Himanshu Singh

Private mobile operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular have been found to be involved in renting out their domestic SIM cards in bulk through their agents, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. "Three cellular service providers -- Vodafone, Airtel and Idea were found to be involved in renting out their domestic SIM cards in bulk through their agents -- Matrix Cellular (International) Service, Falcon Business Resources and Galaxy Rent a Tel and Limco Sales Corporation," Minister of State for Communications and IT Shakeel Ahmad said in a written reply. He said checks are being carried out by Department of Telecom through its Vigilance Technical Monitoring Cells. Certain violations are reported by VTM cells and action for violations would be taken as per the terms and conditions of license agreement after following due procedure, he added. The agents do not seek identity proof from each user. The government had asked mobile companies to verify identity of each user for security purposes.

International calls to the US and Canada would now cost just Rs 1.75 per minute from BSNL and MTNL phones as against Rs 7.20 a minute at present. BSNL has launched a calling card - CallNow - which allows BSNL and MTNL's landline subscribers to make much cheaper ISD calls to the US and Canada. While for some other destinations like France, Russia, the UK and South East Asia, the rates would vary from Rs 3.25 to Rs 4 a minute, depending on the denomination value of CallNow cards, Kuldeep Goyal, CMD of BSNL said. "Higher the denomination, cheaper the call charges," he said, adding that CallNow card also allows BSNL to BSNL/MTNL and vice versa calls to Re 1 per minute and to other operators at a maximum of Rs 2 per minute. BSNL has also tied up with Indiatimes for launching Free Messaging Service (FMS) under which, instead of the sender, the receiver of SMS would be charged. The service would help subscribers who have exhausted their air time (cash balance) to send SMS in an emergency situation, but with prior permission of receiver

May be but the press release was recent.Refer to economic times of the day i posted it.

.In post paid they have an add on plan where 500 mins of std calls as well as 500 std smses are free for a rent of Rs50/month.Beyond the 500 mins the call rate is 50 paise/min.

If you have a Tata indicom number in Bihar you could take a Tata number yourself and then with the lowest rental plan of Rs124 you could avail an add on pack of Rs.25/month and your std calls to that particular number would be 25paise/minute.That means for an effective rental of Rs.149/month you could call that particular number @25paise per minute.The cath as I already told you is that both of you shoudl have Tata indicom numbers!

Vodafone Essar, cellular service provider, on Saturday introduced the 149 calling card, which is available at a low denomination of Rs 149 for its postpaid and prepaid customers in Kerala. With this offer, customers can make calls in India at Rs 1.10/min thereby saving upto 58 per cent. Additionally, they can save upto 18 per cent on ISD calls. Along with the user friendly, PINless and direct phonebook dial, this offer provides customers the convenience as well as the affordability in communicating with their near and dear ones without having to pay any extra security deposit. Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Essar Cellular Ltd, Kerala, said it had been the service provider's constant endeavour to bring more value for customers' time and money. Keeping in mind the festival season, this is another offer that will help customers share their celebration with friends and family, he said. The other offers available currently include Gulf World Calling Card (299 MRP), US/Canada World Calling Card (2,999 MRP) and other denominations like 50, 110, 550.

why it is limited to only one circle, Kerala. It must be introduced nationwide so that all Vodafone's subscribers can take the benefit of this calling card. I think only Reliance/Tata have the wherewithal to offer such cheaper services nation wide not a limited operator like Idea or Vodafone. Bang on! No operator does that.MTNL has VCC cards but I am not sure if that works on roaming as well. Reliance also has the lower outgoing sms tariff while on roaming.It is equal to the sms tariff of home circle of the subscribers.Idea charges Rs.3.45/sms while roaming thats more than the cost of an STD call while roaming.I am sure the other robbers are charging similar rates.

Trai Favours Auctioning 3g Spectrum Sify.com - November 12, 2007 Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday favoured auctioning spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile services to firms which already provide second generation (2G) services, a development that could be a setback to new players who wish to offer only the advanced telephony system. The auction of 3G spectrum should be restricted to existing operators who are already providing 2G services, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Nripendra Misra said at a FICCI seminar here. Delivering the keynote address at the FICCI Workshop on Spectrum Management today TRAI chairman, Nripendra Misra said that the regulatory body recommended that all spectrum for broadband wireless should be auctioned. He expressed confidence that that this approach would be recognised by the department of Telecom. “There can be some mismatch of pace, but there cannot be any difference of opinion over the management of 3G,” Misra said. He further said, “ Our thinking is that but for 20/30 MHz of 2G spectrum which has to be subject to certain administrative intervention, all spectrum should be auctioned.” Clarifying the position, he said, “if we do decide to auction this part of the spectrum then there would be one set of players who already have spectrum and therefore would have a claim to eligibility of licenses; and another set of licensees, who have been waiting for a year, would have to go through the auction route.” All of us, he said, need to have a vision. This must be reflected in the quality of service, penetration in rural and urban areas, there should be an auction system, broadband must be facilitated and the entire approach to Voice over Internet (VOI) be revisited. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, member of parliament and member of the parliamentary standing committee on IT and vice president, FICCI described the current controversy of companies lining up for spectrum or license allotment as “needless” and called for addressing it cleanly and transparently. He said there was general political consensus on the need for more competition and commended an open, transparent bidding process for the allotment of new spectrum or licences bearing spectrum for each distinct circle. Further, the terms of allotment or sale of spectrum must be market determined and looked at as a monetising process by the country and not as a give away. Andrew Wright, MD, Analysis Consulting, the UK, spoke about the design option, the global experience and lessons for India with respect to 3G auctions. He said open auctions in 3G licensing processes represent international best practices. “The more open the auction, the higher the intensity of competition in the 3G mobile market. The government stands to benefit by way of realising the economic value of public scarce resource, promotion of economic efficiency and potentially higher revenues.” Nick Schulz, editor-in-chief, TCS Daily and research scholar, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Washington DC, pointed out that the benefits of auctions were in the shape of transparency, fairness, ensuring the involvement of serious market participants, price discovery and was less costly than generally perceived. The regulator also said entry fees for new mobile licensees in all the circles should be raised as there is good growth potential in the telecom sector. He said it would not be financially viable for new entrants to offer these services as compared to operators who have laid out their infrastructure all across the country. The 3G services support faster downloads and more data transmission, enabling operators to provide high-end services and broadband. Misra said to maintain a level playing field among the 2G operators, TRAI had not recommended auction of 2G spectrum. Misra said he was hopeful that the government would soon accept TRAI's recommendations on auctioning of spectrum. TRAI in its recommendations on 3G services last year had favoured auctioning of spectrum. It had proposed a base price of Rs 1,400 crore for a national 3G license. MY TAKE: serves everyone right except GSM robbers ? 1.Now we will soon come to know who has more financial muscle power to bid for Pan india license and roll out affordable services. 2.All oF us know there is a big churn in GSM operators.I can say wIth some certianity that its Airtel which loses out the maximum users month on month basis.Its not surprising that GSm companies had opposed this move while CDMA operators welcomed it. Finally, No amount of litigation from COAI can prevent Reliace from getting Pan India GSM spectrum.We would soon have double treat from Reliance, CDMA and GSM in each circle.That should serve the GSM ROBBERS right.I wish TATA also get GSM spectrum wish cowul further make GSM robbers red!

Its a last ditch effort of Airtel to increase Minutes of Usage.Its not that they have suddenly woken upto the fact that the local and std rates are ridiculously high on lifetime plans.

Talk Pan India and not region-specific. Please dont generalise.Visit Delhi and you would know what I am talking about.Airtel s**ks here big time.Its the worst provider here with Vodafone.Even Idea and MTNL do better than them.I use MTNL,Idea and Reliance and I must say I find Idea's net speed far better than Airtel which doea not even provide pc conectivity to its prepaid users in Delhi. Its a sad mentality.Period! You might have used some defective sets.Alternatively you could have contacted Reliance comm with the problems and also you should have checked if such problem was with you or with the other people in the same locality as well. Again sad mentality.I wont be proud of myself using such a language against a highly successful business man. I must inform you that all companies face such problems and not just Reliance.If you think this is a problem only with Reliance I would suggest you better visit www.mouthshut.com

Military will free up some telecom spectrum by the end of 2007 which could be used by wireless operators to provide second (2G) and third generation (3G) mobile services, the telecoms minister said on Thursday. "An institutional mechanism has been put in place for early vacation of spectrum by defence," Andimuthu Raja said at a conference. The defence ministry had set up a committee to decide on freeing part of the spectrum used by the military so that it may be used for commercial purposes. "We are hopeful that some spectrum for both 2G and 3G services will be vacated by the end of this year," Raja said, adding the amount to be released would be decided by the defence ministry committee. Analysts expect 20-25 MHz of spectrum will be released. Raja also said mobile operators may roll out 3G services by mid-2008. India, the world's fastest growing telecoms market, had 209 million wireless subscribers at end-September, an increase of 61 per cent from a year earlier. This rapid growth has led to a paucity of spectrum, affecting expansion plans of telecoms operators.

MTNL has introduced a new plan for its landline customers in Mumbai under which they would get 500 and 1200 minutes of free talk time in two categories, with effect from October 21. Under Plan A of the new initiative- One Minute Plan, the customer will get 500 free calls of one minute duration on monthly rental of Rs 499 and calls beyond free talk time will be charged at 60 paise per minute, a press release issued here today said. Under Plan B, customers will get 1,200 free local calls of one minute duration each on a monthly payment of Rs 999 per and calls beyond free ones will be charged at 33 paise per minute. Only local calls to all networks are permitted in these plans, the release said. With the ongoing festive season, MTNL is also offering 25 per cent extra talk time on Trump top-up coupons in the denominations of Rs 100, Rs 300, Rs 1,500 and recharge coupons of Rs 175 and Rs 330.

I again maintain Reliance will not roll out GSM services before the 4th Q of 2008.

Reliance will roll out gsm services only by the end of 4th quarter of 2008.

well idea is bacj wih a bang with better speed at my end.

Idea's GPRS services are not working in New Delhi since tuesday.Anyone experienced it?

Well, Lets face it guys.Nothing is impossible for Ambani brothers.If ever a proof was needed for it, I am sure the recent turn of events has provided it.No matter how much financial muscle Mittals, Birlas,Sarins and Tatas of this world might develop,Reliance is still bigger than all of them when it comes to changing the rules of the game.The logic is simple:change the rules if you cant win it with the existing ones. First Late Pramod Mahajan helped out the elder Ambani start his Reliance India Mobile changing rules left, right and centre to suit him.Now the same is happening with the younger Ambani.Its going to sooth his ego immensly as now he can boast of getting GSM license on his own. I am glad with the prospect that Reliance is getting to roll out pan India GSM services.Look what Reliance telecom has done to the states where it already has services.I know about its services in Bihar and Jharkhand circles where it has put all other operators to shame by offering cheaper tariffs. I am waiting to get a Reliance GSM sim in Delhi.I am fed up of the VODEATEL( vodafone idea airtel).I hope it happens as soon as possible.

I would not care for such an extra ordinary expensive offer. Shame on Vodafone.

@kumar, Well I am not sure that all such conversations are recorderd for any purpose leave alone training purposes.But once the matter goes to the court the onus is on the company to prove that you have given such requests.How they do it in the courts is their headache!!! Also I must admit that what I posted earlier here might not be true in every case. At times someone from your family might have by mistake put in some requests through sms.There could be variety of reasons. I would like to mention some check points I always keep in mind: 1. when you give any request ask for the complaint/reference/communication id number. 2. if a service has been activated without any requests call the cc and make them lodge a complaint, if they refuse mail to the company and pay a visit to their outlet and threaten to terminate the connection if its a postpaid number. 3.always save the confirmation sms which you receive when a complaint has been registered or something else has been confirmed as for example when you change your tariff plans or when you deactivate any add on packs. 4.if the service has been activated without requests mail to the compnay demanding the deactivation of the service and threatening with termination of the connection. I must admit that these ploys are nothing as compared to the ploys whihc these companies are using to make money but I have been doing it successfully since i owned a mobile. And friends I am happy to say that no matter how many times i have been wrongly billed by reliance in postpaid i have got my money back. Also Idea had refunded me Rs.225 in prepaid when they had wrongly charged me Rs.115 for gprs rentals on a single day all thanks to **** tricks.

Even as new telecom aspirants eagerly await the release of spectrum by the defence forces (20-25 MHz), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is close to awarding spectrum to existing mobile operators — Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone Essar and Aircel — by the end of the year. These players had applied for spectrum earlier from August 2006 to April 2007, which are being considered as priority dates, and will now get the additional spectrum from unutilised frequencies, available in the 1800 MHz band. The DoT will provide the additional spectrum just as it did when it recently allocated 10 MHz additional pan-India spectrum to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and 4.4 MHz to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL). The allocation is being based on a finding by Wireless Planning and Co-ordination cell (WPC) and Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which revealed that a certain amount of spectrum was “lying unutilised” with the government. DoT sources say the WPC has proposed to earmark 0.8 MHz for Bharti Airtel, taking its cumulative total to 10 MHz. Moreover, it is doling out initial allocations of 4.4 MHz of spectrum to Idea Cellular and Aircel in the Mumbai circle. However, Vodafone-Essar — which already has 10 MHz spectrum in Mumbai — will not be allocated further spectrum. Likewise, Idea Cellular, which currently has 8 MHz of spectrum, will get an additional 2 MHz, and Aircel 4.4 MHz in the Delhi circle. Airtel and Vodafone-Essar (which have 10 MHz each) will not be allocated further spectrum. A similar allocation is also planned for the rest of the country, the source said, but did not provide circle-wise details. When contacted, a DoT official confirmed that the spectrum would be provided under the “same terms and conditions” of BSNL and MTNL. He added that the allocation was on a “trial basis”. The allocation, he noted, will be under the private GSM players’ existing service licence agreements. My take: I think Delhi desperately needs one more private GSM operator and Aircel could roll out services soon if it is allotted spectrum by Dec.

Dude I can tell you one of the reasons why it has happened. Sometimes when you call customer care and argue with them the executives put in some requests on their own just to cause financial loss to you. It might be that you had an argument with anyone of them during previous days and he put in requests. Actually I had faced a similar problem with Idea in Delhi.I had an argument with an idiot from Idea and he put in requests for caller tunes. gprs rental plans and other things which he could. I mailed them and complained to them when I discovered what had happened.I explained the same thing in the mail that I had an argument with a executive and he put in all those requests.Within 24 hours I got an email from them and they apologised to me and refunded my money back which was something like Rs. 50. So I suggest that you write an email to serviceassurancecell@relianceada.com and explian to them the whole thing.

he Telecom Commission (TC) has given its approval to the department of telecom’s (DoT) demand that it be allowed to impose a financial penalty of a maximum of up to Rs 50 crore on Bharti Airtel for what it terms as ‘violations in the International Long Distance (ILD) licence agreement’. As reported earlier by ET, the DoT after examining Bharti Airtel’s reply on the issue and also consulting its technical arm — Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) – had approached the TC stating that the company had violated a total of four clauses in its ILD licence: “As per the opinion of the TEC, there are two violations — connecting of public internet through the ILD network which is not allowed under the ILD licence and using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway in Delhi and Chennai without the approval from the government,” the DoT had said in its communication to the Telecom Commission. Bharti in its reply had contested that no approval was required for installation of VoIP gateway while adding that after installation the company had ensured that the monitoring of calls were done and the same was also demonstrated to the security agencies prior to the start of ILD services. “Thus, our monitoring facilities were always completely intact and no call escaped from monitoring,” the company had said. “Since we have not violated any licence condition and no compromise has been made on monitoring aspects, payment of Access Deficit Charge and quality of service, we request the department to consider our submissions favourably and withdraw the show cause notice,” Bharti’s reply added. The DoT had, however, told the TC had it had decided to penalise the company only after its vigilance cell had inspected Bharti ILD switch. In support of its argument, the DoT has also said that Bharti had failed to submit any approval for operating its VoIP gateway: “The stand of Bharti that there is no requirement of equipment-wise clearance to be taken from the licensor is totally false. Under Clause 23.18 and 23.22 it is clearly mentioned that approval of the licensor is required.”

cos no telco can get more than 10MHz of spectrum in one circle.

In Delhi the same scheme is something where you pay a rent of about 699 and you get calls worth Rs.699 free and also some free data transfer.

GSM set at Rs.555 is going to take some time for Vodafone.Even a CDMA biggie like Reliance has not come down below Rs.777.