KumaarShah

@raccoon, I meant only TN/Chennai. If they have it in Maha, then all Maha's can enjoy there. Thanks for pointing it out.

Number portability, 3G to spark changes in Indian telecom sector 22 Feb, 2008, 0328 hrs IST, TNN MUMBAI: Once out of the spectrum muddle, the Indian telecom sector is poised to undergo a massive transformation in terms of revenue growth and reach. Spectrum pricing, number portability and ushering in of 3G technology would be the key elements of change, say telecom analysts. The current spectrum imbroglio will be resolved sooner rather than later; it’s the follow-on events that will be more critical in determining the risk-reward profile of each player, they say. According to an India Infoline telecom report, the competitive landscape and growth drivers for the sector are set for a bigger change, as the government is likely to follow up 2G spectrum allocation with changes in the way spectrum is priced and introduction of 3G and number portability. “Only those incumbents who manage to win 3G licence will emerge as winners, as they will be best positioned to grow their ARPUs (average revenue per user), exploit their existing infrastructure better and at the least, remain competitive in a mobile number portability (MNP) regime,” said India Infoline’s telecom analyst GV Giri. Such an environment would help industry majors grow, setting the stage for the next phase on revenue growth, analysts said. “We believe that monthly net-add numbers could surge over the next 12 months, as incumbents prepare for impending competition. However, this would happen at the expense of lower ARPUs,” said a Credit Suisse report. Ever since the uncertainty on new spectrum allocation began a few months ago, the telecom sector has been a big underperfomer. The stakes involved are indeed high, and the markets are not in a mood to bet on any single outcome. There are many in the market who believe the spectrum issue would be resolved in 3 to 6 months. “The most probable scenario, in our view, is a market-driven pricing of spectrum, as it seems to be the least contentious. While this will increase upfront costs, it will put incumbents at an even more advantageous position. The ending of uncertainty, would by itself be a positive,” the India Infoline report said. However, weakening operating metrics and lack of EPS upgrades could continue to weigh on the shares, the Credit Suisse report said. Taking a macro view, Asia-Pacific telecom operators should continue to benefit from the industry’s stable outlook. Nevertheless, these companies will face increasing risks from their changing business profiles given the dynamic competitive landscape, deregulation, change in cash flow mix to lower-margin, new services or to higher-risk emerging markets and heavy capital-spending requirements. “In light of their increasing business risk profiles, the most significant threat faced by many regional operators relates to their financial policies that are increasingly focused on providing higher dividends, share buybacks, or acquisitions that could lead to more lenient financial policies,” said a recent Standard & Poor’s telecom report. Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Number...how/2803087.cms

Great news for SE lovers. Hope they integrate this with all existing handsets also.

^^^ I second Kamal's opinion on mandatorily introducing this service across all operators.

Its working great, man. Thanks for sharing here.

WOW!!!! Thats a fantastic initiative from TATA's. It will be of immense help to many people esp. women and children. Kudos to TATAs.

Go in for LG RD3000 or RD 3100. These are available at 1300 and 1700 resp. They offer the best battery backup today. As for your contacts, you can go the LG ASC and ask them to do it for you since you may buy the new LG handsets. They may or may not charge you for this. In case they charge also, it will be roughly Rs 75 plus ST. max. You can try and get it done free. Or you can buy a compatible data cable from ebay and do it yourself.

^^^ I had an awful experience with Hathway at my office and residence for 2 years and last year as soon as BSNL introduced 2mbps, I switched both connections to BSNL. The speeds were horrible, the CS were arrogant and the accounts dept prone to service disconnects for reasons best known to them. They always seemed to have problems with the local SUN network as SUN was in power then. Since their cable TV and the internet services were operated on same cables, the rival SUN group used to cut their cables every often. As a result, their internet services also were disrupted badly. Now that SUN is no longer in power, things may have improved. But is it not ironical that all other ISPs offer 2mbps and above and only Hathway is offering 256 or 512 kbps still? How come even after almost one and a half year, they are still in the kbps league and not mbps league? As for me, even if they offer Unlimited downloads for Rs 550 per 2 months on a 512 kbps connection, I would not touch them with a barge pole.

Is the above permission from all really necessary? I do not think so. Maybe in Kerala, it may be required. I have so far not come across any such formalities in Chennai.

^^^ Is it CDMA or is it GSM? AFAIK, it is not available in India.

^^^ Maybe it is 6155?

Great News, folks. He he he. The Great Indian Mobile Bazaar does it yet again. We can expect 3G and new mobile players in our country by 2010 end. Till that time the defence people will vacillate on releasing the spectrum. The existing GSM gangsters will make more merry, now that the entry of RCOM and TATAs is delayed. Maybe the LT offers will be slowly withdrawn or the benefits reduced (I mean the STVs will not be applicable on LT) Vodafone has still not introduced LT offers as RCOM and others. I mean they have not started allowing STVs on LTs.

The following is the reply from Nokia Care that I have received today: - Dear Mr. Shah, Thank you for emailing Nokia Care. This e-mail is in reference to the features and firmware for your Nokia 6265. We appreciate your continued interest towards Nokia products. Please be assured that your feedback is valued and we endeavour to address any suggestion that may be raised by our customers. We have forwarded your suggestion to our Customer Feedback Division for their due consideration. Any update in this regard will be posted on our web site. Further, you may kindly note that the firmware upgrade of the handset will enhance the existing feature in the phone. Any software related concerns will be rectified after a software upgrade. Upgrading the software also makes the mobile phone more user friendly. We would like to inform you that the operating system of the phone cannot be upgraded. However, the firmware of the handset can be upgraded to the latest available version. You may kindly note the latest firmware version for Nokia 6265 is - for Reliance users REL_N150V0402REL_N150V0402_6255_02.NFP.exe and for Tata users TAT_N190V0900TAT_N190V0900_6255_02.NFP.exe. We request you to kindly take your phone to the nearest Nokia Care Centre. Our technicians will upgrade the firmware version of your mobile phone to the latest version free of cost, provided it meets the Nokia warranty guidelines. We would like to inform you that when the firmware of the phone is flashed, all data in the phone would be lost. We recommend you take along the proof of purchase/receipt while visiting the Nokia Care Centre. Your phone would be covered under warranty if it meets all the warranty guidelines. For location of the Nokia Care Centres nearest to you, kindly access the following web link: http://www.nokia.co.in/A4536241 Before submitting your phone at the Service Centre, you may kindly take a backup of the phone contacts data to the SIM card. If the phone supports memory card, take a back up of contacts, messages, images, clips etc. on to the memory card or on to the PC. Back up can be taken, provided the phone is in “Power ON†condition. The technicians at the Nokia Care Centre and Nokia India would not be responsible for the loss of data during the repair process. For further enquiries, please feel free to contact our Technical Support Executives at 30303838 between the hours of 9:00am and 9:00pm, seven days a week. For online support, visit "Have a question? Ask Nokia" at www.nokia.co.in. You may also find answers to your queries at www.nokia.co.in/support. We reassure you of our continuous support. Please help us improve our services by clicking on the following link: www.nokia.co.in/caresurveys Kind regards, Nokia Care See the real stupid reply that they have given. They know that 6265 does not support transfer of contacts/sms to memory card and yet they tell you to do exactly that. Further the firmware upgrade that has been referred to by them is for 6255 and not 6265/6275. A third defect in their reply is that I have clearly mentioned in my email that I am using the handset from Aug.'06 which is more than 18 months - their warranty expired in July '07 itself, yet they tell us that the update will be done free if the handset meets warranty guidelines. Looks like some dumbos from RCOM have joined Nokia Care.

^^^ Will it be launched in India also or only abroad?

TRAI asks DoT to amend National Numbering Plan for implementing mobile number portability 16 Feb, 2008, 0347 hrs IST,Joji Thomas Philip, TNN NEW DELHI: Upset by the inactivity of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the mobile number portability (MNP) front, telecom regulator TRAI has asked the government to get cracking. MNP allows mobile users to change service providers, but retain their numbers. TRAI wants DoT to quickly amend the national mumbering plan (NNP) so that the regulator can put in place guidelines to kick off number portability in metros. While the government cleared number portability late last year, TRAI has pointed out that DoT is yet to amend the national mumbering plan which is key to its successful implementation. As per the original schedule, number portability is to be implemented in the four metros by the second half of 2008. NNP, which is currently unique to each operator, needs a slew of modifications before the introduction of number portability. These technical modifications will ensure that mobile mumbers becomes independent of the operator. This will then enable the new service provider (to whom the subscriber has switched) to use those numbers which were originally assigned to another operator. At present, all mobile numbers have three components - access code, mobile switching centre code and a subscriber number. These components are based on NNP and are assigned to each operator based on their demand as well as their area of operation. It is these that can allow us to identify the operator and the location (say Delhi) by just looking at the mobile number. In the case of number portability, the subscriber (while retaining his number) moves to a new operator, who has a different national numbering plan. Therefore, unless the DoT brings about the requisite amendments to NNP, it will not be possible to identify the recipient network (the network or service provider to which the subscriber has switched to). For mobile number portability to work, TRAI will also have to allot unique operator codes, which will be prefixed to all ported numbers, so that the mobile numbers can be used by all service providers. The catch is that the regulator cannot undertake this process unless the DoT amends the national numbering plan. Besides, TRAI wants DoT to address this issue even as it undertakes other steps like identifying a neutral third party who shall establish and run the centralised and regional data bases which contain the ported numbers. Additionally, only after the DoT amends the national numbering plan can the regulator address other issues including the creation of database, interfaces, performance parameters, service levels, all of which needs to be resolved before number portability can be implemented. TRAI has already set up a steering committee consisting of operators, industry associations to workout the finer details of these implementation issues. Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/TRAI_a...how/2786939.cms

^^^ 17. SMS support for PC Suite. 18. Ability to move SMS from phone to memory card. 19. Call Duration for each and every call - like your Call Log in S60 phones. 20. Speed Dials to be increased to atleast 100 from the 8 presently. But I doubt if NOKIA will ever read the list and do anything about it. They have exited CDMA and hence their priorities lie elsewhere. Anyway no harm in sending out an email. Hope for the best as always.

^^^ Wow, thats some news man.

^^^ Heights of stupidity. He could have made a call from some PCO. But morally it is not correct at all. Finally he has had to pay for it. Justice will be done eventually.

^^^ 1.The price of 699$ is for the card or for what? If it is for the card, then it is too, too expensive at 28k INR. A 2GB card today costs just about 1.4k and this price of 28k is way too much. Ideally it should cost only about 7 to 8 k. Or a decimal point has been missed out? maybe it is 69.9$? 2. The capacity you have mentioned is 30.979 mb, it should be 30,979 MB. Maybe you have just copied from the website. We Indians use the comma whereas abroad some countries use the full stop to denote the thousands/ millions/etc separator between the digits.

^^^ 1. It can work on any handset from the lowest Classic to the highest UT or Coolpad also. And everything in between also. 2. You can use Reliance India cards to reduce your STD tariffs. You can also use these cards while roaming fr only outgoing purposes. Incoming will be still be at Rs 1.75pm. These cards are now openly suggested and advised by CC if you ask them about the high STD charges. Go ahead and enjoyyyyyyyyyyyy.. @raccoon, Thanks for your views. I still reiterate that RCOM is offering very good VFM now on its LT prepaid. You are also well aware that you can use calling cards for lowering STD rates and use while roaming is also allowed. No other operator is allowing while roaming and the lowest STD rates on full TT calling cards of other operators is nowhere near RCOMs. I know of Chennai/TN circle and a little about elsewhere. But from what little I know from their respective websites, no other operator is matching anywhere near RCOM today. You can consider re-activating your old warhorse 2030 on RCOM and you can also think of changing SIMs in case you do not mind the number change ever so often. You are in a lucky position where RCOM and other operators are giving excellent deals to retain you on their network. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

No excess allocation to GSM players, says DoT 13 Feb, 2008, 0900 hrs IST,Niranjan Bharati & Joji Thomas Philip, TNN NEW DELHI: In a major blow to CDMA players, the department of telecom has told the Central Vigilance Commission and lawmakers separately that it has not allocated excess spectrum to any GSM operator and dismissed allegations that the operators were hoarding spectrum. While the CVC had sought an explanation from DoT for allocating spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz per circle to GSM players, several MPs and party leaders had written to the PM, seeking his intervention in the process of spectrum allocation. For instance, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu, in a letter written to the PMO in December, had alleged that the existing spectrum allocation policy was flawed and were "skewed" in favour of certain players. The letter endorsed the CDMA players' stance that GSM players be mandated to return the 'excess' spectrum they held. CDMA players had been demanding GSM operators must be forced to return what they termed as excess spectrum as their licenses entitled them to only 6.2 MHz of radio frequencies per circle. Virtually endorsing the stance of GSM players, which have maintained that they were entitled up to a maximum of 15 Mhz, DoT, in its reply to a communication from Mr Naidu, denied excess allocation to any player. And in its presentation to the CVC, DoT pointed out that the 'criteria for allocation for up to 10 MHz was evolved in 2003 by a committee of government and private members and it was implemented after approval of the minister for communications and IT. The DoT also pointed out to the CVC that policy announcements in March 2006 and Trai's recommendations in August 2007 both entitled GSM operators to get up to 15 MHz of second generation per circle, subject to achieving the pre-defined subscriber targets. DoT has also told the CVC that initially GSM players were given only 4.4 Mhz per circle, but "with increasing number of subscribers, additional spectrum was required to meet the growth, even with utilisation of spectrum efficiency features". Dismissing the CVC's charge that communication ministry's spectrum policy had led to losses to the government, the DoT said that revenues from spectrum had increased from Rs 25 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 2,000 crore in 2006-07. Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/2777824.cms Isn't the above stand of DOT ridiculous? The GSM gangsters themselves agreed that they have excess spectrum sometime back and were willing to surrender it in some circles also.

Horrible, but did not see any fatalities. Did I miss out on something?

^^^ One more thing. BSNL EVDO will work only if you are within 2 kms radius from the tower. This means that there may be no service even within your own city if you move out of range from the tower. RCOM and TATA are far better off, though BSNL may catch up. The babus of BSNL may have been bought out by you - know - who. BSNL CDMA, AFAIK is not all that strong, maybe it will improve now that they are going to offer it all over India shortly.

^^^ Then why the big 2 of CDMA not introduce it as yet? Another question - how did BSNL introduce CDMA EVDO modems and offer 1.8mbps speeds? Why RCOM or TATA could not introduce it yet? I think GOI permission may be necessary. I may be wrong.

^^^ Hi Raccoon - welcome back. I am using LT plan and I have recharged with RCV Jadoo 49 which gives me all local calls to any network at Re 0.49 and all onnet calls at Re 0.33 pm. If you do not activate any RCV, then you will be charged all calls at Re 0.99 including RCOM. Mind you under Jadoo 33 and 49, all calls include landline calls also. J-33 will reduce your onnet calls charges to Re 0.33 pm whereas all other local calls will be Re 0.99. All Onnet calls mean calls to RCOM mobiles, landlines, FWPs. The only hitch in RCOM's LT is that you have to recharge once in six months for Rs 200 talktime. Even then, its still worth it. In both cases, all STD will be at Rs 2.99 (this is ridiculously expensive for LT) Anyway, they openly advise you to use RIC for STD purposes - you can even use it while roaming. I think there is no one to match RCOM in LT and prepaid for once. Atleast currently. My advice to you would be to activate LT - you will spend only 199 if you have a number already. Otherwise, you can buy a GSK for 99 and then use LTRC 199. @Honest, For all circles it is 2021 except for Gujarat where it is 2017. This is as per their website.