Arun

Good suggestion, jayant... will be taken note of.

Reliance Info legal eagles to swoop down on defaulters TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2004 12:40:56 AM ] MUMBAI: Struck with huge defaults and bad debts, Reliance Infocomm has hired over 200 lawyers across the country to crack down on defaulters legally, sources familiar with the development said. The company, in association with its retailers, is also offering defaulting consumers the option to pay Rs 1,800-3,000 and switch to pre-paid schemes or terminate the service. Sources said a defaulter has to pay Rs 1,800 in Maharashtra to migrate to pre-paid, but in northern and eastern states like Bihar and UP, where defaults are astronomical, the amount is Rs 3,000. Customers can pay this amount even if they have a higher outstanding default, sources said. However, a Reliance Infocomm official said it would take steps to retrieve the balance amount. Although GSM operators like BPL have pegged 1.5% as default amount (Rs 15 crore) of their total revenue (Rs 1,000 crore), for Reliance Infocomm it is close to 22.1% of its revenue (Rs 2,007 crore). The massive subscription drive calling for owning a phone with down payment of Re 1 to Rs 501 caught the attention of these defaulting customers also, says a telecom analyst. The hiccups and cross-connects in schemes like Monsoon Hungama are being corrected, the official said. A Reliance Infocomm spokesperson declined to comment either on the offer or on the hiring of lawyers. The largest GSM operator, Bharti Televentures, which has a subscriber base of 80.6 lakh, has not made any provisioning for bad debts. Hutch officials declined to comment on their defaults. A senior official said: "We've started identifying defaulters and have signed up lawyers to handle them. The company, trade and retail partners will share responsibility of payment defaults." Retailers have been assigned to offer schemes that will clear dues partially or fully, the official said. Now they will take responsibility of a customer, he said. Reliance Infocomm commands a subscriber base of 60 lakh post-paid users and 20 lakh pre-paid ones.

I dont think they will sue those who paid Rs.2000 to clear the pending dues. The customer doesnt even have to provide his signature or address while paying the money. Reliance may run after customers who had very large bills like above Rs.25000 and ask them to pay more.

Lifetree India

Nice finding niket, will try it out with my bro's handset (Hutch with Samsung e715)

Reliance Infocomm in PCO push August 12, 2004 11:08 IST Rediff.com Reliance Infocomm is once again giving incumbents Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd a run for their money. It has set up close to 75,000 public call offices across the country. This will be later scaled up to over 300,000 by the end of this financial year. Its PCOs will cover at least 230 cities and, eventually, cover 5,000 towns. A Reliance Infocomm spokesperson, however, declined to comment on the matter. India with a population of over one billion has over 1.3 million PCOs. Besides BSNL and MTNL, Tata Teleservices has about 40,000 PCOs in Andhra Pradesh. Sources close to the development indicated that Reliance Infocomm has already put its entire PCO business into a separate business unit. This is being done in order to give it a much needed push and compete in the already crowded PCO market. In order to grab a substantial market share in the PCO segment, Reliance Infocomm has started offering huge commission to PCO operators. Besides, it is also offering additional incentives to existing PCO operators who wish to shift to Reliance Infocomm. Sources claim that Reliance is offering as much as 30 per cent commission compared with the traditional 20 per cent offered by the state-owned telcos. The business strategy also involves "urging a MTNL/ BSNL PCO operators to surrender at least one of the extra line/ PCO connection back to the operator and opt for Reliance's connection, thereby earning extra commission". Reliance is expanding its services to about 5,000 towns in a phased manner. The second phase of the expansion will result in its telecom services being available to over 100,000 villages. Meanwhile, Reliance Infocomm is planning to roll out broadband services within a few weeks. Broadband will involve access to high-speed connectivity to make transactions efficient and functions seamless.

Reliance telecom tariffs cut by 60% - Business Standard Local calls slashed by 60% for prepaid customers, and 28.11% for calls to mobile & landline. At a time when global system for mobile (GSM) service companies are increasing tariffs, Reliance Infocomm is doing just the opposite. It has slashed tariffs for its prepaid customers by almost 60 per cent for local calls on Reliance India Mobile (RIM), and by 28.11 per cent for calls made to other mobile and landline customers. The company is also introducing new data-enabled and multimedia handsets from the LG stable priced at Rs 2,499 (non-colour) and Rs 4,999 (colour). The new tariffs plan will be effective from the midnight of August 15/16, as a part of Reliance Infocomm's “Independence day special” offering. The new tariffs will give customers almost double the number of talktime minutes compared to the what the rest of the mobile telephone service industry offers, says S P Shukla, president, wireless products and services, Reliance Infocomm. For a pre-paid voucher of Rs 325, the blended talktime now will be 82-83 minutes versus the 53 minutes enjoyed by GSM service companies' pre-paid subscribers. The CDMA company which has over 8 million customers has also done away with tariffs related to distance slabs by simplifying rates. It has also expanded the definition of “friends and family” to include all RIM as well as Reliance IndiaPhone users (fixed wireless phone) users. For a RIM pre-paid customer, local calls will be charged at the rate of Rs 0.99 per minute, down from the existing Rs 2.49 per minute. To other mobiles and landlines, the customer will have to shell out Rs 1.79 per minute, 28.11 per cent lower than its exisiting tariff of Rs 2.49 per minute. For inter-circle calls, the tariffs have been lowered by 40 per cent , from Rs 2.99 per minute to Rs 1.79 per minute. GSM operators charge Rs 4.99 a minute for inter-circle calls. While GSM operators increased roaming rentals and tariffs from August 10, Reliance Infocomm will charge at home tariff for outgoing whereas incoming calls will be charged at RS 1.79 per minute, less than half of what the GSM subscriber pays. The rate for voice mail retrieval will be reduced to home tariff rates of Rs 0.99 per minute. Reliance pre-paid, was launched four months ago, today accounts for 35 per cent (2.8 million ) of the company's 8 million subscribers. Most of these are converts from Reliance's post-paid scheme. The company is offering post-paid customers the option to convert to pre-paid till August 31, 2004. Kamal Nanavaty of Reliance Infocomm said that “Reliance will soon come out with an attractive offer for its post-paid customers”. Meanwhile, the Reliance group has now working out strategy to iron out the glitches in Reliance Infocomm's billing. Reliance Infocomm is designing “a new bill” format by drawing on expertise from all over the globe. It is expected to launch the new simplified bill in the near future.

Yeah, the talktime is less in 325 voucher and its not mentioned in their press release. You will get only Rs.151 talktime with the Rs.325 recharge voucher. So not recommended for those who have more SMS/R-Connect usage than making calls.

Looks as though the test phase of the 'Advantage 99' plan has been very successfull in Tamil Nadu/Chennai, that they are happy to announce the plan all over India ! Which "color display handset at Rs 4999" are they referring to ?

I've heard about it too that its possible, but haven't seen it actually.

Yeah, we are now in the process of cleaning (deleting) old and unwanted topics. Members can help us in identifying such topics by clicking the "Report" button. Also, a couple of sub forums will be added soon to decrease the cluter. Anyway, the 'Search' feature will be helpful in finding specific topics.

Well, thanks for clicking the 'irresistable' topic link Please note that all topics related to 'cloning' has been removed from the forum since we have received alerts from authorities about the illegal nature of the topic. So please do not post anything related to cloning/esn/min in the forum in future. All emails and PMs sent through the forum are also being monitored.

Happy Birthday wishes sunil ! All the best dude !!!

Volunteers required... Can someone help me in building the file library of ringtones and wallpapers. This is what I'm expecting from you. I'll be giving you a username/password to access the Admin panel of a file library management system. You need to have downloaded all the files from the forum already. Then you should upload each file using the Admin panel so that users can download them from : http://www.rimweb.com/downloads/ If anyone has free time to spare, send me a PM and I'll get back to you. Thanks in advance.

Oh! thats wierd. I guess you have to follow what the Serice Center told.

Well, it always shows the 'Warning' when there is 23 messages in the Inbox.

Please avoid CAPS lock key while in conversation

The search function in MMS client of LG RD2030 works only with the first alphabet of the name. Just type the first alphabet in the type menu.

The rate is calculated by the duration you stay online and not by transfer.

Check out the two new games, Spyder (under New Arrivals) and RamsonQuest (under Games > New Release) !

Also, anyone has the 'All about 93' app in their Favourites ?

DAKC (Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City), Navi Mumbai, July 14, 2004 ICICI Bank, India's second largest Bank, in association with Reliance Infocomm, India's largest mobile service provider, today launched a truly interactive mobile banking service in India. ICICI Bank customers through their Reliance IndiaMobile handsets can now avail of a gamut of banking services free of charge. The services can be accessed directly from R World on the handset. A customer can view their ICICI Bank account balance, get mini statements and make requests for cheque books. Apart from viewing presented bills, a customer can also pay bills by direct debit to the bank account. The service also enables a customer to locate an ATM or bank branch. On selecting any of these, the customer is connected directly to the bank and the result is displayed instantly on the handset. To avail of the mobile banking service, a customer can register at any of the ICICI Bank branches, dial the call center or through Internet banking. Commenting on this initiative, Mr. Anup Bagchi, General Manager, ICICI Bank, said, "With this alliance, we have leveraged technology to synergise the benefits of a mobile phone with our banking services. This will provide the customer with a convenient anytime-anywhere banking environment" "R World's menu driven process offers the convenience of banking, while being on the move. The highly advanced and intuitive user-interface features of the R-World, available to the more than 7 million RIM users, makes mobile banking practical and user-friendly. R World ensures the subscriber receives answers to requests immediately within the same session. And all this at no charges," said Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications and Solutions Group, Reliance Infocomm.

DAKC (Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City), Navi Mumbai, July 12, 2004 Reliance Infocomm today announced its latest customer friendly Plan 290, for its Fixed Wireless services (FWP / FWT). With this the company now offers one of the lowest monthly commitment of Rs 290, which includes 150 free call pulses worth Rs 180 and value added services such as Free CLIP, Free Call Divert facility, Free Call Hold facility, Free Three Way Conferencing facility and Free Voicemail facility with message retrieval at local call rates. Call charges for Plan 290 will be Rs.1.20 per pulse. The customer can now avail the option of the new Plan 290 in addition to the existing tariff plans of Plan 500, Plan 1000 and Plan 1500 which are specifically designed keeping various spend levels and calling patterns of customers. "We have received unprecedented success in expanding the fixed wireless phone customer base with the launch of Reliance IndiaPhone (FWP/FWT) less than a year ago. The feature rich and elegantly styled fixed wireless phone is superior to ordinary landlines. Additionally, Reliance IndiaPhone is the only fixed wireless services that offer full coverage across 18 circles. With this attractive new Plan 290, we now offer the widest affordable tariff range," says Mr. S.P. Shukla, President, Products and Services. The Reliance IndiaPhone based on the latest CDMA2000 1x technology, offers a unique range of fixed telephony and data/Internet applications for various segments of users including individuals, large Corporations and other small & medium Enterprises. Internet connectivity with data speed of upto 115 kbps, which is many times faster than the normal dial-up line, is one of the most popular services among these user segments. Being wireless, the connection is not susceptible to the usual landline phone disruptions due to cable cuts, monsoon water logging etc. It also has all the features of a mobile phone like SMS, Caller line identification and Address Book. The numerous other features of the sleek Reliance IndiaPhone include: Two way SMS capability Caller Line Identification Speakerphone Record of missed calls with timestamps History of dialed and received calls Voice mail Phone book capable of storing up to 99 numbers Choice of 10 ring tones Three-way conference call capability Other value propositions to customers include savings thanks to the abundant free calls and attractive rates on offer to calls to Reliance IndiaMobile; Internet access at ISP charges of 10 paise/minute plus applicable local access charges with special night time rates.

Techtree.com Like every budget, the union budget of 2004, has an equal amount of pros and cons for the Telecom industry. The good news is that the prices of mobile handsets have gone down. However, the bad news lies in the fact that, the service charges have risen. Conclusively, mobile phone users have to pay more while paying their mobile phone bills. Different companies and users have varied reactions regarding the Union Budget. Speaking on the Union's decision to raise the FDI limit and exempt MSCs from import duty, Ashish Chowdhary, Country Head - India & South Asia, Nokia Networks, says, "These initiatives will supplement the operators' efforts to build telecom infrastructure across the country and provide affordable services to the masses and help India move quicker towards becoming a wireless dominant country." Other companies like Alcatel, LG and Tata Indicom have also reacted positively to the exemption of import duties. However, it is not yet clear how much the prices of handsets will drop. In this context, Ashish Bakshi, Country Head- India Operations, BenQ, says, "Right now, it is too early to discuss about the extent of drop in price for the handsets as we are still working on it." The proposed price drop will in a way help to minimize the price difference between the handsets available from official and unofficial sources. It is due to exemption of import duties that the official prices of handsets will lessen. About this, Magan Chabbaria, a software programmer says, "I prefer to buy my cell phones from the unofficial market at Heera Panna due to the cheaper price and variety available there. So the budget won't help me as such as the Heera Panna prices will remain the same." Similarly how much the service charges of mobile telephones will increase is not yet clear. In this context mobile phone operators like Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices, BPL Mobiles, Airtel etc. have not commented. However mobile phone users think that ultimately the overall cost of mobile telephony will increase. Abeera Sen, a post-graduate student from Sociology says, "Ultimately the users are losers in this current budget. How many users will buy new phones, which have become cheap, every month? But we have to pay higher mobile phone bills every month. So at the end of the day, we have to pay more, as an outcome of the budget." It is difficult to come to a conclusion as to how the Budget has affected mobile phone users but we can hope that the very near future answers this in the users favour.