a VoIP application, which I last checked a couple of months ago. I’ve switched to Mobile Office, with which I’m able to use Fring. A majority of mobile subscribers in India, and around 98.4% of Airtel’s new subscriber additions last quarter, were prepaid.

Airtel Blocks MyToday Longcode; This Time, It’s The Do Not Call Registry

How this issue is settled is of great importance, and it impacts the future of push SMS services from SMS GupShup and Google, apart from every single service provider who sends a push SMS to consumers.

Airtel has blocked MyToday SMS longcode, writes Netcore MD Rajesh Jain, citing complaints made by MyToday subscribers to Airtel about unsolicited SMS. (Update: this means that new users cannot sign up, and existing users cannot unsubscribe.) At the core of the debate, writes Jain, is whether an SMS Opt-in by a subscriber overrides a National Do Not Call (NDNC) registration or not.

The fact remains that Airtel cannot arbitrarily cite the NDNC and block access, unless subscribers have complained; there are obviously some subscribers who want to unsubscribe from the service, but because they don’t know how to, they’ve complained.

At the same time, I do believe that Jain is in the right - those consumers have chosen to opt-in. However, the onus is on MyToday to prove that they’ve opted in, and maintain records to that effect.

Airtel has blocked the long codes 9845398453 and 9845298452, and is being rather unrealistic by asking MyToday to get its subscribers to give in writing that they’ve subscribed, and quite ridiculous by asking MyToday to scrub its database clean of 10% of its subscribers who have signed up for the NDNC.

This includes me. I’m an Airtel subscriber and have signed up for MyToday services. I have solicited MyToday’s SMS services, so I want to receive those SMS’. At the same time, I don’t want to receive SMS’ from “Mr. Deal” and the “Hard Rock Café”. I did not sign up for those.

This is not MyToday’s first run-in with a mobile operator, or indeed Airtel. At the TRAI Open House discussion on MVAS (a must read if you’re in the Mobile business), Jain had called for transparency and the definition of a clear mechanism for settlement of disputes. 

“Rajesh Jain, MD of Netcore (MyToday) called for clear guidelines and a mechanism for settling disputes, saying that there is only a perception of a fairplay environment (which operators kept hinting at). Netcore’s MyToday services were curtailed for no apparent reason, and there was no way of dispute resolution then.”

Sadly, the TRAI has passed the buck, in this case, to Airtel.

(Updates: Confirmed from Netcore - updates are available, but users on Airtel cannot subscribe or unsubscribe, and edited post accordingly)

Vodafone Launches Kirusa’s Voice SMS; Some Thoughts On Voice SMS

Vodafone has announced the launch of its Voice SMS service in 16 circles with Kirusa. What’s interesting from a marketing point of view, is that Airtel has been promoting its Voice SMS service, powered by Bubble Motion for a few weeks now, and Vodafone will be able to take advantage of that buzz now. What we’re not sure of, is whether Vodafone is deploying the Voice SMS service in one shot, or like Airtel, has been deploying the service circle by circle. Airtel first began deploying Bubble Talk in 2006, in Goa and Maharashtra.

Both companies have priced the service at Rs. 0.75 per minute, and it is available to both Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers. Details of how Vodafones service works:

– Does not require any special handsets, or handset settings
– Vodafone subscribers have to dial* and the mobile number of the person for sending the message.
– If the recipient is a Vodafone subscriber, he will receive a text SMS notification and can dial *0* to hear the Voice SMS.
– Old Voice SMS can be retrieved by dialing *1*.
– Users can replying, forwarding, saving or deleting the Voice SMS messages.
– Subscribers not on the Vodafone network will get a text SMS notification with an embedded DirectListen number

An issue for Airtel: Twice in the last 30 minutes, I’ve been unable to send a voice SMS since “All lines are currently busy”. Looks like they don’t have enough capacity for the service.

Some thoughts on Voice SMS (more…)

“We’re just the pipe” say Mobile Operators, When It Comes To User Generated Content

So who is liable for user generated content in India - the platform or the user? This same debate, which is at the core of a number of lawsuits, has found a new platform: Voice Chat on telecom networks.

DNA reports that Mobile operators are denying any liability whatsoever for the voice chat services on their platform. What’s interesting is that they appears to be passing the buck to VAS companies. TV Ramachandran says “In plain terms, we only provide the pipeline for a value added service. What goes through the networks is neither a concern nor a responsibility of the telecom operator.” A Vodafone official has expressed similar sentiments. As per the report, Cellebrum provides voice chat services for Vodaphone, while Altruist is the vendor for Airtel.

So here’s the skinny - when it comes to everything else - revenue shares for content, for example - the operator claims they provide value and support and are “not just a pipe”. But when it comes to being liable for content being sent over their network, they’re “just a pipe”. That’s double-speak.

The TRAI doesn’t yet regulate Mobile VAS, but this appears to be another front that has opened up. Our take is that if the mobile operator is going to hold the VAS service provider liable, then that risk should come with its own reward. You can’t have your cake and eat it too…though that’s what they’ve been doing so far.

More on the issues around Mobile VAS at our post on

– TRAI Open House Discussion On Mobile VAS

Q2-09: Bharti Airtel Monthly VAS Revenues At Rs. 259.55 Crores; Non-SMS VAS At 57%

Bharti Airtel has reported net profits (consolidated) of Rs. 2046 crores, up 1.05 percent since the last quarter, and 27 percent from Q208. Total revenues for the quarter were Rs. 9020 crores, up 6.33 percent since the last quarter, and 42 percent year-on-year. The company reported an EBITDA growth of 5.03 percent quarter on quarter, and 37 percent year on year. We’ve put together a quarter-on-quarter snapshot for you to compare their performance. For the year-on-year performance, please refer to the financials linked to below.

VAS Revenues & ARPU

Airtel has reported a decline in ARPU for the quarter, and as per our calculations, on the VAS front, the company earned Rs. 259.55 crores, up from Rs. 235.55 crores last quarter. At the same time, the contribution of Value Added Services (VAS) has increased to 10 percent of ARPU, and as per our calculations, the contribution of data services continues to increase, albeit marginally, to 57% of VAS APRU, up from 56.7% last quarter.

In absolute terms, non-SMS VAS, which includes Voice, Internet (WAP), Gaming, Music (Ring-Back Tones) etc, has grown from Rs. 133.56 crores per month to Rs. 147.94 crores per month, for the quarter.

Subscriber Addition, Minutes Of Use & Churn

Airtel’s subscriber base was up 12% quarter on quarter to 77.4 million, with net monthly additions at 2.698 million subscribers per month. 98.4 percent of the new additions were prepaid. Minutes of use per subscriber went up marginally from 534 minutes to 536 minutes. Interestingly, pre-paid churn declined to 3.1% from 3.8% last quarter, while post-paid churn increased marginally from 1% to 1.1%.

Mobile Services: 77479215 up 12% from 69,384,000
Marketshare: 24.6%, with 28.5% of net additions
Prepaid: 92.9% of the total subscriber base, with 98.4% of  new additions
Churn: 3.2% Prepaid, and 1.1% post-paid
Minutes of Use: 536 up from 534
Distribution Channel: 1,008,031 outlets.

Telemedia Services

Airtel Telemedia, which consists of their Broadband and wireline business, has a total subscriber base of 2,509,460 customers, which is up 5% from 2,393,732 subscribers last quarter. They added around 116,000 subscribers wireline subscribers, and reported an ARPU of Rs. 1147, up 1 percent from

Airtel has around 9.2 lakh broadband subscribers, 36.7% percent of wireline subscribers. Broadband subscribers up 7.96% from 8.53 lakh last quarter. Airtels wireline services are available in 95 cities. According to the company, their strategy for broadband is to focus on the city, while they’ve taken a pan-India approach to DTH.

Note: The next quarter should give indications of the impact of the launch of DTH services on Bharti Telemedia. More on the launch of DTH services here.

Q209: Release, Financials, Quarterly Report,

Q1-09: Release, Quarterly Report | Analysis/Report
Articles related to Bharti Airtel

Airtel Does It Again…

Well, Bharti Airtel certainly needs to get its act together. For the second month in a row, I’ve been billed for content that I did not download. Yesterday, while at Barcamp Delhi, I got the following message:

“Thanks for downloading Animation from Airtel Live WAP Service. You’ve been charged Rs. 15. Game: http://10.5.45.107/w?sId=004″

Again, I don’t browse Airtel Live (the portal), nor have I downloaded any game or animation. The same thing happened to me last month, and to be honest, I forgot to get it removed from my bill.

Anyway, if it happens once, I can take it as a mistake. Twice…I don’t think so. This time around, I’m going to contact the nodal officer, the procedure for filing complaints had been outlined by Deva5 in the comments to the post on the earlier incident.

In case of any wrongly billed scenarios, process you should follow:

1) Call the call center ask him to raise your complaint. In case of postpaid he will not know the exact detail of your charge until post the bill run(Billing date). Prepaid they shall know in 24 hrs. Please ask for your complaint number + SR (Service Request) number for the bill adjustments. Note them down.
2) With this number email your nodal officer .Ask him to check such things are not repeated. and ensure that bill adjustments happen on this particular complaint. For Delhi circle Airtel Nodal officer details as below
Ph: 9818334865
Fax: 9810409104
e-mail - nodalofficer.del@airtel.in
It is mandated by TRAI that nodal officer respond to all customer complaints and his details published to public , approach Apellate authority in case of no response.
In case you’re not happy you may approach the TRAI consumer officer for circle.

3) This adjustment may be made to your next bill

Related: So This Is How Mobile Content Makes Money?

Live: Airtel Launches DTH Services Targeting 62 Cities

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of Airtel Digital TV, a DTH service targeting 62 cities, with over 21000 retail outlets. The service is on a I’m at the press conference, where Manoj Kohli, CEO & Jt MD of Bharti Airtel, outlined the companys strategy of switching from a “land-grab”, from having Airtel grab more and more of the customers wallet.

Kohli said that the market is currently at an initial stage - the penetration is just at 3 percent, with just 7 million DTH customers. “We believe that in the gestation period, the other players have spent and educated  the customers, and the time is right for us to take up this 225 million household market. We’re confident of taking up the leadership position in the DTH segment.”

Atul Bindal, President of Telemdia Services for Bharti Airtel:
Digital TV is the third age of television in India - it is a high definition ready, interactive, and this is what is taking the market to the third stage. The customers have evolved to become more price sensitive, and are demanding the best in terms of quality.

Smart-ass retort of the day: following the preview of the TV commercials for Airtel Digital TV,with 9 celebrities signed up, Atul Bindal said that “this is the first time that 9 celebrities are coming to your home.” Immediately, a retort from a photographer right in front - “When?”