Honest

^^^ MY dear friend you are rocking with your Idea connection. The offer is really cool. So enjoy it. "Sir Ji, What an IDEA, Sir Ji". Enjoy.

10,000 mobile phones sold in India every hour: IDC 19 Jun, 2008, 1857 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Every hour as many as 10,000 mobile phones are sold in India, thanks to the ever-increasing mobile services market and availability of entry level handsets that has brought phones well within everyone's reach, an IDC India report said. India has shipped close to 85 million mobile handsets between April 2007 and March 2008, compared to under 66 million units shipped in the previous fiscal, registering an year-on-year growth of around 29 per cent. In the last quarter of the financial year FY 2008, country's shipment has touched 22.3 million which amounts to around 10,000 phones every hour, stated IDC which tracks the Indian telecom industry. It is up 24.4 per cent from 17.9 million units in the corresponding period of the previous year. IDC India Country Manager Kapil Dev Singh said: "This growth comes on the back of a burgeoning mobile services market and lower entry barriers across various customer categories, as average selling values (ASVs) of handsets continue to fall in the wake of a highly competitive landscape populated by close to 25 vendors." The year also saw growing number of high-end phones being shipped to India as EDGE and WCDMA-enabled mobile phones contributed 15.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent of the total mobile phone shipments in FY 2008 compared to 7.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, in 2006-07. In India, overall, Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia has the largest market share, of 52.8 per cent, followed by LG at 10.2 per cent and Samsung at 8.3 per cent in terms of units shipped during the quarter ended March 31, 2008, IDC said.

^^^ @Amit And my dear friend, out of these 500 you definetely are selling 5 handsets every hour. Regards.

Delhi CM favours removal of mobile towers from residential areas 19 Jun, 2008, 2158 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Favouring the removal of mobile phone towers from residential areas due to emission of radiation, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dik**** on Thursday said it was the responsibility of the municipality to remove them. On the sidelines of a function here, Dik**** said, "it is the responsibility of the municipal corporation to remove the structures from the locality inhabited by people." "We are aware that mobile phone towers are not safe for health. They are threat to the environment. We have already raised our concern over them. However, it is MCD's job to remove them," Dik**** said. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) last week issued notices to the mobile phone towers firms asking them to specify what steps they have taken to ensure the safety of the people living in the locality where towers are installed.

^^^ Good collection my dear Akshat & Sadik Bhai. Keep it up buddies. We are waiting for more 2 come from both of you. Regards.

Samsung Announces New Candy Bar Handset After recently launching the second model in their Soul (Spirit of Ultra) series called the Soulb that has a candy bar design; Samsung has also now announced a new candy bar handset called the L700. The L700 has a 2.1 inch TFT display and a large keypad for easy of use. It also has a five-way nav-pad for navigating the menus. Other features that the L700 comes with include a 2 megapixel camera with an LED flash, an office document viewer, Bluetooth and a media player. The handset also supports 3G networks, so video calling is an option with a secondary camera located in front for the same. "The launch of L700 reinforces Samsung’s established leadership in developing stylish, full-featured mobile phones across a variety of form factors including the slider, clamshell and bar," said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecom Business. The L700 will launch in Eastern Europe in July and will then be introduced in Europe, Middle East, Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia. There are no prices attached to the handset yet so stay tuned. Courtesy : Tech2

@Ankur My dear friend, even LG service centre too everytime tell the customer about which part has been replaced by them. They even take the signature of the cutomer on the service list also. This is no good of Samsung at all. It shows how bad the service of Samsung is. All others must be aware before purchasing Samsung products. Regards.

Deal with RCom not discussed at AGM: MTN 19 Jun, 2008, 2002 hrs IST, PTI JOHANNESBURG: Shareholders of the South African telecom giant MTN on Thursday stuck to the agenda at the Annual General Meeting and the negotiations with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Communications did not figure in. "Shareholders stuck to the agenda of considering annual report and Chairman Cyril Ramaphosa did not mention either Reliance or anything else... the Chairperson stuck to the agenda," MTN spokesperson Nozipho January-Bardill told reporters after the meeting. Asked if the negotiations between MTN and RCOM for combining the business and the communication by Reliance Industries threatening legal action came up for discussion at the AGM, Nozipho said, "I am telling you only agenda items were discussed and nothing more. "The agenda was circulated among the shareholders a few weeks back," she added The AGM was being viewed with interest in India in the wake of Mukesh Ambani-led RIL's communication asserting that it had the first right of refusal on the majority stake in Younger brother Anil's group company RCom, triggering a bitter battle between the two camps.

TRAI favours open bidding in directory enquiry service licence 19 Jun, 2008, 1832 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: TRAI on Thursday recommended that licences for providing National Integrated Directory Enquiry Service (NIDQS) for mobile and fixed line services should be given to companies through open bidding process. The telecom regulator has suggested that initially two licences may be issued through open bidding process based on the eligibility criteria, keeping in mind competition, quality service and limitations of interconnections. The eligibility criteria for NIDQS include experience of three years in Telecom network operations or IT Enabled Services (ITeS), minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore and FDI limit of 74 per cent. A minimum reserve price of Rs 1 crore as One Time Entry Fee (OTEF) may be fixed for NIDQS licence, which would get determined in the open bidding process, TRAI said, adding that the licence fee for NIDQS to be 6 per cent of the Gross Revenue of NIDQS provider. It said the NIDQS provider shall roll out the service in 11 service areas in the first year and in the remaining service areas in the second year. The operator has to give a performance bank guarantee of Rs 2.5 crore for two years. There should be a suitable financial bank guarantee which could initially be of Rs 1 crore. The licence duration could initially be for a period 10 years, which could be renewed by another 10 years. Customers can access the NIDQS through their access service providers. At present BSNL provides directory enquiry service across the country for its customers.

^^^ Its really bad of Samsung my dear friend. They should have atleast told you what was happened to your mobile and which part did they replaced. Didn't they mentioned the reason in the service profile sheet on which they take signature of the customer while handing over the handset ? They have to mention the description of the replaced part their. Regards.

'BSNL to set up 350 new towers in J&K' 19 Jun, 2008, 1704 hrs IST, PTI JAMMU: Telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is planning to install 350 new towers in Jammu and Kashmir to improve its services in the state, a senior company official said here on Thursday. "We have 570 towers throughout the state. With 350 more towers, that are coming up, things will improve and subscribers will have good days ahead," BSNL General Manager (mobile) A K Mittal said here today at an interaction organised by the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "We have been receiving a number of complaints on account of poor connectivity, signal problems, over-lapping of calls and many other grievance related to networking," he said. These troubles will be over by the end of August this year as the new towers and hi-tech equipment get installed in the state, he said . Mittal also said due to non-availability of refined and hi-tech equipment, BSNL has been having a hard time for the past two years. However, with the installation of these enhanced equipment the technical snag would be completely removed, he added. R K Koul, also a General Manager with BSNL who was present at the occasion, said in the next phase 300 more sites will be set up in various parts of the state.

CommunicAsia 08: LG Secret Now in APAC It's no secret now: LG has launched the "LG Secret" aka KF750 in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region at the "CommunicAsia 2008" that kicked-off in Singapore today. The "Secret", launched in Europe sometime ago, comes with native DivX 5 playback. The latest entrant to LG's 'Black Label' series, "Secret" gives motion games a gyroscope-like effect with its built-in motion sensor. For instance, users can throw darts or find their way through a maze with just a tilt or rotation of the handset. Outwardly, the "Secret" features a tactile slider keyboard; it is visibly thin at around 11.8mm (claims LG), and comes with a tempered glass screen and a carbon-finish back cover. The phone is fitted with a 2.4-inches QVGA touch-screen with touch media feature (you can access music, photos, games, documents, and FM radio via a single button) and a 5.0 mega pixels camera with up to 120 frames per second (fps) video recording. Other features include 100MB internal memory (microSD card up to 4GB), HSDPA connectivity up to 3.6Mbps, Bluetooth auto-sync for automatic synchronization with the PC, a replaceable battery, and 'movie maker' software for creating your own music videos. There's also a Google Package that enables users surf the Internet, log into Gmail, use Google Maps, and watch YouTube videos. While LG's new phone may not compare with Apple's recently unveiled 3G iPhone (after all, the iPhone has a 3.5-inches display and 3G/GPS/Wi-Fi support), it certainly has one feature that the iPhone does not; you don't have to transcode your downloaded movies and TV shows to a compatible codec to play on it. Most likely, the "Secret" (recommended retail price $899) will go to market in Singapore on June 21 and will be available in Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India by the end of next month.

^^^ True my dear Kumaar, but still their will be some takers for this feature rich handset. Regards.

^^^ Very correct my dear Kumaar it seems this battle will go a long way. And again Ambani's mother, Kokila Ben will have to intermidiate. Regards.

Motorola Launches the ROKR E8 in Mumbai Motorola launched the Motorokr E8 at the Grand Hyatt yesterday in Mumbai. Also present at the event to explain the features was Abhiskek Bachchan, who is the brand ambassador for Motorola mobile phones in India. The phone features a first with technologies like "Morphing", which basically entails illuminating only those keys on the keypad that are needed to work - like Camera, Music etc. The phone also comes with Modeshift technology that allows users to switch modes with the press of a button. The E8 comes with a virtual keypad and a fastscroll navigation wheel, which makes use of the haptics technology to provide tactile response. Other features include 2 GB internal memory with an option to extend it further by another 4 GB. Supplementing the music player is the 3.5mm stereo earphone jack with support for A2DP (a Bluetooth profile for wireless headsets). The supported music formats include MIDI, MP3, AAC, AAC+, Enhanced AAC+, WMA, WAV, AMR-NB and Real Audio (RA) v10. The camera is a 2 MP one with 8x zoom, and connectivity features include USB 2.0 Hi-speed, GPRS Class 12 and EDGE Class 12. The Motorokr E8 costs Rs. 15, 455. Courtesy : Tech2

LG plans to make India export hub for mobiles 19 Jun, 2008, 0120 hrs IST SINGAPORE: LG Electronics plans to make India the export hub for its mobile phones business. The Korean major will soon export mobile phones to Europe and CIS countries from India. It exports mobile phones to the Middle East and African markets currently. LG Electronics’ vice-president (Asia-Pacific) of the mobile phone division, Bo H Choi, said, “We are already doing our research and development in countries like China, Brazil other than India. Now we want to expand our capacity and global outsourcing on the whole.” However, he declined to divulge details on the likely capital infusion for the expansion of Indian operations. In a bid to enhance its focus on India, LG Electronics also plans to expand it’s with LG mobile partner shops. This also applies to accessories such as headphones, chargers or even car mobile chargers, which are not very visible in the Indian market. “Although we were the first player to enter the CDMA market, we are late comers in the GSM space. Hence we have not reached the corners of the country,” Mr Choi said. The company started producing GSM handsets in 2005. The Korean chaebol launched LG Secret, the third model in its Black Label handset series in Singapore on Tuesday. The handset will be launched in India next month. This slim 5 megapixel camera follows its predecessors, LG Chocolate and LG Shine, which were launched in May 2006 and February 2007, respectively. LG Secret boasts of a hoard of other features such as 120 fps video and DivX certified playback. “LG Secret makes life easier with Bluetooth auto-sync that automatically synchronises with the PC and users do not have to deal with tangled USB cables,” he said. It also has auto luminance control, which means automated adjustment of light settings and auto display control, which makes photo/video shooting convenient.

RCOM threatens to take criminal action against RIL officials 19 Jun, 2008, 0015 hrs IST MUMBAI: Reliance Communications (RCOM), a group company of Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on Wednesday, threatened to initiate criminal proceedings against three Reliance Industries (RIL) officials for unilaterally signing the controversial January 12, 2006, agreement. This move is important in the wake of RIL threatening to claim it’s right of first refusal (RoFR) as per the January 12, 2006 agreement, which is main reason of fight between the Ambani brothers. RCOM spokesperson said: “At this stage, all options, including criminal proceedings against LV Merchant, Sandeep Tandon, K Sethuraman and other RIL officials involved in the signing of January 12, 2006, agreement, are open if RIL seeks to rely on the alleged agreement.” Reacting to RCOM’s threat, a RIL spokesperson said: “There is no criminality attached to the signing of the agreement dated January 12, 2006. If any proceedings are adopted, we will not only defend them but we will also consider our options for such a malicious action.” Mr Sethuraman wrote the letter to RCom and MTN threatening to take legal actions if the any part of RCOM stake will be sold to MTN. Mr Tandon is advocate and serves as directors on several direct companies and holding companies of RIL. Mr Merchant also holds directorships of various Reliance group companies. ET has seen letter written by ADAG officials to RIL on January 12, 2006, that alleged “fraudulent misuse of powers by RIL officials in execution of alleged agreement on January 12, 2006.” The letter also charged RIL officials of “criminal breach of trust” and “gross violation of fiduciary obligations” in signing the alleged agreement, RCOM statement said. The letter termed the agreement as “one-sided and not on arms length basis.”

Anil Ambani group says lawsuit option open against rivals 18 Jun, 2008, 2134 hrs IST NEW DELHI: The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG), which is engaged in consolidation talks with the South African telecom major MTN, Wednesday said it was open to criminal proceedings against some officials of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for what it claimed was fraudulent misuse of powers by them. The statement was in response to a letter to MTN from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), claiming the first right to refuse majority stake in Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications, should they be put up for sale, based on a family pact two years ago. "At this stage, all options including criminal proceedings against L.V. Merchant, Sandeep Tandon, K. Sethuraman and other RIL officials involved in the signing of Jan 12, 2006, agreement are open if RIL seeks to rely on the alleged agreement," said the statement from Reliance Communications. When contacted, RIL's group president for corporate communications Paresh Chaudhry declined comment on the issue. "I decline any comment. We will respond when we get a direct communication," Chaudhry told IANS. The statement from Reliance Communications said the so-called pact of Jan 12, 2006, based on which the Mukesh Ambani-led group sought to stake a claim over the company, was one-sided and not on an arms length basis. "Control of RCOM (Reliance Communications) board, handed over to Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, [came] only on Feb 7, 2006," the statement said. "[There was] criminal misuse of trust by RIL officials in execution of alleged agreement of Jan 12, 2006." Amid these statements, Anil Ambani was expected to fly to South Africa soon to take the negotiations forward, officials at his group said. The two Reliance groups were carved out after a split in the business empire created by the late Dhirubhai Ambani and his sons, Mukesh and Anil, who are now estranged. Both figure in the elite Forbes rich list. MTN had said June 14 that its consolidation talks with Reliance Communications were still on, barely hours after the Anil Ambani-led group charged the Mukesh Ambani group with trying to derail the discussions. Reliance Communications has been attracted by MTN's 70 million customers in 21 countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Iran and Cyprus and its impressive balance sheet, showing a net profit of $1.58 billion on revenues of $9.62 billion. And for the South African company, a consolidation will result in access to 48 million customers of Reliance Communications, covering 15,000 towns and 400,000 villages in India on a network of 165,000 km of optic fibre cables.

Ambani feud puts pressure on MTN deal 18 Jun, 2008, 1735 hrs IST NEW DELHI: A fresh row between warring billionaire Ambani brothers could delay, but not kill, a tie-up of Reliance Communications, India's No.2 mobile operator and South Africa's MTN Group to create an emerging markets telco that would rank in the global top 10. A deal may hinge on whether the brothers can avoid a lengthy legal wrangle that would severely test MTN's patience. Exclusive talks between Reliance Communications, controlled by Anil Ambani, and MTN appeared to be progressing well until Reliance Industries, run by elder brother Mukesh, claimed last week it had a right of first refusal to control of the mobile firm. Analysts say Mukesh Ambani's claim, based on a complex 2006 agreement after their mother brokered a deal to carve up the late Dhirubhai Ambani's business empire, means a deal with MTN is unlikely before a 45-day exclusivity period expires next month. "A deal with Reliance is not impossible, but it is not probable. It's somewhere in between," said Rishi Sahay, of Indusview Advisors. "There are so many ifs and buts, but there is clearly intent on behalf of both parties. When they know they can create one of the world's biggest telecom companies, I think they'd go all guns blazing for that," said Aman Bajaj, managing director of Nine Capital, a boutique advisory firm. Investors are wary of any delay. Shares in Reliance Communications, which stepped up to the negotiating table on May 26 after bigger rival Bharti Airtel pulled out of talks with MTN, have fallen every day this week, losing close to 3 percent in a rising market. OTHER OPTIONS MTN, which holds its annual meeting on Thursday, may have other options than to hang around and wait for the squabbling Ambanis to resolve their dispute. Emirates Telecommunications has previously said it was evaluating a possible bid for MTN, the largest telecom in sub-Saharan Africa, and China Mobile has said it was interested in the South Africa market. "MTN has in the past, and now also, got a multiple number of suitors," Indusview's Sahay said, adding MTN shareholders would likely press for details of how the talks were going and what other options lay ahead. Sources and media reports have said the structure of a deal would see MTN take control of Reliance Communications, with Anil Ambani swapping all or most of his 66 percent holding to become the largest shareholder in MTN. That prospect seems to have spurred Reliance Industries, India's biggest firm, into action, laying claim to first right of refusal on any transfer of that controlling stake in Reliance Communications. "I think there's clearly a possibility. If there weren't any possibility, they would not be pursuing it that aggressively," said Nine Capital's Bajaj, who predicts the Ambanis would opt for an out-of-court settlement rather than a protracted, and costly, legal battle. Mukesh, ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's fifth-richest man, and Anil, a close sixth, split acrimoniously in 2005 when they were unable to co-manage their late father's sprawling business empire. Separately, an agreement was signed in January 2006 by Reliance Industries and companies then under its control, but which are now part of Anil Ambani's Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), prompting the claim of first refusal. In its 2006 listing documents, Reliance Communications said there was a potential risk from a trademark management agreement, a non-compete agreement and a shared services agreement executed when the company was part of Reliance Industries. On Friday, Reliance Communications said the claim by Reliance Industries was "legally and factually untenable, baseless, and misconceived." The brothers' long-running feud has several strands, including a dispute over the price Reliance Industries charges ADAG companies for its gas. The two firms also compete head-on for contracts, such as a bridge project to link south Mumbai to the mainland. A consortium led by Anil won an initial bid for the bridge, beating an offer from a Mukesh-led group, but local media have reported the state government is reviewing that decision. "This is not the first time they are fighting. Even in the previous short battles they had, they always settled it," said Nine Capital's Bajaj.

Peekamo launches mobile social network service 16 Jun, 2008, 2047 hrs IST, PTI MUMBAI: Peekamo, a free text message social network, announced the launch of its mobile social network service. It would enable users to send and recieve text messages on their cell phones for free, a press release issued here today said. The SMS sponsored messages can be sent to individuals as well as groups, and a user's cell phone number does not show, the release said. By adding a social network feature to this service, Peekamo is broadening the scope of communication options that its members can utilize. The service allows Peekamo users to connect with people outside their network as well, the release added.

Peekamo Brings Free Text Messaging to India Peekamo, a social network that is into free text messaging, has now launched its service in the country. The service enables users to send and receive text messages on their cell phones for free, without giving out the cell phone number. Apart from free sending free SMS from mobile to mobile, Peekamo also offers a platform for PC to mobile and mobile to PC text messaging. Users can send SMS to individuals as well as groups, who need not necessarily be registered members on the network. Peekamo also offers a social network feature that allows members to find other users and communicate. To get started, users have to create an account on Peekamo. They can send an SMS to a particular number by starting the message with 'peek' followed by the number of the recipient, then the message, and then send it to a short-code. This service can be used from any mobile phone to send an SMS to any country using the short-code of that country. A whole list of SMS short-codes for different countries is available on the Peekamo Web site. In case the receiver is a peek member then instead of the phone number, users can type the recipient's Peekamo ID. However, those who are not members on this network will not be able to reply to the message. Those using an iPhone or Nokia Series 60 phone can also try out the mobile site by navigating to m.peekamo.com. While those interested in knowing how to use this service from the PC can check here. Peekamo also allows users to send messages to their own numbers using the send later feature. Users can schedule an SMS as a reminder to be sent to their phone at a particular date and time. Peekamo claims to offers text messaging, phone number masking, SMS archival, mobile social networking, contact management, and mobilized Internet content -- all at no cost.

Tata Comm to acquire 50 pc stake in Chinese firm Telecom solutions provider Tata Communications today said it would acquire 50 per cent stake in China Enterprise Communications (CEC) for an undisclosed amount. "This is an innovative step in our ongoing effort to enable connectivity and managed services across strategic regions and emerging markets that are of high value to our global customers," Tata Communications, Data and Mobility Services, President Vinod Kumar said. Tata Communications International Pte, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Communications, has signed the equity joint venture agreement with the shareholders of CEC for acquiring 50 per cent stake, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. "Through the cooperation with Tata Communications we will focus on the development of the domestic market to provide high quality networking service to multinational as well as domestic enterprises in China," CEC President and CEO Zhu Jianhua said. CEC has a network reach throughout China with no regional restrictions on its service capabilities. CEC provides VPN connectivity reach to 347 cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Ghangzhou and Shenzhan. The reach complements Tata Communications' Virtual Private Network (VPN) presence in 120 Indian cities and 19 other major business capitals in North America, Europe and Asia. CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corporation) is the majority stake holder in CEC, while other stake owners, include SASAC and CE-SCM. Tata Communications investment in CEC is subject to Chinese governmental and regulatory bodies approvals. Shares of Tata Communications were trading at Rs 438.65, up 1.25 per cent on the BSE in morning trade.

Decoding BlackBerry: Encryption limit may hit 256 Bits 18 Jun, 2008, 0000 hrs IST NEW DELHI: The government is planning to increase the permitted level of encryption for electronic data from 40 to 256 bits. This will allow decoding of electronic mails sent through BlackBerry. The matter is presently being examined by the National Security Advisor (NSA). The move comes after Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry, expressed their inability to provide a solution to the government for decoding encrypted data, claiming that it itself couldn’t decode the mails sent through its system. RIM has, however, said that they would come with some solution by the end of this month. “The government would involve third-party agents to crack the encryption code if RIM does not come out with a solution. It is, however, not possible for any third party to bring down the level of encrypted data at the prescribed level. To avoid technical ambiguity, the government may raise the prescribed limit for data encryption to 256 bits,” an official source said, adding that the matter has been referred to the NSA for its comments. A mail sent in this regard to communication minister A Raja and telecom secretary Siddharth Behura went unanswered. Country’s security agencies have earlier complained that messages transmitted through BlackBerry devices posed a risk as they couldn’t be traced. The department of telecommunication (DoT) had asked RIM to provide the master key to allow access to contents transferred over their handsets. RIM had, however, said that it could not handover the message encryption key to the government as its security structure does not allow any third party or even the company to read the information transferred over its network. The government has also been demanding RIM to set up its servers in India to enable the security agencies to monitor the data flow. RIM, however, has not agreed to the proposal till now. The BlackBerry issue surfaced earlier this year when DoT asked Tata Teleservices to delay the launch of the service till appropriate security mechanisms were in place. Currently, there are over one lakh BlackBerry users in the country. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and BPL Mobile are offering this service in the country.

MTN to hold AGM on Thursday 17 Jun, 2008, 2357 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The South African mobile giant MTN, which is in exclusive talks with Anil Ambani-led RCOM, would hold its AGM on Thursday which comes amid a controversy on whether Mukesh Ambani-led RIL has first right of refusal for a controlling stake in RCOM or not. The shareholders of MTN, which had late last month announced start of 45-day exclusive negotiations with Reliance Communications, would meet for the Annual General Meeting on June 19, the company has said in a notice to its shareholders. The exclusive negotiation period would end in the first week of July. Meanwhile, the shares of MTN today dropped by over two per cent in Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Shares of RCOM also dropped by nearly 2 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange amid the tussle between the two Ambani siblings over the proposed MTN deal. The RCOM scrip touched an intra-day low of Rs 525.25 in the morning trade, down 1.84 per cent as against yesterday's closing price of Rs 535.10 on the BSE. However, the counter recovered slightly to closed at Rs 530.20, down 0.92 per cent. Mukesh-led Reliance Industries closed at Rs 2,329.20, up 1.94 per cent after touching an intra-day high of Rs 2,334.90 and low of Rs 2,262 on the bourse. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, MTN shares fell 2.84 per cent to 135 rand. A communication by RIL claiming its first right of refusal to buy a majority equity in RCOM had triggered the latest round of fight in middle of Anil Ambani Group company's negotiation with South African telecom major MTN group for an estimated 70 billion dollar amalgamation deal.

Sony Ericsson Launches Five New Phones Sony Ericsson has launched five new phones - two camera phones, two entry-level phones and one gaming phone. The C905 is Sony Ericsson's first Cyber-shot slider and its most advanced camera phone with an 8.1 megapixel camera, Xenon flash, face detection auto-focus, smart contrast and image stabilizer. The phone features a 2.4-inch scratch-resistant mineral glass display and comes with a 2GB Memory Stick Micro and USB adaptor (CCR-70) to allow for easy transfer of photos to-and-from a PC. The phone is GPS-enabled for geo-tagging of photos and navigation support. The C905 Cyber-shot will be available in three colors - Night Black, Ice Silver and Copper Gold - in selected markets from Q4 2008. The S302 Snapshot is a slim phone with high-gloss finish. It features a 2.0 megapixel camera and photo functions to help get the right shots. It allows video recording and playback and has 20 MB of internal memory and Memory Stick Micro support. The S302 Snapshot will be available in Crystal Blue and Thunder Grey in select markets from Q4 2008. The two entry-level phones are the J132 and the K330. The J132 is a talk and text phone with FM radio and stereo hands free kit. With 4MB memory the phone features a 1.5-inch screen with one-click shortcuts and an easy-to-use navigation key. The phone has a dust-resistant keypad and includes a radio alarm clock, a torch and allows up to 9 hours of talktime. The J132 will be available in Night Black and Heaven Blue in selected markets from Q4 2008. "There are certain phone features, such as a large phonebook and torch functionality, that are considered key to consumers in developing markets," said James Marshall, Head of Portfolio Marketing at Sony Ericsson. "We've made sure that both of these phones pack all of the essential features and appeal to anyone wanting a durable, no-nonsense mobile." The K330 enables users to capture video and photos, and share them via Bluetooth. The phone offers FM radio listening via speakerphone or stereo headset, storage for up to 1000 contacts and 450 text messages, a VGA camera, a 1.7-inch display,and torch function. The K330 will be available in Gold on Black and Green on Black, in select markets from Q3 2008. The gaming phone - the F305 - features Motion Gaming and lets users control games with the flick of a wrist or the swing of an arm. The F305 slider phone comes bundled with stereo speakers, features a 2.0-inch screen and gives upto 8 hours of gameplay. The phone comes preloaded with three motion games, "Bowling", "Bass fishing" and Jockey. Additional motion games developed by Gameloft plus 50 more 2D and 3D games can be downloaded at PlayNow. The phone also features a 2.0 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Memory Stick Micro. The F305 with Motion Gaming will be available in Polar White and Mystic Black in select markets from Q3 2008. Courtesy : Tech2