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WEEKLY NEWS
Last Updated: 29 July 2011 |
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Tata Teleservices introduces new BlackBerry Data plans starting at just Rs 99
July 2011
Tata Teleservices Limited has introduced a choice of three exciting and affordable BlackBerry® service plans for its new Tata Indicom customers. Customers can enjoy essential BlackBerry messaging services(MaiLite), BlackBerry® Internet Service and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server service starting at Rs 99/-, Rs 199/- and Rs 599/- respectively for the first three months. Standard monthly prices of Rs.299, Rs.399 and Rs.900 respectively will be applicable after the three month promotional period.
The MaiLite plan for Rs. 99, offers Tata Indicom post-paid customers access to as many as 10 supported e-mail accounts along with BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) as well as other popular Instant Messaging services. BlackBerry® Internet Service plan for Rs.199 offers access to up to 10 supported e-mail accounts, BBM, Instant Messaging services, social networking and Internet browsing. The service plan for BlackBerry ®Enterprise Server for Rs 599 includes all of the above plus access to corporate data and tight integration with IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange or Novell® GroupWise®.
Telcordia Converged Services Solution accelerates customer and revenue growth for Indian service providers
July 26
Telcordia, a global leader in the development of Mobile, Broadband and Enterprise communications software and services, announced that it has been honored as the winner of the Aegis Graham Bell 2011 Award in the “Innovation in Telecom OSS/BSS” category for the company’s Telcordia® Converged Revenue Management solution.
The Telcordia Converged Revenue Management solution helps CSP’s manage multiple functions such as order management, customer care, service delivery, and billing through one unified solution, allowing them to cut costs and quickly deliver innovative service offerings. The solution is based on the Telcordia® Real-Time Charging product which has been deployed with leading CSPs across India.
In fact, Several of Telcordia’s customers in the region have cited considerable growth in subscribers and revenue after deploying the product.
Comviva draws top honors at the Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2011
July 25
Telcordia, a global leader in the development of Mobile, Broadband and Enterprise communications software and services, announced that it has been honored as the winner of the Aegis Graham Bell 2011 Award in the “Innovation in Telecom OSS/BSS” category for the company’s Telcordia® Converged Revenue Management solution.
The Telcordia Converged Revenue Management solution helps CSP’s manage multiple functions such as order management, customer care, service delivery, and billing through one unified solution, allowing them to cut costs and quickly deliver innovative service offerings. The solution is based on the Telcordia® Real-Time Charging product which has been deployed with leading CSPs across India.
In fact, Several of Telcordia’s customers in the region have cited considerable growth in subscribers and revenue after deploying the product.
DEMO Asia begins regional search for new generation of Asian innovations
July 25
Started in the United States, DEMO is a conference that focuses on launching new technologies and products. Innovations launched at past DEMO events have since become well-known brands, including Adobe Acrobat, Skype Mobile and Sun Microsystems’ Java, among others.
Sphere Exhibits is producing DEMO Asia with DEMO's existing co-producers - IDG Enterprise and strategic partner VentureBeat, a portal that reports the latest news, trends and developments on innovation and technology.
Singapore is the second country in Asia to host a DEMO event after China from 29 to 30 November 2011.
The two-day event will feature conferences, pitches and networking sessions for a specially invited group of companies to launch their products for the first time to an audience made up of angel investors, venture capitalists, corporate developers and acquirers, government agencies, universities and research institutes.
DEMO Asia offers both companies and entrepreneurs the opportunity to gain exposure for their innovations. They may submit their intent to register together with a presentation and executive summary of their innovations.
Gartner: worldwide mobile payment users to reach 141 million in 2011
July 21
Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total US$ 86.1 billion, up 75.9 % from 2010 volume of US$ 48.9 billion.
Despite these strong growth projections, Gartner analysts said the mobile payment market is growing slower than expected.
Gartner expects Short Message Service (SMS) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to remain the dominant access technologies in developing markets due to the constraints of mobile phones.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) will remain the preferred mobile access technology in developed markets, where the mobile Internet is commonly available and activated on the phone. Mobile app downloads and mobile commerce are the main drivers of WAP payments, and WAP will account for almost 90 percent of all mobile transactions in North America and about 70 percent in Western Europe in 2011.
Money transfers and prepaid top-ups will drive transaction volumes in developing markets. These are seen as the "killer apps" in developing markets, where people value the convenience of sending money to relatives and topping up mobile accounts. This is most obvious in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where these two services will account for 54 percent and 32 percent of all transactions in 2011.
Alcatel-Lucent brings visual collaboration to users across the enterprise with suite of video solutions
July 26
Alcatel-Lucent announced the availability of a suite of visual collaboration solutions that bring high-quality, cost-effective video to users across the enterprise. Alcatel-Lucent’s Visual Collaboration suite moves beyond costly and restrictive telepresence solutions by employing an open solution approach that extends enterprise video to any endpoint and location, including desktop PCs, smart phones, laptops, tablets, interactive whiteboards and display screens across offices, meeting rooms and boardrooms.
Working with best-of-breed collaborators including SMART Technologies, RADVISION and Lifesize, Alcatel-Lucent brings a broad range of video collaboration solutions to enterprise customers, including infrastructure, applications and end points. Leveraging presence, easy to use interfaces and “drag–and-drop” capabilities, employees can contact each other via any device and establish a video link for a real-time “face-to-face” conversation with content and collaboration, or share content via web portals.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Visual Collaboration suite includes the new Alcatel-Lucent Interactive Whiteboard Solution, which integrates content sharing using the Alcatel-Lucent My Teamwork™ application with employee workgroup collaboration enabled by the SMART Board™ 685ix interactive whiteboard system. The interactive whiteboard connects participants across conference rooms and remote locations, enabling them to write and collaborate in real time with all videoconference participants seeing what is being written and reviewed.
The Visual Collaboration suite also includes web-based video conferencing clients for employee desktops, and a range of solutions that feature infrastructure and dedicated end points from RADVISION and Lifesize for small, medium and large conference rooms, and boardrooms.
| Enterprise |
HTC and Tata Docomo join hands to launch HTC Chacha in India
July 20
HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, and Tata DOCOMO, the GSM arm of Tata Teleservices Limited, announced the launch of the HTC ChaCha in India. The HTC ChaCha features a dedicated Facebook button that allows you to share just about anything at a single touch.
The one-touch access to Facebook service has been integrated throughout the HTC Sense experience. The sleek, affordable yet feature-packed smartphone combines a 2.6-inch touch screen with a full QWERTY keypad.
Under the bundle offer, Tata DOCOMO 3G prepaid customers can avail 3GB free data valid for a period of 90 days whereas 1GB free data is offered free each month to postpaid customers across all 3G circles valid for 90 days. All 3G customers will also get 3 hour of free Mobile TV that includes data access charges valid for 90 days.
While Tata DOCOMO 2G prepaid customers can avail 3GB free data and 300 Tata to Tata local calling valid for a period of 90 days whereas 1GB free data and 100 minutes Tata to Tata calling is offered free each month for 3 months to postpaid customers across all 2G circles.
The new HTC ChaCha will be available at a Market Operating Price of Rs. 15, 990 at all authorized HTC resellers across the country.
MTS enhances accountability and customer experience with SAP
July 15
To generate faster consumer insights and improve responsiveness, MTS, the telecom services brand of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL), has tied up with enterprise software major, SAP AG to deploy SAP® Business Objects and Sybase IQ solutions. MTS India, with over 12 million wireless subscribers, has a clear vision of deploying smart technology solutions, which help them increase productivity and efficiency.
This deployment at MTS, will include SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence and Sybase IQ solutions, which will improve system response time, manage data flow effectively and reduce time-to-market, while making IT systems faster and leaner.
This solution helps streamline the flow of information in the organization and also generate real time insights into consumer behavior. This will mean more informed decision-making and greater information accuracy for MTS India, which in turn will enhance productivity and efficiency.
Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL), which nationally operates its telecom services under the MTS brand, has implemented SAP ERP in the past and has enjoyed SAP’s proven ability and expertise to combine superior technology and business insights.
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| Policy & Regulation |
TRAI extends last date to receive comments on Draft regulations
July 25
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had invited comments of stakeholders on Draft regulations - (i) “Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2011” and (ii) “The Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2011. The last date for receiving comments was fixed as 25th July 2011.
Requests have been received from stakeholders for extension of time for sending their comments. In view of the importance of the issue, the Authority has decided to extend the last date for submission of written comments by stakeholders to 4th August 2011.
Stakeholders are requested to submit their comments before this date preferably in electronic form at advqos@trai.gov.in
TRAI issues consultation paper on Mobile VAS regulation
July 22
Telecom Regulator TRAI issued a consultation paper on regulating mobile value added service such as music, news and mobile Internet. This has been one with a view to bring out all the aspects of the relevant issues and to provide a suitable platform for discussion.
TRAI is focusing on future looking regulatory framework for provisioning of Mobile Value Added Services (VAS).
It had sent one set of recommendations, "Growth of Value Added Services and Regulatory Issues", to the Government on February 13, 2009.
The authority had recommended that telecom operators give uniform access to infrastructure to VAS providers through mutual agreements, and stressed upon the need to publish charges for VAS, maintain transparency in billing.
TRAI has also said that there is no need for licence or registration for VAS providers. These recommendations are yet to be accepted by the government.
Since those recommendations, there has been 3G and BWA spectrum auctions and the telecom industry has seen various developments.
Keeping that in mind, TRAI feels that there is a need to develop a forward looking harmonised framework for ushering growth in all the segments of VAS -- content development, technology platforms, content aggregation and so on.
Last date for comments from the stakeholders is August 12 and for counter-comments, August 19.
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