Telco Predictions for 2011

According to ABI Research, more than seven trillion SMS messages will be sent worldwide in 2011, from nearly 4.2 billion mobile subscriptions. Other predictions: Wi-Fi location will outstrip all other location technologies; LTE will continue its “Long Term Evolution”; mobile commerce sales set to explode; and Nokia Siemens Networks takes first place in the latest Vendor Matrix, with Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent in second and third spots.

Messaging is still more prevalent among younger subscribers, but as they replace older subscribers messaging will get a further boost. Messaging, which for ABI includes four types of communication – SMS, MMS, mobile email and Instant Messaging – is being increasingly regarded as something of a commodity by users, due to falling delivery costs and high competition.

According to industry analyst Aapo Markkanen, “When these trends towards commoditization are combined with the wider adoption of mobile email and IM services, the revenue proportion of SMS and MMS against the market total is expected to decline.”

Messaging is, increasingly, a tool for the enterprise as well as for individuals. ABI practice director Neil Strother notes that, “Mobile messaging has distinct advantages for companies communicating with their customers. It is universal, cost-effective and reliable, and most people have their phones with them and switched on most of the time.”

However the rate of mobile phone adoption generally will gradually decline over the next five years, and growth in number of new customers starting to use messaging will likewise slow gradually.

ABI Research believes that the future of mobile messaging will increasingly be in unified toolkits that mash up and converge text and multimedia messages, IM chats, emails and voicemails.

LTE services in the US will generate more than $11 billion in 2015

When it comes to mobile network infrastructure discussions, LTE is the name on everyone’s lips. Yet the very meaning of the acronym – “Long-Term Evolution” – is a hint that it isn’t going to happen overnight.

LTE’s deployment as the mainstay 4G technology will take place gradually, and won’t even begin to gather real steam until 2013. Nonetheless, LTE is forecast by ABI Research to generate more than US$11 billion in service revenue in the United States in 2015, with nearly a further US$650 million to come from Western Europe.

The LTE service revenue growth curve for Western Europe is practically a straight line. That contrasts sharply with constantly accelerating revenue growth in the US, and is largely due to the sometimes exorbitant amounts European network operators paid for their 3G spectrum: many of those operators want to squeeze every drop of value from their 3G investments before migrating to 4G.

Smartphones and mobile devices

Shipments of ultra-low-cost handsets will grow to more than 360 million by 2015, representing a 2010-2015 CAGR of over 22%, while shipments of low-cost handsets will reach 249 million by the same time period.

The key markets for these entry-level devices are China, India, Africa, Latin America, and some developing economies in Asia. While many emerging markets have experienced significant increases in the numbers of mobile subscribers, there remains a large portion of the population that has yet to purchase a mobile device or mobile services.

The downward pressure on entry-level device prices will persist for years to come. The low-cost sub-segment is now defined by devices that cost less than US$60, with prices expected to fall to US$40 by 2015.

The ultra-low-cost sub-segment, currently comprised of phones with price tags of US$25 or less, will see handsets available to the end-user for US$16.00 or less.

As the smartphone phenomenon has bloomed, large European corporations and the European Union appear to feel left out, particularly France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica. Investment efforts are disjointed and conflicting. The European Union is investing more than €33 million and European corporations untold millions more to try to reclaim a stake in the smartphone OS and apps game.


(C) ABI Research

China has pledged to restrict Internet phone services

China has pledged to restrict Internet phone services -- a move that could affect thousands of businesses and individuals making cheap calls via web-based communications companies such as Skype.

"We are carrying out with relevant authorities a campaign to crack down on illegal Voice over Internet Protocol phone services", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a circular posted online earlier this month.

In the brief notice, which did not offer details on the crackdown or a timetable for shutting down 'illegal' services, the ministry listed a telephone hotline for citizens to report any violations.

The ministry declined immediate comment when asked for clarification of the policy by AFP on Thursday.

The Beijing Morning Post on Thursday however quoted vice-minister Xi Guohua as saying only state-owned major Chinese telecommunications operators were licensed to provide Internet phone services linking telephones and computers.

Xi said communications between computers (PC-to-PC) remain open to all service providers in China, which has the world's biggest Internet population at 450 million.

That means some PC-to-phone services provided by firms including Skype, which are popular in China due to their low rates as compared with those of the country's major telecoms firms, could be banned under the ministry's new rules.

For example, Skype users pay just 0.19 yuan (three cents) per minute to call a landline number in the United States, while the same call on China Unicom would cost at least 2.4 yuan per minute.

UUCall, a homegrown Skype-like service which calls itself "the first Chinese Internet phone brand", was shut down in October 2009 on suspicion of operating illegal web phone services, the report said.

It resumed business in February after moving its domain name to Hong Kong, it added.

Xi said China Telecom and China Unicom had licences to provide PC-to-phone services in four cities on a trial basis. He added the government was considering an expansion of the programme.

Critics said the government move was meant to protect state-owned telecom operators, who are reluctant to promote the cheap service because it will marginalise their existing -- lucrative -- international call services.

"Overall this is to take further strong measures to protect the interests of state-owned monopolies," Kan Kaili, a professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told AFP.

Such policies "clearly hurt consumers' interests and can easily spark public anger," he said.

On web portal Netease.com, users were already starting to complain, in comments posted under a report on the MIIT regulations.

"What benefits people is not legal. I really want to curse out loud," one angry user said. The move may also be aimed at stemming phone scams under which thieves use web-based phone services to defraud consumers, changing the call origin number to pose as bankers, police or government officials, some Chinese reports said.

Kan speculated that the government also could be attempting to block VoIP services such as Skype that are difficult to monitor due to their high encryption levels.

Officials at Skype, which was founded in 2003 and now has 23 million users worldwide, were not immediately available to comment on the issue.

Skype -- which channels voice, video and text conversations over the Internet -- was hit by a major outage last week that left millions of users unable to use the service, due to technical problems.


(C) AFP

Vacancy: Junior Service Manager (ITIL) PERMANENT - Berlin

Please email CVs to melanie.fletcher@netsource.co.uk to apply and QUOTE JS010740/33

Start Date: ASAP
Rate: €35-42k
Type: Permanent
An opportunity has arisen to work for a international telecoms company within a vibrant bilingual department in the heart of Berlin. Berlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. The city has a very diverse cultural scene, and is home to around 420 art galleries, numerous annual festivals and more than 50 theatres; which makes this an excellent social and career opportunity for the right candidate.
Junior service Manager required to work in the Service Management team at a Datacenter in Germany. You will have experience in a 1st level or 2nd level support role (incident or problem management) in a hosting environment for servers, firewalls or load balancers and have experience as a System Administrator or Technical Project Manager. You will have a good knowledge of network structure and components, server components and configuration, application technologies and protocols and be preferred ITIL Foundation Certified.
You will have excellent communicational capabilities, good project management capabilities and good overall technical knowledge.

Jobs: Telecommunications IT Project Manager || Kansas City, MO (USA)

For immediate consideration please forward a current copy of your resume to astallings@virtualcapacity.com
Job Description:
The Project Manager position will work closely IT Management and internal customers to understand prioritization of defect and enhancement requests. The Project Manager will be responsible for the creation and maintenance of the release schedule as well as ensure that processes within the Business Systems Development organization are consistent across the enterprise.
The Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
• Develop and Implement detailed project plans for site implementation and operational execution
• Overall project administration, including planning, directing and controlling resources in complex work-scope projects to ensure compliance to customer specifications, safety, and technical/engineering standards
• Estimate budgets and track cost of projects
• Ensure project progresses on schedule and within budget
• Facilitate resolution of issues
• Escalate issues to project steering committee
• Prepare project status reports
• Identify and schedule project deliverables, milestones, and required tasks
• Develop and maintain technical and project documentation
• Ensure that all project deliverables and consistent with technical architecture and standards
• Define and implement continuous project risk analysis and required corrective actions
• Support user acceptance testing and training
• Lead hand-over process to operations and production personnel
• Development and implement performance metrics and measurements to track project performance acceptance, cost, and profitability
• Other duties and projects as required based on business needs

Jobs for Field & Implementation Managers || NSN || Argentina

2 Field Managers and 2 Implementation Managers for Argentina – Urgent!!!!

In case you are interested and your CV fits the profile described above please send your updated CV + availabilty+ desired rate to: alexander.moreira@lemcon.com

Lemcon is looking for 2 Field Managers and 2 Implementation Managers for Argentina with GSM 2G ex Siemens / 2G y 3G ex Nokia / MW (Microwave SDH y PDH9 ex Siemens) skills.

Vacancies for Transmission Planning/Optimization engineers || Brazil

Senior Transmission Planning/Optimization Engineer and Transmission Planning/Optimization Engineer for São Paulo - Start immediately
In case you fit the profile and are interested on the positions please send your updated CV, availability and desired daily rate to: alexander.moreira@lemcon.com
Lemcon is looking for professionals for the following positions in São Paulo:
Senior Transmission Planning/Optimization Engineer
Contract Period: 6 months (possibility of extension)
Positions: 1 (São Paulo / SP) – Start Immediately
Skills & Requirements:
- Very High Experience in MW TX Network Design (PDH and SDH) for Mobile Networks - minimum 6 years experience in TX Network Design
- Solid skills in NSN TX Equipment (PDH MW, SDH MW and MUX)
- Very High Experience in MUX Network Design (MUXPLAN)
- Very high skills in MapInfo and Pathloss tools
- Portuguese/English speaking needed / Brazilian preferred
Transmission Planning/Optimization Engineer
Contract Period: 6 months (possibility of extension)
Positions: 3 (São Paulo / SP) - Start Immediately
Skills & Requirements:
- Solid Experience in MW TX Network Design (PDH and SDH) for Mobile Networks - minimum 3 years experience in TX Network Design
- Solid skills in NSN TX Equipment (PDH MW, SDH MW and MUX)
- Solid Experience in MUX Network Design (MUXPLAN)
- Knowledge in MapInfo and Pathloss tools
- Portuguese/English speaking needed / Brazilian preferred

Vacancy: 2G & 3G BSS Commissioning Engineer || NSN | USA

BTS/Node B/cell site Installation/Maintenance Engineer/Technician

Field Technician - Certified NSN Flexi and UltraSite Engineer

5 years minimum Telecom experience

This position is expected to provide an engineering expertise in the area of 2G and 3G BTS commissioning, and troubleshooting under the supervision of the Infrastructure Manager. As the most knowledgeable and experienced commissioning engineers, he or she has a responsibility to lead other junior level engineers and train them as other commissioning engineers. Also, he or she is expected to support managers to make a plan for 2G and 3G deployment.

Must have at least two year experience in Nokia 2G and 3G BTS commissioning and integration. Provide field engineering for cell testing, trouble shooting and connecting various options for WCDMA & GSM Network. Ability to understand, operate, calibrate, and interpret the test results for the various test equipment such as T1 tester, Power meter, Air Interface System Analyzer, RF line analyzer, Earth Ground Resistivity meter

Details: http://www.3gwirelessjobs.com/job/view/6739/Base-Station-Commissioning-Engineer-for-NSN-2G-and-3G.html

Job: Ingenieros de RF Senior 2G GSM/GPRS/EDGE || ERICSSON || Honduras

Se solicitan ingenieros de RF Senior con experiencia en sistemas Ericsson 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) en las areas de optimizacion, entre los requerimientos debe contar con la capacidad de poder ejecutar el ajuste de los parametros de los diferentes algoritmos y tener experiencia en el analisis de las estadisticas del sistema y de drive test, la experiencia en el manejo de herramientas de procesamiento como Actix Analyzer y NetDecipher sera valorada. Los anos de experiencia seran valorados, especialmente en sistemas Ericsson.
Brightcomms ofrece un salario altamente competitivo y mantiene varias posiciones abiertas en Centro, Sur y Norte America.


Apply: http://www.3gwirelessjobs.com/job/view/6789/Ingenieros-de-RF-Senior-2G-GSMGPRSEDGE-ERICSSON.html

Vacancy: Telecom/VOIP Country Manager || India

Seeking Telecom / VoIP Country Manager in New Delhi, India for leading VoIP communication equipment company
Preferred Locations: New Delhi
If the job can be relevant for you or you know someone that might be interested, send a relevant CV + your compensation expectation directly to:
orc.hr1@gmail.com
Job Description:
§ A high level Sales Manager that is familiar with the Telecom market and has over 15 years of actual experience of successfully selling Telecom equipments ( 10+ M$) to operators directly and through SI (System Integrators).
§ Has personal relation/acquaintance with key Telecom operators and other key players in the market.
§ Experience in selling to Enterprises through Disitis and VARs.
§ Has proven experience in building up and managing a focused sales team.
§ Has wide proven experience working in the region.
§ Will be in charge of sales in India
§ Will report to the VP Sales APAC.
§ An advantage for candidates that worked for the following companies: Nortel, Cisco, Avaya, Alcatel, Ericsson, Sonus, etc.
Responsibilities will include:
§ Developing, managing and implementing the Company sales plans, revenues and budgets, for the region according to the company business and work plans to achieve the company annual and quarterly sales objectives.
§ Manage successfully the region sales team, channels and system integrator partners.
§ Development and management of the sales team personnel in the region.
§ Develop and maintain a sales incentive program and performance measurement program for the sales team.
§ Manage the pre-sales team in the region.
§ Work in coordination and cooperation with the Company product management, customer support, field engineers, project managers and other Company resources in order to meet the objectives of the sales plans for the region.
Work Experience:
§ Previous experience as a Country Manager and member of a company executive team.
§ Proven management experience and success in a similar position within an organization of at least $10M in sales
§ Experience in selling Communication equipment to Service Providers and Enterprises through: System Integrators, channels and/or OEMs.
§ Ability to engage on senior levels. Ability to address customers from the technology level and all the way up to the strategic & telecom trends level.
§ Have access to senior decision makers. Proven ability to identify the key decision makers in each opportunity.
§ Consistent over achievement of sales targets of at least 40 millions USD in the telecom market.
§ Experience in managing direct sales and management of a network of distributors.
§ Minimum university education or equivalent, Electrical Engineer degree. A Master’s degree in Business Administration is an advantage.
§ VoIP experience is a must.
Other Requirements
§ Dynamic, self-starter with a hunger for sales and winning business. Strong business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.
§ Full command of English language.
§ Full command with MS software and CRM systems.

Job for Product Pre-sales Manager_Microwave || Spain

Currently we have an opening for Product Pre-sales Manager _Microwave
If you are currently available and interested please provide with your updated resume at Deepali.rishi@netc-intl.com.
Job description:
You will be responsible for supporting sales management and customers in establishing, developing and closing business opportunities in the field of Transmission Network Solutions Product such as Microwave SDH/Metro DWDM/NG SDH. You will be responsible for all the presale support of transmission products.
Responsibilities:
• Presale support including quote, network design, proposal, pre-sale testing support etc.
• Seek out, identify, develop and close business opportunities with key service provider accounts. Collect and analyze all marketing information. Enhance customer relationships.
• Manage all activities and coordinate between company and its service provider accounts. Promote full range of Technologies solutions to defined customers. Produce and deliver formal business proposals and presentations.
• Identify key customer requirements and coordinate with Product Management and Engineering to ensure that these requirements are implemented in the products.
• Create co-operative business plans with service providers and their partners, help to define new business models and support product features.
Identify, quantify, and recommend action plan to address new business opportunities according to overall strategy
Qualifications:
• Good knowledge in the fields of Microwave SDH /Metro DWDM /NG SDH or other Transmission Network Products.
• Ability to understand the customer’s needs in order to design the desired solution.
• At least 3 years of technical pre-sales or pro-sales working experience with the incumbents in Europe.
• Tender project experience is preferred.
• Proven ability to partner with service providers and develop new business models for service subscribers using new technologies.
• Proven ability to manage customer accounts in cooperation with Sales management at CxO and technical level.
• Detailed knowledge of carrier business models and service management strategies.
Familiar with other vendors’ Transmission Network products
Skills/Experience
• Minimum of Bachelor degree in telecommunications, computer science or electronics.
• Over 3 years direct telecommunications and carrier network experience with a proven track record in an international telecom equipment company.
• A proven track record of building long-term relationships with strategic carrier accounts.
• Excellent collaboration skills with a wide variety of people (product management, engineering, marketing).
• Ability to show creativity and a different way of thinking.
• Must welcome challenges.
Good oral and written communication, interpersonal skills and fluency in English and Spanish.

Jobs for Ericsson BTS Node B Engineers || Worldwide

Urgent Opening with Top Telecom Client.
Experience in Integration & Commissioning of Ericsson BTS and NODE B

If Interested please send your resume at career.managerss@gmail.com

It is 6 Month Extendable contract on the payroll of Linkquest Telecom Ltd.

Vacancy: Technical Manager Mobile Core Network (LTE/UMTS/CDMA) Appliance Development in Bangalore (India)

Interested folks are requested to contact me for further processing of the candidature.
Location: Bangalore, India
Type: Full time, Regular
Experience: Senior-level (10-15 years)
Salary: Negotiable, experience based
Hiring Timeline: Immediate
Travel: Minimal
Please send your CVs to Rony George at rony.george@careernet.co.in or call +919019665232.
Job Description is as follows:-
DEV-MC-4 Technical Manager, Mobile Network Appliance Development
Description
This job would include technical leadership and management of application development team working on the packet-switched interfaces of 3G UMTS and CDMA networks. The candidate would be the Group Lead responsible for delivering end to end application delivery covering new product releases and the customer specific enhancements and bug fixes. This position requires a strong engineering background with at least 5 years of technical leadership and 2 years of people management experience in building carrier grade high-availability appliances for mobile networks.
Skills:
•In-depth knowledge of mobile core signaling protocols for UMTS or CDMA networks
•Good knowledge of mobile core bearer protocols using GTP-U or PPP/GRE.
•Technical leadership in building carrier-grade products in a fast paced development environment
•Excellent people management skills.
•Strong programming background in multi-threaded application development using C or C++
•Good understanding of Linux kernel, including debugging experience
•Hands on development experience with ATCA based platforms would be a big plus
•Knowledge of 3GPP charging and service plane interfaces would be a plus
Additional skills:
•Self starter with a “can do” attitude and the passion to make a difference in the workplace.
•Work in a flexible, informal, fast paced, startup environment
•Good verbal and written communication and team skills
•Prior experience in working with remote teams is a plus
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer science or associated engineering discipline is required.

Jobs for VoIP and Video Conferencing Engineers || Huawei || Pacific Island

We are seeking a small team of VoIP and Video Conferencing Engineers for a 12 month contract in The Pacific Islands.

The succesful candidate will have experience working on the Huawei network and 3-5 years experience working with IP. Ideally you will be CCNP Certified. This will be a maintenance and technical support role, so a background in O&M would be preferable.

For further details, please send CV's to lauren.collins@tanint.com

2011: Managed Services & Cloud Predictions

2011 could be good or bad, depending on how your company is situated to take on the challenges of managed services and cloud. So, here is my list of new year predictions (in no particular order).
1) MSPs will continue to make up their minds regarding cloud. Some will adopt, others will avoid, but to survive 2011 (and beyond) everyone needs to know the issues at stake and have some opinion, both for employees and colleagues and for clients.
2) MSP shakeout will slow down. The bleeding has largely stopped and those companies who were ill equipped in 2008 and 2009 have mostly disappeared. Those who are left are relatively strong, capable of lasting for the foreseeable future, and will have options as to what they want to do moving forward.
3) MSP valuations will continue to see modest increases but more importantly the low end "bottom feeding" players will cease to be effective. The word is out about what MSPs are worth and fewer people are willing to sell out for 2001 prices.
4) MSP mergers will be a major factor in 2001. As capital funding continues to be sluggish more MSPs will seek out traditional mergers (as opposed to acquisitions) in order to achieve inorganic growth.
5) Australia, South Africa, Middle East, and Central/South America will see strong growth in managed services. Cloud advocates, you may need to wait before you see much cloud pickup in these geographic regions; the infrastructure just isn't there yet.

6) More vendors will realize the benefit of a pure channel focus and will vigorously challenge even the largest software/hardware vendors who have played both ends. 2011 will be the year the channel begins its rebirth.

7) Lots of end-users will need help with managing their IT.

8) Regulation or the threat of regulation will need to be addressed

© MSP Alliance

Middle East: Du enters race to provide 3D TV feed

Telecom operator promises to add new movie titles to its video-on-demand service each month

Telecom service provider du has joined the race to be among the first companies in the Middle East to provide its customers a three-dimensional television viewing experience.

The company announced yesterday that its one-year-old video-on-demand (VoD) service is now 3D-capable and has started airing its first 3D content.
Calling it a "3D first for the Middle East," du is believed to be the first telecom company in the region to be out of the 3D gate on the leading edge of the 3D craze spawned in part by cinematic efforts this year such as Avatar.
Deal with UK company
The company said that it reached a deal with On Demand Group of the UK to air du's first 3D movie, Street Dance3D.
In a statement, Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer of du, said that the company plans to add more 3D movies.
Faraidooni said it "is a great new addition to our bouquet of offerings and depending on positive customer feedback we will introduce more such exciting titles. We are the first to introduce this to our customers and we hope they will enjoy this new technology, which enables them to watch movies in this advanced new format."
Tony Kelly, CEO of On Demand Group, said in a statement: "Clearly the global video industry is excited about the potential for 3D and our many content clients are among them. In this very short period since du's Video on Demand launch — not less than a year — our work with this customer clearly demonstrates the drive to service innovation and thorough attention On Demand Group brings to Video on Demand and pay-television operators. This 3D first sets du apart from the competitors yet again."
New movie titles will be added to the PayTV service each month, said du.
The move by the telcom comes after Orbit Showtime Network announced its move into satellite 3D PayTV in early December.
"Following hot on the heels of the phenomenal success of high definition and the Showbox HD DVR among our viewers, we are now extremely proud to be the first TV network in the Middle East to offer subscribers the opportunity to experience cinema quality 3D movies in the comfort of their own home; 3D is a new dimension in television and is set to transform the way TV is enjoyed," said David Butorac, CEO of OSN.


(C) Gulf News

M&A Bankers Forecast India Deal Volumes to Surpass Record 2010

Indian mergers and acquisitions in 2011 may surpass this year’s record $71 billion of deals, led by oil and gas, metals and mining companies, according to M&A bankers including Topsy Mathew of Standard Chartered Plc.

Billionaire Sunil Mittal’s $10.7 billion acquisition of mobile-phone operators in Africa led an almost four-fold increase in takeovers this year as deals surpassed 2007’s $69 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Large Indian corporates are going through a growth phase: they think there is a lot of opportunity, they think they have access to capital,” 35-year-old Mathew, managing director for M&A for India, said in an interview Dec. 27. The London-based bank climbed 13 places to No. 2 among Indian takeover advisers this year, its highest ranking, Bloomberg data show. “They are capitalizing on the positive sentiment to undertake long-term strategic transactions,” he said.

Companies in Asia-Pacific including India and China are expected to be the most acquisitive buyers in 2011 as attractive valuations and domestic competition drive deals globally, according to Bloomberg’s M&A Global Outlook survey. Overseas companies may target Indian pharmaceutical and consumer firms, and local enterprises will seek natural resources, said Bank of America Corp., ranked No. 3.

‘Highly Active’

“Outbound deals would continue to be highly active given that international companies’ valuations are still relatively depressed, and Indian companies have access to debt and equity capital,” Saurabh Agrawal, the 41-year-old head of India investment banking at Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions on Dec. 14. “Inbound and local deals will also take place.”

Cross-border deals rose to a record $59.2 billion in India this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, after Mittal’s New Delhi-Bharti Airtel Ltd. in March agreed to buy the African assets of Zain for $10.7 billion. Outbound M&A accounted for 74 percent of that volume.

The acquisition spree in India, China and Brazil contrasts with a slowdown in global deals. Mergers worldwide are down 46 percent from 2007’s record, according to Bloomberg data. In the U.S., the world’s largest market, volumes are 51 percent lower, and levels in Europe are down by 59 percent.

Pending Deals

Pending deals in India including the sale of a controlling stake in Mumbai-based software maker Patni Computer Systems Ltd. and Honda Motor Co.’s holding in New Delhi-based Hero Honda Motors Ltd. Buyout firms including Carlyle Group are bidding to acquire those shares, people familiar with the matter have said.

A group of state-run companies hired Citigroup Inc. last week to prepare a bid for Sydney-based Riversdale Mining Ltd., countering a A$3.9 billion ($3.9 billion) offer from London- based Rio Tinto Group.

“Resources will be a big focus, with Indian companies looking at consolidating their position in oil and gas, metals and mining,” said Standard Chartered’s Mathew. “There will be a particular focus on Indian public sector companies looking at oil assets internationally as well as Indian companies looking to acquire iron ore and coal assets for their steel and power operations.”

Natural resources and telecommunications will continue to drive M&A, said Frank Hancock, managing director of corporate finance for Barclays Capital in Mumbai. Telecom takeovers accounted for 26 percent of deals in India this year, while energy and mining companies accounted for another 30 percent.

Takeover Rules

A proposed overhaul of Indian M&A rules may also stoke interest in domestic targets, Hancock, 50, said in an e-mail Dec. 14. London-based Barclays is ranked No. 4 on takeovers in India, its highest ever position.

“While cross-border will still make up 70 percent of the total pie, the balance between inbound and outbound will increasingly become more even,” said Hancock. The new rules “are going to make it easier for a listed company to be taken over and thereafter delisted.”

A panel formed by India’s capital markets regulator in July recommended increasing the threshold shareholding level that would trigger mandatory open offers to 25 percent from 15 percent. Shareholders who already own more than 25 percent would also be allowed to offer to buy an additional 10 percent, half the existing requirement.

Indian Targets

Easing limits on foreign direct investment would also bolster overseas companies’ appetite for Indian takeover targets, Sameer Nath, managing director and head of M&A at Citigroup’s local unit, said in an e-mailed response to questions Dec. 20. New York-based Citigroup is No. 6 among takeover advisers in India this year.

“Liberalizing the FDI framework in a sensible way could be a positive for all parties,” Nath said. Overseas companies may look to India for its telecom, health-care and consumer industries, while local companies will look overseas for oil and gas, metals, mining and technology assets, he said.

Financing remains a major prerequisite for large takeovers in the nation, bankers including Nath said. Outbound deals are particularly dependent on funding, Agrawal wrote.

A decline in borrowing costs has allowed Indian companies to replace debt with cheaper financing, putting them in position now to be more aggressive on acquisitions, said Ganeshan Murugaiyan, managing director and head of investment banking at UBS AG’s local unit. The Swiss bank was ranked No. 7 this year in advising on takeovers in India.

“The benign debt market environment, especially from the second half of 2010, has helped several corporates to refinance the debt or raise long-term funds at attractive costs,” Murugaiyan, 37, wrote on Dec. 14. “With this back-drop, we expect Indian corporates to be more acquisitive next year.”


© BLOOMBERG