The 3G Buildup For Reliance Communications

[Arun 795]

Reliance Communications starts hiring top brass before Reliance Industries Limited entry

Times News Network, Jun 22, 2010, 01.07am IST

The country’s second-largest telecom company by subscribers, Reliance Communications (RCOM), has hired over half a dozen senior employees to cater to its wireless business. RCOM has not just poached from other telcos to fortify its management structure, it has also recruited senior executives just before elder brother Mukesh Ambani’s telecom venture gets into the hiring mode.

Reliance Industries’ Rs 4,800-crore Infotel buy has created a buzz in the telecom industry, with mid- to senior-level management cadre from various telecom companies expecting a call from head hunters. In a bid to put a more efficient team in place to run its CDMA and GSM platforms, and to provide the edge to its 3G services which will be rolled out soon, RCOM has picked up some key people from the industry.

Sitapathy Chavali, earlier with Vodafone Essar, has joined as Wireless CTO. An expert in 3G and BWA, Chavali was earlier with Idea Cellular and with Lucent Technologies (US). Ex-Bharti Airtel executive Nagesh Rajanna has taken up the post of national sales and distribution head. Prior to joining RCOM, Rajanna was with Future Generali. Both have joined RCOM this month.

Earlier in April, Anuraj Prashar was poached from Airtel, where he was national head of the fraud prevention unit, while Naresh Gupta moved from Vodafone Essar at the start of the year, where he was director till November 2009.

As Reliance Communications begins the journey towards 200 million customers, the company is adopting a multi-pronged strategy.

[parin 857]

Good going

Hope to Hw better 3g services

[raccoon 53]

Reliance Communications starts hiring top brass before Reliance Industries Limited entry

Times News Network, Jun 22, 2010, 01.07am IST

Earlier in April, Anuraj Prashar was poached from Airtel, where he was national head of the fraud prevention unit, while Naresh Gupta moved from Vodafone Essar at the start of the year, where he was director till November 2009.

Must be a misprint - Fraud Prevention Unit in AIRTEL??? It must be Fraud Perpetration Unit!

Must be a pretty original guy. Bharti always comes up the most original fraudulent/crafty/anti-consumer practices...

Edited June 22, 2010 by raccoon

[shashank 8]

There is Fraud Prevention Unit in EVERY company..not just in Airtel...

[Arun 795]

Bharti AirTel loses top tech honcho to Reliance Communications

Siliconindia

Friday, 16 July 2010, 13:01 IST

Kolkata: In a major executive movement, Bharti Airtel lost its CTO Jagbir Singh who moved in as the president of Technology and Networks at Reliance Communications (RCom). This is a crucial change in the run-up to the start of 3G networks in India.

Singh held his post at Bharti since November 2001. He led the complete mobility network team, 3G strategy and planning team and Wimax deployment team at Bharti and was responsible for strategic planning of mobile network, providing strategic direction, deciding the network architecture and network vision.

He was also responsible for Bharti's international ventures of 2G and 3G networks in Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Channel Islands in the UK.

With over 20 years in the Telecom field, Singh has had working experiences with Nortel (in Asia-Pacific role), Lucent Technologies and Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Government of India.

[parin 857]

Reliance is very aggressive in Getting People

Double Salary offer kiya hoga

[me_saket 73]

Singh will tranform 3g ahead of airtel

[raccoon 53]

Huh?! With all these %&$@ Airtel people in RCom, I fear it may become worse than Airtel sooner rather than later...

[rajeshkatiyar 3]

Huh?! With all these %&$@ Airtel people in RCom, I fear it may become worse than Airtel sooner rather than later...

It is already worse you can say it will become worst

[Arun 795]

Reliance Communications official sees 3G roll-out by year end

4 Aug 2010, 1312 hrs IST

Reuters

Reliance Communications expects to roll out 3G services by the end of 2010, provided government allocates spectrum by September, a company official said on Wednesday.

"It is our expectation that the government will allocate spectrum by September, following which we will start the rollout by year-end," Mahesh Prasad, president of the company's wireless business, told reporters.

[Arun 795]

Grey Wins $80 Million Account for 3G Introduction in India with Reliance Communications

Mumbai - AdAge.com

08.12.10 @ 07:34 AM

In India, where cellphones rather than computers are the gateway to the internet for consumers, the introduction of faster third-generation (3G) service is expected to lead to an explosion in mobile marketing and subscriber revenue.

The 3G marketing blitz will be led by Reliance Communications, India's second-largest mobile phone operator. Reliance won licenses in an auction earlier this year against rivals Vodafone Essar and Bharti Airtel to offer 3G services in 13 key areas of India, including major cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, and plans to introduce the faster service in late 2010 or early 2011. In the biggest pitch so far this year in India, Reliance just awarded the new 3G advertising account, estimated at up to $80 million, to Grey Group.

"The mobile advertising landscape, still in a nascent stage in India, is bound to change dramatically," said Sudhir Nair, VP of Grey's G2 direct and digital business for South Asia in Mumbai. "If the popularity of social networking and associated content is any indication of the internet space in India, 3G, with its additional bandwidth, will trigger a similar phenomenon in the mobile space."

Reliance's first ads are likely to break by the end of September, a Grey executive said. Previously, local agency Cartwheel handled creative for RCom's basic GSM mobile services, while DDB Mudra oversaw ads for its Netconnect broadband wireless business. Industry sources said both incumbents took part, along with JWT and McCann Erickson. In a separate pitch, Reliance split its media business between OMD and MEC.

Mr. Nair said he believes ad budgets in India will rise by as much as 25% following the arrival of 3G in India. "It could also serve to kick-start innovation with specialized content, adver-gaming, social networking, m-commerce, communities and a host of other initiatives finding quick relevance."

[ACS 130]

While spending 12-13 thousand crores on 3G licenses, poaching top guys from Airtel even with double salaries is no big deal..

He will now ensure they get back the money spent on 3G soon.. after recovery happens remaining is all bonus !

Total businessman mentality.. Airtel should have seen this coming, no point weeping now Mr. Mittal !

People eagerly awaiting 3G, just hope that tariffs don't hit the roof !!

BTW.. Im anyways not interested in 3G & many others too feel - "jitni kam technology hai, utni shanti hai"

[Mufaddal 678]

The preparation for 3G rollout is going in full swing in reliance camp

we will see full 3G with carpet coverage in Mumbai in next two months

[copperco2 24]

TATA people in nagpur are promising 3g in next two months..may be they have confused themselves Mumbai being in Maharashtra

[ami1 237]

Since my main reason for being with cdma has been the better data speeds (& voice quality - though that is a little subjective or debatable), should I shift to 3G (ie GSM / WCDMA) once its launched ?

Or does CDMA (EVDO) still have any benefits over 3G ? I want data & calls simultaneously - i guess that's possible in wcdma but not in evdo. Is that correct ?

What are the gurus planning to do ?

[dkaile 1,051]

EVDO will be (sorry IS) marked superior to 3G in Indian context and whatever these Indian GSM operators are shelling out...

[Mufaddal 678]

@ ami1

in evdo u donot miss calls just like 3G

advantage of evdo is that its on 800mhz , which means best coverage u wil get even if u inside thick walled buildings

3G will be on 2100mhz range which means though speed might be bit more but but coverage will be spotty and horrible unless more towers

both have their own pros and cons

[starnet 7]

Airtel 3G in Delhi launch is likely to happen in last week of October. May be Reliance can do a Diwali dhamaka with 3G launch around that time. Although given the past experience with RGSM, no one in right state of mind can expect a decent quality service from Reliance.

[Arun 795]

Reliance Communications ropes in ex-Google executive

Business Standard / New Delhi August 20, 2010, 1:56 IST

Gearing up for the launch of third generation (3G) mobile services, telecom service provider Reliance Communications (RCom) has roped in ex-Google wireless head Suresh Jayaraju as head of New Age VAS (value added services). It has also appointed Prashant Gokarn as head of its 3G business.

Gokarn would report to Syed Safawi, president and CEO of its wireless business, according to people close to the development. Prior to this, he was heading corporate strategy in RCom. Gokarn will also be a key member of RCom’s wireless management board. Jayaraju will report to Gokarn.

The company also plans to set up a fully-integrated 3G innovation lab, with end-to-end wireless network infrastructure. The lab will facilitate the development of mobile service innovations through collaboration with third-party developers.

RCom had won 3G spectrum in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai.

According to RCom officials: “We look forward to launching 3G services in the coming quarters and offering world-class products and services.”

The company recently signed a strategic partnership with Universal Music to offer music-related services and content across its GSM, CDMA, 3G mobile and wireless broadband platforms.

“The tie-up is crafted for our customers as part of RCom’s 3G launch. The partnership with Universal will be leveraged to give our 110 million customers an all round, never before music experience across multiple channels and extended 3G customers at its launch,” the company had said.

The company is expected to roll out 3G services by the end of this year, if the government allots spectrum by September 1 as decided.

[Arun 795]

Reliance Communications to use EVDO-3G combo for pan-India presence

CIOL - Friday, August 20, 2010

Reliance Communication (RCOM) who has won 3G spectrum waves in 13 circles will use EVDO service of its CDMA network to facilitate pan-India 3G service to its customer.

“3G users are initially going to be in metro circles and in all three metro circles we have won the bid. For services in other circles, we have mobile broadband plus in our CDMA network, which we will use for facilitating 3G experience to our client across country. At the same time we are looking at other opportunities in market,” said Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Communications in a brief interaction with CIOL at the sidelines of announcing collaboration with Nokia.

RCOM has won 3G spectrum in 13 circles for Rs 8585.04 crore. The company has pan- India license for CDMA and GSM service.

Prasad added that if spectrum is allocated to the company as per government on 1st September then RCOM will launch 3G services by the end of this year or early next year.

“We need to upgrade our network which will take time. For this year we have already marked capex expansion of Rs 3000 crore,” said Prasad.

He sees no repercussions of security concern in the launch of 3G services.

“Security norms have to be met. We don’t see any reason that will delay launch of 3G services. Security norms are there for 2G services as well, which all operators have to meet,” noted Prasad.

Recently Ministry of Home Affairs has raised concern of video call service being provided by BSNL and MTNL. MHA has also asked Department of Telecom to allow 3G service only if proper interception mechanism is in place.

As per DoT sources, MHA has asked MTNL and BSNL to install video call decoder on their end as well as provide same for security agencies to which both the companies have agreed. These decoders will be installed for live monitoring by security agencies at the expense of telecom service provider.

Prasad also said that RCOM will have no problem in complying with directions that will be given to the company by the government and will install decoder for security agencies if asked to do so.

“We will do it. There are no issues. We will comply with whatever government says. Security need should be met,” said Prasad.

[raccoon 53]

Recently Ministry of Home Affairs has raised concern of video call service being provided by BSNL and MTNL. MHA has also asked Department of Telecom to allow 3G service only if proper interception mechanism is in place.

As per DoT sources, MHA has asked MTNL and BSNL to install video call decoder on their end as well as provide same for security agencies to which both the companies have agreed. These decoders will be installed for live monitoring by security agencies at the expense of telecom service provider.

Prasad also said that RCOM will have no problem in complying with directions that will be given to the company by the government and will install decoder for security agencies if asked to do so.

Very scary developments. At the pretext of so-called security all privacy of individuals is being thrown to the winds. What is worse is that very few seem to realize the repercussions of such developments.

Edited August 20, 2010 by raccoon

[ami1 237]

^ Completely agree. Most people seem to think its something good that Indian Govt must be allowed to tap into citizens communications when ever they want - ie without a court order.

For justified reasons all this is already available if there is a court order; But Govt wants to do this at their own whims and fancies. And they want telcos to install automated systems so that they can do all this without showing court orders to telcos and asking them to tap the communications.

With the extensive corruption we have, this is only going to be used to extract money from innocent people who make some small mistake, while the big fish are going to do whatever they want anyway.

Why would terrorists want to use Video Calls ? Its not like they go around with iphone4 and are itching to use facetime to show their face to police ! Neither do terrorists use blackberries or BES. They don't have time to fiddle around with these things. They'll use simple throw away phones (or stolen ones) and their own code words rather than such things.

And specially if they know government is monitoring these things they will obviously avoid it. So the only people left to catch are normal citizens. If govt keeps fishing around they are bound to find small time issues with someone or the other whom they can safely hound for money without fear of any retribution.

The impact of such issues will be felt many years from now - by which time it'll be too late to protest - as there will be sufficient material against anyone who matters. See what happened in the various phone tapping scandals (amar singh etc etc) and how govt made deals and things were just forgotten. Now they'll be doing hugely more tapping without any logistics problems and covering not just calls but mails messages too. Soon we'll be calling each other 'comrade'

Edited August 21, 2010 by ami1

[srk006 21]

Defence refuses to free 3G spectrum for CDMA players

The defence forces have again rejected the demand to release third generation (3G) spectrum for CDMA operators thereby ending the possibility of the government carrying out auctions of these airwaves. Reliance Communications (RCOM), Tata Teleservices and Sistema Shaym offer mobile services on the CDMA platform.

The recently concluded 3G auctions, which enables telcos to offer high-end services such as ultra-fast internet, interactive gaming and videoconferencing on mobiles, were held in the 2.1 GHz frequency band. GSM operators migrate to this band for offering 3G services. The government garnered over Rs 67,000 crore from the 3G airwaves auction.

But RCOM and Tatas, which offer mobile services on the dual technologies — both GSM and CDMA — are unlikely to be impacted significantly as they have bagged 3G frequencies in many circles in the recently concluded auctions. These companies are currently in talks with other telcos for roaming agreements that will enable them to offer GSM-based 3G services on a pan-India basis. Besides, they also enjoy the unique advantage of having the provision to shift some of their CDMA customers who require 3G services to the 2.1 GHz platforms (GSM).

CDMA companies can offer 3G services in the three frequency bands — 450 MHz, 800 MHz and 1,900 MHz. They currently offer services on the 800 MHz band which has been largely exhausted, ruling out the possibility of using these airwaves for the auction.

Telecom regulator Trai had recommended that 3G auctions for CDMA be held in 450 MHz and 800 MHz bands, while also adding that the 1,900 MHz frequency band could also be used after the DoT verifies the technical feasibility of the co-existence of this band.

Tests by the CDMA industry lobby AUSPI and the Department of Telecom (DoT) had revealed that 1,900 MHz was feasible and that 3G services could be offered on these airwaves without interfering with the operations of GSM players. The DoT had earlier decided against carrying out auctions in the 450 MHz frequency band for two reasons — this band is currently occupied by state agencies, and internationally, this has not been allotted for 3G services.

The defence forces during a series of meets with representatives from the communications ministry rejected the latter’s demands to vacate spectrum in the 1,900 MHz band, officials with direct knowledge of the development said. Instead, the armed forces sought exclusive rights to frequencies in these bands.

DoT sources said the department has rejected the defence demands intensifying the ongoing standoff between both ministries. As per documents viewed by ET, the DoT has also told the armed forces that the 1,900 MHz band could not be given for defence use as it represented “the only growth path for CDMA operators and had already been allocated for auction”.

It is also learnt that during the meets the defence forces had refused to commit to releasing 10 MHz of 2G spectrums, the frequencies on which all mobile services are delivered today. As per an MoU that both ministries had entered into last year, the defence was slated to release 10 MHz of 2G spectrum in phases, based on the progress of the alternate communication network that BSNL and MTNL are jointly building for the forces. The DoT has sought immediate release on the ground that 90% work on this alternate fibre backbone has been completed.

Source

-------------------------------------------

The future of CDMA players hangs in balance, particularly MTS with no GSM spectrum for any further growth.

[HetalDP 947]

@amit

Indian Court is useless. so it must be Without Court Order

[rajanmehta 4,056]

RCOM in talks with Motorola, HP, Intel for 3G strategic tie-up

PTI, Aug 29, 2010, 11.19am IST

NEW DELHI: Reliance Communications is planning to rope in strategic partners for its infrastructure and technology innovation unit for 3G mobile business, and is in discussions with global players like Motorola and HP.

Sources said that discussions are also being held with likes of Intel and Sony.

RCOM, Anil Ambani group's telecom arm, is looking for partners in its 3G Innovation Lab, which has been set up as an end-to-end wireless network infrastructure and new technology provider for high-speed 3G (third generation) mobile services.

Sources said RCOM will also let out the services of the Lab to other operators and service providers to further monetise its investment in this newly set-up unit.

This could be part of RCOM's plans to raise funds for launch and expansion of its 3G services, for which it has made large investments, they added.

The company paid more than Rs 8,500 crore for securing the spectrum (radio waves) to offer 3G mobile services and analysts have estimated that more than Rs 5,000 crore could be required for rolling out the networks.

RCOM is planning to launch 3G services by the end of this year, subject to the release of spectrum next month.

Other players with whom the discussions are being held include global technology players such as Red Hat, SNAPin Software, weComm, Rubberduck Media Lab and Skyfire Labs.

When contacted, an RCOM spokesperson declined to comment on the global partnerships the company was seeking.

However, the spokesperson confirmed RCOM's move to set up a full-fledged 3G Innovation Lab.

"Our 3G Innovation Lab will drive all 3G innovations for mobile as well as other platforms. It will aid in demystifying 3G technology and make it simpler for adoption amongst cross- section of customer groups," the spokesperson said.

Sources said the partnership would help in scaling up the Lab's capabilities and exploring the monetising opportunities by offering the infrastructure of this unit to third-party players through managed services business model.

The Lab has been set up at Reliance ADA Group's Headquarters in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai.

RCOM has won 3G spectrum in 13 circles, including key ones like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.