vvinayakpai

Aircel rolls out services in Mumbai BS Reporter / Mumbai April 9, 2009, 14:04 IST Mobile service operator Aircel today launched its services in Mumbai. For the company, this will be a roll out of its services in 17th circle. Aircel with 18 million subscribers is the fifth-largest service provider in the country. Aircel will also launch localised value-added services (VAS) as well as a WAP portal in Hindi. Gurdeep Singh, chief operating officer, Aircel said: “We will introduce product and services that are uniquely tailored for the special needs of Mumbai customers.” Aircel is entering into an already overcrowded market. There are six GSM operators -- Airtel, MTNL, Vodafone Essar, Idea, Reliance Communications and Loop Mobile -- in Mumbai. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) offers CDMA services, while Reliance Communications offers both GSM and CDMA platforms. It is also been reported that new operators Datacom, Swan, Unitech and Loop Telecom are also expected to enter Mumbai as and when they start operations.

RCOM has introduced a new tariff cutter for its prepaid GSM subscribers. The voucher is priced at Rs. 45. It offers a talktime of Rs. 20 and also lifetime validity. Morning 6AM to 11PM Reliance to Reliance mobile (GSM+CDMA)= 30ps min Night 11PM to 6AM Reliance- Reliance Mobile(GSM+CDMA)= Free Offnet calls charged at 60ps/min STD calls at Re 1 per minute Even though the validity of the voucher is lifetime, the tariff has a validity of 90 days. Pretty good scheme according to me, because effective amount spent = Rs. 45- Rs. 20= Rs. 25. Rs. 25/3 = Rs. 8.33.month

It cannot be attributed a call rate hike as such. RCOM GSM is in testing phase. SO they have to attract customers with lower tariffs. Rs. 35 for 50 mins works out to be 70ps/min. Now with the network slightly "improving", they will slowly revert to the best tariff of Re. 1 per minute. This will be done slowly eventually so that the customers dont feel the pinch at one go. Something like "Zor ka Jhatka dheere se"

Truly, RIL changed the way petrol pumps functioned imbibing in a lot of professionalism and mainly cleanliness into the system. The toilets maintained at RIL pumps set the trends for IOC and BP to catch up. And also the quality of fuel was also a tad better. (My personal opinion)

any updates about the phone. In january, Mr. ambani had suggested that the phone would be launched in the present quarter.

Reliance GSM has introduced national sms scheme for Rs. 42 offering 400 sms free. the 400 messages can be used for local as well as national. check the balance on your GSM phones by dialling *367# and you will find a seperate entry named STD sms. Hopefully this scheme is intoduced in CDMA as well

With refernce to the above message I would like to clarify that I am a prepaid subscriber. And also the sms offer suggested above are postpaid

I hate to say this, but I am absolutely unhappy with Reliance COmmunications discriminating between their CDMA subscribers and GSM subscribers. Agreed that RGSM is a new network and requires special care and innovative schemes for survival,, but I am not happy with the fact that RCDMA has been lagging in terms of tariffs and offers when compared to GSM. It is really pathetic that tere is no national sms offer on RCDMA so far. If Reliance thinks that all RCDMA customers will choose RGSM by default once MNP is effected in, then they better be prepared for the worst. What can we expect from a company which does not believe in its own customers and who knows tomorrow they might chuck the GSM customers for a better technology in the future!!!!!!!!!!!

Not worth it at all!!!!!!!!!! Expect something better from TATA

Thanks Arun for spotting the discrepancy!!! You saved rimwebians from being misguided.

Thats because Reliance never divulges split figures for CDMA and GSM. They make available only consolidated figures!!!!

Virgin cannot be written off so easily. It is an international brand name which has created a mark for itself worldwide. I would say, let us wait for the GSM launch of the TATA's and then we can see the steam returning!!!!!!!

Airtel needs to be more aggressive. But they do have a constraint on their part. They already have 94 million subscribers and reducing tariffs means maximum utilisation by existing subscribers and also net addition of new high usage value subscribers which would ultimately increase congestion on the already congested network. And with the coming of MNP, I am sure, they would have a lot to lose if they drastically reduce tariffs.

I understand if there is a network congestion and call gets dropped. But a network problem is unforgivable. I was shocked to see that yesterday whole night there was no network at all. I tried doing the manual search and selecting the 405 10 Reliance network, but it kept beeping "NO ACCESS". This is not a reliable network for sure. What about the other newbies like Aircel? Are you facing similar "testing problems in those networks as well?

Full fledged commercial launch

Definitely yes!!!! This is just a gimick by Reliance to make the customers opt for lifetime validity.

By when will the open calling cards be introduced in the market? ANy information?

I dont think thats true dude. Once I called up RCOM CC and demanded an explanation regarding some issue I was facing at that time. The rep gave me a very unsatisfactory answer and I demanded to speak to a supervisor. He point blank told me that all his "supervisors are busy in meeting and he may not be able to connect the call". I told him that I was ready to hold the call till eternity and asked him to connect it. The rep came back on the line after five minutes and gave me the same explanation. I told hm that i would not disconnect the call unless he gave me a satisfactory explanation. This is what he said" Sir, I have given all the information regarding the subject, Not a problem if u cannot disconnect the call I shall do so, Thank you for calling reliance......." and he disconnected the call I was totally dumbstruck and did not know whether to laugh or cry at the service provided by RCOM. It was an amazing experience

RCOM has a lot to do to match the service privided by MTS and other telecom providers. Unfortunately RCOM has this "no care attitude". Its something like, "If not u, somebody else will be happy with a RCOM, so u can get out". Dont know how far this will last. Also, the RCOM customer care executives are always in a hurry to end the call. Each time I call and when the representatives are hurrying through the call, I stop them and I ask them, "Are u in a hurry? If yes please transfer me to another representative". AFter i implemented this, the situation is a lot better

Same situation in Bangalore as well. *367# was not working for more than 24 hours. In fact i was constantly losing network(Generally I do not face any problems) And the worst thing was, I tried calling the customer care at *333 at 12 midnight. The voice response unit informed me tht the call would be attended after 5 mins as the call volume was high. I patiently waited, but after some time i fell asleep without disconnecting the call. Morning when i checked the last call duration I was shocked, 2:55:12.

This voucher gives u lifetime incoming validity and a tariff validity of 90 days

Executives visiting ur place within 10 hours, and also getting a call from the executives confirming regarding the installation of a tower in your local area........... Amazing dude.. Now it is for these telecom companies to woo people with their quality of service rather than just open promises which were acceptable until now by consumers. I am sure, all telco would gear up on the customer service front to compete more vigorously after the implementation of MNP

what r the STD rates?? STD rate at Re.1 per minute.

Press Trust of India Thu, 12 Feb 2009 at 15:00 IST LUCKNOW: Reliance Communications on Thursday launched an STD pack offering call facility of 50 minutes across all networks for the period of 30 days on e-recharge of Rs 35 for GSM users of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand. “We have received tremendous custo mer response of our GSM services launched last month. After offering lifetime validity, double talk-time, night pack, SMS pack we are launching STD pack enabling customers to talk freely,'' said Mr Saleem Haq, Regional Head (UP and Uttarakhand), Relianc e Comm. The offer is available till February 28, he added.

It seems that the telecom operators are going to fight out another long drawn battle regarding the termination costs. BSNL has filed a petition in TDSAT on March 30th to stay the TRAI order which reduced MTC from 30ps/min to 20ps/min stating that Termination costs to landlines are 3-4 times higher than Mobile-mobile termination costs. THE COAI(GSM boby) and the AUSPI(CDMA Body) have filed an application to TDSAT requesting them to be made parties to the case as any judgement passed by TDSAT without hearing their pleas might have a negative impact o them. THE TDSAT heard the petition of BSNL, COAI and AUSPI on March 31st and directed BSNL counsel to serve notices to AUSPI and COAI regarding the petition and also to file an application to include COAi and AUSPI as parties to the case. BSNL counsel has assured the court that the petitions would be handed to COAI and AUSPI on April 1st and the case has been postponed for hearing on April 2nd, 2009.