Reliance Communication To Enter Gsm Services

[abhay 0]

Reliance Communication to enter GSM services

Close on the heels of defence authorities agreeing to vacate 45 mhz quantity of spectrum, a crucial input for further growth of telecom services, Anil Ambani's Reliance Communication has approached the government seeking Spectrum in 1800 mhz frequency to start GSM services in the country.

If the application of Reliance is considered favourably, the company would immediately get a pair of 5 mhz of spectrum in 1800 mhz (a frequency for GSM operators), a move that could hurt many other aspirants of additional frequency.

The development is significant as the company has been offering CDMA-based mobile services in the country with nearly a subscriber base of 20 million. The company would have the flexibility of offering both technologies or migrating to GSM over a period of time.

Although the company declined to comment on future plans, sources said Reliance Communication, the license holder, may follow the Chinese model wherein the company would have an option to operate in both technologies simultaneously.

Department of Telecom (DoT) sources confirmed the move but said no decision has yet been taken on allocation of Spectrum.

Reliance Telecom, a subsidiary of Reliance Communication, has been offering GSM-based services in six circles including Kolkata, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and North-East while the parent company operates CDMA services in these circles as well as rest of India.

If Reliance' application is cleared, the company would get two pairs of 5 mhz Spectrum immediately, thereby getting a big chunk of the scarce commodity.

Although CDMA is considered a Spectrum efficient technology, worldwide GSM technology has been opted as CDMA operators are obliged to pay a hefty royalty to developers of CDMA technology.

The royalty in India is as high as 7 per cent each on equipment as well as handset compared to a miniscule two per cent in China and nil royalty in US, company sources said.

If Reliance Communication plans to start GSM services, the company would have to pump in as much as Rs 1,200 crore in two cities of Delhi and Mumbai alone to set up the network, going by the industry estimates.

Asked whether company was pursuing the expansion of existing CDMA network throughout the country, Reliance sources said in various parts the expansion programme was in progress.

Going by this and the subscriber base, it may be difficult for the company to migrate fully on to GSM operations immediately but this could become a possibility in case of lower additional investment over and above the existing network.

The company has been talking to various GSM equipment vendors to look at various options.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?...ssid=54&sid=BUS

WTF is this !!!

[linuxguy 0]

ahahhahhaaahhahaa....welcome to the world of GSM, Reliance

[Shiva Bandaru 0]

CDMA Dead?. Future is GSM.

[@ksh@T 20]

no he wanna take money from the people of india from both hands.....

FOOL not that concentrate on one..saala dono kashtiyon mein pair rakhta hai

{

translated:keeps his legs on two boats ;-)

}

[Ramchi 0]

So people need not worry about new handsets in CDMA network.No wonder Reliance is not bothered about announcing new handsets.

[Arun 795]

Although the company declined to comment on future plans, sources said Reliance Communication, the license holder, may follow the Chinese model wherein the company would have an option to operate in both technologies simultaneously.

Thats China's Unicom’s model which has presence in both CDMA and GSM segments. They have been quite successful with both the technologies as well.

[abc123 0]

You may get dual mode handset soon so that people can roam on both the networks which is common in China Unicom...............

[abhay 0]

Although the company declined to comment on future plans, sources said Reliance Communication, the license holder, may follow the Chinese model wherein the company would have an option to operate in both technologies simultaneously.

Thats China's Unicom’s model which has presence in both CDMA and GSM segments. They have been quite successful with both the technologies as well.

nahin arun thats not the point !!

1) when one already has a pan india network one should try and improve the services rather than trying to get into competative tech

2) its clear that in future voice services wont generate that much revenues as the data services << so y not invest this capital in broadband or something like that

DATA is the future not voice

3) think of the investment that reliance has to do if it wants to built up a strong GSM network!!

a weak one like MTNL's wont cost as much but will do more harm to companies image

4) think about the problems in schemes and others miss stuff!!

i personally think that rather than investing in building up a network they should venture into other sectors like DATA or improve their existing network

[prakashkadam 1]

CDMA Dead?. Future is GSM.

Nope, get your facts right from google searches.

CDMA is nextgen tech while GSM is legacy. North and part of South America, China, India, Japan, Korea all are CDMA. Only EU and some part of North america has GSM.

[KingofKalyan 0]

Guys Reliance is already into GSM's...

Did u forgot about RTL = Reliance Telecom Limited...

Which is also known as Smart Phone...

But they are available only MP, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, HP etc etc

May be now Mr. ADA wants to expand the network of RTL ..........

[solanky 0]

CDMA Dead?. Future is GSM.

Nope, get your facts right from google searches.

CDMA is nextgen tech while GSM is legacy. North and part of South America, China, India, Japan, Korea all are CDMA. Only EU and some part of North america has GSM.

Do you really think INDIA is CDMA where only 2 operators are on CDMA?????

And in America most of the operators are migrating to GSM from CDMA gradually.

[Chirag 5]

For Reliance, it means more revenues! Forget the phones, pick their shares!

[linuxguy 0]

I guess the problem for Reliance is higher costs, lesser interoperability. Plus, the onus of selecting, testing, programming handsets for its network lies on Reliance. I dunno of RUIM solves this issue completely. But until users get the same / better handsets on CDMA networks they just aren't gonna budge. Besides mobility is much easier in GSM than CDMA i.e. shifting operators.

[abhay 0]

I guess the problem for Reliance is higher costs, lesser interoperability. Plus, the onus of selecting, testing, programming handsets for its network lies on Reliance. I dunno of RUIM solves this issue completely. But until users get the same / better handsets on CDMA networks they just aren't gonna budge. Besides mobility is much easier in GSM than CDMA i.e. shifting operators.

true! but y GSM even though i am using bharti i loved CDMA !!! pretty double standards there !!! huh

PN :- lesser interoperability yes!! high costs nah

Edited June 12, 2006 by abhay

[Ramchi 0]

There is no big cost advantage between CDMA Vs GSM. Both have equally good/bad rate plans addressing all levels (like local callers/STD callers/mixed/SMS). Some unlimited calo calling between like Reliance-Reliance may not be available in GSM but otherwise they are equal.

But GSM offers lots of other benefits like choosing varietiey of hand-sets loaded with rich-features. As someone mentioned here changing the provider will not be an expensive proposition and there you are not tied to any particular handset etc...

Even resale value of GSM handsets is much higher than CDMA handsets.

[anarchist 0]

I have used reliance gsm (smart), it has poor services and coverage presently. Balance is not deducted immediatly so you cant make std call below 50/- may be they will update it. Reliance will certainly save its existing customers by expanding coverage but i dont think it will get much customers in other already saturated areas.

[linuxguy 0]

The main argument for GSM is that there is too much money already invested in the infrastructure, so even if CDMA is technologically advanced, it can't beat it because there are several 100 billion dollars at stake here. Unless CDMA matches GSM in all respects including excellent handsets, lower costs (both operators and users), more users per MHz and easy transition from GSM to CDMA( both operators and users), I dont think the world will switch to CDMA.

As an example some CDMA operator is USA has currently stopped its network and is changing to GSM...

[abhay 0]

goods

1) lower costs - users - yeah

2) lower costs - operators - hell yeah

3) more users per MHz - yeah - thats what bharti and other indian GSM operators are debating about - the whole spectrum issue

4) much much more advanced than GSM - yeah

bads

4) easy transition from GSM to CDMA - no - and no visa-versa

5) excellent handsets - i have never such sick handsets

i think last two point depends on handsets !! with what users have posted in this thread, i understand ONLY the handset point is a major issue in people not prefering CDMA

1) no re-sale

2) no interoperability

etc etc etc

BUT i mentain my point that after having a pan india presence with CDMA one should look into othere area of growth rather than challenging its own revenue sources

Edited June 13, 2006 by abhay

[@ksh@T 20]

well me also have the problem of handsets only....feel shy at times .... but as sson as dual mode handsets will be launched i will buy one of them

[Ramchi 0]

4) easy transition from GSM to CDMA - no - and no visa-versa

We are only talking about transition within the same network just like Airtel to Hutch or BSNL to Idea something like that. In CDMA this is not possible just because of its tailored handsets.

In US all operators are giving incoming as free. They would like you to sign up for a monthly plan of say $35-$50 and if you agree to stay with them for one year they give you the handset free. I am not talking about some dumb handsets instead latest feature rich ones.

Indian providers want to make money in every inch. For selling the handsets [Airtel is selling outdated Blackberry equipments for Rs 30K], no free incoming calls in roaming areas, no flat rates, confusing tarrif system, dubious billing system etc...are hall mark of Indian Mobile operation.

Since India has millions of illitrate who are using Mobile phones and who have no access to information on Global trends are getting exploited by these Mobile operators. Look at the spectrum policy, where our government is deliberately slowing down the process so that mobile operators need not compete with the best in the industry instead operate with their ancient technologies.

With this mentality India will be pushed back to 1970-80 era of economic stalemate where no one will be benefited except Tatas and Bajajs.

[shashank 8]

CDMA=Linux/Unix

GSM=Windows

[solanky 0]

CDMA=Linux/Unix

GSM=Windows

Dear Shashank,

You are writing just opposite thing.

GSM is a open standard while for using CDMA royaly charges have to be given to Qualcomm.

[abhay 0]

good comparing!!

if understand right what he means is

CDMA - much more advanced - few linux distributions share the same thing - much more operator frendly

GSM - much more widely used - more people(common man) frendly - it has its own share of bugs - and so similar to windows

[shashank 8]

Yes i thought the same way as abhay.

Windows-more applications-gsm-more handsets.

Linux-less apps-CDMA-less handsets.

And there are many more similarities.

CDMA is very stable as Linux

GSM crashes soon as windows

CDMA is spectrum effective as linux is cost effective as it doesnt require Antivirus blah blah etc.

WCDMA=MacOSX.

WCDMA(3G services of GSM)

MacOSX is better than linux and windows.

So if GSM operators start WCDMA then it will be damn difficult for CDMA to survive as WCDMA offers best clarity and superb speeds.

Its like if MacOSX is possible to run on normal PCs then?

Edited June 14, 2006 by shashank

[linuxguy 0]

haha...i was just about to post the same comparison! If only if CDMA manufacturers can come out with kick a$$ handsets which needn't be tied to any one particular operator then GSM will die soon!

Can anyone tell me the reason why each handset on CDMA network has to be tailored for the network? Why cant handsets be used in a generic way as in GSM?