ravi_patent

^ does voda really care abt customer..never.

great info manish abt these chors

UNINOR forgetting raja's land(TN) and launch in karnataka first...strange ..may be they will launch simultaenously in TN and karnataka

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/Bharti-Airtel-cuts-mobile-roaming-charges/articleshow/5250355.cms Bharti Airtel, top mobile operator, said on Friday it had launched a new bill plan that would reduce mobile roaming rates by nearly 60 per cent. Bharti Airtel, which accounts for more than 23 per cent of mobile users in the world's fastest-growing market, has in recent months lagged smaller rivals in monthly subscriber additions due to a price war in the industry. http://www.telecomtiger.com/Wireless_fullstory.aspx?storyid=7776&section=S216 Having followed others in the one paisa per second billing tariff, market leader Bharti Airtel is now taking the battle further on to the roaming turf. “Our first endeavour has always been to offer competitively superior, differentiated service to all Airtel customers. Recent research has shown that customers need benefits while travelling and are not satisfied with just local calling benefits. Airtel is uniquely poised to be able to meet this need because of its seamless, formidable network presence across India and On-Net strategy. We are delighted to bring Airtel Turbo to customers for them to be able to enjoy the Airtel service in a boundary less manner,” says Atul Bindal, President, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd. The Airtel Turbo plan offers incoming calls while on roaming for 60 paise per minute. For local and STD calls on roaming to Airtel connections the charges will be 60 paise per minute. Call made to other networks while on roaming will be charged 80 paise per minute. Airtel claims the new tariff results in 60% saving for its subscribers when compared to tariffs offered by rival operators and other plans on offer. For Airtel prepaid subscribers, the plan is available for Rs 98 voucher which comes with a validity of one year. The plan is also offer on postpaid mode.

hello anyone else noticed telenor hoardings in chennai /t.n. think they are very nearer to launch

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/11/11/stories/2009111151630100.htm After offering seconds-based billing, mobile operators are now looking to introduce location-based tariffs that will enable users get discounts if they make calls from an area where the operator’s network is relatively free. Called dynamic discount tariffing, the technology lets operators offer discounted call rates based on the consumer’s location and time. For example, a mobile user driving through the busy Connaught Place in New Delhi during peak hours could get discounted rates if he waits to reach India Gate and then make the call. Subscribers get information on the discounts through SMS or by an interactive voice response system. The technology to enable this has been brought to India by the US based pre-paid mobile platform provider Telcordia, which is now in talks with operators here. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Anuj Kapur, Country Head, Telcordia India, said, “We have the technology and we are talking to various operators who are now looking to bring the next level of differentiation in the mobile segment. The operators are keen to implement the new tariff system and it will become a reality soon.” While subscribers gain from discounted tariffs, operator benefits include better utilisation of network resources and increased total revenues from existing network infrastructure investments. Similar schemes are already available in markets such as Africa where a number of operators including MTN, Vodacom and Safaricom offer between 45 per cent and 95 per cent discounted rates. “Innovation in the Indian mobile tariff is yet to happen. So far it’s been all about a flat reduction in tariffs but as competition intensifies, we should see interesting offerings from the operators,” said Mr Ashish Sharma, Head of Telecom Practice in India for Booz & Co.

http://in.nielsen.com/news/20091116.shtml http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Telecom/Network-quality-more-important-than-price-war-Nielsen/articleshow/5236017.cms Network quality remains the top priority for consumers when choosing an operator, even as most telecom operators are busy lowering call rates to outdo rivals, according to research firm Nielsen. "Network quality is the most important consideration for Indians when it comes to selecting a service provider. But the fact is Indians don't really know which service provider has the best network in their circle, all they know or to be more precise are told by the service providers is how much lower their prices are when compared to the competition," it said in a statement. The Nielsen Consumer Experience Mobile Test Program said there was a disconnect between what was important to consumers compared to the focus of service providers. "It shows that even though network quality is a more important criterion than price, price war between service providers have become customer acquisition tool," it added. The report said it was because of this lack of information and communication that consumers do not know who the market leaders are in network quality in their circle and are compelled to make choices based on their perception of supremacy. The report indicates that of 18 circles tested on Reliability metric, a clear 'Leader' exists in just four circles, while in 10 circles, there is a tie for first place for network reliability. In the remaining four circles, there is neither a clear leader, nor a tie for first position. While Reliance Communications was the leader in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry circles, Tata Indicom was the leader in UP and Uttaranchal circle. "As Indian consumers consider network performance as a major selection and retention criterion, there is a huge opportunity for network leaders to educate consumers about the superiority of their network performance to gain subscriber base. This can be a huge marketing differentiator in an industry that is reeling under hyper competition," The Nielsen Company executive director (Telecom Practice) Shankari Panchapakesan said. Nielsen expects that India, similar to global trends, will see the emergence of a 'Leader' based on superiority in network performance. "New service providers will find it difficult to gain market share in the crowded wireless market. They will face challenges in terms of high subscriber acquisition costs, lower ARPU customers and lack of adequate spectrum quality. Getting superior network quality and communicating the same to the consumers will prove helpful," Panchapakesan said. An earlier Nielsen Mobile Consumer Insights survey indicated that network satisfaction is driving overall satisfaction with services, offered by operators has increased from 50 per cent in the latter half of 2008 to 54 per cent in the first half of 2009.

full report is here http://in.nielsen.com/news/20091116.shtml probably such a robust network was the reason for their higher pricing prior to docomo's launch.however they seems to have realized their weakness by october

slightly offtopic recent vodafone was (or was made to be adjudged ) as the The Most Admirable Mobile Service Brand.after 203 views the most admired is not being recommended here.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/trai%5Cing-times/375741/ India’s telecom market continues to be one of the most baffling ones in the world. You’d think, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) does, that having 8-10 service providers would ensure the market works, so it doesn’t really need to regulate tariffs. And yet that isn’t really so. Sure, India has the lowest telecom tariffs in the world and that shows markets are working and Trai is correct in keeping tariffs under what’s called “forbearance”. But, at the same time, the new players that have just begun offering their services argue the interconnection agreements being signed between them and dominant players, like Bharti Airtel, are one-sided. This is where Trai needs to come in, since it is mandated by law to set out interconnection agreements which, in turn, are cost-based and help prevent dominant behaviour — if Trai doesn’t come in, it’s likely that someone will approach the Competition Commission. If incumbents like BSNL and MTNL were allowed to abuse their dominance in the mid- and late-1990s when the likes of Bharti and Vodafone came in, the private operators would never have grown to the size they have today. Bharti Airtel is asking new players to give it 10 paise each time its network receives an SMS from their networks. Its argument is that new players are wooing subscribers by offering very cheap SMS facilities, but since these SMSs are necessarily being sent to subscribers of existing firms like Bharti Airtel, they need to be paid for their networks being used. This, of course, is the basis for the Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) — till March, when a voice call came from one network to another, the calling network paid 30 paise per minute to the network being called; this “termination charge” was lowered to 20 paise in March 2009. The question is whether this 10 paise SMS-termination charge is too high. Since the IUC, for voice calls or SMSs, is based on the amount of the network that is being used, the size of the file being transmitted is critical. Well, a 160-character SMS has a size of around 1kb, while a voice call is around 16kb per second. Today, with voice calls priced at 1 paisa a second, this means that instead of the current 50 paise to a rupee, SMS tariffs should be a fraction of 1 paisa, and the IUC on them even less. Indeed, in August 2006, Trai had a consultation on whether or not there should be IUC on SMSs and concluded that telcos were free to charge what they wanted from each other, it added the costs of terminating SMSs were negligible and SMSs got sent only when the network was not being used for voice calls — “Moreover, there is no supplementary cost for the terminating and transiting traffic. Primary resources utilised for SMS, i.e. the signalling channel (TS-16), are a necessary provision for handling the signalling for the voice traffic and are used for SMS only during the period when it is not used for voice traffic signalling or any other service.” On March 9, 2009, when Trai reviewed the IUC, it re-looked the issue of termination charges on SMS and said, “The cost involved with the handling of SMS in any of the service providers network is insignificant as compared to the cost for handling voice.” So, on what basis are incumbents like Bharti charging 10 paise as IUC from the newcomers? Several amazing issues arise, apart from the obvious one that just having more players doesn’t necessarily mean the market will work — telcos still charge Rs 6-7 per minute for international calls, to cite another example, despite the fact that global majors charge them just 40-50 paise to carry the call from India to the US/Europe. One, Trai doesn’t know when to intervene and when not to. So, when Tata DoCoMo introduced pay-per-second billing, which reduces telephone bills by 10-20 per cent, Trai didn’t think the market would work and its chief JS Sarma announced he would make a per-second billing mandatory — even before he could begin the consultation process, the market responded and major players, including BSNL, came up with pay-per-second pulse plans. And when it is obvious the market is not working, whether in the case of SMS tariffs/termination charges, or in the case of international calls, Trai does precisely nothing. Indeed, in the case of value added services like ringtones and music downloads, the global practice is to give a larger share of revenues to developers, while it is the opposite in India — once again, Trai needs to see if this is abuse of market power. And whether or not it regulates tariffs, Trai needs to keep a tab on the difference between costs and tariffs of various services being offered. Postscript: There is no doubt the new operators like Unitech/Swan got their licence/spectrum dirt cheap, but Bharti/Vodafone charging them a high SMS IUC isn’t going to bring money back into the government coffers, so it’s best not to confuse the sweetheart deal they swung with the government with the IUC agreements they need to make amongst themselves.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Telecom/After-call-charges-SMS-rates-may-be-next-to-tumble/articleshow/5198216.cms Paying 50 paise to Re 1 per SMS, depending on your package? Well, the cost to your mobile service provider of delivering your message to another mobile network is less than 1 paisa. That's because an average SMS consists of 1KB data, which takes a fraction of a second for transportation and termination. This revelation not only belies claims that India has among the lowest telecom tariffs in the world, it could also set the stage for SMS rates to fall sharply. Voice calls are already being offered at 1 paisa per second. As new entrants flood into the market, SMS tariffs could become the next major frontier of the pricing war now raging in the Indian mobile services industry. SMS and other value-added services form 10% of the Indian telecom industry's annual Rs 1 lakh crore-plus revenues. The current regime followed by telecom operators is `bill and keep'. This means your operator keeps the entire amount that he bills you for the SMS and pays nothing to the network on which the SMS is sent. This is for two reasons. First, the proportion of traffic across networks is roughly equal, and second, the cost of termination is negligible. Trai has so far refused to regulate SMS tariffs along with some other tariffs under what is known as forbearance. Forbearance is usually adopted by regulators when they believe that competitive markets are working and tariffs reflect true costs. As it turns out, the true cost of sending an SMS would never have come to light if new entrants had not been forced to sign interconnection agreements with existing operators at a price that is far higher than the actual cost. Several potential new entrants told TOI this points to a clear need for immediate regulatory intervention. If the price of sending an SMS reflects true costs, it should fall to no more than a few paise, they point out. While telecom minister A Raja has been talking about reducing telecom tariffs by bringing in new competition, it is ironic that factors driving telecom tariffs are coming to light due to infighting between existing operators and due to lack of pro-active regulation. Bejon Misra, chairman, CCEA or Cell for Consumer Education & Advocacy told TOI, "Recent developments have shown that India's claim of having the world's lowest tariffs is not true. Trai must promptly intervene to prevent cartelisation by incumbents aimed at defeating the interests of consumers by preventing cost-based tariffs." Predictably, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has a different view. Speaking to TOI, its acting director general T R Dua said, "Trai has followed forbearance and that should remain its policy." Several incumbents refused to comment on the true costs of terminating an SMS but admitted to the existence of a big margin. Stein-Erik Vellan, MD of Unitech Wireless, told ToI, "The lack of cost-based Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) is perhaps the most significant anti-competitive practice that is hindering free and fair competition. It needs to be overhauled. The regulator made an exception to its policy of forbearance in the spirit of fair play when it intervened earlier to reduce IUC charges for voice calls from 30 paise to 20 paise. Trai must undertake a similar regulatory intervention to create a level playing field in the industry". Unitech Wireless may be among the first new entrants to launch service in December. As more new entrants prepare for launch, Trai may have no choice left but to intervene. A senior Trai official admitted to TOI that the last review in March had not included a new tariff policy for SMS. "However, new operators have to survive and flourish so we will need to intervene if they complain to ensure a level playing field," he said. Experts and consumer activists, however, argue that given Trai's own cost data from its IUC regulation of August 2006 vintage, it need not wait for complaints but should act decisively and immediately.

hi friends any details known abt virgin mobile's tariff cut..i have seen the tariffs 15p local v2v ,30p local others and 50 paise sms..any info ? pl share

^thanks for the compliment! tata is different from virgin but for the fact that they use their network. in other matters virgin takes independent decisions and has guys from abroad heading their team .

dear friends how did the tariff redcuction affected you.please vote

^ bcoz they were the first innovators in india( 50p std sms packs etc).after all following is not using isnt it?

@ fevin "Nobody worries abt the coverage of TATA DOCOMO" thats the power of hype,and docomo has succeeded by beating earlier hype creator Airtel

means this is only for new conncetions

my experience with canon.. sensor replaced free of cost even after 2 yr warranty period

irregularities are regular in india and CBI's track record in probing them is pathetic

@kumaar catch 22 for voda or airtel..loose arpu's if they dont cut tariff or loose arpu's if they cut tariff

whether they(voda and the likes) match or not rel ,they sure to be affected either way

idea offers both std and local @50 p in a.p on recharge of 107 for 1 yr.Note local traiff is not 40 paise bcoz idea is the first mobile operator in AP(though slipped to 3rd position now behind airtel and rcom)

recently mts boss was complaining abt lack of handsets in cdma and said situation will improve..now mts is offering 3 more handsets in delhi in addition to the existing

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/Telenors-game-for-a-tariff-war-in-India/articleshow/5099604.cms Norwegian telecom firm Telenor, which is slated to roll out pan-India operations by year- end under the UniNor brand, said the ongoing tariff war in the country is hardly surprising. It has factored in losses to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore in its first five years of operations. “It is no surprise that there is a price war in the Indian market. Tariff wars happen when telecom penetration goes up from 30% to over 40%,” said Fredrick Baksaas, president & CEO of the Telenor Group. “We are structuring our operations in such a way that our core earnings — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation (EBITDA) — break even in three years. We are targeting an operating cash flow break-even in about five years from the launch,” he told ET, on the sidelines of the ITU World summit in Geneva. “India is a large country — it is a continent by itself and we are targeting profits in five years from there. Even in Norway — Telenor’s home market — we took seven years to break even,” he added. Telenor’s operations in India will be through Unitech Wireless, in which it holds a 67.25% stake. In October 2008, Telenor bought 60% in Unitech Wireless for Rs 6,120 crore. But in March 2009, the cash-strapped realtor agreed to give away an additional 7.25% stake to Telenor at no additional cost in return for not having to pump in more funds into JV for the next two years and higher repayment of debt. Telenor operates in 13 countries and has some 170 million users. As reported earlier by ET, Telenor has reduced its capital expenditure in 2009 by about 30%. The company will invest Rs 2,500-3,200 crore in India in FY09, against the earlier planned investment of Rs 4,600 crore. The Telenor chief claimed that the mobile network it was rolling out in India was the most economical one compared to its operations in other markets. “The Indian business model is different. This is the cheapest network that we will deploy,” he said. Mr Baksaas added that the telecom company would go all out to make itself visible in the crowded Indian market by offering higher quality of service. Telenor’s Indian arm has signed deals with tower company Tata-Quippo for sharing its infrastructure. It has also entered an agreement with Indian infotech company Wipro to manage its IT services and has awarded contracts for network equipment in eight telecom circles to Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks. India currently has seven pan-India mobile operators, with Bharti Airtel being the biggest with over 100 million customers, followed by Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Vodafone Essar. A string of new players like Datacom, Loop, S Tel, Sistema-Shyam and Swan (Etisalat) are also in the process of rolling out pan-India operations.

virgin's 50 paise std is more creative than tataindicom's