Honest

Great collection daer Karthik Bhai.

Tatas, Aircel only takers for MTNL 3G airwaves The Economic Times l 1st January 2011 l New Delhi Tata Teleservices and Aircel are poised to bag third-generation spectrum in the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai metros as they are the only bidders for MTNL’s offer to share its 3G network with two firms that pay the highest price. Aircel had won 3G airwaves in 13 circles and Tata Teleservices in nine when these frequencies were auctioned last year, but both these companies had failed to bag spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai. They had lost out to the country’s three largest mobile phone companies by both revenues and customers—Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar—in these metro cities, which are estimated to account for a fifth of the mobile industry’s revenues. MTNL had set `1,400 crore as the base price per operator when inviting bids from other telecom service providers to use its 3G frequencies, which enable services such as video calling and high-speed internet on phones. The state-owned operator will make a minimum of `2,800 crore from this deal. “The financial bids of both Tata Teleservices and Aircel will be opened in January—it is possible that the bid amount may be comparatively higher than the base price,” a top MTNL executive with direct knowledge of the development told ET. “There is also a revenue-share component—this depends on the type of 3G service offered—for instance, there are different slabs for voice and video calls, high-speed internet and other data services,” this executive added. Both Tata Teleservices and Aircel declined to comment, but a top executive from one of these companies confirmed that they were the only mobile phone companies to have submitted bids to MTNL. Talks on for roaming alliances All the six private players that won 3G airwaves are in talks with each other for strategic roaming alliances to offer these high-end services across the country. Such alliances have been made necessary since no player had won pan-India 3G airwaves during the auctions. So far, only two private operators—Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices—have launched 3G services. The deal also involves the winners sharing 3G airwaves outside these metro cities with MTNL when the latter’s customers are on roaming. Between Aircel and Tata Teleservices, the duo jointly has 3G airwaves in all circles except Himachal Pradesh. Put simply, the deal will also enable MTNL to offer third-generation services on a pan-India level, except in Himachal Pradesh, for which it is in talks with BSNL. MTNL’s shares closed 2.91% higher on Friday at Rs 54.85 on BSE. For Tata Teleservices, which is yet to launch GSM-based mobile operations in Delhi, the deal with MTNL will enable the company, in which Japanese major NTT DoCoMo has a 26% stake, to kick off both second- and third-generation cellular services in the city. While private operators were given 3G spectrum in September 2010, state-owned telcos MTNL and BSNL were given these airwaves in late 2009. Both BSNL and MTNL then matched the winning bids by private companies in the auction process. MTNL had taken a Rs 7,000-crore loan to pay for 3G airwaves in Delhi and Mumbai, and company executives said the spectrum-sharing deal will enable them to meet interest costs and also partly service this loan. Idea Cellular, which had won 3G airwaves in 11 circles, but not Delhi and Mumbai, did not put in a bid. An industry executive said Idea’s failure to participate was yet another indicator that the Aditya Birla group company along with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar was working out a strategic to offer third-generation services on a pan-India level. These three GSM telcos jointly have 3G spectrum in all circles except Orissa. Bharti had bagged 3G airwaves in 13 circles and Vodafone Essar in nine. They also jointly own the world’s largest telecom infrastructure company, Indus Tower, enabling them to share mobile networks for 3G rollout.

Thanks for the support my dear friend. Waise woh apki PDF book padhi hai 2 baar. Kuch benefit bhi hua tha. Magar phir se pet badh gaya. Is skipping dinner necessary ? Yaar yeh khana matt skip karvao.....please ! Aur Graduate nahi mai toh POST GRADUATION ki soch raha tha. Lol.

^^^ Really a good one. Lots of features with Dual Sim and the brand name of GIGABYTE.

My New Year Resolution is : I will lose atleast 10 kg this year... i.e. 103 - 10 = 93kg. Pet badhta jaa raha hai jaise pregnant lady ka hota hai. Lol.

Yes, agreed with Saket. It will be a win-win situation for all the three operators....MTNL, Docomo and Aircel.

RIM Refutes Indian BlackBerry Data Tapping Reports States the ET report is false and setting up NDAS is technologically infeasible Canadian handset maker Research in Motion has denied accepting any offer from the Indian Dept. of Home Ministry to install network data analysis systems in its premises. Indian news daily Economic Times reported on December 30 that RIM agreed to install Network Data Analysis Systems infrastructure at its Indian premises for encrypted BlackBerry Services data tapping. RIM told Wall Street Journal in an email statement, "This (the media report) is both false and technologically infeasible." Time and again RIM has been pleading to the Govt. of India that installing NDAS Infrastructure in its Indian premises is not possible or feasible. However, as per ET's report RIM had agreed to the Indian governments demands to provide the required infrastructure for tapping the encrypted data. Govt. of India had also given a deadline of January 31, 2011 for RIM to provide a solution for lawful interception of encrypted BlackBerry data services. RIM clarified in the emailed statement that the reported January 31 deadline is incorrect and that the report also contradicts comments from the government of India. So the issue is back to square one with RIM stating that installation of NDAS infrastructure is technologically not feasible, while the Indian Govt. seeks a working solution to intercept and monitor the encrypted BlackBerry data. Though there is talk of BlackBerry Services being banned after January 31, 2011, in case RIM doesn't submit a solution, the company clearly refutes the deadline. Courtesy : Techtree

+1 to you dear Rajan Brother. All your points and concerns are 100% valid. And regarding "Indian Mobile User's Association", yes ofcourse there's a need for such an association for the benefit of the consumers. Many operators just don't listen to the complaints of Prepaid subscribers and sometimes even to Postpaid subscribers. Why not we altogether take the initiative to start such an association. Its a teamwork and can't be done alone. I'm always ready for it.

^^^ Rajan Bhai.....aap kehte hain JUST DO IT....toh lo brother.....hamne taiyaari kar lee hai poori.....Whiskey, Soda wagerah sab ready hai. Cheers !

Karthik Bhai, aap apna Resolution toh likho. Aapka New Year Resolution kya hai ? By the way, my New Year Resolution is : I will not leave Daaru this year too and I will be strict to it.... and I mean it. Cheers !

^^^ Lolz.

Mobile Transactions To Become More Secure From 1 Jan 2011 Onwards In 2009, RBI had mandated additional security for online credit/debit card transactions in India. This was achieved through the introduction of 3D Secure password that was required to be registered for every credit/debit card to enable its use for online payments on ecommerce websites. This meant that in addition to the 16-digit card number, 4 digit expiry date and 3-digit CVV number, the card holders were required to enter the additional 3d Secure password to authorize their online transactions. Users could easily register for this 3D Secure password on the website of their card issuing bank or on the websites of MasterCard and VISA. While this additional password went a long way in ensuring safe & secure e-commerce transactions, mobile transactions continued to be susceptible to credit card frauds and identity thefts. This is because, for authorizing any mobile transaction, all you required was to enter the 16-digit card number, the expiry date and the cvv number. Since all three details are printed on the card itself, any person who gets physical access to your card could note down these details and use it later to make a payment through IVR, WAP or On-Device application. Fortunately, all this is set to change from 1 January 2011. In 2010, RBI gave the mandate to all banks to provide 3D Security for mobile transactions by 1 Jan 2011. This was a big challenge for multiple reasons: The additional password for mobile transactions had to be numeric because mobile channels like IVR do not support alpha-numeric inputs For online transactions, the users are redirected from the merchant’s website to a secure webpage of the card issuing bank for entering the 3D Secure password. This kind of redirection from the merchant’s IVR to a bank-managed IVR was not practical for mobile transactions. This meant that the merchant’s IVR will need to capture the complete card details of the customer, including the 3D Secure password. Since all mobile subscribers cannot be assumed to have ready access to internet, so the process of generating the 3D Secure password for mobile transactions would be independent of the internet. All the above requirements led to the emergence of the One Time Password (OTP). Compiled below, are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the OTP. What is OTP? One Time Password (OTP) is a 6-digit numeric password that will be used to authenticate every credit/debit card transaction on mobile. An OTP can be used only once. So for every mobile transaction you will be required to generate and use a new OTP. How to get the OTP? You can get your OTP by sending an SMS from your registered mobile number to a short/long code number of your card issuing bank. The bank will then send an OTP to your mobile by SMS. It usually takes only a few seconds to receive the OTP. If you are attempting a mobile transaction and if you have not requested for your OTP already, then you might also be able to receive the OTP automatically on your registered mobile number after you have entered your 16-digit credit card number. However, it might not be very convenient to switch between your voice call and sms inbox and if accidentally any key gets pressed during this act then the IVR might construe it as an input for your OTP. What short/long code number do I need to send the SMS to? The number will vary from bank to bank. For example, if you have an HDFC Bank credit/debit card, then you can send the SMS ‘PWD XXXX’ to 9717465555, where XXXX stand for the last 4 digits of your credit/debit card. In case of Citibank, you can send the SMS ‘OTP XXXX’ to 52484 or 9880752484 to receive your OTP. For how many transactions is the OTP valid? An OTP is valid for only one transaction, irrespective of whether your transaction failed or succeeded. So, you will be required to generate a new OTP for every attempt that you make for your mobile transaction. Hence the name One-Time Password . For how many hours will my OTP be valid? The validity varies from bank to bank. For some banks like HDFC Bank, the OTP remains valid for 2 hours from the time of its generation, while for other banks like Citibank, the OTP is valid for only half an hour. If the OTP is not used within this period then it will automatically expire and a new OTP will be required to be generated. I have multiple credit/debit cards linked to my mobile number. When I send an OTP request to the bank, how will I distinguish which OTP is for which card of mine? When you send the SMS to the bank, you would also be mentioning the last 4 digits of your card. So the OTP that you may receive by SMS will be applicable for only that card whose last 4 digits you had submitted. If by chance you have more than one cards whose last 4 digits are common then upon sending the OTP request you might receive a message from the bank asking for submitting more details to help them distinguish between your cards. So what’s the good thing about OTP? Mobile transactions will become extremely secure Unlike the web 3D Secure password, you will not be required to memorize the OTP as it is for single-use only. It will enable many banks to open up their Debit cards on IVR. This means that even Debit card holders which are far too many as compared to Credit card holders, will now be able to transact on IVR. These additional security measures will not only help increase the confidence level of existing users who regularly perform mobile transactions, but also encourage new users to adopt mobile as a trustworthy channel for making instant payments. The enablement of Debit cards on IVR will further increase the reach of mobile payments to the masses and result in a high adoption rate. All in all, the introduction of OTP is expected to provide a major boost to mobile commerce in this country of over 700 million mobile subscribers. Keep checking www.paytm.com/enterprise for latest updates on OTP and secure mobile payments. Courtesy : one97world

BSNL Renovate Its 2G and 3G Postpaid Mobile Service Plans India’s National Telecom Backbone Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today rationalized the various Postpaid plans under its 2G and 3G mobile services and added more free calls, SMS and Data credits to selected plans. The new plans will be effective from 1st Janurary 2011. BSNL has exciting range of 2G and 3G Postpaid Tariff plans starting from Rs. 99/month. The revised plans are Plan-99, Plan-175, Plan-225, Plan-325, Plan-525, Plan-725 and Plan-1500. The Plan 1500 offers Unlimited Free B2B Local, STD and Roaming calls , lowest Local Off net calls as low as 20p, Off Net STD Calls as low as 30p, SMS and GPRS/3G tariff. With the new revamped wide range of postpaid plans, BSNL subscriber will get more freebies on Calls/SMS and 3G and 2G Data.The revised plan details are tabulated below. Courtesy : Telecom Talk Link

BSNL Launches FRC51 for Prepaid 3G Data Card Subscribers Pan India 3G GSM Mobile service operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) revised its existing 3G data card FRC of Rs. 326 and announced the launch of revised First Recharge Coupon (FRC) of Rs. 51 for prepaid 3G Data service customers who purchase the Data Card from BSNL in Tamilnadu circle. The FRC51 comes with account validity of 180 days and offers 2 GB data credit for the first 60 days of activation. If this FREE DATA usage is exhausted within 60 days from the date of activation, the customer can use a Data top-up voucher of MRP Rs. 197 (500MB FREE Data usage) or has to use regular Data TOP Ups of minimum value of Rs. 50 to his main account to browse the Internet further. Data charges beyond the FREE usage will be deducted 1p/10KB from the main account during the remaining period of DATA RCV validity. The Unlimited 3G DATA RCVs (MRP 1499, 2000, 2500, 4200) are also allowed during the freebie period of two months or afterworlds as per customer’s need and suitability. All other terms and conditions of 3G data plan will remain same. BSNL is only pan India Mobile Service operator which provides 3G mobile and data service in more than 675 cities across all the telecom circles in India. Creating a paradigm shift in the digital communications, BSNL recently launched affordable Unlimited 3G Plan just at Rs. 700 in India. By making 3G services affordable with lowest Voice call and Video call charges as well as High Speed 3G Wireless Broadband Data HSDPA connectivity at 1 paisa for 10KB in India. Courtesy : Telecom Talk Link

Loop Telecom pays Rs 2.7cr penalty for network roll out delay The Economic Times l 30th December l New Delhi Another new operator Loop Telecom has paid the penalty of Rs 2.7 crore to the government for missing out network roll-out in the stipulated period . "The company has paid Rs 2.7 crore for the three circles," a company official said. Loop Telecom Ltd which was earlier known as BPL Mobile has licences in 21 circles but is yet to get spectrum in the New Delhi circle. Yesterday, three other new mobile operators including Etisalat DB, Uninor and MTS had confirmed having paid the penalty for missing out the network roll out obligation. Besides, Videocon chairman VN Dhoot, which ownes Videcon Telecommunications, declined to comment on the pay-out of the penalty. Videocon Telecommunications, offers GSM mobile services under the brand name Videocon. The services are already up and running in Tamil Nadu(including Chennai), Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP East, UP West, and Himachal Pradesh. Uninor, a joint venture between reality major Unitech and Telenor of Norway, has also made payment but did not disclose the amount of penalty. The company said that it had "paid under protest". Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) has also paid penalty ranging between Rs 5 crore and Rs 11 crore. DoT started issuing show-cause notices to telecom companies around December 14 and had given them 15 days to respond. Sources also said that show-cause notices are still being sent out to some operators. As per the conditions of licence, the licencees are required to roll out the services in 90 per cent service areas in metros and 10 per cent district headquarters in other service areas within 12 months of the date of award of licences. Total penalty cannot exceed Rs 7 crore per licencing area and the telecom companies get 52 weeks before their licences are cancelled.

Govt warns on unauthorised phone tapping The Economic Times l 31st December 2010 l New Delhi NEW DELHI: The India . government on Thursday warned private and public companies illegally tapping phone calls, asking them to reveal information on communication surveillance equipment, foreign or indigenous, within 60 days or face prosecution. The department of telecom in a statement made it clear that power of interception of telegraph messages was in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India. Companies or agencies indulging in these practices will be booked and punished as per the provisions of Indian Telegraph Act, it added. Within 60 days, the department’s enforcement, resource and monitoring (TERM) cells will collect information from people or companies that import, procure or possess the equipment or sub-systems capable of monitoring, intercepting and surveillance of communication. The government can seize equipment and imprison non-compliant entities up to three years with a fine of `1,000. The statement added that under the law, no equipment or sub-system could be used for unauthorised communication network, monitoring, intercepting and surveillance of communication. DoT said the government is also independently compiling, through its own sources, information about persons or companies that possess, have imported or procured or assembled or manufactured the equipment or sub-systems having capabilities of monitoring, intercepting and surveillance of communication.

Ministry to ask telcos not to leak subscriber information to equipment manufacturers The Economic Times l 31st December l New Delhi The telecoms department will ask mobile phone companies not to send any subscriber related information to equipment manufacturers when troubleshooting operations on the networks are carried out. Following a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau, the telecoms ministry is set to write to all cellphone companies mandating that executives from service providers be compulsorily present when engineers from telecom gear makers access mobile networks here. Telcos will also be asked to change system passwords if the same has been shared with vendors during emergencies. The networks of India’s largest phone firms — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications , Vodafone , Tata Tele and Idea — are being managed by either Sweden’s Ericsson , Finland-based Nokia Siemens or Paris-headquartered Alcatel-Lucent. Reliance has outsourced its GSM network management to China’s Huawei while Loop Telecom has tied up with another Chinese firm, ZTE, for its GSM rollout across India. The IB has asked the telecoms department to mandate that vendor engineers’ not be allowed to take any data or customer information on mobile networks here without specific authorisation, scrutiny and record by competent authorities of service providers. The home ministry also wants the department of telecoms to conduct surprise inspections at server locations to ensure compliance to these guidelines. ET had accessed internal telecom department notes on these security concerns raised by the home ministry. The IB’s move comes after the agency monitored Bharti Airtel’s legal interception mechanism for third-generation ( 3G )) services and found the telco to be ‘sending system logs’ to gear makers for analysis or trouble shooting. Bharti Airtel is sending system logs for the trouble shooting purposes, the department’s additional director general for security DS Aswar said in an internal note. The telecoms ministry’s security wing in the internal note added that the logs sent by Bharti Airtel to vendors may have contained customer information. However, ET has not been able to independently verify this. A Bharti spokesperson said: “We do not share any customer or security sensitive information with our equipment vendors. However, we cannot comment on any internal government note.” Earlier this year, India had unveiled a new set of security guidelines for telecom gear makers which also mandated that foreign equipment companies to put their software in the equivalent of a sealed envelope to be opened by Indian authorities only during a security threat. The rules, set by India’s security establishment, also require vendors to employ only Indian nationals as engineers in the country.

Test BlackBerry’s interception system: Home ministry to DoT The Economic Times l 31 December l New Delhi NEW DELHI: India’s interior ministry has asked the telecoms department to validate BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion’s claims that it had installed a ‘cloud computing-based system’ to legally intercept messenger services on its handsets. Earlier this month Canada’s RIM had told the home ministry that it had complied with the Indian government’s mandate to provide interception tools for BlackBerry messenger chats “We are happy to confirm that as per the compliance schedule agreed by both Research in Motion and the Ministry Of Home Affairs, RIM infrastructure is ready to receive and process via the cloud computing-based system, lawfully intercepted BlackBerry messenger data from India service providers,” the Canadian company’s vice-president of industry, government and university relations Robert E Crow had said in a communication to the home ministry. In a communication to the telecoms department, home ministry’s joint secretary Dharmendra Sharma said that RIM had agreed to provide a final solution to its messenger chat services by January 31, 2001, while adding that ‘according to the Canadian company, the cloud-based computing system was the final solution it was putting in place by January-end’ for this facility. On Thursday, ET had reported that RIM had offered to install a network data analysis system at its premises in India, to end the three-year standoff between the Canadian company and security agencies here that have been demanding access to BlackBerry communications. But RIM on Thursday in a statement said that it had not provided any access to its highly-secure corporate emails.

My dear friends, today my Hathway Broadband is down due to some issue. I tried Vodafone Mobile Connect with my PC connected through my Nokia E63 and below is the Speedtest report for the same : I think the download speed is really better as compared to other operators.

New Year Offer from Vodafone for Mumbai Prepaid Subscribers. Get 200 MB @ Rs.17/- RC Enjoy !

^^^ VIP Gold Edition is also good, no doubts at all.

Mozilla Accidentally Posts Usernames and Passwords Deletes all user passwords and requests users to reset the same Registered users of Mozilla's add-on website addons.mozilla.org are in for a rude shock. The said users received a message from Mozilla that it had inadvertently exposed their usernames and encrypted passwords. This occurred after the browser giant posted a file containing email addresses, first and last names, and an md5 hash representation of user passwords on a publicly available web server. The website is an official platform for hosting add-ons related to Mozilla products like Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey. As damage control, Mozilla erased all user passwords and has requested users to manually reset the same. It has also implored its users to do the same for any other websites where they may have used the same password. This breach is serious because Mozilla took action only after being informed about the leak by a third party. We know Mozilla's all for open source, but open source passwords is stretching things too far. Courtesy : Techtree

<< Topic Moved to Gsm Handset Discussion Forum >>

Uninor Launches Social Service Campaign “Rahat” Uninor, GSM Mobile service operator recently launched unique Social Service Campaign “Rahat” in Uttar Pradesh circle to help the millions affected by the Cold Wave lashing across North India. With this social service initiative, one can contribute by way of old clothes, old footwear, worn out linen such as bedsheets, sofa covers, curtains etc. These can be donated at Uninor’s Exclusive Brand Store at Marie Gold Building, UGF, 4 – Shahnajaf Road, Sapru Marg, Lucknow. All the clothes and other contributions received will be distributed amongst the needy across UP and rest of North India in association with credible NGOs. Residents of Lucknow can make the donations at the store until 31st December 2010 As part of its Rahat campaign, Uninor will also be distributing blankets to the poor & homeless across 9 towns in UP – including Khurja, Agra, Mathura, Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. The company is also mobilizing people on social networking platforms such as facebook to join this effort and contribute. You can drop off old clothes, footwear, and linen at the Uninor Store until the end of this year. Those contributing are requested to ensure that the clothing they donate are in a wearable condition. Courtesy : Telecom Talk

Kanaga Bhai....MTS MBlaze speeds seems to be good at your place. Hope the speed will increase further.