Arun

2nitin2 changed to nitink

Please check: http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=15310

Happy Birthday @ksh@T and others!!!

@DJ KOOL: Are they MP3?

The moderated posts/topics will be approved as soon as possible, on an average within 30 minutes. It was not "bots" that had attacked earlier, but "humans" itself. The post/topic moderation is not enabled for all members, but the moderation criteria cannot be revealed here so that the offenders won't cirumvent it.

Financial Express Monday , September 01, 2008 at 17:02 hrs Prepaid mobile subscribers now have more reasons to cheer as TRAI on Monday asked the telecom operators to waive the processing charge on the top-up cards, resulting full talk time on such recharges. Users will now have to pay just an administrative fee not exceeding Rs 2 per recharge and other applicable taxes, TRAI said. The regulator said it was brought to the TRAI notice that telcos are deducting a fixed amount even for recharges exclusively meant for providing talk time to subscribers who already have validity. Such subscribers had already obtained validity by paying a fixed fee. The authority felt that levy of a second processing fee when the customer buys talk time through exclusive top-ups is unjustified, TRAI said. This is one among many initiates taken by the regulator in its latest policy directives for making the telecom service more consumer friendly and transparent. The regulator has also asked the operators to make the tariff related information available in regional languages also other than English as operators would now venture into semi-urban and rural areas where local language is the primary mode of communication. The regulator also said that existing customers on the lifetime plans can migrate to new lifetime plans with lower entry fee without having to make additional payment or recharges.

After Reliance's ricmail.com, it is the turn of AirTel to show their presence of mind skills. airtelkk.com is the Email to SMS service domain for AirTel customers in Karnataka. It looks like the domain has expired yesterday and they forgot to renew it! All emails to mobilenumber@airtelkk.com are bouncing back with domain not found error. Record last updated on 10-Sep-2007. Record expires on 06-Sep-2008. Record created on 06-Sep-2000.

Atlast they have renewed it and the service is working now! Created: 06-Sept-2000 Expires: 06-Sept-2009 Updated: 07-Sept-2008

Dev, Yes, currently post/topic moderation for newer members is ON. This had to be turned on recently since we have been witnessing automated spam attacks.

TRAI's new order highlights: • Subscribers to get full talk time on talk time recharges, barring an administrative fee which shall not exceed Rs.2 per recharge and applicable taxes. • Subscribers to automatically get the benefit of straight tariff reductions without any preconditions of any explicit action by the subscriber, for example, sending SMS etc. • Customers in existing lifetime plans can migrate to new lifetime plans with lower entry fee without having to make additional payment or recharges. • Lifetime customers need not recharge more than once in 6 months for remaining connected • Customers to get key tariff information in vernacular language also at all the retail outlets of the service providers and their franchisees • No change in mobile number when subscriber change tariff plans or move from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa. • Blackout days (customary/festival days on which free/concessional calls/SMS are not available) limited to a maximum of 5 days in a calendar year. Such days to be pre-specified and no subsequent alteration or addition permitted. • Promotional offers to be streamlined. The new measures effective from 15th September 2008 and applicable for all subscribers, new and existing. TRAI's Press Release

Great, then go for the Freedom plan (1 GB per month for Rs.650 + tax) as you need it for around 15 days only in a month. Make sure that you do not exceed the limit though as extra 1 MB is charged at Rs.2

Pay-as-you-go type plan (time based plan) would cost you a lot as Reliance's internet charges are very high. Since you want to stay online all the time, go for a data plan only... either Freedom Plan (Rs.650 + tax per month) if you data usage is low or Platinum plan (Rs.1500 + tax per month) for unlimited usage. Reliance offers USB modems which you can choose, which will cost you around Rs.2500 - Rs.3000. You cannot get one from abroad and use it here since Reliance's service will get activated on devices purchased through them only. If you are going to use it at home (and not when travelling), I would suggest you to go for a broadband connection.

Did they mention the price?

Contact Sadik.

You cannot backorder a domain after it is expired. Backorder will be successful only after the deletion phase which can take upto 75 days after the expiry date.

MarketWatch 8:34 a.m. EDT Sept. 3, 2008 Intec, a leading BSS/OSS software vendor for fixed, mobile and next generation networks, announced today that Reliance Communications, India's leading integrated telecommunication company with one of India's largest subscriber base of over 55 million customers, has successfully upgraded its current Intec Convergent Billing (Singl.eView) installation to the latest version (6.0) and signed contracts for Intec's Content Partner Management solution. These additional capabilities are key enablers for the delivery of complex, content-oriented next-generation services. "We have expanded our relationship with Intec because the flexibility, scalability and performance of Intec's billing technology has allowed Reliance Communication to grow at very high rates and gain business advantage within the highly competitive and fast-developing Indian market," said Mr. Sumit Chowdhury, CIO, Reliance Communications. "This additional deployment will help us to further enhance our competitiveness in the telecommunications market, to bill and manage partner relationships more efficiently, and launch new next generation content services like DTH, IPTV and other value-added services." The latest version of Intec's Convergent Billing solution (v6.0) provides operators with extended functionality, distributed architecture for increased scalability, improved efficiency of billing operations, and enhanced support for multi-national requirement. Intec's Content Partner Management (Intec CPM) solution will allow Reliance to manage partner agreements for content and value-added services more efficiently. For example, Intec CPM enables operators to accurately handle rating and revenue sharing with direct and indirect partners to support rapid and profitable deployment of next-generation products and services. It also ensures that partners are able to self-manage agreements and transactions via a web portal. "Intec's technology, experience and capabilities in BSS/OSS will help us to seamlessly evolve our OSS/BSS architecture into the next generation through the rapid launch of innovative, cost-effective products and services to a huge and growing customer base," added Mr. Sumit Chowdhury. Intec Vice President, Asia Pacific, Norm Halvorson concluded, "We are committed to helping our customers create strong competitive differentiation especially in new next generation business services. Intec is proud to support Reliance Communications in its delivery of high quality, next generation services to the rapidly expanding Indian market."

The Hindu Tuesday, September 2, 2008 : 1905 Hrs Mobile service provider Reliance Communications said it had covered over 90 per cent of the population in Kerala following the completion of a massive network expansion plan that it had kick-started a year ago. V. G. Somasekhar, Regional Head (Kerala and Tamil Nadu circles) of Reliance Communications, said Reliance network was connected to 159 census towns, covering 48 short distance calling areas (SDCAs) in 63 taluks across Kerala. With the completion of the CDMA expansion project, Reliance, he said, had also covered 84 per cent of the about 1,500 villages in the State. Reliance Communications currently commands a share of 18 per cent in the mobile phone market of Kerala, with a subscriber base of around 2.2 million. The ARPU (average revenue per user) worked out to around Rs.275, he said. Mr. Somaskhar asserted that the wireless strategy of Reliance Communications was aimed at providing customers of sorts from any parts of the State to access the high quality all-IP NextGen network that comprised voice, data and video as it was on the Internet. He said the expansion also saw an addition of 800 km to the fibre optic cable network in the State from the existing 3,300 km. To cash in on the potential arising out of Kerala's relationship with the Gulf, the company had also decided to introduce three types of novel `Gulf calling cards.' Express Gulf Calling Cards with a MRP of Rs. 47, he said, was aimed at mass market. It typically encouraged people in Kerala to call their loved ones in the Gulf at affordable rates. The company would also launch a Gulf Calling Card with MRP of Rs.125 and Rs.225 and also a Special Gulf Calling Card 786. As part of its Onam offer, Mr. Somasekhar said Reliance Communications had also launched LG 3500 colour handset model that provided excellent battery life and clear ring tones. The model was launched at an entry price point of Rs.999. Simultaneously, the company had also launched its wireless landline phone - Hello - at a price point of Rs.999. He was confident that Reliance Communication would improve its market share in Kerala, now that all the infrastructure was in position in the State.

Reliance World: http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communication...enu2=Chandigarh Reliance Mobile Stores: http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communication...enu2=Chandigarh

It does feel good. Since there are very less bars & icons, the work space area is more.

1 Sep, 2008, 1555 hrs IST, IANS The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the global arbitration tribunal, has directed Tata Communications to pay a Reliance Communication subsidiary approximately $19 million plus interest from May 2006 as damages over a cable dispute. "In the matter of the ICC arbitration proceedings brought by Reliance Globalcom Ltd ("Reliance"), formerly known as 'Flag Telecom', against Tata Communications Ltd, the Tribunal has, on August 27, 2008, handed down a final award dealing with the issue of damages," Tata Communications said in a statement Monday. "The Tribunal has directed Tata Communications to pay Reliance a sum of approximately $19 million plus interest from May 2006 as damages, against the $385 million sum claimed by Reliance," the statement added. Tata Communications said this was the tribunal's final award in the ICC arbitration proceedings over a dispute regarding FEA (Flag Europe Asia) cable, ongoing since 2004. The dispute between the two companies goes back a few years, when FLAG accused the then state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd or VSNL - now Tata Communications - of denying it free access to its cable landing station and thereby having a monopolistic hold on bandwidth prices. FLAG wanted access for enhancing the capacity of the FEA cable system from 10 Gbps to 80 Gbps. (Gbps stands for "billions of bits per second" and is a measure of bandwidth on a digital data transmission medium such as optical fibre). However, VSNL said it was not under obligation to grant access under the construction and maintenance agreement between the two parties. The dispute culminated in FLAG referring the matter to the ICC.

Yeah, the renewal request must have been processed by Network Solutions by now, as they handle renewal requests manually only which is done through web-werks.com Updated whois information: Record expires on 24-Aug-2010 Record created on 24-Aug-2002 Database last updated on 01-Sep-2008 Network Solutions whois cache still showing the expired page!

vicks_libran is now: ~InDyAn~ dhenkuu is now: Asit

Saturday, August 30, 2008 04:23 IST DNA Money Reliance ADAG has been one of the most active brands in the country over the past few years. Whether for its ambitious growth plans or controversies surrounding it, no brand perhaps fared better than it when it came to grabbing the limelight. DNA Money’s Nirmal John caught up with Girish Shah, head of branding, Reliance ADAG, for a perspective on the brand’s evolution over the years and its future course. Excerpts from the interview: Reliance ADAG is into a varied set of services. How do you ensure that the brand speaks a unified language across the board? For any large, diversified brand appealing to different consumer communities, it is very important to operate within a strategic framework, which directs its positioning, communication delivery and the brands look and feel. Organisations have their own protocols to manage this. At Reliance ADA Group, we have a very elaborate and a stringent process, which we call the Reliance brand guidelines protocol — both at the group level and at the individual vertical level — where there are certain sets of guidelines that dictate the use of the brand. How its look and feel needs to be executed by the substrata, by the media vehicles and what are the advertising guidelines that drive the tonality of the communication are among the elements of the marketing mix. We also have a brand patrol team, which consists of what we call ‘brand missionaries’ who monitor the brand to ensure executions are in line with the guidelines. At the end of the day, a mutual fund or a life insurance policy or a prepaid pack, all fulfil different sets of consumer needs, but the overall halo of the Reliance ADA Group’s mother brand remains sacrosanct. Do you see any parallel with other global firms in terms of handling such a large number of brands? See, at the Reliance ADA Group, we manage our brands like we would a consumer product. At the end of the day, our brand needs to have the elasticity and stretch as we need to communicate to a 15-year-old as well as to a 45-year-old. Internationally, the way a Unilever or a Reckitt Benckiser manages its brand portfolio and the systems and processes it implements, would be an interesting comparison. Also, we can draw parallels with media and entertainment brands of Time Warner and News Corp. Reliance has been through a lot of negative publicity. How do you ensure that the brand stays above such issues? Every brand worth its salt goes through challenges. All I would like to leave as a thought is that the numbers speak for themselves —the fact that we have over 100 million customers and 11 million shareholders; the fact that in a short span of over two years, the Reliance ADA group brand has moved up from no 13 to no 3 in the buzziest brand survey and up to number 2 among India’s most valuable brands by the 4Ps survey, gives a sense of pride and achievement and makes us believe that as long as you have a loyal and well-engaged set of consumers who believe in your brand and see it as enabling part of their lives, a brand can ride through any crest or trough. Reliance is becoming a global enterprise with more and more ventures outside the country. How is this panning out in terms of building a brand abroad? I think, consistency is critical in any brand’s growth. Geographies are incidental. The brand needs to communicate the same sense of values and drive an identical personality across the geographies it operates in. However, it must keep in mind the local aspect of communication. It needs to keep finer nuances of ethos and value systems, which drive communication platforms in countries other than ours and also doesn’t compromise on the brand’s core values. The brand should deliver the same set of benefits, but the way it articulates those benefits are areas where one should look for localisation. How important is digital media for Reliance’s brand-building efforts? We are uniquely poised to straddle the traditional mediums of communications as well as effectively use the new media. At the end of the day, a television spot, a radio spot or a hoarding is not enough to excite and entertain consumers when he already has so many other mediums of entertainment. Therefore, vehicles of advertising need to be more evolved and interactive as they are today. With mobile penetration at 25%, savvy and younger consumers are more comfortable with digital mediums as a source of entertainment and information. Hence, digital is the ideal platform to engage them as they are spending a lot more time there. We were the first to leverage what we call the ARBT— the caller ring back tunes that you hear on mobiles. During the Union Budget, we partnered with gaming and youth portal Zapak and put up a blog and microsite on the budget in a format that appealed to the youth. This also included a game woven around the budget. We have been using newer forms of media aggressively and will continue to use them, whether they are blogs or viral campaigns. Of our total marketing spends, the share of digital would move to about 20-25% within two to three years, depending on how we are able to evaluate return on investment. We see this medium exploding in the next few years and the opportunity to be the first mover is immense. What are the lessons from the foray of the Reliance brand into rural India? Seventy percent of India is still rural, but at the end of day, we are dealing with consumers. It’s only that they speak different languages. They have aspirations, needs, wants and desires like all of us in urban markets. Only thing is, they might want to own a mobile phone instead of an iPod at this point of time. The rapid penetration of FMCG brands, e-choupals and the strong growths seen in telecom and micro-financing is a case in point on the large rural market opportunity. However, the brand messaging, tonality and imagery should be in line with aspirations and appeal to rural consumers, yet it should be single-minded. Brand makeovers have been the order of the day of late… Brand makeovers need to be holistic and not superficial, in my view. Just changing a typeface or a logo is not enough. The change needs to go deep within the organisation and touch employees and functions. Otherwise it becomes just a communication change at a superficial level with the core remaining unchanged. The physical attributes of a brand, i.e its personality and the essence of the brand are crucial and need to be integrated between the past and the future direction that you want the brand to take post makeover, to ensure that there is no alienation.

Business Standard Mumbai August 29, 2008, 5:47 IST The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) has awarded a 5-year outsourcing contract to a Delhi-based call centre and Caretel Infotech, a part of Dalmiya group, for about Rs 300 crore. The contract, spread over five-year period, includes setting up of customer call centres for the group’s telecom company, recently launched DTH, mutual funds and insurance services. The move gains importance as R-ADAG operates a large captive BPO company, Reliance BPO, employing over 12,000 personnel across New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Moreover, Reliance BPO – which mainly provides services to group company Reliance Communications (RCom) – is also in the process of setting up three centres in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai with a headcount of 1,500 per centre. Caretel Infotech has already set up two call centres, a 500-seater in Hyderabad and a 700-seater in Kolkata. The company has already started services for R-ADAG from these centres and is looking at ramping up seats in the next couple of months, sources close to the development said. For RCom, the telecom service provider of the group, Caretel Infotech would provide in-bound call centre services for the company’s CDMA services. It would also provide voice-based services for Reliance’s DTH operations, BIG TV and the financial services – like mutual funds, insurance and consumer finance - offered by Reliance Capital. The group is believed to have agreed to pay around Rs 2 per minute for every inbound call received by Caretel Infotech, which is a bit on the higher side. However, this could not be confirmed. When contacted, a R-ADAG spokesperson declined to provide details, while Caretel Infotech on their part declined to comment. According to industry analysts, R-ADAG might be looking at outsourcing as its subscriber additions might be becoming too difficult to manage. The company is adding 1.75 million customers a month and has a total of over 54 million users in the country. However, the most plausible reason would be that the company is looking at cost arbitration that when the calls are moved to less expensive destinations like Hyderabad and Kolkata. This is also a part of an emerging trend in the country with telecom service providers outsourcing their network and technology to global majors that will enable them to concentrate on expanding services.

New Delhi, July 28 The Hindu Business Line The Department of Telecom is planning to formulate a separate policy for third generation services by CDMA operators. The move comes as a relief to CDMA players including Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices which had expressed concern that the proposed 3G policy had no mention of spectrum allocation for CDMA operators. Until now DoT’s draft policy guidelines had specified plans to auction spectrum only for GSM-based cellular services providers. However, DoT has put up a new note for approval by the Ministry of Communication which mentions auctioning spectrum for CDMA players in the 450 Mhz and 800 Mhz frequency band. This means that seventy one million CDMA mobile subscribers can also look forward to availing third generation mobile services. The 800 Mhz and 450 Mhz bands are frequencies used by CDMA operators globally for 3G services. Third generation mobile services promises to bring high speed data connectivity on handsets apart from improving the quality of voice calls. Consumers will be able to get services like streaming video, mobile TV and community specific value added services. While GSM based operators will evolve to using the WCDMA technology for offering this service, CDMA players will use the EVDO technology. Each of these technologies operates best in a specific frequency band. “Spectrum shall be auctioned in the 450 Mhz band and in 800 Mhz band for EVDO services when it becomes available, for which guidelines shall be issued separately,” said the DoT note. Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Sistema backed Shyam Telelink and State owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd are the major CDMA operators in the country. An earlier DoT draft guideline had said that the spectrum for these operators will be treated differently wherein they will be asked to pay a fraction of the amount quoted by the GSM counterparts for 3G services. However, the problem is that DoT has only 2 slots in the 800 Mhz band and there are four operators. Therefore DoT has now proposed to go for an auction. GSM auction For GSM players, DoT is making plans to auction spectrum for at least 5 operators in each circle. Senior DoT officials said that though the Government has spectrum available to accommodate 10-12 players in each circle, all of it may not be released by the defence forces at one go. Therefore the auction will be done in phases wherein chunks of 20-25 Mhz will be auctioned with each operator getting not more than 5 Mhz. DoT officials said that though some circles have about 60 Mhz of unused spectrum, the allocation will depend on when the Defence will release it.