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Telecom operators to step up competition in tablet space

A fierce competition among Indian telecom operators in India is in the offing to gain supremacy in the emerging media tablet space.

All leading 3G operators are aiming to launch tablet PCs in 2011. The 3G rollout prompts telecom operators to go for cost effective tablets in the country. Reliance Industries, which won BWA spectrum, will also be in the race for tablet marketshare.

Beetel Teletech, a Bharti Enterprises group company, announced the launch of its tablet device – Beetel Magiq – priced at Rs 9,999.

Reliance Communications’ Reliance 3G Tab, a fully loaded Android tablet, is available for Rs 13,000.

The Android-based tablet device from Beetel comes with a 7 inch screen, 2 mega pixel front as well as rear camera, and 8 Gigabyte (GB) internal memory, which can be expanded up to 32 GB. The device supports wi-fi and 3G and has a 1 Ghz processor.

The Beetel Magiq has been designed looking at the technology needs of the extremely demanding Indian customers.Our tablet is not only about affordability but also about aspirational features which were previously available in the high-end devices,” Vinod Sawhny, executive director and CEO, Beteel Telech.

The RCom 3G Tab is supported by Reliance’s 3G network across 333 Towns in 13 3G circles. The device is priced at Rs 12,999 and further bundled with discounts on the monthly and annual data plans to enhance the value proposition. Reliance has more than 2 million 3G customers.

Since Beetel is a Bharti group company, it will be handy for Bharti Airtel to source tablets and offer at competitive prices. Tablet strategy is important for Airtel as it is trying to maximize revenue from value added services. At present, around 15 percent of its total revenue comes from VAS.

Airtel 3G services are available in 50 plus towns across India. Bharti Airtel has more than 3 million 3G customers that are enjoying the Airtel 3G advantage. Bharti Airtel is looking for launching cost effective tablets in Indian market.

Reliance 3G Tab has the 7-inch form factor for Internet email on the go, social networking, video streaming, gaming etc. supported by Reliance Communications’ superior 3G network. Bundled with ‘Documents To Go’, business users can now conveniently view and work with Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF attachments.

We believe the unmet demand of a fully loaded tablet at an aggressive price point will now fuel the aspirations of the evolved customers,” said Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Communications.

Smart phone major RIM also recently launched its tablet in India. Though RIM has substantial following in Smartphones, but tablets still must prove themselves to the RIM followers. Enterprise are still warming up to the idea of Tablet adoptions and it’s not happening at any significant pace as of now. Indian enterprises take a longer cycle to move to devices like tablet PCs and while a few are beginning to warm up to such devices,” said Vishal Tripathi, principal research Analyst at Gartner.


In the enterprise segment 10-inch Tablets are preferred, due to its ability to support more-robust two-hand typing and larger viewing areas for apps. Playbook is less competitive at comparable price points, due to the lack of a strong application and ecosystem. Enterprise support for the PlayBook is based on BlackBerry Bridge, a system where secure information remains on the BlackBerry, but is displayed on the PlayBook through a Bluetooth connection.


The industry is going to witness more competition among tablet vendors and service providers who are bringing bundled tablets.

By Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com

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