Himanshu Singh

I am not surprised at the report. I find reliance mobile the most trusted provider among idea, vodafone,mtnl, tata, air tel or aircel. I use all these providers in delhi including reliance cdma and gsm. So there is on element of bias in my view.

purchased sim for 20 with lifetime incoming validity and talk time of 10. Further did 98 recharge. Browsing and downloading on mobile is smooth. Speed is great. Havent tried to connect on computer. This is for new delhi. Certain areas have signal problems so browsing too gets affected. Otherwise good service.

ET reports that the mobile companies have agree to cut the text sms rates while roaming from may. The decision follows repeated warnings from the TRAI. As of now the companies have been charging exorbitant rates. For instance Idea charges Rs.3.45per sms. Now the max ceiling has been set at Rs.1.50 per sms.

After private telcos its the turn of MTNL to get innovative. It has started offering local calls@0.80 for 1st minute and @0.50 for subsequent mins on all prepaid plans.

AIRTEL has launched a STD pack 47 which offers unlimited STD@75P a min for 30 days. Its Reliance effect.

In response to Airtel STD offer, Idea has launched STD pack 49 which offers STD calls@75 paise for 30 days. This pack also gives liftime validity to Idea numbers except gang cards.

All along I have been saying this.

Now 100 STD mins for 75.

Idea has launched a tariff recharge of Rs24 which offers all local calls@60 paise per minute. It must be mentioned that this was earlier being offered at Rs.39 and then increased to Rs.51 and now reduced to Rs.24. Idea seems confused.

Following in the footsteps of big brother Airtel, Idea too has increased ISD rates which will be effective for new connections wef 9 may and for existing subscribers wef 9 november.

GPRS is no longer free in New Delhi it seems. There are 4 plans- Plan 99, Plan 199, Daily Pass@10per day and pay as you go@10paise per 10kb. No unlimited usage plan.

What if Tata also does the same with its cdma customers after launching gsm?

With MTNL or even BSNL I am sure rates wont increase. But cant say the same for all other telcos

It concerns security of our nation so acting in the national interest operators should not compromise over verification procedure and activation should be done after verification only.

IDEA has cut roaming sms rates to Rs.1.5 from Rs.3.45 wef May 1. Guys find about your operator and share info here.

Confuse and earn revenue seems to be the usual mantra of RCOM.

The reporter from business standard seems a novice. There are many assumptions in his piece which are already falling flat on their faces. New operators have launched services in many circles during past 5 months which includes Reliance gsm. Reliance gsm offered STD calling at 70paise. Did Airtel,Idea or Vodafone slash national calling rates? NO. So the assumption that entry of new operator would lead to competition and hence rate cuts is untenable. Cellular services are a business model quite unlike others where more players means less costs. It does not necessarily means the same for mobile business. There are many reasons for this, first mover advantage which is huge,termination charges which is the biggest positives for existing companies. reluctance to shift operators for convenience,reluctance to use a new operator which may not have the best network in place initially. Any more cuts would make this business unviable. Today another newspaper has reported that the telecom panel has suggested stricter financial norms for renewal of telecom licences. If it has its way companies would have pay market rates for the spectrum they hold for renewal of their existing licences. Now thats not the recipe for further rate cuts.

MNP is not a panacea for all evils in mobile services. If one thinks one would live happily forever after shifting operator I am not sure if his thinking is right. Every operator has its share of problems. Shifting operator would only add to confusion. If at all one has to shift operator one would be better off getting new connections and informing everyone about it. I am sure the cost of doing this would be almost equal to the cost of shifting operator. As for poor reliance cdma services, I think I have not yet faced this. Must be a localised problem. By every parameter which matters to me, that is congestion free network,voice clarity, no call drops and tariff cheaper than all other operators, Reliance is far better than any Air be it cel or tel.

They cant exit cdma altogether. Its not advisable and its not even possible. If they dont improve service for cdma subscribers and keep losing subscribers I think there will be a time when they would be asked to return the spectrum and make way for others. Anil may want to sell his majority stake to some cdma international major in future. Thats the only way i see him getting close to an exit from cdma space.

Kamal In that case regular medical check up is strongly recommended.

Airtel has never aspired to be a company favoured by masses. It wants to attract and retain class customers. By mass and class I mean the amount people are willing to spend without bothering how much they are paying on mobile services. There are quite lots of people to whom it does not matter whether they pay 5k or around. Why it is the largest company in terms of subscribers and whatever else is merely because of first mover advantage. The only way for it is to increase call charges for more profits. If one compares pre paid and post paid plans of reliance and air tel and idea one would surely fine air tel is the most expensive. Its the over confidence of the company which allows it to increase call charges every now and then. By next year that is june 2010 I believe it wont remain at its healthy position in market. I am ready to stick my neck Out and declare this. Very soon there will be one more round of consolidation in telecom and if reliance gets any other gsm operator its dooms for airtel.

This sure is going to be the most nonsensical offer or scheme to be launched by air tel. Why on earth would someone need as many as 10 connections from THE SAME OPERATOR ON SAME MOBILE SET TO BE USED BY JUST ONE PERSON?

My free talk time offer ends tomorrow. I am sure I wont use it. I have better options with my Idea gang card or even with Reliance CDMA. Unless gsm becomes as good as cdma I wont use it.

As if managing two numbers was not enough trouble for me. It does not impress me. Why would anyone want 10 numbers from same operator?

Has Airtel discontinued unlimited gprs mobile office across all circles? I am not an airtel subscriber. So calling upon air tel users to make the issue clear. According to my information there is no unlimited gprs data plan available for prepaid customers. Another hike! they are charging 30p/50 kb.