ravi_patent

^ i have due regard for chinese capability.they are almost on par with the west in certain fields..after all they launched their own formats for mobiles and television during bejing olympics

^ let us see whose life will be changed!.either customers or kumara mangalam's

can we attribute Rgsm's n/w problems for being associated with ZTE ? on that logic, MTS being handled also by ZTE should be having problems is that so ..Any wild guesses?

dear all any "heavy/decently" spending hsbc gold card user here..need to know abt an offer from hsbc as i also use the same.. regards

@sadik though i am using since 6 yrs ,never had any trouble wt credit cards..may b u hav ur own reasons bt i must say that HSBC has been quite usefull.. @ saurabh i was referring to an offer from HSBC avlbl on their website..i was having these mind http://mail.hsbc.com.hk/in/cc_activation/terms.htm http://mail.hsbc.com.hk/in/cc_non_activation/terms_non.htm There are 2 conditions here 1. This offer is applicable to all HSBC primary credit cardholders (hereinafter referred to as the "cardholder") to whom this mailer is addressed.(I have not rcvd the mail though) 2.Only non-defaulting credit cardholders will be eligible for the offer.(no default since usage) was wondering though i had exceeded the spend limits given therein , why i was leftout.. anyway thanks..

http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/bus...stically/385740 The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI is unlikely to drastically pare telecom inter-connect charges, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources. There are reports that call origination charges will continue on forebearance and call carriage charge ceiling of 65 paise per minute may be pared slightly. Termination charge for international calls will also be put on forebearance and termination charges for other calls are likely to be lowered by 5-8 paise per minute. TRAI is struggling to balance aspirations of existing and new telcom companies. It is reported that the regulator will hold one more consultation on February 26 before finalising new IUC (interconnection usage charge) regime. Termination charge is 30 paise per minute for all calls as of now. Lower term charges will impact Bharti Airtel, Vodafone revenue flows and would benefit new telecom companies and operators like Reliance Communications (RCom).

after long seems rgsm started in chennai

http://www.business-standard.com/india/new...ng-call/354949/ A year after its launch, Virgin Mobile still hasn’t been able to pull enough subscribers. Can it make a difference to the market?. There is no point in Virgin doing anything unless we can make a difference,” a bungee-jumping Richard Branson had said at the launch of the company’s telecom service in March last year. Well, in the one year that it’s been around, Virgin Mobile hasn’t exactly set the Indian mobile telephony market on fire. The team at Virgin refuses to talk numbers, but Chief Marketing Officer Prasad Narasimhan claims that in the last 12 months, Virgin’s share of the subscriptions would be a tenth of that added by Tata Teleservices, with whom it has teamed up. That would put Virgin’s user base at just about a million, given that Tata Teleservices has managed to hook around 10.5 million subscribers in that time. At a market share of less than 1 per cent, that doesn’t sound too impressive, given that nearly 125 million people have bought themselves a mobile phone connection in the last 12 months. To make sense of Virgin’s numbers, market leader Bharti Airtel got 31.5 million customers during the period and Reliance Communications managed to get five million subscribers in a single month when it rolled out its GSM option in January. Foot in the door For sure, Virgin does not have a pan-India presence. Moreover, a year may not be a very long time in an already-crowded market in which incumbents have been around for nearly 15 years and the best of them have already cornered a fourth of the market. Again, Virgin has all along been clear that it is selling to the urban youth in the age group of 15-25 of which the country has an estimated 200-215 million. While the proposition may hold promise when viewed from the point of the country as a whole as mobile penetration is around 50 per cent, cities like Delhi are fully saturated. So did it make sense to launch a service for such an audience? Virgin is optimistic. Officials point out that 70 per cent of its users today are those who have switched service providers, while the rest are first time mobile phone users. “We have roped in more users than we targeted,” says Narasimhan, pointing out that when Virgin entered the Delhi market, 95 per cent of the target audience already owned a mobile phone. Of course, since Virgin operates in India through a joint venture with Tata Teleservices, it has not needed to put down hard cash to build a network that costs billions of dollars. The commercial terms between the two partners aren’t known but industry experts guess there would be some kind of sharing of revenue between them. Again, in the absence of numbers, it’s hard to tell how much money the company is making. And to try and estimate when the business will start making money. Narasimhan says Virgin’s ARPUs or average revenue per user, a popular metric used to gauge how much a telecom service operator is making from each of its users, are 30 per cent above the industry average. That, in itself, doesn’t seem too exciting because at Rs 170-180, and trending down, the average ARPU in India is probably the lowest in the world. Tweaking the tariff So while Virgin may not be out of pocket once it builds up a certain subscriber base, the question is whether it can make big money. Already, with tariff wars breaking out every now and then, and free minutes being the order of the day, Virgin has had little option but to join the game. In fact, it realised pretty soon how price or value conscious Indian users are. When it first kicked off the service last year, the USP was that those who received calls from a Virgin user would be paid for it. That benefit is still available today but the bait wasn’t quite enough to net subscriptions. Towards the end of August last year, Virgin brought down call rates. Apart from making the basic package more affordable, it also launched some weekend and night packs. Having realised that youngsters constantly message their friends, it introduced a scheme in which users paid only for the first three messages, after which the messages were free. Long-distance calls too were made cheaper at 50 paise per minute because research showed that students studying away from home stayed in touch with their families and friends. And like many of its peers, Virgin too came up with “on net” packages — discounts for speaking to people on the Virgin network. The key to the re-pricing strategy was that consumers were not expected to commit to a minimum usage, even for SMSs — that was left open-ended. Re-pricing pays off To its credit, the idea seems to have got consumers excited. Explains Narasimhan, “We are not the cheapest service and our call rates may not have been disruptive but the package definitely was. The part that the user liked was that he or she did not have to commit to spending a minimum amount, which is often the catch with some of the competing offers.” He explains that contrary to popular perception that youngsters are indifferent to call rates, many of the youngsters are actually “hypersensitive” to what they’re paying. They have, he says, limited amounts to spend and so want maximum bang for the buck. That’s why, much like with the rest of the industry, 90 per cent of Virgin’s subscriptions are pre-paid. The re-pricing seems to have had some impact because Narasimhan says subscriptions have picked up sharply in the last six months or so and are growing at about 20 per cent month-on -month. And it’s not just that more connections were sold, he claims users were talking more with the result that the minutes of usage has seen a fairly big jump. The CDMA handicap In all fairness, it’s also true that Virgin started out with a huge disadvantage because it operates on the CDMA platform of its joint venture partner, Tata Teleservices. But then it must have been aware that in India today GSM operators control virtually three-fourths of the market simply because the variety of handsets that can be used for CDMA connections is rather limited. According to industry watchers, it’s possible Virgin is waiting for Tata Teleservices to roll out its GSM operations, after which it would be better positioned to sell its service. Meanwhile, the company has tried to make the best of a range of Virgin handsets, pricing them anywhere between Rs 1,400 and Rs 4,500. Of course, buyers are free to use the dual use handsets and the CDMA handsets of other manufacturers. But since this is a badge value category, Virgin has taken care to select popular colours especially reds and pack in as many features as possible and, of course, the range is being continuously expanded. The recently launched V Glide, at a price of Rs 2,399, is the only glider instrument at this price point. In fact, Virgin works closely with Samsung to try and make sure that the products look good. Building the brand In a crowded market, Virgin has also tried to focus its advertising effort, strictly catering for the 15-25 age group. Says Sandeep Pathak, CEO, Bates 141, which has handled Virgin’s advertising from the start: “Today almost every marketer is addressing the youth because by default they are the biggest spenders. So one needs to work that much harder to be able to stand out.” Pathak observes that where the industry biggies spend around Rs 300-400 crore a year, Virgin’s budget is about a tenth of that amount. And therefore, it has tried to stick to youth channels such as MTV or Channel V and restricted hoardings to locations near colleges. There are those who feel that the brand is not so well known and that its attributes aren’t too well-defined but Prashant Singhal, who heads the telecom practice at Ernst & Young, believes the brand is young and energetic and has definitely managed to create some appeal in the target segment. “The pricing alone would not have been enough to bring in subscribers,” he says, adding that with increasing awareness, the subscription numbers too have picked up. “A million subscribers is not bad for this kind of a model which has very specific target.” Connecting with the youth Most of the action in the future though will not be on television or in the print media. In order to reach out to youngsters, Virgin has invaded college campuses. It plans to invite students to be brand ambassadors and request them to sell Virgin merchandise such as T-shirts. In return, it invites groups of students for counselling sessions. As Narasimhan explains, there are youngsters who may not be from very well-to-do families and want to be counselled on a host of things starting from careers to presentation skills. Virgin has also installed television sets in college canteens to encourage students to produce content on any subject which is then aired. Virgin, of course, provides some content. For instance, students have been asked to come up with ideas for advertising campaigns for the Virgin brand. Narasimhan claims one survey put Virgin among the “top 10 buzz worthy brands.” That may be so but at the end of the day the brand must pull in subscribers. Already, the growth momentum in the urban areas is slowing given that more players are fighting it out. Besides, there are new telecom companies waiting in the wings. Number portability, when it comes in towards the end of this year, could help but otherwise it’s going to take a long time before Virgin makes a difference to this market.

while the above plan is good the very point that aircel doesnt offer such plans in their home shows thie colour.with near saturated markets and and customers who cannot afford to switch numbers i belive there will be few takers for these kind of plans..how many members of this forum will be shifting as on today (as an exampleto this plan ) though they are cost concerned is anybody's guess ...

i think every body is holding cards to their chest for the MNP

i think you can write to service providers themselves reg cheapest calling options as well as the procedure to buy a prepaid..beforehand info is better than not being able to enjoy ur vacation

.and till now everybody seems to be a part of the cartel (termination charge reduction without the subsequent reduction in call charges is a good example).let us see how MVNO's are going behave..

interview with MTS india chief http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/10000525/A...s-can8217t.html Telecom firm Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd created something of a flutter in Chennai some weeks ago when it launched a scheme that offered one million minutes calling time with a Rs499 prepaid lifetime card. The surprise element waned when customers realized that the minutes could be used only on calls on the Sistema (branded MTS) network and calls to other networks would be charged. Even so, says the Indian phone firm’s chief executive, Vsevolod Rozanov, who was earlier vice-president and chief financial officer of Russian cellular services company MTS, such schemes can bring in customers and keep them with a service provider if the users’ needs are taken care of and the distribution pipeline of the firm works in sync. Edited excerpts from an interview: On Sistema’s strategy in new markets such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala: It’s tough to invent something totally new. It’s more about execution. Basically, everyone knows what to do, and the question is whether you have a team in place. It becomes about how well you are able to execute what you know and how to do. And there is definitely a lot of experience transfer from our partners in Moscow (MTS), specifically for marketing and branding. Otherwise, distribution is the key, creating awareness in terms of the brand and making sure that the product is available. On what differentiates Sistema: It is the offer (of one million minutes calling plan). This is a very good offer and one of the reasons that we expect to go above expectations. Being a greenfield player, there is a necessity to give an offer like this. On how sticky the offer will be with customers: Our overall market research shows that a lot of subscribers never change their operators...around 50% customers never change their operator in their life in almost all geographic and cultural regions of India. So, if you are able to attract the subscriber, then there is a very good chance that if the subscriber stays for a few years, he will stay for a longer time. Arpus (average revenue per user) in Rajasthan, where we have more or less the same offer, are growing every month, which is extremely important. When a customer takes our connection, he or she is mostly interested in this on-net offer. And as they use the connection more and more, they start to make off-net calls and they start to receive more incoming calls. Which generates additional revenue. Also, additions are growing by around 10% or 15% per month. From 60,000 additions a month, we are now adding around 80,000 a month. On Arpu numbers: It is well below the industry average, but what you should look into is the incremental industry average. Industry average is for subscribers that have been there since the beginning of the industry—more than seven years. (Incremental Arpu) is around Rs150. Our Arpus are not above this but around this. Not very different. On funding, break-even: That depends on the speed of launch. If we launch everything within one year, then we can be cash-positive in the next three-and-half years. At this stage, it is tough to forecast as we expect up to five players to appear soon. That might significantly deteriorate the margins and business fundamentals for the whole industry. If a bloodbath starts, then it can get even further delayed. At this stage, we are being financed as per plan—basically from equity and loans. We have loans from Russian and Indian banks...(later) we may need to increase our debt. On listing: We will see how the international capital markets behave. Sooner or later, we will use this as a source of funding as well. At this stage, I cannot say anything with certainty. We will definitely do a listing, but definitely not this year and not in the first half of next year. At this stage, we see that the debt market in India is open. So, in terms of financing, I would not say that listing is critical for our success of our business. On roll-out plan: We are already present in Chennai. We will be present in Kolkata in the second quarter (April-June). In Delhi and Mumbai, we will be present by the end of the year. Besides these, we will be present in some other (telecom) circles also. To be on the safe side, we should be in minimum six or eight more circles by the end of this calendar year. The rest of the circles within the first two or three quarters of the (next) calendar year. On network technology: We do not believe there is that much of a difference between GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code division multiple access). Customers using CDMA technology are approximately one quarter of all. Given the size of the Indian market, this is not small at all. We have been looking into whether we should wait until we are fully ready with CDMA data offerings or we should start building our customer base and deliver our data offers a bit later. We decided to go in for the second option. We will be coming out with the data offering closer to the end of May or June.

^ seems to be a gentle reprimand

one of the best part of this forum is that there are so many knowledgeble people chipping in with their suggestions/info especially in mubai/pune area

@himanshu whats the source of the news ..as per this news ,virgin is abt to decide http://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/virgi...ming-scheme-374 Richard Brandson’s Virgin Mobile is likely to roll back the much-hyped 10 paisa incoming offer. This comes after the 33 per cent reduction in termination charges for domestic calls announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last month. Under new in-connection usage, termination charges on all types of domestic calls has been reduced from 30 paisa to 20 paisa per minute. The 10 paisa incoming offer was introduced by Virgin for the first time in the country, under which a subscriber would earn 10 paisa per minute for receiving calls. With the reduction in domestic termination charges, the operator is likely to withdraw this offer. A person close to the development told Financial Chronicle that Virgin was planning to withdraw this offer. “Till now the operator has been earning 30 paisa per minute on the calls terminating on its network, but with the new regulation in place, the operators have been losing out the revenues from the termination calls. In case of Virgin’s offerings, the operator has been sharing 10 paisa from the 30 paisa earning on each call. But now the earnings from the call termination has been reduced to 20 paisa per minute, which is forcing the operator to roll back this offer,” he said. Another person in the loop said that Virgin was looking at a change in the incoming offer. He said that they operator was likely to cut down the 10 paisa per minute offer and launch another scheme with lower earning offer. The company’s official spokeperson declined to comment. Virgin Mobile started operations in India in March 2008, with partnership with Tata Teleservices on a franchisee model. Virgin Mobile services are being supported from nine centres across nine cities and have bench strength of more than 450 personnel. The company has rolled out its services in 250 towns and is targeting to expand to 1000 towns.

though originally said to be closing by 31 mar ,i think this offer seems to have been extended ...while checking for balance i have come across this yday..can somebody confirm

^^ with literally no customers 6 days time for reply on an issue which dont bothesr the targeted customers(mts ceo said in media many a times that he wants more customers with less ARPUs) is too long a period..apart from that from the statements of ceo and the ad campaign(only local language no english at all ,even in english papers) it appears that MTS is targeting only the numbers and they may be least bothered about things like WAP

^^ that may be true but callers fail to reach us tata network...and their inbuilding coverage is bad..

mts life sim offerd @25 @srk tata is the roaming partner... @ramesh initial promise of 10 hours became 1 week!

@kumaar reliance is nt sharing wt mts @ramesh What this boils down to is the fact that the operator with which mts is sharing (eihter aircel or tata) also have the tower near to rel tower .if its away just 1km from ur house,may be thats bcoz of the geographical location of ur house.if mts is also unable to resolve this issue then surely its geographical location

i believe this is for local..wish similar for std

paying 1050 for a huawei handset for an upgrading network compared tata indicom's similar offerings only for a small difference in tariff doesnt appears to be a goodeal..recently paid 1300 for tata c 6000 got 1300 all india offent tt, with 80paise/ 1.5 rupees tariff .thats y there was no reaction from incumbents ..

one can make free calls in the very near future using net telephony which will be allowed soon, and the irrationality of charging 0.8 re per local call under the guise of cheapest tariffs in the world will be challenged by new incumbents and sistema's offer falls under this category and is too good to avail

31 Mar 2009, 1158 hrs IST Press Trust of India Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Tuesday upheld the Government's decision to allow Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Communications to use dual technology (CDMA and GSM) for offering mobile services throughout the country. Hearing a petition filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) challenging the government's decision, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also said that GSM operators have no right to get spectrum (radio frequency) beyond 6.2 MHz. The tribunal also hit out at telecom regulator TRAI for recommending subscriber-linked criteria for allocating additional spectrum, saying these were not fair and transparent. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-b...how/4338505.cms