Honest

^^^ Congrats for the purchase of your new handset my dear Chirag. Do post some review of the handset after using the same. Regards.

CDMA cos too must bid for 3G: TRAI 13 Aug, 2008, 0132 hrs IST, ET Bureau KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Cracks have surfaced in the recently announced 3G spectrum policy. Telecom regulator TRAI has said the government’s decision to allot third generation (3G) spectrum to CDMA players without an auction is against the principles of equality. This is because the policy gives CDMA operators ‘one’ slot in the 800 MHz band — the most efficient and cost-effective frequency for CDMA players to offer high-end services — with a rider that the largest operator in a circle would get it. This means Reliance Communications, with the largest subscriber base in all circles, except Delhi and Maharashtra, will be given 3G spectrum ahead of other CDMA players Tata Teleservices, BSNL, MTNL and Shyam Telecom in the 800 MHz frequency band. DoT currently has 3G frequencies in the 800 MHz to accommodate only one CDMA player. ET has also learnt that it will take over a year for the defence forces to free additional frequencies in the 800 MHz band. This means other CDMA players will have to wait for over a year and the position can change only if there’s an auction. On the other hand, GSM players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular will have to go through a global auction to get 3G spectrum. Earlier this month, communications minister A Raja had unveiled the 3G policy which would help telecom operators to offer high-end services such as video conferencing, faster downloads of music and movies, interactive gaming and high speed internet. TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra in a August 8, 2008 communication to DoT secretary S Behura has said: “Since various service providers have been given licences in different service areas at different time periods, TRAI believes that keeping the subscriber base as the criterion for deciding the priority of spectrum allotment shall go against the level-playing field and the principle of equity.” Additionally, Mr Misra also said RCOM and Tata Teleservices apart, several other players such as BSNL, MTNL and Shyam Telecom have been given the licence to offer CDMA services. “So, the government must take the auction route to allot 3G frequencies in the 800 MHz band for CDMA players as well.” Further, to drive home the issue’s seriousness, Mr Misra has used firm words to emphasise the need for a review of the policy: “Spectrum in the 800 MHz should be auctioned among applicants with the highest bid price received for the auction of 2.1 GHz spectrum as the reserve price. The subscriber base of the CDMA network of a service provider in any service area is a result of different environments, and cannot muster the test of fairness if it was to become the basis of priority.” Mr Misra’s communication is likely to come as a major embarrassment to the DoT and communications minister A Raja, since both have been maintaining that the government would provide equal opportunities to all players to bid for 3G frequencies. “RCOM will have a clear and distinct advantage. Other CDMA operators may have to wait a long time,” said an executive with a private CDMA operator who did not wish to be named. When it was pointed out that CDMA players had the options of bidding for 3G frequencies in the 450 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, the executive said: “The best band is 800 MHz. Since CDMA players already offer 2G in this frequency, the migration to 3G would be easy. The 450 MHz band is largely for rural India. As for the 1900 MHz band, there is no timeframe when this will be made available. The policy is therefore tailormade for the largest CDMA operator.” When contacted on the issue, Mr Misra said the regulator had sent its views to the DoT on the recently unveiled policy and added, “We are only saying that allotting 3G spectrum based on the number of subscribers is not feasible. Different operators got CDMA licences at different times and therefore the subscriber base cannot be compared.”

TRAI wants DoT to review 3G policy Business Line New Delhi, Aug. 12 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has told the Government that there should be a review of some parts of the recently announced policy for third generation mobile policy, including the decision to allocate spectrum to CDMA operators based on subscriber base criterion. In a letter to the Department of Telecom, TRAI said allocating spectrum based on subscriber base would be against the principles of level playing field and equity as it could mean that new CDMA operators may not stand any chance of getting 3G spectrum. TRAI has suggested that the Department of Telecom may instead consider auctioning spectrum for CDMA players. According to the policy announced last week, while GSM operators have to bid for 3G spectrum, CDMA operators, including Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices, can seek one slot in the 800 MHz, which is the most efficient and cost-effective frequency band for 3G services as far as CDMA is concerned. Spectrum in this band will be allocated to the CDMA operator with the most number of subscribers in a circle. Four-page letter In its letter to DoT, the telecom regulator said: “As various service providers have been given licences in different service areas at different periods of time, the Authority feels that keeping the subscriber base as the criterion for deciding the priority of allotment shall be against the level playing field and the principle of equity. Therefore, the Authority suggests that in order to ensure equity, level playing field and optimum pricing in allotment in 800 MHz band, the DoT may consider the auction route.” The four-page letter was sent by the TRAI Chairman, Mr Nripendra Misra, to the DoT Secretary, Mr Siddhartha Behura, on August 8. On the issue of giving separate licences to new and foreign players, the regulator told DoT that the matter should be referred to the TRAI so that the terms and conditions for the new type of licence can be specified. TRAI has also sought clarity on spectrum charges.

Wish you a very Happy Birthday my dear Arun and all others.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam places order for 3G lines 12 Aug, 2008, 2111 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has placed an order of five million lines for its third generation (3G) mobile services to Swedish firm Ericsson, the company said on Tuesday. "We have already placed orders for five million lines to Ericsson for the 3G service," BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal told reporters here on the sidelines of a company event. He said the service would take at least six months to be rolled out. The BSNL chief was also hopeful of getting union support for the 10 percent disinvestment, which could raise up to $10 billion in the country's biggest-ever share sale. "There are positive responses. They (the unions) are discussing it with employees... they have said they will have an open mind on it," Goyal said. The company has about 314,000 employees and had met the Department of Telecom last week to resolve the disinvestment issue.

Idea may take Rs 350-cr hit on Spice equity buy Business Line ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ According to existing rules, a single company cannot hold more than 10 per cent stake in two different telecom firms in the same circle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New Delhi, Aug. 11 Aditya Birla Group-backed Idea Cellular may lose as much as Rs 350 crore if it wants to fructify its proposed acquisition of equity stake in Spice Communication. The Department of Telecom on Monday said that the company will have to surrender its licence in Punjab and Karnataka without getting a refund of entry fee paid for these circles to avoid overlapping of service areas. While Idea Cellular had recently got licences for the two areas, Spice has been offering mobile services there. According to existing merger and acquisition rules, a single company cannot hold more than 10 per cent stake in two different telecom firms in the same circle. Idea Cellular had announced in June that it was acquiring 40.8 per cent stake, held by B K Modi Group, in Spice for Rs 2,700 crore. However, DoT norms do not permit acquisition in overlapping areas. “Policy is very clear. What will one do with two licences? You need just one to offer the service. Obviously, Idea has to return one licence (in each circle) but there wouldn’t be any refund for this,” Mr Sidhharth Behura, Secretary, Department of Telecom, said on the sidelines of an event. Idea Cellular had earlier approached DoT seeking clarity on the issue. One of the options being discussed within the company was to demerge the second licence in Punjab and Karnataka into a separate company in a bid to override the M & A rule. The company had told DoT that it was also open to surrendering one set of the licences but hoped to get a refund of the entry fee paid. Idea Cellular had reported a 14.7 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 263.1 crore in the first quarter of this financial year due to forex losses and higher interest charges. The Rs 350-crore notional loss may put additional burden on the company’s financials. Idea Cellular would have coughed up nearly Rs 3,500 crore for the acquisition, including the Rs 543.97-crore it paid as a non-compete fee to the BK Modi Group. DoT’s decision also means that the B K Modi Group may also stand to lose money it paid for acquiring licences in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra circles as Idea Cellular already has operations in these circles.

COAI requests HC to pass order on dual tech, extra spectrum 12 Aug, 2008, 2031 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: GSM operators lobby COAI on Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court, second time in last 12 days, requesting to pass its verdict over a petition filed by it challenging dual technology regime and allocation of additional spectrum. This is the second time when the GSM lobby group COAI has approached the High Court to pass order in this case after a single member bench of Justice Gita Mittal had reserved its judgment on February 28 after hearing the case. Talking to PTI, COAI Director General T V Ramachandran said that Justice Gita Mittal assured it to pass order in the next two days. Earlier, On July 31 when the COAI had mentioned for passing judgment in this case, Justice Mittal had assured that she would pass order by August 7. However, today COAI again mentioned it before Justice Mittal as the order was not delivered. In their petition, COAI had requested the court to quash DoT's October 18 and 19, 2007 decisions to permit the use of dual technology and regulator TRAI's recommendation of enhanced subscriber-linked criterion for allocation of additional spectrum. They had named CDMA operators Reliance Communication Ltd, Tata Teleservices, HFCL and TRAI as parties to the case. In their petition, Cellular operators' Association of India had also requested the High Court to direct the sectoral tribunal TDSAT to pass an interim order on this issue. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal had on December 12 declined to stay the process of issuance of spectrum dual technology regime.

Airtel Launches Special Offer For Independence Day Airtel is serving up its prepaid customers in the Delhi and NCR region a special offer to mark celebrations of our 61st Independence Day. Through this offer their customers will enjoy the benefit of full talktime with no processing charges, and STD at one rupee for a month, on recharging with Rs. 1,947. (1947 - Year of our Independence - get it?) Customers can avail the Airtel Independence Day offer by recharging their Airtel prepaid mobiles with Rs. 1947 and getting talktime worth Rs. 1947, without paying any processing fees or service tax. This limited period recharge voucher comes with a validity of 1 year. As an added perk, customers can also enjoy STD calls at one rupee for a period of 1 month through this recharge voucher by sending '1947' as a toll free SMS to 170. Shashi Arora, CEO – Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Mobile Services), Delhi and NCR said, "The Rs. 1,947 voucher, as its name suggests, symbolizes freedom and independence for our valued customers. In keeping with that spirit, it gives us great joy to announce this recharge voucher for the Delhi and NCR circle, which offers full talktime with a 1 year validity. We are sure that this offer will prove to be highly beneficial for our high value customers seeking value for money." Courtesy : Tech2

iPhone 3G Pricing Out Everything about the iPhone 3G launching in India is known. Everything but the price. Well, that's about to change now as we've received official pricing for the most-awaited phone. The 8 GB version of the iPhone 3G will cost Rs. 31,000, while the 16 GB version will cost between Rs. 36,000 and Rs. 37,000. These prices are not inclusive of the plan these phones will come bundled with. Customers buying the iPhone will have a choice of plans to choose from, so stay online with us to get those details soon. Courtesy : Tech2

Point and Pay Through Mobile Phone Innovative telecom solutions are coming your way, imagine being able to download video clips, games and animations in minutes by just pressing a button on your mobile phone and pointing it to a store near you. eCogNito -- an end-to-end mobile transaction platform is running a pilot along with Airtel to bring contact-less transactions. This will enable Airtel customers to recharge prepaid connections, pay bill, book movie tickets and access digital content. eCogNito, a SIM based network agnostic application features a printed electronics technology called Active Poster (AP). AP is essentially a through-the-glass terminal service that can be mounted on a retail shop with a glass front, converting it into a 24x7 storefront. The customers will also be able to touch their handsets to 'target icons' on APs placed in cafes, music shops, multiplexes, fast food restaurants. This will automatically set-up local, high-speed free data connections using multiple short-range wireless connectivity technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and download rich media content like videos, and games to their handset. The new service will work with "millions of existing handsets in-use" and Airtel has reportedly signed up 2,60,000 customers. Courtesy : Techtree

Global majors may stay away from 3G auction 12 Aug, 2008, 0753 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: A closer study of the government's recently announced 3G auction guidelines has managed to cool the ardour of several global telecom operators and potential new entrants , many of whom are now planning to stay away from the bidding ring. Companies have downgraded their interest to "negative" as the implications of steep financial and regulatory barriers, coupled with pockets of uncertainty for new entrants, sink in. Till recently, companies like NTT, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom and Etisalat had shown interest in India's mobile market. The absence of global telcos in the bidding ring threatens to affect government's ambitious plans of netting up to Rs 40,000 crore from the auction of third generation (3G) spectrum. If existing operators dominate the bidding, the auctions will fetch a fraction of telecom minister A Raja's ambitious target. Speaking to ToI on condition of anonymity, potential new entrants listed four key reasons for their negative response to 3G. The first is what they describe as an "unjustifiable, discriminatory and burdensome payment" of Rs 1,651 crore to first obtain a unified access service license. Unlike for existing operators, for 3G entrants, this is the price of a paper without the 4.4. to 6.2 MHz of startup 2G spectrum. "If the objective of the 3G policy was to raise revenues through new competition, then it has failed, as new entrants face a serious disadvantage against existing operators," said Arpita Agarwal, associate director-telecom, PwC. "The second deterrent is the mindless application of April's M&A guidelines to 3G licences ," a potential bidder said. A 2G operator, under the present M&A norms, is not only allowed, but uniquely qualified to bid for and acquire 3G spectrum . In contrast, a 3G winner cannot merge with or acquire any 2G operator (existing or new) for three years. The third concern arises on account of uncertainty of 3G spectrum allocation beyond 5 MHz. A 3G bidder can neither bid beyond a single block of 5 MHz nor acquire 2G spectrum. "Our growth is handcuffed from the start," said another potential bidder. Agrees Kunal Bajaj, director-India, BDA, a global consulting firm. "A standalone 3G business will not work. Clearly, global firms will be constrained to find a business case given the severe policy limitations," he said. According to operators, multi-billion dollar bids without line of sight on future 2G or 3G spectrum is a gamble too dangerous for them to take. Potential bidders also grieve over the lack of clarity on several areas critical to bid planning, such as number of blocks per circle, timing of auctions, interim steps and rules regarding transfer and sharing of spectrum.

^^^ Yes my dear friend, 30K seems to be quite highly priced. But their is a tag of Made in India, thats the reason of it being highly priced. If it was Made in China, then it could be around Rs.20K. And as we should be proud of it too that we came with first Made in India Videophone. Regards.

^^^ Hmmm, Opera Mini in memory card. LOL. Really its not good at all. Regards.

^^^ Hope that MTNL too will provide EVDO to its customers my dear friends. Regards.

^^^ @Sachin My dear friend, the opera mini will be installed in your handset and not in the external memory card. For installing opera mini, you have to go to the website of Opera on your handset and their you will get the option to install Opera Mini. Regards.

Govt to finalise 3G spectrum auction process by Sept 30 11 Aug, 2008, 1842 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Government is working towards finalising the online auction process of 3G spectrum by September 30. "Technical and financial details are being discussed. Once that is done, this e-auction process for 3G spectrum would be finalised by September 30", Sidhharth Behura, Telecom Secretary said on Monday. An inter-ministerial committee, with members from the Telecom Commission (DoT's apex body) and the finance and information technology ministries, will first set rules on who can bid or request interest in the bidding, DoT sources said. It would also shortlist eligible firms through technical evaluation and then the e-auction would be held, they added. Earlier telecom Minister A Raja had said the government expects to finalise terms of auctioning five 3G phone service licences by October. With auctions slated to start by October, government is bullish about meeting good response to the bidding process to raise raise up to Rs 40,000 crore. A 3G mobile phone service allows customers to surf the internet or download content, including music and video, at speeds faster than current technologies. Depending on spectrum available number of licenses could be extended up to a dozen. One slot has been reserved for MTNL, in Mumbai and New Delhi and BSNL for the rest of India. At least two to five operators can be accommodated.

Dhoot's adamant approach hindering solution: Nahata 11 Aug, 2008, 1720 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Even before its take off, telecom joint venture Datacom is heading for a courtroom battle, with HFCL's Mahendra Nahata alleging that his alliance partner V N Dhoot of Videocon is reneging on commitment and has threatened to take legal recourse. Nahata, whose firm was given the telecom licence before he decided to sell majority stake to Videocon, hit out at Dhoot saying that the joint venture was being run as a proprietorial firm without he getting the due weightage as a partner. "In the first place, we are shocked at the manner in which the original commitments are not being met and he (Dhoot) is trying to run the company as a sole proprietorship firm without any regard to principles of corporate governance," Nahata said. While Dhoot could not be contacted for his comments, Datacom CEO Ravi Sharma declined to comment, saying: "This was an issue between two shareholders." According to sources, Nahata has asked for about Rs 2,100 crore to sell his 36 per cent stake in Datacom and Rs 450-500 crore compensation for not merging HFCL Infotel's telecom operations in Punjab with Datacom as per original agreement. Both parties held talks to reach at an amicable solution but failed, with sources saying that Nahata has rejected the proposal in which Videocon is understood to have offered 324 million dollar and that too over a period of 18 months. Datacom has a pan-India license to offer mobile services and the company was originally promoted by Mahendra Nahata who had sold 64 per cent stake to Videocon promoters due to financial constraints and on a condition that Nahata would get 36 per cent equity free.

New Palm Centro Sans QWERTY? PalmAddicts have posted an image of what looks like a keyboard-less Palm Centro. Looks great, but is it real? What you says guys ? Possible Palm Centro 2 Images ? One of the post in other forum : I am not sure of the legibility of these images but it looks authentic. If true, I will be wowed and this is the kind of Treo I've been waiting for years with my outdated Treo 650. There has to be a sliding out keyboard some sort of. May be they follow suite iPhone and omit Treo keyboard. Either way appears like running Windows Mobile but I hope it will appear in Palm OS 2 (Nova) too. These aren't shown much elsewhere yet. So enjoy the Palm rumor mill. I just wish it's true. Can anyone confirm with some inside info? Courtesy : Techtree & Typepad

Tata to Launch GSM, BlackBerry services Tata Teleservices Ltd, one of the leading telecom players in CDMA sector, will launch GSM services early next year and BlackBerry push-email services in three months, a top official said Saturday. "The company will invest $2 billion for setting up nationwide services on GSM network over the next two years," TTSL managing director Anil Sardana told reporters. "BlackBerry soft launch is already done. For official launch, the company is waiting for logistics arrangement, which should be done before year end," he added. The company had earlier this year made public its intention to offer the push-email services in collaboration with Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry phones. "We have been told that the BlackBerry services do not have scope for lawful interception, may be because it does not have a server in India and it may be difficult to monitor the content," Sardana had said then. Presently, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and BPL Mobile are offering BlackBerry services. RIM later assured the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it would sort out the BlackBerry tangle by initiating discussions between security agencies of Canada and India. TTSL, which currently has 27 million subscribers and expects 40 million customers in its subscriber base by the end of this year, has already acquired spectrum for GSM services in south India. "We have licence for six circles including Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where we will be launching GSM services by fiscal 2009," he said. The company will also roll out services in Orissa and Kerala, the other two circles where it has acquired the spectrum. Recently, Reliance Infocom, Tata's main competitor in the CDMA space, has launched GSM services as part of a pilot project in Delhi. Reliance has acquired licenses to operate GSM services in 14 circles last year. Speaking about mobile number portability (MPP), Sardana said: "we are in favour of the policy as we believe this will give a boost to our business." MNP, if implemented, will enable subscribers to change their operators while retaining their numbers. Speaking about the recently released 3G guidelines and the upcoming start of the auctioning process, he said the company will offer a number of value-added services (VAS) like multi-casting, high speed web browsing, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), video streaming using the 3G technology. The company which was last month in the news for a dispute with the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) over non-payment of access deficit charge (ADC), expects its revenue to grow to Rs.250 million with 50,000 broadband customers in 2008-09. "The case is now in the purview of the Supreme Court and hence remains sub-judice," Sardana said. Courtesy : Tech2

Govt asks Idea to return licence of Punjab or Karnataka 11 Aug, 2008, 1325 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The government on Monday asked cellular operator Idea to surrender the licence of either Punjab or Karnataka telecom circle to enable the merger of Spice Communications with itself. Department of Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura said the company would not get any official "response" on the merger proposal till one of the two licences was returned.

WiMax, 3G may ring in more revenue for BSNL 11 Aug, 2008, 0110 hrs IST, ET MUMBAI : WiMax and 3G (third generation) may be considered competing technologies, but for public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), the two will co-exist and will be targeted at different user groups. WiMax is expected to generate higher average revenue per user (ARPU) per month to BSNL as it offers higher data speed at lower capital expenditure. BSNL expects WiMax to be a hit in rural areas where the public sector monolith has deep penetration. Currently, BSNL’s ARPU from wireless services is around Rs 200 and from wireline is Rs 350. While most operators choose one of the two technologies to offer data applications and services, BSNL will supplement WiMax offerings with 3G. “For those requiring speeds of 2 mbps per second, 3G will be made available. It will be more a technology for tier I cities. WiMax will give much higher data speed and is also very suitable for rural areas where laying cables is difficult,” BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal told ET. WiMax or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a wireless communication technology, which can offer high speed connectivity about 50 km radius. 3G, on the other hand, is enhanced data application along with multimedia. Both allow high-speed internet surfing, movie and music downloads and video streaming. DoT is said to have allotted both 3G and WiMax spectrum to BSNL. However, the operator has not yet been informed about it. “For 3G, we are planning five million lines to begin with. It will cost us around Rs 3,000 crore. Initially, niche customers will opt for it as they’ll be able to afford it. In phases, we’ll offer 3G in semi-urban and urban areas. With rising volumes, more people will be able to afford it,” he said. Mr Goyal said the company will enter into tie-ups with handset vendors for 3G devices. “We’ll offer bundled handsets for 3G. Tariffs will be high initially, but will reduce as volumes build up,” he added. BSNL is planning to roll out services within six months after receiving 3G equipment. These five million lines are part of the 45 mn lines tender floated in 2006. Equipment vendor Ericsson is providing 60% of these lines. For WiMax, BSNL has awarded contract to US-based WiMax solutions firm Soma Networks to install equipment in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. “We will share revenues with Soma Networks. WiMax services will roll out by the end of this year,” Mr Goyal said. BSNL has also floated another tender for providing WiMax services in 1,000 out of the 6,000 blocks in the country. “We have shortlisted some companies and asked them to do proof of concept. By December, we will award the contract,” he added. BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) have not bid for the 3G and WiMax spectrum unlike other operators. They will, however, have to pay the price to be paid by the highest bidder. As of now, they seem to have got a headstart over private operators who can float tenders and begin operations only if they emerge a winner in the bidding process.

Vodafone-Essar friction seen over Loop play 11 Aug, 2008, 0128 hrs IST, ET MUMBAI: Differences have cropped up between Vodafone, the world’s largest telecom company by turnover, and its Indian joint venture partner, the Ruias of the Essar Group, over the latter’s plan to set up a wireless telephony firm. Vodafone is understood to be exploring various options, including legal action, to counter Essar’s moves, since the new company would compete directly with Vodafone Essar, their joint venture. The British company, which owns a 67% stake in Vodafone Essar, has sought advice of leading law firm Majmudar & Co. The issue at hand is an Essar Group company, Loop Telecom, which has licence to launch a pan-India wireless telephony network. While the final course of action is still undecided, Vodafone has been advised that it could move the Company Law Board against the Ruias for “breach of shareholders’ agreement”, for entering into competition with Vodafone Essar, India’s fourth-largest telecom firm. However, no legal proceedings have been initiated as yet and attempts are on to resolve the issue. All that has happened so far is Vodafone has sought legal advice on whether Essar’s plans affect their telecom venture or not. Both companies are already fighting a separate legal battle over BPL Mobile, which was to be merged with Vodafone Essar. However, this merger has not happened yet. The BPL Mobile issue is now pending before an arbitration panel. When contacted, a Vodafone spokesperson from London said: “Vodafone continues to enjoy a productive and successful partnership with the Essar Group. Both partners are committed to the continuation of strong operational performance of Vodafone Essar.’ He added, we do not comment on discussions between the two partners on matters relating to the shareholders’ agreement.” A Ruia spokesperson denied that Vodafone has any problem over Loop Telecom. Vodafone sought legal advice soon after the Ruias decided to rope in a foreign partner for Loop Telecom. According to a senior industry source, the Ruias are talking to Egyptian telecom giant Orascom, Qatar Telecom and Russian firm Sistema for offloading their stake in Loop Telecom. Loop Telecom, which is yet to start operations, has been valued at $3 billion, based on its 23-circle licence and spectrum. “The Ruias are talking to almost all big global telecom players. This is something which has alarmed the new Vodafone management in London,” said a person familiar with the development. “The joint venture agreement clearly states that there is a non-compete agreement between the two partners,” he said. ET had reported on June 4 that Loop Telecom could sell up to 74%, the ceiling for foreign investment in telecom, to a foreign partner with the Ruias holding the rest. Loop Telecom is a subsidiary of BPL Mobile, in which Ruias hold 9.9% with the balance being held by friends and other investors. While Ruias’ equations with Vodafone may be less frosty than their relationship with earlier JV partner, Hutchison, it’s not exactly warm either. When Hutchison sought to sell its stake to Vodafone in early 2007, Essar had claimed that it had the right of first refusal. After Vodafone’s former CEO Arun Sarin convinced the Ruias, they stepped back and the deal between Hutchison and Vodafone was finally inked. Banking sources said Essar may also look at the option of combining its stake in BPL Mobile, which operates in the lucrative Mumbai circle. This is interesting as BPL Mobile's majority shareholding is under arbitration following a dispute with Vodafone JV. “BPL figures in early dialogue with potential suitors, but it's not clear as to how it will be structured as part of the Loop transaction,” a source said, while explaining that the final valuation of Essar's standalone telecom interests would depend on the structure they put before the investors.

^^^ That means we should not dream for EVDO even with Reliance CDMA my dear friends. Regards.

Catch the Olympics on BPL Mobile Now BPL mobile subscribers can be keep themselves updated with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on their mobile phone with Olympics @Cafe on the BPL Mobile WAP portal - atcafe.bplmobile.com. Olympics @Cafe offers the schedule of events, medal tallies, news, action-packed pictures, trivia, profiles of sportspersons, records set and broken and more. BPL has associated with Mobile ESPN to offer this Olympic coverage. Primarily focusing on India's participation in the 2008 Games, Olympics @Cafe has a special Indians@Beijing section which encapsulates India's performance through the years in sports like hockey, tennis, shooting, wrestling, etc. along with analysis on India's medal prospects in various sports like archery, athletics, shooting, tennis, etc. This segment also includes an in-depth analysis on Indian athletes at the Olympics - from Indian Athlete performance to Athlete profiles, India's Olympic history and more. Apart from updates, subscribers can participate in polls and contests, as well as access a variety of mobile downloads like theme wallpapers, lively animations and picture of the day. Courtesy : Techtree

Congrats to Abhinav Bindra to make us pride for winning the 1st Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics.