savramesh

New telecos have a long road ahead for break-even Economic Times 13 Apr 2009, 0413 hrs IST MUMBAI: New telecom operators are likely to face rough weather in the world’s fastest-growing telecom market. They will turn free-cash flow positive not before seven years. New entrants like Telenor-Unitech, Swan Telecom and Videocon’s Datacom Solutions face challenges of brand building, distribution, spectrum availability, organisation building, negative free-cash flow and scale, according to a recent UBS report. More News

HC to hear dual-SIM patent case today Economic Times 13 Apr 2009, 0444 hrs IST CHENNAI: The Madras High Court will hear a petition filed by a Madurai-based engineer Somasundaram Ramkumar seeking the enforcement of patent protection for his invention, the dual SIM card technology used in mobile phones. Mr Somasundaram, who says that he got his patent in 2008 after filing for it in 2002, is upset that mobile phone companies such as Samsung, Spice are using the technology without paying him any royalties. More News

CVC asks DoT to probe ‘under-reporting’ by Airtel Economic Times

Business Standard Monday, Apr 13, 2009 CVC orders probe against DoT officials The govt allegedly lost Rs 100 cr on account of Bharti Airtel raising its NLD carriage charges. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has ordered an investigation into the possible involvement of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials in the alleged loss of Rs 100 crore to the exchequer on account of Bharti Airtel raising its national long distance carriage rates. The probe has been ordered following a complaint by Member of Parliament Ajay Chakraborty. In a letter, the MP said Bharti Airtel raised its national long distance carriage rates from 25 paise per minute to 55 paise per minute in 2008, to allocate more revenue on its books to the national long distance (NLD) services and lower the revenue from its mobile services. “As a result of this malafide practice of Bharti, the government is losing share of over Rs 8.3 crore per month and Rs 100 crore per annum, besides causing grievance to consumers who are finding STD to be unaffordable,” the letter said, asking the CVC to conduct an inquiry into the possible connivance. Last year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had noted a significant shift in Bharti’s revenues from the long distance segment. Under the existing policy, the long distance segment attracts only 6 per cent licence fee, as against up to 10 per cent of aggregate gross revenue (AGR) in the case of mobile services. Through this practice, telcos have been paying much less than what they had to, leading to a loss of revenue to the government. While the DoT has already ordered a special audit of Bharti Airtel on this issue, the CVC will look into charges of irregularities against DoT officials. The CVC has asked for a report on the issue by June 2009. Commenting on the investigation, a senior CVC official said, “We have asked for an investigation on the issue since a complaint has been received. But we have not named or launched investigations against any individual official. When the report of the investigation is filed, we will take further action.” Bharti Airtel declined to comment on the issue.

Business Standard Rajesh S Kurup / Mumbai April 13, 2009, 1:16 IST New telcos to invest $2 bn Firming up their rollout plans, the new telecom licensees will invest around $2 billion in the next four months for the rollout of their services. The investment, necessitated by regulations, is significant as it comes at a time when other sectors are shying away from fresh investments due to the ongoing economic slowdown. “The new players will have to commence operations soon, as the conditions of spectrum allocation require a company to fulfil certain rollout obligations (depending on the circle of operations), including launching of services within a stipulated period. Now that the companies were awarded spectrum last year, the government is putting pressure on them to start operations,” Gartner Principal Research Analyst Naresh Singh said. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) mandates that a company has to commence the rollout within six months of getting spectrum. It also states that phone firms have to cover 10 per cent of all district headquarters in the licensed area within one year and 50 per cent of the district headquarters in the licensed area within five years. Companies like Shyam Sistema (which has got spectrum for 22 circles), Unitech Wireless (21 circles), Datacom Solutions and Loop Telecom (both received spectrum for 20 circles), and Swan Telecom (14 circles) are gearing up to commence 2G operations in the next six months. STel (5 circles) and Tata Teleservices (which already has CDMA operations) are also getting ready for GSM operations. The new telecom licensees were awarded spectrum during the previous allocations in February 2008, after the companies paid Rs 1,651 crore as licence fee. These companies will invest around $2 billion in the next four months, according to an independent industry research. Further, announcements of commencement of operations are expected in the next four months, with telcos expected to undermine each other by launching predatory tariffs and plans, according to a telecom analyst. The telecom companies are also in talks for infrastructure sharing with tower companies. For example, Quipo Telecom Infrastructure will lease out towers for the rollout of Unitech Wireless’ entire circles and 40 per cent of Swan Telecom’s tower requirement. The infrastructure provider is also in advanced stages of discussions with STel and a couple of new players. “The requirement of towers is huge, as the companies are looking at commencing operations at the earliest. And due to the difficulties in raising funds, companies are increasingly opting for sharing of towers rather than setting up their own. There is an increased demand for leasing of towers,” said Quipo Telecom CEO Probal Ghosal said. “Absolutely true”, agreed Vikas Arora, Vice President (marketing) of GTL, another passive telecom infrastructure provider. The company, which already provides infrastructure to existing operators, is also in talks with new licensees. “It is always our belief that passive and ultimately active infrastructure will have to be shared to reduce composition of capex in the operators’ business plan. Furthermore, the ready availability of infrastructure will lead to quick market penetration,” Arora said. The new players are also in talks with vendors for equipment and active infrastructure. While companies like Loop Telecom (a subsidiary of Loop Mobile) have placed equipment orders with ZTE, Datacom Solutions is in advanced stages of discussions with Huawei. Shyam Sistema, Swan and Unitech Wireless are also close to announcing the names of the vendors. On the other hand, some of the established players which had received spectrum for their expansion plans are making additional investments. Idea Cellular has committed Rs 1,000 crore investments in the next 3-4 months (for rolling out services in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kolkata circles), while Aircel Communications has announced investments of $5 billion in the next three years.

^^^ good thinking.. we all can sign an online cug request letter and send to reliance..

Nokia sim models are open market handset, you can buy handsets from nokia showroom too and use it with reliance.. 6 months back when i visited a nokia showroom run by my friend, i found them selling 6275.. so please check with nokia dealers also.. similarly if motorola handset is open handset then u can surely buy it from motorola dealer or atleast he can get u one..

Business Line Sunday, April 12, 2009 AUSPI moves TDSAT against TRAI regulation NEW DELHI: The CDMA lobby group AUSPI has approached the telecom tribunal TDSAT against regulator TRAI because the association feels it (TRAI) has not reduced connectivity charges between operators enough. In its petition, the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) has submitted that TRAI set 20 paise per minute as mobile termination charges (MTC) in an “arbitrary manner”. State-controlled BSNL has already approached the TDSAT on the matter. Requesting the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal to quash the TRAI notification, the AUSPI further submitted that as per its calculation, the cost of MTC is below 10 paise per minute. The Association said that TRAI's calculation was not based on a “correct costing methodology and exaggerated per subscriber cost projection”. Termination charges are paid by an operator to another on whose network the call ends. The AUSPI further submitted that the TRAI's notification was anti-competitive and against the consumer's interest as it would add additional burden by increasing the rates that operators charge one another. In its regulation on March 9, TRAI reduced termination charge for all types of domestic calls like landline to landline, landline to mobile, mobile to landline and mobile to mobile to 20 paise per minute from 30 paise per minute. - PTI

Last 3 days particularly in the evening the out going calls from Rgsm is not getting connected.. have to try more than 5 times to get a call connected.. but there is no problem in incoming.. Just called Rgsm CC, and complained that outgoing is not going immediately.. he agreed that there is a outgoing connectivity problem for last 3 days during evening.. the technical team is working on that and will be rectified soon.. Anyone having such pblm ? hope it will be solved soon..

Telecom Tiger 11 Apr 2009 Trialing the footsteps of Nokia’s XpressMusic phone series, Sony Ericsson Walkman phones and Samsung beat, LG to have launched its music series with three new music phones. The three new handsets, GM 310M, GM210 and the GM205, are aimed at the mid-segment and are set to get a launch starting with the emerging markets that include the markets of Asia, Latin America, including countries like Mexico and Brazil. The newbie GM310 is a slider phone fitted with 2.2-inch TFT LCD display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The phone''s connectivity options include EDGE/GPRS and HSDPA support. Other features include 512MB or 1GB of internal memory and a MicroSD card (up to 32GB), a 3.5mm earphone socket, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. The other two handsets, GM210 and GM310 are both lower end phones and share many common features, with the biggest difference lying in the camera. Pricing details have not been released.

The Hindu Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 NEW DELHI: Taiwan-based Gigabyte Communications has entered the fast-growing smartphone market in India by launching its three latest hi-end handsets. The ‘GSmart’ touch-screen Windows Mobile phones are priced between Rs.17,000 and Rs.37,000. Talking to The Hindu, Gigabyte Technology India Pvt. Ltd. Country Head Prabodh Vyas said the growth in the hi-end phone segment in India was the fastest. “It is this market that we are targeting with our latest smartphones that double up as personal digital assistant (PDA),” he said. Informing that Gigabyte would soon launch four more smartphones, Mr. Vyas said the latest handsets come with technologies including smart touch, high resolution cameras, motion sensors, GPS, push mail, high speed connectivity tools, wi-fi and USB connectivity. “GSmart mobile phones bring together all the features that mobile phone users aspire for — multimedia, business and style. They incorporate the latest mobile technology and represent the next generation of mobile phones that bring high speed communication as well as entertainment at your fingertips,” Mr. Vyas said. “Our phones are also 3G enabled and we hope to capture this segment too. Our fully-loaded multi-media phones will be well received by business users, executives, professionals and students,” he added. According to Mr. Vyas, initially Gigabyte smartphones would be available in metros and mini-metros and then introduced in a phased manner in cities across India. “We will be increasing our sales force to market our products and also tie-up with leading retail chains and distributors to ensure its availability across the country. We are also looking at in-shop branding strategy to sell out products. We hope to sell at least 10,000 phones in the current year. The growth potential is immense and we hope to become a major player in this segment,” he added.

The Hindu Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 CHENNAI: Wireless and mobile communication has helped India leapfrog in telecommunications, making phone calls affordable. Can the wireless technology help India do a similar feat in Internet access? The broadband access is increasingly becoming a necessity. Though the total number of Internet users is around 40 million, there are only four million broadband subscribers is only four million. Can broadband access in India catch up with the developed world, if not South Korea and Japan? The challenge One of the challenges in the spread of broadband Internet through wireless will be the rapid expansion of wireless base stations (or, towers as they are normally called). The process of building tower infrastructure has been time consuming and expensive. In addition, the equipment used needs air-conditioning and uninterrupted power. A Bangalore-based company, Sloka Telecom, is addressing these issues, designing smaller and cheaper base stations for broadband wireless and cellular networks. Base station is the electronic equipment that sits next to a tower, transmitting and receiving radio signals for mobile phones or a wireless broadband device. Package Sloka Telecom’s 5.8GHz suite of WiMAX (Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access) products caters for the unlicensed frequency spectrum allowing wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) to deploy wireless broadband access networks without having to obtain frequency licences. Sloka’s 5.8GHz suite of WiMAX products includes base stations, subscriber stations, the authentication, authorisation and accounting (AAA) server and the network management system (NMS). These small all-outdoor base station units from Sloka can be easily installed directly on towers, rooftops, traffic poles and walls. These base station solutions help the operator reduce the capital expenditure by more than 50 per cent, as they do not require air-conditioning. Currently, Sloka Telecom focusses on WiMAX products and solutions to connect fixed wireless subscribers, such as homes, offices, kiosks, enterprises, schools, and hospitals. It offers point-to-multipoint and point-to-point solutions in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Sujai Karampuri, founder and chief executive officer of the company, says: “The traditional landline business based on copper connectivity took many decades to reach 40 million subscribers, while it took less than a decade for mobile connectivity to connect 200 million subscribers. With wireless, once the network is installed, the cost of adding new subscribers is much lower. The number of subscribers will go up dramatically once wireless connectivity kicks off. WiMAX is the best suited wireless technology and standard to provide broadband to homes, offices, enterprises and other areas. Also, WiMAX links can replace the current microwave backhaul to connect cellular towers — this is going to be a major application.” Patent-pending architecture In order to make the base stations smaller, cheaper and less power-consuming, Sloka has developed a patent-pending architecture called the SDBSA (software defined base station architecture). This architecture allows Sloka to use readily available hardware while emphasising efficient software algorithms to make them smaller and more compact. Mr. Karampuri claims that Sloka’s base stations break away from legacy architecture, with emphasis on software. To design this product, the company has invested around Rs.4 crore. With the launch of this base station, the company hopes to bring down the operators’ cost. This, in turn, will translate into savings by reducing the cost of subscription to end-users. At present, the solutions are being deployed in Brazil, Indonesia and Taiwan. Now it plans to enter the Indian market with some customised solutions of the product. The product has been recognised and awarded by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). The idea of creating such a product came when the need for increased throughputs by the end-users and use of higher frequencies arose. The existing architectures used by incumbent players were not suitable for making extremely low cost and compact base stations. Indian scenario In India, the company’s solutions are currently under advanced stages of negotiations with large telecom OEMs and service providers. There is already considerable interest from various operators and the company is now poised for trial of its products with some partners in India, North America, Europe, South America and South Asia.

The Economic Times 11 Apr 2009, 0042 hrs IST NEW DELHI: BSNL's top brass has sought approval from its board to approach the Supreme Court against TDSAT's recent judgment directing the DoT to withdraw additional spectrum from BSNL and MTNL. A senior BSNL official told ToI, "The judgment is bad in law and we have no choice but to appeal it in the Supreme Court. We have strongly recommended this to the BSNL board". Ironically, DoT, which is tasked with withdrawing additional spectrum, also holds board seats in BSNL/MTNL. "We have multiple grounds to appeal this judgment and will definitely act if DoT takes any step towards withdrawal of spectrum," says the BSNL official. Any such move could result in embarrassment for the government as it would have its operating arm (BSNL) appealing a judgement of its adjudicatory arm (TDSAT) and against potential steps taken by the licensing arm (DoT). The TDSAT judgment deals a heavy blow to BSNL and MTNL's aspirations. In March/May 2007 the two PSUs were allocated 10 MHz of spectrum in all service areas (8 MHz in West Bengal) and 12.5 MHz to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai respectively. The spectrum in question here is the 2G spectrum in the 900 MHz band which is considered way superior to the 1800 MHz band. In its judgment TDSAT has cited National Telecom Policy '99 on the principle of level playing field, which acknowledges that BSNL and MTNL will be market players, but that DoT will be responsible to "ensure level playing field between different service providers in similar situations". The TDSAT has also noted that since the spectrum given to BSNL/MTNL was allocated only on "trial basis there should be no difficulty if we order that additional spectrum be withdrawn forthwith". BSNL officials disagree. "Massive equipment orders have been placed in this band and any attempt to take back the spectrum will severely hurt BSNL and public interest," they argue. They also point out that the DoT is well within its rights to give trial spectrum to its own subsidiary as it deems fit. MTNL, with its low subscriber base and a higher allocation of 12.5 MHz, is even more vulnerable than BSNL in case of any withdrawal of spectrum.

The Government of India wants your help. It has invited the public to suggest a symbol for the Rupee. Just as the Dollar is universally denoted by $‚ the government thinks the Rupee should also have its own unique symbol that captures a sense of India’s history and culture. Listed below are 19 suggestions from ET’s team of designers in the mentioned link. Please vote for the one you find best. ET will present all these symbols ‚ along with the ET viewers’ preference‚ to the Ministry of Finance Click here to vote Click the link below to see some of the symbols sent by econimic times readers Click here to view Do you have a better symbol in mind for India’s currency? If you do‚ please share it with us here. www.economictimes.com will publish some of the most appealing entries on the website. Send your entry at: editoret@indiatimes.co.in

^^^ i am also using.. just send an test sms, its working..

Again today evening calls are not going.. same problem.. anyways will have to wait for a couple of days as their deadline to solve this problem is April 13..

^^^ if there is a distortion then it should be strip problem.. Either visit nokia care or any other good local mobile service shop..

mostly booting problem, its not loading... try a diff sim also [this may not work, but a try] i think the firmware to be reinstalled @ nokia service center.. techies please post ur suggestion.. one suggestion.. remove battery, sim and memory card.. then move the slide up and down 5-10 times, then insert everything and start phone.. also post if u find the display distorted.. or switch off the phone and put it in charge for some time.. all these tricks seems like funny but sometimes it will help..

^^^ but he says the phones boots [can see nokia and reliance] then it freezes and screen goes white.. may be a theme problem which is not loading.. or some pblm in phone[can be strip too]. @sumal did he check after removing memory card ?

got call from mts cc regarding my indoor coverage problem.. he said the present tower is 5+ km away from my house and thats the reason for poor quality.. also the second phase of tower installation and integration is still under process. i can expect good coverage in the near future.. their deadline to make a pakka network is next month, so mine will be solved any time before that.

the above link says an important report -- Sistema Shyam — a joint venture between Sistema Group of Russia and Calcutta-based Shyam Group — is the only company to roll out services in the first year of getting a licence. Datacom (owned by the Dhoots of Videocon and Mahendra Nahata of Himachal Futuristics), Swan Telecom, Loop Telecom (a subsidiary of Loop Mobile, formerly known as BPL Mobile Communications), S Tel, Unitech Wireless and Shyam Telelink were given licences in January 2008 for pan-India services. None of the other new entrants has commenced operations. The department of telecom has threatened action against them if they do not roll out services by the middle of the year. -- Does this mean they should strictly rollout services or they can cancel the lisence ?

^^^ Skype ??

finally my query about MTS wap services is well answered by its CHIEF

link for HP sms server http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=8039

the network issue seems to be solved.. yesterday evening onwards i am able to make calls at first dial, no disconnections, no busy network.. feeling perfect now.. lets see how many days it will go !!