savramesh

^^^ yes the above procedure will work. even i had a windows reinstall today with bitorent backup..

Techtree News Staff, Apr 30, 2009 1535 hrs IST Bharti Airtel is planning to launch "Virtual Phones" Telecom operator Bharti Airtel is planning to launch "Virtual Phones", a technology that allows users to use as many as 10 different numbers from a single phone, reports the Financial Chronicle. Developed by Bharti-owned Comviva Technologies, the application comes embedded with the SIM card and offers users to "opt" for his number whenever the user requires it. The user group will be password protected with each user having his own password to access his phone. Airtel is reportedly undertaking field trials of the service. Comviva, in co-operation with South African operator MTN, already has the service in South Africa. Airtel expects the technology to be operational in two months time and India might see the first services roll out in the rural areas of the country. According to Airtel, no other operator in India has a similar technology currently and for the same reason, the implementation of this technology will provide Airtel an early head start in this segment. The idea is to provide subscribers more value with just a single instrument. While there have been cases of one SIM using two numbers, if Airtel's plans bears fruits, it will be the first time that users will get as many as ten numbers from a single SIM and that too, with just one handset. Singapore's SingTel and UAE's Etisalat already have this system in place where users have been assigned two numbers on the same SIM card.

Techtree News Staff, Apr 30, 2009 1248 hrs IST Continues to gain popularity since its launch Nokia says that its Ovi e-mail service has bagged more than 250,000 users since its launch in December last year. Nokia's Ovi service was a "push" by the company to enter the competitive mobile email market - traditionally dominated by RIM with its BlackBerry. As a part of the strategy, Nokia took over Intellisync, the wireless email technology provider, in 2006. Later though, the Finnish handset maker closed down its business mobility unit and decided to concentrate on consumer e-mail. This resulted in the creation of what we now know as the Ovi Mail service. With Ovi, the company has targeted "normal" consumers and the service seems to be a hit with consumers from emerging markets like India. With 12 of the top countries being emerging markets, Nokia is inching towards pushing its services in these countries where the company expects more growth in the coming quarters. If you have not signed up for the service yet, you might want to take a look at it here. There is also the mobile version of the service which an be accessed here.

@sachin, similar problem for recharging and topup.. so yet to know how this system works.. anyone have info on this ?, pls post..

Mobile portability coming soon Statesman News Service BANGALORE, April 29: Come September, Kolkata, as a metro, and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as circles, will get to enjoy the facility of mobile portability. The clearing house for the purpose, in collaboration with telecom service providers, will be set up by MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions Limited, a joint venture with Telcordia, USA. After September, the company would initiate action to provide the facility in Kerala, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, North-East and Assam. The company will set up a disaster recovery unit in Kolkata and an application centre in Bangalore for its services using IBM platform. Announcing this here today, Mr Ashok Sapra, managing director, said that the department of telecommunications had given the exclusive licence to MNP Interconnection to implement number portability services in zone two which covers the southern and eastern India, particularly, Kolkata, as a metro. The announcement follows the application filed by Telcordia, engaged in development of fixed, mobile and broadband communication software and services. It has received the final clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Telcordia’s proposal for FDI has also been cleared and the investment by MNP Interconnection Solutions would hover around $10 million, to start with.

flashing is recommended to do at nokia cares. i am not sure if that can be done outside in local shops..

The Hindu Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 CHENNAI: With a huge rural population and a relatively low PC and Internet density, India was only partly affected by the so-called “Internet revolution.” But when the next — the “mobile Internet revolution” — comes round, India might be in the forefront due to the very high penetration of mobile telephony. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently pegged the total number of wireless subscribers in the country (as of end March 2009) at 391.76 million. With a significant proportion of these subscribers using “data-enabled” handsets according to the TRAI data for the previous quarter (101.1 million handsets), the country may be poised to take a big step forward on the mobile Internet front. However, content is a major problem, says S. Prashant, Director, Akmin Technologies. “There are enough handsets and many good plans by telecom providers. But the content in the form of websites for different needs is sorely lacking.” Mr. Prashant, whose Chennai-based company was recently recognised as an Official Honoree (top 15 per cent of over 10,000 applications submitted) by the prestigious WeBBY Awards Committee, has a solution: let people come up with their own content. Last year he released mobiSiteGalore, a mobile website-building tool, based on an earlier tool, SiteGalore, created by his own firm. “In SiteGalore, the user could build a mobile website from the PC. We went one step further with mobiSiteGalore by letting users build mobile websites from their mobile phones,” he says. Available for free at http://www.mobisitegalore.com, the tool lets users build their websites in a simple step-by-step process. It also provides them hosting space under the sub-domain .param.mobi (thehindu.param.mobi would be a sample website address). “For advanced users who can host their own domains, we provide only the site-building tool.” Nearly 50,000 users have signed up and built their mobile websites using the tool, says Mr. Prashant. Many bigger players have also licensed the software from Akmin under the Software as a Service model. Accessibility “We are moving towards enabling people from even the remotest parts of the country to access the Internet. Soon we will be providing the tool free of cost in local languages. This will create an explosion in the amount of content available on the mobile web,” he explains. With the W3C (WorldWideWeb Consortium) mobile web initiative and dotMobi, a group of leading players including Microsoft, Google and Nokia, attempting to resolve inter-operability and best practices issues, the mobile Internet might soon become ubiquitous, Mr. Prashant says. And, he adds, with a number of people getting on the bandwagon by creating sites like cricket.mobi and fbimostwanted.mobi, the content problem could also be solved soon.

^^^ please note that if the same number is saved 2 times in 2 diff names then it will never show the name, only number shows. i faced this problem for few numbers which was duplicated in contact list..

"without subscriber" !! so they might install one tower in all district headquaters..

Business Standard Monday, Apr 13, 2009 The screening committee set up to select the next chairman of telecom sector regulator TRAI has shortlisted three candidates -- Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan, Consumer Affairs Secretary Yashwant Bhave and former BSNL director S D Saxena. The committee, which is headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, is learnt to have shortlisted these applicants for the post based on their experience and knowledge of the telecom sector. Sources said that the committee would be forwarding these names to the administrative Telecom Ministry soon. TRAI Member, Finance, A K Sawhney is looking into the day to day activities after Nripendra Misra's retirement on March 22 as the Chairman of TRAI. The DoT had earlier suggested an amendment in the TRAI Act 1997 to allow non-Government experts to apply for the posts. According to DoT, the move is in line with the selection criteria followed by other regulators such as IRDA, CERC and SEBI. Of the 29 applications received for the post of Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the screening committee had shortlisted 13 for an interview, based on their experience and knowledge of the telecom sector. While most of the applicants in the fray were former government employees, P V Ramadas, Vice-President, HCL BPO Services, was the only executive from the private sector named in the list.

J S Sarma leads race to become Trai chief Times of India 29 Apr 2009, 0017 hrs IST NEW DELHI: J S Sarma, former secretary and additional secretary of department of telecom (DoT) and at present TDSAT member, has emerged as a frontrunner for the post of Trai chairman, according to sources in the ministry. The cabinet secretariat is learnt to have shortlisted three candidates for the post of Trai chairman. According to ministry sources, these include JS Sarma, Yashwant Bhave, who served as additional secretary in the DoT, before retiring as secretary, consumer affairs and S D Saxena, former finance director of BSNL and a member of its board. Sources revealed that the file has been sent to telecom minister A Raja and Sarma stands a strong chance to emerge as a winner. However, when contacted, Sarma denied any knowledge of the development. Trai is an independent regulator for all issues relating to telecom and broadcasting. Mainly it has recommendatory powers with exception of tariffs and interconnection, where it can have a final say without government interference. Recently the relationship between Trai and DoT has been one of unease and a TDSAT judgment just few weeks ago of which Sarma was one of the authors blamed the regulator for acting without transparency while formulating various guidelines and regulations. A new telecom minister is expected to take office in May, after the general elections but it is not clear clear when the new Trai chief will assume office. It has been a tough race for the top job at Trai with many candidates, mostly former government secretaries, throwing their hats in the ring. Other serious contenders for the position included immediate past DoT secretary, DS Mathur who served for nearly two years before retiring in December 2008, A K Mohapatra, former shipping secretary, PK Mishra, who was former principal secretary of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, secretary, union agriculture ministry and later, chairman Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) and Arun Ramanathan, former finance secretary. The job has become even more attractive after the salary and emoluments for the chairman's position was recently increased to Rs 3 lakh per month.

interesting to hear "10 per cent of each district headquarters in a circle " so if they need some customer with this 10% coverage then they will have to give cheapest and attractive tariffs and offers.. lets wait and see...

^^^ save all numbers in +91-xxxxxxxxxx format, it should work...

27 Apr, 2009, 1551 hrs IST, Indiatimes Infotech NEW DELHI: Korean giant Samsung Electronics has unveiled its first smartphone powered by Google Android, Samsung I7500. Measuring 115 x 56 x 11.9 mm, the phone has a 3.2-inch touchscreen AMOLED display with 480 x 320 pixel HVGA resolution, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 8GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 32GB. The phone offers GPS capabilities, 3.5mm headset jack and a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A CPU. For connectivity, the phone packs 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi. Samsung I7500 is also GSM, GPRS, EDGE and Bluetooth compatible. Running on Android 1.5 OS, i7500 will support all major Google services, including Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calender, IM and location-based services like Google Maps and Latitude. Samsung said I7500 will be available in European countries starting from June. The phone joins two other Android-powered handsets from HTC, T-Mobile G1 and HTC Magic.

Reliance Money to sack about 300 employees Economic Times 27 Apr 2009, 2007 hrs IST NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Money on Monday said it is undertaking a performance monitoring exercise for its staff which could result in separation of about 300 employees due to their under-performance. The company, however, brushed aside speculations about any massive layoffs terming the churn of about 10-15 per cent as a normal process in its businesses and also dismissed rumours about the resignation of its MD Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Besides, the company said that it has even hired more than 500 persons in certain businesses in the recent months. "The churn of under performers has to be carried out to keep the company trim and fit and the reduction of less performing staff by 10-15 per cent is the usual cut which we make in March-April period," Bandyopadhyay told reporters over telephone from Mumbai. The total workforce of Reliance Money across all its verticals, including broking, money changing & money transfer and gold coins, is over 2,000 employees. On the basis of the total workforce size, there would be around 200-300 jobs cuts at present.

^^^ in that ebay site the handset is posted under Tata cdma, so not sure if it works with reliance..

Yes.. this is a good thinking.. reliance failed to do so and still many people dont know reliance is having gsm services.. they thinks 'reliance' means 'cdma'....

Financial Cronicle Apr 26 2009 2152 hrs IST Department of telecom (DoT) is likely to examine this week the eligibility of Loop Telecom to hold mobile licences. Essar Group holds less than 10 per cent stake in Loop Telecom. DoT had asked the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) to look into the shareholding patterns of Loop Telecom. A senior DoT official, requesting annonymity, told Financial Chronicle that the department has received a reply from MCA asking them to examine their policy and regulations for eligibility for grant of licence to Loop Telecom. The official said the action on the letter would be taken this week. The department would examine whether Loop Telecom was eligible to receive the mobile licences or not. If DoT finds out that the company does not meet the eligibility criteria, then it may consider withdrawing the licences awarded to Loop Telecom. MCA has raised concerns over Essar Group’s indirect investments in Loop Telecom, the official said, adding that MCA had examined the issue of ownership of Loop Telecom by Essar Group and its link with BPL Communications. The unified service access licence (UASL) guidelines says that the same company can not hold more than 10 per cent in telecom firms offering services in the same operating area or circles. Essar holds 33 per cent stake in country’s third largest mobile firm Vodafone-Essar. Essar owns a 9.9 per cent stake in BPL Mobile (now Loop Mobile), which operates only in the Mumbai service area and Loop Telecom is a majority-owned unit of the Mumbai operator (Loop Mobile), which had got licences for the other 21 service areas. Vodafone-Essar is a pan-India operator having licence for 21 circles. Demystifying the ownership structure, MCA has informed DoT that Santa Trading (STPL) owns BPL Communication and BPL Mobile Communications. STPL holds 85.75 per cent of BPL Communications, which in turn holds 73.99 per cent of BPL Mobile Communications, which in turn holds 51.24 per cent of Loop Telecom. Essar Group holds 9.9 per cent stake in BPL Mobile.So effectively, Loop Telecom is a company backed by the Ruias, even though their equity is less than 9.9 per cent that complies with regulatory norms. Essar Group had maintained that the company had followed the guidelines by restricting their stake in BPL Mobile to less than 10 per cent. Loop Telecom had received licences in 21 circles in January 2007, but is yet to launch its mobile services. It had recently tied-up with China’s telecom equipment vendor ZTE for rolling out of its GSM-based network. Differences had erupted between Vodafone and its Indian joint venture partner, the Ruias of the Essar Group, over Loop Telecom which had got licences to launch GSM services.

Times of India 27 Apr 2009, 0145 hrs IST CHENNAI: Chennai Telephones (BSNL) has launched the Interactive Personalised Television and Video (IPTV) services in association with Smart Digivision Pvt Ltd under the brand name Myway BSNL.' "Customers can now watch over 150 channels using the telephone and broadband connection along with a set top box to be provided by Myway. They will also have access to other features like video and music on demand," a press release said. Customers can register for IPTV through www.myway.in directly or by link from www. chennai.bsnl.co.in or SMS MYWAY' to 56767 or e-mail to myway@myway.in or contact the helpline 1860-26-69929, the release added. The IPTV will also a parental control child lock facility to block specific contents and channels through a PIN based system. In the near future "we will be offering exclusive features like pause live TV, which would allow you to pause live programming." Customer can either pay upfront Rs 2,500 or pay a rent of Rs 50 a month for the services. In the latter case, a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,000 will be collected. Tariff : Junior 55 channels - Rs100/month Economy 80 channels - Rs150/month Value 95 channels - Rs200/month Super value 140 channels - Rs280/month

Tata to launch GSM with NTT DoCoMo co-branding Business Standard Monday, Apr 27, 2009 Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is planning to extend its marriage with Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo to upcoming GSM mobile services, too. The company, currently a CDMA player, is working on a new brand name for the GSM service. “This new name brand will incorporate brand names of both Tatas and NTT DoCoMo. However, a name is yet to be finalised and we will do this before the commercial rollout of our GSM services,” TTSL Chief Marketing Officer Lloyd Mathias told Business Standard. NTT DoCoMo is predominantly a CDMA player, though its co-branding initiative with Tatas would be for GSM services. TTSL has a well-established CDMA presence, across all 22 circles in the country. Hence, the company does not want to change its brand name. More, GSM services are aimed at niche subscribers. TTSL will be bringing NTT DoCoMo’s technology and popular value added services into the Indian market. Tatas will also leverage the data service abilities of NTT DoCoMo to differentiate its GSM services offerings. However, these would be customised for the Indian market, Mathias said. The Japanese telecom major had acquired 26 per cent in TTSL, Tata group’s unlisted telecom company, for around $2.7 billion in November last year. At present, the Tata group provides all telecom services under one brand, Tata Indicom. However, the company has also created sub-brands like 'Walky’ (fixed mobile services) Plug2Surf and 'Photon’ (data services). TTSL had received a cross-over licence (also to provide GSM services) last year and was gearing up to commence operations.

Times of India 27 Apr 2009, 0144 hrs IST NAGPUR: Mobile telephone operators wary of erecting towers in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli areas will soon have secured places like police stations and government premises at hand to ensure better connectivity. Poor communication facilities in Gadchiroli district often hamper smooth functioning of the police and forest departments besides the people in general. Except for public sector undertaking Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the private companies are reluctant to install mobile towers due to repeated threats from Naxals who view the strengthening of communication facilities as strategic support for the police machinery and its informer base. Naxals had destroyed two towers of different companies and an unmanned telephone office in 2006 and targeted villagers keeping mobile phones, suspecting them to be police informers. Following the attack, the police had to provide security to enable the cabling work for telephone lines. District collector Atul Patne said that mobile telephone companies have been invited to set up installations in Gadchiroli. “Police stations and other well-guarded premises are ideal places to erect towers as total protection could be given to service providers. The initiative would also save the companies from identifying safer places in the Naxal-dominated areas, he said. There are 43 premises of police department. These include 14 police stations, 13 subs-stations and some armed outposts. Although the government had okayed this proposal about a year ago, but no initiative on this front was taken in Gadchiroli so far. Patne said that mobile connectivity will be a boon for both the government machinery and villagers. “Forest guards and officials find themselves in a spot due to lack of proper connectivity inside deep jungles. If mobile companies installed bases, these personnel could give quick information about incidents like tree-felling and poaching. “Better mobile connectivity would lessen the dependence of the police department on wireless communication which is regularly intercepted by Naxals,” said Patne. He has plans to use police premises for educational and recreation purposes for school dropouts and other children. Proper connectivity would also help villagers during emergencies. “Villagers can contact the district administration in case of emergency situations like flood or epidemics. They can also use mobiles for contacting hospitals for getting ambulance services,” said Patne. Additional director general of police Pankaj Gupta, chief of the anti-Naxal operations cell, said that the proposal to install mobile towers was under the consideration of central government officials. “Mobile towers have always been in Naxal crosshairs. Police also understood the need to ensure special protection to the towers but the idea could not take off as no mobile companies came forward,” he said.

Business Standard Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon come out with guidelines permitting banks and qualified non-banking entities to issue prepaid instruments like mobile vouchers and wallets that can be used to purchase goods and withdraw cash from ATMs. The RBI's decision to come out with an operating guideline follows the comments it received on a draft proposal that sought to permit banks and eligible NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Cos) to issue pre-paid vouchers up to Rs 50,000. Once the operating guidelines are issued by the RBI, the banks and non-banking entities could issue instruments such smart cards, magnetic strip cards, internet accounts, internet wallets, mobile accounts, mobile wallets and prepaid vouchers. The amount stored in these instruments will represent the value paid by the holder either in cash or through the debit/credit cards."It is now proposed to permit SCB (scheduled commercial banks) which comply with eligibility criteria to issue all categories of prepaid instruments," the RBI had said in its annual monetary policy last week. Similarly, the RBI said, eligible non-bank entities, including NBFCs, have been permitted to issue semi-closed instruments which can be used to "purchase all types of goods and services at an identified network of establishments". The semi-closed instruments include those vouchers that can only be redeemed at identified establishments which had earlier entered into a contract with the issuer for honouring such instruments. As regards the value, the draft guidelines issued by the RBI had said, "The maximum value of any prepaid payment instrument (where specific limits have not been prescribed) shall not exceed Rs 50,000." ------------- @mods, i had a confusion on posting this topic in here or under Indian telecom discussion. hope i am correct here.

The Economic Times 20 Apr 2009, 1712 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The Government has held back allocating additional spectrum to Bharti Airtel in Orissa, in view of the telecom tribunal's recent judgment that GSM operators have no vested right to get airwaves beyond 6.2 MHz. After the verification, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said that "Bharti met the eligibility criteria and hence (is) eligible for 7.2 MHz GSM spectrum in the entire service area (Orissa)". The move to hold back allocating additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz despite an operator having a specified number of subscribers is bound to impact the expansion and quality of mobile services in a particular area. However, in the light of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal judgment, the DoT has decided to seek legal opinion before allocating additional spectrum to any GSM operator. Bharti had demanded additional spectrum based on the criteria announced by the DoT in January last year. The TDSAT had asked the DoT to work out the criteria again taking into account the recommendations of both telecom regulator TRAI and Telecom Engineering Consultants (TEC) in a month.

Govt panel may opt for auction model for additional spectrum Economic Times 26 Apr 2009, 1643 hrs IST NEW DELHI: A Government panel set up to resolve the critical issue of additional spectrum allocation is understood to have moved from the current user-based formula to a revenue-generating auction model. A senior Department of Telecom official told PTI that the report would be submitted in the next 10 days and there is a consensus view of shifting from the current subscriber-based spectrum allocation methodology to the auction mode. Every change would affect the existing parties in different ways and "we would try our best to bring out a fair, just solution which would be beyond legal challenge. We have already heard the stakeholder and taken their inputs," the official said. Currently, operators using GSM technology get 6.2 MHz of spectrum each while those using the rival CDMA standard get 5 MHz each. GSM operators can have a maximum of 15 MHz spectrum while for CDMA players, the limit is 7.5 MHz. The panel is headed by Additional Secretary Subodh Kumar. Its task is look at a model of spectrum allocation allotments beyond this mark (6.2 MHz and 5 MHz). Operators already holding spectrum above the 6.2 MHz and 5 MHz mark may have to stump up a one-time fee for the excess spectrum which TRAI has recommended and the panel is likely to endorse that. All top GSM operators -- Bharti, Vodafone, Idea (in some circles) -- are holding over 6.2 Mhz spectrum.

Economic Times 26 Apr 2009, 1104 hrs IST NEW DELHI: BSNL, India's third largest mobile company in terms of subscribers, has tied up with Finnish cellphone major Nokia for bundling 3G handsets along with its services. A senior BSNL official told PTI that the PSU has tied up with Nokia to supply handsets for its 3G subscribers. Nokia India Head, Operator Channels, V Ramnath said "Nokia India has partnered BSNL in bringing to Indian consumers 3G services on a host of Nokia devices." Nokia 3120Classic, Nokia 5320, Nokia N79, Nokia N81, Nokia E71 and the Nokia 5800Xpress Music will be offering BSNL 3G services. Owners of these devices will be able to avail of talktime as well as data packages across various price plans, he said. "We are also in discussions with BSNL to offer its subscribers a combination of free as well as paid for applications in order to further enhance consumer experience, Ramnath said. Chalking out an aggressive strategy to garner more 3G mobile subscribers, BSNL has also tied up with consulting arm of Swedish telecom equipment vendor Ericsson as part of its 'Go To Market' strategy. It will perform network improvement and optimisation services for the core, radio and transmission networks installed by its parent Ericsson," a senior official of the PSU had told media. BSNL is not positioning 3G service for the mass market, he said. The official, who did not wish to be named, said the PSU has reported 8,000-10,000 subscribers since its launch few months ago. However, industry sources disputed this figure saying the company may have garnered not more than 2,000 customers over 24 cities. Private players are yet to start the 3G service as they would get the required spectrum through auction, which is yet to take place. Till they launch the service, BSNL is trying to leverage its first mover advantage. BSNL launched 3G mobile services in February. The 3G services enables video streaming applications such as Live TV, movie downloads, high speed data download on mobile phones. Callers can also see each other on their mobile phone screens.