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HTC handsets with CDMA technology via Reliance

Finally! Reliance has added two high end handsets to its repertoire making their line-up of handsets a little attractive for high end buyers.

HTC and Reliance Communications (RCom) together announced the launch of two new smart devices, the HTC P3000 and the HTC S720 through Reliance Communications network.

Peter Chou, chief executive officer and president of HTC, said, “The partnership with RCom further strengthens HTC’s commitment to serve the growing demands of Indian consumers. With the introduction of the HTC P3000 and HTC S720, customers will soon have access to these innovative CMDA devices.” Continue reading “HTC handsets with CDMA technology via Reliance”

Virgin Mobile now in India

The British communication group Virgin Mobile launched its Indian operation in India in collaboration with telecom operator Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL), heralding a new era in mobile telephony.

Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, launched the Virgin Mobile brand by flying down the façade of popular hotel in south Mumbai and unveiled its logo in mid flight.

“The deal brings a tie-up between two of world’s leading business leaders – Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin conglomerate” quotes tech2.com

Virgin Mobile will be launched in 50 cities initially and will subsequently be launched in more than 1,000 cities by the end of 2008.

Continue reading “Virgin Mobile now in India”

Spice users …Experience Opera on your mobiles now!

Opera Mini Web Browser can now be experienced by Spice GPRS and Java enabled users.

Speaking on the occasion, Kunal Ahooja, chief executive officer of Spice Mobiles, said, “Spice Mobiles has tied up with Opera to upgrade the feature offerings on our handsets, and provide a better browsing experience to our customers. The Opera Mini browser ensures a desktop-like experience as it automatically customizes the size and look of Web sites to fit the mobile screen.” Continue reading “Spice users …Experience Opera on your mobiles now!”

Vodafone India loosing to Airtel

In a recent report released by COAI its evident that Airtel making Vodafone India (formerly Hutch) go nuts !!

Bharti Airtel’s net addition in Jan 08 were better than the previous best !!

Vodafone’s net additions are getting lesser..

So the question is whether Airtel is growing at Vodafone’s expense ?

Would it have been better if Vodafone stayed as Hutch Continue reading “Vodafone India loosing to Airtel”

Operators must provide hard copy of bills to postpaid subscribers for free says TRAI

All mobile operators in India are trying to save money by not sending hard copy of bills to Subscribers.

Telecom regulator Trai has mandated all service providers to provide a hard copy of the bill free of cost to its post-paid subscribers.

The order would be effective from January 24, and applicable across all types of tariff plans of mobile — GSM and CDMA — and fixed line services

Ebills and Epayments are the things to blame. Personally I see a need to have a printed copy of my mobile bill for my own records.

Continue reading “Operators must provide hard copy of bills to postpaid subscribers for free says TRAI”

Reliance all set to enter GSM business after CDMA

We had covered long back in June 2006 about possibility of Reliance entering GSM business in India

Now Forbes is telling us that Huawei Technologies of China has won a 500 million USD contract from Reliance India for GSM Network hardware and installation and the contract spans 3 years. Airtel and Vodafone are battling it out already in the GSM space and State owned operators are facing losses. Will entry of Reliance make things worse for them ?

Regarding the CDMA scene in India , Reliance and Tata Indicom are the sole players and its a different ball game altogether.
Continue reading “Reliance all set to enter GSM business after CDMA”

BSNL to launch CDMA services

By mid-2008, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, BSNL, will offer CDMA services to mobile users across the country.

The application rendered by BSNL for a full-fledged CDMA mobility license has been approved. Since BSNL is State-owned, it was exempted from shelling out Rs 1,651-crores entry fee, performance bank guarantee fee etc for the CDMA license.

“The initial investment for this project will be approximately $500 million,” said BSNL CMD, Kuldeep Goyal.

Continue reading “BSNL to launch CDMA services”

Nokia Siemens Networks bags multi-million Euro IVR deal from Bharti Airtel

If your on Airtel Network , You can expect a lot of Voice Based services from Bharti Airtel in the coming years

Nokia Siemens has just bagged a multi-million euro deal from Bharti Airtel for deployment of a single Interactive Voice Response (IVR) . Bharti Airtel awarded this pan India contract to Nokia Siemens Networks for deployment of a single Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform across all 23 circles. The three year turnkey and multi-million Euro contract includes designing, planning, systems integration and optimization services to enhance overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver Services such as Voice SMS, Televoting, Call Management Services (Reach-me service / Missed Call Advisor), Caller Ring back Tone (CRBT) and Voice Portal among others on a faster time-to-market basis, reduce OPEX costs due to optimized network utilization, and increase security by creation of a layered architecture towards Interactive Voice applications.

Nokia Siemens Networks will deploy and integrate the latest state-of-the-art platforms to provide a multi-technology, multi-vendor integrated solution that includes systems integration services. The platforms are HP OCMP (Open Call Management Platform), Video Gateway, Televoting Application and ASR/TTS (Automatic Speech Recognition / Text-to-Speech Engine. The solution will be ready for commercial operation by April 2008 and is expected to scale up to one billion minutes of usage per month in three years for Bharti Airtel. Continue reading “Nokia Siemens Networks bags multi-million Euro IVR deal from Bharti Airtel”

Local Content might be key to increase VAS adoption

The opportunities for VAS services are growing in India. Reliance Communication recently sponsored a seminar called “Opportunities for mobile VAS in Rural India.” The 4 participants in this seminar represented telecom service providers and rural application providers. Continue reading “Local Content might be key to increase VAS adoption”

India added a whooping 8.3 million mobile users in November 2007

The no of mobile users in India is increasing again month after month. A TRAI report suggests that India added a whooping 8.3 million mobile users in November 2007 compared to the 8 million odd added in October.

Land line usage is declining due to the portability factor and Mobility is playing a vital part in India’s growth story.Total telephone user base is expected Continue reading “India added a whooping 8.3 million mobile users in November 2007”

Now the Idiot box on your Mobile courtesy Spice

Spice Telecom, One of Karnataka’s oldest mobile operators now plans to launch TV on mobile within the state. The service was test launched in Chandigarh, and is expected to be in operation in Karnataka shortly.

The service is part of Spice’ future plans to provide innovative products to its subscribers, Navin Kaul, CEO Spice Telecom, told reporters.

There would be about 12 channels available on Spice Mobile. The clarity and uninterrupted ness of the service remains to be seen.
Continue reading “Now the Idiot box on your Mobile courtesy Spice”

SPICE up your messages in your mother tongue

After Hinglish messages in T9 was launched, Spice Telecom has now launched a new service called the ‘Spice Local Lingo’.

With ‘Spice Local Lingo’ one can send SMS in twelve Indian languages that include Hindi, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Bengali and Urdu, in their script.

Continue reading “SPICE up your messages in your mother tongue”

Samsung Max to CDMA rescue

Choosing a CDMA operator for low call costs is fine. But if you are seriously unhappy about the handsets you are restricted to choose from, Samsung launched Samsung Max, the first open market CDMA handset in India.

“The availability of CDMA phones in the open market will provide Indian consumers freedom to choose network operator’s of their choice,” said Hyundai Kim, Vice President and Head – CDMA Division, Samsung Telecommunications India.

So you can not only choose to upgrade to the Samsung Max, availability of the handset in the open market will empower you to choose the operator too!

The Max is a slider multimedia phone that includes customised “Indian” features such as an Indian Calendar, a ‘panchang’, mobile prayer, a Cricket scorer and Hinglish SMS.

Continue reading “Samsung Max to CDMA rescue”

Vodafone India plans JV to expand operations in India

Vodafone is currently in expansion mode in India. According to a Wall Street Journal report

Vodafone is planning Joint Venture to speed Indian Expansion.

Theres a lot of rivalry between telecom operators in India but when it comes to cutting costs they seem to be joining hands. Setting up towers is a very costly deal for the tel cos.

Continue reading “Vodafone India plans JV to expand operations in India”

Reliance launches Rural Mobile Application Contest

If you are a mobile application developer and want to win up to Rs.13 lacs in prizes checkout the

Reliance Rural Mobile Application Contest

Applications can be developed for both CDMA and GSM technologies.

Eligibility

The contest is open to those who are registered with the Reliance Developer Program and includes:

Software Professionals
Self- employed Professionals
Students
Companies
Content vendors/ aggregators

Contest registration ends on 25th December 2007