savramesh

Sify Business 2009-04-24 20:33:56 If the world's fastest-growing telecom market is drawing service providers by the dozen, then it is also a honey pot for a host of new handset manufacturers. Several new players, big and small, therefore, see the Indian handset market as their new playground. Consider Fly Mobile, part of the Europe-based Meridian Group, which claims to be selling 100,000 phones a month and expects a 50-60 per cent increase in sales by Diwali. Rajeev Khanna, CEO, Fly Mobile, says: "India, at the moment, presents a rare opportunity. How does it appeal to its customers? By ensuring that for the same price their phones offer at least 25 per cent more value than the competitors either in features, functions, software, or in interesting bundles. Style and design are the big themes for Fly and young people are its favoured customers." More India business stories Or consider Intex Technologies, an Indian company which also sells laptops, monitors and other computing devices. Says Ramesh A. Vaswani, Vice Chairman, Intex: "We have no ambition to become either a Nokia or a Samsung. However, we certainly want to become the #1 Indian brand." That's not just talk: the company claims to be selling 60,000 handsets a month and hopes to double its sales in a year. And this from a company that started its handset business just two years ago. Playing in the Rs 2,000-7,000 range, the company focusses mainly on the Tier II and Tier III towns. Vaswani says the company's brand has a recall and promises a trouble-free product with good after-sales service. In fact, the rise of the Indian brands, which collectively hold around 15-17 per cent of the market, according to estimates, is a major defining trend of the Indian market in the last few years. What works for them is proximity to the market, product quality, aftersales service capabilities and the fact that they have fire in their belly. They also introduced more simplicity in the trade, says Pankaj Mohindroo, National President of Indian Cellular Association. It is a competitive market in this business. Spice Mobile, which plays in the Rs 2,000-6,000 range, believes in providing the highest value in this segment. We are not the cheapest, but we provide more value in terms of features or content, says Payal Gaba, National Head, Marketing, Spice Mobile. The company, which entered into the handset business four years ago, believes consistency of product launches catering to the Indian customer (it averages two products a month), along with value for money and service capabilities, gives it the edge. Of course, the Indian companies are using mobiles manufactured in China, South Korea or Taiwan for their brands. However, the unbranded Chinese phones have, in the last six months, seen their market share plummet by more than half (around 9 per cent now). Reason: consumers having quality issues and the security agencies raising alarms about the traceability of such phones. All said, the competition has driven the handset prices lower. Though the margins in the business are no more than 2 to 5 per cent, for retailers like the Essar Group's handset retail chain, the MobileStore, they are enticing enough to launch their own private label for handsets. More India business stories The volumes are undoubtedly tempting. In 2008, India added 113 million subscribers. But the competition makes for killing fields with a few upsets along the way. Motorola and Sony Ericsson are a case in point. Nokia, however, with its range of models straddling all price points, remains the leader of the market by a wide margin. Yet, there is enough space for others to jostle around.

2 - I am ready.. -- those who wish to buy add reply with a serial number..

what is the need of such speeds when download is limited. ?? any other reasonable use ?

Telecom Tiger 25 Apr 2009 Huawei Technologies announced the development of its Huawei EM772 module integrating Wi-FI and HSPA network standards for Classmate PCs powered by Intel Atom Processors. Huawei claims that the new module will help manufacturers to reduce size of mobile computing devices as well as the cost of producing them. “We are confident that the new-generation EM772 will enhance the consumer experience. Innovation continues to be the basic tenet of Huawei’s growth strategy, and will allow us to tap the opportunities presented by the fast-growing laptop market.” said James Chen, Director of Marketing Department, Huawei Terminals. Hawk Min, Hardware Engineering Team Director of Intel Emerging Market Platforms Group added, “We expect future Classmate PCs with Huawei’s dual-mode wireless solution will enable students in China to enjoy greater wireless connectivity. The module’s small packaging size will also fit well into the thin and light netbook and notebook designs, which are a mobile trend in 2009.” The module will offer speeds of 5.78 mbps and downlink of 7.2 mbps in the HSPA environment while in the Wi-Fi environment it will offer speeds of 54 mbps.

Try Menu -> Services/R-Menu -> Callertunes i guess the tune codes would be same as cdma callertunes...

Business Standard Friday, Apr 24, 2009 Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries will sell natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to Anil Ambani Group firm's power plant in Andhra Pradesh at government approved rates. While ADAG has taken RIL to court seeking gas from KG-D6 at rates decided in a private agreement that split Dhirubhai Ambani empire between the two brothers, Power Ministry has identified Reliance Energy Ltd's Samalkot plant in Andhra Pradesh as one of the recipients of KG-D6 gas. The 220-MW power plant has been allocated 0.19 million cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas at government approved rates of $ 4.20 per million British thermal unit plus taxes and transportation, a government official said. ADAG is seeking gas from RIL at $ 2.34 per mmBtu. Samalkot is one of the eight power plants identified in Andhra Pradesh to receive KG-D6 gas from next month, he said. Though RIL was promised marketing freedom when it won the KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal in international tender, it has been stripped of all its rights and is being forced to sell the fuel from its discoveries it made in the block to customers identified by the government. "RIL has already signed gas sales agreements with six power plants in Andhra Pradesh and I believe they would be doing the same with Samalkot next week," the official said. Company officials could not be reached for comments.

Techtree News Staff, Apr 22, 2009 1623 hrs IST IT Hardware company Intex Technologies, which also has a couple of mobile phones and electronics in the Indian market, has announced the launch of its low cost computers in the Indian market with Intex Silver GB-75501 desktop. The company is touting this Intel Atom processor powered machine as an all-purpose PC for the price conscious consumers. Atom is a small processor with the smallest transistors. Thus, the desktop consumes less power and saves space due to its compact design, says the company. The GB- 75501 comes with a 945 GCLF Intel chipset, 1 GB Memory, 80GB hard disk, DVD RoM and 17-inch CRT monitor, priced at Rs. 12,900. Another version of the same model comes with the same basic configuration as mentioned above, although has a 160GB hard disk and a DVD writer. This comes with a price tag of Rs. 13,500. With these configurations and price tags, the company expects the Silver GB-75501 desktop to find market in rural and semi-urban households, cyber cafes, small and medium enterprises.

^^^ and those sacked guys would have initiated the rumour..

Business Standard Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today re-opened two petro retail outlets in Jamnagar without much fanfare. The company had closed all its 1,400-odd retail outlets through the country last year, after sales dropped drastically due to its inability to match the subsidised prices offered by state sector oil marketing companies. RIL is aiming to revive its 350-odd outlets in Gujarat and Maharashtra by the end of this month, followed by the rest of the country. Sources said the two outlets were selling only diesel and auto LPG at present. The company may sell only these two products for some time. This has put to rest talk of RIL selling its retail outlets to other interested players, including Shell and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). “It will take about a week or so to re-open a majority of our petrol pumps in Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra,” said an RIL spokesperson. Apart from Jamnagar, the company is looking at cities like Rajkot and Ahmedabad. Industry sources said the company planned to re-open 50-60 outlets on highways in Gujarat and later look at outlets in Maharashtra. Reliance has over 1,400 petrol pumps, 60 per cent of which are in Gujarat and Maharashtra. According to Jayantilal Contractor, director of the All India Motor Transport Congress, the premier union for truckers, RIL may re-open all its retail outlets as early as this week. “Initially, the company may price its products at competitive rates, unlike the last time when its rates were higher than that offered by the public sector companies. When you re-open an outlet after shutting it once, it takes effort to get customers. RIL may, therefore, introduce certain schemes to attract customers in a short time,” said Contractor. In 2003, when RIL had first opened its outlets, it had come with free lunch offers, sources said.

Economic Times 23 Apr 2009, 2107 hrs IST WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama, who was forced to give up his unsecured BlackBerry after his inauguration amid security concerns, is set to get his hand on the software for use in and around the White House and during presidential travel, top officials have said. The top-secret BlackBerry 8830 is in the final stages of development by the National Security Agency (NSA), which will soon begin examining it to make sure its encryption software meets federal standards. It could be ready for use in the next few months, The Washington Times reported today. Others expected to get secure BlackBerrys likely include top aides as well as first lady Michelle Obama. According to the report, the software being used to secure the personal digital assistant is called SecureVoice, developed by the Genesis Key, Inc of Washington. "We're going to put his BlackBerry back in his hand," Steven Garrett, Genesis Key chairman, was quoted as saying by the US daily. "With the recent foreign cybersecurity threats it is important that President has a BlackBerry that is completely secure at the top-secret level," said Gary S Elliott, Genesis' chief information assurance officer, who is a specialist in cyber warfare threats.

^^^ i agree that and when reliance is considered most dont do well which is still a bad reputation...

sacking might be true.. but may not in bulk like this coz these are all very big news for media..

Business Line Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 New Delhi, April 22 If you thought that mobile subscribers choose their operator based on tariffs think again. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, 42 per cent of subscribers rate network performance as very important for selecting their mobile operator. In fact, with 34 per cent of votes, network-driven choice is ahead of price-driven choice says the survey conducted in top 10 Indian cities. “After initial selection, satisfaction with network performance is the single most important driver for shaping overall satisfaction with the operator,” said a press release from Nielsen India. “Over 50 per cent of the variation in satisfaction levels across operators is determined by the variation in their network performance. This compares favourably with what Nielsen has seen in other markets,” it added. The observations form part of a Consumer Experience Mobile Test programme in India by the research firm, which measures wireless network performance for all national and select regional carriers in markets covering a population of nearly 100 million people across the country. “There is an opportunity for an operator to get ahead of its competition and create a nationally or regionally differentiated network position in the market by using the competitive benchmarks to guide their investments,” said Ms Shankari Panchapakesan, Executive Director, Telecom Practice Group, The Nielsen Company. Nielsen’s Best Practice Reliability metric indicates that there is room for improvement particularly in India’s Tier I markets. While the network reliability in countries such as the US is as high as 99.5 per cent, in India the market average is 99.1 per cent. “Nielsen studies across the world show rising consumer expectations from wireless networks, even as their calling patterns and demands from the network increase over time. As the market grows and newer services are introduced, to retain the current high levels of satisfaction and to remain competitive, Indian operators need to be on top of the changing expectations of their subscribers,” said Ms Panchapakesan.

Techtree News Staff, Apr 23, 2009 1820 hrs IST Nokia has announced what might be a one of a kind application called the Nokia Green Explorer. The application provides you a web-based service that will help you live and travel in an eco-friendly fashion. For this, Nokia has tied up with eco-oriented organizations and communities. According to Nokia, "Green Explorer works with its partners to provide sustainable tips and advice on how to live green and travel clean. You can share your experiences and ideas here and help make a world of difference." You can also have a look at the Green Explorer venture on the official website where you can sign up for the program as well. The application is available for download here and only two phones, the 5630 XpressMusic and the Nokia N96 finds themselves in the "supported devices" list. The application should however work on any other Web-Runtime enabled S60 smartphone. Nokia has also featured a video that sums up the entire objective behind the application. Green Explorer Video

Techtree News Staff, Apr 23, 2009 1653 hrs IST Nokia on the occasion of the 3rd annual WIMA conference at Monaco, has announced the launch of the 6216, the company's first SIM-based NFC (Near Field Communication) handset. Now before you start wondering what NFC is all about, you might want to head over to the following Wikipedia link [here] to get a detailed idea on this technology. For those who are short of time, read the description below. NFC is a short-range communication standard (like infrared, but much more advanced) which will enable mobile phones to become contact less credit cards which can be used to avail various services. SIM based NFC devices use credit card and other information encrypted in your SIM card to carry out transactions. So, when you wave your Nokia 6216 (or any other NFC capable phone) in front of an NFC terminal when you require it, it has all the details it requires to process your request. Be it a train ticket or something as mundane as bill payments. NFC is much more secure than Bluetooth, thanks to its very short range. It is point to point in nature and takes very little time to connect to a compatible device. And no, it's not here in India yet. Lest we forget, the 6216 also happens to be a fully featured phone, which can make calls and send text messages. It offers GSM/EDGE connectivity, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and WCDMA connectivity, 850/2100 MHz. It sports a 2-inch TFT screen capable of displaying 16.7 million colors at QVGA resolution. The phone is a Series 40 device, has a 2-megapixel camera and supports memory expansion with SDHC cards. At 88 grams, this one is quite a lightweight. The phone will be made available in select markets in Q3 and will be priced at the $195 (Rs. 9700) mark.

Sistema-Shyam launches MTS brand in Rajasthan for cell service Business Standard Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and the Shyam Group, today re-branded their existing mobile telephony services under the 'MTS' brand in Rajastan. With this, the existing Rainbow brand, which has over 0.5 million subscribers in Rajasthan, would operate as MTS. "We are delighted to re-brand Rainbow in Rajasthan to MTS. This is a natural progression to rationalise the mobile telephony offering from SSTL under a single brand name in India," SSTL President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevlod Rozanov told reporters here. SSTL, which launched its operations in Rajasthan under the brand name Rainbow last year, has already launched the MTS brand in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala circles. Rozanov said the company intends to increase its network coverage in Rajasthan to over 900 towns and 13,000 villages from the current presence in 600 towns and 12,000 villages. MTS, which provides mobile services in six other nations, has a subscriber base of about 100 million globally. Under the re-launch, SSTL is offering free calling from MTS to MTS and from MTS to fixedline for six months. Apart from free calls on the MTS network, MTS mobile subscribers can also make local calls at 50 paise per minute and STD calls at Re 1 per minute. Moreover, SMS to any MTS mobile would be free for six months within Rajasthan.

will this move lead to network congestion ?

The Statesman BHUBANESWAR, April 21: Mobile service provider Reliance Communications, is planning an aggressive expansion of its retail presence across Orissa. As part of this retail thrust, the company is planning to set up 50 new Reliance Mobile stores across the state. Commencing the retail expansion plan, Reliance Communications launched its new Reliance Mobile store at Mausima Square here yesterday. The store was inaugurated by Mr Santanu Chakrabarty, regional head, Reliance Communications (MP Circle, Chhattisgarh Circle and Orissa Circle). Currently, there are 35 Reliance Mobile stores in Orissa. Post the retail expansion, the total number of Reliance Mobile Stores in the state will cross 85.

thats a good news for customers.. lets see who can give a good tariff plan..

Reliance Communication launches post-paid GSM service Economic Times 22 Apr 2009, 2030 hrs IST, PTI MUMBAI: After launching pre-paid GSM service in Mumbai early this year, Reliance Communications on Wednesday said that it has commenced commercial roll-out of post-paid GSM services in the metropolis. "The Reliance Mobile GSM post-paid service entails offering a unique value proposition fine-tuned as per the needs of nearly 14 million GSM customers in Mumbai circle," Akshay Kumar, Regional Head (West), Reliance Communications was quoted as saying in a release here. The comapny has already launched the post-paid GSM services in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Relaince Mobile's GSM's service would be available in two "plans".

Economic Times 22 Apr 2009, 2255 hrs IST NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said that the import of key communication hardware like radio equipment will require a licence from the Ministry of Communication and IT without any approval of the Commerce Ministry. "Radio Communication equipment including VHF, UHF and Microwave Communication equipments (used for wireless operations like mobile telephony) not permitted to be imported except against a licence to be issued by the Wireless Planning Coordination (WPC) wing of the Ministry of Communication and IT," a DGFT notification said. The notification was issued following confusion that arose among importers after March 2, 2009 when the DGFT put import of these equipment under the "restricted" category. "This led to an impression as if the importers were required to get a licence both from the DGFT as also from the Ministry of Communications," an official said. This equipment is imported by the mobile telecom infrastructure companies from various countries including China and Europe. Although some of the companies like Nokia-Siemens, Ericsson and Motorola have set up manufacturing facilities in India, still a large part of demand for this equipment is met through imports.

Sistema-Shyam to launch CDMA services in city in May Economic Times 22 Apr 2009, 2144 hrs IST, ET Bureau Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russian mobile operator Sistema and the Shyam Group, will launch CDMA mobile services under the MTS brand banner in Kolkata by early May. This was announced by Sistema’s chief representative in India Alexander A Chinyaev while participating in a seminar on India-Russian bilateral trade, organised by Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce (MCC) on Wednesday. At present, SSTL operates mobile services in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala although it has licences and spectrum to offer CDMA services in all 22 circles across India. Kolkata subscribers will be offered 1 million minutes of free talk-time, for which they will be offered a smart card by the company, billed as an MCard. Sistema has lined up an investment of $1.5 billion for the current year, a large part of which will go for expansion of the MTS’ network nationally. So far, it has invested $5 billion in India, said Mr Chinyaev. Sistema is the largest public sector diversified corporation in Russia, which operates in telecommunication, consumer services and technology sectors. It has enrolled over 100 million people as subscribers to the MTS brand in the CIS region. Earlier, speaking at the seminar Russia’s ambassador to India Vyacheslav I Trubnikov said Indo-Russia collaboration would receive a boost through more participation from private players from both the countries. This could be done through taking measures on building confidence and mutual trust between them, he said. So far, the economic activities between the two countries were confined to mutual agreements between public sector companies of the two countries, which were backed by the sovereign guarantee. But with the dilution of governments’ roles in businesses, talks are underway to involve banks and financial institutions to minimise risks of private capital investment in both the countries, said Mr Trubnikov. To facilitate Indo-Russian bilateral investments and trade, the Russian government has allowed the country’s second largest public sector bank Vneshtorgbank (VTB) to open a branch in New Delhi. India has already has two banks represented in Russia - ICICI and Commercial Bank of India, a joint enterprise of SBI and Canara Bank. The bilateral trade between the two countries exceeded $7-billion mark in FY 09, which is targeted to be raised to $10 billion by FY 10.

same application available in orkut, not sure if it is updated and latest.. also sorry if this is posted already here.. Orkut Application

The Hindu Wednesday, April 22, 2009 : 1030 Hrs Kathmandu (PTI): Climbers may soon be able to converse on their cellphones from Mt Everest, with Nepal's state-run telecommunication firm planning to install mobile network facilities near the world's highest peak. Nepal Telecom will install a satellite antenna in Gorak Shep, located at an altitude of 5,160 metres, to extend the cellphone service on top of the world. Mobile phone services may be available on Mt Everest (8,848m) through both GSM and CDMA handsets, according to officials of Nepal Telecom (NT). "We are planning to commence the service by mid-June this year," Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, chief of NT's satellite division, told local media website myrepublica.com. "We hope it will provide an alternative to those currently relying on satellite phone services such as the one provided by Thuraya," he said. NT has installed satellite antennas in around seven locations in the Mt Everest region, including Lukla and Namche Bazar, located at 2,800 metres and 3,440 metres above sea level, according to the official. These antennas can manage services to around 3,000 calls at once, the official said, adding "the capacity will be increased depending on the traffic in the region." NT currently has around 2.8 million cellphone subscribers across the country.

Techtree News Staff, Apr 22, 2009 1402 hrs IST Remember the Nokia 1100? One of the most basic handsets produced by Nokia ever. The phone was a hit amongst people who wanted a phone just for calling and basic texting - and that's pretty much it could do-except for that fancy torch facility which was available for users in India. The phone was eventually phased out with newer and better low-end kings making their appearances. However, unconfirmed reports now claim that certain editions of the Nokia 1100 are vulnerable with a software flaw that will enable hackers to intercept text messages with some reprogramming -- especially the one-time passwords that are usually sent via SMS to complete and authorize online bank transactions. This has evoked a huge interest in the once dead phone with people offering huge amounts of money for "vulnerable" 1100s. Not all 1100s are affected if the reports are to be believed. Only certain models from a certain German manufacturing batch can reprogrammed. These versions have been going on sale for extremely high prices - some even fetching an astronomical EUR 25,000 (Rs. 16,00,000). The average price for these affected handsets are in the range of EUR 5000 (Rs. 3,25,000). All this, for the same phone that cost less than EUR 100 at the time of its launch! The reports are still unconfirmed and security analysts are yet to come across such a vulnerable handset which is why we will remain in standby and wait for the proceedings to run its full course. You might want to dig up your old 1100 in the meanwhile!