Posted on 8 August 2008 | 4:27 pm

-- Starry few days for Rupert Murdoch, the man who made Tony Blair doesn't seem to have lost his appetitite for a heady cocktail of politics and media, even in India. Mr Murdoch is believed to have given the nod for an alliance with the Rajeev Chandrasekhar-led Asianet Entertainment. ET reports that Star is expected to acquire a majority stake in Asianet's general entertainment channels in Malayalam (2), one in Kannada (Suvarna) and one proposed in Telugu (Sitara). The deal is expected to be sealed in the coming weeks. We had previously reported on News Corp's $100 million regional TV channel investment warchest. As per the report, the deal is being valued at Rs 300- 350 crore. That leaves approximately $29 million for other regional GEC play's. Chandrasekhar had acquired a controlling interest in Asianet through his PE firm Jupiter Capital for Rs 130-150 crore.

-- Further to our in-depth report on Star looking to divest the 25.9% stake in Balaji, fortunes for both the firms seem to be interlinked. As per the previous report, the deal with Asianet will be realized only after Star exits Balaji. Another one states Balaji is now seriously pursuing talks with a consortium of investors, the most likely being Reliance ADAG. Murdoch himself had declined to comment on the status of the venture, but those in the know contacted by CS indicate the end kould be very near.

For releases, immediate updates or general faff, Cerius is now live on Gtalk, AreYouCerius (at) Gmail.com

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• News Corp. Investing $100 Million In TV Channels Across India
• Star May Divest 25.9% Stake In Balaji; A Look At Production Houses

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Posted on 6 August 2008 | 10:29 pm

Mobile payment service provider Obopay and Nobel Prize winning Dr. Yunus's micro-finance firm Grameen Solutions, have tied up for a mobile banking initiative. The Bank A Billion initiative proposes to bring banking services to a billion of the world's poorest people by 2018. The initiative will start initially in Mumbai and Bangladesh beginning October, 2008. Services includes access to savings, money transfer, payments and micro-credit.

US based Obopay had recently concludd a $20 million fourth round of investment led by India's Essar Communications amongst many others. James Pearce, at mocoNews had mentioned that Obopay wants to become the Western Union/PayPal of the mobile world, and in order to do that it had to get 41 licenses to become a registered money transfer agent just in the US.

We had recently covered RBI putting a halt on mobile banking services. Further to the same, a Paymate spokesperson recently informed us that all was business as usual since they were compliant with the proposed set of guidelines. The final guidelines are expected by end of August, which leaves plenty of time for the initiative to adhere to the final set of guidelines.

As an aside, Grameen Telecom (GTC) is a non-profit company that provides mobile phones to villagers in Bangladesh. It's sister concern, Grameenphone, is a GSM-based cellular operator with more than 50% of market share with 10 million customers as of Dec 2006.

For releases, immediate updates or general faff, Cerius is now live on Gtalk, AreYouCerius (at) Gmail.com

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• Obopay Inc Secures $20 Million From Essar, Qualcomm, Promethean India And Others
• RBI Puts Halt On Mobile Banking Services; Final Guidelines Expected In 2 Weeks

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Posted on 6 August 2008 | 10:29 pm

The telecom sector continues to buzz (sic). TRAI has issued its recommendations for MVNO, defining a Mobile Virtual Network Operator as "a licensee in any service area that does not have spectrum of its own for access service, but can provide wireless (mobile) access services to its own customers through an agreement with the licensed access provider, UAS/CMTS Licensee".
. Further to the same, TRAI has recommended a distinct licensing framework for MVNO as well as freedom to chose whichever (Full/Intermediate/Thin) business model they would like to pursue. Additionally, the commercial model governing the relationship between a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) and MVNO will be left to market forces. CS has gleaned key points for an short executive summary below:

a: Any company (not limited to telco or allied industries) that fulfils licensing conditions (FDI, substantial equity) are eligible for a license.

b: While an MNO can have any number of MVNO's attached to it, one MVNO cannot get attached to more than one MNO is a service area. As for the entry fee, it is proposed to be 10% of MNO's entry fee as prevailing on date in that service area subject to a maximum of Rs. 5 crores for Metros and Category 'A', Rs. 3 crores for Category 'B' and Rs. 1 crore for Category 'C'.

c: MNO should pay spectrum charges also on the revenue of MVNO(s) or all the payments made by MVNO(s) to MNO, whichever is higher.

d: The subscribers of MVNO(s) should be counted towards parent MNO for the purpose of spectrum allotment in bands where subscriber based criterion is applicable for spectrum allotment.

e: An equity holder, having 10% or more equity in a MVNO cannot hold 10% or more equity in another MVNO. Also, an equity holder having 10% or more equity in an MNO cannot hold 10% or more equity in a MVNO

f: Definitions of circles, validity of licenses (20 years) as well as the FDI limit (74%) are the same as those currently in use by MNO.

The recommendations give a good enough framework for players such as RCom, MTNL and Kishore Biyani's Future Group to get started planning services. In the case of the latter, Future Group had recently appointed McKinsey and Value Partners to advise on how to spend its Rs 100 crore to invest in an MVNO. Considering the recommendations do not place any emphasis in owning infrastructure or liabilities associated with spectrum, knowledge-rich firms such as VAS providers stand a good opportunity to move higher up the value chain. As MobStir notes in a previous post, "Someone like STAR or ZEE should launch an MVNO where you get 200 minutes of conversation and all content for free for just 350 rupees a month. That would change the game. Minutes at 1 rupee and unlimited content at 150. They make all the money, own the subscriber and truly extend their brands and content into the mobile space." Well, the costs do seem to be fairly magnificient for such a venture. However, someone with mighty content throughput like Star and Zee will also benefit with fatter margins. Besides with 3G on the anvil, a bundled - branded Mobile TV offering wouldn't be too bad either. Download Release | Recommendations.

For releases, immediate updates or general faff, Cerius is now live on Gtalk, AreYouCerius (at) Gmail.com

Related

• Earnings: RCom Interested In MVNOs, But Waiting For TRAI Recommendations
• MTNL Considering MVNO Tie-Up For Garuda; Mittal Skeptical - Low ARPUs
• TRAI Issues Consultation Paper On MVNOs In India
• Channel | MVNO

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Posted on 6 August 2008 | 10:29 pm

Merely days after the announcement of the 3G policy, ET reports the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of DoT has cleared allocation of 3G spectrum to state owned BSNL and MTNL.

We had covered this in our thoughts on 3G, pointing to the four month head-start this would give state-owned telco's over private firms. The spread now seems to have increased with BSNL and MTNL capable of launching services by year-end and private telcos being able to jump into the fray only by mid-2009.

The move is being justified by stating BSNL has been given a 10 million broadband connection target by 2010, up from a current base of 1.7 million customers. As I stated previously, roll-out options incase of state-owned telco's should be different compared to firms committed to maximizing shareholder value. If increasing broadband penetration is being looked at justification for a head-start, why isn't the last mile being unbundled? For that matter, BSNL is sitting pretty on an authorised capital of Rs 10,000 crore, that's $2.38 billion worth of capital that can be used for subsidies to drive wired broadband and probably subsidize a few hundred thousand PC's. The popular bumper sticker comes to mind, Don't steal, the Government hates competition.

For releases, immediate updates or general faff, Cerius is now live on Gtalk, AreYouCerius (at) Gmail.com

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• BSNL Board Clears $10 Billion IPO Plan
• Thoughts On 3G Policy; MTNL Ready To 3GO In 3 Months; RCom Launches GSM In Delhi

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Posted on 6 August 2008 | 10:24 pm

Three more country launches for the 3G iPhone. India's Bharti Airtel, Estonia's EMT, and the Czech Republic's Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) O2 all announced today that they would begin selling the handsets on August 22. The three operators did not disclose any pricing of the phones or monthly tariffs. In India, Bharti Airtel isn't the only iPhone carrier. Vodafone—which hasn't revealed pricing or launch dates—will also be selling the phone. The two operators, however, will only be able to provide a limited service of the phone, as India does not yet have 3G networks up and running.

Telefonica Release | Airtel Release | EMT Release

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Posted on 6 August 2008 | 5:00 pm

Job With Us: Editor/Reporter For ContentSutra

We're looking for a sharp, energetic editor to lead our editorial activities here at ContentSutra, the premier digital media site in India with readership spread across the country, U.S., Europe and other parts of Asia. Founded in 2005, the site is part of ContentNext Media, a rapidly growing news and information media company covering the business of digital media and content, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian News & Media.

We're expanding our editorial presence in India. As is the case with our other sites, the editor sets the pace with strong reporting, breaking news, intelligent aggregation and thoughtful analysis. You will be part of hiring additional full-time and part-time contract reporters as well as recruiting freelancers and making freelance assignments. More details in extended entry....

The work: Our brand of journalism combines original reporting, intelligent linking/aggregation, and analysis—all quick, short, smart and sharp.

ContentSutra will be your top priority but you will also be contributing to our other sites as news warrants. You will be working from a home office so must have access to broadband. We will provide the computer and cover broadband expenses.

Experience/Requirements:
-- Location: preferably Delhi or Mumbai, though other metros also will be considered.
-- 2-5 years of business news reporting experience, some or all online.
-- Background writing about media, internet, mobile and technology with clips/blog posts, etc. to demonstrate it.
-- Comfort with the fast pace of ContentSutra and ContentNext.
-- Flexibility with working time zones...part of the job requires interacting with editors in U.S.
-- General knowledge of world media and internet trends.
-- Basic working knowledge of HTML. Some experience with recording/uploading digital audio and images is also helpful.
-- Travel within major metros in India for industry-related conferences, news. Occasional international travel likely.

Compensation: This is a contract full-time position. Salary will depend on experience—and will be very generous. In addition to a computer, needed equipment will be provided.

To Apply: Send resumes, preferably with links to recent work, to ContentNext Media publisher and editor Rafat Ali at rali AT contentsutra.com.

ContentNext Media: Our four sites—flagship paidContent.org, MocoNews.net, paidContent:UK and ContentSutra—cover the transformation of media, entertainment and information industries worldwide. 

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Posted on 6 August 2008 | 4:03 pm

Mumbai Angels Invests $500K In Mobile TV Outfit Apalya

Hyderabad-based mobile TV company Apalya Technologies Pvt. Ltd has received $500,000 (Rs 2 crore) investment from Mumbai Angels, a network of angel investors.

Apalya aggregates premium entertainment content from many different content providers, and then optimises the content to be suitable for small-screen or mobile viewing. The firm was founded in December 2005 by Vamshi Reddy and Shiva Bayyapunedi, who have combined experience of 26 years in the IT industry. "We wanted to focus on mobile technology and felt that most of the market was dominated by WAP related applications. We felt that mobile TV will take off," said Vamshi Reddy, co-founder and director of Apalya.

"We had seen a lot of people try to bring in 3G solutions and slap it into existing networks and fail. What we tried to do is to build a customised solutions which would work in client's 2G network and eventually evolve into 3G."

Apalya has built up a clientele of 30,000 paid subscribers across the country and has a 24 people team in Hyderabad. It plans to expand the marketing team and infrastructure. "Funds are primarily going to be used to expand the team on the marketing front and for setting up the infrastructure. We will work with each operator to take the product to the next level," said Reddy. Bayyapunedi and Reddy had invested $250,000 in the venture.

"We have developed a propriety technology of our own which basically does a progressive play of radio," said Reddy. Apalya has tied up with most of the telecom operators in the country including Idea Cellular, BSNL, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), among others. It has also tied up with 40 television channels, which includes most of the news channels and regional channels. The company has tie-ups with some general entertainment channels such as Zoom and Turner International (Cartoon Network), and is working on expanding its offering in this segment.

"The main focus for us was to build a platform and have the whole solution ready integrated with every operator. So when 3G comes in we can exploit the market," said Reddy. "We are in 3G trials with some operators right and expect to roll out the product in the next three to six months." Apalya claims to provides its customers with one demand movies, sports news, movie ads, TV soaps, and so on.

Mumbai Angels have previously backed firms like distressed inventory travel website AtYourPrice.in, mobile advertising company mKhoj, digital photo company Canvera, and Bangalore-based text mining company Textual Analytics Solutions. They also recently invested in Fin-e-ssential Infotech India Ltd, a payroll and HR process management company.

This story was provided by our content partner VCCircle

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Posted on 6 August 2008 | 11:03 am

Friendster Closes $20 Million Round; Focuses On Asia Now; New CEO

Friendster has closed its new round of funding, in progress for most of this year, and it is a big one: it has raised $20 million in a new round, and the pioneer is now shifting its focus, wisely, to where it is strongest: in Asia. The round was led by IDG Ventures, which has a lot of experience investing in Asian countries, and included previous investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital.

Also, the company is appointing a new CEO, a position vacant for almost two years: Richard Kimber, previously the head of South Asian operations and business partnerships for Google (NSDQ: GOOG), will become its new CEO. The business head till now, former president Kent Lindstrom, has now become SVP of corporate development.

The money will be used for new offices and employees in Asia, among other plans. It intends to capitalize on its Asian lead in countries like Philippines and Singapore and is Southeast Asia's top social networking site, at least in terms of traffic/users. It says it has 75 million registered users in June, up from 45 million in June 2007, and more than 55 million of its registered users were in the Asian-Pacific region, up from 35 million in June 2007. Of course remains to be seen if it can monetize the growth in the disparate Asian countries...and then increasing competition from the sites that eclipsed it here in U.S.: MySpace and then Facebook.

The last time Friendster raised money was in late 2006, which was a $10 million round from DAG Ventures with participation from KPCB and Benchmark. Expect some of the new money to be used in acquiring some local social networking sites, and building on its ad infrastructure.

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• Friendster: The Web's Spinster Aunt
• Friendster Raises $10 Million; Will Upgrade Site; Aims For Profit In Next Few Months
• Effects Of Friendster Patent Win Yet to be Seen; Company Weighs Options

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Posted on 5 August 2008 | 8:39 am

Voice Recognition Firm Ubona Funded By Capital 18

Ubona Technologies, a Banglore based business and consumer oriented speech recognition solutions provider has received a Series A investment from Capital 18, the venture and PE arm of Network 18.

According to the release, Ubona has developed a patent pending speech recognition software that can understand local languages, accents and dictions. I tried out the Foodie Hotline in Bangalore which it powers using 'Hard Rock Cafe' as the test line, while it detected it in a urban English accent, it didn't get it when I asked two of my accentuated colleagues, one from the north and one down south, to say the same thing.

The obvious synergies will be with recently acquired Infomedia's Yellow Pages. The business model would center around the same Cost Per Lead one used by Just Dial as well as sponsored listings for particular categories. It would tie in well with information services that arise out of Network 18's group channels such as stock information and allied services. As an aside, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has a patent-pending voice search facility as well and had recently launched a call center based service via the number 1800-41-99-99-99 in Hyderabad.

Related

• Google Launches Voice Based Local Info Search In Hyderabad

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Posted on 5 August 2008 | 7:22 am

News Corp. Investing $100 Million In TV Channels Across India

News Corp (NYSE: NWS). will spend $100 million to start six regional TV channels in India over the next year, WSJ reported. The channels will be part of News Corp.'s Star brand, which broadcasts more than 60 TV services in ten languages in 53 Asian countries. Speaking at a news conference for the launch of Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index, which tracks Indian stocks, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said that he doesn't expect to make any in similar investments in the country's newspaper industry due to restrictions on foreign ownership that limit non-Indian companies to a 26 percent stake in a company. In the meantime, Murdoch plans to add 60- to 70 staffers to WSJ and Dow Jones Newswires in India over the next few months. About 25 are employed at those two entities in India right now.

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Posted on 4 August 2008 | 4:26 pm

Airtel Live To Be Embedded With Nokia Handsets?

So says this ET story, citing talks that Airtel is having with handset players such as Nokia...Airtel Live, the mobile VAs app, may be embedded in Nokia (NYSE: NOK), and irrespective of whether users are on Airtel network or not. "The icon will be available in all handsets and hence will remain inactive if the consumer is not using an Airtel connection. It then also serves as a huge branding tool," Bharti Airtel's chief marketing officer (mobility) Sanjay Gupta told ET. We reported earlier this year that Airtel had tied up with Mobio to launch a separate mobile app, and this seems to be the result of that.

Also, the company is launching its mobile social networking service, Airtel Mobile Campus, with the focus on top 10 cities in the country. Services including photo and video sharing, blog, bulk sms, contests and discussion forums.

Bharti Airtel's VAS revenue contributes around 10 percent to its turnover, the company said.

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Posted on 4 August 2008 | 12:25 am

Countdown To 3G And Wimax Begins; 3G, Wimax Policy Overview

At last! Maybe we needed something as dramatic as an eclipse, but dear readers, its finally here. The guidelines for the auction of allotment of spectrum for 3G services and WiMax were released on August 1. Service roll-outs are expected to occur mid-2009. The government is auctioning 5 licenses over 60 Mhz of spectrum by the end of the year, and may offer a further 5 licenses at a future date. Relevant highlights gleaned from the documents below:

For 3G
-- Spectrum in 2.1 GHz band will be allocated for auction. Successful bidders shall be granted spectrum allotment for 20 years. 
-- Any person holding a UAS license and/or fulfils eligibility criteria Universal Access Service License (UASL) and has previous experience of running 3G services can bid for spectrum
-- Upto 10 players in the 3G space, including foreign players
-- Operators are exempt from paying an annual fee in the first year of operations
-- Operators to pay an annual spectrum charge of 1% of Adjusted Gross Revenue after one year
-- A reserve price will be set for each service area. See price to the right:
-- Roll out obligations include 90% of metro area's within 5 years from date of spectrum allocation. For category A,B and C circles, 50% of the cities in the service area out of which 15% of the DHQ's should be rural SDCA's.
-- Spectrum to be auctioned in blocks of 2x5 MHz in 2.1 GHz band. The number of blocks up for grabs will be announced in advance before the auction.
-- One block shall be allocated to MTNL in Mumbai/Delhi and BSNL in other service areas at a price equal to the highest bid in the respective service area

Policy document here. Follow updates on our 3G Channel.

Wimax highlights after the jump

Related

• For Wimax
• -- Spectrum in 2.5GHz and 2.3GHz band shall be allocated for auction. Successful bidders shall be granted spectrum allotment for 15 years.
• -- Similar to 3G, the licensee shall pay an annual spectrum charge of 1% AGR after one year and none in the first year.
• -- The spectrum reserve price shall be 25% of the 3G reserve price
• -- Any person who holds a UAS license, fulfills eligibility criteria for a UASL license or holds a category 'A' or 'B' ISP license is qualified to bid.
• -- The number of blocks shall be 2 x 2.3GHz bands and 2 x 2.5 GHz bands.
• Policy document here. Follow updates on our Wimax Channel

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Posted on 3 August 2008 | 5:56 pm

BSNL Board Clears $10 Billion IPO Plan

Well, it seems to have happened earlier than expected. BSNL's board has reportedly cleared the $10 billion listing. BSNL's employee union has threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the state owned telco goes ahead with the IPO.

The unions are apparently raging against the privatisation machine, stating BSNL can get a navaratna status without listing for an IPO. As an aside, under a navaratna status, PSU's have delegated powers by the government to incur fresh expenditure and enter into technical joint venture and strategic alliances. It also allows them to effect organisational restructuring and create or eliminate non-board level posts, in addition to raising debts and setting up JV's. To sum it up, it allows a PSU to function like a privatized firm. The coveted status has eluded BSNL inspite of being the largest PSU with an authorised capital of Rs 10,000 crore and a net worth of Rs 63,000 crore.

The opposition has caused BSNL to shelve its IPO plans twice but it seems to have gone in for ESOP's and other HR initiatives to win employee support.

BSNL plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore by selling its 10% stake, giving it a $100 billion (approx Rs 4,00,00 crore) valuation. Besides becoming one of the top telcos worldwide, as ET notes, it would also make it the most valuable Indian telco, pushing it beyond Airtel's reported $37 billion value. Hopefully a listing will also give it the opportunity to explore other potent commecial opportunities, like, maybe...hmm...unbundling the last mile?

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• BSNL To Launch Tele-Education Services
• Channel | BSNL

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Posted on 3 August 2008 | 5:43 pm

Thoughts On 3G Policy; MTNL Ready To 3GO In 3 Months; RCom Launches GSM In Delhi

If you can't compete, legislate. In terms of telco, the policy seems to be giving a clear hand-out to PSU's MTNL and BSNL. A report by the Standing Committe on IT this year stated BSNL was losing 8% market share every year to private telcos. Both telco's perform averagely on QoS as well in performance indicator reports. Now sample this report which states MTNL is ready to roll out its 3G network within 3 months of being allocated spectrum. All both these laggards must do is match the highest bid. What they get in return is a headstart of four months over private telcos. Now, I don't exactly have free market tatooed on my arm, but shouldn't the mandate and roll-out obligations of a state-run PSU differ to a private telco? Shouldn't a state-run telco be mandated for example with a more focussed rural approach with a different emphasis from firm's trying to maximize shareholder value? I guess its only a matter of when and not if the BSNL IPO happens, and going by the 4% jump in MTNL's stock price on the day of the announcement, I wouldn't be too suprised if the lines between policy makers and stakeholders are blurred.

We have stated this before with reference to the TRAI - DoT battle over 3G foreign entrants. While no-one can doubt that even the new entrants are perfectly capable of raising funds, roll out obligations for those starting from a base of zero will be both challenging and expensive. Further to the same, RCom has launched it's GSM services in Delhi, starting by offering 1000 connections to employees as a beta. As Anil Ambani stated on the annual results conference call, roll-out across other cities continues on a war footing.

Related

• Channel | 3G

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Posted on 3 August 2008 | 5:22 pm

Tata Comm Reports 11% Dip In YoY Revenues; To WiMax 115 Towns This Fiscal

Tata Comm has had a fairly active quarter, besides launching CDN services in partnership with BitGravity, it's done a decent job of posting a 40% rise in net profits quarter-on-quarter. However, pay close attention to the same quater last year and you notice both total revenues and net profits have infact dropped. Total revenues have dipped 11% from Rs 1035 crores to Rs 921 crores and net profit has fallen 5.6% from Rs 1041 crores to Rs 983 crores. Probably one of the reason's why they have not made public a detailed earnings release, is Tata losing market share in the teleservices business? Results here

On a brighter note, Tata Communications will be takings its WiMax services to 115 towns and 4-5 cities this fiscal. The firm currently uses its underground cable network to provide WiMax services. It will be investing $2 billion as capital expenditure in laying submarine cable systems and rolling out Wimax services.

Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Posted on 3 August 2008 | 5:16 pm

RCom Gets Into The CDN Game; Signs With Internap

Reliance Globacom, a division of Reliance Communications, has signed an alliance with Internap (NSDQ: INAP) Network Services to launch a Content Delivery Network. Under the alliance, Internap would set up a 'point-of-presence' in India which would be established and managed by Globacom. We had previously covered Tata Communications tying up with BitGravity to launch its own indigenous CDN. Airtel is the only Tier 1 network left that hasn't signed up with a technology partner to ride on top of it's last mile. Surely not good for the likes of Akamai (NSDQ: AKAM) and Limelight (NSDQ: LLNW) who are already in midst of a mini price-war in the Indian market. Will be interesting to see what happens when the peer itself becomes the CDN.

Related

• Tata Comm Launches Content Delivery Network For Europe And Asia

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Posted on 3 August 2008 | 5:14 pm

Moser Baer Posts Loss; Seeks Further Expansion In Entertainment

Moser Baer posted a net loss of Rs 103.98 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008. The company posted a net profit of Rs 9.64 crore in the same period a year ago. Furthermore, the company has also acquired a 51% stake in Lumen Engineering, a company that manufactures various optical CD and DVD disc media.

While Moser Baer posted the loss, its subsidiary—Moser Baer Entertainment, showed intent to expand in the movie space. The company already distributes low-cost CD- and DVD-based movies through Indian retail stores: priced at around Rs 35 and as low as Rs 28; generally filled with regional content. ET reports that the company is in talks with a few private equity firms, including ChrysCapital and Warburg Pincus, and is looking to raise funds to the tune of $50 million to further expand its entertainment arm. The company has already produced a flick starring Rahul Bose, titled Shaurya. The first of a total of six planned. The report quotes Moser Baer Entertainment, CEO, Harish Dayani, stating the unit posted a turnover of Rs 170 crore last year and investments worth Rs 200 crore have already been made. We had previously reported on Moser Baer's plans to hive off its entertainment arm here.

Related

• Moser Baer Hiving Off Entertainment Unit; To Unlock Value
• Moser Baer's DVD Play Ignites Price War

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Posted on 3 August 2008 | 11:13 am