KumaarShah

Yes, the E series will satisfy your requirements very well. But we will miss you and your reviews if you shift to GSM. Anyway it is a very good move and more people need to quit Reliance now for them to understand what is customer loyalty. Increasing tariffs of almost all services left right and center will only alienate existing, loyal customers from them. There appears no difference at all now between CDMA and GSM tariff wise. And choice of handsets is vast in GSM anyday. More and more Reliance customers will definitely shift to GSM now onwards. The trend will start now. Hiking all rates like this without the commensurate increase in quality services and handsets will only lead to an exodus from Reliance. Hope they wake up in the new year. Sleeping and Snoring will not be tolerated anymore. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Forget it as a bad dream and enjoy life as it is. Dont take tension, man. Just joking. No idea as yet as I have a Nokia 6265 where this app is not avl. Or maybe I have not checked it up lately. The last app that I saw on my 6265 was Phonebook upload and download, which worked well on my 6265 but not on my 5340. Like I said, take no tension if it does not work. We are not paying for RMWorld as we are on DAPO, so enjoy life as it is.

^^^ Similar news from The Hindu Business Line as follows: - News Update as at 17.00 hrs (IST) Info-Tech Hutch-Essar potential acquisition target: Anil Ambani MUMBAI: Formally throwing its hat in the ring, Reliance Communications said on Thursday that it was looking to acquire its rival Hutch-Essar and has received funding support for the proposed deal. RCom Chairman, Mr Anil Ambani said his company had received strong financial support from leading bankers all over the world. "This I believe is a strong endorsement in our company and in India's telecom growth," he said, adding, "there is no certainty on the Hutch-Essar proposal on when and how it will be completed." - PTI Link: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/busine...us/15281704.htm So what is ADA upto now? Is he willing to buy at $20Billions or even more? Seems like what someone said earlier, 'whatever ambanis want, they are ready to pay any price'

Absolutely true, HEL should not go to RCL as I have been saying this since almost a week now. RCL will become complacent, not improve network or services and charge highest going by their current shenanigans in CDMA space. And for once, ADA seems to be doing the right thing by upping the ante for HEL to such a high level, that whosoever buys it will definitely find it unattractive to operate and hence will not be in a position to lower call rates leading to an all out war. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy......

Wow, thats great. Do something about reading SMSs from the phone to the computer, so that we can straightaway forward it without writing it manually. 1. Group Messaging???? thats already there, no? 3. Banned Number. Thats very nice. 4. DB Mgt and Error Mgt. Much needed. Thanks once again for the wonderful SW, hpnasik.

^^^ How will the private service providers like Sify, Vsnl, Reliance, Hathway etc fare? Will they be able to match the speeds and tariffs of BSNL/MTNL from January 2007 itself? I dont think they have the infrastructure to provide these speeds itself. I dont know about Reliance, but the others may not be infrastructurally sound to offer such speeds. @hp, your earlier views on the above needs more clarifications, if possible. Thanks.

Bharti races ahead in nos; RCOM, PSUs lagAdd to Clippings RASHMI PRATAP TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006 02:15:02 AM] MUMBAI: In a sector where fortunes are made and lost on the number of subscribers, figures have an interesting story to tell. While largest GSM operator Bharti Airtel has continued to outperform the industry, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCOM), Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) have lost share in the cellular market in the past eight months. Despite the boom in telecom sector, with monthly subscriber additions crossing 6.5m, some biggies seem to be losing market to smaller operators like Idea Cellular, which was just an eight-circle operation until two months back. As per subscriber figures, on a year to date (YTD) basis (April 1-November 30), the market share for Bharti increased by 1.1% to 22.28%, Idea by 0.75% to 8.72%, and Tata Teleservices by 1.95% to 7.2%. However, the market share for RCOM decreased by 0.82% to 21.04%, BSNL by 1.65% to 16.91% and MTNL by 0.35% to 1.75%. In the case of RCOM, which offers GSM as well as CDMA-based cellular services, the drop in market share would be even more at 1.3% if only the CDMA user base is taken into consideration. According to analysts, the decline in RCOM share is largely due to its CDMA platform. “Users are increasingly hesitating in opting for CDMA because of factors like limited handset choice and inflexibility in changing operators,” said an analyst. Reliance had 20.21m cellular subscribers at March-end while the total user base in the country was 92.5m, a share of nearly 22%. At November-end, the tally was 28.58m RCOM cellular users over a total of 135.84m, giving RCOM 21.04% market share. When asked about the decline, an RCOM spokesperson said, “The company has seen a significant rise in the new subscriber additions during the last six months, with over a million customers having preferred to come on the Reliance network due to our superior value offerings. The new subscriber additions have more than doubled since April, crossing over 1.35 million subscribers during the month of November.” The spokesperson added, “RCOM commands over 60% market share of the CDMA wireless industry. Close to 7m new customers have been added by RCOM from June to November ‘06 and monthly subscriber additions have increased by 17.8% over the last quarter.” Bharti races ahead in nos; RCOM, PSUs lagAdd to Clippings RASHMI PRATAP TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006 02:15:02 AM] << Previous|1|2| On the other hand, Bharti, which had 21.18% share of the market at the end of March has grabbed 22.28% share with a record 30.3m subscribers at November-end. During November ‘06, Bharti continued to outperform the industry with a share of 24.86% in the total net additions, adding 1.65m users. Idea, the dark horse of telecom for a long time, also moved up from 7.97% share in March to 8.72% with 11.8m users at November-end. It recorded the highest month-on-month growth of 7.8%, roping in 0.86m subscribers with a presence in just 11 circles. Link Courtesy:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-808808 Now, what is ADA going to do with the above proof? Still increase rates and rentals and watch an exodus of existing customers? Anyway, he is least bothered about old customers, he gets new customers with lesser frills so why pamper old customers at all. Let them go to hell.

Hutch cup final: Vodafone takes on RCL TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 01:32:17 AM] LONDON/MUMBAI: Let’s take a Christmas break. As India-born Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin, with the backing of his board, prepares to take on Anil Ambani for control of Hutch-Essar’s Indian business, and probably Malaysia’s Maxis too, expectations that the company would present a bid as early as Friday went slightly off the mark. Vodafone announced that it is considering an acquisition but gave no price or details. Vodafone’s move has spurred frenzied activity among private equity funds and strategic bidders such as Reliance Communications (RCL) and Maxis. Two separate bidding groups have formed to take on the Newbury, England-based giant and strike India’s largest takeover. RCL, India’s second-largest wireless company, New York-based Blackstone and Washington-based Carlyle, the largest US buyout fund, are part of one consortium, with the Mumbai-based company at the helm. The other has David Bondermann’s Texas Pacific Group (TPG) once again teaming up with Maxis to make a second pitch for Hutch-Essar. Two weeks back, the TPG-Maxis combine had seen its $13.5-billion bid being rejected by Hutchison. TPG has the lead role in this group. The plans of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), the legendary buyout firm, which was earlier in talks with Reliance, is not clear. Egyptian telephone firm Orascom is also believed to be sniffing around but no details could be ascertained. The developments take the battle for Hutch Essar into a more concrete stage. After several weeks of talks and confabulations, the various bidders are now ready to put a price on the table, in one of the most keenly-watched and hotly-contested races in India, over the next 10 days or even sooner. Formal bids will be placed only after a proper due diligence is conducted. These moves also come in the wake of India adding over six million mobile subscribers per month and the overall subscriber base likely to touch 170 million by March 2007 - more than the population of Japan and over twice that of the UK. And just over 10% of India’s population owns a mobile phone while the figure for the US is 70%, a survey by Gartner has shown. Other surveys have also shown that every person in western Europe owns a mobile phone. Vodafone, at this stage, seems to have an edge over others as its bid will not place any constraints upon Hutchison. Under the shareholders agreement between Hutchison and Essar, the Ruia-promoted group enjoys the first right of refusal if Hutchison were to sell its stake to any of the Indian bidders. There are no such constraints in case of a foreign buyer. Hutchison, if the price is right and in the absence of a higher offer, can sell its 67% in the company to Vodafone, thereby shutting everybody out of the race. “Vodafone’s entry has spoiled everybody’s plans,” one of the bidders told ET. With its massive cash reserves (its 2007 cash flow is estimated at £4.7-5.2 billion) and global scale, Vodafone has the ability to swoop down and take over the company. “The board of Vodafone is considering the acquisition of a controlling interest in Hutch Essar in India. Such a transaction would be consistent with its stated strategy of seeking selected acquisition opportunities in developing markets,” the company said in a statement. Vodafone’s HEL buyout will not face legal hassles KALYAN PARBAT & MANOJ GAIROLA TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 02:33:11 AM] KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: UK’s VODAFONE Group may unveil a complex two-stage buyout strategy to acquire up to 74% in Hutchison Essar (HEL). The world’s largest mobile company is tipped to unveil separate offers to buy out Hutchison Telecom’s entire 67% block and a slice of Essar’s 33% holding in HEL. Since Vodafone cannot directly own beyond 74% in HEL under present telecom FDI regulations, it is learnt to be open to an alliance with Essar as its minority partner. Investment banking circles close to the developments in London and Hong Kong said that “three-way negotiations between Vodafone, Hutchison and Essar are at a very advanced stage”. The British major would not face a major regulatory hurdle if it buys Hutch’s equity in HEL as it doesn’t have more than 10% stake in any telco providing services in India. Vodafone’s entry also suits Essar as it is not inclined to exiting the telecom market in India at present. Merger and acquisition laws do not allow a company to own more than 10% equity in more than one company in a circle. But Reliance Communications (RCL) and Maxis - the other suitors for Hutch’s stake in HEL - have mobile operations in the country. Both of them will have to merge HEL with their existing operations. Therefore, they will also have to buy out Essar completely. M&A guidelines for the merger of two telcos in a circle also envisage that the merged entity should have a subscriber base less than 67% of the total subscribers in that circle. The combined subscriber base of Reliance and Hutch in all the circles is below this mark. Maxis also qualifies for merger with Hutch on this ground. In an email query, ET asked the Vodafone Group if it would consider acquiring Hutchison’s 67% stake and an additional 7% from Essar to directly hold 74% in HEL. In response, Vodafone Group’s media relations director Bobby Leach said: “I’m afraid, we can’t go into details. Note we have confirmed our interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, but we are at an early stage of the process”. The Essar group spokesperson, when asked if Essar is open to a offloading a slice of its 33% stake in HEL in the event of a Vodafone offer said: “As a policy, we do not comment on market rumours.” But investment banking circles close to Essar felt that “any decision would hinge on an agreement on the equity valuation of HEL. While Vodafone has valued the company at $13.5 billion, a section of the analysts are pegging HEL’s valuation at nearly $16 billion. Essar could make over $1 billion by selling 7% to Vodafone at HEL’s present valuation.” Hutchison Telecom’s press statement on Friday said: “The company has been approached by various potentially interested parties regarding possible sale of equity interests in Hutchison Essar, but no agreement in respect of such possible sale, has been entered into up to today’s (December 22) date. On ET’s query whether Hutchison had received a stake buyout offer from Vodafone, Hutchison Telecom spokeswoman Mickey Shiu said: “We do not comment on market speculation.” Incidentally, the Vodafone spokes- person declined to confirm whether the company would require a no-objection certificate from Bharti Airtel before announcing its bid for a controlling stake in Hutch Essar. Vodafone holds 10% in Bharti and has a non-compete clause built into its shareholder agreement with Bharti. When contacted, a Bharti spokesperson said: “Vodafone has informed Bharti that it may make an offer for a controlling stake in Hutch Essar. Bharti awaits further developments.” In the case of RCL, it may have to also need to rejig its business structure. The company provides CDMA mobile services on an unified access licence. Even though the licences are technology neutral, the operators have to specify the frequency band of the spectrum in which they will operate their services. Based on this, DoT plans spectrum allocation which is a scarce resource. “A company needs to specify the frequency band in which it will operate services at the time of applying for the licence and on that basis licences are allotted. So, for CDMA players to acquire Hutch will require them to restructure their businesses in a certain way,” said Mahesh Uppal, director, Commfirst India, a telecom consulting company. Vodafone may unveil two-step strategy for Hutch Essar stake KALYAN PARBAT & MANOJ GAIROLA TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 11:26:04 AM] KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: UK’s Vodafone group may unveil a complex two-stage buyout strategy to acquire up to 74% in Hutchison Essar (HEL). The world’s largest mobile company is tipped to unveil separate offers to buy out Hutchison Telecom’s entire 67% block and a slice of Essar’s 33% holding in HEL. Since Vodafone cannot directly own beyond 74% in HEL under telecom FDI regulations, it is learnt to be open to an alliance with Essar as its minority partner. Investment banking circles close to the developments in London and Hong Kong said “three-way negotiations between Vodafone, Hutchison and Essar are at a very advanced stage”. The British major would not face a major regulatory hurdle if it buys Hutch’s equity in HEL as it doesn’t have more than 10% stake in any telco providing services in India. Vodafone’s entry also suits Essar as it is not inclined to exiting the telecom market in India at present. Merger and acquisition laws do not allow a company to own more than 10% equity in more than one company in a circle. But Reliance Communications (RCL) and Maxis — the other suitors for Hutch’s stake in HEL — have mobile operations in the country. Both of them will have to merge HEL with their existing operations. Therefore, they will also have to buy out Essar completely. M&A guidelines for the merger of two telcos in a circle also envisage that the merged entity should have a subscriber base less than 67% of the total subscribers in that circle. The combined subscriber base of Reliance and Hutch in all the circles is below this mark. Maxis also qualify for merger with Hutch on this ground. In an email query, ET asked the Vodafone group if it would consider acquiring Hutchison’s 67% stake and an additional 7% from Essar to directly hold 74% in HEL. In response, Vodafone group’s media relations director Bobby Leach said, “I’m afraid we can’t go into details. Note we have confirmed our interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, but we are at an early stage of the process”. When the Essar group spokesperson was asked if it was open to offloading a slice of its 33% stake in HEL in the event of a Vodafone offer said, “As a policy, we do not comment on market rumours”. But investment banking circles close to Essar felt, “any decision would hinge on an agreement on the equity valuation of HEL. While Vodafone has valued the company at $13.5 billion, a section of the analysts are pegging HEL’s valuation at nearly $16 billion. Essar could make over $1 billion by selling 7% to Vodafone at HEL’s present valuation”. Hutchison Telecom’s press statement on Friday said: “The company has been approached by various potentially interested parties regarding possible sale of equity interests in Hutchison Essar, but no agreement in respect of such possible sale, has been entered into up to today’s (December 22) date. On ET’s query whether Hutchison had received a stake buyout offer from Vodafone, Hutchison Telecom spokesperson Mickey Shiu said, “We do not comment on market speculation”. Incidentally, the Vodafone spokesperson declined to confirm whether the company would require a no-objection certificate from Bharti Airtel before announcing its bid for a controlling stake in Hutch Essar. Vodafone holds 10% in Bharti and has a non-compete clause built into its shareholder agreement with Bharti. A Bharti spokesperson said: “Vodafone has informed Bharti that it may make an offer for a controlling stake in Hutch Essar. Bharti awaits further developments”. In the case of RCL, it may also need to rejig its business structure. The company provides CDMA mobile services on an unified access licence. Even though the licences are technology neutral, the operators have to specify the frequency band of the spectrum in which they will operate their services. Based on this, DoT plans spectrum allocation which is a scarce resource. “A company needs to specify the frequency band in which it will operate services at the time of applying for the licence and on that basis licences are allotted. So, for CDMA players to acquire Hutch will require them to restructure their businesses in a certain way,” said Mahesh Uppal, director, Commfirst India, a telecom consulting company. Bharti may grant waiver to UK major for a fee JOJI THOMAS PHILIP & RASHMI PRATAP TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 11:29:13 AM] NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel is slated to waive the non-compete clause with Vodafone. While the buzz is that Bharti could charge a penalty fee for waiving the non-compete clause, senior Bharti officials say the terms of disengagement will be discussed only if Vodafone’s bid for Hutchison Essar is successful. According to Bharti executives, the issue of what will happen to Vodafone’s 10% stake in Hutchison Essar will be discussed only after the fate of Vodafone’s bid is known. For Vodafone to buy out a controlling stake in Hutch, it will first have to free itself from the one-year non-competition clause with Airtel. There is speculation that Vodafone has already initiated talks with Bharti Airtel and the other primary shareholder in the company, Singapore Telecom, to release it from the non-competition clause for a penalty fee, but this was refuted by Bharti officials. Unconfirmed reports say that Vodafone may sell its 10% holding to at a concessional price to Bharti or to an investor of their choice. Bharti Airtel refused to confirm the penalty fee issue and said: “Vodafone has informed Bharti that it may make an offer for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar Limited. Bharti awaits further developments.” Vodafone’s spokesperson, too, declined to comment on the issue. According to government regulations, a foreign company can not hold more than 10% in more than one telco. While technically, Vodafone can reduce its stake to 9.9% in Bharti Airtel and still acquire a controlling stake in Hutch, it is highly unlikely that this is an option that Bharti Airtel chairman, Sunil Mittal, will agree to. Meanhwile, Mr Mittal has denied that his company is in the race for Hutchison Essar. “We have no interest in Hutch,’’ Mr Mittal told ET. Still, the buzz about Bharti’s interest in Hutchison Essar refuses to totally die down. Industry analysts argue that Bharti would not like to compete with an aggressive Vodafone or indeed a strong and larger Reliance Communications, in the event of either of the two taking over Hutchison Essar. In the likely event of Vodafone making a complete exit, Bharti Airtel may well have to re-jig its shareholding structure. It may also result in Singapore Telecom, which currently holds 33% share in Bharti, increasing its share by buying out Vodafone. Alternatively, a new strategic investor may enter if Bharti CMD Sunil Mittal is game for bringing in a fresh player to cash in on the current high valuations in the Indian telecom sector. On Friday, Bharti’s market cap was nearly Rs 1,16,000 crore and the scrip closed at Rs. 611.45, up 0.53%. Bharti says it is watching all developments. It has reasons to do so. While Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is currently the number two GSM operator, Hutch is set to overtake the PSU behemoth as there is a marginal difference between their subscriber numbers and market share. With Hutch having secured licenses to operate in the rest of the circles (it is currently in 16 circles), it’s just a matter of time before HEL gets a pan-India footprint. In addition Hutch’s ARPU (average revenue per user per month) at Rs 374 in the quarter ended September 30, is ahead of Bharti’s Rs 349. Vodafone’s backing will only speed up HEL’s 3G roll-out after the spectrum policy is announced. By the same token, it may be a setback for Bharti in terms of technology as it will lose a strategic partner. Link Courtesies: Economic Times. Now what will happen? Will Vodafone get it or RCL-Maxis.[/

I also suffered the same experience today. My unbilled usage shot up by Rs 105 for no voice calls made the previous day. And my WAP usage also was not so high to warrant a charge of Rs 105. I am on DAPO plan. When I complained to CC, the dumb CCE did not know what was WAP at all. Then I got wild and told him to put me onto his supervisor. This chap told me not to worry and wait till I get the final bill. Thankfully, he knew what was WAP all about, atleast. But I have my own doubts. I have been regularly checking the UB usage faithfully over the last two years or so and it has so far been accurate with me always. Maybe I have migrated from Unltd ONP to Ltd ONP on 20.12.2006 and the increased rentals of Rs 100 for the Ltd ONP has been charged now. Hopes only. Maybe WAP is being slyly charged. Who knows except ADA, only. This Reliance has become a rotten company and one by one everything is being removed and as tanveer rightly said, maybe they will start charging all Reliance users for incoming calls. I think it is high time to move on. I will wait for my bill to reach me on the 5th or so and take my decision accordingly. Enough is enough.

@puneet, Marvellous find, buddy. Will the above process work with N6265 also? I want to stop usage of RMW on my mobile. And yes how to get diego, although you have told not to ask for it. And will the data cable (CA-53) that I normally use for PCSync work or do I need any other cable? Thanks

Many Many Happy Returns of the Day to RIMweb on its 3rd Birthday. And to all fellow RIMwebians also. Cheers.... Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyy....

Hutchison Whampoa not happy with bids TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006 11:54:04 AM] Hutchison Whampoa is believed to have said that bids received till now did not reflect the true value of HEL. This could be another reason prompting RCL to raise the bid, said sources. Essar Group vice-chairman Ravi Ruia is currently in London and is believed to be in talks with Vodafone. Speculation is also rife that RCL may approach Malaysia’s Maxis for a combined bid to take on Vodafone if the UK giant offers a very high price for HEL. When contacted, the Reliance spokesperson refused to comment on all the above. Riding on reports that RCL has put in a $16-17 billion bid for HEL, its stock price moved up 3.16% to close at Rs 461.70. RCL had earlier tied up with Blackstone, KKR, Texas Pacific and UBS, but industry sources see the move to rope in four more banks as an indicator of the company going all out to secure HEL. This is because, buying out HEL in addition to increasing the company’s subscriber base by 78%, will also enable the company to overtake Bharti Airtel, which is currently the largest cellular operator in India. Additionally , Anil Ambani has been looking at aggressive expansion in GSM, the technology used by 70% of India’s mobile population Link Courtesy: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/892304.cms Vodafone confirms its plans to acquire Hutch EconomicTimes.com [ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006 03:30:07 PM] LONDON: It's finally happened. Vodafone has finally confirmed that it is planning to jump into the fray for acquiring Hutch Essar, along with Reliance. "The board of Vodafone is considering the acquisition of a controlling interest in Hutch Essar in India. Such a transaction would be consistent with its stated strategy of seeking selected acquisition opportunities in developing markets," the company said in a statement. The process is at an early stage, and it may or may not lead to an transaction it further clarified. Vodafone, a company not usually given to comment on speculation, made its position clear after consistent media reports that its board is meeting to consider making a $13 bn for Hutch Essar, and affected its share price negatively. Vodafone has interests in emerging markets including Egypt, Romania and India - and underlined its ambitions for further expansion in similar markets at an investor meeting earlier this month. Vodafone's board believes that India's mobile market has great potential, the company said, justifying its interest. The news came after it unveiled a £3.3bn half-yearly loss in November as it was hit by higher interest rates, competition and some of its assets being worth less than it thought. After Corus, this makes Hutch Essar the second planned takeover that moves into contested territory, and may spark off another bidding war with Reliance Communication. Link Courtesy: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Vodafo...show/900663.cms

^^^ Absolutely true. It is time to move on to BSNL/MTNL. All others are going to gang up and increase rates left, right and center. @arun, A very good source of info on RMW Rates. Thanks.

^^^ At the same price, it is not at all insane. And additional Mbs at Re 0.90 is good enough. What did you expect? The other ISPs have not yet come out with any announcements at all. Hope they have the necessary infrastructure to offer such speeds at all.

Yes, we are all very lucky to have hpnasik with us. And yes, HPSMS server is far better than Bonrix. Thanks to hpnasik, once again.

The way things are going, whoever gets to buy Hutch will definitely not be in a position to offer lower tariffs at all. At an estimated $17 billion, the cost would be too, too high for anyone to sustain. So it will not be in the consumers interests at all. At around Rs 70000 to Rs 80000 Crores, the interest per month itself would be a mind-boggling Rs 350 to Rs 400 Crores at a nominal 6% pa interest. This apart, the network has to be strengthened all over the nation, which will also add up to the costs. Who will pay all this? We, the consumers will pay for all this eventually. If ADA picks it up, definitely existing and newer Hutch customers will have to face higher tariffs. This apart, people fantasising free onnet between R2H will be in for a rude shock, as ADA will definitely look to improving ARPUs and not reduce the ARPUs. Also seamless roaming between CDMA and GSM aka China Unicom will be a far fetched possibility, though not impossible. As Petar has already said earlier, if the Ambanis really want it, they will pay any price for it. And as linuxguy also has said earlier, no one is acceptable except Reliance. Also ADA will increase tariffs universally across GSM and CDMA when he has over 50mn customers. Airtel and others will follow suit and we will once again have high tariffs. Maybe BSNL will act as a dampener to all this. But then you know Ambanis, they will buy out the babus also and let the customers suffer. So, Let us hope that Reliance does not get Hutch.

Me too got the PM. Thanks and wishing all contestants all the very best. Thanks

Its a trial version, After installing, I encountered an error and the program just quit. The best part is that the basic version (for one mobile) is priced at a whopping Rs 8000 and the advanced version (for upto 8 mobiles) is priced at Rs 15000. The trial version works for either 15 days or 50 times whichever comes first. Are you listening, hpnasik? No idea how the SW works as it quit without a clue. Will keep trying and then post here. Thanks @vikalp, please post about this on the post HPSMS Server, if possible.

Please search the forum before posting. Anyway, reduce the name size of your mp3 file to less than 31 characters. You will see all the files on your sd card. thanks enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

This merging business has become the flavour of the season. It is getting murkier and murkier day by day. Any way lets all wish that RCL eventually gets to take over Hutch. Anyone else including Maxis, Airtel, Vodafone etc would not be welcome. I think the position would become clearer within a week or earlier also. RCL is trying its best to secure Hutch and announce it on Dhirubhai's birth anniversary 28 th December, according to newspaper reports. Anyway let us all enjoyyyyyyyyyyyy the unfolding drama as it happens.

Great news. But will these people develop some phones for CDMA also? Hope they do and then it would be of use to us. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

You can divert all calls from your Hutch to your Tata indicom number. These will be chargeable at local C2Crates. If you have activated roaming pack (I am not sure if it is avl on TATA prepaid) then all your diverted calls will be free on your TATA phone. Only cost will be local C2C call charges which I assume is at 0.49 pm. Of course you have to keep your Hutch number activated which will cost you a very nominal amount of money. Because in Hutch you can get full talktime with long validity. So you lose nothing. A very good idea to implement. But check out how good is TATAs network elsewhere? It may be good in Bangalore. Reg. call charges, I am not sure, maybe you can check up with the respective CC or website. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..................

Great ones - drali2, prathod and abhay. All on this 14th page are fabulous. Keep it UP. Keep more coming. Thanks

Hi. I log on almost every day twice. I do not travel much, but when i do, i log on from my 6265. I will post here if i am travelling for more than 4 days. Thanks, Honest for starting this topic.

Inside the shadow war over Hutchison Essar TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006 10:57:57 AM] MUMBAI: In business, it’s said, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. For those who might recall the much-discussed-but-never-confirmed rivalry between the Ambanis and the Ruias (of Essar ) back in the 1990s, there’s a certain irony to the unfolding drama over the acquisition of Hutch Essar. Hutch Essar’s 67% owner, Hutchison of Hong Kong, has made it known that it is prepared to receive an offer, knowledgeable sources have told TOI. You also know that Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications is interested in buying Hutch Essar. But, here’s the catch: As reported in this paper last Friday and Saturday, it isn’t enough for Hutchison to agree to Ambani’s offer to buy its 67% even though it would give him majority control of Hutch Essar. Under law, it’s all or almost nothing: he has to stay below 10% — which is neither here nor there — or he has to buy out the entire 100%. This is where the Ruias come in (or get out, depending on one’s point of view). Unless they agree to sell their 33% and exit Hutch Essar, Anil Ambani cannot enter. Ambani, therefore , must convince the Ruias to sell him their part of the business. Right now, everyone’s talking to everyone or at least planning to — even as the list of would-be suitors grows by the day, from Maxis of Malaysia to Orascom of Egypt to Qatar Telecom to UK’s Vodafone , besides Reliance Comm and who knows, Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. The Ruias are in the unique position where they’re being sought after for their stake even as they seek to buy out Hutchison’s holdings and acquire full control of Hutch Essar . Which of the two options would they like to exercise? Truth is, they would probably like nothing better than status quo. The Ruias have had their share of problems with Hutchison and the strongwilled Hutch Essar CEO Asim Ghosh, but they also recognise that Ghosh and his team have built enormous value for them: 33% of an enterprise value of $15bn (give or take a billion) tots up to almost Rs 15,000 crore. The best part is that they haven’t had to seriously sweat for it, since the day-to-day management of the company has been Ghosh & Co’s headache. At a time when the Indian telecom market is the fastest growing in the world — faster than even China — and pre-tax profits for the top three or four telcos are said to be in the region of 40%, why would they want to rock this cruiseliner when its on high sea? But Hutchison is said to have indicated to investment bankers that it would not be averse to an offer it cannot refuse. People in the know say the company’s multi-multi-billionaire owner Li Kashing is unsentimental about everything except his family and his dog (in a manner of speaking, since we don’t know if he has one). If someone’s willing to pay him a silly price, he’ll sell like any hard-headed businessman would, said a person close to the situation. If Hutchison were to exit, Ruias would have a headstart on the rest of the field. Unlike all the other potential suitors, who would need to convince both Hutch and Essar to sell, the Ruias need to buy out only the Hutchison stake, either on their own or in conjunction with a partner/partners (please see page 1 report). And money isn’t likely to be a problem . Their core businesses — steel, shipping, oil — have been doing well and indications are that bankers would be more than happy to lend. The question that the Ruias might ponder is: Would it be wiser to trade possible future uncertainty for a here-andnow mega windfall? Or, given the fact that the telecom markets are growing at such a scorching pace, should they hold out for an even better valuation in the future? Essar’s top bosses have in the past at least publicly professed to have little interest in running their joint venture with Hutch, given that the present management was doing such a decent job. It’s too early to say if the management team will stay on if Hutch exits . From various accounts, Shashi Ruia and Ghosh share a certain bond based on mutual respect and fondness; but it’s Ravi Ruia who’s been the pointman for Essar on Hutch and it’s not known whether there’s happy co-existence on that front. There have been unconfirmed stories in the past that Ravi believes that their 33% stake in Hutch Essar entitles them to a greater say in management. But, like we said, these are just stories. For the record, both brothers have had only good things to say about their partner and the management team. All that people on the Ruia side of the fence would say is, ‘‘We are doing our best.’’ Their benign, almost laid-back response to questions about their intent and strategy belies the fact that in relatively short time they have lined up possible partners, investment bankers and private equity firms to represent their interests and support their bid. That doesn’t mean Anil Ambani isn’t going to give it his best shot. He’s rustled up some of the most powerful names in the global investment banking/private equity business to do his bidding and his funding. And, as reported by us on Saturday, he is preparing to launch an all-out bid for Hutch Essar. For him, it makes eminent sense to acquire Hutch Essar. Reliance Communications has a subscriber base of about 24 million, second only to Bharti Airtel’s 30 million and a shade larger than Hutch Essar’s 22 million. With nos 2 and 3 bunched so close to each other and no 1 not that far ahead, Reliance’s acquisition of Hutch Essar would propel him to a position of unchallenged dominance, giving him 50 million subscribers (including a large international roaming population) and a valuation of about $35 billion. It’s Reliance’s gameplan that has been the subject of some discussion . Why has it chosen to show its hand so early in the game, especially since it could artificially drive up Hutch Essar’s valuation and make the acquisition even more expensive? According to a person close to Hutch Essar, ‘‘ Serious players don’t talk, they pay.’’ Yet, no one would deny that Reliance has everything it takes to be a dead serious player. Anil Ambani and his mother on Sunday made a trip to Tirupati to seek divine assistance for his takeover bid. It might be a cold Christmas in the West, but things are just beginning to get warm here. While Ambani has chosen to show his hand, there’s another potentially serious player who’s playing his cards very close to his chest: Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel. Reliance’s acquisition of Hutch Essar would have serious implications for him, not least because it would leave him a distant no 2 in the game. Is he talking to Vodafone and Singtel? May be it’s time to call in the game theorists. Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...792,curpg-1.cms Now, what will happen? Will Reliance or Essar or Aircel-Maxis or Airtel win over Hutch? It will be very interesting.