11-21-2006, 04:21 AM
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--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> We do the talking, Chinese make money
JOJI THOMAS PHILIP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006 01:32:30 AM]
NEW DELHI: Indians talk a lot more on their mobile phones than the Chinese. But when it comes to making money, itâs the Chinese operators who have the last laugh.
China is also lot more labour efficient â the operators employ about 0.6m executives to manage a mobile subscriber base of 450m, while Indian operators employ around 0.4m against a base of 136m subscribers.
Consider the figures: The return on capital employed (ROCE) of mobile operators in India is three time higher than that in China. According to â05-06 figures, the Chinese service providersâ ROCE was 22.87%. Compared to this, the Indian operatorsâ ROCE was just 7.42%. This is despite the fact that Indiaâs capital employed per subscriber is lower ($147) than Chinaâs ($152).
The Chinese operators enjoy a higher ROCE because they spend much less on a subscriber every month. Their operating expenditure per month is $4.73/month per subscriber compared to $5.49 in India. Again, a comparison of the EBITDA margins reveal Chinese companies generate higher rate of returns at 49.85%, which is 18.52% higher than that of the Indian telecom companies.
Despite the scorching pace of mobile additions in India, the capital employed by operators for expansion and upgradation in â06 cannot be compared with China which is projected to make investments of $23bn in â06, while Indian operatorsâ commitments during the same period is only $6bn.
Indiaâs focus on cellular telephony has come largely at the cost of a flat growth in fixedlines, while China has been registering impressive growth rates in landlines too.
The dragon country has 360m landlines, compared to 47m in India. Besides, the segment is growing double digits in China, while back home, the annual growth is less than 2%. Besides, landline connections are available in 97% of villages in China against 89% in India. The Chinese also win hands down when it comes to broadband users. They have nearly 10 times more users than that of India and continues to add 7 times more subscribers on a monthly basis. While China scores on all financial parameters, when it comes to customer experience, subscribers in India have reason to cheer.
With the country offering the lowest tariffs in the world, its customers use their phones a lot more. The average minutes of usage per month in India is 393 and 470 for GSM and CDMA respectively, compared to Chinaâs 300 (GSM) and 277 (CDMA).
Not surprisingly then, the average monthly mobile bill per subscriber in India is an estimated 50% lower than his/her counterpart in China.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> We do the talking, Chinese make moneyJOJI THOMAS PHILIP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006 01:32:30 AM]
NEW DELHI: Indians talk a lot more on their mobile phones than the Chinese. But when it comes to making money, itâs the Chinese operators who have the last laugh.
China is also lot more labour efficient â the operators employ about 0.6m executives to manage a mobile subscriber base of 450m, while Indian operators employ around 0.4m against a base of 136m subscribers.
Consider the figures: The return on capital employed (ROCE) of mobile operators in India is three time higher than that in China. According to â05-06 figures, the Chinese service providersâ ROCE was 22.87%. Compared to this, the Indian operatorsâ ROCE was just 7.42%. This is despite the fact that Indiaâs capital employed per subscriber is lower ($147) than Chinaâs ($152).
The Chinese operators enjoy a higher ROCE because they spend much less on a subscriber every month. Their operating expenditure per month is $4.73/month per subscriber compared to $5.49 in India. Again, a comparison of the EBITDA margins reveal Chinese companies generate higher rate of returns at 49.85%, which is 18.52% higher than that of the Indian telecom companies.
Despite the scorching pace of mobile additions in India, the capital employed by operators for expansion and upgradation in â06 cannot be compared with China which is projected to make investments of $23bn in â06, while Indian operatorsâ commitments during the same period is only $6bn.
Indiaâs focus on cellular telephony has come largely at the cost of a flat growth in fixedlines, while China has been registering impressive growth rates in landlines too.
The dragon country has 360m landlines, compared to 47m in India. Besides, the segment is growing double digits in China, while back home, the annual growth is less than 2%. Besides, landline connections are available in 97% of villages in China against 89% in India. The Chinese also win hands down when it comes to broadband users. They have nearly 10 times more users than that of India and continues to add 7 times more subscribers on a monthly basis. While China scores on all financial parameters, when it comes to customer experience, subscribers in India have reason to cheer.
With the country offering the lowest tariffs in the world, its customers use their phones a lot more. The average minutes of usage per month in India is 393 and 470 for GSM and CDMA respectively, compared to Chinaâs 300 (GSM) and 277 (CDMA).
Not surprisingly then, the average monthly mobile bill per subscriber in India is an estimated 50% lower than his/her counterpart in China.