Vodafone chief has big plans for India's Hutch Essar
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Telecom giant Vodafone has said it will invest more than two billion dollars in a drive to make its new Indian purchase, Hutchison Essar, the country's biggest mobile phone company.
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The CEO of one of the worldÃ¢â¬â¢s largest mobile brands said Tuesday that VoIP on mobile phones would likely be as commonplace as it will become on PCs due to what he called Ã¢â¬Ëtechnical issues.Ã¢â¬â¢
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India, already the world&#039;s fastest  growing wireless services market, is set to become a handset  manufacturing and export hub as giants such as Nokia and LG  churn out millions of phones to tap voracious demand.
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InfoWorld - The wide variety of operating systems on mobile phones is hindering the growth of cool mobile Internet applications, according to Arun Sarin, CEO of network operator Vodafone.
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(InfoWorld) - British mobile services company Vodafone Group has reserved the right to terminate its agreement with Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL), if a "prohibition" comes in the way of the closure of itsÂ $11.1 billion acquisitionÂ of a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, an Indian mobile services company. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, HTIL has said that the agreement between Vodafone and HTIL provides for "certain termination rights arising as a result of circumstances tied to the existence of a prohibition." Prohibition shall have the meaning ascribed to such items in the agreement that have the effect of prohibiting or restraining the parties from consummating their transaction, it added. Although it does not specify what kind of prohibitions could arise, a lawsuit or other litigation relating to the merger could be interpreted as such. India's Essar Group, which holds 33 percent of the equity in Hutchison Essar, is said to be unhappy with some of the terms of the deal, particularly Vodafone's plans to take Hutchison Essar into an infrastructure sharing arrangement with Bharti Airtel, another Indian mobile services provider. Essar, which also claims the right to first refusal for HTIL's sale of equity in Hutchison Essar, may also move Indian courts, according to informed sources. HTIL entered into an agreement Sunday to sell to Vodafone subsidiary, Vodafone International Holdings, its entire direct and indirect equity and loan interests, held through subsidiaries, in Hutchison Essar. Vodafone announced that the transaction would give it an economic interest of 67 percent in the Indian company, in exchange for $11.1 billion in cash and assumption of $2 billion in debt. In its filing, HTIL said that the transaction is to be completed on April 2, or the sixth business day after conditions such as approval by India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) have been satisfied or waived. HTIL and Vodafone were not immediately available for comment. VodafoneÂ CEO Arun Sarin is in IndiaÂ Wednesday to meet with Indian government officials and also possibly executives of the Essar Group. Vodafone has offered to buy the Essar Group's stake in Hutchison Essar, though Sarin said in a conference call Sunday that he would prefer if they stayed on as partners. Sarin also said Wednesday in Delhi that Essar does not have right of first refusal on the deal.
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4G or not to be 3GSM Mobile carriers risk been leapfrogged by new entrants unless they work together to speed up the development of technologies such as mobile payments, according to Vodafone chief exec Arun Sarin.â¦
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BARCELONA/MUMBAI  - Britain's Vodafone Group Plc  has won the battle for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar with a bid that values India's fourth-biggest mobile firm at around $19 billion, including debt.
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The head of Microsoft&#39;s mobile phone group is jumping ship, moving to U.K. mobile operator Vodafone Group to run its Internet services.Pieter Knook will join Vodafone on March 10, where he will lead a new unit delivering consumer Internet services, Vodafone said Thursday.Vodafone&#39;s announcement comes in the wake of press reports that Microsoft will reshuffle its executive team later Thursday.Knook&#39;s replacement as head of Microsoft&#39;s mobile communications business is likely to be Andrew Lees, currently with the company&#39;s server and tools group, according to a report on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night, which cited a person familiar with the situation. Both Knook and Lees are Microsoft veterans, working with the company since 1990.Microsoft announced another change in its mobile business on Wednesday, with the acquisition of mobile device maker Danger, marking its first move into the manufacture of mobile phones. Until now, it has left the hardware to other companies, licensing its mobile operating system to them.There will be other staff changes at Microsoft, with three other vice presidents expected to leave in the coming months, the WSJ report said. It named Michael Sievert, currently in charge of Windows marketing, and Steve Berkowitz, a manager of the company&#39;s online business, as among those who will leave.Vodafone said Knook&#39;s arrival will allow it to move forward with its &quot;Mobile Plus&quot; strategy to generate new revenue streams such as mobile advertising, and integrated mobile and PC offerings.Microsoft representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
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(InfoWorld) - Some mobile phone companies are looking to emerging markets to find early adopters and for a glimpse at services of the future, CEOs said during the opening day keynote of theÂ 3GSM conferenceÂ in Barcelona on Tuesday. In Senegal, for example, customers eagerly use a mobile Internet TV service that includes a DVR (digital video recorder) feature. "It's more advanced than in many other places," said Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of operator Orange. The keynote focused on the importance of emerging markets to the future of the mobile industry. That compares with last year's opening keynote, which focused largely on the potential of wireless content services. Vodafone Group's CEO Arun Sarin pointed to South Africa, where HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) users make up 30 percent of the entire broadband market. That number is expected to increase to 50 percent by 2010, he said. Users in emerging markets are taking up such new technologies as mobile broadband because they don't have quality fixed-line networks, he said. The lack of quality landline networks may also be driving people in developing markets to exclusively use wireless, he said. In Europe, on average, 35 percent of phone usage is on mobile networks while in developing markets more than 50 percent of minutes are on mobile networks, he said. Naquib Sawaris, chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, an operator offering services in Pakistan, Egypt, Algeria, and Iraq, put it most succinctly. "You have two Indians and an Egyptian on this stage: It's our time," he said. Sarin also commented onÂ Vodafone's recent winÂ of a controlling interest in Indian operator Hutchison Essar. Mobile phone penetration in India is around 13 percent and Sarin expects that to grow to 40 percent, or 500 million subscribers, in a few years. Indians like to talk too, with an average of 400 minutes of use per subscriber per month, he said. That compares to 150 minutes in Europe.
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone, grappling with intense competition in Europe, tapped into the booming Indian economy after winning control of Hutchison Essar for 11.1 billion dollars.
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New European Chief Executive is company vet Vodafone have appointed Vittorio Colao as its new Chief Executive for Europe.â¦
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Mobile telephone operator Vodafone said it had appointed Shiro Tsuda as president and chief executive of Vodafone KK, its struggling Japanese unit.
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The UK&#39;s biggest service provider, with million customers, is leading the 3G push with 10 new handsets, seven of which will be exclusive to Vodafone - with the Sharp 902 debuting as Europe&#39;s first two-megapixel camera phone.
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(InfoWorld) - An Indian NGO (non-government organization) called Telecom Watchdog has filed a petition with the High Court of Delhi, alleging that foreign shareholding in mobile services operator Hutchison Essar is in breach of the Indian government's regulations on foreign direct investment (FDI). Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL) announced in February that it hadÂ entered into an agreementÂ with a subsidiary of Vodafone GroupÂ to sell its 67 percent direct and indirect equity and loan interests in Hutchison Essar for a total cash consideration of $11.1 billion. India's Essar Group, HTIL's joint venture partner in Hutchison Essar, holds 33 percent of the equity in the joint venture, with some 22 percent of this held by an Essar group company registered abroad. Indian government regulations allow a maximum of 74 percent foreign holding in an Indian telecom services company. If one were to add HTIL's 67 percent interest in Hutchison Essar with the 22 percent held by an Essar entity abroad, it would appear that the total foreign equity is in excess of the 74 percent limit, but there are other Indian shareholders besides Essar also involved, said an informed source. Telecom Watchdog was not immediately available for comment. HTIL spokeswoman Mickey Shiu said Thursday that Hutchison Essar was fully compliant with Indian rules on foreign direct investment. Shiu confirmed that there were other Indian shareholders besides Essar, but declined to give a breakdown of its 67 percent interest in Hutchison Essar. The petition by Telecom Watchdog alleges that as a result of HTIL's arrangements with Indian shareholders of Hutchison Essar, the foreign shareholding in Hutchison Essar is in breach of the foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations in India. It alleges that HTIL provided loans to its Indian partners to help them acquire equity in Hutchison Essar. HTIL shareholders vote Friday on the proposed sale of HTIL's interest in Hutchison Essar to Vodafone. The Indian government's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is meanwhile looking into all aspects of the transaction between HTIL and Vodafone. The scrutiny by the FIPB follows Vodafone's request for government approval for the proposed sale of HTIL's interest in Hutchison Essar to a Vodafone subsidiary, and is not an investigation into any irregularities in foreign holding in the company, Shiu said. The FIPB had approved HTIL's reorganization of its holding and the shareholding pattern in Hutchison Essar last year as way back as July last year, she added. Negotiations are still going onÂ between the Essar Group and Vodafone on a shareholder agreement. The Essar Group wants joint control of strategic decisions at Hutchison Essar.
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Vodafone Group Plc  has  won the battle for a controlling stake in India's No.4 mobile  operator Hutchison Essar with a bid that values it at around  $19 billion including debt, a source and India's Essar group  said on Sunday.
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SIR CHRIS GENT may have been the man who grew Vodafone into the world&#39;s largest mobile phone company, but his successor Arun Sarin is the man who must deliver the rewards to investors.
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By agreeing to pay $11.1 billion for a majority stake in Hutchison Essar, Vodafone of Britain faces the challenge of running the fast-growing Indian cellphone business with the cost discipline that is custom in that country.