Himanshu Singh

As private mobile telephony operators wait to hear from the department of telecommunications (DoT) on their nine-month-old applications for spectrum, the radio frequency that enables wireless communication, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) has received 4 MHz each for the two cities it operates in — Mumbai and Delhi. MTNL, a listed company in which the majority equity is held by the government, already has 8 MHz each in the two cities, the country’s most lucrative markets, with which it services a total of 2.77 million mobile subscribers. Earlier, the DoT had given 10 MHz to Bharat Sanchar Nigam, the unlisted company owned by the government that operates in all of India, except Mumbai and Delhi. The move had not pleased the private operators, which said it violated the government’s avowed principle of providing a level playing field to all. There is no universally accepted method of calculating the number of subscribers every MHz can accommodate, but the benchmark in Indian conditions is accepted as 3 million, against 8 million for each MHz in China. Spectrum is a much sought-after commodity as it not only allows more connections, but also more efficiency in providing value-added services. Efforts have been on to persuade the armed forces to give up a part of the considerable spectrum they hold. According to sources, who did not want to be identified, the spectrum for Mumbai was allocated in August and for Delhi last month. When contacted, a DoT official, who did not want to be identified confirmed the development. The spectrum was allocated from the 1800 MHz band, which, upon an assessment by the Wireless Planning and Coordination cell, was found to be not in use by the defence forces. The official, however, added that the spectrum was allocated on a trial basis for electromagnetic compatibility testing. When contacted, the top executive of a private operator refused to buy the “trial” explanation and alleged that the allocation was permanent.

At 1199, its not extraordinary guys!! Nokia is selling some of its B/W sets for lesser or almost same price.Then who would go for a network locked handset? Unless they offer sets below Rs.1000 with Free talktime and validity its going to draw lukewarm response.

Dude I have the option of unlimited internet for about 500 inclusive of taxes near Bhikaji Cama Place New Delhi.Its spectra smart and it has good speeds. But thats cable and not Gprs.

NEW DELHI: India added 5.60 million new subscribers in the GSM mobile telephony segment in September as against 5.95 million in August, according to data released by an industry body Wednesday. Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile service operator, added 2.06 million new users, taking up its total number of subscribers to 48.87 million as on Sep 30 and reaching a market share of 31.88 percent, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a release. Vodafone-Essar, formerly Hutch-Essar, was placed second with 1.54 million new users, compared to 1.67 million in August, taking its total subscriber base to 35.65 million and thereby achieving a market share of 23.26 percent. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) also witnessed a lesser growth as it added 598,804 new users, much lower than 725,392 in the previous month. However, it retained the third position and reported a market share of 19.77 percent and a total subscriber base of 30.30 million. The Birla Group's Idea Cellular reported 800,904 new additions in September compared to 866,629 in August, and reported a total number of users at 1.86 million and a market share of 12.18 percent. The Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications, primarily a CDMA player, reported a total subscriber base of 4.34 million users with a 2.84 percent market share. It, however, did not announce its monthly additions.

Service providers can offer services on both GSM and CDMA platform: DoT 11 Oct, 2007, 0156 hrs IST, Times News Network NEW DELHI: The department of telecom (DoT) has accepted telecom regulator TRAI’s proposal to allow operators to provide cellular services using dual technology. This implies, service providers can offer services on both GSM and CDMA platform. The decision of the DoT’s internal panel will now have to be cleared by the full meeting of the Telecom Commission, the apex body that is looking into the regulator’s recommendations on licensing reforms. If the Telecom Commission approves the DoT panel’s decision, the move will primarily benefit Reliance Communications, which had applied for pan-India GSM spectrum last year. HFCL has also applied for GSM spectrum in all telecom circles in the country. RCom had initially planned to launch GSM services on a pan-India level during the current fiscal, but the company was unable to do so as it had not been allocated 2G spectrum since telecom regulator Trai was looking into the issue of use of dual technology. The catch is that, even after the policy is introduced, RCom and HFCL will now have to join the queue for GSM spectrum. RCom’s company’s application for GSM spectrum is behind that of existing operators such as Aircel, Idea and Vodafone and Spice Telecom. Switzerland-based ByCell is also ahead of RCom in the queue, followed by Swan Telecom and Cheetah, both of which have been linked to Reliance Communications. According to sources, the DoT panel has also endorsed TRAI’s suggestion that any operator who wants to offer services using alternate technology should pay an upfront fee which equal to the entry fee for UAS license (a pan-India UASL license costs about Rs 1,500 crore). The DoT panel has also decided for the calculation of spectrum charges, the radio frequencies held by the two licensees will be added and the annual spectrum charge be prescribed on the total spectrum. Besides, the panel has also decided that the revenue share license fee will be calculated based on the combined revenues, sources added.

Rs 15/day is far too much for a dial up speed in Delhi..I think in that respect Idea is much more pocket friendly as it allows me to surf net on pc as well as my handset without any hassles for Rs.5/day.

Like most Nokia sets its overpriced!!!

The day Rcom starts GSM operations in Delhi I am sure it will hurt GSM operators big way.

Idea is one of the worst companies for customer support.Their staff is one of the most illiterate people I have ever come across. I am not surprised by what happened to the poor chap. I have suffered at the hands of Idea myself.When I rehcharged with Rs. 98 to convert my SIM into I card I was promised that I will be given 1500 Idea to Idea local sms free but I never got it.When I mailed them they told me that offer is closed whereas I had confirmed it from their Idea n U showroom at Vasant Vihar. Then again a few days ago my local as well std sms were charged @50 paise whereas my tariff is 25paise/sms.I complained to CC as well as mailed to them..The CC admitted there is some problme but the mail reply i got from Idea said there is no wrong deduction.I gave up. Atleast with Reliance I never lost my money. I dont want any BLOODY IDEA TO CHANGE MY LIFE!!!

I sincerely hope Reliance get this one.Its needed otherwise the Big three GSM gangsters will monopolise the gsm market in this country.

Guys thanks for the replies!!! Can any buddy out here tell me a few things that I wanted to know about gprs services in Delhi? 1. Do Airtel and Vodafone provide the facility of connecting the mobile as a modem to pc/laptop to surf the net for prepaid users? Idea and MTNL provide this facilty in both pre and post paid. 2. If they do whats the charges and the plans? Idea charges Rs. 5/day and thereafter 1 paise/2 Mb for unlimited net access for prepaid. MTNl charges 2paise /kb. 3.I use Idea's Gprs right now to surf net. While downloading I get a speed of 2-3 kbps. Is it too slow? I mean can it be better than this on nokia 6080? WAITING FOR REPLIES.

Is any friend using MTNL gprs in Delhi? May I ask for the manual settings for prepaid mtnl gprs? Call centre does not have settings for my samsung metal series phone. Thanks.Is any friend using MTNL gprs in Delhi? May I ask for the manual settings for prepaid mtnl gprs? Call centre does not have settings for my samsung metal series phone. Thanks.

Tata postaid( rental Rs 50 for 3000 local and std sms to all) and Garuda MTNL postpaid(rental Rs.60 for unlimited local and std sms to all) offer the best tariff in postpaid segment... No other postpaid scheme comes even distant close to it.. In prepaid Idea's My gang tariff is the best deal@Re.0.10/sms for local and std for 19 happy hours( 10 pm to 5 pm) and Re.0.25/sms for the remaining 5 hours. This comes at a daily deduction of Re.1.00.

Its true that sms rates have been moving northwards for last few months in Delhi circle..But Reliance had done well to make sms tariff less expensive..All of us are aware of the fact that all the GSM telcos revised their local sms tariff to Re 1.20/sms from Re. 1.00/sms in their basic tariff plans whereas Reliance reduced local sms tariif to Re. 0.90/sms from the earlier Re. 1/sms in its basic tariff.. In Delhi all gsm operators offer SMS packs for prepaid. Idea for instance has local sms pack recharge for prepaid wherein for a recharge of Rs. 34 one can send 3000sms@0.20/sms. If we assume that a customer sends 1000 local sms/month he would shell out 1000*0.20=Rs. 200+Rs.34=Rs.234 for 1000 sms..It comes to about 23 paise per sms. Hutch and Airtel have exactly similar offerings. Now compare Reliance prepaid sms pack in Delhi which offers 1000 local sms for Rs. 25.(Some argue its only 500 sms even then for Rs 50 you could get 1000 sms per month.)..it comes to about 2.5 paise per sms.. Conclusion Reliance prepaid sms pack is 10 times less expensive than any other GSM operator in Delhi.

Another attempt by GSM gangsters to manipulate market forces.They are already acting as a cartel as someone rightly said. This is one more step in that direction.Rcom can compete on its own against the combined might of all of them.I am eagerly waiting for RCOM to get the GSM licence in the remaining telecom circles and once it happens its curtains for all others. And lastly I must advise Mittals, Birlas and Sarins of this world to merge their companies into one single entity.It would be better for the customers to be robbed by a single company rather than 3 of them separately. WHAT SHOULD BE THE NAME OF THE COMPANY WHICH IS FORMED BY THEIR MERGER? VODEATEL???? Any takers?

lets begin with you.

I advise all of you import hansets from abroad and stop cribbing for heaven's sake!!!

No other operator has the leverage or the competitive edge to do what Reliance and Tata have done with the handset market. Kudos to these companies who have turned a liability into an opportunity by focussing on handset driven expansion plan which no other Indian operator has done as successfully as them. To say that Rs.999 handsets are for the low economic strata is no offence for some friends out here, but I must remind our friends not only in rimweb but also elsewhere that the telecom revolution has as much to do with people at the upper economic strata of the society as with the people at the lower end. I find it quite amusing that even when some frnds here joke offensively about the low price of such handsets although they have all the knowledge and first hand experience of the shortcomings of such phones which only goes on to prove that there are lot many frnds from rimweb who might actually be using such phones.

Rubbish claim... All these companies show off inflated subscriber number...One can get these SIM cards for less than Rs.100 and use and throw...Still they would add that subscriber to their base... This is why GSM companies are complaining of falling ARPUs cos they keep adding subscribers to their base without accounting for people who have left them. They dont have as many subscribers as they claim, so their revenue gets divided by a large number of inactive customers which leads to a reduced ARPU... There should be a benchmark of active subscribers who have made calls in the past 1 month from their numbers..Any subscriber who does not make a call for 30 days should be inactive customer as far as the subscriber base goes... My basic argument is that these companies never account for the subscribers who terminate uising the services of their company... One never finds such data that in a particular month X number of people bought a new airtel connection and Y number gave up their connections and hence airtel has grown up or down by X-Y subscribers in that month.

Guys no doubt RCOM has the best voice clarity..But as it has been a late entrant in telcom its natural that it does not have network everwhere..the ad not withstanding..But I am sure it can only improve..They have been in a fix over whether to expand the cdma operation or wait for GSM spectrum..thats one big reason of delay in expanding their network..

I found amusing some of the visualisations here..Guys I really think nothing earth shattering is going to happen..The rebranding was one opportunity to make a mark by unveiling the so called visualisations..But look what they have done..Ads and nothign else..And I agree that Hutch/Vodafone together with Idea will create a cartel and try to influence Trai and DoT..Look how all of them increased call rates and sms rates last month..shameless telcos..

Well My screen says HUTCH NOW VODAFONE..

@hetal, Does it operate both the techonlogy in all the areas of China simultaneously?

All tall claims of the Hutch could fall flat as its aint getting any additional spectrum in cirlces it already has spectrum.Same with Airtel.Its now becoming clear that first the companies which are holding licences without any spectrum that will get the priority in spectrum allocation. This essentially means Aircel will get spectrum in 21 circles followed by Hutch in some circles. And the inside story is that Reliance is in talks with Maxis(Which holds majority stake in Aircell) for a GSM JV.So Reliance could have a Pan India GSM presence as soon as the next round of spectrum is done as it already has GSM operations in 8 circles out of 24 cirlces in India.Now where does that leave any room for any other operator.Imagine Reliance with the talk plans and the options of all kinds of GSM handsets. Reliance will become the only company in the world to offer both CDMA and GSM services simultaneoulsy in all the cirlces. This would catapult Reliance to number one position. Vodafone is indulging in a pr exercise for the company. If it was going to be a panacea for all ills of Indian Telecom I dnt think they would have incresed the local sms rate and local on net call rate to start with! But guys, great imagination, creativity and good optimism.

Which nokia handset with the lowest price can be used for connecting to the net on a pc through data cable with the help of gprs? I was connecting to the net on my pc through the data cable using nokia 6080? I have idea gprs for net. Is it also possible with say nokia 2626, nokia 1600?