Honest

BSNL to switch over to new billing system in 2-3 month 27 Aug, 2008, 1045 hrs IST, PTI MUMBAI: State-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd plans to switch over to the Call-Detail-Record (CDR) billing system for its 3.5 crore landline subscribers in the next two to three months. "Our landline billing system as of now works on the conventional technology, and we are unable to give a customised offer to subscribers. But very soon all that will be a thing of the past," BSNL Deputy Director General, (Enterprise Business), Sunil Kumar said here. Telephone exchanges spread over 20 major cities across the country would switch over to the CDR system for billing in the next 2-3 month, he said. The entire project is being carried out in a phased manner and over the next 6-8 month, all the exchanges will be connected to this technology, he said. "One of the advantages of the new billing system is that one single bill could be generated for an entire corporate house, and the payments also, accordingly be made from any where in the country," the BSNL official said. "In addition, we will be able to offer various tariff plans to landline customers on the lines of mobile tariff plans." The introduction of the CDR billing system is part of the public sector company's plans to become an information and communication technology (ICT) services provider. BSNL is also looking at providing managed network services (MNS), Kumar said.

BSNL launches bill payment service through PNB ATMs 5 Sep, 2008, 1627 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Telephone users of BSNL can now pay their bills through ATMs of Punjab National Bank. Post-paid mobile subscribers of BSNL can pay their bills in any of the 1,700 ATMs of PNB throughout the country where as for fixed line customers this facility is available in 19 major cities at present. "We will extend the service for fixed line customers throughout the country shortly," BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said while launching the service. The idea of bill payment through ATMs was conceived by BSNL when the PSU bank was installing an ATM machine at the telecom operators' headquarter premises few days back. At present, BSNL customers have various options of making bill payment, including BSNL counters, post offices, banks, through internet -- BSNL Portal, through ITC card, ITZ card, credit and debit card, easy bill outlets etc. "It is a milestone for the PSU and the IT teams of BSNL, and PNB made this concept a reality within a record time of 15 days," PNB CMD K C Chakrabarty said. This is a free service for the subscribers of BSNL. The telecom operator generates around 35 crore telephone bills every month and it is hopeful that this service will make the bill payment process more smooth for its subscribers.

BlackBerry Thunder is Now Storm The BlackBerry Thunder was going to be RIM’s answer to the iPhone. With its large touch screen and seemingly sleek design, it could not go wrong. It's even undergone a name change. It's now called the BlackBerry 9530 Storm. What reports are stating is that the 9530 will be launched in a CDMA version exclusively for Verizon. Of course the company is still working out the kinks in the handset. There’s no word yet on the official availability or the pricing so stay tuned. Courtesy : Tech2

^^^ @Akshat My dear friend, we have already asked / informed you in some of your previous threads to mention the SOURCE OF THE NEWS / INFORMATION posted on the forum. Although you had provided the source in your previous thread after asking to do so. But now once again you have not provided the source in your post. Just tell us dude for how many times we have to ask / beg you for this. Our dearest Ashok Bhai already told in many of his posts that it is mandatory to provide the SOURCE OF THE NEWS / INFORMATION according to rules. And all threads which are posted without proper SOURCE will be deleted or closed. As of now we are closing your thread. You can PM any Modertaor or Admin and provide the source of the above information then only this thread is going to be open again. Once again no hard feelings my dear friend. This is mandatory according to rules. Regards.

BigAdda goes mobile Business Line Ahmedabad, Sept. 5 Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Big Adda has taken social networking to mobile phones through Mobile Adda. It will have similar features as that of its online counterpart Big Adda such as text, voice, photo scribbles, auto updates and notifications. “The number of mobile users today far exceeds the penetration and usage of PCs in India. Currently, bigadda.com is reaching out to the 40 million Internet user base in India and with us going to the mobile platform, we will be able to reach an additional 50 million users,” said Mr Shivanandan Pare, Chief Operating Officer. Facebook and Orkut have WAP sites that service the global markets but are not formatted for the India-centric devices, according to a release. Indyarocks and Ibibo also offer a basic SMS service allowing users to receive alerts but BigAdda claims to offer all key features through all forms of access – SMS, WAP and Java Client. To receive Big Adda on the mobile phone, the user needs to SMS BIGADDA to 55454.

Bharti, Tata Comm come under DoT scanner Business Line New Delhi, Sept. 5 The Department of Telecom may impose a penalty on Bharti Airtel and Tata Communications (formerly VSNL) for allegedly violating long distance licence norms. While Bharti Airtel was found to have set up its gateways in Delhi and Chennai without proper clearances from the Government, Tata Communication has been hauled up for offering variable tariffs for its international leased line service. The DoT has set up an internal committee to figure out the quantum of the penalty. “The committee shall recommend as to what should be the amount of penalty to be imposed on licence companies for various cases of violations of terms and conditions of the national long distance and international long distance licence commensurate with damage suffered by the Government in view of various aspects including national security,” said a DoT source. The recommendations of the committee, headed by the Additional Secretary of the DoT, will also be considered for any violations in the future. Not the first time This is not the first time long distance operators have come under DoT’s scanner. DoT had earlier issued show cause notices for various violations by operators including employing a foreign national without approval of Ministry of Home Affairs, failing to check the bona fide use and to detect any misuse of the services and provisioning of ISD services without clearance of security monitoring equipment. Long distance operators were also found to be routing calls through illegal channels to avoid paying Government levies and charges. Some of the operators’ networks were being used by illegal exchange operators to route grey calls. DoT officials said operators may be asked to present their case in front of the committee and their views would be taken on board before the penalty amount is decided. When contacted, Tata Communications officials were not available for comments. Bharti Airtel’s spokesperson in a statement said, “At Bharti Airtel, we have always followed regulatory requirements and processes and hence have always delivered on the highest norms of corporate governance. In this case, since we have not received any communication in this regard, we are not in a position to make any comment.”

@Ani_meher My dear friend, you can try Camp, Laxmi Road or Pimpri also for this offer. Regards.

Yes my dear Asit you are right here. One of my friend too is using the same handset and he too doesn't have any battery problem or reboot problem. Actually sometimes rebooting of handset depends on the Sim also. A faulty Sim can also be the reason of rebooting the handset. Regards.

Really my dear friends, this plan is not good at all. Other better plans are their with all operators with more benefits. Regards.

^^^ @Sumit My dear friend, can you please give us the link where it is stated that this handset doesn't support MP4. Actually the phone has a Video Camera, so no doubt it records and plays Videos. May be it support some other format like 3gp. But still I think it support MP4. Please provide the link where you got the above information. Regards.

^^^ @Jayanth My dear friend, if the drivers for Vista is not available then also you can use the same in vista. You have do just install the Xp drivers in Vista in compatibility mode of Windows XP SP2. Right click the *.exe file select properties, click "Compatibility", Click "Run this programme in compatibility mode of Windows XP SP2", then select "Run as Administrator". Thats it. You will be able to use Xp drivers in Vista. Simple. Regards.

Firefox Counters Chrome's Speed Test To counter Chrome, Google's new browser Mozilla released some performance results of the forthcoming version of Firefox. And according to those results, it outpaces Chrome, reports Cnet. At the Chrome launch, Google showed performance results of the browser using its collection of 5 JavaScript benchmarks and V8 - Chrome's JavaScript engine. To counter this, Mozilla, a competitor to Google in the Internet browser space has come up with a different test called SunSpider. SunSpider shows that the forthcoming Firefox 3.1, which uses a JavaScript acceleration technology called TraceMonkey, is faster than Chrome for JavaScript programs. It was 28% faster than Chrome on Windows XP and 16% faster on Vista. More Chrome News: EULA Controversy While most of us were busy checking out the features and design of Google's newest baby, folks at Ars Technica took a casual look at the EULA (End User License Agreement), since Google has been known to get into trouble with some of its shaky EULA terms in the past. And what did they find? Section 11.1 "11.1: You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content, you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services." What this essentially meant was that Google would be free to do whatever they wanted to with the content that you 'process' through their browser. Mind you, this content includes your personal details and other stuff you really don't want to end up in the hands of a billion-dollar corporation. Having said that, the offensive bit was later taken off the EULA later. And, Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome confirmed this with the folks at Ars Technica that Google usually reuses the EULA as much as possible to keep things simple for the masses. This could result in some irrelevant clauses appearing in EULA, which does not really apply to the use of that product, which is what is believed to have caused this faux pas. Courtesy : Techtree

Idea offers to demerge Punjab, Karnataka licences 7 Aug, 2008, 0053 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: Idea Cellular, which had acquired a controlling stake in Spice Communications in June for about Rs 2,700 crore, has told the Department of Telecom (DoT) that it is willing to demerge its licences in the Punjab and Karnataka circles into a separate entity. Idea, which has sought clarity from the DoT on merger and acquisition norms, has also said it would not hold more than 10% stake in the demerged entity. This adds yet another twist to the Idea-Spice merger. It had been first reported in June, that following the acquisition, Idea Cellular has written to DoT seeking regulatory clarity on a host of issues, including the licenses and radio frequencies that were recently awarded to Spice. The merger has come under DoT scrutiny as the department is of the view that it violates the newly issued guidelines on mergers and acquisitions — the norms disallow mergers between operators in the same circle for a period of three years when the from the date the license is granted. The issue is as follows: On January 2008, Idea was awarded licenses for several new circles including Karnataka and Punjab. However, in June 08, it acquired Spice, which held licenses in these circles and also offered mobile services in these two states. Idea has now told the DoT that if it were in violation of the licensing norms on the grounds that it holds overlapping licenses in these two circles, the company will demerge the licenses it had been awarded for these zones in January and sell them. The move will not impact Idea’s operations in these two circles — this is because, it will continue to have a presence in these circles via Spice Communications, which is currently being merged with Idea. Idea can therefore give up its licenses in these two circles, especially considering that it has not launched any cellular operations under these licenses. Idea has also clarified that following the demerger of these licenses, neither it, nor any of its associate companies will hold more than a 10% stake in them, as Indian laws do not allow telcos to hold more than 10% stake in two different licenses in the same circle. Idea has also said that if the DoT did not accept this option, it is willing to surrender the licenses issued to it in January 08 for Punjab and Karnataka. In this scenario, the company has said that the DoT must refund the Rs 300 crore it has paid as entry fee for its licenses in these circles. Similarly, in January 08, Spice was awarded mobile licenses in four circles — Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Idea has also indicated that it is willing to demerge or surrender the licenses for these circles that were awarded to Spice. Here again, the move to give up the licenses that were formerly held by Spice will not have an impact on Idea Cellular because Idea already has full-fledged mobile operations in all these circles. Idea is now awaiting the DoT’s response on these issues.

DoT norms may force Idea to pay more for Spice 4 Sep, 2008, 0500 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: Idea Cellular may have to pay more for acquiring Spice Communications. The government has set up a committee to specify spectrum transfer charges in case of mergers. And while the Idea-Spice deal was announced before the panel was set up, a senior official in the department of telecom (DoT) said it is possible that charges may be levied on this merger as well. “It is up to the committee to decide if this fee would be applicable to the Idea-Spice deal,” the official added, while refusing to give details. DoT, while announcing merger guidelines earlier this year, had said telcos would have to pay a spectrum transfer charge during a merger, but did not specify the fee. Industry sources are divided on whether the Idea-Spice transaction should attract spectrum transfer charges as DoT has already asked Idea Cellular to surrender one of the two telecom licences for Punjab and Karnataka circles. This is because Idea Cellular, which had acquired a controlling stake in Spice (which offered mobile services in Punjab and Karnataka) for about Rs 2,700 crore in June, held two licences in these circles after the acquisition. “After Idea surrenders its licences, it can be argued that there is no spectrum transfer. In this scenario, it is not transferring Spice’s spectrum to that of its existing licence,” said an executive with an operator which was recently awarded a telecom licence. Existing merger policy does not offer any clarity on the issue. Added another industry source, who tracks policy: “The merger norms were announced on April 8 and the Idea-Spice deal happened in June. So technically, DoT can impose a fee on Idea as the deal brings with it the radio frequencies held by Spice. But imposing this fee at a later stage is equivalent to changing the goalposts after half the game is over.” DoT is yet to approve Idea’s acquisition of Spice. In addition to the spectrum transfer charges, the new merger norms also state that new licensees cannot merge with another existing operator for a period of three years. It is on account of this clause that the DoT has asked Idea to give up its licenses for the circles of Punjab and Karnataka which were awarded to the company earlier this year. Idea Cellular has already informed the DoT that it is willing to surrender the licences for these two circles, while adding that the government must refund the Rs 300 crore it has paid as entry fee. The DoT while ruling out a refund is yet to respond to Idea’s demands for further clarity on the M&A norms. Giving up these licences will not impact Idea’s operations in these two circles. This is because, it will continue to have a presence in these circles via Spice Communications. Idea can therefore give up its licenses in these two circles, especially considering that it has not launched any cellular operations under these licences.

CDMA players cite HC order to bolster spectrum claims 4 Sep, 2008, 0451 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: Following the Delhi HC court’s decision to dismiss the petition by GSM players against dual technology (under which telcos can offer services on both GSM and CDMA technology platforms), CDMA players have now approached the telecom regulator, finance ministry and the Department of Telecom (DoT) claiming that the HC judgment also indicates that GSM players are not entitled to radio frequencies beyond the 6.2 MHz mark. It has been a long-pending demand of the CDMA-based operators that GSM players be mandated to return all excess radio frequencies beyond the 6.2 MHz mark in every circle. CDMA operators also want the government to impose spectrum charges equivalent to the market value for all ‘extra radio frequencies held by GSM players beyond the 6.2 MHz mark. They want GSM players be charged Rs 1,312 Crore per MHz for all radio frequencies beyond this figure and say that this would bring in revenues to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore to the government. On the other hand, GSM operators say they are entitled to spectrum up to 15 MHz. They also maintain that ‘licence terms has been outlined by successive governments over a decade and the allegation of CDMA stakeholders tantamounts to raising fingers at every government and administration over the last decade and accusing them of acting in an extra-constitutional and unauthorised manner’. The Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the body representing CDMA players in its communication to all wings of the government has highlighted several points from the Delhi High Court judgment which it claims emphasizes that licence conditions entitles GSM players only to 6.2 MHz of radio frequencies. It has pointed out that in additional solicitor general Vikas Singh during the arguments had said that the petitioners (GSM players) were entitled only to 6.2 MHz. However, at the same time, AUSPI had recently withdrawn its petition in the telecom tribunal challenging the allotment of over 6.2 MHz to GSM players. “In view of the many observations of the government and High Court of Delhi in the judgement, it is very much urgent to take action regarding the spectrum held beyond the contracted amount by GSM operators,” the AUSPI communication added. The department of telecommunications (DoT) had recently shot down Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh’s demand to the Prime Minister’s Office that GSM players be charged a one-time spectrum charge for all radio frequencies they hold beyond 6.2 MHz. The DoT, in its reply, has told the PMO that it cannot adopt Mr Singh’s suggested methodology of computing the one-time spectrum levy payable by GSM players and also the quantum of additional levy on recurring spectrum usage charges.

Wish you a very Happy Birthday my dear Kalpak, Utsav and all others.

BSNL unveils 3G services in Pune Business Standard, Pune August 28, 2008, 0:42 IST The first time in India, third generation (3G) mobile phone services have been rolled out by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) in Pune. The pilot launch will enable 2 mbps data connectivity to 2,000 BSNL post-payment mobile subscribers in Pune free-of-cost for the time being. While the controversial procedure for spectrum allocation for 3G services across the country continues, BSNL rolled out its 3G services for subscribers having Plan-725 on a first-come-first-serve basis in Pune. Thanks to the 2 mbps bandwidth, BSNL will provide facilities such as video conferencing, video calling, video MMS and visual mail box to the subscribers. Chandra Prakash, chief of BSNL's Maharashtra and Goa circle, said, "We have partnered mobile solutions vendors ITI and Alcatel-Lucent India to provide 3G services. With the present capacity, we will offer this facility to 2,000 subscribers. Being a pilot project, the service will be free-of-charge." Initially, the subscribers will only enjoy video-call facility. The other facilities would be provided over the next six months. BSNL plans to introduce 3G services in 56 cities and towns across the Maharashtra and Goa circle, for which the company has invested Rs 300 crore. "The charges for the service will be finalised only after completion of the bidding procedure for spectrum allocation. The entire bidding process is expected to be wrapped up in six months, after which we will finalise the rates," Prakash added. The 3G services are expected to cost 20 to 30 per cent more than the costs of prevailing GPRS or EDGE services that provide 144 kbps wireless connectivity. One megabite is equivalent to 1,000 kilobyte.

Wish you all a very happy GANESH CHATURTHI. Download Ganesh Aarti : Sukhkarta Dukhharta Varta Vignachi and get the blessings of Lord Ganesha. Sukhkarta_Dukhharta_Varta_Vignachi.mp3

My dear friends, we are already discussing about this handset in another thread. Please continue discussions their only. http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=15068 Regards.

^^^ Phone heatup is a commong problem in CDMA technology my dear friend, but it doesn't hurt your health. Regards.

Its just superb my dear friends. Customised for many features. Regards.

^^^ Very correct my dear Sadik Bhai. The day when TATA achieves the number of connections equivalent to Rcom or Airtel, then only we get to know whether TATA are the least congested or not. Regards.

Idea’s Onam offer Business Line Idea Cellular Ltd has launched a special recharge offer for its prepaid customers as part of the Onam celebration in Kerala. In addition to lifelong validity, all existing and new prepaid customers recharging for Rs 296 will get Rs 100 free as talk time. They can also make local Idea to Idea calls worth Rs 250 for free for one month. Customers can enjoy local call tariff at just Re 1. Commenting on the offer, Mr B. Ramakrishna, COO, Kerala, Idea Cellular Ltd, said, “This is a limited period offer that has been specially launched for this festive season.”

Tata Tele network least congested, says Trai 3 Sep, 2008, 0246 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: Tata Teleservices continues to have the least congested cellular network among all pan- India telecom operators, according to the latest congestion report by telecom regulator Trai. The regulator, after evaluating the network congestion for the period of April to June 2008, has said Tata Teleservices’ network has recorded congestion in only five points of interconnect (PoI) compared to 56 PoIs for Bharti Airtel, 22 for Reliance Communications and 19 for Vodafone Essar. According to Trai, congestion at points of interconnection (PoI) should be less than 0.5%. This implies that out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem. Network congestion is the primary factor that results in call drops, poor reception and voice quality. Earlier, the Trai report on congestion for January - March 2008 also ranked the Tatas first and said the telco had only 10 congested PoIs compared to 83 PoIs of Airtel, 41 for Reliance and 43 for Vodafone. Commenting on the landmark achievement, A G Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices, said, “Today mobile customers are very discerning and they look for quality of service rather than just cost advantage. From crystal clear voice quality and minimal call drops our customers experience the advantages of being on Tata Indicom’s network. This report has further reiterated superiority of our network once again. This acknowledgment further reassures our customers and endorsers that we provide nothing except the best. It is a proud achievement of the extraordinary standards that we have set for our network. ” India is the world’s fastest growing mobile market and adds over 9 million new customers every month. In order to ensure seamless interconnection, Trai has been monitoring the level of congestion at the PoI level between various service providers on a monthly basis. This parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. Trai’s PoI congestion report analysis for the month of April 2008 to June 2008 shows that the performance of telcos with regard to congestion has improved when compared to their figures for the March, 2008 period.

Foreign telcos should wait and watch 3G process: Report 2 Sep, 2008, 1355 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Foreign telecom operators who are aspiring to enter the Indian telecom space through the 3G licence auction route should not participate in the auction process at present as their growth prospects are limited by regulatory and market factors, said a report. They should keep themselves out of the race for the time being and wait for a better time, suggests a recent report by research firm Strategy Analytics. "We believe that foreign operators should adopt a wait and watch approach as the licensing and pricing policies will most likely change," said Rahul Gupta, author of the report. Foreign operators like AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, NTT Docomo and others who have been eyeing the domestic market for a long time now finally got a chance to enter world's fastest growing telecom market but looking at the current 3G auction policy, it is advisable for them not to participate in the race, it said. The report "3G Scenario in Emerging Markets" by the firm says the government's 3G policy is not suitable for the foreign players at present due to a number of factors like pricing structure and strict timeline. "The opening of 3G licensing process to global players would have been well received initially but on further review the complexity of the process, the upfront payment requirements and with very tight timeline proposed will limit international investment," said the report. Recently the communications minister A Raja said that the 3G auction process would be completed by October. Firstly, the upfront payment of almost 500 million dollar without any guarantee of being able to get licence will frighten many of the operators, it added. The report said that smart international operators would simply wait until 3G licensing installs and enter the market, later picking up the licence at much more reasonable rate with less uncertainty. Secondly, the timing of auction could prove a major hurdle for them as it is virtually impossible to get FIPB approval within the deadline. Recently the communications minister A Raja said that the 3G auction process would be completed by October. It takes several months to get through the FIPB process due to high level of bureaucracy. This is another factor that we would hope that Indian regulators and relevant ministries would re-examine prior to the announcement of the auction if they are serious about opening up of the bidding process to major foreign players, the report added.