Lanco Infra bags Rs 3,294-cr EPC contract

Hyderabad: Lanco Infratech has been awarded a major EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract by Gujarat Industries Power Company.

The diversified infrastructure player won the deal amidst stiff competition , according to T. Adibabu, Chief Operating Officer, Finance, Lanco Infratech.

The order for setting up of 2x300 MW lignite-based thermal power project includes offshore and onshore supplies, civil and structuring works and engineering and procurement.

The contract worth Rs 3,294 crore is to be executed within 42 months. Work on the project site, including soil testing, will begin soon, Adibabu told Business Line.

With this deal, the company’s order book has gone up to Rs 30,000 crore.

On Tuesday, Lanco Infra shares closed at Rs 9.06, up 3.42 per cent on the BSE.

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OnMobile to buy US-based Livewire for $18 mn

Bengaluru:Mobile value-added services provider OnMobile Global Ltd has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Boston-headquartered Livewire Mobile, a provider of managed mobile entertainment solutions for network operators and device manufacturers. It will pay $17.8 million (around Rs 100 crore on Tuesday) for the purchase of LiveWire’s business assets and some liabilities, subject to certain contingent payments, the Bangalore-based company said on Tuesday. As part of the agreement, OnMobile will also purchase stocks of Fonestarz Media Ltd, the managed services arm of Livewire based in the UK. With the completion of the acquisition, the new entity will be called OnMobile Live Inc, a fully owned subsidiary of OnMobile LLC, US. Established in 1983, Livewire Mobile provides a suite of solutions such as full track music, ringback tones, ringtones and infotainment services.

The company currently powers ringback tone and mobile music solutions for Sprint, MetroPCS and Public Mobile, among others.

With the acquisition of Livewire Mobile, OnMobile will now expand its music and ringback tone services to leading operators in North America.

“The acquisition augments our strong market presence in mobile cloud services that we currently provide to major mobile operators in North America. By successfully integrating OnMobile and Livewire’s products and by extending OnMobile’s proven managed services model, we believe we can create a truly compelling value proposition for the telecom operators and consumers worldwide,” said Mouli Raman, chief executive officer and co-founder of OnMobile Global.

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CapVent AG buys 51% stake in Morf India

Chennai:Switzerland-based PE fund, Capvent AG has picked up a majority stake of 51% in Morf India, a Chennai based water engineering company which has operations throughout South India. The capital will be deployed to develop new and innovative products, brand campaigns and expansion plans.

"Given the rapidly growing size of our industry, it's time for us to reinvent ourselves and scale up faster," MV Praveen, managing director, Morf India said. The company has also embarked on a multi-tier business network, comprising distributors , channel partners and lead generators to reach out to its customers.

Last year, Morf entered in to a brand licensing agreement with Electrolux Home Products to manufacture and market their Kelvinator range of home water purifiers and air purifiers in India and Sri Lanka. Their first RO (reverse osmosis) water purifier model Kelvinator Ayoni has already been launched in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

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Suzlon bags orders in Burgundy

Suzlon Group-subsidiary, REpower Systems, has concluded two contracts with ABO Wind for the supply of 13 wind turbines that will be installed for two wind farms in Burgundy. The wind farms will generate a total output of over 26 MW.
Olivier Perot, REpower S.A.S. Managing Director, said: “These wind farms Pune:strengthen our position in the Burgundy region which is very dynamic in wind energy.”

Clamecy wind farm with six MM 92 type wind turbines is located in la Nièvre department, while seven turbines are destined for the wind farms of Migé and Escamps, located in Yonne departement. The first machines will be delivered for fall 2013 and the commissioning is planned for winter 2013/14. REpower will also provide the full maintenance of the wind farms for 15 years.

“Both wind farms in Burgundy are consequently realising the idea of citizen participation," Patrick Bessière, Manager of ABO Wind SARL in Toulouse, said. Two turbines of the project Migé-Escamps will be owned by ABO Invest, held by 20 per cent of its shares by ABO Wind and the remaining 80 per cent by more than 2,000 citizens. The company operates seven wind farms in France, Germany and Ireland.

ABO Invest will further acquire 65 per cent of the wind farm Clamecy. The remaining 35 per cent will be held by a local corporation consisting of municipalities as well as citizens and the local energy utility Intercommunal d'Energies d'Equipement et d'Environnement dela Nièvre (SIEEEN).

The Suzlon stock hit a new 52-week low of Rs 10.40 on the BSE in morning trade today.

Keywords: Suzlon, REpower Systems, ABO Wind, Suzlon bags new wind farms order, Suzlon Burgundy order, Suzlon stock, Suzlon shares

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Internet video users to rise 7-fold by 2017

At a time when mobile operators are banking on video consumption even in the low-revenue markets by offering low-cost schemes like one rupee per video, Cisco has predicted that internet video users in India will increase more than seven times by 2017.

According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast (2012-17), there will be 113 million internet video users (excluding mobile only) in 2017, up from just 16 million in 2012. Globally, internet video users (excluding mobile only) is expected to double in 2017, from about one billion in 2012.

The trend has already been spotted in India. According to Digivive, which owns mobile TV service nexGTv, has recently said that mobile users have consumed about 2.6 million hours of live video of matches during the the recent cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL). nexGTv was used by 0.13 million users on a daily average basis totalling to 2.5 million users during IPL between April 3 and May 26.

As speed plays a key role for video on mobility devices, Cisco forecasts that average broadband speed in India is expected to jump more than three fold by 2017 to seven megabytes per second (Mbps) from 1.9 Mbps in 2012. According to the study, Internet users in India will reach 348 million by 2017 from 138 million in 2012.

“The good news is that Internet traffic growth in India is the fastest globally. While the Government and the industry are working together to drive broadband penetration and ensure Internet access, there is a lot more that needs to be done,” Cisco VP (Global Technology Policy) Robert Pepper said here, on Tuesday.

Pepper added long-term evolution (LTE) services would fuel data consumption. “For good speed and proper LTE services, operators would require sufficient spectrum. The proposed allocation of 700 MHz spectrum will play a key roll,” he said.

According to the Cisco study, Internet traffic in India will reach 2.5 exabytes per month in 2017, up from 393 petabytes per month in 2012. One exabyte equals one million terabytes. Globally, Internet users will swell to 3.6 billion by 2017, which will be more than 48% of the world’s projected population of 7.6 billion. In 2012, worldwide Internet users stood at 2.3 billion against a population of 7.2 billion, it added.

Wireless connectivity in India is expected to grow with about 40% traffic coming from WiFi users to the total IP traffic by 2017, up from 38% in 2012. More than 50% of the IP traffic will originate with non-PC devices including tablets, smartphones and televisions by 2017, the study noted.

Smartphones and tablets are expected to contribute 40% to IP traffic in 2017, up from 3% in 2012 in India, while televisions will contribute about 10% and machine-to-machine (M2M) modules will contribute 3% of the entire IP traffic in 2017, according to the study.

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DHL Express to hold clinics for SMEs

Chandigarh:In order to empower India's SMEs, logistics service provider DHL Express India (P) Ltd plans to organise 30 SME clinics, especially in Tier-II and -III cities, by next year. The clinics will act as a knowledge forum that would help address SME clusters' logistics needs as well as other requirements in the areas of human resources, marketing, finance and technology.

The SME sector contributes more than half of DHL Express' revenues and this year it is expecting a 30-40 per cent growth in business from the sector. Across India, the logistics service provider has 37,000 SME clients.

Sandeep Juneja, DHL Express' senior director, national sales, told Business Standard: "SMEs are our prime focus area and we are using different initiatives to help them. One such initiative is SME clinics, which will enable SMEs to get a first-hand glimpse of how to reduce cost and time by sending goods directly to stores instead of routing them via a warehouse, using our network. Our experts at these clinics will address issues related to supply chains, finance and exports."

He added that exports created tremendous opportunities for SMEs, opening up new markets for their products and services, and give them access to international best practices and innovations. "There are clearly still some hurdles that remain for small businesses with global aspirations. As a global logistics company we make this process more efficient, and we will continue to tailor our services and solutions to help SMEs grow and compete globally."

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Tata Power’s Karnataka wind farm registered under UN clean project

Mumbai: Tata Power said its 50.4-MW wind power project at Gadag in Karnataka has been registered under the clean development mechanism (CDM) programme by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The wind farm was commissioned in July, 2009. It has 63 wind turbine generators of 800 KW capacity each.

The Gadag plant helps in reducing an annual average of 99,100 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent, by producing 107,064 MWh per year (average) equivalent amount of clean energy.

The plant is Tata Power’s fourth CDM-registered project after the 50.4-MW wind project at Khandke, Maharashtra; 50.4-MW wind project at Samana, Gujarat and 25-MW solar project at Mithapur, Gujarat.

Tata Power currently has 397 MW of operating wind power and 28 MW of solar generation capacity. The company proposes to add 150-200 MW of wind and 50 MW of solar power capacity every year.

CDM is an instrument established under the Kyoto Protocol to achieve both sustainable development and contribute to the cost effective mitigation of climate change

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