Himanshu Singh

The Hindu Businessline reports: The new political equation at the Centre is making existing GSM players concerned at the possibility that a slew of policy measures may be proposed aimed at stifling their growth. One such proposal, according to the GSM operators, is to impose a one-time entry fee on all existing players who hold more than 6.2 Mhz spectrum. Mr Amar Singh, MP and leader of the Samajwadi Party, had earlier written to the Prime Minister to impose a fee on operators. If this proposal is finalised then companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular may end up paying out at least Rs 10,000 crore. The Department of Telecom has already started work on this move and has prepared a draft paper. While this proposal to put a fee on excess spectrum was earlier mooted by the Finance Ministry also, it may pick up momentum under the new political structure. GSM industry representatives said that they would be meeting the Prime Minister and other Ministers in a bid to scuttle this proposal. Mr Singh has also proposed a tax on windfall profits on GSM players. On the positive side, the vote of confidence has made this Government more stable which would enable it to push through a number of much awaited policies very quickly. This includes the policy for third generation mobile services, which has been delayed by more than a year due to differences within the various Government agencies. Top sources in the Department of Telecom said that the policy would be announced anytime now. They said that the auction and the licensing process would be completed before the end the Government’s tenure next year. Guidelines for wireless broadband services will also be announced shortly.

Idea has reduced UP BIHAR STD pack cost from Rs 52 to Rs.27. Its interesting to note that when this pack was launched for the first time it was priced at Rs.39. Only one month later the cost was increased to Rs.52. Again when All India STD rates were cut earlier this year a TT of Rs.20 was offered with this pack. It seems this move did not result into increase in the sale of Rs.52 voucher. And hence now a cut of Rs.25.

MTNL had launched missed call alert system im may. For the information of those who havent been able to use it till now heres how to activate it. Dial **62*53434# from pre paid as well as post paid.

From prepaid to post paid is understandable as the bill needs to be sent to an address.The other way is out of my mind.

its free of cost. no activation charges and no usage charges.

idea has revised long distance call rates and it seems it bit off more than it could chew. now the calling rates are equal to that of air tel and reliance..that leaves only public sector companies providing the cheapest long distance calling rates.SHAME ON IDEA.

I hope people bear this in mind that all those who migrated to Rs.1.30 would continue to get the same rate for 6 months before they are again migrated to Rs.1.50 if at all there has been any upward revision in std calling rates as in the case of delhi and ncr.

TOI reports, It's not just in politics that arch rivals suddenly become friends. On Friday, India's telecom sector witnessed an unusual alliance, with Vodafone demonstrating that it is "happy to help" not just its own customers but its competitor Bharti Airtel's as well. When a major fire destroyed some of Airtel's crucial telecom switches in Mumbai, reportedly cutting off services to its subscribers for over 12 hours, the company chose to knock at Vodafone's door for assistance to migrate its customers onto Vodafone's network. Bharti Airtel is India's largest GSM telecom services firm with 69.4 million subscribers followed by Vodafone in second place with 49.2 million. In Mumbai, however, Vodafone has 3.7 million subscribers followed by Airtel with 2.5 million. However, despite fierce competition in one of the most lucrative telecom markets in the country, Vodafone was more than amply sympathetic towards its rival. From 11 pm onwards, Airtel's network started to slowly sputter back to life with customers receiving this message: "Welcome to the Vodafone Mumbai Network. Happy to help." Vodafone was perhaps the logical choice as it is the only player in Mumbai with some excess capacity unlike the other GSM players BPL and MTNL. Besides, Vodafone made sure not to compromise its network quality for its own subscribers, only absorbing as much of Airtel's traffic as its own network was able to load. "At night and on weekends, office traffic dips, so we were able to take on the additional load," a Vodafone official confirmed. Airtel on its part claims that the fire took a toll on just 20% to 25% of its network. However, the impact was reportedly severe as it was not restricted to a series of numbers or a particular geography. Airtel also said on Friday that it was a temporary disruption only in some areas of South Mumbai and certain suburbs which would be restored to normalcy soon. However, it is fairly obvious that had it been so simple, it would not have been forced to turn to its competitor for help, implying that the disruption of services was indeed severe and widespread.

Price of Pack (Rs.) 250 Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.) 50 LOCAL RATES: To Airtel-50 p (Weekdays between 7am - 11pm) & 25 p (weekends and between 11pm - 7 am on week days) To others -Re.1 (between 7am - 11pm on weekdays) & 50 p (on weekends and 11 pm -7am on weekdays) STD RATES: to all Rs. 1.50 (between 7am - 11pm on weekdays) & Re.1 (on weekends and 11 pm -7am on weekdays) SMS Local 20 p (between 7am - 11pm on weekdays) & 10p (on weekends and 11 pm -7am on weekdays) National 50 p (between 7am - 11pm on weekdays) & 25p (on weekends and 11 pm -7am on weekdays) International Rs.5.00 Other Details: *Validity of 90 days applicable for main account and tariff *500 Local Airtel to Airtel SMS free (valid for 30 days) * Applicable for new and existing subscribers.

I was hoping friends from other idea circles will update this forum about the base std calling rate that they are 'enjoying' in their circles.

Point well taken and appropriate modification done.

Two special tariff voucher for unlimited Call 1. 549 NATIONAL VOUCHER for unlimited Local & STD Call on BSNL N/W 2. 298 LOCAL VOUCHER for unlimited Local Call on BSNL N/W 1.Details of 549 voucher for excel plan MRP of voucher in exclusive of taxes Validity of 30days TT nil Local calls: On BSNL network unlimited free On other network@0.40 STD calls: On BSNL network unlimited free On other network@0.50 2.Details of 549 voucher for saral/excel anant plan MRP of voucher in exclusive of taxes Validity of 30days TT nil Local calls: On BSNL network unlimited free On other network@0.50 STD calls: on bsnl network unlimited free on other network@0.60 3.Details of 298 voucher for excel plan MRP of voucher in exclusive of taxes Validity of 30days TT nil Local calls: On BSNL network unlimited free On other network@0.40 All STD calls@1.00 4.Details of 298 voucher for saral/excel anant plan MRP of voucher in exclusive of taxes Validity of 30days TT nil Local calls: On BSNL network unlimited free On other network@0.50 All STD calls@1.00

Airtel has launched a new post paid plan in Delhi apparently in the face of stiff competition from Reliance and Tata. The new plan is called Airtel Jackpot 249 Plan. Fixed Monthly Charges=249, clip charges=0 LOCAL RATES: To mobiles@0.30 To lanlines@0.50 STD RATES: To Airtel@1 To others@1.50 Get 500 Minutes Airtel to any Local Mobile free .

For a sum of Rs.617(549+taxes@12.36%) one gets unlimited on net local as well as std plus other std calls@0.50. Reliance charges Rs.496 for unlimited on net local and std. But the std rates are Rs.1.49/min.If someone wants std@0.50 in prepaid with reliance its not possible at the moment cos no other operator has launched any prepaid plan which offers std@0.50. Now if a reliance postpaid subscriber wants the same services he has to: 1. subscribe to the 440 plan. 2. subscribe to the Rs.249 add on pack which makes the total cost to Rs.440+Rs.249=Rs.689 and with the present tax structure it would come to Rs.774.16 a cool Rs.157 more than BSNL. Even after this he wont be able to get local calls@0.40 which is possible with BSNL prepaid offering.

MTNL Delhi has launched an unlimited internet prepaid recharge coupon for its cdma garuda customers. S.No Details Charges . 1. Recharge Coupon charge Rs. 300/-(Inclusive of taxes) 2. Data Service charges NIL 3. Free data download Unlimited 4. Free data upload Unlimited 5. Validity of coupon One Month 6. Talk time NIL

It is going to be the beginning of the end of mukesh ambani.

Reliance has very little congestion and the voice clarity is simply awesome even with the most basic of handsets. What ails Reliance is coverage of network and customer support.

Friends at last MTNL mumbai has reduced the roaming tariff for both prepaid as well as post paid customers wef July 18, 2008.The reduced tariff match those offerred by private telecom companies.

MTNL mumbai has reduced the security deposit for std/roaming to Rs.1000 wef July 18, 2008.

I wish the wiser friends,who chose to question the authenticity of the information posted here, get the facts correct first, namely that Idea and Vodofone have revised their STD call rates in Delhi circle wef July 16, 2008. I wish that you had visited the Idea website www.ideacellular.com before questioning the information.Alternately you could have called 09891012345 and ask the CC.

vodafone has revised std rates to 1.50

Just imagine either BSNL/MTNL doing such a thing! Its quite impossible.

well friends its not only in pre paid that rates have been increased.if you visit idea web site they say its also revised for post paid and not by 20 paise but by 1.10.for instance in their new plan Talk free 275 they say that the reduced std rate is applicable only for 3 months after which it will be charged at Rs.2.40.

MTNL Delhi has increased talk time on its one india re charge voucher from earlier Re.1 to Rs.150. The new tariff coupon comes for Rs.199 and has validity of 30 days and Rs.150 talktime.Now the effective monthly rent for pre paid one india plan is Rs.49 only. All std and all local calls@Re.1. Local calls to MTNL GSM network@ Re.1/3mins.

MTNL Delhi has increased TT on its VCC cards with immediate effect. MTNL.xls