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Reliance Jio’s hyper-aggression scorches competition

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Reliance Jio’s hyper-aggression scorches competition

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Market analysts predict fall in revenues in telecom sector

By Sindhu Bhattacharya

Reliance Jio Infocomm is living up to the hype surrounding its arrival, having ‘primed’ competition to offer unbelievably low priced data packs over the weekend. Remember, though RJio has said its services will become commercial from April 1, after a six-month free run, it has priced these services dirt cheap and is driving membership of ‘Prime’ aggressively before March ends. This combination of low-priced data packs and Jio Prime membership drive is already killing the telecom industry.

On Sunday, Paytm chief Vijay Shekhar Sharma started a thread where he sought additional data from market leader Bharti Airtel on Twitter. He began by seeking more information about the Rs 549 plan that offers 1 GB data limit every day. Sharma said he called up Airtel customer care and got 60 GB per month data use option in place of current 15 GB monthly usage limit on Rs 2,999 plan.

Though many among the Twitterati panned him saying there was no need to continue paying Rs 2,999 despite increased data usage, Sharma’s thread spurred countless mobile phone users to also seek higher data usage from their respective service providers. Meanwhile, RJio snatched this opportunity and said on twitter that it would offer him 56 GB mobile broadband plan for just Rs 499, which Sharma obviously accepted. It is entirely possible that Bharti will now try and retain Sharma’s connection by offering him matching plans offline, but the point really is that RJio is changing tariff dynamics of the industry and everyone will have to suffer a cut in revenues due to this.

Rajiv Sharma and Darpan Thakkar of HSBC Global Research said in a note to clients that despite RJio beginning commercial operations from April, “We see sector revenues declining in FY18 by 6% as Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs) for the mid- to high-end of the subscriber base with incumbent telcos may get reset to significantly lower levels. The revenue decline may be bigger for the sector if termination rates were to decline meaningfully, as this may add to the ongoing tariff wars the sector currently faces.” Remember, the industry has already seen a similar 6% decline in revenues in the third quarter, when RJio services were free.

In fact, Edelwiess analysts Sandip Agarwal and Pranav Kshatriya had another warning for the embattled telecom industry: they expect RJIO to venture into feature phone segment with aggressive voice offering which will drive down voice realisations, leading to revenue headwinds. So not only is cheap data fast becoming a headache for the leading telcos Bharti, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, even voice realisations may fall in the near future.

According to this piece, RJio is offering two key monthly plans at Rs 499 and Rs 303, with 28 days of validity each. Apart from basic offerings, the 4G data available to a non-Prime user in the Rs 499 plan is 5GB for 28 days without any daily cap. But Prime members will get 2GB of 4G data every day, which means 56GB in 28 days. The Rs 303 Plan offers 2.5GB 4G data to non-Prime users, valid for 28 days, while Prime users will receive 1GB 4G data every day for 28 days. It is obvious that with such generous data offers, competition to RJio also needs to loosen its purse strings.

RJio is in a hurry to gain market share and this is evident from presentation it gave to analysts on Friday. Sample this: RJio is targeting 50% market share, in a market 50% larger and an Ebitda margin of 50% by 2021. This means it is eying $22 billion revenue and $11billion Ebitda within the next four years. Obviously then, it must wean away customers from competition to achieve such ambitious targets. But are the RJio targets realistic?

Analysts of IIFL Institutional Equities said in a note to clients that RJIO’s Prime membership will threaten industry revenue growth over the next six months.  They also quoted the company’s presentation to say “R JIO thinks that in its 1GB/day Prime plan at Rs303 for 28 days, effective yield will be Rs30/GB and it will go up to Rs50/GB in six months and will be higher in regular packs. We think RJIO has overestimated industry revenue and its revenue market share, and it has underestimated the capability of competition to raise their data capacity.”

Whether Rjio achieves its ambitious medium term targets of market share etc remains to be seen. But in the immediate future, competition cannot afford to sit over RJIo’s unmatched aggression. In these telecom wars, the only beneficiary for now seems to be the Indian phone user.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Google restores delisted Indian apps after government intervention

Google on Saturday restored all Indian apps it had removed.

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Google has started to restore all the delisted Indian mobile apps on Play Store agian, which they had removed due to a disagreement over service fees. After a discussion between company representatives and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the decision was made, according to sources.

The step was taken in response to Vaishnaw’s strong statement in which he said that it is not allowed for apps to be removed from the Google Play Store. The minister had said, India is very clear, our policy is very clear…our startups will get the protection that they need.

Vaishnaw  continued saying that he has already given Google a call. They will be speaking with the app developers who were delisted this week. This is not acceptable. The minister said this kind of delisting cannot be permitted.

Ten Indian companies’ apps were banned by Google on Friday, causing outrage in one of its fastest-growing markets. With 94% of phones running on its Android platform, Google holds a large portion of the Indian market. Popular names like Naukri and Bharatmatrimony were on the list.

The main point of contention is Google’s in-app purchase fees, which range from 11% to 26%. Indian startups have long opposed the US tech giant’s actions, believing them to be unfair.

The founder of Bharat Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony, and Jodii, Matrimony.com, expressed shock at the matchmaking apps’ removal from the Google Play Store.

Shaadi. Com CEO Anupam Mittal described it as a dark day for India’s internet, highlighting the possible broad effects on matchmaking services. He also called Google an evil.

While, Kuku FM Co-founder Vinod Kumar Meena in a statement had said that Google was behaving like a monopoly.

Meanwhile, Google temporarily withdrew the famous Indian payments app Paytm from the Play Store in 2020, claiming a few policy infractions. Due to this decision, the founder of the company as well as the larger startup community came together to build their own app stores and file lawsuits against Google.

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Anant Ambani says he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life

Anant Ambani said he was grateful to get Radhika as his life partner. He said he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life. He said every day he is falling more and more in love with her. He added although he had known Radhika for the last 7 years, it felt he had met her only yesterday. He thanked Radhika for everything.

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Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s grand three-day wedding celebrations began with a glamorous cocktail night on Friday in Jamnagar. During the celebrations, Anant Ambani also gave a speech wherein he thanked his late grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani and grandmother Kokilaben Ambani for inspiring him. Anant Ambani said he was grateful to get Radhika as his life partner. He said he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life. He said every day he is falling more and more in love with her.

He expressed his gratitude to his mother for pulling together the lavish three-day wedding celebrations in Jamnagar. Anant thanked his mother for all she had done. He said all the arrangements had been done by his mother and nobody else. He added his mother had gone all out and she had worked 18-19 hours a day and he was extremely grateful to her.

He also thanked all the guests who were present there at the pre-wedding celebrations. He said everyone had made it to Jamnagar to make him and Radhika feel special. He said both of them were honored and humbled to have all of them present there. Anant said he was sorry if they had caused an inconvenience to anyone. He asked for forgiveness. He hoped everyone is going to enjoy the coming three days. He also thanked his mother, father, sister, brother, his sister-law and his brother in-law for making this event memorable.

Anant said everyone has been sleeping for less than 3 hours a day for the last 2-3 months and he was very happy to share this joy with everyone. The youngest Ambani talked about his personal struggles and how his parents had always supported him. He further added his life had not been entirely a bed of roses. He said he had also experienced the pain of thorns. He said he had faced many health crises.

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Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg shares pictures from 2nd day of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant pre-wedding celebrations

Zuckerberg shared pictures from the 2nd day of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding celebrations. In the photograph Mark Zuckerberg can be seen along with his wife Priscilla Chan. The couple is exuding happiness as they prepare for the event. He captioned the picture it is getting wild out here.

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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan joined the star- studded pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar on Friday. The event was attended by many prominent figures from different fields. Zuckerberg took to his Instagram handle congratulated the couple and said he loved Indian weddings.

Zuckerberg shared pictures from the 2nd day of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding celebrations. In the photograph Mark Zuckerberg can be seen along with his wife Priscilla Chan. The couple is exuding happiness as they prepare for the event. He captioned the picture it is getting wild out here.

The theme of the opening day of the pre-wedding celebrations was Evening in Everland as the guests wore cocktail attire. The first day of the grand celebrations elevated the expectations of the guests for the following days. The theme of the 2nd day of the pre-wedding bash is known as a Walk on the Wildside and the guests can be seen in Jungle Fever attire.

Zuckerberg has opted for an animal print shirt with white trousers, Chan is complementing his look in a strappy one piece in black and golden. The Jungle theme is aligned to Vantara, Reliance’s animal welfare initiative undertaken and launched by Anant Ambani a few days back.

International pop star Rihana electrified the pre wedding celebrations on Friday with an amazing performance, marking her debut appearance in India. The chart topping artist engaged the audience with performances of her iconic hits which included Pour it Up, Work and Diamonds.

Zuckerberg graced the opening day, wearing a black-on-black firefly blazer and shoes from Alexander McQueen while his wife Priscilla wore a black gown with gold flower details and other accessories such as dainty chain bracelet, gold necklace and stud earrings. Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan are one of the Power couples invited from the global business community for the festivities currently underway at Jamnagar.

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