3G in india

The new-generation iPhone, which was bought by 1-million customers within three day of its global launch in June, will be available in India from August 22.

The country’s two largest GSM operators, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, on Wednesday announced that they will begin selling the new model in select outlets from that date.

While the two GSM companies have not revealed pricing for the phone, industry sources said it could be between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000. Outside India, this 3G-enabled iPhone model is available for as little as Rs 8,000, but this is a bundled offer which mandates that subscribers stick with the operator for 24 months after buying the phone.

For instance, in the US, Apple is pricing the new iPhone at $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16 GB version, which is nearly 50% cheaper than the earlier version. In the UK, Apple has said that the 8GB handset will cost £99 ($194), but subscribers will need a monthly tariff of £30 or £35 to avail of this offer. ET has learnt that Bharti and Vodafone will not adopt this bundling model in India.

Bharti and Vodafone had opened up bookings for the latest version of the iPhone about two months ago. Both telcos did not reveal as to how many subscribers have signed up for this handset so far. The new iPhone, combines all the revolutionary features of the earlier version with 3G networking, which is twice as fast as the first-generation iPhone.

The new iPhone features built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services and iPhone 2.0 software, which supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and hundreds of third-party applications.

The catch is that 3G services are not likely to be available in India until mid ’09. 3G services involves high-end offerings on the mobile such as ultra-fast internet, downloads of movies, music and video clips and video conferencing among others.

“iPhone has been an iconic technological revelation of this year,” Bharti Airtel’s president for mobile services Sanjay Kapoor said in a statement.

The move to partner Airtel and Vodafone marks a major shift in Apple’s global strategy of ‘one country-one operator’. But with India emerging as the fastest-growing cellular market, analysts said Apple would want to tie up with all leading operators to maximise growth and revenues. Airtel and Vodafone have a subscriber base of over 220 million.

The earlier version of the iPhone has been available in the grey market in India for about a year now. Industry estimates peg the number of such devices in India at a whopping 5-6 lakh. Dealers in Mumbai and Delhi started selling it soon after it was launched in the US last year.

real estate- March 08

South, Bangalore’s real estate market is witnessing a period of correction and has already dropped by 15% this year. But real estate brokers recommend waiting for another few months in order to cash in on a further drop in prices that is expected. “In another two-three months, prices will fall by another 20% or so. Though prices in the central regions of the city, in a radius of 5 km from MG Road, will only rise, areas like Whitefield, Kanakapura, Marathahalli, and Sarjapur Road will see a sharp drop in apartment prices,” says Feroze Abdulla, MD, Feroze’s Estate Agency. “There has been a 40% drop in sales recorded in the sub-registrar offices in peripheral areas of the city. The reason is that supply has outstripped demand and the unrealistic prices being quoted by developers,” he adds.
The going rates in the areas mentioned above would be between Rs 3,500 and 5,000/ sq ft. Rentals for a three-bedroom apartment in Whitefield and Marthahalli will be between Rs 10,000 and 15,000. However, with the opening of the new Bengaluru International Airport in north Bangalore, people are seen gravitating towards that direction, when traditionally most of the real estate activity was seen in the south and east of the city. Says Nitesh Shetty, MD of property development company Nitesh Estates, “There is a large section of people that is seen investing in a second home and is keen on securing a fixed monthly rental or investing to earn a good return on appreciation.”

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Good time to buy a house in Bangalore

Bangalore: If you are planning to buy a house, perhaps now is the time to do so. After three years of unprecedented growth between 2003 and 2006, property prices across much of Bangalore are now falling. And falling sharply in many areas. A survey by real estate consultancy Asipac finds that residential prices in south east Bangalore (around Sarjapur Road) have dropped 10-20% in the past one year — with prices now in the range of Rs 3,600-4,600 per sqft against Rs 4,000-5,300 a year ago. South Bangalore including Jayanagar and J P Nagar (except Koramangala) prices are seen to have dropped 8-15%. East Bangalore, which was the first to see corrections, as TOI reported earlier, is estimated by Asipac to have witnessed a further price drop of 6-12% in 2007. The city centre and parts of North Bangalore (especially between Hebbal and Yelahanka) are the only areas seen to be still holding up, the former because of lack of fresh supply of property, and the latter because of the proximity to the upcoming airport. “In many cases, the quoted prices may be higher, but developers are throwing in a lot of freebies that effectively bring the price down,” says Asipac chairman Amit Bagaria. The price drop is the result of the enormous gap between demand and supply. Average sale volumes are seen to be down 10-40%. “Developers who were selling 60 flats in a quarter a year ago are today selling barely 6,” says Mayank Saksena, VP in property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj. Asipac estimates that against a total sale of about 33,500 homes by the entire organized sector in 2006, this year will end with a sale of no more than 26,000 homes. At the same time, the number of properties under construction has increased manifold. Irfan Razack, CMD of the Prestige Group, admits property prices in the city’s peripheral areas are at an “all-time unrealistic high”. Geetha Naresh, a property consultant, says investors who had blocked their money on prime properties in Whitefield and Marathahalli two years ago paying between Rs 1,600 and Rs 2,000 per sqft are today willing to sell at the same price. “There are instances where investors are even willing to sell below their purchase price, at rates like Rs 1,500 per sqft,” she says. Many speculators and investors had entered the market in 2005 and 2006, booking multiple flats, thinking they would be able to dispose them of once prices reached a certain higher level. “They only paid the initial amounts and they did not have the capacity to pay the full amount. But now they are all stuck. Neither can they pay the instalments nor can they sell the flat because of poor demand. And since they have to pay off bank loans, there is large-scale distress sales happening,” says an analyst. FLAT RATE Southeast Bangalore — areas around Sarjapur Road Rs 3,600 to Rs 4,600 per sqft against Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,300 a year ago. South Bangalore — Jayanagar and J P Nagar Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500 per sqft against Rs 4,400-6,400 a year ago. East Bangalore — Whitefield Rs 2,100 per sqft against Rs 2,350; Marathahalli: Rs 2,750 per sqft against Rs 3,100 North Bangalore — between Hebbal and Yelahanka No fall in price Rentals too are down in the city Bangalore: It’s not only apartment prices in Bangalore that are falling. Land prices and rentals too are. Mayank Saksena, VP in Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, says land prices in Whitefield have dropped 25-30% in the past six months alone, and about 10% in other parts. “Developers are not keen on picking up land since they think prices will fall,” he says. One industry observer notes that the two Reliance groups (Mukesh and Anil Ambani) and HDFC together had picked up nearly 100 acres near the Devanahalli airport in January this year at Rs 2.25 crore an acre. “They thought it would hit Rs 3 crore by December. But I know a neighbouring plot that’s today going for Rs 2 crore an acre,” he says. Mukesh Pradhan, who picked up a second flat (a premium three-bedroom place) on the outer ring road, was hopeful of getting a monthly rental of at least Rs 25,000. But even after months, he has been unsuccessful in finding a tenant to pay that figure. Hardly surprising, considering there are hundreds of flats lying vacant in what is described by some as “ghost complexes”. Property consultant Geetha Naresh says a three bedroom villa at a prime residential property that went for Rs 1,30,000 a month last year today fetches just Rs 75,000. So is it a good time to buy property? Most analysts advise some more waiting. Real estate analyst Ankur Srivastava says some time in 2008 may be a good time to buy. So does Saksena: “It will take 6 months to 1 year for the excess supply to get absorbed.”

BSNL - 8 MBPS