India Broadband n Telecom

Essar To Continue Being A Partner With Hutch

2007-02-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

India’s Essar Group has confirmed that they are going to remain a partner in Hutchison Essar. This comes after Vodafone was confirmed as the company that is going to buy Hutchison’s stake in the company.

Essar Group vice chairman Ravi Ruia said in a statement: “We are not going to exit the business. We will run it together.” Essar has a 33% stake in the company which is the fourth largest mobile service provider in India.

This statement was released after a marathon meeting between the Vodafone team and the Ruias.

Vodafone chief Arun Sarin added in a statement: “I know Ruias from long ago. I respect their partnership. They have created value in the business. We are now trying to iron out issues and will take the business forward together.”

Sarin added that he wanted the steel-to-shipping Essar Group to remain a partner in Hutchison Essar.

Vodafone’ acquisition of Hutchison’s stake in the company is expected to be complete by April this year.

Vodafone May Bring It's International Service To India

2007-02-25T22:42:00.000-08:00

Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Simply and Vodafone Live might be launched in India

British mobile giant Vodafone is in the process of acquiring Hutchison’s stake in Indian mobile company Hutch. They expect to complete this deal by April.

The company is now expected to bring some of their international services in the Indian market to lure customers away from competitors.

Market analysts suggest that the company might bring some of its most popular offerings such as Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Simply and Vodafone Live to India.

They could also launch other services like video calling, video messaging and mobile television in the Indian market.

Vodafone has not revealed much about their plans for India. A company spokesperson said: “We will make clear our specific plans in terms of products and services when we complete the transaction and following discussions with the management team.”

Vodafone to not pay a premium for Hutchison’s stake in Hutch

2007-02-06T04:46:00.000-08:00

UK based mobile service provider Vodafone Group Plc has said that they are not going to pay “over the top” for the Hutchison’s stake in Hutch.

The company just managed to beat forecasts for customer sign-ups and crossed the 200 million user mark.

Chief Executive Arun Sarin said that the final decision in their battle for gaining a majority stake in Hutch is still sometime away.

There are at least four companies interested in Hutchison’s stake in Indian mobile service provider Hutch. Reliance, Hinduja Group, Essar and Vodafone have all shown their interests.

Sarin said in a statement on this battle: “(This asset is) very strategically aligned with what we have been saying to shareholders … We will participate fully, but we are not going to go over the top. We have twin financial criteria (for acquisitions), which we have highlighted. We will be using these criteria in determining what the ceiling price is.”

Idea Cellular IPO price band fixed at Rs 65-75

2007-01-26T04:48:00.000-08:00

Aditya Birla’s Idea Cellular is one of the several smaller players in the Indian mobile market. The company is planning to issue an IPO.

The company has fixed the price band for its forthcoming initial public offer between Rs 65 and Rs 75 a share.

This share is likely to be listed on both National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Idea said that the float is being routed through a 100 per cent book-building, aggregating to Rs 2,125 crore. They would be opening up the issue on February 12.

Idea has also concluded a pre-IPO placement of Rs 375 crore to certain of its promoters, directors and certain high net worth individuals.

Reliance Communications to provide Yahoo! Messenger

2007-01-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications has said that they are collaborating with the US based Internet giants Yahoo! to bring the ability to communicate with their friends and relatives through mobile Yahoo! Messenger.

This service would be offered to all their customers throughout the country.

This Reliance’s Mobile Instant Messenger would be Yahoo’s first Wireless Village compliant implementation in Asia. This instant messaging solution has been developed by ACL Wireless for Reliance and Yahoo.

Reliance Communications would thus become the sole telecom service provider in the world to offer MIM across Java, BREW and WAP phones on a mobile operator network.

The subscribers to this service would get offline messages by SMS from their buddies on the Yahoo! Messenger service.

2006 was a big year for Indian mobile industry

2007-01-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

India has become one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. The country nearly doubled the number of mobile users last year and the numbers are not slowing down.

Sources reveal that the country saw addition of as many as 74 million new mobile telephone subscribers last year. Not surprising, India is attracting a lot of global mobile service providers including the UK based Vodafone.

The country had just around 75.94 million mobile users at the end of the year 2005. The number is now around 149.5 million subscribers at the end of December last year. These figures were revealed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in Delhi.

One of the main reasons for this growth is low rates for mobile communication in India. India boasts of some of the lowest tariff charges for mobile users in the world.

As a result, mobile service providers are focusing on increasing revenues through value added services. The GSM operators in the country have just announced that they would soon launch mobile instant messaging facilities on their networks.

Such services are necessary to attract more users to achieve the target of 500 million telephones, both fixed and wireless, by 2010 set by the Indian government.

Tata Sky offering 6 months free rental for new subscribers

2006-12-31T04:54:00.000-08:00

With the implementation of CAS in the metros in India, the DTH players are playing it aggressively in India. DISH TV recently announced their decision to slash their DTH prices by almost half.

Now, Tata Sky has an amazing new offer for new customers where they are offering 103 channels and all interactive services free of monthly rentals for six months.

This means that the customers can save around Rs. 1800 on rentals if they get a Tata Sky DTH connection now.

Customers having multiple television sets can save more. Even Reliance has said that they would enter the DTH market with their Blue Magic service by the middle of next year.

Tata Sky said that their ‘Free Television Viewing for 6 months’ promotion is valid only in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata between Dec 28, 2006 and Jan10, 2007. Customers would be required to pay the setup and installation fee which comes to around Rs. 4000 per television set.

Customers are also waiting to get their hands on the MTNL provided IPTV service.

TowerCo: Financial Times claims that Reliance Communications might get investments from US companies

2006-11-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Financial Times has said in a news report that U.S. private equity groups Blackstone and Carlyle are currently talking with Indian telecom giants Reliance Communications.

The two groups are planning to invest as much as USD 1 billion in a new unit, which would work on telecoms tower business for Reliance.

This new entity is rumored to be called TowerCo and it might also receive investments from Singapore state investment agency Temasek and American Tower.

The report also said that Reliance is spinning off its wireless tower business to separate the heavy cost of building telecoms infrastructure from the parent company.

Bharat Electronics Limited to provide Set Top Boxes to Zee Group unit

2006-11-26T05:57:00.000-08:00

Defense Public Sector Enterprise Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has said in a statement that they have received an order to supply two lakh set top boxes (STBs) to Wire and Wireless India Limited (WWIL).

WWIL is a unit of the Zee Group and these set top boxes might be provided to the customers of CAS Service.

These boxes would be loaded with embedded conditional access software. It would allow the subscriber of the service to pick the channels of his choice and view them through this system. The deliveries are expected to begin from next month.

BEL said in a statement that they are in a position to meet the high volume requirements of service providers such as WWIL.

Reliance now launches free STD calls at night offer

2006-11-26T05:56:00.000-08:00

Telecom giants Reliance Communications has now announced the availability of a STD call card, which allows the subscriber to make STD calls at night for free.

This card costs around Rs. 675 and comes with a calling value of Rs. 601. Reliance said that people buying this card would be able to make free calls to any Reliance phone anywhere in India between 11 pm and 6 am.

For other calls made during the daytime, consumers would be required to pay Rs. 1 per minute. Reliance added that they believe that this card would be popular amongst couples staying apart or students in hostel wanting to keep in touch with their families.

Reliance said that this card could be used all Reliance post-paid, pre-paid phones.

Reliance Communications collaborating with BSNL over toll-free services

2006-11-15T00:06:00.000-08:00

Reliance Communications has announced in a statement that they are collaborating with state owned telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

As per this deal, 80 million subscribers of their services would be able to access 1-800 toll free services provided by either operator.

This would begin in the starting of network-independent access to 1-800 services in India for the first time.

Reliance in addition is also talking with HFCL (Punjab) and other major operators around the country for similar collaborations.

This would be beneficial for the people in India as 1- 800 numbers currently are only accessible from BSNL and MTNL phones only.

Broadband Deals - Is Contract Broadband For You?

2006-10-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

You are sure now that broadband is for you but not on what term or basis you want to have it. Better understanding of the packages and their norms offered by the providers and by calculating them along with you needs and other aspects, you can find out a better option.

Are you flexible with your broadband deal?

In the competitive market, you will be hearing of new services launched every month, in which you may find one to be a better deal for yourself. So switching to that provider may sure save your money and for it, your existing broadband connection should allow it without charging in volume for disconnecting the service.

Who should not have a broadband contract?

If you want a broadband for your short-term requirement or if you are planning to move your house soon then you can just ignore the contract broadband option at very first.

Moreover, there is lot to benefit from a package having no contract because you can cancel your broadband connection whenever you want and most providers charge only up to the last month of using the service.

Suppose you sign for a long-term contract package and in mid of the contract time, you are forced to leave the service because of any of your reason then you might need to pay the monthly charges for the whole contract time. For example if the service is of 12 months contract then you have to pay charges for 12 months even if you do not make use it.

Broadband on monthly contract

In the UK, most of the ISPs ask to sign for a 12 months contract and demand to pay additional charges in case of discontinuing in between. So if you really want ease in having the service then you have to look for other available packages and recognize them before.

Broadband on monthly contract is one that you can sign up. This gives you the flexibility of canceling your service any time with prior one-month notice to the provider. Many ISPs in the UK offer this type of broadband.

Still you need to be well clear with the charges like monthly subscription charges in which providers charge more if you have not signed it for long term. This is mainly done to cover their overall costs. A low priced 12 months contract and 10 months contract under monthly contract basis may cost same. So if you are in need to have a broadband connection for 11 months only, you can sign up for a year time contract instead.

Pay as you go broadband

For home users, pay-as-you-go broadband option should be the preferable choice. As home users doesn't use much for downloads and uploads, the option serves their exact needs as the users pay only for the actual usage which is calculated in terms of uploads and downloads.

Therefore, users who are very much cautious about their spending can have the pay-as-you-go broadband. Some providers even make available the cost capping facility to the users that the users can have a control on their monthly charges.

How well you require being clear with yourself, to have a broadband or not, to that extend you need to be well clear on what fee basis your broadband should be. For the most part, it depends upon the circumstance you are going to be with and planning accordingly will help you in choosing the broadband package for you.

What are Your Internet Connection Solutions?

2006-10-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Of primary concern to all internet users is their actual connection to the internet.A user needs to look at all the factors and weigh the benefits and costs

#Reliability - is the connection available 24/7, or do you get a busy signal?

#Speed - at what speeds can a user upload and download files?

#Costs - what are the setup and monthly costs for the internet connection service?

#Support - is support available 24/7 and is it free or is there a cost associated with it?

#Availability - is the desired service available at your location?

Available options with good and bad features include:Local dial up with phone company (local isp) - While this many times is the simplest, often times, they are the most costly and support can be an issue. Speeds are typically the slowest at 26k to 56k connection speeds.

Software file compression- If you only have 26k dialup isp connections available to you or you want to speed up your DSL connections, this is an important option you should take a look at. With this type of software you can increase your internet connection speeds by as much as five times for very little money. Popular software products that accomplish this are ActiveSpeed, PropelAccelerator, Dr. Speed, and SuperSpeeder, Highly recommended solution to increasing your browsing experience.

Local dial up with national firm - This is by far the most popular with companies like AOL, People PC, Juno, EarthLink, and Netzero providing this service to millions of users. These certainly are the most cost effective and provide excellent 24/7 support. With the high speed upgrade options you can approach 112 k speeds. If the company has a local or toll free number available in your area, then this alternative provides the lowest cost isp internet connection.

Cable connection - If cable TV is available in your area, many firms also provide an internet connection for an additional fee. Requires special cable modem. Speeds are anywhere from 512k to 10Mps.

DSL or digital service line - Many local phone companies are providing this service to selected areas. Requires installation of DSL modem on your computer and speeds typically are from 512k to 9Mps. The distance from the local hub also affects your speed. You will pay 2 to 3 times the costs of basic dial up.

Broadband - Is a term loosely thrown around that is applied to a DSL, cable, wireless, or satellite internet connections. Technically broadband is a minimum of 1.5Mbs but is used to market products with bandwidth as low as 512k. When you hear the term broadband used, think like "health food", an undefined marketing catch word.

Wireless internet connection - This option is available in limited area's and requires a wireless modem on your computer. Speeds typically are 2Mbps and this is a flexible approach as you do not need to be hardwired or plugged in. Available in many metro area's.

Satellite internet connection - This is the perfect solution for remote area's if you require a high speed internet connection. Upload and download speeds are different and in some cases you can only download via satellite and are required to upload via dial up. This is the most expensive alternative, but you can get service basically anywhere in the world. Speeds starting at 500k are available. Contact Directway for dependable and fast satellite internet connections.

Tata wants 100% verification of subscriber base of telecom players

2006-07-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Indian corporate giants Tata have a presence in the telecom sector in the domestic market and they are now urging the telecom industry to give a commitment to the Government that it would complete 100 per cent address verification of the subscriber base.

This comes after the recent Mumbai bomb blast. Tata Teleservices delivered a letter to various telecom bodies and companies saying: “Industry has no choice except to commit to the Government that it will do everything necessary to complete 100 per cent address verification for the subscriber base, pre-paid and postpaid.”

However, this is not a view shared by other telecom players in the country who say that it would be way too expensive and complicated to achieve. Tata Group had in the past asked the telecom operators in the country to come out with a feasible solution to iron out differences on subscriber identification.

No matter how many rules the Indian government has setup for the telecom players; it has been relatively easier for the consumer in the Indian market to get a mobile connection. They just need some documents that can easily be forged and few companies take the pain to manually verify the addresses of the subscribers.

Blogger and TypePad blogs finally accessible

2006-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Looks like we finally have some sanity in India after the ISPs in the country fixed their networks to remove the block from millions of blogs online.

We are finally able to access harmless blogs hosted on Google’s Blogger and TypePad services.

This is perhaps the result of the notice DoT sent to the ISPs operating in the country to remove the block from the entire network of blog hosting services.

The original order required the service providers to block a limited number of domains. Nevertheless, the ISPs ended up messing up the whole scene. Things got ugly and Bloggers had to resort to online protests against the incompetence of the broadband service providers in the country.

Readers of this blog can comment on their own experiences and whether they can now access the blogging networks, which were previously blocked.

Some relief for Indian Bloggers as DoT clarifies to ISPs

2006-07-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

We finally have some good news for the Indian Bloggers as some sanity is expected to be introduced in the controversy, which saw major blogging networks including Blogger and TypePad being completely banned in India.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has now instructed all the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country to block only the specified website/web pages instructed in the original order.

The order further said that the ISPs operating in India should strictly comply with the order dated 13th July 2006 and provide unhindered access to Internet. They are only supposed to block the limited number of web pages and websites not the entire network of domains hosting some of these blogs.

They are also asking the ISPs to clarify why they should not take action against them for blocking harmless sites and causing a lot of troubles for the end user in the country.

Strangely, we are still unable to access blogs hosted on Google’s Blogger service even now.

Reliance lowers ISD rates for their customers

2006-07-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Leading CDMA mobile operator in the Indian market Reliance Communications has said in a statement that they are reducing the international calling rates up to 66 per cent for consumers using global calling cards of different denominations.

This is good news for reliance customers who regularly make ISD calls. As per the new rates, calls made to US, Canada and South East Asia would now cost Rs 4.50 a minute on purchasing a global calling card of denomination Rs 575. This calling card has a talktime value of Rs 512 and is valid for 90 days.

Calls to same regions would cost around Rs. 6 on global cards of lower denominations such as Rs 115 and Rs 225. Reliance would charge Rs 6 and eight respectively for all denominations of global calling cards for calls made to landlines and mobile phones in the UK.

And calls made to Europe, Australia and New Zealand would cost between Rs 6 and Rs 6.50 depending upon the denomination of the calling card. The tariffs for calls to the Gulf countries would range between Rs. 8 and Rs. 8.50 depending upon the calling card used by the customer.

Indian government blocking access to Blogger Blogs?

2006-07-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Indian government is indeed instructing ISPs to block certain blogging networks and that includes the very popular Blogger.

The Department of Telecommunications has sent a notice to ISPs operating in the country to block around 17-18 websites on the internet.

Such kinds of steps are only taken when the government finds objectionable, anti-national content on the websites, which are blocked from access locally.

Analysts believe that the government is aiming to block these free blogging services to stop the interactions between militant groups in the country. However, this is not a good way to go ahead with it considering there are unlimited avenues present on the net, which can be used to sharing and transferring information.

Blocking access to millions and millions of harmless blogs on the BlogSpot network is really not something a democratic country like India should be doing. It makes us sound like our neighboring countries where censorship is the way to go when it comes to the web.

Vodafone considering raising stake in Bharti

2006-07-25T14:21:00.001-07:00

UK-based Vodafone Group is the world’s largest mobile service providers and they already hold a stake in the Indian telecom company Bharti.

The latest news in is that Vodafone is now considering to increase its equity stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures. Vodafone had last year picked up a 10% stake in this group, which operates the Airtel branded telecom and broadband services in India.

Vodafone is hoping that India would provide them a growing market in the future to expand into. Arun Sarin, chief executive officer (CEO), Vodafone Group Plc spoke on this development: “We are open to the idea. Let us see…even if we are willing to buy shares, someone else should also be willing to sell.”

He further said: “We do not have plans of picking up stake in any other Indian telecom company. Once we are married to a company, we stay with it. Currently, the share of emerging market in our global business is around 15 per cent. In the next five years, it is likely to become 30 per cent and India will be play a major role in it.”

Sarin added: “Our aim is to significantly increase our coverage within the next few years in India. That would require a huge amount of capital.” This form of investment would be good news for Airtel, as they need the capital to expand their operations in the Indian market.

Bharti Airtel launches games-on-demand service

2006-07-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Indian private telecom operator Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of games-on-demand service on its broadband network.

This would now cater to the growing number of online videogame players in the country. Interested games would now be able to play games online through the Airtel broadband consumer portal for Rs 199 a month.

The company is hoping that specialized services for online gamers would help it garner more users in the longer run.

The country’s online gaming industry is expected to be around $4 million but is expected to grow to $200 million in four years.

Akshay Kumar, chief marketing officer, Airtel broadband and telephone Services said in a statement on this new development: “Popularity of online gaming is growing fast in India. In the US, it is bigger than the Hollywood and music industry.”

He further added: “We are launching 50 games which will be increased to 300 by the end of next year. The games are will interest both the first timers and hardcore gamers and we are targeting users between age group of 14-35 years.”

Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd wants to become a GSM service provider

2006-07-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Qualcomm might face even more problems in the Indian market as after Reliance, HFCL has expressed its desire to shift to GSM technology for mobile services.

Punjab-based Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) is rumored to have applied for GSM spectrum for offering mobile services.

The company runs telecom services under the brand name ‘Connect’ in Punjab and Chandigarh. Inside sources said that the company wants to move away from offering CDMA-based mobile services to GSM.

However, HFCL has no plans to get out of the CDMA market and would continue to serve customers in the near future.

DoT has also confirmed that HFCL had applied for GSM spectrum on 1800 MHz. with Reliance and HFCL moving to the GSM market, Tata and MTNL are the only two exclusive players left in the CDMA market.

India added 3.2 million new GSM subscribers in June

2006-07-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

India continues to remain the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. The month of June saw as many as 3.2 million new GSM customers joining the already huge customer base.

The Cellular Operators’ Association said in a statement that this number has now taken the country’s GSM customer base to 78.5 million. The group represents the nine GSM mobile operators in the Indian market.

The total number of mobile users in the Indian market has now reached an estimated figure of 101.8 million. However, this is still a minor fraction of the total population of the country and this still leaves a lot of space for the mobile service providers in India.

The mobile usage charges in India are some of the lowest in the world and this has helped India become a hot market for mobile companies to invest in. Motorola and Nokia are investing heavily in India to cater to this growing number of mobile phone users and Reliance is now looking at expanding in the GSM market to add to their CDMA customers.

Bharti launches their fixed wireless phone services

2006-07-08T02:33:00.000-07:00

Bharti Airtel is already one of the dominating private telecom players in the Indian market. The company has now launched their fixed wireless phone (FWP) services in the country.

The company also unveiled an offer for their customers, which would require them to pay only Rs 1.20 for a 3-minute call to all local and intra-circle mobiles.

Sanjay Kapoor Joint president Mobility, Bharti Airtel added that this pricing structure means that the consumer would only end up paying 40 paisa for a minute of usage on local as well as intra-circle calls.

Bharti calls this service ‘Airtel Mega’ and it works on the GSM network. It also comes with value added services like hello tunes, SMS and caller ID.

PowerGrid to become a India's Long Distance service provider

2006-07-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

Government owned power company PowerGrid Corporation Limited has now received their own National Long Distance license.

This move would help the company to enter into the growing telecom market in India. The agreement for this license was signed on between PGCIL and DoT officials.

PGCIL said in a statement on this development: “In the post NLD period, the company is eyeing more options and opportunities in terms of customer segments, increase in customer base and providing value-added services to the customers directly.”

The company plans to start providing these services to various corporate and government agencies in the near future. This new license would allow them to better utilize the infrastructure available with them throughout the country.

Legal Action Against Sify Broadband Chandigarh

2006-07-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

I suffered the bad services provided by Sify Broadband for around a year’s time before I decided to move to Gurgaon to get myself an Airtel Broadband connection. Looks like the services of Sify Broadband back in Chandigarh are as bad as they were during my stay there almost 1.5 years back.

As per latest incoming information, the Consumer Forum in Chandigarh has directed M/s Sify Broadband Limited, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh, to pay an amount of Rs 6,600 to a local resident Col Pritpal Singh Bhatia.

This fine is on account of compensation and service that was not provided to the complainant. This is great, as this would result in more consumers taking the same route to get compensated for poor services provided by Sify Broadband in the region.

The forum held Sify Broadband guilty of deficiency in service and they have directed the company to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation and Rs 1,770 paid by Bhatia for the connectivity, which was in the end never provided to him as promised.

Trai blames BSNL for poor interconnectivity with private mobile operators

2006-07-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blamed the government owned telecom company BSNL for causing the congestion on the mobile networks. TRAI said that BSNL is responsible for not giving sufficient points of interconnect (PoIs) to private mobile operators.

This has resulted in high level of congestion and poor quality service on the mobile service’s networks.

Trai secretary, Rajendra Singh has written a letter to BSNL chairman and managing director, AK Sinha in which he talks about the extremely high level of congestion private mobile operators are facing at points of interconnect with the BSNL network.

They have also requested the company to expedite the interconnection. The letter also refers to the 606 cases which are lying pending with the company as on April this year for which payment has already been made.

Indian mobile companies eyeing Bhutan

2006-07-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

TRAI might believe that the Indian mobile operators are not doing enough to improve the quality of their services in the Indian market, but the operators are having different plans. They are now eyeing the Bhutanese market for further growth.

The mobile service providers in the country now want to become the second GSM operator in Bhutan. Bhutan Information Communications and Media Authority have already expressed their views to allow another player to enter the market.

Pema Tenzin, Director General, Bhutan Information Communications and Media Authority said that the government would be inviting the companies to submit their plans next month.

He added: “Indian mobile operators have shown interest in starting their operations in Bhutan, but this will only be final once they submit the expression of interest. Bhutan’s mobile market is making a rapid growth now, and it is the reason that more operators are eyeing to start their services.”

Tata Teleservices to expand in three additional circles

2006-07-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Reliance might be considering moving into the GSM services market, but their rivals in the CDMA market Tata Teleservices are continuing to expand their presence in the Indian market. The company aims to launch operations in three additional circles by the end of this financial year.

This expansion would boost their presence in the country with availability in 23 circles. TTSL CEO Darryl Green said in a statement on their plans: “We are planning to launch operations in three circles - Jammu & Kashmir, North East and Assam - by March 31, 2006. We intend to announce our expansion plans after receiving the mandatory approvals from the government.”

Tata has already filed an application for this expansion with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). They are now waiting for the ministry’s approval for commencing of operations in the new circles.

Tata Teleservices also launched a range of tariff plans and handsets earlier this week. This included a new entry-level handset priced at Rs 999.

Gartner believes India would soon outpace China in new mobile connectivity numbers

2006-07-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

India might be one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world but they still trail China. However, research firm Gartner believes that this won’t stay like that for long and India would soon outpace China in getting more mobile customers every month.

This could happen as soon as September this year as more and more of us here in India go mobile. The difference between the two countries is narrowing down.

Kobita Desai, principal telecoms analyst at Gartner said in a report: “India has not yet surpassed China in terms of monthly net additions, but it should happen this year. It’s quite likely to happen in September or October. This is something we’re anticipating.”

However, mobile service providers in India still are unable to provide a decent coverage in the country. The coverage here is around 30 per cent of its 1.1bn population. This is pretty disappointing compared to about 95 percent coverage in China.

Reliance Communications gets Deutsche Telekom AG’s bandwidth contract

2006-07-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications has bagged an important Deutsche Telekom AG’s bandwidth contract.

They overcame the competing bids from Global Crossing (owned by SingTel), Apollo (Cable & Wireless) and Indian firm VSNL.

Reliance won this bid through their wholly owned subsidiary, Flag Telecom. The worth of the contract is not known yet but it could run into millions of dollars.

The company has yet not commented on this new development. Deutsche Telekom had ordered this huge bandwidth for its broadband businesses in US and Europe.

Flag Telecom is also closing on signing similar deals in the global arena. One of them can be with the Oman government-owned OmanTel, which is also planning to buy huge bandwidth.