Karthik R

Any opinion about this site - spicybids. The offers look out of this world

R.K. Upadhyay appointed BSNL CMD NEW DELHI, APRIL 30: The Government today finally appointed Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay as the Chairman and Managing Director of telecom giant BSNL. “He (Upadhyay) will join office (of BSNL chief) today,” the DoT Secretary, Mr R. Chandrashekhar, told PTI. However, no decision regarding the appointment of MTNL chief, another public sector telecom major, has been taken. A search-cum-selection panel had earlier selected Mr Upadhyay, CMD of Telecom Consultants India Ltd, for the BSNL chief’s post. The panel was headed by Mr Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, and included the Cabinet Secretary, Mr K.M. Chandresekhar, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr T.K.A. Nair, and the Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman, Mr Nandan Nilekani, as members for selecting the top officials of the two telecom PSUs. Mr Upadhyay is a 1975 batch officer of Indian Telecom Services. He holds a B.Tech (Electronics) Degree from I T Banaras Hindu University and MBA (Marketing Management) Degree from the Indira Gandhi Open University. Via : Business Line

Plan panel to suggest pricing formula for spectrum allocation NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission will suggest a pricing formula and method of reallocation of spectrum once the tenure of existing licences runs out. The Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, has forwarded the suggestions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on spectrum management and licensing framework to the commission for feedback. "The government has asked us to give our recommendations on the issue and we are working on it. We are looking into the report and we will submit our observations on it," said Ashwini Kumar, minister of state for planning and parliamentary affairs. The minister is also in charge of the committee within the commission to study the report. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had recently announced that telecom licences will be renewed for 10-year-period compared with 20 years currently, and said companies must submit applications for new permits at least 30 months prior to the expiry of their licences. About 11 mobile phone companies will have to renew their permits between 2014 and 2021. The commission will also take stock of the recommendations of the report which include issues like linking prices of 2G spectrum with those of third generation (3G) spectrum and taking back spectrum held by operators and relocating it more efficiently. "We have also been asked to suggest a pricing formula and way to go about reallocation which does not form the recommendations of the current report. We have been asked to look at the report in its entirety," said another Plan Panel official privy with the developments. The study was done while A Raja was the telecom minister and had suggested putting a limit on the amount of radio waves a telco can hold and asked companies to pay a one-time fee for holding excess spectrum. But sector regulator Trai has come out with a fresh set of recommendations recently on spectrum pricing, while adding that it would soon suggest a method of pricing of airwaves when mobile permits are renewed. The regulator asked the government to impose a one-time pan-India fee of Rs. 4,572 crore for every unit of airwaves telcos hold beyond the contracted limit. Calculations by ET had revealed that the industry would have to shell out Rs. 17,513 crore if the government accepts the regulator's recommendations, with state-owned BSNL and MTNL bearing the brunt, as they will have to cough up about 50% of this amount. New operators, including dual technology companies who were given mobile permits in 2008, have been given only 4.4 MHz of startup spectrum. While Trai has not recommend pricing for additional airwaves be applied for spectrum beyond the 4.4 MHz mark for these companies, it, however, said that every unit of airwaves between 4.4 MHz and 6.2 MHz could be valued at Rs. 1,770 crore (pan-India). Sibal had recently said the ministry will charge mobile operators for additional spectrum at market-determined prices beyond the 4.4 MHz mark, indicating that companies such as RCOM and Tata Teleservices will also have to pay up.The Planning Commission is expected to come up with a methodology of pricing and re-allocation that will be considered by an internal committee within DoT. Last month, the telecom department had indicated to all mobile phone companies that they will have to pay market rates for getting 6.2 MHz or units of airwaves in every region when they renew their licences. Via : Economic Times

He must have meant 'officially' reaching Indian shores!

Request Mods/Admin to change the thread title to "Google Apps : Tools and Tricks"

Google Apps : Calendar Tools and Tricks Many of us would be lost without our calendars--they're where we schedule meetings, pencil in appointments and set project deadlines. And without the proper tools, managing a calendar can become a headache. While Google's Calendar app has a number of known features that ease the pain of planning--integration with other calendars, mobile accessibility and schedule sharing, for example--there are a handful of other useful tools and tricks you may not know about. Read on to find out how these features can help you cut down on planning time and increase your productivity. Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts can be a great time-saver if you know the right moves. Much like Gmail's keyboard shortcuts posted above, Google Calendar has its own set designed to help you fly through scheduling appointments, viewing your meetings and managing your events. To view the full list of keyboard shortcuts, open your Google Calendar and hit Ctrl + ?. Below are six shortcuts you're likely to use the most. Create an event: Hit "c" Move to view today's schedule: Hit "t" Display your calendar in the "Day" view: Hit "1" or "d" Display your calendar in the "Week" view: Hit "2" or "w" Display your calendar in the "Month" view: Hit "3" or "m" View calendar settings: Hit "s" Auto-Decline Appointments If you will be away on vacation or know you have a prior commitment, a handy tool in Google Calendar labs is "Automatically declining events." To turn on this feature, click the gear icon at the top right of your screen and select "Labs." Click "Enable" next to it, then "Save" at the bottom of the page. This feature lets you block times in your calendar when you know you'll be unavailable. When someone sends you an invite for an event during this time period, Google Calendar will automatically decline it. Easily Reschedule Events Scheduling a meeting or event at a time that works for everyone can be a nuisance. One handy feature in Google Calendar labs that aims to make this process easier is the "Smart Rescheduler," a tool that helps you reschedule an event by analyzing everyone's schedule, evaluating conflicts, obtaining conference rooms and proposing the best meeting times. To use this feature, click the gear icon at the top right of your screen and select "Labs." Click "Enable" next to it, then "Save" at the bottom of the page. Once "Smart Rescheduler" is activated, select an event that you want to reschedule, then click "Find a new time..." You'll then see a ranked list of possible times for your meeting and a replacement conference room nearby. You can refine the results by marking people as optional attendees, changing the meeting duration, ignoring certain conflicts or specifying the earliest and latest times you want. The results will update to reflect your new requirements. Add Attachments to Events Need to share a document with meeting attendees? Visit the Labs section of your Google calendar by choosing "Labs" from the gear icon at the top right of the page. Scroll to "Event attachments" and click "Enable," then "Save." The "Event attachments" lab is an experimental feature that lets you attach a Google doc, spreadsheet or presentation to your event, or upload a file from your computer. Do note that if you're sharing a Google doc, you must grant them access to view it beforehand. Once you enable the "Event attachments" lab, an "Add attachment" link will appear under the description of the event. Click this to browse your Google Docs or upload a file from your computer. Add Events to Google Calendar Via SMS If you're at the airport and forgot to schedule a meeting in your Google Calendar or you don't have good Internet service, don't worry: You can easily add events via your mobile phone in a few quick steps. First, from your computer, sign in to your Google Calendar account, click the gear icon at the top right of your screen and choose "Calendar Settings." Then click the "Mobile Setup" tab and enter your country, phone number and carrier. Gmail will send a verification code to your mobile phone; enter the code and click "Finish setup." Once the setup is complete, you can send events to your calendar via your mobile phone by texting the details of your event (such as, "Dentist appointment 1:00pm April 20) to GVENT (48368). You'll receive a confirmation text message shortly after, and the event will appear in your calendar. Courtesy : CIO, PCWorld

Idea Cellular , India's sixth-biggest mobile phone operator, said on Thursday it had added a million users for its third-generation (3G) services within a month of its launch. Idea Cellular launched its 3G Services on 28th March, 2011 in 3 circles – Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and since then it has been progressively launching 3G services in 6 other circles of UP East, UP West, Maharashtra & Goa, Kerala, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh. As of now Idea has launched 3G in 400 towns in 9 circles extending from Major Urban Markets, Tier 1&2 cities and finally reaching out to the deep remote areas. Idea Cellular also claims that it is committed to launch 10 new towns per day for the next 365 days to extend the experience to 50% of the existing subscriber base with the latest 3G Services which will progressively grow to cover 750 towns by mid 2011, and 4,000 towns by the end of FY12. "Data usage by Idea's 3G users is already at 20 percent of the total mobile data usage recorded by the company, and this is expected to grow exponentially," Chief Marketing Officer Sashi Shankar said in a statement. Via : Reuters, Telecomtalk

TRAI's latest proposals may lower call charges NEW DELHI : Telecom regulator TRAI has fired the starting gun on radical changes in the mobile sector by proposing deep cuts in charges paid by operators to each other, a move that could lower tariffs for consumers but worsen the rancour in a deeply divided industry. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday set the ball rolling on its review of so-called "interconnect charges", seeking views from mobile operators on a range of proposals that even include the possibility of doing away with call termination charges. Interconnect charges are fees mobile operators pay one another for using their networks for originating, carrying and terminating calls. These charges, which include top rates of 20 paise a minute in termination fees and 65 paise a minute for carrying STD calls, account for as much as 75% of the total cost of a mobile call. Kicking off its first review of these charges since 2009, TRAI said the launch of the services by new operators and the introduction of per second billing had made it "necessary to have a re-look" at these charges. It said its discussions with mobile companies revealed that some of them wanted do away with termination charges altogether and sought wider inputs on the feasibility of a "zero termination charge". TRAI acknowledged the complaints of smaller and new operators that incumbents gained most from termination charges and sought the industry's response of having a lower slab of charges for new entrants. It said that globally, many regulators had allowed new entrants to enjoy lower termination charges to help remove barriers to competition as these players had little to offer in negotiations with incumbents. Experts said the TRAI move was likely to divide the industry once again, with bigger, older operators with a large customer base likely to oppose the proposals, while newer entrants and those with fewer customers welcoming the changes. The incumbents and newer operators are already at daggers drawn over a raft of issues and the TRAI's latest move comes at a time the sector is in the cross-hairs of a sweeping investigation over the 2G scam. The country's No. 1 mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, recently told TRAI that the costs of building and operating networks should be taken into account when determining termination charges and cautioned against extending "undue privileges or subsidisation" to new operators. Another incumbent operator, Vodafone Essar, said in its submission to the regulator that interconnect charges needed to be cost- based and investment-friendly. "Adopting any methodology which does not take into account all costs, will only encourage a destructive retail price war and urban cream-skimming, which would be clearly inconsistent with the principle of sustainability." But the Association of Unified Service Providers of India, an industry body representing firms such as Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications , urged TRAI to cut all components of interconnect charges right away. It said internationally too, these charges are reviewed every two years and had fallen by 50% during this period. Via : Economic times

Source : BGR.in

Nokia to cut 7,000 jobs, outsources Symbian activities to Accenture Nokia Corp. the world's biggest mobile phone maker, on Wednesday said it plans to outsource its 3,000 Symbian software developers to Accenture PLC and to cut its global workforce by 4,000 by the end of 2012 as a part of plans to cut costs by EUR1 billion. Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop said Nokia's new focus following its partnership with Microsoft Corp. also means it faces reductions in its workforce. "This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term re-employment programs for the talented people of Nokia," he said. The employees being reallocated are located in China, Finland, India, the U.K. and U.S., and will initially work on Symbian software for Nokia. Over time, Accenture and Nokia will seek opportunities to retrain and redeploy transitioned employees. - foxbusiness

@Ankur I am facing issues like failed SMSs/getting repeatedly delivered to recipient. Does this have a familiar ring?

Yes. Got to upgrade to diamond logo'ed OMH card to use Rworld or Tata Zone.

"Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. "Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so." In response to worries about location tracking, Apple said it would release a new software update that would cut the size of a wireless hotspot location database stored on its popular iPhones, and stop backing up that information. The software will be released in the next few weeks, it said. While the iPhone is not logging locations, it does keep "a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current locations... to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested," the company said.

Vodafone finds India tough going New Delhi : When British mobile phone giant Vodafone paid $11.1 billion to buy an Indian cellular operator four years ago, it had high hopes the purchase would offset saturated markets at home. "This kind of deal is what we all dreamed about when we were students," former chief executive Arun Sarin exulted after the company bought a 67 per cent controlling stake in the Indian firm then known as Hutchison Essar. But even though Vodafone has won tens of millions of new subscribers in the hyper-competitive Indian market, it has faced innumerable problems. "Has India been a good case in terms of return on investment?" Vodafone global chief executive Vittorio Colao said on a visit this month to the country. "Unfortunately, the answer is no." The Indian market soured for Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile firm by revenues, soon after its entry. "For sure, the market has become tougher. Within a year of our acquisition, the rules were changed and six new (national) licences were issued. New players came into the market with very aggressive pricing," Colao said. Vodafone had to write off $3.7 billion last year on its Indian investment after cut-throat competition among the more than dozen operators slashed calling tariffs to below one cent a minute. Vodafone also spent $2.4 billion on buying third-generation (3G) licences to upgrade its services as the cost of spectrum skyrocketed. And last month it said it would pay $5 billion to buy out its Indian partner, the Essar Group , seeking to end a fraught relationship. On top of these expenditures, Vodafone is fighting a $2.5 billion tax bill after India's tax department said it should have withheld tax when paying for Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa's stake in the Indian telecom company. The tax battle is being closely monitored by other foreign firms, which see it as setting a precedent for cross-border acquisitions in India. India's Supreme Court is due to pronounce its verdict in the case in July. Vodafone argues it did not need to withhold tax because the transaction took place in the Cayman Islands. "Also, explain please to me why the buyer should be taxed? We have not sold an asset, we have bought an asset. We have not made a capital gain," a clearly irritated Colao said. The acquisition was part of Vodafone's push to lessen its dependence on Western markets, where mobile phone penetration is way over 100 per cent. Mobile penetration in India, the world's fastest-growing cellular market and second largest after China, is about 60 per 100 people. Report appeared on ET today.

Tata Tele makes Rs.80 cr net profit in 2010-11 Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (TTML) has reported stellar performance in the financial year 2010-11. It has posted consolidated net profit of Rs. 80 crore in FY11 as against net loss of Rs 318 crore in FY10. TTML net profit was aided by exceptional item the company says, profit number included profit on sale of stake in tower arm at Rs. 835 crore. However, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss jumped to Rs 490 crore from loss of Rs 160 crore in FY10. Consolidated net sales increased by 8% to Rs. 2,265 crore from Rs. 2,098.2 crore. - Money Control

DoT to seek Fin min nod to reimburse BSNL for loss-making rural operations Kolkata: The telecom department will shortly seek finance ministry approval to reimburse state-owned BSNL for all its loss-making ventures linked to its social obligation . Reimbursement is being sought to compensate BSNL for its loss-making rural landline operations coupled with additional costs of upgrading all MARR-based village public telephones (VPTs) across its 20-circle footprint, post April 2002. This will be the first decisive move by Kapil Sibal's telecom ministry to prop up the economic fortunes of the cash-strapped telco, which is tipped to post a near- 2,750-crore net loss in 2010-11. "The government is exploring ways to improve BSNL's financial position. The Telecom Commission is in talks with the finmin to finalise the total quantum of annual reimbursement for all its loss-making but socially desirable activities. Such reimbursement is proposed to be funded out of the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF)," said a senior official in the telecom department. Matters have come to a head since BSNL will soon stop receiving the 2,000-crore annual subsidy from the USOF that it uses to sustain its rural landline operations. The telecom department had provisioned this annual subsidy for three years from the USOF, starting calendar 2008, to maintain BSNL's telecoms infrastructure in rural and remote areas across the country. The subsidy had been introduced to compensate the state-owned telco after access deficit charges were withdrawn back in 2008. The subsidy will stop from July 2011. USOF circles said they were waiting for specific feedback on the precise quantum of annual reimbursement for BSNL's loss-making operations. "We are aware of the reimbursement proposal. But neither the telecom department nor the finance ministry has apprised us about BSNL's specific loss-making activities that will be eligible for reimbursement from the USOF nor the quantum," said an official familiar with the matter. Via : Economic times

Tata Indicom Depth & Quality of Nationwide Voice Network Coverage - 4/5 Voice, SMS, RoamingTariffs - cheapest in the industry 5/5 Choice of Handsets - much better now! 3.5/5 Quality of Customer Service - 3.5/5 Depth & Quality of HSIA (High Speed Internet - EVDO) Network & 1x - top-notch 5/5 Data Tariffs - TI's USP, default charges 50p/Mb. A big 5/5 Whether allows Imported Handsets & EVDO Data on it? - No comment on speculation

Even I gave up AirHell (terminology courtesy : Raccoon )

Yep. OMH and USIM are completely different standards. USIM stands for Universal Subscriber identity module. USIM is a advanced 'smart' card that authenticates the subscriber to the network while ensuring the integrity and security of the user generated data. It allows encrypted calls and data exchange and prevents fradulent access/evesdropping. Hence recommended for 3G/4G network the present SIM cards that we are using will be ultimately replaced by them.

Huawei C7300, which was introduced here last year, is compliant with OMH standards. It was bundled with tata photon plus, so I guess it is not considered.

Can confirm that 50p/min is the roaming charge on TI - on per minute scheme. For per second billing they match the GSM counterpart's offering of 1p/1sec. The website may not be updated? Btw the FUP on unlimited calling packs is a matter of concern. KanagaDeepan can throw some light into it

@ Hetal bhai. Lol good one at first on reading the post I thought it was a 'genius' creation

OMH is the answer but it wont be a complete success until and unless the biggies in western market - Verizon and Sprint adopt it.

Shouldnt data work out to be cheaper in tata photon plus??

@Kesav, it is anil.ambani@relianceada.com