Reliance Communications to focus on mobile data segment, targets Uninor customers

Telecom Lead India: Reliance Communications will be
focusing on mobile data market in the remaining quarters of FY13.

The company will also be targeting customers of Uninor in
telecom circles such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa.

Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer of RCom’s wireless
business, said that the company will be aiming to acquire Uninor’s market
through new offerings and quality service.

RCom aims to increase mobile data services revenue by
expanding market share in the segment by four percentage points to 24 percent
in the next four to five years.

The company will provide 3G devices at affordable rates to
achieve a substantial market share.

Singh said that feature phones will become marginal in
coming days due to rapid adoption of smartphones. RCom is strengthening its
CDMA ecosystem with partnership with smartphone major Samsung.

Recently, Reliance Communications partnered with Google to bundle Android smartphones.

During a conference call on Monday, the company revealed
that it has 4 million active 3G users with an average consumption of 240
megabyte of data per user.

Gurdeep Singh said that data services market in India was
worth Rs 7, 000 crore and R-Com possessed around 20 percent share of the
total market.

The company’s wireless business has posted revenue
of Rs 2,451.4 crore in the June quarter.

On the other hand, Punit Garg, president and chief executive
of RCom’s global enterprise business unit, said the company plans capital
expenditure of Rs 1,500 crore in FY13.

The Capex of Rs 1,500 crore is targeted at
strengthening its network quality and data services.

Garg said that the company has a widest presence in
Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) segment of the market with 36,000 customers.

The company reckons that its Enterprise business will grow
due to global Enterprise data demands. Garg said that the present Enterprise
market is Rs 20000 crore, which will double in next 2-4 years.

He added that the company received sales order of over Rs
224 crore in the quarter for application aware solution, managed video
solutions and other enterprise business services.

RCom is also strengthening its 2G GSM network via
intra-circle roaming agreements with other telcos. The company only shared
Aircel’s name during the conference call over its intra-circle roaming
agreements.

Reliance Communications first quarter income up 8 percent to Rs
5,319 crore

Reliance Communications reported 8 percent increase in first
quarter income at Rs 5,319 crore from Rs 4,940 in Q1 previous year.

Net profit grew 3 percent to Rs 162 crore from Rs 157 crore
in Q1 previous year.

Danish Khan