Honest

My dear friend, then either you can go as per Dr. Mufaddal's advice or else you can also wait for Reliance GSM services to start. As GSM handsets are available in variety and according to budget. MNP (Mobile Number Portability) is already on the way. And soon we can shift our Reliance CDMA numbers to Reliance GSM. Regards.

^^^ Hope within couple of years they will update their Website.

^^^ My dear Rahul, if your requirement is of Dual Sim Handset then you can opt for this handset or Spice brand mobiles. Treo is not Dual Sim. Regards.

^^^ My dear Rahul, if you are considering a Warranted handset then you should go for SPICE Dual Sim handsets only. Although this CECT brand handset too is not that bad. Some of my friends are using this handset without any problems. Just check if the proper IMEI number is their or not. As the handsets which have BAD IMEI numbers could be banned by Indian Government in a couple of months. Regards.

^^^ My dear friend, 99 and 199 would be their limited and unlimited packages respectively. But I'm not sure.

Motorola gets 'junk' rating from S&P Bloomberg l 6 Dec l San Francisco Motorola Inc had its credit rating lowered to junk status by Standard & Poor’s because its declining handset business is eating into profitability. The rating was cut two levels to BB+, one notch below investment grade, S&P said today in a statement. On Dec 2, Moody’s Investors Service said it may downgrade Motorola’s debt, currently rated Baa2, or two levels above non-investment grade. Co-Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Jha is trying to turn around the phone business using Google Inc’s Android software to build more advanced phones. He’s going up against Apple Inc, Research In Motion Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co, while also facing the global economic slump. Motorola said in October it won’t meet a goal of splitting off the mobile-phone unit by the third quarter of 2009. “Revenues and profits in the first part of the year will be challenged by a narrower, somewhat-dated product portfolio,” S&P’s Bruce Hyman said in the statement. “Standard & Poor’s also expects about 10 percent fewer handsets to be sold worldwide in 2009 at lower average prices than in 2008.” Motorola’s handset business has lost about $2.8 billion in operating income since the start of 2007. The company’s other units, which include networking gear, “partly offset these difficulties,” Hyman wrote. Market share Motorola lost its top ranking in the US mobile-phone market, the world’s biggest, to Samsung last quarter. Motorola had a 21.1 per cent share, while Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung had 22.4 per cent, giving it the top spot for the first time, according to Newton, Massachusetts-based research firm Strategy Analytics. Motorola’s 5.375 per cent notes maturing in November 2012 fell 0.3 cent on the dollar to 91.2 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The yield rose to 8.02 per cent. The cost of protecting Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola’s bonds from default has increased 65 per cent in the past month. Credit-default swaps on Motorola climbed to 520 basis points at 4 pm New York time, up from 314.2 on Nov 5, according to CMA DataVision. Motorola shares rose 4 cents to $4.36 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have dropped 73 per cent this year.

VAS players rush to Africa, Middle East Economic Times l 6 Dec l Ahmedabad African and Middle Eastern countries are becoming new playground for the Indian mobile value-added services (VAS) industry. With improvement in telecom infrastructure, mobile markets in these countries are growing at a fast pace, inspiring Indian VAS players to explore new markets there. The markets are also attractive because operators are able to charge a mind-boggling 250 times more in these countries than what they charge in India. Services typically aimed at enriching livelihood and enhancing lifestyles - mBanking, mRemittances, SMS-based information, entertainment-based services and tailor-made initiatives for rural markets -are being offered in the new markets. ``Africa and Middle Eastern mobile markets have undergone lot of changes and some countries in these regions have emerged as the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. Telecom infrastructure has improved and with this, mobile usage has surged. The array of services has, therefore, increased dramatically,’’ says chief strategy officer of Bharti Telesoft, Sangeet Chowfla. The company with expertise in mCommerce service is working with mobile operators in Africa to provide solutions to help them capture new market segments. The company is also expanding across the Middle East and working with partners to penetrate the markets. ``There is great potential for operators in rapidly growing markets to bring hitherto unavailable services to mobile subscribers. mBanking is one such area where the potential is tremendous,’’ Mr Chowfla further said. Ahmedabad-based Net4Nuts Limited that provides mVAS services to several top telecom operators across India and South East Asian countries is now moving to Africa and Middle East regions to tap the growing markets. ``The average mindset of customers in the two regions is very similar and what works in India works there too. Further, compared to India telecom operators, operators in these regions are pricing services as many as 250 times higher and the revenue-sharing model is also friendly,’’ says Net4Nuts CEO, Chirag Patel. The services provided by the company range from fun-related entertainment and lifestyle to business oriented information under travel and finance through SMSs. Another player, Impetus Technologies, that introduced Mandi Bhav, a commodity price application for Indian rural VAS service providers, has also begun tapping markets in these regions. ``We are getting good offers from Middle East and African markets for our services that focus mainly on rural markets. Our contents are finding markets that are not much different from Indian market,’’ said Prem Rathi of Impetus. Agriculture-based services, weather information, edutainment focussing on understanding new languages are services that are finding new market there. Indian VAS providers feel telecom operators in these new markets are more reasonable when it comes to revenue-sharing, which is also one reason why VAS operators are readily tapping new markets. ``That apart, you need to have specific contents that could come to the use of mobile users in other regions. Indian VAS providers have gained expertise in developing such contents, which is coming in handy for their expansion,’’ Mr Rathi further said.

Vodafone, Hutchison Tele transfer relates to assets in India, says HC Business Line l 5 Dec l Mumbai The subject matter of transfer as contracted between Vodafone International and Hutchison Telecom International is not actually the shares of a Cayman Islands company but the assets situated in India, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court observed in its dismissal on Wednesday of Vodafone’s writ petition challenging the Income-Tax authorities on the matter of withholding tax in its acquisition of Hutch Essar Ltd. The Court also remarked that the petitioner had “wilfully failed” to produce the original agreement of February 11, 2007, and other agreements entered into with HTIL for the acquisition of Hutch-Essar. “The said agreement has not been produced by the petitioner either before the respondent or even before us,” said the Court. Without the agreement, it would be impossible for the court to find out the true nature of the transaction, it said. “In spite of repeated demands by the respondents, the same have not been produced, left us with no option but to draw an adverse inference against the petitioner, since it clearly amounts to withholding of the best evidence, even assuming that the onus of proof does not lie on the petitioner.” Vodafone International had been issued a show-cause notice by the Income-Tax Department on why it should not be treated as an assessee in default in not having deducted and paid Indian government withholding tax (TDS) when it acquired Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL) from HTIL last year. Vodafone had acquired HEL through buying shares in a Cayman Islands company which in turn held shares in HEL, the Indian telecom operator, now known as Vodafone Essar Ltd. One of Vodafone’s arguments in its writ petition was that the transaction was between two international companies in a third overseas company and that this would not come under Indian tax jurisdiction. “It would be too simplistic to answer away all the facts and circumstances by a submission of the petitioner (Vodafone) that what was transferred was only shares of an unknown Cayman Islands company which is a shell company and the same was not even considered in the enterprise value of Hutch,” the Court said. The choice of the petitioner in selecting a particular mode of transfer of these rights will not alter or determine the nature or character of the asset, it said. The Bench said that Revenue has made out a strong prima facie case that the transaction entered upon by the petitioner (Vodafone) amounts to transfer of a capital asset, especially in the light of the fact that the interest in telecom licence is jointly held with the Essar Group with the use of brand and goodwill as well as non-compete rights given by HTIL. “Shares in themselves may be an asset but in some cases like the present one, shares may be merely a mode or a vehicle to transfer some other assets — in the instant case, the subject matter of transfer as contracted between the parties is not actually the shares of a Cayman island company but the assets situated in India,” said the Court. The Indian Income-Tax Act has a twin basis for taxation; one is based on resident or domicile and the second is based on source of income. Non-residents are taxed only on income which has its source in India. The income or capital gains made by HTIL in the deal are deemed to have accrued or arisen in India, said the court agreeing with the respondent (Income-Tax department). It is inconceivable as to how HTIL can transfer its controlling interest in HEL without extinguishing its rights in the shares of the Indian group and without which a transferee cannot acquire a controlling interest, said the Court. It involves not only extinguishingof HTIL’s shares in HEL but also relinquishment of their assets.

Ministry says no irregularity in refund to RCom Business Line l 5 Dec l New Delhi The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Friday said that no irregularity has been made in making refund to Reliance Communications Ltd. on surrendering its dual technology approval in six circles. Reliance Communications was given in-principle approval in October, 2007 for usage of dual technology spectrum (GSM in addition to CDMA) in 20 service areas. Accordingly, the company had paid Rs 1651.5 crore towards fee for dual technology permission in 20 service areas. However, it was found that out of these 20 service areas, in six of the service areas (Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orrisa, West Bengal and Kolkata), Reliance Telecom Ltd. (RTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RCom, also holds UAS licences (with GSM spectrum allocated). The reason “The Government considered it desirable not to allocate GSM technology spectrum in these six service areas and the Department of Telecommunications amended UAS licences of RCom for 14 service areas only. The licences of RCom were not amended in spite of payment of requisite entry fees which would have otherwise enabled them to get GSM spectrum under two group companies in these six service areas, thus amounting to hoarding of spectrum. Since the Government has backed out from its commitment to grant dual technology spectrum in these service areas, it was considered appropriate to refund the fee of about Rs 112 crore paid by RCom for these six service areas,” said a press statement. Not comparable The Ministry added that it was incorrect to make any comparison of the present case with the case of Bharti Airtel in 2004 when they surrendered one of the two operating licenses (one for basic service and one for cellular service) held by them after migration to Unified Access Service Regime. “The present case is also not comparable to the case of Idea and Spice who hold valid telecom access licences and on whom the merger guideline of licences in a service area will apply,” the release said.

^^^ My dear Vipul, then you should PM / Mail to our dedicated member SUPERNOVA. I think he can arrange Nokia 6265 for you. Try sending him a request for the same.

My dear friends, it could be available at approximately 5.5 K

^^^ This Strategy of Reliance could become Tragedy for many of us.

Mobile base to touch 500 m by 2010 Business Line l 4 Dec l Kochi With the introduction of the 3G spectrum, mobile connections in India are poised to touch 500 million by 2010. Addressing the Industry Summit on ‘3G: The Next Wave’ at Kochi, Mr Siddhartha Behura, Secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said the 3G bid document has been finalised. Broad guidelines have already been issued and allotment of spectrum has been planned through simultaneous ascending e-auction process. There would also be a pre-bid conference between the industry and the Government. The auction is planned to be held in January 2009 by the independent auctioneer, N.M. Rothschild, and the process of allotment of spectrum will be completed before February 2009, Mr Behura said. “Bulk of the growth in telephone connections comes from the mobile platform. But the objective is not just the numbers; telecom must be used as the tool to empower the citizens and bridge the digital divide,” he said. The industry summit was organised by Ericsson and Assocham. 2nd largest market India has become the second largest wireless market as well as the fastest growing market in the world. The total number of mobile telephone connections in the country has reached over 320 million by the end of October 2008. Today it adds 10 million new mobile subscribers every month. The next focus area of the government would be in providing affordable broadband, especially to sub-urban and rural communities. “This is not only expected to give a new burst of growth for the community, but on a larger plane would provide multiplier effects to the entire rural community. As the telecom connectivity and broadband connectivity becomes a reality, the rural communities are expected to become more integrated with the rapid growth processes taking place in the rest of the economy,” Mr Behura added. ‘Need to extend services’ There was a need to provide not only plain vanilla voice services to rural subscribers, but a greater urgency to extend services like e-medicine, e-education and e-governance. These are facilities which the urban subscribers take for granted but are quite critical to the rural population and can be provided through broadband kind of services. Mr Sanjeev Aga, Managing Director of Idea Cellular Limited, said majority of the new mobile users are from the rural countryside. Majority of the new mobile users, that is more than 50 per cent are from rural India.

^^^ My dear Vipul Nokia 6265 is outdated now. You can get the new Nokia 6275 instead. Its a good handset. Regards.

Providing affordable broadband to rural areas next priority Press Trust of India l 5 Dec l Kochi Providing affordable broadband, especially to the suburban and rural communities is the next focus area, Telecom Secretary, Siddhartha Behura. The increased rural telecom connectivity is poised to give a new burst of growth for the community. On a larger plane, however, there will be multiplier effects for the rural economy, Behura said at a conference on '3G: The Next Wave'. Provision of broadband in rural and remote areas will also help in bridging the so called 'digital divide', he said. It will help improve productivity in rural areas, help overcome the constraints of an inadequate transport infrastructure and overall improve the quality of life. It is expected that 3G will play a critical role in fulfilling these requirements of rural India and will also act as cost effective medium to reach them,he said. As telecom connectivity and broadband connectivity becomes a reality, the rural localities will become more integrated with the rapid growth processes taking place in the rest of the economy, he said. There will be increased socio economic opportunities for rural citizens, which will enable greater employment prospects and purchasing power. The spin off benefits will be felt, not just in telecom, but right across the entire economy, he said. ''What we do need to keep in mind is that the rural subscribers need more than plain vanilla voice sercies. Their requirement is much more, sometimes more than the urban subscribers. Services like health care, education, and e-governance which the urban subsribers take for granted are of greater importance to them than to their urban counterparts.These can be delivered to them through broadband kind of services.

Make VoIP Calls From Your iPod Touch When you think of the iPod Touch - you think multimedia device with browsing capabilities. Now a company called Truphone that specializes in VoIP for mobiles, is all set to change that by developing a version of their VoIP tech for the Apple iPod Touch. The freeware application will allow users to make free internet calls (VoIP) via Wi-fi networks from their 2nd Generation iPod Touch. Calls can be made to other users of the same application or Gtalk, MSN and Skype users. Apple's earphones can be used with the mic adapter for conversations. The Truphone application is available for download from the Apple App Store as well as the company’s own website. Courtesy : Tech2

Symbian Open Source OS in 2010 Distribution of code in 2009 Nokia's Symbian Foundation is set to focus on its open source OS, which it plans to bring in 2010. The Foundation expects to bring out the first distribution of its software for developers in the first half of 2009. Earlier this week, Nokia had closed the deal in which the Finnish company had agreed to buy the remaining part of the Symbian consortium. This was seen as inevitable in many circles owing to the fact that from the start Nokia had dominated Symbian. Software assets will, however, be contributed to the foundation by the members. These include, Symbian OS and S60 by Nokia, UIQ technology by Motorola and Sony Ericsson and MOAP(S) by NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu. The Symbian Foundation comprises manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, AT&T and quite a few others. New members include AOL, Fujitsu's Cell Telecom division, and Intrinsyc a leading provider of mobile and embedded software solutions Analysts see the upcoming Symbian platform as a viable alternative to competing platforms such as Google's Android , Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. While Symbian was leading the smartphone OS share market for quite long, the recent incursions by Mac OSX, thanks to the iPhone and its brilliant UI, did take some sheen away from Symbian. A new partner organization will handle the distribution of code, which is expected in the first half of 2009. Courtesy : Techtree

Sony Ericsson C510 or 'Filipa' Mysterious as ever The Sony Ericsson Filipa, the soon-to-be-launched Cybershot branded phone, has been the subject of unending debates and mystery. Starting with several codenames at the time of its "leak", when it was called "Kate", it soon changed to "Filipa". Now we have the name and a few details regarding this Sony Ericsson. The Filipa, as it turns out, would most possibly end up as the Sony Ericsson C510. However, there is a slight controversy here as well. Some argue that this is not the "Kate" (or Filipa) and that it is another model resembling the Kate. However, there seems to be some differences from the Kate's earlier suspected specs. The biggest change, for example, is the integration of a 3.2 megapixel camera instead of a 5 megapixel one initially rumored. Other features, however, remain more or less the same. These include smile shutter, face detection, autofocus, xenon flash and active lens. On the looks front, it lies right there in the middle of the aesthetics department. It might not appeal to everyone, but does share the traditional Sony Ericsson look. No further information is available at this point. Availability and pricing information should be available once Sony Ericsson announces it officially.

MTNL to launch 3G in Delhi on Dec 11 Indiatimes l 5 Dec l New Dehi The government-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is set to add teeth to our security personnel’s technology prowess. The PSU is set to launch mobile video surveillance by marrying its much-awaited third-generation (3G) services with conventional closed-circuit TV, says media report. This will help security personnel monitor movements while being on the go themselves. The video surveillance service will use cameras linked by WiFi or landlines, which can be linked to a 3G handset wirelessly, according to a company spokesperson. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to launch the 3G services on December 11 in Delhi. The services are expected to be launched in Mumbai too soon. The launch will put the country on the global 3G map a month ahead of the process to offer private firms 3G licences. Video surveillance services can be possible only with high bandwidth. In 3G services, a speed of up to 2Mbps is possible, while the highest possible speed in GSM is only 50Kpbs and in CDMA 144 Kbps is the maximum speed available. Any good quality video requires a minimum of 380 kbps. Earlier, Communications and IT Minister A Raja had said that the 3G auction would be completed by January 15 and the operators would have to pay up by January 31. In August, the government outlined guidelines for a global auction of radio spectrum for third-and fourth-generation (3G and 4G) wireless services, from which it hoped to raise up to 400 billion rupees ($8.3 billion).

^^^ My dear friend, I'm using the Vodafone Call Block facility. This service from Vodafone is known as CALL FILTER and its available at a monthly rental of Rs.99/-. And when any Blacklisted number tries to call me he / she hear the message as follows : English : "The number you are trying to reach does not wish to recieve your call at this moment, please try again later". Hindi : "Jis number se aap sampark karna chahte hain, woh iss samay aapse baat nahi karna chahta, kripya thodi der baad sampark kijiye".

^^^ Yes my dear friend. Why not. After all its a great handset.

^^^ My dear friend, Nokia N Series and Sony Ericsson handsets are available for only GSM services and Reliance provides CDMA. Very soon, in the end of this month Reliance is going to start its GSM services also. So, it is better not to waste your hard earned money on highend Cdma handsets. You should wait for Reliance GSM services to be started throughout the country. Then you can use any of your favourite Nokia N Series or Sony Ericsson Walken Series handsets with it. The deadline of Reliance GSM services to be started throughout the nation is 28 December as per our information. Regards.

^^^ My dear friend, I think the Ipod Nano 8 Gb model will be the best for your brother.

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That means you had not used this handset with any service provider till now ? Hmmmm.... without incoming and outgoing.......then whats the benefit of mobile handset if we don't use it for communication. Hope the issue to use this handset with TATA will soon be resolved and you will be able to use the handset for which you had purchased the same. Regards.