ravi_patent

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/mts-to-launch-high-speed-internet-services-soon/371594/ New telecom licencee MTS, in which Sistema of Russia holds a majority stake, is preparing to launch high-speed wireless internet services that offer speeds of up to 3.1 mbps. GSM operators have termed the services “legally untenable”, something MTS contests. The move will enable MTS (a brand owned by Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd) to join the league of major CDMA operators. On a comparative basis, the services are 20 times faster than other wireless broadband connections and 10 times faster than average fixed line broadband connections in the country. When asked, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevolod Rozanov confirmed the development and said: “Yes, we are considering it.” “Other CDMA operators have already launched the services and we don’t see why there should be an issue. Clearly, the data market is picking up. Though, a company cannot focus on data only, there needs to a sustainable business balancing both data and voice,” he added. SSTL is a joint venture between Sistema of Russia (73.71 per cent) and the Shyam Group of India (23.79 per cent), with the remaining 2.5 per cent being publicly held. The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) had earlier sought the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT’s) intervention to stop these high-speed wireless internet services. COAI claimed these were 3G Evolution Value Data Optimised (EVDO) services. In its letter, COAI complained it was ‘legally untenable’ to permit select players to get a preferential headstart to offer 3G services. MTS, which has operations across six circles, will complete a pan-India rollout by the end of next year. The company will roll out services in Delhi and the National Capital Region by Diwali (October), Karnataka in a month’s time and Mumbai, Maharashtra and Haryana by the end of this year. The three major CDMA operators - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (3G EVDO card), Reliance Communications (Reliance Netconnect) and Tata Teleservices Ltd (Photon+) had earlier rolled out their services.

while these performance figs are good , i doubt how many potential customers are going to choose some one like airtel or docomo for relatively better like rcom

^ recently i did a 222 recharge..as far as i remember i have utilised the promo bal(33rs) beyond the 7 or 15 days period..

will youswitch http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/will-you-switch/371511/ An IMRB study details how mobile number portability will impact service providers. After a long wait, Indian mobile phone users will soon have the option to switch their service provider and retain their number. After much debate, mobile number portability will be introduced in the country in December. How will it impact service providers? Customers unhappy with the service but attached to their number are likely to switch first. Overseas, the churn has lasted two to six months after portability was introduced. Thus, within the first half of 2010, service providers could end up with lesser market shares if they don’t guard against the marketing moves of rivals. IMRB, the market research outfit, has come out with a syndicated study called Switch to forecast the behaviour of mobile phone users after portability. It was conducted across 40,000 subscribers who have owned a connection for at least three months (since subscribers can’t use portability within 90 days of getting a connection, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), across all operators and the seven cities in which portability is slated to roll out first — Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. IMRB quizzed users on the importance of their numbers, their satisfaction with service providers and if the criteria set by TRAI such as paying Rs 250 and going without a network for two hours would deter a switch. They were then asked if they wished to change and why. Thus, the study was able to track the likely churn or the number of subscribers who will shift from one service provider to the next, GSM to CDMA, pre-paid to post-paid and so on. Who’ll switch? As many as 70 to 90 per cent subscribers feel it is extremely important to retain their current mobile number. After portability is allowed, the survey expects an average 20 per cent of the people to move out of their existing operators. Delhi could see the highest churn of 24 per cent and Ahmedabad the lowest of 8 per cent. It says that 25 to 35 per cent subscribers will switch operators due to network congestion and another 17 to 25 per cent due to tariff options — grievances that often top the dissatisfaction list of Indian subscribers. Service providers say that with prepaid customers comprising more than 85 per cent of the Indian mobile telephony market, they are no strangers to churn. Says Idea Cellular Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajat Mukarji: “We already have a vibrant prepaid market where customers switch service providers periodically.” Surprise of surprises, only 10 to 20 per cent prepaid users on average told IMRB they want to switch. Portability, IMRB found out, will hit the relatively loyal and stable market of postpaid consumers harder. This is crucial because such customers turn in higher revenue. Market estimates suggest the average revenue from a postpaid user is up to twice that of a prepaid user. Fifty per cent of the postpaid users in the survey were willing to switch once portability is activated. Ernst & Young Leader (telecommunication) Prashant Singhal points out that portability will appeal more to users in socio-economic categories A and B — people who opt for a postpaid connection that requires a certain credit criteria and stronger address proof. Subscribers in socio-economic categories C and D, Singhal feels, will not be affected much because they are primarily tariff-sensitive and don’t dwell much on customer service or convenience of use. Among post-paid users, reveals IMRB Group Business Director Sanjay Pal, there is a feeling of getting less from service providers than what they deserve. There are satisfied subscribers also who might get tempted to switch to a new service provider if they can carry their number along, according to the survey. Pal observes that despite a satisfaction rate of around 60 to 65 per cent among GSM users, the percentage of satisfied customers willing to move after portability could range from 6 to 20 per cent. Only 6 per cent of Delhi’s satisfied customers are willing to move, while Ahmedabad clocks the highest at 20 per cent. Pal attributes it to an “anti- incumbency factor” — the tendency of users who still want to choose another operator even when it has nothing special to offer. Switch estimates that for most players, the maximum movement of inflow and outflow (nearly 65 per cent) would occur in the first two months because those who have waited for portability will do so immediately. It also underlines the importance to brace for churn in a brief span of time. It would trigger the need to pull customers as it would the need to retain existing customers. Mukarji of Idea says: “In the first phase, users who have been less than six months with an operator will be most likely to port their numbers to other operators because they haven’t yet developed a sense of comfort with their operator the way users with over a year’s subscription would have.” Hence, Singhal says this will bring the quality of service to the fore in marketing campaigns of operators. “More and more players will talk about their network and what their customer service means, rather than harp on tariff schemes which most players have been doing till now.” Abdul Khan, head of marketing, Tata DoCoMo, says, “Both incumbents and challengers will have to shore up their overall customer experience measures.” It won’t be inexpensive, mind you. Portability will require operators to share data and agree on porting charges and timelines as well as upgrade their technology. Singhal puts the investment at a few hundred million dollars. “The cost will work out to around $70 per subscriber that is acquired,” he estimates. Operators’ bandwidth, service and accounting would be put to test with the extra inflow and outflow of subscribers. The survey also identifies outflow and inflow patterns that will help operators fine-tune their post-portability strategy. CDMA vs GSM Playing spoilsport for the operators will be disproportionate outflow and inflow ratios. In Mumbai, the survey found, a leading GSM player might get more subscribers than it loses, but the outflow is expected to take place at a faster pace. Another GSM player in the city stands to gain 128 per cent (if 100 subscribers move out, 228 will move into its network from other operators). In the same market, a CDMA player will experience a net impact of 80 per cent (will lose 180 subscribers for 100 it gains). The upshot is that CDMA users are more than willing to port to GSM networks. “High-revenue CDMA users are most likely to migrate to GSM,” says Pal. “A general shift from CDMA to GSM is too simplistic. CDMA operators issue handsets with connections that are locked to the operator’s network. So when migrating to GSM, it would cost CDMA users more than just the cost of a SIM card. They will have to invest in a handset as well,” says Tata Teleservices Chief Marketing Officer Lloyd Mathias. “We are in the process of profiling users on their usage and handsets. For instance, we will contact those who have been with us for two years and have a monthly bill of Rs 1,000 and more with special offers such as discounts. This could be a group of a few hundreds or even 10,000.” While CDMA operators are expected to be hit the hardest, market leaders stand to gain the most because of their strong brand equity. Players in the middle rungs, who don’t lead yet, could be in the eye of the churn too, according to Pal. Singhal differs: “Players who are neither leaders nor newcomers will gain subscribers because of less congested networks (unlike leaders) and stronger customer service and infrastructure than new players, so they can handle the traffic better.” Brand pull and customer service will decide the drift for the operators. In Delhi, IMRB found that a GSM operator has a very strong pull over its rivals. Its market share is set to increase after portability, according to the survey. “High-end customers will be more sensitive to branding and customer experience. Branding power in telecom becomes clear when users are ready to forgive their operator for its errors because the brand resonates with them,” says Mukarji.

^ so voda mas milking in karntaka customers to the hilt this tariff is introduced here in chennai atleast 20days before ..

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/09/24/stories/2009092451560400.htm TRAI allows portability within same circle In a move that could benefit operators with mobile services based on both GSM and CDMA technologies, the regulator has approved number portability within the same circle . “Mobile Number Portability includes porting from one technology to another technology of the same service provider. It is immaterial whether the donor and the recipient operators are the same or different as the functions of the donor operator and the recipient operator are to be carried out independently,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) stated in its regulation released on Wednesday. This means that operators such as Reliance Communications will be able to port their CDMA subscribers to GSM network and allow them to retain their numbers. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) allows the subscribers to retain their existing mobile telephone number when they move from one mobile operator to another, irrespective of the technology. TRAI has, however, limited porting to within the same circle. This means a Delhi subscriber cannot port his number if he shifts base to Chennai. Analysts have, however, played down the impact of MNP on the churn. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/Separate-rule-for-porting-charges-soon/ “Implementing MNP by December 31 will be a real challenge as there are many unresolved issues,” admitted COAI director general T V Ramachandran. “A separate regulation for porting charges will be released in 15 days”, Trai chairman J S Sarma told ToI articleshow/5048787.cms

@sonamkumar i am using tata since 2 years ..the in building coverage in high raise buildings , malls etc is very bad.my colleagues who were on tata also complain the same .the only reason i think ,for many who had switched to tata was cheap call rates. the reliance which i have manages to have signals when tata fails and comes to my rescue(the coverage of cdma network is one of the reasons for reliance's headstrongness in pricing their tariffs vis-a -vis tata ) .. anyhow surprising to hear abt no coverage issues at ur side even docomo coverage(experienced myself) will not be comarable with reliance or airtel..otherwise why docomo will be offering free missed call alerts

^ no matter how good the scheme pay per call scehme is, tata's cdma network can be termed as bad at best and pathetic at worst.with coupling pay per call scheme with buying new handsets ,one will not be sure when the offer will be withdrawn.the "friendlier prompt" from indicom(from the words of sardana) ,in case usage is high is another drawback..whereas docomo has been a no nonsense offering..thats why airtel was listing out 15 reasons to be on airtel in media

^ interesting that kyocera is concerned .probably they want incraese their cdma handset sale

Schemes are not just promos: Tata DoCoMo http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/schemesnot-just-promos-tata-docomo/370353/ Tata DoCoMo will not withdraw any of its newly-launched schemes even after the end of the mandatory six-month period, putting industry speculation to rest that these are only promotional offers. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India norms, every scheme from an operator has to run for at least six months. “These are not promotional tariffs, and the schemes are here to stay. While most of the schemes have been rolled out to rope in customers for our newly-launched GSM services, no one can deny that these are beneficial to the subscribers,” said Tata DoCoMo President Deepak Gulati. Tata DoCoMo is the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd, in which Japan’s NTT DoCoMo holds a 26 per cent stake. “We will also launch an array of such schemes which are relevant, useful and pioneering for the customer in the next couple of months,” he said. He gave no detail. Tata DoCoMo had rolled out an array of schemes in the past two months, after its launch of GSM services across 18 circles. While the company termed these schemes “game changers”, the industry termed these “disruptive”, as these would result in erosion of sector revenues (if others did likewise) by 15-20 per cent. One of the major plans rolled out was the per-second billing, which is against the industry practise of billing per pulse rate (60 seconds is considered a pulse). After which it launched another scheme where there was a fixed charge per call. Tata DoCoMo then extended its one-second billing scheme to SMS, with it rolling out a plan wherein an SMS would be charged based on the characters sent. This was also breaking away from the conventional scheme of charging per SMS, irrespective of the characters. Tata DoCoMo also rolled out schemes that does not charge for the first 30 seconds while downloading caller-ringback tunes (CRBTs). Calls to download CRBTs are charged by other players at Rs 6-15 (depending on the company and plan) per minute. Free voice mails, free rentals and free missed call alerts were other schemes it had launched. On the number of subscribers added by the plans, Gulati declined to comment, beyond saying there is “tremendous customer affection”.

presentation by telenor http://www.telenor.com/en/resources/images/cmd09-07-Unitech-Wireless_tcm28-46957.pdf of all new entrants telenor ,i believe, is going to do what docomo did.they have the money and brains ..pl share ur views cmd09-07-Unitech-Wireless_tcm28-46957.pdf

^ not only electronics ,chinese cannot be ignored in any field ..though it is true that some chinese are looking for quick money

virgin mobile increased the minutes which will be charged at 50p to 60 mins a day(earlier it was 30mins/day).. http://www.virginmobile.in/plan_special_offers_news.html "STD calls @ less than 1p/sec based on 50p/min are subject to a maximum of 60 mins per day"

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shobhana-subramanianchallenge-before-tata-teleservices/369749/ Customers have never had more choice; the more you talk the less you pay. Price wars in the Indian mobile telephony market aren’t new; they’re the reason why ARPUs (average revenue per user) here are among the lowest in the world. The original price warrior was undoubtedly Reliance Infocomm which, in July 2003, threw open the market to a whole new class of customers, when it bundled a handset with a subscription in its Monsoon Hungama scheme for just Rs 501. At the time it would have cost nearly Rs 3,000 to go mobile. While Reliance did manage to pick up subscribers, it also lost a lot of money. In December 2005, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) claimed it had picked up one million subscribers in 45 days when it launched a non-stop mobile scheme — a plan that allowed customers to receive calls for two years without re-charging their phones. When Virgin started out it innovated by rewarding the subscriber with 10 paise a minute for received calls. More recently, in January this year, Reliance Communications offered 10 minutes free everyday when it rolled out its GSM service. It may have added some five million subscribers in the first month, but the numbers tapered off significantly once the free minutes were taken away. The game changer was probably the life-time pre-paid subscription for Rs 99 launched by Bharti Airtel. Now TTSL is offering subscribers a local call at Re one, regardless of the duration which means that a call lasting more than five minutes is a complete loss for TTSL, because it would pay roughly 20 paise per minute as termination charges to the operator on whose network the call terminates. Since TTSL’s subscriber base is relatively small, chances of the call terminating on a rival network are high. An efficient player like Bharti Airtel incurs a cost per minute of around 40 paise, on revenues of 60 paise per minute, leaving it an operating profit of 20 paise per minute. TTSL’s costs should be higher than Bharti’s, because it doesn’t have the scale that Bharti does, thanks to its subscriber base of 105 million. So even a two-minute call, for which it would lose 40 paise, would leave it just 60 paise which would cover costs for about one-and-a-half minutes. Only if users spoke for a minute or less would TTSL make enough to cover its operating costs. As for long-distance calls, at Rs 3 per call, a five-minute call means that TTSL has to pay up Re one as termination charge and pay another Rs 1.50 as long-distance charge (it’s possible the telco has negotiated a deal with Tata Communications). That leaves it with just 50 paise, which again can cover the cost for just one minute. If the duration of the call is three minutes, then TTSL is left with Rs 1.50 which would allow it to make an operating profit. Anecdotal evidence suggests that long-distance calls tend to be long because one is usually calling family or friends. Ideally the tariff should be such that it’s higher than the average cost. But TTSL is simply hoping to make something where there is nothing. Since its infrastructure and other fixed costs are sunk, and there is idle capacity, it’s better to generate some revenues than none at all. Unlike Reliance Communications, TTSL is not giving away free minutes which is a good thing. So, if it can pick up enough users who don’t talk too much, it can make this work by monetising the minutes at a later stage. Also as the number of subscribers on its network increases, it will pay out less to other operators. Can the scheme help TTSL which has struggled to make ends meet even after it went national in late 2004? TTSL has been hamstrung because it offers a CDMA service in a market that’s predominantly driven by GSM subscriptions; even Reliance realised the futility of playing only in the CDMA space. TTSL’s share of the market, which was just short of 10 per cent in December 2007, is now just around 9 per cent. And in a market that’s adding around 10 million subscribers a month, TTSL’s subscriber base is 39 million (including fixed wireless). The pay per call option is wonderful for the customer and should find takers but it’s unlikely to be a game changer. Also, it’s hard to see how TTSL will keep the offer open for very long. The per second billing offer from NTT DoCoMo has been a hit so far but again unlikely to cause too much churn. Customers have never had more choice; the more you talk the less you pay.

dear friends i have enquired with a seller about the 60gb hard disk and was quoted a price of 1900 rs for a seagate one . is the price reasonable.is there any other good brand available at a lesser price for the same capacity. pl share your thoughts..

small correction vinayak telenor is norwegian.they hv been extremely competitive in bagladesh.opera(browser) was also theirs

http://www.mtsindia.in/tn_press_releases.html mtalk details availble at the above link at the time of posting the press release dated 7/9/09 was available,but the same appears no longer now

will these higher end phones also burn like sun! just as it happens in the case of all huawei/ze/haier /lg made cdma phones?

@saket i believe that operators pay each other based on seconds used rather than per minute(trai specifies the iuc/min but operators pay each other in seconds) ..otherwise docomo's 1p/1sec would not have been possible

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/09/01/stories/2009090151570400.htm Global telecom services organisation Phi-Metrics and leading global research services provider Nielsen are in the race for Reliance Communications’ initiative of ‘network benchmarking’ study, according to sources close to the development. Refusing to comment on this development, an RCom spokesperson said the company is in the final stages of short-listing its project partner to launch the study. Final decision soon The company is likely to take a final decision on awarding the contract by mid-September. According to him, the project is estimated to cost over Rs 150 crore for a “comprehensive, statistically valid network benchmarking on a nationwide scale”. RCom, with a consolidated subscriber base of 85 million, is the second largest telecom service provider in the private sector, after Bharti. Following its entry into the GSM (global system for mobile communications) segment in January this year, and also prompted by the fierce competition engendered by the entry of new players into the market, RCom launched this new project to study and evaluate the quality of coverage, and audio quality as perceived by the end-user. This is in addition to TRAI’s benchmarking criteria aimed at evaluating the operators’ compliance to the minimum set licence parameters on quality of services. Network accessibility The findings of the study, which are expected in four-five months, will serve as a measure to judge RCom’s network quality and performance. “The idea is to benchmark our services against all other service providers in the industry. It will be a yardstick for consumers to identify and associate with the best performing network in the country,” the spokesperson said. Traditionally, benchmarking of cellular networks was measured primarily on network accessibility and retainability. However, RCom will study and compare its network quality and performance vis-a-vis other operators through a consumer-perspective of competitive network offering. The study will be extensive enough to include 5,000 towns and one lakh villages. “This will be scientific and unbiased and will help negate the unintentional bias suffered by operators and in turn help customers make the right choice,” he added.

but the bs article says this is avlbl for existing customers also http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tata-tele-unveils-%5Cpay-per-call%5C-concept/72368/on The pay per call plan is initially being introduced on the pre-paid platform, and all subscribers who opt for it will be charged a daily fee of Re 1 to avail of the tariff option. The service is available on all new Tata Indicom connections for Rs 99 with a validity of 10 years, and on one-time recharge of Rs 96 for existing customers

seems that gifts from abraod are exempted from duty as long as the value is below 10000 as per law ,which is being used by this site

"There will be three more launches of OMH phones in India by December and another two by March,from samsung". http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/samsung-qualcomm-launch-worlds-first-omh-mobile/368422/

probably royaltie to quallcomm could be the reason for such a high pricing on OMH handsets.in bundled handsets quallcomm may probably be taking portion of revenues against handset subsidies

my exp wt docomo is both neutral..ocassional outgoing call not connecting , echo during call receiving (on complaint docomo was prompt in assuring rectification but the actions didnt match the words ) , and ocassionallly docomo will not be reachable.otherwise performance is ok..in this regard among all i have used vodafone (between 03-07 ) was never having any probs..and also during that period their tariffs used to be quite competitive..the same applies for r cdma also but for the fact that their on net calling has been biggest plus even now