Karthik R

The name 'anshu' already exists. Before submitting a name change request here, go to the Members tab on top of the page and use Advanced Filters, there you search for your desired member name and see if it is taken or still available. Let's make this easier for Arun/Mods

With 128 MB memory on board it is highly unlikely that SE release the android froyo update for this device. Screen size is inadequate. The phone seems to lack secondary cam on front to make video call with 3G?

I am thinking of buying a Pixi + as my secondary phone. Have some apprehensions in mind and would appreciate someone clearing them - Is it a fragile phone? I dont know of many people using the phone for more than 2 months. By the time issues with touchscreen or mic crop up. Am I generalising or will it last the run. It features a outdated 600 Mhz processor so have taken much of the sheen from the famed multi tasking capability of intuitive webos. I am not much of a multi tasker, most probably 3 - 4 cards will be running, say the web browser, messaging, youtube app, music. Will the performance of the phone be lethargic? How is its WiFi reception and connectivity?

Telecom stocks higher Investors were upbeat on Bharti's move, who went on a buying spree of telecoms stocks today, pushing up the entire sector. Shares in Reliance Communications rose 14.91 per cent on the BSE. Bharti's rose 5.37 per cent and Idea Cellular rose 7 per cent.

Raja names PM, Chidambaram, says 'I should be rewarded' New Delhi: A Raja spent all day today presenting his side of the telecom story that landed him in Tihar Jail. Mr Raja brought the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram into his line of defence. He also said that he deserves to be rewarded for following the rules. Mr Raja was arrested in February for granting mobile network licences and second-generation (2G) spectrum at throwaway prices to companies who were not eligible. Two of those companies - Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom - were able to leverage their licences to attract huge investment from foreign partners. Telenor jumped into bed with Unitech, and Etisalat tied up with Swan. "Where is the crime? Where is the conspiracy?" asked Mr Raja today. "Telenor buying a stake in Unitech Wireless and Etisalat buying a stake in DB Realty was totally legal as per the corporate law. The Finance Minister approved the sale in the presence of the PM. Let the Prime Minister deny it." He added, "What the telecom companies do after I give them spectrum is not my domain." The legality of the deals has not been challenged by the CBI, which is investigating the scam - a fact reinforced by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today. He said that Unitech and Swan were entitled to create an infusion of equity and that profiting from this deal was not illegal. Mr Sibal also said that Mr Raja's claim that the PM was aware of both deals is correct. He stressed that neither company sold the actual licence. And that both companies were being investigated for favouritism and not equity infusion. The government and the PM have said in the past that it's not the policy but Mr Raja's twisted implementation that saw companies like Unitech and Swan allegedly jumping to the head of the queue to get licences out of turn. The fact that the companies were able to make several thousand crores on the basis of their licences has been used as an indicator of how much money the government lost by giving away those same licences so cheaply. For example, Unitech Wireless and Swan bought their licenses for about 1600 crores. Within months, Telenor paid 6000 crores for about 70 per cent equity. Swan was paid about 4500 crores by Etisalat for 45 per cent equity. Mr Raja clarified in court that both Indian firms - who were real estate players - diluted equity by issuing new shares to their foreign partners. Mr Chidambaram, who was then Finance Minister, made the same point later. He said that after seeing media reports on the sale of spectrum, the Prime Minister asked Mr Chidambaram to look into the matter. Mr Chidambaram said he then asked Mr Raja whether the foreign investment was added through a dilution of shares or divestment. Mr Raja assured him that it was not spectrum that was being sold to the foreign companies. Mr Raja has been questioned about why he decided against auctioning spectrum instead of awarding licences on a first-come-first-serve basis. "If the policy pursued by me was wrong, then all former Telecom Ministers since 1993 should also be jail with me," said Mr Raja. "If I had auctioned spectrum, that would have been a crime, as it was a Union Cabinet decision," he said. The government and the PM have said in the past that it's not the policy but Mr Raja's twisted implementation that saw companies like Unitech and DB Realty allegedly jumping to the head of the queue to get licences out of turn. Like his party, the DMK, Mr Raja has stressed that he followed the policies introduced by his predecessors in the NDA government that was in power till 2004, when the UPA coalition was elected. Mr Raja said, "As Telecom Minster Arun Shourie distributed 26 licences while Dayanidhi Maran distributed 25 and I (Raja) distributed 122 licences. Numbers make no difference, however, it is to be noted that none of them auctioned the spectrum. If they had done no wrong, why am I being questioned? Let them deny that they have not done what I did. I was just following the 2003 Cabinet decision that is not to auction 2G spectrum. If I am following the law, I am not liable to be prosecuted. In fact, I should be rewarded." CHIDAMBARAM ON SWAN, UNITECH Mr Chidambaram told PTI that there was no sale of spectrum by Unitech and Swan Telecom to foreign partners; instead, they were issued fresh shares by promoters. And that this was discussed in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Read: Shares divested or diluted was the only issue discussed, says Chidambaram) If an investor buys existing shares off the owner of a company, the money goes directly to the owner. If fresh shares are issued for the investor, the money is pumped into the company. But in this case too, the owner of the company benefits because the value of the company shoots up, in turn increasing the value of the shares held by the owner. BJP DEMANDS RESIGNATIONS OF PM, CHIDAMBARAM The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded the resignations of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then finance minister P. Chidambaram after allegations by former communications minister A Raja that both knew about transactions in the 2G spectrum allocation. (Read: BJP targeting ministers to retaliate for right-wing terror probe, says Chidambaram) "Today, Raja has made it clear in the court that all the transactions in the 2G case were cleared after permission was given by prime minister and Chidambaram," BJP president Nitin Gadkari told reporters in New Delhi. "Sonia Gandhi (Congress chief) always claims that action will be taken against those found corrupt... then why silence on this matter? I want to ask Sonia Gandhi whether Raja's confession in the court is direct evidence of the prime minister and Chidambaram's involvement (in the scam). "I demand their resignation as they (prime minister and Chidamabaram) have no right (to continue)," he said. Via : NDTV

Nice makeover but still not on par with Pvt. cos

Shell out some bucks and educate the CC!

Tata Docomo will be launching its 3G services in the circles where it haven't won any spectrum with mutual agreement with Aircel to provide intra circle roaming through network sharing.

I am game

Wow, alluring 3G data packs! They should be extending this to smartphones.

@ Sougata Aren't those 1x data packs with free browsing on Tata Zone alone? Applicable to EVDO handsets like Sammy Pop, M369, Corby, etc? I am being charged Rs.320 for 1Gb and 50p/Mb beyond cap.

Developing a network from scratch to supplement their soon to be released 4G LTE services will be daft. So look forward to a possible partnership or buyout with other established operator.

Have no doubt, it is OMH only. I have used the Pop with both Tata as well as Reliance ~ data working fine.

And the 41 year old "yuvraj" Rahul Gandhi of secular (or sickular) Congress said that it was virtually impossible to stop all terrorist attacks. An immature, irresponsible and totally unacceptable comment which will serve the purpose of emboldening the terror outfits.

Never used one extensively, are these walkie-talkies a battery hog?

Check out this link. You get what you asked for and more! Supernova is selling official brand new sealed Samsung Galaxy I899 for the unbelievable price of Rs.9000 (plus courier charges). I can vouch for the person and the deal Grab it now!

Yep. You need to approach the Regional Licensing Office of the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC).

@ Mufaddal sprint WiMAX? We expected you to be on Big Red's LTE

Have we, by now, managed to bring this movement to the notice of RCOM people?

Though long overdue, it is a welcome move from TRAI They should also take necessary actions to ensure the smooth/easy deactivation of VAS like MobiTV.

New Delhi : Two leading operators, RCom and Bharti, have approached the government seeking to prematurely exit from the rural telephony scheme under the USO subsidy without fulfilling the commitment they had made by winning bids in 2007 to provide telecom services in villages. The government has an over Rs.14,000 crore corpus under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund. All service providers contribute to this fund and it is used to provide subsidy to operators and infrastructure providers to set up operations and offer telecom services in rural areas. The Telecom Ministry is contemplating to ban the non-performing service providers from participating in the next round of bidding, to be launched soon. The administrator handling the fund is also planning to change the criteria in a way that operators and infrastructure providers were not allowed to exit without fulfilling their commitments and are offered subsidy accordingly. The government had invited bids in 2007 to create telecom infrastructure and provide services in villages and had offered subsidy as well, but the operators opted to go there without seeking subsidy or even offered negative subsidy (instead they offered to pay to the government) either to block other service providers from going there or because they over-estimated the potential in rural villages. When contacted, officials in the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund administration under the Telecom Ministry confirmed that Reliance Communications has less than 500 base stations active out of about 8,000 committed by them. Similarly, Bharti has also approached the USOF to exit from the scheme, officials said. "However, the requests of Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom (both belong to Anil Ambani-led group) and Bharti have been turned down. There is no provision for service providers to unilaterally exit from the agreement on their own," officials added. Asked whether any penalty or liquidated damages would be levied upon the non-performing service providers, officials said, "An exit policy is being framed, but no final decision has been taken in this regard." Rural teledensity continues to be as low as about 26%, as against 69% penetration in urban India. Increasing rural telephony has been the government's priority and roll-out of any scheme may take all these factors into consideration while inviting bids for subsidy to be availed by the service providers to offer services in the rural areas. Courtesy : Economic Times

Telcos likely to get sops for better rural coverage The department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to offer incentives, which may include some kind of subsidy, to service providers for increasing mobile coverage in rural areas. “We are still working on it; it may take some time,” a senior DoT official told Business Standard. The broad idea was endorsed by the DoT’s internal panel in its report on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) recommendations last year on spectrum management and other licensing issues. Trai had said service providers which had covered half the habitations in their licensed area with a population of 500-2,000 should get a reduction of 0.5 per cent in the annual licence fee. Those which had covered all such habitations should get two per cent off. However, DoT’s panel has not accepted this. Instead, it said there should be other ways of helping operators increase their coverage in rural areas. All telecom service providers contribute a fixed five per cent of their adjusted gross revenues as a levy towards a Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), used for providing affordable services in rural and far-flung areas. The government also allocates money for the USOF, set up in 2002. According to estimates, about Rs 6,000 crore is added annually to the USOF, the corpus currently a little over Rs 20,000 crore. The utilisation of funds has always been less than Rs 2,000 crore annually and usually only in providing access deficit charges to government-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. “Because of non-utilisation of the full USO fund, we are looking at other ways which will propel mobile players to increase the coverage in rural areas,” the official added. Trai says about 74 per cent of all villages have been covered by more than one operator. And, that only nine per cent of villages are not covered at all. Via : Business Standard

@ Kamal bhai / Mods Edit the Top-Five list as : 1. Greatest 2. dipanlahiri 3. kishor007 3. Arun 4. KanagaDeepan