India’s mobile firms 3G auction set to start on April 9

New Delhi, Delhi, India, April 7, 2010 / IndiaPRLine / — India’s mobile firms will be bidding billions of dollars in an auction this week to provide superfast third generation (3G) service in the country’s booming cellular market.

The government is hoping to reap around $8 billion from the sale of 3G airwaves, which begins on Friday, and a follow-up auction of broadband wireless access spectrum in what will be the largest such sale in recent years.

“The major operators will bid aggressively. It will be very important for them to win 3G slots to retain their high-end subscribers,” said Kunal Bajaj, managing director at telecoms consulting firm BDA Connect.

The starting price has been set at $780 million for pan-India 3G licences but analysts expect the bidding to go much higher because of the scramble for spectrum in the congested market, which has over a dozen players.

“The bids should be double (the base price),” forecast Romal Shetty, executive director for telecommunications at KPMG’s Indian unit.

Nine of the cellular firms plan to bid for 3G spectrum in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.

3G allows mobile phone users to surf the Internet, video conference and download music, video and other content at a much faster pace than the current second-generation or 2G service.

Top mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications will be in the fray along with foreign-backed Vodafone Essar and Tata DoCoMo.

The addition of 3G is seen giving a major boost to a mobile market already growing by 15 to 20 million subscribers a month.

But for at least the first year, the main focus of phone companies is expected to be on improving call quality that has been affected by a spectrum crunch.

“There has been tremendous growth in the subscriber base over the past few years,” said Nareshchandra Singh, analyst at international consultancy Gartner.

Mobile subscribers totalled 545 million at last count.

JPMorgan said in a report the bidding could “stretch balance sheets” of mobile companies that have already been undermined by fierce tariff battles which have reduced calling costs to less than a cent a minute and hit revenues.

India, a country of 1.2 billion people, is playing catch-up as it is the biggest major economy not to have widespread 3G services.

The country is following in the footsteps of fellow emerging market giant China, which started offering 3G services last year.

Even if India’s government gets $8 billion for the airwaves, the sum will come nowhere near the $19 billion raised by the US government two years ago and the 35 billion earned by Britain in 2000.

Analysts say India’s rural areas offer huge market potential but rolling out infrastructure to support 3G networks will be costly and the main immediate 3G battleground for customers will be in urban areas.

“It will take a couple of years for 3G to gain momentum but if someone comes up with affordable rates and affordable handsets, 3G will be very big,” said Gartner’s Singh.

Entertainment & Sports Direct – the highest bidder for IPL theatrical rights tender

Mumbai, November 12th 2009 /IndiaPRLine.com/ IPL today announced that Entertainment & Sports Direct (ESD) has made the highest bid for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) theatrical rights to matches in the league to be played in Seasons 2010 through to 2019. The deal will give ESD the exclusive exhibition rights for audiences in cinema halls, stadia, water borne vessels, buses, trains, armed service establishments, hospitals, bars, hotels, restaurants, airports, railway stations, shopping malls, offices, construction sites, oil rigs, clubs, auditoriums, spas, salons and other similar public venues.

Two bids were received for the theatrical rights tender from Triplecom Media and ESD. The theatrical rights bid by ESD was of Rs. 330 crore which was the highest.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, Indian Premier League said, “We are absolutely delighted that after a fair and transparent process, we have what we believe to be the best theatrical telecast deal for the Indian Premier League and its fans across India. Both the bids received were of very high standard and we would like to thank both the organizations for their submissions. The ESD bid is subject to final approval from the IPL Governing Council, and we believe that this agreement will help us take the IPL action direct to the fans on the large screen.”

ESD, promoted by DAR Capital Group, an investment advisory and private equity firm, is a company focused on sports and entertainment related content acquisition for which it has signed up with UFO Moviez and Valuable Media for theatrical and public exhibition in India and key-global markets.

Arun Rangachari, Director, ESD said, “We firmly believe that the IPL is a superior sporting event that has transformed the very landscape of cricket globally. We are very proud to be associated with this extremely prestigious event and would like to, through this path-breaking initiative, reaffirm our commitment to bringing high-octane sporting action to fans around the world. Together with our partners UFO Moviez and Valuable Media we are confident of bringing about a radical transformation in the way the sport of cricket is viewed and enjoyed by fans across the world. We believe that there are significant untapped business opportunities that are being addressed by this association that will create a global benchmark.”

UFO Moviez Ltd. and Valuable Media Ltd., promoted by Valuable Group are pioneers of the digital media platform in India and around the world. UFO Moviez is the largest satellite based digital cinema network in the country with over 1700 screens.

Valuable Group acquired moviebeam, a digital media technology platform founded by Disney with over USD 250mm in investment, and has repurposed it for use in the hospitality and public venue markets around the world.

Sanjay Gaikwad, Managing Director, Valuable Group of Companies said “We are very excited with this new initiative kicked off by IPL. With UFO’s 1700 digital cinemas and our proprietary Hollywood studio approved moviebeam digital platform, this is a unique opportunity for theater owners and public venues to get exciting High Definition cricket content at their properties. Theaters normally starve for content during the IPL season and with IPL releasing content to theaters and public venues, every town across the country will be able to experience the stadium like electrifying atmosphere created by IPL.”

IPL Season 2010

Season 2010 of the Indian Premier League is set to kick-off in Hyderabad on March 12th, 2010 and will feature last year’s league winners the Deccan Chargers taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders. The IPL in Season 2010 will be played over 45 days across India and will feature a grand total of 60 games, with the addition of a third place play-off. Season 2010 will also see the addition of four new home venues in the form of Nagpur for the Mumbai Indians, Vishakapatnam for the Deccan Chargers, Ahmedabad for the Rajasthan Royals and Dharamshala for the Kings XI Punjab.

About Entertainment and Sports Direct

Promoted by DAR Capital Group, a leading investment advisory and private equity firm, Entertainment and Sports Direct ( ESD ), is focused on the exhibition of sporting and entertainment events to public venues and cinemas around the world.

About UFO Moviez

UFO Moviez, the digital cinema network promoted by the Valuable Group is the the largest chain of satellite based digital cinemas in the world with more than 1700 theatres across India. UFO Moviez beams digitally mastered high quality movie images through satellite directly to cinema halls facilitating wide release of any film. UFO has till date screened more than 3.1 Million shows all over India. UFO has revolutionized the way films are distributed and exhibited in India through its pioneering technology and infra-structure, UFO MOVIEZ envisages a ‘FIRST DAY FIRST SHOW’ regime for film distributors and cinema owners across the country.

About Valuable Media Limited.

Valuable Media Ltd is engaged in facilitating delivery and playout of stored and live High and Standard Definition content using their proprietary Moviebeam technology that is ideal for applications that require both Push and Pull abilities and efficient and secure delivery of digital media in the high definition formats. Moviebeam is the first digital media platforms certified by Hollywood studios to handle, deliver and store high value content securely at a consumer’s premise. The Moviebeam platform not only allows playback of live feeds in HD but also has a unique capability of on-demand playback of stored HD content. With advanced playlist and program management capabilities, the Moviebeam platform offers public venues to program playback when the live event is unavailable.

For further enquires:-

Percy Dubash / Jitendra Jha

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