Bharti Airtel down on stake sell by CEO

The share price of Telecom major Bharti Airtel plummeted by 4.5% after news that Manoj Kohli, CEO of Bharti Airtel has sold his entire holding of 1.2 Lac shares in the company on March 6 and Mar 9 due to personal reasons.

Bharti Aritel had declared a addition of 2.73 Million new subscribers in the month of February 2009. At the end of February 2009, Bharti Airtel held a market share of 32.88% with a total of 91.11mn customers, while Vodafone Essar had a market share of 23.79% at 65.92mn subscribers. BSNL accounted for 15.94% of the GSM market at 44.18mn customers and Idea held a market share of 14.98% at 41.51mn.

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Apple iphone 3G priced at Rs.31,000 for 8GB, Rs.36,000 for 16 GB

Apple i-phone launch to be a flop show in India

Good news for companies like Nokia and Samsung and Bad news for those who were eagerly waiting for the launch of Apple iphone 3G in India at a eye catching price of Rs. 8400. The dreams have been dashed , with Vodafone announcing the prices of iPhone in India. Vodafone and Airtel are launching the iPhone on 22nd August in India. The 8GB Model would cost you a whooping Rs.31,000 and the 16GB version would cost Rs. 36,000.

The most important factor in creating hype for the Apple phone was the Pricing Factor. These i-phones have been priced in UK at $ 200 which is equivalent to Rs. 8600 at current forex rates. Most of the Indians who were planning to buy an I phone in India had built an expectation of a price between 8000-12000. But the prices announced by Vodafone is substantially higher. The irony is that the 3G services are still not functional in India and hence it would not be possible to use all the features of i-phone in India.

I had built an expectation that I will go for I-hone if it is priced around 15000, but now I have made up my mind not to go for it and wait for price corrections to happen before I buy it. I would continue with my good old Nokia phone till then.

The pricing for Apple phone in India should definitely bring smiles to Nokia and Samsung as they were expecting a major hit to their market share with launch of Apple iPhone. They can be relaxed now since Apple with this pricing cannot gain a strong foothold in the Indian markets where the customers are on a constant look out for quality but at affordable price. I think Apple would miss an excellent opportunity to create a strong base for its product in Indian markets cos of its pricing.

For those of you who still want to join the bandwagon, If you have pre-registered for the i-phone you would have received an SMS regarding the price from Vodafone and you would have to do advance booking by paying Rs. 10,000 today or latest by tomorrow. You would be given an appointment time for collecting your i-phone on a designated date. The offer is on first come,first serve basis.

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