savramesh

^^^ what's their motive ?? Promoting Tata ??

The Indian Express Thursday , Apr 16, 2009 at 0026 hrs IST Chandigarh: The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell is groping in the dark about the unidentified persons who hacked the mobile phones of four residents and used them to make international calls. The cyber cell officials are reported to have asked for the hacked handsets from the complainants for investigations. The complainants, however, are refraining from handing over their sets and only one of them has deposited his handset. “We are examining the handset and trying to make out how did the hacker manage to make a breakthrough. It is a difficult task and still we are trying to make a headway,” an investigation cell official said. The officials said investigations revealed the hackers send a virus on Trojan (carrier) and infected the mobiles either through activated bluetooth or SMS. They take control of the target phone and access all the data of the phone. Even the calls which hacker makes get registered in the dialing list of the target phone. “All the four phones had bluetooth. The victims must have kept the bluetooth activated during which the hacker managed to hack the phone and made calls to African countries, especially Bulgaria. People should keep the bluetooth inactivated if not required,” official said. Officials said service providers will be involved in the case to make a breakthrough. “Several cases of this nature taking place in every part of the country. The police from different states are trying hard to tackle the menace. Even specialised cyber crime investigations cells with different intelligence and investigation agencies are trying to crack the nut,” an official said.

Movie - Live free or Die hard - hackers gone wild.. [for those who missed to watch..]

NDTV Profit Wednesday, April 15, 2009 With saturated growth, there can only be one mantra for telecom companies, go rural. So, rather than reinventing the wheel in terms of distribution network, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications is all set to exploit fertilizer cooperative company Kribcho's huge distribution network. While several telecom companies like Idea cellular, Tata Teleservices and Vodafone were also in talks with Kribcho, NDTV has learnt that the company has finally decided to go with Reliance communications. Sources suggest that Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (Kribhco), India’s second-largest urea maker, will hold a controlling stake of 60 per cent in the joint venture and the JV will start retail operation by offering RCom's telecom products like pre-paid cards, handsets and also DTH services. Kribhco's marketing offices in 16 states is expected to come handy and later depending on the response the JV may also offer other non-telecom products. Though Reliance Communication and Kribhco were not available for comments, analysts believe, that with just 13 per cent telecom penetration in rural India – a huge market is waiting to be explored through tie-ups with companies like Kribhco. It is business of complementing each other leading to a win-win situation for both for Kribhco's diversification and retail venture. It will get a readymade bouquet of telecom products from Rcom and for Reliance Comm it will be able to encash the huge opportunity in rural India through Kribhco's network.

The Economic Times 13 Apr 2009, 2026 hrs IST NEW DELHI: Vodafone Essar has added more number new users in March upstaging Bharti Airtel taking the total GSM additions in March to 10.8 million, 17.4 % more than the additions in February. The record growth in the last three months is clear proof that the world’s fastest-growing telecom market remains untouched by the economic slowdown. As per data compiled by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing GSM operators, Vodafone Essar has beaten Bharti Airtel in monthly subscriber additions for the first time. Vodafone Essar added 2.85 million new users in March taking its customer base to just under 69 million, while Bharti Airtel added only 2.81 million. But, Airtel continues to be the largest telco as its total customer base has now crossed the 94 million mark. Bharti also commands 33% market share in the GSM space as against Vodafone Essar’s 24%. The COAI figures don’t include data from Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Tata Teleservices, operators that uses rival CDMA technology. Tatas will launch services using GSM platform within two months and RCOM launched it earlier this year. Industry analysts say the total additions for March, which will include new subscribers of RCOM and the Tatas, is set to be well over 15 million beating January’s record. In January 09, India set a global record by adding 15 million mobile users, the highest ever monthly additions in any country. GSM telcos added 9.7 million in January, but growth witnessed a small dip in February to 9.2 million on account of three fewer working days in the month. "Bharti can no longer take its number one position in terms of monthly adds for granted. For the last three months, RCOM has added more customers, GSM and CDMA technology put together. Vodafone’s success can be attributed to two factors. A few months ago, it launched mobile services in six new circles with better schemes and packages than Bharti Airtel’s. Besides, Vodafone is finally making a big push in rural India," BK Syngal, former CMD of Videsh Sanchar Nigam and senior principal at Dua Consulting said.

Hindustan Times Tue,14 Apr 2009 Telecom secretary Siddharth Behura has refuted the chief vigilance commissioner's (CVC) charges that Swan and Unitech have sold equity to foreign companies. In a strongly-worded letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Behura has cited the finance ministry's views on the issue to argue that the case is one of raising capital rather than a sale of promoters' stakes. Existing players like Bharti Airtel and Essar have previously raised capital in a similar manner, the letter points out. “The finance ministry has also concurred that it is a case of dilution of equity and not sale of equity of promoters. It is a normal practice in the corporate world to bring in investment in the company for rolling out or expansion of business,” the letter says. “On earlier occasions also FDI has been induced in licensee companies as per FDI policy of the government such as by Singtel in Bharti and Hutchison/Vodafone in Essar.” On the issue of spectrum allocation on a first-come, first-serve basis, Behura says in his letter that this is in keeping with the existing policy as well as recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), adding that the department of telecom (DoT) is willing to make a presentation before the CVC on the issue. “First-come, first-served allotment and one time fixed charge had its genesis in the TRAI recommendations in the interest of the twin government objective of rapid telecom penetration at reasonable costs,” Behura's letter says.

The Economic Times 12 Apr 2009, 1612 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The CVC has asked the DoT to investigate a possibility of connivance of officials of the department and TRAI with Bharti Airtel, helping the private telecom player to increase its revenue from the long-distance business. The company, however, denied any wrongdoing saying its "national long-distance (NLD) business (is) well within the ceiling provided by the authority and (is) as per market practice and non-discriminatory". A lower licence fee is paid for long-distance operations. The government had ordered a special audit of the account books of Bharti Airtel to verify whether the company caused any loss to the government on payment of licence fee. Acting on a complaint against officials of the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from a Member of Parliament, the Central Vigilance Commissioner wrote to the department saying, "... the Commission hereby directs that an investigation be conducted on the charges of corruption/irregularities pointed out in the complaint". Ajay Chakraborty, a Lok Sabha MP, has alleged that Bharti Airtel unilaterally raised its domestic long-distance (NLD) carriage rate from 25 paise per minute to 55 paise per minute from April 2008 to allocate higher revenue to the NLD and lower revenue to the mobile business.

DoT asked to explain concerns raised by CVC Business Line Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 Taxing issues The CVC had sent a report to DoT alleging that some officers had manipulated policy to favour some companies. The Commission had also said that it was initiating action against some DoT officials. New Delhi, April 14 The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Department of Telecom to submit facts relating to concerns raised by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) against DoT’s decision to give new telecom licences on a first-come first-served basis. The PMO has asked DoT to explain allegations of irregularities by Telecom Department officials in giving out licences to a few companies. The CVC had sent a report to DoT alleging that some officers had manipulated policy to favour some companies. The Commission had also said that it was initiating action against some DoT officials. It had also expressed concern over some of the new players selling equity stake to foreign players even though they had not fulfilled their roll-out obligations. While DoT has been saying that its decision was based on the recommendations of the TRAI, the CVC had asked DoT to explain as to why it has picked only parts of the recommendations of the telecom regulator in this regard. The Commission said DoT’s reply was based around assumptions and conjectures. “While DoT has stated that there is no hoarding of spectrum, counsel for DoT before the telecom tribunal TDSAT has himself acknowledged that the three major service providers have hoarded extra spectrum. In view of a different reply to the Commission, DoT needs to clarify the correct position with the copy of the supporting documents submitted before TDSAT,” the CVC said in a letter to the DoT. The Commission had also sought to know why DoT decided to treat September 25, 2008 as the cut-off date for receiving applications for new licences even though it had earlier announced that the last date for submitting applications was October 1, 2008. Expressing unhappiness over the DoT response, the CVC said in a letter to DoT, “Out of 212 applications received, only 18 applicants were considered for the issue of letters of intent (for the licence) ‘as an appropriate decision of the competent authority’ – this is not in order. ‘Appropriate decision of the competent authority’ is a vague phrase and is non-transparent. This may be clarified elucidating as to why a particular decision as taken is considered appropriate.”

customers count is normally based on service providers and not based on technology, thats why reliance shows cdma+gsm customers total count.. if technology wise customers are counted then rgsm will be somewhere in the bottom of the list..

Business Standard Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 The Government has issued an advisory to mobile operator Bharti Airtel to document properly all its telecom connections, including broadband. "You are advised to ensure that all broadband connections provided by Bharti Airtel with static IPs (Internet Protocols) are MRTG-enabled for effective monitoring of their bonafide use and telecom resources are not provided to any call centre without seeking valid registration paper from (the) DoT," said the department. The Mail Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) is a tool to monitor the traffic load on networks. The Department of Telecom's vigilance cell -- Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring -- recently unearthed an illegal call centre in Lucknow using Bharti Airtel's telecom resources. Airtel said it has taken prompt action in disconnecting the company's link. "As a responsible company, we are committed to the highest standards of regulatory compliance. In this case, the customer who had taken an individual connection from us was misusing the same to operate an illegal call centre. Upon receipt of the complaint, Bharti Airtel promptly disconnected the landline and broadband connections as advised by Term Cell of (the) DoT," said a company spokesperson. During the inspection of the site, officials of the TERM Cell discovered Axiom Solutions had been doing the operations of an internatonal call centre, making outbound calls since November 2008. After it was found that the centre was using Bharti Airtel's telecom and broadband connections, when the DoT asked the mobile operator to furnish the mandatory registration papers of the call centres (with DoT) before connections were given, Bharti Airtel was unable to produce them. "It was observed that Bharti Airtel had provided broadband connections with static IP to the firm at International Call Centre site without seeking valid registration papers issued from DoT and thus violated the Department's earlier instructions issued in this regard", the DoT said. The DoT's licence mandates operators to keep records of their connections and check DoT registration papers of call centres and other service providers before providing communication links to facilitate monitoring. Violation can attract penalty, the licence says.

The Hindu Tuesday, April 14, 2009 : 1915 Hrs TDSAT issues notice to TRAI over termination charges New Delhi (PTI): The telecom tribunal TDSAT has issued notice to sectoral regulator TRAI over the latter's recent regulation reducing mobile termination charges to 20 paise per minute. Admitting a petition filed by the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) challenging the March 9 regulation of TRAI, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal issued notice to the regulator and directed it to file reply by April 24. During the proceedings, the counsel appearing for GSM lobby group COAI also submitted that the body would also challenge TRAI's March 9 regulation. After that, the TDSAT bench headed by Justice Kumar said that all the petitions filed by BSNL, COAI and AUSPI would be listed together for hearing on May 5. In its regulation on March 9, TRAI reduced termination charges for all types of domestic calls such as landline to landline, landline to mobile, mobile to landline and mobile to mobile to 20 paise per minute from 30 paise per minute. Termination charges are paid by an operator to another on whose network the call ends.

The Hindu Tuesday, April 14, 2009 : 1715 Hrs Reliance Communications buys back Rs 25.26 crore FCCBs Mumbai (PTI): Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications on Tuesday said it has bought back Rs 25.26 crore (about USD 5 million) foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) at discount from the international markets. In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Reliance Communications said it has bought back 50 zero coupon FCCBs aggregating Rs 25.26 crore.The repurchased bonds are expected to extinguish on April 15, 2009, it further added. Last year, the Reserve Bank of India had allowed the corporate houses to buyback FCCBs from the foreign markets if they are trading at a discount of 25 per cent from their book value. On Monday, shares of Reliance Communications closed at Rs 219.20, up 3.49 per cent on the BSE.

^^^ yes u are right.. gsm alone vodafone is more.. cdma+gsm reliance may be more.. they have mentioned "For the last three months, RCOM has added more customers, GSM and CDMA technology put together"

^^^ nothing is impossible.. if reliance can see some good fixed monthly income from our cug then they will surely offer...

Livemint.com The Wallstreet Journal Apr 13 2009. 10:25 PM IST Mumbai: Local brokerage Reliance Money Ltd has started trial runs of its commodity spot exchange as it chases a mid-May timeline. The commodity exchange will need to get clearances from each state that it wants to trade in. “Trial runs are on for both agricultural and non-agricultural products. We should launch operations in about a month,” said Sudip Bandyopadhayay, chief executive officer of Reliance Money, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anil Ambani-controlled financial services company Reliance Capital Ltd. Bandyopadhayay has a 50-member team running mock trades with a focus group in Punjab for non-farm goods and in the agricultural mandi (wholesale market) at Vashi, a Mumbai suburb. The venture has seen delays, which the top executive attributed to some government approvals taking longer than expected. After it launches, the exchange will be the third such in the country for both commodities. The other two are Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd-promoted National Spot Exchange Ltd and NCDEX Spot Exchange Ltd promoted by National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd. “A commodity spot exchange will have to overcome a host of micro-level concerns such as an extensive countrywide chain of warehouses along with effective monitoring inside these godowns as it will determine their ability to deliver,” said a sector analyst with a Mumbai-based research and brokerage firm, who declined to be identified. “Then there are macro concerns such as obtaining clearances from states. Lastly, one will have to see what a third spot exchange can offer over and above the two existing exchanges.” Bandyopadhyay, however, maintains there is enough space for a new entrant to grow and specialize. “There is place for everyone. If some exchange is doing well in, say, pepper, we’ll go to jeera(cumin). It has 17 different grades that are traded,” he pointed out. The spot exchange will need clearances to trade in each state that it wants a presence in. The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act prohibits transactions outside the mandis and restricts trading to members. There are hundreds of mandis across the country—some specializing down to the level of specific grades of a commodity. A national spot exchange, therefore, needs approval from each state that it wants to trade in. “We will start with the non-APMC products, otherwise we will be unnecessarily delayed,” said Bandyopadhyay, who estimates that 40% of farm commodities are outside the purview of the APMC. “We will be looking at products such as sugar, tea, cashew and cloves in the agriculture side and steel, copper, steel scrap on the industrial products front.” So far, it has only secured trading approvals in Rajasthan and Gujarat, but will need it in important markets such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana to be nationally relevant for APMC products. In January this year, Reliance Money had formed an equal stake joint venture with Singapore-based warehousing and handling company CWT Commodities Pte Ltd for supply-chain management, particularly for perishable commodities. The firm plans to set up 20-odd exchange centres in its first year in places such as Ludhiana, Unjha (in Gujarat), Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, and Chikmagalur and Kushalnagar (both in Karnataka), among others.

Economic Times 13 Apr 2009, 2102 hrs IST Dual SIM case adjourned by a fortnight CHENNAI: On an anti-climax to the awaited court hearing of the civil suit on patent infringement in dual SIM card technology, the Madras high court adjourned the case to the 27th of April, on purely procedural issues. It turned out that only 9 of the 13 defendants have been served notices so far, in the ‘service haring’ that happened at the HC on Monday, when the notices, and responses filed by the defendants were verified. More News

i was eagerly waiting to pay bsnl landline bills online. for my sdca till last month no banks were integrated for online payments.. i am not sure if online payment were working for other circles. anyway today surprisingly i found the option on their website. i successfully paid my landline bill through icici netbanking option. also i found almost all the banks listed for payment. BSNL VAS site -

nokia 7210 supernova 5.5k

^^^ after the launch for the first week i too faced similar problem !! now the evening network busy seems to be solved...

^^^ was that an automated spam message or sent manually ??

but MTS is up and trying bring in cdma high end handsets.. also one more cdma is coming i hope.. dont know what bsnl cdma is doing... if cdma operators can give very good data plans then it will welcome good cdma handsets..

cug for rimweb will be a national cug !! coz we have members from almost every place in india.. minimum expectations all rimweb # to # free calls all rimweb # to # sms free all local calls 30p all std Re1 or less national sms 50p or less also a good data plan..

i think reliance doesnt want any such authorizations.. still many corporate connections are being used by their firneds and relatives.. if we order in bulk say 100. 200, 500 or 1000 then not only reliance anyone will give a CUG connection with a good plan..

nokia still have a good oppurtunity in cdma.. they can come back and rock india.. lets wait and watch..

The Economic Times 11 Apr 2009, 0140 hrs IST CHENNAI/KOLKATA: The communications ministry has decided against granting fresh telecom licences against 343 pending applications, as it looks to prevent unhealthy competition in an already crowded market. “We have received 343 applications after September 25, 2007, and the government does not intend to grant further licences in the foreseeable future, as there are enough players in the market to ensure competition,” the department of telecom (DoT) said in an internal note dated March 25. DoT has given licences to every company that had applied before September 25, 2007. DoT’s move will also impact three operators — Tata Teleservices, Sistema-Shyam and Swan Telecom — that have applied for dual-technology licences under which telcos can offer services based on both GSM and CDMA platforms. DoT has sought the Telecom Commission’s (TC) nod to include dual-technology licences of these companies in some circles, along with the other pending applications. The commission is the apex decision-making body of the communications ministry. Tata Teleservices, which currently offers services using the CDMA platform, has also been awarded GSM radio waves in most areas of the country. However, in three circles — Assam, North East and J&K — the company had applied late for GSM spectrum, DoT said. According the DoT note, the Tatas had applied for GSM licences in Assam in March 2008, and for North East and J&K in December 2008. Similarly, while Sistema-Shyam has already been awarded CDMA air waves across the country, DoT wants to put its application for a pan-India GSM licence on hold. This is because the company had applied for a GSM licence and spectrum only in March 2008, the note added. Another company that is likely to be impacted is Swan Telecom. Swan has already been issued GSM licences and spectrum in 13 circles and DoT has placed its request for CDMA spectrum. DoT’s decision to not process these 343 applications also implies that several companies, such as AT&T, Ispat, Moser Baer, DLF and Tulip, which applied for licences between September 26, 2007, and October 1, 2007, will not get second-generation (2G) telecom licences from the government. Some 46 companies had applied for 2G telecom licences, of which 24 applied between September 25, 2007, and October 1, 2007. The government has not accepted any fresh applications for telecom licences after October 1, 2007. Telecommunications minister A Raja had initially announced that DoT would accept applications for telecom licences until October 1 2007, and this resulted in about 46 companies applying before this date. However, Mr Raja subsequently advanced the deadline to September 25, 2007, which resulted in a few select Indian companies, including Swan, Datacom, Unitech, Loop and STel, getting telecom licences.