Honest

Now, chip away mobile radiation 20 Sep, 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: Are you worried about the effects of electro-magnetic radiation emitted by your mobile on your health? You may soon have an option to implant a polymer chip in your mobile to counter this problem. The chip — which has been certified by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Apollo, Moolchand Hospital and Manipal Hospital — is being commercialised by Ludhiana-based King Multitech. The crystal polymer device which will neutralise the harmful effects of electro-magnetic radiations from cell phones is likely to be launched by the company in October this year. “The chip will superimpose radiations that come out of cell phones in the form of heat energy and would reduce the chances of hypertension, cancer, heart-disorders and depression by 70%,” said King Multitech CEO Karan Goel. The product has already been patented in the US and is available in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In India, the efficacy of the product has been tested by ten hospitals across the country which includes AIIMS, Apollo (Chennai), Moolchand Hospital and Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, said Mr Goel. The product is priced at Rs 1,250 in India and can be used for three years, after which the effect of the polymer starts reducing. The company has already tied up with Apollo Pharmacy and Fortis Healthworld to market and sell the product across the country. Test launches of the product in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai have already been made. The company is planning to target 25 crore mobile users in the country, Mr Goel said The company has also tied up with several cancer associations and hospitals to endorse the product and spread awareness about the harmful impact of cell phones. “People in India do not easily believe that cell phones can cause major harm to their health. While use of cell phone has become a necessity, with the use of such devices the people can at least reduce the possibility of getting affected,” Mr Goel said.

We will decide on spectrum sharing in 2 mths: Scindia 20 Sep, 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: The government may allow telcos to share spectrum and a decision on this will be will be taken within two months, junior telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said at an Assocham event here on Friday. Indian regulations allow telcos to share all infrastructure except radio frequencies. While spectrum sharing is not permitted in any country globally, this is seen as a feasible option to address the crunch and enable more players to enter the telecom space. Countries such as the US, however, allow operators to trade spectrum. Mr Scindia’s comments, however, contradicts the views expressed by telecom secretary Sidhharth Behura. Just a day ealier, Mr Behura had said that the DoT was not considering any such proposal: “I am not aware of any such development,” he had said. Even as Mr Behura denied any such development, ET has learnt that Mr Scindia has already held a round of discussion with the DoT on the issue of spectrum sharing last week. DoT in an internal communication last week had listed out the pros and cons of becoming the first country in the world to allow spectrum sharing.

^^^ Yes my dear friend, it will work on D88n also. Regards.

MY dear friends, our government wakeup only after the worst is happened. Regards.

Hmmm, thats really irritating my dear friends. The prepaid users have the option to recharge on their will whereas the postpaid subscribers will have to compulsarily shell out the amount monthly commitment, whether they use the service or not. This is not good of Reliance at all. They should take care of Postpaid subscribers much more then Prepaid ones. As Postpaid subscribers are committed to pay every month. Regards.

^^^ Welcome to the forum my dear Sandeep. My dear friend, if any member have the solution to your querry then he / she will post the solution here only. Why to bother others to send mails when you can discuss the same here. Regards.

DoT to provide broadband in 5,000 blocks with USOF support 2 Sep, 2008, 1952 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI : The government on Tuesday said it would provide broadband connectivity -- high speed Internet services -- to remaining 5,000 rural blocks with the financial support from the Universal Service Obligation Fund soon after the allocation of spectrum through the e-auction process. The Department of Telecom in a statement said today that it would connect 5,000 rural blocks in the country by wireless broadband soon after the spectrum allocation process to cover all villages that come within a radius of 10 kilometres of the Taluka/Block headquarters. In each block about 40 institutional users such as schools, public health centers, panchayats and community service centers (CSC) will get benefit from the broadband connectivity, it said. There are total 6,000 rural blocks in the country and BSNL is already providing fast Internet services to 1,000 such blocks. DoTs initiative is likely to cover the remaining blocks and the CSCs, and the department is also planning to support Wireline Broadband by USOF wherever feasible, the statement said. To meet the wireless broadband plan, the department has held discussions with technology providers, telecom service providers and Internet service providers to formalise the modalities of tender procedures, specification/deliverable formulation and bench mark settings, it added. Government's broadband plans will be supported by USOF it said.

IMImobile helps police track drunk drivers Business Line Hyderabad, Sept. 18 IMImobile on Thursday announced that it has teamed up with BPL Mobile to help Mumbai Police track drunk drivers. The Hyderabad company has developed a solution for the police to access a mobile database and interface to track repeat and new drunk drivers. With BPL Mobile providing the network connectivity, police are able to access criminal records at the scene of the crime via their mobile phones. Police are, therefore, able to check offenders’ records with greater efficiency, ensuring that repeat offenders do not slip through the net and new offenders are logged on the system from the outset. The Chairman of IMImobile, Mr Vishwanath Alluri, in a statement said, “this solution is being offered to the Mumbai police free of charge. We hope to extend this solution to other parts of the country.” ‘Info in seconds’ The Deputy Commissioner of Traffic, Mumbai Police, Mr Harish Baijal, said “with the support from IMImobile and BPL mobile, our officers can get the information of previous convictions of drunken driving within a few seconds. This technology has been very beneficial and will help us maintain discipline on Mumbai’s roads.” In addition, the system is able to send out SMS alerts on known offenders to entire police units, especially useful during the busy festival season. The database is confidential, with only top-ranking officials having complete access.

^^^ My dear friend, we are already discussing about the same in the below mentioned thread. Always search the forum before posting a new thread to avoid multiple threads on the same topic. http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?show...erry+bold\ Regards.

3G handset makers to ring in a Rs 3,500-4,000 offering Business Standard, New Delhi August 4, 2008, 0:17 IST With 3G mobile services, which provide high-speed downloads of data, movies and videos, around six month away, mobile phone makers are getting ready to offer handsets for as little as Rs 3,500, against the currently available minimum price of over Rs 8,000. Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies is already in talks with leading Indian operators of GSM mobile services to sell a 3G entry-level phone within $80 to $100. Company executives said bulk deals with operators would push down prices of 3G handsets further. Huawei has supplied these basic 3G phones to operators in the Hong Kong market. South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics has the KU250 3G phone model, which is positioned as one of the cheapest phones in this category around the globe. “We will launch an adaptation of this model in India for around $100, said Arun Arora, senior business group head of LG Electronics India. Motorola India also expects prices to fall dramatically. “We expect the prices of phones to come down to Rs 4,000-5,000,” said Lloyd Mathias, senior director, sales distribution and marketing. “Initially, they might be available at Rs 5,000-6,000 at the top level,” he added. Motorola has about three 3G models that range from Rs 14,000 to Rs 19,000. “With the policy guidelines issued last week for 3G, we will look at bringing in more 3G handsets in the market,” Mathias added. The availability of reasonably priced phones has already made many experts change their forecast of the size of the 3G market from 40 million to 70 million by 2012 to100 million and 150 million (when India is expected to have 700-750 mobile subscribers up from roughly 300 million today). “About 15 to 20 per cent of the mobile phones in India are 3G- enabled. So there is already a market waiting to be converted,” said Sunil Dutt who heads Samsung India's mobile handset business. Dutt added that 30 per cent of the mobile phones sold in the country cost over Rs 4,000 and that is a market that will be able to afford a 3G handset at $100. Also, contrary to common belief, 3G will not be a premium service. Operators said a start-up package could cost around Rs 299, which is roughly what consumers pay for a fixed broadband service. Unlimited downloading may require subscribers to pay Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a month. “3G will not be an elite service but a service for the middle class and it will bring about a broadband wireless revolution,” predicted Cellular Operations Association of India (COAI) director general T V Ramachandran. Last week, the government announced the 3G policy guidelines that will give 5 to ten operators per service area licences and spectrum to launch the service. Service providers will be chosen through an auction process.

SMS to become cheaper ? Indiatimes Infotech NEW DELHI: One of the most popular mobile application, SMS, may soon become cheaper. According to a business daily, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked mobile operators to reduce SMS charges voluntarily. According to the report, unlike voice traffic, the cost component in SMS is very low -- around 2 paise, however, most service providers either charge higher tariff for an SMS or almost comparable. Quoting sources, the report says that TRAI has held negotiations with Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the apex body of GSM mobile operators, to convince them to slash SMS tariff, falling which it may have to intervene through regulation. The move is being stiffly opposed by the service providers, as SMS makes for almost 50 per cent of their revenue. Already battling lower Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), service providers argue that revenue from value added services are critical to their survival. Incidentally, this is not the first time that TRAI has urged service providers to reduce the SMS cost. The regulatory body had asked operators to slash SMS rates two years ago too.

Qualcomm plans Rs 4,000 3G mobile 19 Sep, 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET MUMBAI: In a bid to make 3G handsets affordable, US-based chip giant Qualcomm is working with handset manufacturers and telecom operators (both CDMA and GSM) to launch 3G-enabled mobiles for as low as Rs 4,000 in India. These handsets, which will offer Internet on mobile besides other features, will be available early next year. Also, 3G smartphones, on the lines of Apple iPhone and Nokia’s N96, will be rolled out in the second half of 2009 with an entry-level price tag of Rs 10,000. “We are in talks with all operators to explore, along with our OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), how this space can be penetrated so as to increase the addressable market. We are working to make sure 3G entry-level phones start at Rs 4,000. Affordable 3G smartphones, beginning at Rs 10,000, will bring in a new dimension to enterprise connectivity,” Qualcomm India and South Asia president Kanwalinder Singh told ET. Qualcomm will provide the chipsets for mobiles and other devices. These are used by low-cost manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE to make handsets while telecom operators bundle them with their services because it increases their revenues from new applications and value added services (VAS). The San Diego-headquartered company is also bringing together its OEMs and GSM operators to offer data card connectivity solutions comparable to CDMA operators. “3G USB modems will bring ‘always on’ wireless broadband connectivity to laptops and desktops. These modems will enter the market in the Rs 3,500 price range,” he said. Currently, the data card market in India is dominated by Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications (RCOM). Till now, Qualcomm has only been associated with CDMA operators. However, as 3G comes to India, Qualcomm is also working with GSM service providers including Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea. This is because for evolution to 3G services, the GSM community has chosen wideband-CDMA radio interface, which increases data transmission rates in GSM systems. Globally, GSM 2G is transitioning to 3G. “In India, we will drive a similar trend and bring in affordable tiered solutions to stimulate mass market adoptions. While the key application of all 3G handsets will be no-compromise-access to mobile Internet, various price points will provide experience of different kinds. We expect all devices to support downloading and uploading of videos,” Mr Singh said. According to technology research firm IDC, 3G feature phones and smartphones in the range of Rs 4,000 and above will account for 30% of the Indian handset market.

Hmmm, you people are already leaching the booty. Its great of BSNL. Hope MTNL should also come with such a kind of STV. Regards.

‘Google phone may not to wow users’ 18 Sep, 2008, 0937 hrs IST,REUTERS NEW YORK: Anyone expecting the Google mobile operating system to change the market as Apple's iPhone has over the past year will probably be disappointed -- for now. Industry insiders who have worked on Google's Android system say it will struggle in the near term to match the consumer enthusiasm generated by the iPhone, which redefined the touchscreen phone market and greatly improved mobile Web surfing. Instead, Google sees Android as an open source platform for designing mobile devices and says it will encourage innovation by allowing outside software developers to tinker with the system and create better mobile programmes and services. But these things take time, and the first phone using Android, code-named the Google "Dream" phone, is unlikely to wow consumers. The device is made by HTC of Taiwan. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit reportedly intends to introduce it in New York on September 23. The mobile phone to use Google Inc's Android mobile operating software will cost $199, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website. "I'm not sure the consumer experience is significantly better than that of the iPhone," said Rajeev Chand, a wireless analyst at the investment bank Rutberg, who has tried out an early version of Android. "When the iPhone came out, the experience was several orders of magnitude better than anything that was out there." Google, its partner carriers and application developers hope the Android platform will drive even more mobile Web surfing than the iPhone, which has helped mobile Internet use rocket in comparison with other smartphones. But unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and software, Google will have less control. Android will be open to developers to create component technologies in almost any way they can imagine. Google's engineering-led culture appears content to introduce the first Android phones as a kind of science project that will be rapidly improved afterward. But Google will not have the kind of leverage in mobile that it is used to in the PC world, where it dominates Web search. Phone carriers have a huge say over how devices are designed and what data services are accessible over their networks. While Android could offer real promise in terms of technology and usability it is unlikely by itself to change the restrictive nature of the mobile industry, said John Poisson, founder of Tiny Pictures, a developer partner of Android. "Carriers in each market will still control how it gets implemented and on which devices and in which form," Poisson said. "Android lives and breathes at the pleasure of the operator." Another problem for Android is how to explain what it is to consumers. Unlike the iPhone, which came on the back of Apple's hugely successful iPod music player, Android is an unknown brand, even though the Google name has plenty of cachet. "People forget these things get to customers through the retail channel and marketing," said Frank Meehan, the global general manager for mobile phones and applications for the Hong Kong telecommunications conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa. "We operators struggle with how to market this phone. There's nothing really unique about it and we can't say it's a Google phone." Despite the concerns, mobile industry executives say they welcome Google's entrance, as its deep pockets will help meet the increasingly high expectations of consumers for mobile services. From a developer's perspective, Android's advantages over the iPhone or Nokia's Symbian operating system is that it is open source, which means Google is sharing its software code and making it easier for third parties to develop compatible applications. Apple’s second-generation iPhone applied the same strategy and offers more than 3,000 third-party applications through its App Store, but the company still retains some control. "Android promises to be the most open platform for building mobile phone applications that we've seen to date, because it's based on very familiar tools and technologies," said Jason Devitt, co-founder of Skydeck, a new service that will allow users to manage their cellphones over the Web. Some hope that Google's entrance can galvanise mobile advertising, which is still in nascent stages. "All these devices are resulting in better usage and that's what advertisers want and they're growing their spend," said Jason Spero, vice president of marketing at AdMob, a marketplace for mobile advertisers. Google is hoping to generate revenue through its existing search advertising and related services by the addition of mobile to PC. "Google's power comes from the freedom of choice, in terms of the component technology and services that can be laid on top," said Cheng Wu, founder of Azuki Systems, a mobile Web technology company. "The only thing they want to control is the kernel of the operating system and the ability to data-mine for search and advertising down the road."

BlackBerry Bold Launched in India Research In Motion (RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry Bold smartphone in India with Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance. The BlackBerry Bold is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks around the world. It integrates 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi and GPS, which can pinpoint the user's location and supports location-based applications and services. It comes with a half-VGA (480x320 resolution at 217 ppi) color LCD that is fused to the undersurface of the lens. The smartphone also comes with a media player for music, videos and photos and a 2 megapixel camera with video recording. "We at RIM are excited with the response to BlackBerry in the Indian market. Through the widened reach of Airtel, we look forward to penetrate the high level of consumer sophistication in the Indian market by introducing the new BlackBerry Bold which will set new benchmarks in business mobility by integrating elegance with powerful internet speed," said Mr. Jim Balsillie Co-CEO Research In Motion. "We are delighted with the opportunity to bring the BlackBerry Bold smartphone for Airtel customers" said, Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel. "We are always committed to introduce innovative and cutting edge technology to our users. BlackBerry Bold users will experience next generation technology and also be able to optimize their business and leisure time while on the move." Managing music, pictures and video is made easy with the inclusion of Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry as well as Roxio Photosuite 9 LE in the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software. For users that manage their collection with iTunes, the new BlackBerry Media Sync application provides a simple way to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone. The BlackBerry Bold smartphone also comes with a newly enhanced, high performance browser. The trackball mimics a mouse, making it easy to navigate sites in "Page View" or "Column View" or to zoom in on specific parts of a web page, while various emulation settings allow users to choose between the full desktop-style HTML content and layout or the mobile version. The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with a 624 MHz mobile processor, 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory, and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot that is accessible from a side door. DataViz Documents to Go is also preloaded, enabling users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone. The BlackBerry Bold also features a new acoustic design that increases the size of the phone's audio sweet spot, improving listening quality and clarity. It comes with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including car kits that adhere to the Bluetooth Remote SIM Access Profile) and other Bluetooth peripherals, noise cancellation technology that offsets background noise, a powerful speaker phone and support for polyphonic, mp3 and MIDI ring tones. The smartphone works with BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise environments, as well as BlackBerry Professional Software for small businesses. It also works with BlackBerry Internet Service, which gives users access to up to 10 supported work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts). Priced at Rs. 34,990, the BlackBerry Bold will be available by the end of September 2008 at authorized channels nationally. Courtesy : Tech2

Tatas ring in Blackberry, at last 18 Sep, 2008, 1557 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: After a long wait, Tata Teleservices today launched the premium Blackberry mobile services that offers customers e-mail, SMS messaging and internet-based applications. Tatas were denied permission to launch services by the government amidst security concerns, although other leading cellular operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Reliance Communications have been offering these services for more than a year now. It was only after Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura said recently that no permission was required from the government to launch the services, Tatas firmed up plans to roll out the service. Announcing the launch of Blackberry from Tata Indicom, Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices, said: "We take immense pride in launching the much-awaited Blackberry solution -- an office on the move for corporate executives and business professionals." The company has launched the CDMA-based Blackberry services that also offers international roaming on GSM/GPRS networks. Together with a "one world - one number" card, Tata Indicom users can access e-mail and data, as well as make and receive domestic and international calls, nationwide on the Tata Indicom CDMA network in India and around the world on GSM/GPRS networks. In the meanwhile, the National Security Advisor (NSA) has been looking into the security issues associated with Blackberry.

Airtel & RIM unveil new BlackBerry Bold in India 18 Sep, 2008, 1825 hrs IST, ECONOMICTIMES.COM Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) today introduced the highly anticipated BlackBerry Bold smartphone to customers in India. Priced at Rs. 34,990/-, the BlackBerry Bold would be available by the end of September 2008 at Airtel authorized channels nationally.

^^^ Yes, thats for sure my dear Raccoon. Regards.

^^^ My dear friends, this will be beneficial for the subscribers only. The more the competition, the more the lower tariffs. Regards.

^^^ Yes my dear Dev, Tata is the cheapest for Sms. Regards.

Foreign telcos can bid for 3G without Indian partner 18 Sep, 2008, 1452 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Government today said it will allow foreign telcos to bid on their own without a domestic partner for the 3G spectrum but they have to find a local player before starting services. As per the Indian laws, foreign companies can own up to 74 per cent stake and thus they would be required to form a joint venture with an Indian company before starting the services, Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura told reporters here. "The foreign telcos can bid on their own for the 3G spectrum but before rolling out services they should find an Indian partner," he said. The foreign players want DoT to allow them to bid as 100 per cent foreign entities or give them a minimum of six to seven months after announcement of bidding details to enable them form JV with Indian firms before the spectrum is auctioned. This, if allowed, can derail the 3G process rolled out by the government and further delay launch of the much awaited next generation mobile services in India. However, Behura assured that the auction process would be on time. Amendments made by DoT to the guidelines on companies that can offer 3G mobile-phone services said that new entrants would have to pay an additional Rs 1,650 crore to acquire a basic licence in addition to the money they bid for spectrum needed to offer 3G services. The foreign telecom operators who are interested in entering India's market to provide 3G telecom services have to shell out Rs 3,700 crore more than the existing licence holders.

Bigadda.com launches mobile-friendly version Mr Shivanandan Pare (left), Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda, and Mr Nikhil Soman, Chief Technology Officer, at a press conference in Chennai on Wednesday. Chennai, Sept. 17 To bring the growing number of mobile users on to its platform, social networking portal Bigadda.com, a division of Reliance Big Entertainment, has launched its mobile-friendly version of the portal. The portal, which can be accessed through the GPRS-enabled mobile handsets, will have key features of social networking such as searching for friends and communicating with them through text, voice and photo scribbles. Announcing the launch of the service, Mr Shivanandan Pare, COO, BigAdda, said this on-the-move application would enable users to register themselves through their mobile handsets. Besides, the phone book in the mobile handset can be used to send invitations to one’s new friends. “The built-in phonebook back-up utility stores users’ phonebook on our server, and in case the user changes his/her handset or lost the phonebook, the same can be retrieved from our site,” he said. According to Mr Nikhil Soman, Chief Technology Officer, the portal has developed different application software to suit various types of mobile handsets, depending on their screen size, resolution and various other factors. Currently, there are over 500 client application software. The download process automatically detects the user’s handset model and installs an application version created specifically for that device family. “There are over 50 device families that our download process detects and to enhance reach and availability of this application, we will continue the process of developing new versions for new devices as they enter the market place,” he said. The company’s main revenue source is advertising space. It has tied up with production houses in Bollywood to advertise movies through special clippings. “We are also exploring the possibilities of establishing other revenue streams,” said Mr Pare. He said that BigAdda currently has registered subscriber base of over 2.5 million and is adding at least 15,000 each day. Now, with this new initiative, it targets 100-150 million mobile users to get on to this platform in the first few months. Courtesy : Business Line

Bidding for mobile number portability agency in a week 18 Sep, 2008, 1331 hrs IST, IANS NEW DELHI: The bidding for an agency that will overlook the rollout of the proposed mobile number portability (MNP) will open within a week, telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura said on Thursday. He said the agency would be finalised in three months. "Six months from thereafter, we will roll out the MNP services in the metros initially and later in the rest of the country," Behura said here. Under the MNP proposal, a subscriber can change mobile service providers without having to change the original mobile phone number.

US meltdown may affect 3G bid / Global cos may shun 3G auctions 18 Sep, 2008, 0706 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: The meltdown of Wall Streets blue-blooded banks and the growing fear that the contagion will spread to some European banks could directly impact India’s upcoming 3G spectrum auctions by keeping away global bidders. The absence of global players is expected to seriously restrict the value of the bids placed for 3G spectrum, which jeopardizes the government’s Rs 40,000 crore revenue target from this spectrum sale. Typically, it is large global banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch that are intimately involved in supporting the financial bids of both existing operators and new entrants. They also have a strategic role in the M&As that follow such bids. With the weakening of the financial sector and a general nervousness around money supply, it is highly likely that even if global telcos do participate, the bidding will be far more conservative than it would have been under normal circumstances. “The financial meltdown is at its peak. India’s 3G auctions could not have come at a worse time. The weakness in financial markets is bound to impact bidders confidence”, a leading global banker told TOI. Apart from the fundamental weakness in financial markets, these international banks have very close relationships with global telecom service providers where long term debt, bridge loans and IPO’s are concerned. With the collapse of these banks, many global telcos have started tightening their belt and frozen future investments, M&A’s and even hiring. “The entire sentiment is negative. Don’t expect global telecom service providers to swim against the tide and put out massive bids in a market like India which is already littered with regulatory uncertainties”, says a global telecom operator whose company has been in the Indian market for investments for nearly two years. The weakness of foreign banks and global financial sector is also expected to move the Indian banking sector to a more conservative approach for funding debt which will be critical to the post-bidding rollout scenario. “Overall, the sentiment of telecom investments during and post the 3G bidding will be intimately linked to the scale of the unfolding financial crisis”, says a telecom analyst. Telecom minister, A Raja’s 3G guidelines, announced on August 1, 2008 proved to be a dampener for global telcos who said they would not participate on account of discriminatory financial entry barriers among other issues. This forced the DoT to revise the spectrum guidelines for both 3G and Broadband Wireless Access spectrum. Companies are currently studying the full impact of such revisions. It seems that the crisis faced by the global banking sector is definitely an unwelcome move that will adversely impact India’s exchequer revenues.

First Google Android phone to cost $199 18 Sep, 2008, 0837 hrs IST, REUTERS NEW YORK: The first mobile phone to use Google Inc's Android mobile operating software will cost $199, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Wednesday. The phone, which features a slide-out keypad, is being manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corp and will be sold by Deutsche Telekom's, T-Mobile USA unit, which plans to unveil the device at an event in New York on Sept 23. AT&T Inc, the only US operator selling Apple Inc's iPhone, set the price of the latest version at $199 in July, setting a benchmark for smartphones that can surf the Web, manage email and other multimedia features. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said T-Mobile USA plans to release new data service plans in conjunction with the Google phone that will be "aggressively priced." Google, HTC and T-Mobile USA declined comment on the pricing for the phone.