Karthik R

Sibal holds meeting on R&D in telecom sector New Delhi : Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal held a roundtable conference on manufacturing and research and development in telecom and electronics sector with various stakeholders to deliberate upon the measures to promote indigenous manufacturing of telecom and electronic equipments. Opening the deliberations, Sibal said that telecommunication infrastructure is a critical-asset of any country and it is a key growth enabler. "It is the delivery vehicle for a large number of IT and IT-enabled services including health-care, education, financial services, e-governance etc. both to the urban as well as rural masses," Sibal said. He further said that while the growth of telecommunications in India has been rapid; the domestic telecom equipment manufacturing segment has not been able to keep pace with the same. "This forces the telecom operators to import most of the telecom equipment required for their networks," he added. The conference was attended by Electronics Industries Association of India (ELCINA), India Semiconductor Association (ISA), Manufacturer's Association for IT ( MAIT), Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA), Indian Cellular Association (ICA) as well as organizations associated in research and development like C-DOT, Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOEs), Professors from IITs to draw a roadmap for ensuring growth of domestically manufactured products. Telecom service providers and their associations like Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), Association of Competitive Telecom Operators (ACTO) as well as industry association like FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM also attended the conference. via : Timesofindia

Airtel finally kicks off pre-registrations Click here. Interested users can either fill up the form with requisite details or SMS iPhone4 to 121 for more details.

2G scam : Kanimozhi seeks bail, decision on arrest tomorrow DMK MP Kanimozhi today moved a Delhi court for bail against arrest in the 2G case as her lawyer Ram Jethmalani sought to pass the blame on the scandal to former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is also a party leader. After day-long arguments on the bail applications for her and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, the special court trying the scam adjourned the case for hearing till tomorrow morning when special prosecutor for CBI U U Lalit is expected to oppose freedom for them. via : indianexpress

Apple has released iOS 4.3.3 for owners of its I-things to fix what it has called a location tracking 'bug'. The new version reduces the size of the cache, no longer backs up the cache to Itunes and deletes the cache entirely when location services are turned off.

All telecom policies will be sorted out by August : Sibal New Delhi, May 5: Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said all policies pertaining to the telecom sector would be 'sorted out' and settled by August after due discussions. "Before August of 2011, we will have all issues decided in terms of policy. All issues will be decided. As you know, we already have been having round tables to have a dialogue with the industry on various issues, whether it is spectrum pricing, or spectrum allocation, or spectrum access, broadband policy, on all these issues, we have been having continuous discussion with the industry," said Sibal, while addressing a business seminar here. Sibal further said that his prime focus was to formulate a non-discriminatory policy framework that would provide a level ground to operators. "What we need to do for you is to give you enough spectrum. We need to give you enough speed. We need to ensure there is a policy framework that is non-discriminatory. We need to ensure that the information technology industry has the wherewithal to develop the kind of content that we need," he added. via : dailyindia

@ All Should we consider the results posted from the respective workplaces in the 'Top Five' list? As these cannot be subscribed by the public at large. Also fields like 'Plan you are on' do not apply here. Opinions please - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And guys when I posted my speednet result of a meager 1.59 Mbps downlink, I knew for certain that it would be brought to the ground in minutes by others. That didn't preclude me 'cos the bigger picture here is to let the forum members evaluate / let know about how the various ISPs fare, which can come in handy. So do take part

Osama is dead, watch this exclusive CNN video which was censored by Obama Administration due to level of violence, a must watch. Tempted to follow the above story? This is a typical lure being used now to spread a VIRUS which the FBI warns, steals personal data.

You may find this interesting, Google have ditched the internal use of Windows in exchange for alternative operating systems including the Mac OS, Linux, and Google's own forthcoming Chrome OS operating system. Getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO approval.

India's 300 mn mobile phone 'ghosts' A few days ago, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the industry watchdog, said the country's mobile phone subscriber base had reached an astounding 812 million, adding 20 million new connections in March. That should have been quite a milestone -- going past the 800-million mark and inching toward 70 percent tele-density. If only it were true! This isn't speculation: The watchdog's figures and the market data speak for themselves, as also revealed by Voice&Data, that dug deeper into the figures, looked at the handset data, spoke to the industry and came up with some startling figures. The real number, the study said, was 500 million - that's the actual number of mobile users in India. Why? The first is the regulator actually means 812 million "subscriptions", as in mobile phone numbers, and not "subscribers", as in distinct people or entities. For example, if you as an individual have two mobile numbers, you'll count as two subscribers. The second is a whopper! It shows up in the watchdog's own footnote to its data in the press statement: " active wireless subscribers on visitor location register as in March 2011 are 574 million." This register is a database of active subscribers, currently being handled by the mobile switching centre which it serves. Each base station is served by only one register, so a mobile number cannot be present in more than one such registry at a time. So the 574 million subscribers in the register for March means the remaining 238 million mobile numbers are inactive. They are mobile numbers, mostly prepaid, that have not been recharged or topped-up, allowing their validity to expire. Else, they are in the "grace period" before disconnection. This grace period can vary a lot, stretching into months or a year, even though the bulk of these users is unlikely to renew and recharge. Therefore, out of the total of 812 million mobile numbers in March, the register shows, only 574 million were active. Now these are also not simply prepaid mobile numbers that have run out of prepaid credit balance. They have also run past their SIM subscription validity period -- Some may also belong to postpaid users who have not paid bills and have been disconnected. It's a fair bet that most of these inactive mobile numbers aren't springing back to life. Blame this on the proliferation of free SIMs: 1+1 offers, bundled SIMs, or the so-called "lifetime free" SIMs -- all this adds up to extra SIMs which many don't use. It also adds up to extra SIMs that people do use: The multi-SIM phenomenon. CyberMedia Research data shows 45 percent of all mobile handsets bought into India during October-December 2010 were dual- or triple-SIM phones. So, even without firmer data on multi-SIM ownership, it's really big in India. Industry estimates it at 15-30 percent. Pick any 100 mobile users, and they will own 115 to 130 active SIMs among them. Other industry folks call this figure conservative, putting multi-SIM ownership at above 40 percent. The Voice&Data study -- http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/top_stories/111050201.asp -- went with the conservative approach, and assumed just 15 percent multiplicity, or 1.15 SIMs per user in India. The math now becomes simple: 812 million mobile numbers of which 574 million are active on the registry. So that leaves 238 million inactive or grace-period mobile numbers. So, dividing 574 million mobile numbers by 1.15, one is left with 500 million real users. Now that's something. We've been over-estimating India's active mobile subscriber base by over 312 million? And computing tele-density at 67 percent, instead of 41 percent. Tele-density is the number of phones per 100 people. So by using the TRAI figure of 574 million active mobile numbers, we get a "corrected tele-density" of 47 phones per 100 people. If you really want to know how many people really own and use a mobile phone subscription, you have to eliminate the duplication, leaving 41 percent tele-density. Yet, that's also the silver lining. Since we've been under-estimating the untapped or addressable market by at least 300 million, it also becomes the additional number of people who could buy handsets and connections beyond what is currently projected. That's something to be excited about. via : Economic Times

@ Dr Sanjay Gupta : You didnt wait for it to finish the upload test we need them to get a full picture of the ISP connection. @ All Top Five updated.

Could have suggested Mts Pulse (rebranded Htc Hero) which comes for free with a one year, Rs. 1500 postpaid plan contract or Rs.18000 on outright payment. But no RUIM slot afaik

Kesav you missed the last para on the original post

Anil Sardana now manages Tata Power.

BlackBerry 7 OS brings NFC support Research In Motion kicked off its annual BlackBerry World conference with the unveiling of the BlackBerry 7 operating system, which will ship on the company's new RIM BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Bold 9930. RIM said that its revamped mobile OS is a "performance driven" platform and promises easier navigation through its Liquid Graphics interface, as well as faster, richer graphics performance and browsing. The latter is enabled by a revamped BlackBerry browser that includes a just-in-time JavaScript compiler and HTML 5 video support. BlackBerry 7 OS brings support for new technologies, including NFC (near field communications) and augmented reality applications. Voice-enabled search and 720p HD video recording also make their debut on the new OS. The new Bolds and the BlackBerry 7 OS will launch this summer, but unfortunately, RIM said current devices won't be upgradeable to the new OS due to hardware restrictions :'( via : cnet

Updated top five! Request active members to improve response

Vodafone Essar says no to one-time fee for additional spectrum The regulator has proposed a hefty Rs. 4,571.87 crore for each Mhz (pan India) of additional 2G spectrum held by operators beyond 6.2 Mhz New Delhi: Disagreeing with telecom regulator Trai on one-time fee for additional spectrum, Vodafone Essar on Monday said there is no such provision in the licence and it cannot be “unilaterally and wrongfully thrust on us.” Under the current licence conditions, there is no limit of 6.2 Mhz. Hence it is erroneous to refer to it as “contracted spectrum”, Vodafone Essar, which is facing a tax liability of over $ 2 billion on purchase of Hutchison stake, said in a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal. Trai has proposed a hefty Rs. 4,571.87 crore for each Mhz (pan India) of additional 2G spectrum held by operators beyond 6.2 Mhz. The report is being examined by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and a final decision is expected soon. The company, however, favoured auction route for all spectrum allocation in the future saying its the most optimal and efficient way of allotting the scarce natural resource. It said the auction will introduce a consistent approach to pricing of spectrum rather than radically different approaches to charging for it, despite the fact that all operators compete in the same market. The company asserted that any administrative approach sought to be adopted by the Government will undoubtedly run into roadblocks. Auction, on the other hand, will unlock the huge revenue opportunities of the spectrum lying unutilised with DoT, it added. Vodafone, however, supported Sibal on delinking spectrum from licence in future, saying that it will help reforms in spectrum auction, merger and acquisition and spectrum trading. “The common man will benefit if the scarce and precious resource of spectrum is used efficiently. This can be achieved through allocation and trading of this resource through a market based process which will not only ensure the highest value for this ‘public property´ but will also avoid valuable spectrum being locked up/under-utilised in low or less efficient use,” Vodafone Essar said in the letter. Sibal has already announced broad contours for framing new telecom policy 2011 in order to put in place transparent environment in the telecom industry and to facilitate a level playing field to all the telecom operators. The company also supported, the levy of uniform licence fee across all services under various Telecom Licences. It, however, disagreed on replacing existing roll-out obligations with the roll-out coverage based on habitation. Besides, it said, “We strongly disagree with and object to the regulator recommendation that failure to fulfil the rollout obligations would entail penalty in the form of additional spectrum usage charges. “This recommendation is illogical and untenable as higher spectrum charges have no nexus with non-fulfilment of rollout obligations,” it added. via : livemint

Average GSM bill fell 27% in Dec quarter : TRAI Indian mobile operators continued to see average bill sizes shrink in the last quarter of 2010, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed in its latest 'performance report.' Year-on-year, GSM saw higher falls than CDMA. According to the report, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) -- a measure of how big a bill an average consumer pays per month -- fell 4.4% in the December quarter for GSM subscribers, while it fell 6.4% for CDMA subscribers. An average GSM subscriber paid Rs 360 per month during the three months ended December 2010, compared to Rs 368 per month during the three months ended September 2010. Compared to the December quarter of 2009, the fall was 27%. For CDMA, the fall was even steeper -- from Rs 73 in September quarter to Rs 68 in December 2010. However, compared to the same period a year ago, the fall was just 17%. About half of the fall was due to decline in call rates while the other half was due to people using their connections less often. Due to a proliferation of new operators pushing cheaper and cheaper schemes, mobile subscribers have got into the habit of buying extra 'SIMs' or connections to take advantage of cheaper call rates promised by new operators. This, while increasing overall connection numbers, has brought down the number of calls made from each connection -- measured in Minutes of Use per connection per month. The average outgoing calls declined by 1.6% from 174 minutes (2 hours 54 minutes) per month in the September quarter for GSM users. For CDMA, it fell marginally by 0.92% from 137 (2 hours 17 minutes) per month in the September quarter. via : RTN

Android market offers more freebies than Apple A new analytical report has revealed that there are now more free apps on the Android Market than on Apple’s App Store. Google Android Market now has 134,342 free applications, compared to Apple’s 121,845 free applications. If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store. The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace being available for even a full year. The report also claims that one year after launching the iPad, Apple will be confronted with its first serious competition as both BlackBerry and Google enter the emerging tablet market. Apple has already seized momentum and grown the App Store for iPad in the first year to 75,755 applications developed by 21,975 publishers. Daily downloads in the Top 100 Overall paid and free applications for iPad combined exceed 500,000, while the daily revenue in the Top 100 paid is approximately $400,000 excluding in-app purchases. However, publishers are still targeting multiple services and many of the top publishers on the iPad already publish cross-platform. 58% of the 50 most popular publishers have already developed applications for non-Apple platforms. via : wirelessfederation

Even before President Barack Obama confirmed the death, @GhostOsama already had 10,000 followers while others started linking the assassination to the recent iPhone tracking scandal and the birther movement. Referring to Obama's recent release of his birth certificate to confirm he was born in the US, twitter user @esoxteric wrote:``@BarackObama: Here's my birth certificate. Here's Osama Bin Laden's head. How do you like me now?'' ``Looks like Osama Bin Laden signed up for Foursquare on the wrong day,'' tweeted @HaHaWhitePPL while @Peytonshead said: ``Osama Bin Laden just HAAAD to have an iPhone. Still don't believe Apple knows your every move?'' -couriermail Expect weeks of forwarded emails from friends and co-workers.

Internet Service Provider Name / Type : BSNL Broadband Plan : BBG FN Combo 600 Location : Trivandrum, Kerala Comments : Plagued by downtime during peak hours. Steady transfer speeds otherwise.

2G scam probe: Corporates in Mauritius working overtime to cover tracks PORT LOUIS: As Mauritius prepares to receive Indian investigators from CBI and ED, the corporate lobbies, especially those associated with the 2G scam, are working overtime to cover their tracks so that Indian sleuths do not have much access to the island's banking details. Also, in the focus will be details of the meeting of senior Loop Telecom officials with Indian High Commissioner to Mauritius Madhusudan Ganapati who later informed the External Affairs Ministry that the two private sector telecom officials were enquiring about the Letters Rogatory sent by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate seeking details about the transactions made by them. A joint Indian team of the CBI and ED would be visiting the African Island next week to follow the money trail in the 2G spectrum scam. With the news about their arrival approaching, sources in the Indian High Commission and officials of the Indian banks operating in this island say that the corporates have been bee-lining to ensure that no information was shared. "Some of them were approaching the Mauritian government through back-channels exerting pressure for not sharing of the information," senior officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said. The CBI is looking for share patterns of nearly a dozen companies after eyebrows were raised that all of them had a common address of a building in this capital city of Mauritius. The Indian team would be meeting various officials of the finance ministry, Registrar of Companies (RoC) and Mauritius offshore banking authority to know the details of the companies who had opened bank accounts and were pumping in money to various telecom companies in India. As many as 10 different entities named in connection with the 2G scam have a common address - The Les Cascades Building on the Edith Cavell Street in Port Louis. Some of these companies were now approaching the Mauritian government's RoC and Mauritian Offshore Banking Authority, also located in the same building, with revised forms. Mauritius-based front companies of foreign investors are often utilised as a route to avoid paying taxes in India. Investors utilise loopholes in the bilateral agreement on double taxation between the two countries to channel funds. Recently during the visit of President Pratibha Patil, officials accompanying her had a discussion with their counterparts during which it was agreed to have a Joint Working Group to discuss the 28-year-old Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) treaty between the two countries. There has been a growing demand from Finance Ministry to re-negotiate the 1983 tax treaty with Mauritius so that India could have access to banking details besides tax related information. The move was also aimed at preventing generation of black money and to stop re-routing of funds through Mauritius. Re-negotiation includes specific provision of sharing of banking information and also an article on assistance in collection of taxes. Mauritius accounts for nearly 44% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country. Security agencies have been raising concerns over use of the Mauritian route to pump in black money into India especially in the telecom and real estate sectors. A study by the OECD, the global agency working on implementation of international standards on taxation and other matters, has named Mauritius among countries where laws do not meet global standards. Via : Economictimes

The 'flow' of200 crore to Kalaignar TV and back To cover up Rs 200 crore ''illegal''gratification made to Kalaignar TV, agreements were executed after lodging of FIR in the 2G scam and money was channelled back to its source on A Raja's resignation as Telecom Minister, the CBI has claimed. The agency has supported this contention on the basis of the statements of an accountant of DB Realty and Director of the Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd to establish that the money travelled between December 23, 2008 and August 7, 2009 from Shahid Balwa's firm to Kalaignar TV in which DMK MP Kanimozhi has stake. The FIR in the scam was lodged on October 21, 2009 by the CBI against unknown persons of the Department of Telecom, and agreements for transfer of funds were entered on January 27, 2010. In its second charge sheet, the CBI has said that Swan Telecom and Dynamix Realty Promoters- Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, channelled Rs 200 crore through circuitous route, to DMK family-run Kalaignar TV and when Raja resigned and was questioned by the agency, the money was channelled back to DB Realty through the same route. CBI has quoted the statements of Satish Agarwal, accountant of DB Realty and Mohomed Morani, director of Cineyug Film Pvt Ltd, who have been named as witnesses to buttress that money was paid as bribe by Swan Telecom to get favour for the grant of 2G licence. Agarwal told CBI that "Dynamix Realty had given unsecured loans of Rs 209 crore to (Asif Balwa's) Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd from December 23, 2008 to August 11, 2009. No agreement was executed for this purpose." "Sum of Rs 206 crore was transferred (further) from account of Kusegaon Fruits to account of (Karim Morani's) Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd during the period from December 23, 2008 to July, 2009," he said. Morani in his statement to the CBI confirmed of receiving this Rs 206 crore and carried the money trail forward stating, "There was no written agreements for this (received Rs 206 crore)." "I further state that Cineyug Films extended a loan of Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd during the period from December 23, 2008 to August 07, 2009," Morani said in his statement. The two witnesses revealed that no agreements were executed for these transactions between Dynamix-Kusegaon and Kusegaon-Cineyug and it was after the CBI registered the FIR in the 2G spectrum scam, on October 21, 2009, that the agreements were executed between them showing the transaction as "unsecured loan". Sources said that the Sebi could propose stringent actions against the erring bankers with regard to over-pricing, unnecessary hype and violations of a standard code of conduct and business ethic. The matter holds significance in the backdrop of Sebi warning the merchant bankers against creating a big hype in the case of the last year's mega IPO of Coal India, which raised an estimated over Rs 15,000 crore through the country's biggest ever IPO that was heavily over-subscribed. Although, the Coal India IPO was widely considered as a well-priced public offer, a number of other IPOs in past couple of years, especially by the private companies, have been criticised severely for being over-priced. Besides the pricing of the offers, Sebi could also propose ways to discourage the bankers from quoting near-zero fees to get the mandate for managing the public offers, sources said. Whenever Sebi comes across any offence on part of merchant bankers, it has been so far dealing with them on case-to-case basis and explanations have been sought. However, there are no formulated guidelines on this matter and Sebi has decided to frame such regulations after coming across repeated violations on this front, the sources said. Cineyug Films and Kalaignar TV, however, had a "share subscription and shareholders" agreement dated December 19, 2008. Raja resigned on November 14, 2010, and was questioned by the CBI in December 2010 and the amount of Rs 200 crore was routed back from DMK's Kalaignar TV to Blawa's D B Realty between December 24, 2010 and February 28, 2011. Morani told CBI that Kalaignar TV "refunded" with interest Rs 200 crore to Cineyug Films during December 24, 2010 and February 03, 2011, and during the same period Cineyug Films paid back with interest the same amount to Kusegaon Fruits. Agarwal further told the CBI that Kusegaon also "repaid the loan" back to Dynamix Realty, during December 23, 2010 and February 28, 2011. While the transactions between the DB Realty to Kusegaon Fruits and then to Cineyug Films was shown as "unsecured loan", the transaction between Cineyug Films and Kalaignar TV was shown as "share subscription" agreement, the two witnesses said. Via : deccanherald

Cant help being curious, who voted for crowning - more than 10Gb?

The paltry phone memory can be extended by micro sd card. I find no mention about bluetooth in this phone?

TRAI should have arrived at the stats for the unsuccessful or rejected porting request also.