KumaarShah

Courtesy ET MUMBAI: Year 2009 may ring in cheaper call rates for telecom subscribers, alright, but established telecom operators are bracing for a tough year when their margins will be under pressure. On Tuesday, while announcing Reliance Communications’ pan-India GSM-based mobile phone service rollout in Mumbai, company chairman Anil Ambani summed up the general mood when he said, “We expect competitive landscape to be more intense in this space in 2009. We are launching GSM and other new operators are also coming in. Margins will be under tremendous pressure going forward.” According to industry analysts, increased capex on account of 3G service rollout, increased competition in the shape of new entrants and a slowdown in subscriber additions will together push down telcos’ margins by up to 4% this year. Currently, operating margins of telcos range between 33% and 41%. There has already been some decline in this in the past two quarters. They point out that all-India 3G spectrum and subsequent rollout of services would require an investment of more than $1 billion. But 3G services are expected to increase the overall revenues of players like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications by just around 2%. Their operating profit will be under stress since the numbers for depreciation and amortisation will be higher, analysts said. Also, growth in new subscribers is expected to slow this year. “Absolute subscriber addition will be flat going forward,” said Harit Shah, analyst (telecom & IT), Angel Broking. That trend is expected to continue in 2009. While the number of new subscribers will become stagnant, the number of players wooing them will increase with new entrants like Unitech and Swan set to launch services in 2009. How the industry contends with all these issues will be interesting to watch

Courtesy: ET NEW DELHI: BSNL has asked the government to allow Indian telcos to charge foreign operators up to ten times the current rates for terminating international incoming calls. Saying that this would not impact domestic consumers, BSNL has justified its demand by highlighting that foreign operators, on an average, charge Indian telcos about Rs 3 per minute to terminate outgoing ISD calls in their countries. But existing regulations do not allow Indian telcos to charge foreign operators more than 30 paise per minute for bringing their calls here. BSNL has also pointed out that the current regulations ‘deprived the country of valuable foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore per annum’. For example, if an AT&T user in the US or a Telecom Italia customer in Europe were to make a call to a Bharti customer here, Airtel cannot charge AT&T or Telecom Italia more than 30 paise per minute for terminating their call in India. On the other hand, foreign operators charge Indian telcos an average of about Rs 3/minute to terminate ISD calls on their networks. “The present regulatory regime in India has resulted in drastic reduction in revenue from incoming international calls whereas there is a significant increase in the outflow of revenue to other countries, as foreign telecom operators have not reduced their termination charges because of the favourable and protective regulatory regime in those countries. This has not only adversely affected the financial viability of telecom service providers in India but has also deprived the country of the valuable foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore per annum,” BSNL has said in its communication to Trai. BSNL has also demanded that termination charges be reviewed immediately to compensate all operators for the actual costs being incurred by them and also to have parity with their foreign counterparts. It’s important that the ‘interests of the country at large and that of the Indian telecom sector in particular be protected’. It is not known if Trai, which is examining the issue, will agree with BSNL’s proposal. Further, BSNL has also added that the increased revenue from international incoming calls on account of hiking the termination charge for foreign operators could be used to subsidise local and STD calls within the country. Until August 2008, BSNL used to receive 50 paise per minute as Access Deficit Charge (ADC) on all international incoming calls to India. BSNL used the ADC proceeds to fund its unviable rural fixedline services which are offered at heavily subsidised rates. But Trai had done away with the ADC levy from September 2008 and said that the government must compensate BSNL for its rural landline operations from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). All telcos pay 5% of their total revenue to the USOF and so far, the unutilised amount in this fund has crossed Rs 20,000 crore. BSNL has further added that since Trai had done away with the ADC levy, it should permit Indian operators to demand higher termination charges from foreign telcos.

^^^ Thank God for small mercies!!!! I thought my eyes were playing games. If Sadikk and Greatest were able to see some images, why was I not able to? I was thinking of going to the eye specialist. I thought I was too active here and my eyes were getting some problems..... P.S. No sooner I posted this here and the page was updated, lo and behold - I see the images of the watch phones!!! Seems like Tech2 people also are on our forum here and having a hawks eye on each and every post. Hey, I didn't mean Honest at all....

I am unable to view any images on many such posts. Is it a problem with my FF's display settings or with some settings on RW? On other sites such as ToI or ET or ebay etc, I can see the images.

Thats because thy are going to use the same CDMA towers for GSM also. Hence the towers will then have double duty and hence they will revolt!!!! ha ha ha

^^^ Seems like it will be another long, long wait as is typical with RCOM..... BTW, @mitj@in, which year, please????? arch 2009/2010/2011xxxx? The only reasoning I can think of now is that ADA has in filmy style announced the launch - in filmy parlance it means the film has been announced and will take anything from a week, fortnight, month, quarter, half or even full year or years (if we want extreme perfection a la aamir khan) So the launch only means that the GSM service has been announced. Now they will erect/manipulate the existing CDMA towers, then decide on tariffs (if IUC gets reduced or shelved- the more merrier it will be), then the back-end will be trained, then the front end will get trained, by this time the towers will revolt (because they will not want to beam both CDMA and GSM signals) and so we may be forced to see yet another re-launch-- this time again from scratch..... By this time also hopefully, the MNP will kick in and the 3G will have been dropped because the world would have moved to 6G by now (should it be then?) In any case, with the finmin wanting to double or triple or quadruple the fees for 3G, there will be no cellco remaining to bid for 3G at all. And finally, you will see our RCOM only will get the 3G licence for all India for a song because all players would have gone bankrupt or tired of the flip-flops of the GoI. Only a film hero can have eternal stamina and energy - how else does dharmendra, rajnikant, dev anand etc still remain as heroes today??? Likewise our ADA also has developed eternal stamina and energy by running atleast 100 kms every week!!!!! Yesterday, I had called up 1800 100 3333 and was informed that RCOM has launched GSM in 11000 towns and they do not know if Chennai/Mumbai/Ahmedabad/Bangalore/Hyderabad/Delhi/Kolkata etc come in that 11000 towns!!!!! They want us to believe that we are also equally dumb because we do not know whether the above cities come under that 11000 towns or not. Maybe these cities come under the 240000 villages which will get RCOM GSM services in the next round only... I have given up all hopes of getting any RCOM GSM connection in 2009. It will make more sense to get connected to maybe Airtel or Voda or BSNL.....

^^^ They only want to create mass hysteria about the product and then depending on the response, they will start their offers. Read Shukla's interview above and you will understand their psychology.... It will take them atleast 15 days to 1 month or even more for a complete roll-out. ADA has just brain-washed everyone into thinking that it will be a all India rollout - it will be but it won't be simultaneous. This is my understanding after reading Shukla's interview above..... @honest, where did you get the info that RCOM GSM SIMs are available in web worlds? If yes, what are the tariffs? @ @mitj@in and pkdaga, why are you people silent here? Why not comment on these matters also? Or has RCOM told you to remain silent?

So Airtel has now started copying RCOM.......

From rcom.co.in website: - December 30, 2008 Reliance Communications announces world’s largest customer experience programme and launches GSM service in over 11,000 towns all over India Roll-out marks the completion of Rs 10,000 crores committed investment Reliance announces world’s largest customer experience programme GSM service to be available nationwide in over 11,000 towns through 2,000 exclusive retail stores and over 1 million retailers Fastest network launch covering 1 billion people within 11 months Project 6 months ahead of schedule. Reliance completing in 15 months what other operators have taken 15 years to complete State of the art next generation GSM network with digital voice clarity and India’s first nationwide enhanced EDGE for fast internet access Reliance’s No. 1 CDMA network is now supported by India’s strongest GSM network. With this, Indians will have the unique proposition of being able to choose between two nationwide world class networks Mumbai, December 30, 2008: Reliance Communications will, over the next few days, launch a nationwide enhanced GSM service covering over 1 billion people. A launch covering 1 billion people in 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages is by far the widest one-time launch. In India, this coverage is being rolled out by the industry over 15 years since launch. In comparison, Reliance's network has covered a billion people within 11 months, having received start-up GSM spectrum only in January 2008. Despite the scale, the project is running 6 months ahead of schedule. Compared to aging mobile networks prevalent today, Reliance's new 21st Century Network brings a number of innovations that our customers will experience over the next few days: * Next-gen electronics for super digital voice clarity * Seamless coverage on major railway routes, national and state highways through dedicated mobile towers * Access to a Reliance owned fibre network for unlimited capacity - both in India and overseas, resulting in unmatched quality on local, STD or ISD calls * Nationwide enhanced EDGE for fastest internet access speeds * Stutter-free video capability including 16 TV channels, sports updates as well as access to popular video sharing websites like Youtube * Widest R-World mobile content offering entertainment, music, news, cricket, bollywood, maps and search * One-click set-up and access to email and social networking offering communication convenience of a PC With the launch of its enhanced GSM service, Reliance's customers will be able to use the widest range of over 250 handsets and devices compared to any other operator in India. Reliance's customers can now roam on more networks globally in more than 200 countries - offering the widest choice available to customers in India. "In 2003, Reliance changed the face of the telecom sector in India", said Mr. Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Communications. "Through our nationwide GSM launch coupled with Reliance's continued focus on our No. 1 CDMA network, we will once again endeavor to re-write the rules of the industry by offering our customers an unbeatable proposition across coverage, quality, service breadth, handset range and above all, value". About Reliance Communications Reliance Communications Limited founded by the late Shri. Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002) is the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group currently has a net worth in excess of Rs. 63,000 crore (US$ 14 billion), cash flows of Rs. 12,000 crore (US$ 3 billion), net profit of Rs. 8,000 crore (US$ 2 billion) and zero net debt. Rated among "Asia's Top 5 Most Valuable Telecom Companies", Reliance Communications is India's foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The company, with a customer base of over 60 million including over 1.7 million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the Top 10 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers. Reliance Communications has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-of-class services spanning the entire communications value chain, covering over 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next generation IP enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 175,000 kilometers of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. In Chennai, CC on *222/*333/ 1800 100 3333 says no idea about launch date. "We can expect services shortly" is the response, they just want to create a huge hype and then cash out.....

Wishing all RIMweb members a very very Merry Christmas!!!!!

^^^ Thanks doc for your instant reply....

^^^ Is it worth 22k? what are the pros and cons of this handset? Is it like the Iphone or something similar or better than Iphone? I know its too early but then there are a lot of techies out here who have more info.... I understand they are offering some headset (not too sure if it is a bluetooth one) free for those who pre-book it with Rs 2000. I went to the Nokia store but could see only a dummy model and not a live model.

^^^ I don't think MNP within the same operator also will be allowed as it will directly benefit only RCOM and TATA. All other cellcos will object and file suits to delay the implementation of this. Thats why RCOM has come out with a new series of numbers starting with 90 and are informing existing CDMA customers also that they will get the last 5 to 6 digits as same.

^^^ Lets wait and watch what RCOM and TATA does for EVDO!!!!!

^^^ Yes it will be a low key affair with average offers only. But not too sure about 28Dec dates though. Last time I called up 1800 100 3333 a couple of days back, they said they want to surprise people with the launch date!!! Wonder what that means - will it be Dec28 this year or the next year or the year after????? Maybe this is the kind of surprise they would have thought of. Lets wait and watch as ever.....

So does this confirm that evdo will not see the light of the day? Sad state of affairs for cdma, although they are trying for a tie up with the korean giant in cdma itself.

Happy birthday to all of us at the best forum on mobiles- RIMweb.in. Hearty congrats to all who have made this possible, esp. Our great kamal who has completed 5000 posts to coincide with our anniversary. Cheers to one and all:-):-):-) .

Congrats to you kamal on reaching the 5k milestone. It is really an achievement. Keep it up. Hopefully by the next RW anniversary or even earlier, you will complete mount 10k. All the best.:-D:-D:-D

Today my BSNL BB is not upto the mark, the speeds are very slow only sub 20kbps d/l speeds and while browsing, the pages return an server error. I have to refresh the page number of times. My question is, why did it take so long for BSNL to show the effect of the defective cables or is there some other problem?

Absolutely no change with BSNL BB as yet.....

Any specific reasons? and does max have wap/java? Hows the max handset?

@vikasmahajan and savramesh, Until we get the 1st bill, we cannot go on arguing endlessly here about the charges payable by L1, L4 and DAPO customers. After this, we can decide our next course of action. Over the last six years, my personal experience is that the billing is different than the assurances of CC verbally or even CMO in writing. So what I request all of us here is to wait for their respective 1st bills after this plan has come into force and then decide what is to be done. Be patient. For eg. In chennai/tn, they say it is a paired circle and the local LL calls toa TN number from Chennai will be charged at STD rates, whereas in my bills, it is being charged at local call rates of Re 0.50. This is in sharp contrast to whatever the CC says or the CMO writes. So the moral is to wait for the bill to arrive to know what exactly our charges will actually be. Cheers...............

Have you ever used any other SIM from the other OMAN operator. Borrow a SIm from someone and insert it int your modem. Try it, if it works, buy another SIM. Else, junk your data modem or sell it for whatever price you get.... This is not GSM tech, so you will have these problems always....

@Honest, The comparison is between 2 CDMA models and not GSM-CDMA. So it is definitely priced higher than LG6600, but then you do not have WAP, JAVA on 6600 which this handset has. If it is of any meaning to anyone, then maybe this is a good handset.

The following is the email reply I got from CMO. In both plans upto 20MB/100MB, it is free - no NUC, no 5ps/10kb. After that limit is crossed, both are applied. However if you use OM, I feel that only 5ps/10kb will apply, the NUC being charged when you access RWorld will kick in. However, friends, nothing is certain unless and until you receive your 1st bill with the detailed charges. After that we can take up the matter once again with CMO. For DAPO and L4, no NUC will be charged at all. What this means is that RWorld will be free in the default plan, and if you want IA, you need Plan 99 and if you want to download anything further, then you need Plan 199. Once again till your free MB limits, it is free. After that as explained above. Now is not the above RCOM plans reasonable? From Savramesh's post, Vodafone charges 199 plus 5ps/10kb - no free limits at all. Compare once again with others and see the difference. Compare finally the speeds and the uninterrupted network anywhere with GSM's call drops even near the doors/windows and then decide. Dear Mr. Shah, This is with reference to your email regarding the services for your Reliance Mobile number 938xx xxxxx. As per our telephonic conversation, we regret the unpleasant experience you had with our customer care executive and would further like to inform that the feedback has been forwarded to concerned department for corrective actions. Further, we understand that your query pertaining to Mobile Internet plan has been addressed. Please find the details of the said plan attached with the mail for your reference. We hope your query has been answered. Thank you for being associated with us. Warm Regards, Corporate Center Reliance Communications Ltd. 2 attachments - 1st being what we all see on the website and th 2nd one as follows: - Frequently Asked Questions (Index) What is a Mobile Internet (3rd party or mobile internet site)? How do I see my Usage and Data plan charges for Mobile Internet? Can I access mobile internet without subscribing to any monthly data plan? What is mobile internet plan 99? What is mobile internet plan 199? Can I change to a higher/lower data plan midway through my subscription? Can a pre-paid customer access mobile internet sites on handset? How do I use mobile internet service? For which handsets are Mobile Internet Data Plans applicable? What are the benefits of subscribing to Mobile Internet Data Plans? How do I indentify Mobile Internet (3rd party or mobile internet sites)? Would every mobile internet (3rd party or mobile internet sites) open on my handset? What are suggested links under Mobile Internet on Reliance Mobile World? What is a Mobile Internet (3rd party or mobile internet site)? (Back) Mobile Internet is internet on your mobile. The user can go to any internet site of his/her choice and the service is similar to accessing internet on any computer at home or cybercafé. Reliance Communications is merely providing connectivity between customers and internet sites and is not responsible for the content on any mobile internet site. Mobile Internet service provided by Reliance communication is like any Internet Service Provider. How do I see my Usage and Data plan charges for Mobile Internet? (Back) Inform the customer Usage and plan charges details can be checked through the Mobile Internet link on R World. This service is available only for a valid subscriber of mobile internet plan. Can I access mobile internet without subscribing to any monthly data plan? (Back) Inform the customer that Subscription to any one data plan is mandatory for accessing mobile internet. By default all wap enabled users would come under default plan wherein accessing external sites is blocked. Kindly subscribe to any one of our Mobile Internet Data plans to enjoy browsing. What is mobile internet plan 99? (Back) Mobile internet plan 99 is a data bundle where customers can access mobile internet from their handsets. Customers have to pay a monthly charge of Rs.99/- and receive 20MB of mobile internet usage. In this plan, surfing/streaming of data is permitted, however download is not possible. Post quota (20MB) 5p would be charged per 10kb for accessing mobile internet and Network usage charges of 5p/10kb would also be applicable. For L4 & DAPO customers Network Usage Charges is waived off but Mobile Internet Plan amount would be charged. This plan is available to all Reliance Mobile wap enabled handset users. What is mobile internet plan 199? (Back) Mobile internet plan 199 is a data bundle where customers can access mobile internet from their handsets. Customers have to pay a monthly charge of Rs.199/- and receive 100MB of mobile internet usage. In this plan, surfing/streaming and download of data is possible. Post quota (100MB) 5p would be charged per 10kb for accessing mobile internet and Network usage charges of 5p/10kb would also be applicable. For L4 & DAPO customers Network Usage Charges is waived off but Mobile Internet Plan amount would be charged. This plan is available to all Reliance Mobile wap enabled handset users. Can I change to a higher/lower data plan midway through my subscription? (Back) Inform the customer he can change data plan. However, charges for the new data plan would be applicable at that time and there would be no carry forward of previous data plan balance. At a time, only a single data plan would be active for the subscriber. Can a pre-paid customer access mobile internet sites on handset? (Back) Inform the customer Prepaid customer can access Mobile Internet sites on the handset, for this he need to subscribe to any of the monthly internet data plans. Prepaid customer having sufficient balance in his/her account can access mobile internet sites. Likewise, postpaid customer can also access internet sites as long as his connection is active and not discontinued. How do I use mobile internet service? (Back) Inform the customer once he has subscribed, he need to just open the wap browser and start surfing. Customer can also visit suggested links under R World For which handsets are Mobile Internet Data Plans applicable? (Back) Inform the customer currently mobile internet data plans are applicable on all WAP enabled handsets having R World. E.g. Nokia 6155, Nokia 6265, Nokia 2865, Nokia 6275. Its also applicable on other WAP enabled handsets like Motorola V3M, Motorola L7C, Motorola K1M, Motorola V9M, CoolPad 288, Blackberry 8703e, Blackberry 8830, Blackberry 8130, HTC Wave, HTC Libra, Kinpo Classic 762, Kinpo Classic 731, Kinpo Classic 732, UT Starcomm PPC6700, etc. What are the benefits of subscribing to Mobile Internet Data Plans? (Back) Inform the customer he can use the Mobile Internet to access information, services and entertainment. Reliance Communications is merely providing connectivity between the customer and internet sites. How do I indentify Mobile Internet (3rd party or mobile internet sites)? (Back) Inform the customer most of the mobile internet sites are likely to have addresses like mobile.sitename.com, wap.sitename.com, m.sitename.com, sitename.com/mobile, sitename.com/xhtml, sitename.mob etc. e.g. mobile.ndtv.com, wap.google.com, m.orkut.com etc Would every mobile internet (3rd party or mobile internet sites) open on my handset? (Back) Reliance Communications is only providing connectivity like any other ISP (Internet Service Provider).Majority of 3rd party sites or mobile internet sites would open on handsets. Incase if the 3rd party mobile site that you are trying to access through the mobile phone is not formatted as per the handset then the page might not display properly. Incase of any issue with a particular site then the customer can contact the internet site for more details. What are suggested links under Mobile Internet on Reliance Mobile World? (Back) Inform the customer suggested links are third party or mobile internet sites for browsing. Reliance Communications is only providing connectivity to these sites. Reliance Communications is in no way responsible for quality of content/applications and impact on handsets. @situ, All your queries are addressed I hope. If you need any more clarifications, please post here. I will try my best to get them cleared.