Karthik R

Tata Indicom Introduces the New Avatar of ‘Pay Per Call’ Plan Tata Indicom today launched an entirely new avatar of ‘Pay Per Call’ (PPC) for its pre-paid customers across circles. This plan offers multiple benefits to customers such as reduced overall cost of the tariff with no daily rentals and standard calling rates. Furthermore, it is extremely easy for customers to migrate to the new PPC Plan without any additional fee or charges, to avail various benefits. Under this new pay per call offer, customers can make local calls at Re 1 for 5 minutes and STD calls at Rs. 2 for a standard duration of 5 minutes without paying for any daily rental. Additionally, both local and national SMSes would be charged at 50 paise/SMS. This new offer is valid on all the calls made by Tata Indicom pre-paid customers to any mobile or land line connection, on any network. To avail new PPC plan, customers have to SMS ‘PPC’ to 12524 and they can migrate to the plan without incurring any extra charge/cost. The new PPC plan offers a tariff validity of 365 days and incoming validity depends on the customer’s First Recharge Voucher (FRC). The offer is applicable for all the new customers whose FRC date is less than 90 days. Via : Telecom Talk

'Diesel used for telecom towers causing Rs 2.6Kcr loss to govt' New Delhi : Global NGO Greenpeace today said diesel consumed by telecom companies for providing power at telecom towers is causing an estimated loss of Rs 2,600 crore annually to the government in form of subsidy. "For telecom operators, there is a robust case to switch to renewable energy. The government should not give subsidy to telecom companies on diesel. Subsidy makes sense if it is given to poor people of the country," Abhishek Pratap, Senior Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India said. The report released by the NGO is based on research over information available in public domain. It says at current growth rates, the sector would require 26 billion kilowatt of electricity and 3 billion litres of diesel by 2012 which will enhance carbon emission from the country to significant level. Subsidy of Rs 7 to Rs 11 per litre on diesel reduces the cost of the fuel by around 21 per cent, allowing it to be sold at a lower price primarily for the transportation of essential goods, public transport and agriculture. Due to absence of duel or differential pricing of diesel fuel for industry, telecom sector aggressively exploited as sector consumption of diesel grown to 300 crore litres by FY11-end, the report said. Climate and Energy campaigner of Greenpeace Mrinmoy Chattoraj said the telecom sector can become a transformative force by adopting renewable energy for their business operations and advocating economy wide climate and energy solutions. "The telecom sector is well positioned to transit to a low-carbon growth trajectory. They must use their influence to promote policies that will allow them to grow responsibly without helping to fuel climate change," Chattaraj said. Greenpeace estimated that shift in power sourcing to renewable technologies, such as solar photo-voltaic, will result in a close to 300 per cent reduction in total costs for telecom operators, in comparison to a diesel generator (DG) based tower over 10 years. Pratap said telecom sector spend Rs 12,600 crore annually on diesel fuel and on removing subsidy of 21 per cent from diesel cost of diesel fuel for telecom sector would go to Rs 15,200 crore annually. "The 10 years expenses of telecom companies on diesel is equivalent to the cost of powering 5 lakh telecom towers by solar energy solutions," Pratap said. The report estimates investment of Rs 1,51,000 crore will be need to power the entire telecom towers in the country. Pratap also charged Indian telecom companies of hiding facts on their carbon emission footprint. Via : Economic Times

Via : Times of India

Cloud computing is great, but only in combination with "regular" computing. The only reliable way to manage data is to store and back up locally, and also to the cloud. The Chromebook model requires the user to have a fully functional machine, browser, connection and Web services. Without each and every one of these elements working perfectly, a Chromebook is nothing but a tray for serving snacks. So Chromebook - fail, especially in 'developing' countries like India where we are subjected to frequent internet connection outages. And cloud based computing is not bulletproof - even heavyweight Amazon's service were disrupted in April, for a week!

60 mins with CC on line anyway good that they dont charge for these calls, unlike others, or else we would end up bankrupt.

Nokia will abandon its Ovi mobile services brand as it prepares to sell smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone software, it said in a blog posting on Monday. Starting with services on some new Nokia phones in July and August, Ovi services will be rebranded as Nokia services in a transition that the company expects will continue into next year, according to a blog post. For example, Ovi Maps will become Nokia Maps. It is only a name-changing exercise and the services will continue as before. It's likely that anybody buying a new Nokia smartphone or mobile phone later this year will see the new branding on services included on them. Users that already own a Nokia phone will see the new branding through future software updates, Nokia said.

A typical low ARPU mobile user will have multiple connections and would just throw away the SIM instead of taking the pain and pursuing porting. So Reliance's claim is not fully admissible.

well said Kanaga OMH enables operator-specific network configuration, service provisioning and subscriber-identity data to be moved from the handset’s internal memory onto a advanced OMH SIM card. By doing so, the handset becomes a generic device that can be sold on the “open market”, used by multiple operators (Reliance, TI and Mts is OMH compliant) and provide high speed EVDO data connectivity to users in addition to basic voice and text capability.

@ Anand You mixed up the PPS and the PPM plans Rs. 34 STV offers 1p/4sec for on-net or T2T calls and the calls to other nos will be as per base plan i.e 1p/sec itself. 15p/m comes into picture only for those on per minute plan. Pretty confusing, isnt it.

You need to upgrade your present RUIM to an Open Market Handset (OMH) card which is data configured in order to use EVDO and access operator portal in the M369. It will cost you Rs.100 and are available in Reliance mobile stores.

Check if the Handset Change Card have been tampered with on the scratch area, HCC can be used for only one upgrade, should be doing *228 after receiving the confirmatory SMS HCC may have expired.

Should have been 3+ days validity, FUP set at a more liberal 1+Gb @ full evdo speed. And no scaling down to sub 1x speeds, dont relegate us back to stone age

Parin bhai, MS will be probably curtain free to use VOIP or turn the free service to some kind of premium offering to businesses and those looking for better quality.

Overpaid and a risky move. Skype made a net loss of $7 million last year on revenue of $ 860 million, even as its user base grew nearly 40 percent to 145 million.

Bundling smartphones with postpaid plans = Smart move.

RCom draws down 2nd tranche of $400-mn loan from Chinese banks Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM) today said that it has drawn down the second tranche of Rs1,780 crore ($400 million) towards refinancing of 3G spectrum fees out of the Rs 8,700 crore ($1.93 billion) facility signed with China Development Bank (CDB) in March. The facility includes Rs 6,000 crore for refinancing 3G spectrum fee payment by RCOM and Rs2,700 crore for equipment imports from Chinese vendors. The first tranche of Rs3,000 crore was drawn down in March. With this, RCOM has already drawn Rs.4,780 crore towards refinancing of 3G spectrum fees and the last tranche is expected to be drawn shortly. The amount will be used to refinance RCOM's short term rupee borrowings resulting in substantial savings in its interest cost apart from extending its debt maturity profile. The projected annual savings in interest costs works out to Rs500 crore. The loan facility, which is fully underwritten by CDB, and is being funded by a syndicate of Chinese banks and financial institutions including CDB, has an extended maturity of 10 years. This represents the first and largest ever syndicated loan for refinancing spectrum fees by any telecom company. RCOM is the flagship company of the Reliance Group, which currently has a net worth in excess of Rs64,000 crore, cash flows of Rs13,000 crore and net profit of Rs 8,400 crore. India's second-largest mobile firm, it has a subscriber base of 138 million. On Monday, the company redeemed $500 million worth of zero-coupon foreign currency convertible bonds issued in May 2006 at a premium of 25.84 per cent. via : domain-b

Airtel names brand logo as 'Wave' "The name Wave, refers to the sweeping changes that Airtel strives to bring towards enriching the lives of its 200 million plus customers in 19 countries across Asia and Africa," Bharti airtel said in a statement

Android Ice Cream Sandwich Update Will Have More NFC Functionality Google disclosed some more details regarding the newly announced Android update, Ice Cream Sandwich. It also showed off some of the cool things Android app developers can do with NFC APIs. As a technology, NFC is incredibly flexible. It is a low-friction connection that only works in short range. Any time you bring two devices with embedded NFC chips together, they will connect. There's no password to enter or set up; you simply put the devices in close proximity to each other and bam!--you're connected. NFC chips can be embedded in both devices and stickers that store information. For example, an NFC sticker can store a Web page or contact information like a QR code. Ice Cream Sandwich Gets NFC Love Even though NFC is already implemented in Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread"), Google has big plans to bring even more functionality to Ice Cream Sandwich. One of Google's goals with the Ice Cream Sandwich update is what it calls "0-click interaction." In Ice Cream Sandwich, NFC will let Android phone owners set up peer-to-peer connections by simply putting their phones back to back. So, this means you can exchange contact information, share Web pages, YouTube videos--pretty much any sort of content without installing a separate app. NFC in Android Apps Google also showed off some neat demos for all the possible features Android app developers can do with NFC APIs. One of the demo apps, Sticky Notes, allows users to leave each other notes by touching their phones together. Another demo app, Google Talk Portal, takes you to a random video chat with another device by touching an NFC sticker. Perhaps the coolest app scenario for NFC is in gaming. NFC will make initiating head-to-head games incredibly easy. To show how simple this is, Google demonstrated everybody's favorite food slicing game, Fruit Ninja via : PC World

Gmail keyboard shortcuts are a great way to increase your computing performance. These small combinations of keystrokes within Gmail can be a real productivity booster and help you avoid having to move your hand from keyboard to mouse as frequently. Gmail shortcuts are somewhat different than browser keyboard shortcuts for two main reasons: Limits on Keystroke Choices: when using Gmail keyboard shortcuts you are working within a web browser so Gmail cannot duplicate any of the standard shortcut key combinations used by Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari or Opera web browsers; Functions Vary by Location: Gmail shortcut functionality is based on your location within Gmail. Some shortcuts function only when reading a message or conversation, some work only when viewing conversation lists such as Inbox or All Mail, or viewing Contacts or Tasks. Activating Gmail’s Keyboard Shortcuts Before these shortcuts can be used you have to make sure that the Keyboard Shortcuts Setting for Gmail is set to “on” in Gmail Settings as shown here: To help clarify how Gmail keyboard shortcuts are used they have been grouped below by functionality, such as Navigation, Selection, Management or General. Gmail Top Level View Navigation Shortcuts These combinations of keystrokes speed up navigating among top level views such as Inbox, Sent Mail, All Mail, Spam, Trash, Drafts, Contacts and Tasks. All letters in the keystroke combinations are shown in lower case but are not case sensitive. An example: “g then i” means press the “g” key then the “i” key, one right after the other. g then i – Open the Inbox. g then s – Open Starred. g then t – Open Sent Mail. g then d – Open Drafts. g then a – Open All Mail. g then c – Open Contacts. g then k – Open Tasks. Gmail Selection and Management Shortcuts These combinations of keystrokes are used within a specific view such as Inbox or All Mail to assist with quickly managing messages and conversations. * then a – Select all conversations. * then n – Deselect all conversations. * then r – Select only read conversations. * then u – Select only unread conversations. * then s – Select only starred conversations. * then t– Select only unstarred conversations. x — Select a specific conversation; puts a check in checkbox; works as a toggle. s – Stars a specific conversation; works as a toggle. .– Open the More Actions dropdown list; works as a toggle. e — Archive a conversation from current View into the All Mail View. l – Open the Labels dropdown list to allow you to apply a label to a conversation. # — Move the selected conversation to the Trash. <Shift> + i — Mark selected conversations as read. <Shift> + u – Mark selected conversations as unread. Gmail Message Navigation Shortcuts These Gmail keyboard shortcuts are used for navigating within conversations lists or views. The small black arrow at the left of the conversation list indicates the current conversation focus. u – Return to conversation list (View) from current conversation. k – Move to newer conversation; location indicated by black arrow on left. j – Move to older conversation; location indicated by black arrow on left. <Enter> or o – Open selected conversation; black arrow indicates selection. <Shift> + <Enter> or <Shift> + o — Open a conversation in a new window; black arrow indicates selection. p — Read previous message within a conversation. n — Read next message within a conversation. r – Reply to sender when a conversation is open. <Shift> + r — Open the reply in a new window. a — Reply to all when a conversation is open. <Shift> + a — Open the reply to all in a new window. f — Forward current conversation when a conversation is open. <Shift> + f — Open the forward current conversation in a new window. <Ctrl> + s — Save a new or edited conversation as a draft. Cursor must be in a text field. [ – Archive the current conversation and move to the previous one. ] – Archive the current conversation and move to the next one. Gmail General Top Level Shortcuts c – Open a new message. <Shift> + c – Open a new message in a new window. /— Move cursor to the entry box for Search Mail. z – Undo previous action. Mainly used when typing and works as an “undelete”. Esc – Remove the cursor from a search box or any input field. Standard Windows shortcuts such as <Ctrl> + c, <Ctrl> + x and <Ctrl> + v are also useable within Gmail when editing text. Most browser shortcuts such as <spacebar> and Shift + <spacebar> for scrolling up or down a page are also usable. Some other locations for more information on Gmail keyboard shortcuts include the Gmail Help Center and the Official Gmail blog Hope these keyboard shortcuts help you when using Google Gmail. I have provided some context for using the different shortcuts instead of just a standard “laundry list.” If you have a favorite Gmail email shortcut that is not listed here leave a Comment and share it with the other readers. Courtesy : HTS Tech Tips

ED questions ex-SpiceJet promoter in 2G case New Delhi : Enforcement Directorate has questioned former promoter of SpiceJet Ajay Singh in connection with the 2G scam investigations. The agency is probing Singh's link with Allianz Infratech which is suspected be a front of the DB Group. ED sources said Singh was questioned for two days earlier this week. Singh's detailed statement was recorded and further investigations were on, sources said. Singh had exited as the founding director from the low cost airline last year. Confirming that he had given his statement to ED, Singh said, "I have cooperated with the agency. I don't have anything to hide because my company (Allianz Infratech) did not get spectrum at all." Agency sources claimed that Singh's questioning had helped to figure out the fund flow between Etisalat DB Telecom and Allianz Infratech. Sources said the timing of the sale of stakes of Allianz Infratech to DB Telecom before UAS licences were awarded was of interest to them. The investigations have also revealed that Allianz Infratech was found to be ineligible for UAS licences. The ED investigation has revealed that Etisalat DB Telecom acquired Allianz Infratech (UAS licence allottee for Bihar and MP) for Rs 109.5 crore. The agency is also probing the payment pattern of the deal in which Rs 106.84 was paid to Telespice Wireless Pvt Ltd by DB Tele Wimax Pvt Ltd on behalf of M/s Swan Telecom for purchase of shares of Allianz Infratech. via : Times of India

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The failure of Bharti Airtel’s network on Thursday— it crashed for several hours without notice in Delhi leaving 8 million consumers helpless — has raised two fundamental issues. One, whether the launch of 3G value-added services is adversely affecting primary services. And two, whether India’s largest telecom company has over-outsourced its equipment and management to vendors. The company did not give any reason for failure of its network. “An unforeseen technical outage had affected services on some of our circuits,” a Bharti spokesperson said. “As a result some of Airtel Delhi mobile subscribers have experienced connectivity issues.” But the issues could be larger. “The network architecture has become very complex after the launch of 3G services,” said a former CTO of a large telecom company. “That’s why calls drop frequently on networks that are offering 3G services. The 3G network is overlayed over the existing 2G network and use the same core network. “There are about 15 to 20 main switching centres (MSC) of Airtel in Delhi,” said the head of another telecom company. “Possibility is that due to some software glitch a few MSCs may have stopped working. It could also be the firm’s aggressive outsourcing model. When a company outsources its entire technology to outside vendors, it does not have control over it in crisis situations. While Bharti was the first company to outsource its network management and IT to vendors, other private operators have followed suit. Citing that all its officials were busy in internal meetings, the company refused to comment. “The problem is that the Indian companies do not have enough technical expertise to monitor the outsource activities,” said a former CMD of a government-owned telecom service provider. via : Hindustan Times

Share a Common Inbox With Shared Inbox for Gmail If your company or department uses a single Gmail address monitored by multiple people, here's an easy way to share it between an unlimited number of people while adding the ability to assign tasks to specific people so no work slips through the cracks. Shared Inbox for Gmail is a Google Apps Marketplace add-on from a company called RunMyProcess that installs on your domain in minutes and simplifies the job of tracking one inbox between multiple users. To use it, you first need a separate Google Apps e-mail address to share between your existing users. For instance, service@yourdomain.com or sales@yourdomain.com. Once you have that address set up, cruise over to the Shared Inbox for Gmail page in the Google Apps Marketplace and sign up. It's free for up to three users, and $10 per user per year for additional users. Because the service charges by the user, rather than by the shared inbox, you can create as many shared inboxes as you need. Once installed, Shared Inbox lives in the left sidebar of Gmail, where any inboxes you've shared with a given user will appear with an unread count beside the inbox's name. A dropdown menu lets users navigate directly to unread messages, assigned messages, and archives. Within a given message, you can assign the message as a task for any other user on the inbox, so each message acts like a support ticket that you can quickly track from the inbox itself. I like the principle behind RunMyProcess Shared Inbox for Gmail, because it eliminates the need for a separate system to track sales or support tickets while still helping you ensure that no enquiry goes unanswered. And if your team is very small (as in three people), it's hard to argue the price. It also compares favorably to other cloud support ticket services, like Zoho Support, which costs $12 per agent per month. Of course, it lacks the robust process tracking and customization of these more dedicated services, too. But if your primary concern is making sure everyone in your group can access a single Google Apps and respond reliably to each message, Shared Inbox has you covered. Courtesy : PC World

Android Continues to Win at Blackberry's Expense More bad news for RIM's Blackberry: A recent survey of cell phone users shows Google's Android is continuing to gobble up its market share. In online forums, consumers cite Android's superior user experience, the broad selection of carriers and handsets that offer its operating system, and its array of innovative applications as reasons why they are migrating to Google. Those sentiments are put into focus by the latest MobiLens survey, spelling more trouble for Blackberry, which has been in free-fall for some time now. The survey aims to measure trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry by polling more than 30,000 users. In January, Blackberry lost its long-held number one position in the MobiLens ranking to Google Android. At that point Blackberry held 30.4 percent of the market share, less than 1 percentage point behind Android at 31.2 percent. The latest comScore MobiLens survey in March shows Blackberry's share fell to 27.1 percent and Google opened its lead by almost 8 percentage points, grabbing 34.7 of the market share. That means more than a third of all smartphone handsets used in the U.S. today run Android. In some ways, Android has adopted the same position on the smartphone as Windows occupies on the desktop--it's become the default platform for hardware vendors to use who don't want to go to the expense of developing proprietary software. That doesn't mean people are necessarily opting for Android as their preferred choice. Because Android is used by the majority of different smartphone manufacturers, the growth in its userbase is likely just an indication that the smartphone marketplace is growing. The MobiLens data matches recent figures released by research firm Canalys, which puts Android's share at 35 percent, although data from Nielsen puts Android even higher at around 50 percent of the marketplace. Microsoft and Palm also saw modest declines in market share since January, according to the MobiLens survey. Microsoft dropped half a percentage point, while Palm dropped 0.4 percentage points. Microsoft will be dismayed as customers vote with their wallets when it comes to the Windows Phone 7 product launched late last year. On the flip side: After a slight slip in January, Apple's market share continues a slow but steady rate of growth. The launch of the iPhone on Verizon might be helping, along with the fact deals involving the maturing iPhone 3GS handset are becoming more competitive in preparation for the arrival of the iPhone 5 later this year. It'll be interesting to see if the recently released white iPhone significantly boosts Apple's numbers. The real winner is Google Android, which is leaving the rest of the field in the dust. MobiLens figures for the last six months make it look like Android is s***ing-up disaffected Blackberry users. The market share of other platforms has held roughly steady aside from slight growth or declines, so it's unlikely they're responsible for RIM's misfortune. via : PC World

Please always put the actual link of the source story in that via. Many a times people want to read/explore more (I Do most of the time) at the actual source for interesting/technical stuff, read user comments, head on to the relevant similar subject links at many sites etc. It really helps instead of searching the story manually just through the name of the source website. Thanks. What about following this format Source : <link> Updated OP by the same