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New telcos ask TRAI to do away with mobile termination charge
February 8, 2009
New GSM players have urged TRAI to either do away with mobile termination charges or keep the charges below 10 paise per minute. On the other side, existing operators want that the charges be kept at the maximum possible level.
Mobile termination charges are paid by the operator on whose network the call originates to an operator on whose network the call terminates. At present the charges are 30 paise per minute.
New telecom operators like Datacom, Unitech and Swan Telecom have said that they would be able to reduce mobile tariffs by at least 50% if the termination charges are reduced. However, existing operators oppose reducing the charge since it would affect their revenues from planned rollout in rural areas.
RBI opposes prepaid mobile cards for shopping
February 7, 2009
The Reserve Bank of India opposes the idea of allowing prepaid mobile phone balances to be used for shopping for goods and services. It feels that such balances cannot be an alternative for cash.
RBI feels that mobile phone prepaid balances should only be used for purchasing mobile content like ringtones etc. RBI has also posed stringent conditions on other pre-paid cards (e.g. gift vouchers) by saying that the money collected against these cards should be placed in a non-interest bearing escrow account with a bank.
DoT to reduce service violation fines
February 6, 2009
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has finalized the penalty amounts for service violations committed by telecom companies in the past few years. However, it has decided not to impose huge fines, as recommended last year.
For example, where it had proposed to impose a fine of Rs. 1 lakh per week for ever tower set up in restricted areas, the DoT has now decided to impose a fine of Rs. 1 lakh per operator per service area.
Now choose the lowest STD/ISD tariffs
February 2, 2009
The Telecom Commission, the industry’s apex decision making body, has allowed subscribers to opt for the any carrier for making STD/ISD calls irrespective of their service provider.
Until now, subscribers would have to make long distance calls only at the tariffs offered by their service provider. But now, they can buy calling cards from any operator offering the lowest tariffs.
The move will benefit players who offer long-distance packages like RailTel, Powergrid, Tulip Telecom, AT&T, Verizon and Cable & Wireless, who can now sell their tariffs directly to customers without involving the telecom operator.
TRAI directive for A2P smses
February 2, 2009
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated mobile operators to prefix an identification tag before all application-to-peer (A2P) SMSes being sent from their SMS centers from February 1.
A2P SMSes are those that are generated from bulk messaging systems permitted by TRAI. The identification tag intends to make it easier to detect the sender and thus, makes it easier to track down spammers.
Now a subscriber who has registered with the national do-not-call registry, can even lodge a complaint for unsolicited commercial SMSes.
Global telcos form association to liaise with Govt.
February 2, 2009
Five global telecom service providers in the enterprise segment have announced that they are forming an association called the Association of Competitive Telecom Operators (ACTO), to interact with the Government and telecom regulatory bodies on issues of pro-competition policies and emerging technologies.
ACTO’s members include AT&T, British Telecom (BT), Cable & Wireless, Orange Business Services and Verizon Business. Satya N. Gupta from BT Global Services will serve as President of the association.
DoT refers net telephony issue back to TRAI
February 2, 2009
The Telecom Commission, which had met on the issue of net telephony, has referred the issue back to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
TRAI had recommended unrestricted domestic Internet telephony, which would make calls very cheap. STD calls would become as low as 10 paise. However mobile telecom operators were lobbying for a rejection of this recommendation, as it would have a major impact on their revenues by making calls cheap.
India set to be Asia-Pac’s largest WiMAX mkt by 2013
February 7, 2009
India’s WiMAX subscriber base is projected to touch 14 million by 2013, making it the largest WiMAX market in the Asia-Pacific.
A report conducted by research firm Strategy Analytics sees India’s WiMAX market growing annually at 130% by 2013. The report also sees initial investment in WiMAX reaching to the tune of US$ 500 million.
The report expects WiMAX growth to be faster in smaller cities and rural towns where it will find greater utility and less competition from other technologies.
3G to deliver data access faster than WiMAX
February 6, 2009
According to a report prepared by consulting firm BDA along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), 3G is likely to deliver data to users faster than WiMAX.
This contention comes in the midst of doubts about the viability of 3G owing to the high costs of setting up networks and the high price of 3G enabled devices. However, it is expected that low cost 3G enabled phones will be launched following the launch of 3G services in India.
Also, practically all the telecom networks in India installed in the last two years are already 3G enabled. They only need additional capacity to run 3G but this would not take much more than 6 months.
With 3G, mobile telephony penetration in India is expected to cross 50% by 2011
Telcos benefit from outsourcing
February 4, 2009
The global economic slowdown is benefiting telcos like Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications and BSNL, which have forayed into managed data services.
The demand for managed data services, hosted data centers and call centers is soaring with the efforts by enterprises to cut down on operating costs.
AMD AM3 motherboard comes to India
February 7, 2009
Gigabyte brings AMD’s Socket AM3 based motherboard to India with its new Ultra Durable 3 Classic technology.
Based on AMD’s 790FX with SB750 chipset, the motherboard will support all new AMD Dragon platform based processors and is the first motherboard with DDR3 memory support. This AMD Dragon platform is priced at Rs. 14,990.
The GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard is targeted towards high-end gamers and computing enthusiasts in India.
Surveillance Cameras to combat terrorism
February 5, 2009
The governments of Bangalore and Gurgaon are planning to install broadband wireless based surveillance camera equipment in major areas in these cities. They have sent a request for information to companies dealing with infrastructure and installation of surveillance equipment like Motorola.
The equipment is being installed primarily for traffic management but will also serve the purpose of checking suspicious movement.
Harris Stratex to acquire stake in Telsima
February 6, 2009
US based wireless service provider Harris Stratex Networks is set to acquire a majority stake in Telsima – Indian solutions provider focusing on WiMAX.
Harris Stratex’s relationship with Telsima started when they announced an alliance last year for offering WiMax equipments to phone firms in the US. Apart from offering Telsima’s solutions in the US, Harris will also be able to address the lucrative and growing markets of India, Russia and Africa after this acquisition.
MTNL launches 3G services
February 5, 2009
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) launched 3G services commercially on February 5. Both state-owned telcos MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) were allotted 3G spectrum last year, ahead of other private players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications etc.
3G will allow MTNL’s customers to access data and the Internet at speeds upto 2 megabytes.
Motorola is setting up the core network for MTNL for this launch. Initially, services will be launched in central Delhi. BSNL is also expected to launch commercial 3G services soon.
RCom plans rural wireless Internet service
February 3, 2009
Reliance Communications (RCom) has planned to launch a rural version of its wireless Internet service (Net Connect). It has tied up with Huawei as its equipment supplier.
The tariff of the rural service will be Rs. 500 and below. Currently, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is the dominant player in the rural market with over 50% market share. RCom has planned to capture 30% of the rural market share over the next one year.
Astro Group buys stake in Morae Digital
February 3, 2009
Malaysia-based Astro Group has acquired a 50% stake in Indian online company Morae Digital for US$ 5 million. The new venture is planning to launch a social networking portal for mobile phones and a local search engine, among many other applications, this year.
Bharti Teletech, Logitech distribution pact
February 2, 2009
Bharti Teletech and Logitech have announced a tie up through which the former will offer Logitech products to enterprise customers in India.
The products will be offered through Bharti Teletech’s distribution network exclusively it its customers.
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