Virgin Mobile Is Here For The Youth, Courtesy Tata

[kshah 452]

Why tata will give sim replacement? or there will not be any cross compatibility of handsets. Both are different service providers only thing is virgin is using tata network.

This model is widely used in US.

[@ksh@T 20]

everybody is going to get the loot here!

Bharti Airtel offers its network to foreign carriers

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel is offering global long-distance carriers the option of using the Airtel network within India rather than taking a licence and rolling out their own networks here. Even for those international players who have already obtained a licence in India, Bharti is looking at partnering them by allowing these players to use its network.

The company is also carrying out an advertising and marketing campaign across global markets called ‘India with Airtel’, where it offers to partner with any carrier that wants to enter India.

“We actually see the entry of many foreign carriers in India as a market opportunity rather than a threat. International carriers bring more customers with them. Since these new players cannot replicate the capabilities of the domestic players, we see huge business opportunities here.

We are open to them hosting services within our network. We are also looking to offer network to network interface–we will provide them the access lines to connect to their customers here,” explained Bharti Airtel’s president for Enterprise Services, David Nishball. Bharti has a local network spanning over 75,000 route km of fibre including intra-city fibre covering more than 500 cities.

According to Mr Nishball, Bharti’s move to unveil the ‘India with Airtel’ initiative in January 2008 was due to the fact that the company had foreseen the requirements of international payers who wanted to enter India in the future.

[sougatadc 358]

Yes, MVNO is going to be the next big in-thing in Indian telecom. BSNL is also contemplating MVNO venture.

[commonman 228]

Why tata will give sim replacement? or there will not be any cross compatibility of handsets. Both are different service providers only thing is virgin is using tata network.

This model is widely used in US.

As per the Stated legal Position of both TATA and Virgin, the deal is not a MVNO, but is a franchisee agreement. Which means both services are owned by TATA only. MVNO is not permitted in India under the present rules.

[vishalkumar 0]

@siva, please post your experience of using the Virgin network for calls and other services.

[shashank 8]

^^Its going to be same as Tatas Network quality dude!

If Tata network collapses,then even Virgin mobile collapses!

But i have one question,if your Virgin mobile is switched off/not reachable, what message will the caller get? "The Tata Indicom ........?!"

[@ksh@T 20]

good thought shashank!

[Honest 836]

^^^

@shashank

My dear friend, it will be as "The Virgin Mobile you are trying to reach is switch off" or like that.

Regards.

[sougatadc 358]

good thought shashank!

Not at all! It will be a simple procedure to recognise the identity of a Virgin Mobile call and a few recorded messages will meet the requirements. While they can handle such a big deal, why on earth they will not take care of such a small & trivial thing? Rest assured, my dear friends, you will hear customised voice response for Virgin also.

Regards...

[hritik123 4]

is there postpaid in virgin ??

is there postpaid in virgin ??

[sougatadc 358]

is there postpaid in virgin ??

is there postpaid in virgin ??

No news of postpaid in the official website of Virgin Mobile

[Arun 795]

Other Telcom Operators unimpressed by Virgin`s scheme

Business Standard / Mumbai March 18, 2008

Indian telecom operators will take time to roll out ‘get paid for receiving calls’ scheme despite its launch by British telecom company Virgin Mobile. The telecom operators are not so convinced of the scheme’s potential.

The operators believe that the industry is not ready for these services, even though such plans are good for users in Singapore.

The service charges in the country are already lowest in the world and will not slide further for sometime. Moreover, this is also against the existing practice of an operator trying to match every scheme launched by competitors.

“We have no intentions of introducing the plan at present. At the end of the day, products and prices should be evaluated in their totality, and so, we have never considered launching a package or service in isolation,” said Bharti Airtel President (Mobile Services) Sanjay Kapoor.

Adding that Bharti Airtel’s services were ‘competitive’, he said, the company evaluates market conditions before launching any scheme.

Ditto for Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar. The companies’ executives have confirmed that there were no immediate plans to launch the services.

BPL Mobile Director and CEO S Subramaniam, said, “We have no immediate plans to roll out the services as we believe the eco-system in the country is not ready to support this. These schemes will not be beneficial to established players In India even though they will help companies starting operations to get a foothold in the country.”

According to an analyst, who did not want to be named, the plans are unexpected as an operator launches similar or even better schemes than its competitors.

Launching Virgin Mobile telecom brand in India under a franchisee agreement with CDMA company Tata Teleservices, the UK-based Virgin Group ushered in the regime of ‘making payments to users for receiving calls’.

The company is crediting airtime worth 10 paise to a user’s account for every 60-second call received. Although it did not divulge details of the scheme, industry analysts were of opinion that the company was crediting one-third of the termination charges received from other players. The termination charges for a 60-second call are 30 paise at present.

“The model which all of us are looking at, involves crediting airtime to the user for listening to a 10-second advertisement jingle. But this will take time as advertisers and mobile operators will have to gear up for this regime,” said Subramaniam.

[Honest 836]

“The model which all of us are looking at, involves crediting airtime to the user for listening to a 10-second advertisement jingle. But this will take time as advertisers and mobile operators will have to gear up for this regime,” said Subramaniam.

^^^

My dear friends, it is clear from the above statement that all other operators are much more money minded then Virgin. They will charge the company's very high prices for the advt. jingles to be played at their network. No doubt it will be much more profitable to all above operators.

But in my point of view, the Virgin's offer of crediting airtime worth 10 paise still would be the best liked by the susbscribers.

No one wants to hear those stupic jingles unnicessarily.

Regards.

[sougatadc 358]

Even pesky calls are welcome!

Virgin_Incoming_Calls.pdf

[@ksh@T 20]

COAI renews attack on Virgin entry

NEW DELHI: GSM operators on Thursday approached the Department of Telecom (DoT) raising fresh concerns on the Tata-Virgin tie-up. They have said that Virgin Mobile was providing full range mobile services, including sale of handsets, tariff plans, value-added services and after sales, which only license holders are eligible to offer.

While the Tatas have said that the partnership does not amount to Virgin Mobile entering India as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) because it did not involve selling of airtime, GSM players have pointed out that ‘in the global context, to be classified as a MVNO, purchase of airtime was not essential’.

Indian regulations do not allow MVNOs. It must, however, be pointed out that despite objections from the GSM players, the DoT has already cleared the Tata-Virgin JV after seeking additional details from both companies.

Responding to Tata’s version that Virgin was entering India as its franchisee, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the body representing all GSM players, in its communication to the DoT said, “We suspect that going by the concept of franchising as understood worldwide, it is Tata Teleservices that may be acting as a franchisee of the Virgin Group for the use of the Virgin Mobile brand and business format expertise in India, instead of the other way round. This obviously has implications on whether this arrangement has been designed so as to allow Virgin Mobile India to offer mobile services in India, without owning a telecom licence.”

Further, the COAI has also told DoT that the mobile services launched by Virgin Mobile in India were similar to that offered by the Virgin Group (as an MVNO) in other parts of the world such as UK and Australia.

GSM operators also want to explore if the Tata-Virgin partnership is in breach of the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy. It has said that the current policy completely bars foreign investments in the telecom retail space. “It is important, therefore, to examine whether the mobile service being provided by Virgin Mobile India meet the restrictions imposed by the FDI Policy.

At the same time, the COAI has also pointed out that it was not opposed to the entry of MVNOs in India, but was in favour of innovation and consumer benefit. “However, to ensure a level playing field, it is imperative that comprehensive guidelines be issued on mobile services by MVNOs, before they are permitted. Backdoor methods which have the effect of subverting policy must be avoided, ” the COAI said.

[hritik123 4]

Afraid of competition COAI

[Honest 836]

^^^

Yes my dear friends, these sick gsm operators are very much afraid of competition. They just want to leech the booty alone.

Regards.

[kesav 127]

Centre rings virtual number

New Delhi, March 23: The government has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to allow mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) to offer services in the country.

MVNOs are telecom companies that buy talktime from service providers at wholesale rates and sell it under their own brand. The Centre wants them to start operating by September this year.

Tata Tele recently signed a deal with the UK-based Virgin mobile, which will enable Virgin to sell Tata Tele’s services as a franchisee. The deal has been criticised by rival companies who find Virgin a threatening presence in an already competitive market.

The government, however, said there was little to object in the deal. The move to allow MVNOs in the country was to prevent further controversies if more foreign companies signed such deals with Indian players.

French company Orange Mobile, British Telecom, Telekom Malaysia, the US-based AT&T, Japan’s KDDI and Mobile ESPN are keen to enter India through the MVNO route. Sources said there had been some diplomatic lobbying to open up the market.

Indian telecom companies planning pan-India expansions are interested in becoming MVNOs as it is a cheaper and faster option to reach out to a larger customer base. Most developed countries such as the US and the UK have allowed MVNO operations.

“We have sent a letter to Trai on Thursday asking it to clear MVNO services. The letter was sent under chapter 3 section 11(A), which allows regulators to advise us on the need for a new telecom service and the timing to start such a service,” department of telecom (DoT) officials told The Telegraph.

Telecom ministry officials said Trai has sixty days to reply, after which the government will start work on rolling out the service. “This will bring in fresh competition into the telecom space without having to release any fresh telecom spectrum,” officials said.

MVNOs also invest in telecom service booster devices to improve mobile coverage even without fresh spectrum.

Officials said MVNOs often share infrastructure with telecom companies that are original spectrum holders, which brings down capital cost for both. “Globally, the MVNO model has brought down mobile tariff. The cost of rolling out mobile services through the MVNO route is low for new players as they do not have to set up their own networks and can share telecom infrastructure with existing operators,” the officials said. The cost of setting up a tower is around Rs 25 lakh, which comes down by a third in case of sharing.

The DoT wants to roll out services as soon as possible to cash in on India’s booming telecom market.

According to data released by Trai, the country added 8.77 million mobile phone connections in January 2008, the highest-ever recorded globally. Total number of telephone connections reached 281.62 million at the end of January.

The DoT is already preparing to launch third-generation value-added mobile services (3G) next month. The bid to start MVNO services was part of that effort, but the decision to quicken the process has been taken after the Tata-Virgin controversy. The MVNO model is rapidly growing all over the world, especially in the 3G space.

source :: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080324/jsp/...ory_9049842.jsp

[sougatadc 358]

Does Tata 2 Tata Unlimited free pack work for making call from Tata phone to Virgin mobile? Virgin mobile numbers start with 92 similar to Tata and its network is also dealt with by them. So, will it be fair to expect unlimited free pack on Tata phone working for making calls to Virgin also?

[cdm 0]

VIRGIN;s current plans are quiet good

The Hindu Business Line

Monday, November 19, 2007 (New Delhi)

Britain's Virgin group will soon enter India's mobile phone market and make animated films, even as it awaits government nod to fly the domestic aviation space, its founder Sir Richard Branson said.

The UK-based Virgin Group is to make an announcement about its telecommunication venture in India within the next two-and-a-half months and would also like to set up a domestic airline, its founder, Sir Richard Branson said on Monday.

“I love coming to India and will be back in two-and-a-half months; so I will save that announcement for then and not jeopardise my trip,” he said, when asked whom the tie-up would be with. While Sir Richard refused to divulge details of the telecommunication venture, Virgin Mobiles is likely to tie up with Tata Teleservices.

Speaking about his interest in the Indian mobile phone space, Branson said his group had already applied for relevant permission to enter the market. "Give me two-and-a-half months to talk about that," he said.

"It will not be long before we enter the mobile phone business in India," he said, adding, "We have a partner now." The Indian mobile market is the second biggest in the world after China, with six to eight million subscribers being added to the network each month.

The Virgin Group currently offers mobile services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in six countries, including the US, the UK and South Africa. An MVNO does not have its own network and offers services through the network of other service provider. Virgin Mobile UK was the world's MVNO when it launched in 1999.

[commonman 228]

Does Tata 2 Tata Unlimited free pack work for making call from Tata phone to Virgin mobile? Virgin mobile numbers start with 92 similar to Tata and its network is also dealt with by them. So, will it be fair to expect unlimited free pack on Tata phone working for making calls to Virgin also?

Do not think so. Some particular series under 92 would be reserved for Virgin. Tata software would treat it as offnet no.

[srk006 21]

^^ If they treat TATA and virgin as different that would be a MNVO whereas they are telling 'Virgin' is just another brand like 'Indicom' for TATA. Anyways, MNVOs will be legalized soon.

[rajeshkatiyar 3]

^^^

My dear friends, I think Tata has to upgrade their sims to make them compatible with Virgin mobiles.

And if it is possible, then TATA should provide a free sim replacement to the customers who want to use virgin mobile handsets.

Regards.

I really hoped that virigin will infuse some fresh Air

but it is not happening . Locking of handset is the

cause of poor health of CDMA segment. even TATA

is doing it

Edited March 26, 2008 by rajeshkatiyar

[sougatadc 358]

Does Tata 2 Tata Unlimited free pack work for making call from Tata phone to Virgin mobile? Virgin mobile numbers start with 92 similar to Tata and its network is also dealt with by them. So, will it be fair to expect unlimited free pack on Tata phone working for making calls to Virgin also?

Do not think so. Some particular series under 92 would be reserved for Virgin. Tata software would treat it as offnet no.

Contacted both TATA and Virgin Customer Care helplines. The executives attended me did not tell very clearly whether free call from Tata to Virgin will be available or not.

[kshah 452]

Some onefrom reliance told me that CDMA operators are trapped they have to obey orders of qualcomm and qualcomm do not want handsets to be open, hence it is not implementing open standards like GSM. Hence half of programming is done on ruim and half on handset.