Bharti Airtel, Aircel To Launch iPhone 4 In India Soon

Two telecommunication service providers said that they will launch Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone 4 smartphones in India in coming months as mobile telecom companies start rolling out third-generation services.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Aircel Ltd. separately announced their plans to launch the phone, but both declined to say when would they launch the most-recent iPhone version and at what price.

Apple didn't offer any immediate comment.

Sales of smartphones like iPhone, which is popular for its high-speed Internet and mobile software capabilities, are expected to get a boost in India as telecom companies are rolling out 3G services that offer high-speed data transfer capabilities.

With more than 790 million subscribers, India is the second-largest market after China for telecom services. It is also the fastest-growing market.

India's mobile handsets market is expected to grow 25% to 210 million units in 2011, according to market research firm CyberMedia Research, which expects smartphones to account for 5.7% of the total handset sales in 2011 compared with 3.6% last year.

Bharti, which already sells earlier models of iPhone, has so far added 2 million users to its 3G mobile telephone network, which it launched in January.

The company, India's largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, has bandwidth to offer 3G services in 13 of the country's 22 telecom service areas.

Aircel, which has more than 50 million subscribers on its second-generation network, started providing 3G services in February. It also has bandwidth to offer 3G telecom services in 13 areas.

Malaysia's Maxis Communications Bhd. holds a 74% stake in Aircel, while India's Apollo Hospitals group owns the rest.

Apple's iPhone 4 was first released in the U.S. and four other countries in June last year, with a starting price of $199.

Last June, Vodafone Essar Ltd., the Indian unit of the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC, had said would launch iPhone 4 in India, but didn't say by when.

Prepaid users eye more value for money

The mid-market mobile phone user segment has started moving up the value chain. Many of these users want services like broadband data, media content and other value added services.

"The number of people who come just for voice top-up is shrinking. Customers are increasingly looking at comprehensive packages," says Muktambha Prakash, proprietor of Maa Enterprises, a mobile top-up outlet in R T Nagar in Bangalore. Muralidharsa Meharwade, a recharge retailer on M G Road, says pre-paid customers are asking for more voice, data and other services, all bundled. "Earlier, prepaid used to have a low-end connotation, but that's changing," says Meharwade.

Vodafone is offering 50MB of free mobile internet browsing bundled with every prepaid SIM. Data packs include 2GB usage for Rs 95 with a 30 day validity; 200MB for Rs 16 with a 3 day validity. Vodafone is scheduled to launch a slew of new bundled products in the coming weeks.

RCOM launched Buzz comes with a first recharge at Rs 66, with a talk time of Rs 40, one year validity, 500 SMS a day free for a year, and 40% off on GPRS for 12 months. Airtel offers a package at Rs 45, with talk time worth Rs 30, validity of 30 days, and 100 MB free data usage. For a recharge of Rs 109, the customer gets a talk time worth Rs 90 and 100MB free data. Another comes with a Rs 50 recharge, that gives Rs 41 talk time, 10 SMS free for seven days and Radio Mirchi live on mobile for seven days.

"Expect a decline in growth of voice revenue from 2010 by 2014-end, although this will be balanced by increased revenue from data services which will significantly contribute to the overall growth of mobile services in India," says Neha Gupta, senior research analyst in Gartner.

K Sankara Narayanan, CEO of Vodafone Karnataka, says that within three years, more than 50% of its subscribers would use mobile wireless services. "A majority of the new users are accessing the internet for the first time via their mobile phones," he said.