The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s decision to enforce stricter norms on unsolicited calls and text messages may well be a boon in disguise, feel organised mobile marketing companies.
The mobile marketing sector currently has innumerable small outfits engaged in the business of sending marketing communication. The new guidelines will make it tough for vendors to stick to the policies. As a result, only serious players will survive. Mobile marketers say culling out selected vendors is not the only good news, but even customers will be more receptive to chosen communication patterns. Targeted communication would reach more willing consumers, bringing in more value to mobile marketing.
“There is a cost of compliance for the new norms, where systems have to be set up to ensure that you are not on the wrong side of the law. Fly-by-night operators who would not be able to do this, might leave the business,” said Shubho Ray, President of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Last month, Trai issued a set of new guidelines for both marketers and regulators and warned of penalties ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2,50,000 for defaulters. According to these, consumers should receive marketing calls and text messages only if on the National Customer Preference Register. Subscribers would have the freedom to choose from specific segments where they would want to get marketing communications.
These rules would require both companies and operators to set up compliance and auditing tools and platforms to classify text messages according to customer preference and segregate these. Operators who have been made responsible by Trai should have firewalls to block unwanted test messages if these do not fulfill the requirements specified by the customer.
“A lot of smaller vendors who do not comply to norms either deliberately or due to lack of ability will be forced out of business. If they have specific value-add, they would be compliant,” said Vishwanath Ramachandran, Chief Technology Officer, SMS Gupshup.
“Once the spam is controlled, it will reduce the irritation factor associated with mobile marketing. Bigger brands, too, will choose this path, since mobile marketing will become much more responsible,” said Rajiv Hiranandani, Directors, Mobile Marketing Association, Asia Pacific.
Experts say the regulations, to be enforced from February, might not reduce the number of subscribers who would eventually receive pesky calls and SMSes. If the number of receivers was reduced, it would be detrimental to this business, which works on large volumes. However, experts say such choice to consumers would not hurt marketers monetarily.
“If you look at the number of people registered on the Do Not Call Registry, they are just around 10 per cent of the total telecom subscribers. So, we expect it to only have only a minuscule impact,” said Ray.source
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Violations, Timeline in 2G Spectrum Scam
# A Raja becomes Union Minister for Environment and Forests in May 2004 and shifts to Ministry of Communications and IT on May 16, 2007. Raja’s friendly real estate companies want to become telecom operators and he informs his decision to Telecom Secretary DS Mathur for granting new licenses and spectrum to new players. But Mathur objects and argues for transparent auction and competitive pricing (as recommended by TRAI from 2003 onwards). Raja wants to grant licenses as per First-Come-First-Serve method (in a peculiar way – who first pays license fee and not who first applied) and old pricing fixed in 2001. In 2001, there were only four million mobile subscribers and it crossed 350 million in mid 2007. So Manju Madhvan, Member (Finance) of DoT, Finance Ministry also pointed out new competitive prices. But all ignored by Raja and he sent the file to Law Ministry for opinion and started procedures.
# On September 24, 2007 DoT issues a press release (released in the late evening and appeared in next day newspapers), citing the last date of application (cut-off date) fixing to October 1, 2007.
#Without Cabinet approval Raja allots Dual Policy or Cross Technology to Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Shyam Telecom in October 2007 at a rate fixed in 2001. This technology allows CDMA operators to change to much wanted GSM Technology. CDMA operators were in bad shape and Raja’s decision became a boon to them. Here the corruption part is on allowing the much wanted GSM license at a six year old price. This move is Raja’s first major corruption in Telecom, which gave him courage to go ahead with 2G Spectrum allocation to new companies.
# On Nov 1, 2007, the Law Minister HR Bhardwaj rejects Raja’s plan and directs to constitute an Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) to form transparent procedures for 2G Spectrum allocation and new licenses.
# Next day on Nov 2, 2007, by 8pm Raja wrote a letter to Prime Minister, objecting on Bhardwaj’s direction. “Law Ministry is out of context,” wrote Raja. This letter was delivered to PM’s residence
# Within an hour (9pm), same day (Nov 2, 2007) – might be alerted by Bhardwaj- PM wrote to Raja to stop all procedures and directs him to get his concurrence in all future actions. This letter was delivered to Raja’s residence. Citing several wrong practices in the past, PM directs Raja to adopt transparent method by auction and new pricing.
# In the mid night, Raja gave an evasive rely to PM, hushing up the directions for auction, competitive pricing. This letter dated Nov 2, 2007 was also delivered to PM’s residence
# A very senior Law Officer (doing all unlawful activities and advisor to all illegal activities) was present in Raja’s residence on Nov 2, 2007 from 7pm to 11:30pm. He drafted all the two letters to Prime Minister by Raja. He was elevated in UPA-2 due to his nexus with all unholy elements in politics and corporate world. How a Law officer can advise against Law Minister’s direction? Rule 8(1)(e) of Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules 1972 says : “A Law Officer ( includes AG/SG/ASG or any other law officer) shall not advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organization or any PSU unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs.
# Finance Secretary Mr. D. Subba Rao wrote to Telecom Secretary Mr. DS Mathur on November 22, 2007 – objecting the pricing policy of 2G Spectrum and arguing for auction. In the letter the Finance Secretary objected the dual policy (cross technology) implemented (2\Oct 2007) to help CDMA operators like Reliance and TATA to more revenue earning GSM technology at a cheap rate fixed in 2001, without cabinet approval.
# Regarding this controversial allotment of dual policy (This was Raja’s first big corruption in Telecom Ministry), in the November 2, 2007 late night letter PM said to Raja : “I came thorough the media on the allotment of dual policy or cross technology)
The CAG report says around Rs.36,000 crore lost over this allotment of dual policy which benefited mainly Reliance and TATA. There is a separate headline : “undue influence to Reliance” in the CAG report which figures the total loss to Rs.1.76 Lakh crores, including the loss on the dual technology.
# Strong resistance by Telecom Secretary DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan prevents Raja from moving ahead. For suggesting series of steps for auction, Raja snubs Manju Madhvan, in an internal note dated Dec 4, 2007 who took VRS soon.(she applied well earlier).
# After 50 days, on Dec 26, 2007, Raja wrote a letter to PM, saying that he was “further enlightened” by Pranab Mukherjee (then External Affairs Minister) and G Vahanvati (then Solicitor General) to go ahead with “pre-emptive and pro-active” decision to allot 2G Spectrum and new licenses. In these letters also Raja argues for reversing the cut-off date o limit the players. PM did not reply, but simply gave a routine acknowledgement on Jan 3, 2008.
# On Dec 31, 2007, DS Mathur retires. Raja brings his trusted man Siddarth Behura as new Telecom Secretary, who worked as an Addl. Secretary with him Ministry of Environment and Forests. Within 10 days (Jan 10, 2008) at 2:45pm DoT uploads a press release saying that cut-off date was reversed from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007. The press release asked the new players to remit fee (huge money ranging from Rs.1500 cr- Rs.1600 cr) between 3:30pm -4:30pm on same day. It is a mystery that how Nine new companies made and remitted huge fee by demand draft within 45 minutes.
#Here is the conspiracy angle. All the nine company owners/brokers had a meeting with Raja on Jan 9, 2008 at his residence. All were informed by Minister 24 hours before the issue of press release. The cut-off date was reversed to September 25, 2007, because of Raja’s favorite company Unitech applied on Sept 24. Another favourite company Shyam Telelink also applied on Sept 24.
# On Jan 10, 2008, the CEOs Swan and Unitech (most favoured companies of Raja) sit at Private Secretary RK Chandolia’s cabin in Sanchar Bhavan. DDG Access Service (AK Srivastava) directs officials to go Chandolia’s cabin at 3pm. Chandolia asks official o collect application and demand draft from CEOs and directs to give No : 1 status to Swan and No : 2 status to Unitech. Then only counter was opened at eighth floor of Sanachar Bhavan to receive application/ fee from other seven companies. There was a mad rush to become first in the queue and physical fight taken place between rivals. Bouncers were brought. CEOs quarreled with each other while some telecom officers were manhandled.. Though police arrived, no case was registered by instruction of Chandolia.
#TRAI Chairman Mr. Nripendra Misra’s letter to Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on January 14, 2008 – objecting the policy, reversal of cut-off date and manipulating his recommendations. Later in the media Misra described DoT had “cherry picked” his recommendations.
#As per the Sec 11(1)(a)(ii) and Sec 11(1)(d) of the TRAI Act, DoT is mandated to get the recommendation of TRAI, if they issue license to new operators. But Raja never sought recommendation of TRAI when he allotted license to new operators like Swan Telecom – changed name to Etisalat DB Telecom, Unitech group companies changed name to Uninor, Loop Telecom (license was granted in the name of Shipping Stop Dotcom India Pvt Ltd!!!!!), Datacom – changed name to Videocon, STel and Allainz Infra (merged/amalgamated with Etisalat later with their license in 2 circles…any smell of corruption or conspiracy?. Let CBI or ED investigate)
#DoT allots spectrum/licenses (including additional spectrum to existing players to settle anger) on March/April 2008. All files were signed by Raja. Unitech applied licenses in different names – Unitech Infrastructure, Unitech Builders and Estates, Aska Projects, Nahan Properties, Hudson Properties, Volga Properties, Adonis Projects and Azare Properties. Later Unitech Group forms eight companies – Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu), Unitech Wireless (North), Unitech Wireless (South), Unitech Wireless (Kolkata), Unitech Wireless (Delhi), Unitech Wireless (East), Unitech Wireless (Mumbai), Unitech Wireless (West).
#Dubious order was issued by Siddhart Behura on April 22, 2008 for facilitating merger (leaving the word acquisition). This helped Unitech to merge all their licenses and helped all to waive the mandatory three year lock-in-period in selling of their shares.
# On Sept 13, 2008, Raja forces BSNL CMD Kuldip Goyal to enter into a un-precedented MoU with Swan, known as Intra-Circle Roaming Agreement. This MoU will help Swan to use all infrastructure (Towers, optical network etc) of BSNL. This MoU was executed just a week before, Swan’s Rs.4500 Cr deal (sale of 45 per cent shares) with Etisalat. Swan gives unsolicited application to BSNL. The BSNL management committee demands 52 paise/call from Swan. But this clause was absent in the MoU. Raja also transfers senior officials in WPC (Joint Wireless Adviser RJS Kushwaha and Deputy Wireless Adviser D Jha) for objecting Swan’s proposals to BSNL and DoT.
# In Sept/October 2008 – Swan offloads 45 per cent shares to UAE based Etisalat for Rs.4500 Cr. (Swan got license for Rs.1530Cr). Etisalat invested Swan through its Mauritius unit. Unitech offloads 60 per cent of shares to Norway based Telenor for Rs.6200Cr. (Unitech got license for Rs.1621 cr). Telenor invested through its South-Asia division. Telenor is a major operator in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
# On Nov 4 2008, Swan informs DoT that – it allotted Rs.380Cr worth shares (9.9%) to a Chennai based newly floated company Genex Exim. This is believed to the kick back from Swan to Raja. Genex was incorporated on September 17, 2008, with two directors — Mohammed Hassan (58) and Ahamed Shakir (41). The company was represented by Ahmed Syed Salahuddin (32) on the board of Swan. The three belong to Kilukarai, a small coastal village in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu link now gets strengthened. Ahmed Syed Salahuddin is the younger son of Syed Mohammed Salahuddin, an NRI business tycoon heading the Dubai-based real estate conglomerate, ETA Ascon Star Group. This was part of the letter to DoT informing the Rs.4500 crore deal with Etisalat.
# ETA Group had several real estate projects cleared (on in Bangalore) during Raja’s stint in Environment Ministry. More over the ETA owner Syed Mohammed Salahuddin is having four decade long association with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. Most of the Fly Overs, new Secretariat complex were built by this man, who was also a distributor of Karunanidhi’s films. Star Health Insurance, owned by this man is running the state government’s group health insurance scheme. Sayed Salahuddin was also named in Justice Sarkaria Commission report in 1976. The Commission was instituted by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, after dismissing Karunanidhi for gross corruption.
# On May 29, 2009 (48 hours after Raja sworn in again as Telecom Minister), Delhi High Court (Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Valmiki Mehta) on hearing the PIL against First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) policy observed: “It is like selling cinema tickets. We find it very strange that public exchequer and valuable resources have been involved and misused in this way. We are completely astounded.”. The Delhi High Court in 1994 termed the FCFS policy as a barbarian and said not a suitable one to a democratic government]
# July 1, 2009 – Justice GS Sistani of Delhi High Court quashed the DoT’s decision to reverse the cut-off date. The case was filed by STel. On Nov 24, 2009 – Delhi HC Chief Justice upheld the Single Bench verdict and rejected the appeal of DoT. Shockingly in these two courts DoT filed an affidavit that Raja got Prime Minister’s concurrence. How Law Ministry and Attorney General GE Vahanvati vetted such an affidavit? The affidavit filed by Telecom Department (mentioned in the Para No : 5 of the verdict given by Delhi HC Chief Justice) only says Raja’s letter to PM on Nov 2, 2007 seeking his consent for reversing the cut off date (last date of application). But the Telecom Department, Minister Raja and the Attorney General Vahanvati cleverly and criminally hushed up PM’s objections and directions to Raja on the same date.
This wrong affidavit was not included in the SLP in the Supreme Court, when The Pioneer reported on misquoting PM in the Delhi High.
# DoT approaches Supreme Court through SLP to quash the HC verdicts. Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy impleads into the case. Sensing danger, Raja wanted the STel to withdraw from the case. On March 5, 2010, Friday evening after office hours, DoT issues an order asking STel to close its operation in three states, citing security reasons. There was no show cause was issued to STel and later Home Ministry revealed that they never raised any sort of security concern. Arm twisted STel surrendered before Raja on March 8, 2010 on Monday and declared that they have no troubles with DoT policy. Vahanvati produced STel’s surrender letter to Supreme Court, which was rejected and directed the company to file an affidavit. Due to Subramanian Swamy’s presence, Raja’s design failed and court said that thy will not interfere into the HC order declaring the change of cut off date as illegal.
# It must be remembered that STel offered to DoT and later to Prime Minister Rs.17,752 crore (mentioned in the Para No : 11 of the verdict of Delhi HC Chief Justice) for pan-Indian license/spectrum. But they got only three circles, due to change of cut-off date. Raja sold out Pan Indian license/spectrum for just Rs.1651 crore, the value fixed in 2001. The figure/rate quoted by STel in letters to DoT, Minister Raja and PM exposes the actual rates of 2G Spectrum in 2007-08 and huge loss to exchequer by Raja’s fraudulent action. This huge offer of STel became one of the basic factor for CAG in assessing the loss happened in 2G Spectrum allocation, including Dual Policy to Reliance and Tata
The figure Rs.17,752 crore offered by STel, mentioned the judgments is typographical error. The actual figure is Rs.13,752 according to CAG, after verifying the DoT papers.
#On October 14, 2009, Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha orders to CBI to probe the spectrum scam under Sec 120B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and Sec 13d of Prevention of Corruption Act. CBI registers FIR on October 21, 2009. The FIR said the loss was Rs.23,000 crore. Later Enforcement Directorate also registers cases. Nothing happened till the Supreme Court intervened in September 2010 on the PIL filed by Prashant Bhushan, leading to the Supreme Court monitoring of the investigation. How can CBI and ED act, when Raja was kept on power till November 2010?
# By September 2010, the cases filed in Supreme Court by Subramanian Swamy and Prashant Bhushan started in the Bench of Justice GS Sighvi and AK Ganguly. Thankfully the mindset of the courts changed after SH Kapadia became the Chief Justice of India Raja finally submits resignation on November 14, 2010.
# The CAG found that out of the 122 licenses, 85 licenses are illegal according to the DoT guidelines itself, amounting to immediate cancellation at any point of time.
CAG found that the licenses given to Swan (13), Unitech(22), Loop(21), Datacom(21) STel(6) and Allianz Infra (2) are totally illegal according to DoT guidelines itself, apart from violations in Companies Act. The CAG tabled the report in Parliament on November 16, 2010 – finding a presumptive loss up to Rs.1.76 lak crore due to the illegal allotment of 2G spectrum including Dual Policy.source
Centre to launch mobile tech to save mothers
The Union ministry of health and family welfare is planning to adopt a mobile-based technology on the lines of the 108 ambulance services. This would be available in states, which do not have the 108 service.
The project would be implemented in 65 most backward districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand as a first phase pilot, where maternal mortality rates are higher and no ambulance services are at present.
Sanjay Gupte, ex president, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), said, “In rural areas, where the 108 ambulance service is not available, this mobile and SMS technology will be available at the village level by setting up call centres.”
India currently has the highest number of mobile users in the world and through this service they can have access to junior practitioners and doctors in remote areas, he added.
The project is expected to cost Rs 500 crore.
The Cetre’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme was facing a shortage of skilled persons, right from consultants to practitioners.even after the Rs 33,000-crore Budget allocation for the project.
The maternal mortality rate has come down to 250, from 300 per 100,000 deliveries two years ago, and is expected to further come down to 100 by 2015 to meet the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal.
According to a UN report, occurrence of a maternal death is 41 times more likely in India than in the US and 10 times more than in China. Every five minutes a pregnant woman dies in India, taking the number to 200 per day. The current pregnancy death risk is one in every 40 cases.
According to him, in Gujarat, two third of the emergencies are related to maternal death. In Sri Lanka, the district medical officer has been given the power to call the Army, helicopter in emergency cases to save the mother.
He said the project plan would be finalised next week when the Union home minister holds a meeting here.source
The project would be implemented in 65 most backward districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand as a first phase pilot, where maternal mortality rates are higher and no ambulance services are at present.
Sanjay Gupte, ex president, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), said, “In rural areas, where the 108 ambulance service is not available, this mobile and SMS technology will be available at the village level by setting up call centres.”
India currently has the highest number of mobile users in the world and through this service they can have access to junior practitioners and doctors in remote areas, he added.
The project is expected to cost Rs 500 crore.
The Cetre’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme was facing a shortage of skilled persons, right from consultants to practitioners.even after the Rs 33,000-crore Budget allocation for the project.
The maternal mortality rate has come down to 250, from 300 per 100,000 deliveries two years ago, and is expected to further come down to 100 by 2015 to meet the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal.
According to a UN report, occurrence of a maternal death is 41 times more likely in India than in the US and 10 times more than in China. Every five minutes a pregnant woman dies in India, taking the number to 200 per day. The current pregnancy death risk is one in every 40 cases.
According to him, in Gujarat, two third of the emergencies are related to maternal death. In Sri Lanka, the district medical officer has been given the power to call the Army, helicopter in emergency cases to save the mother.
He said the project plan would be finalised next week when the Union home minister holds a meeting here.source
Speed thrills: 3G breaks music, gaming barriers
Full-track live streaming of songs, videos on a rise
The desire to stay connected with friends on video calls had prompted Atul Akkar to buy a 3G-enabled smartphone with a front camera for Rs 27,000. Despite an initial set back – the government ban on 3G video calls and the realisation that most of his friends do not have 3G-enabled devices – the 22-year-old does not regret his decision.
Now, he enjoys the enhanced internet speed that 3G offers and is hooked onto his handset, instead of his laptop, to chat with friends.
Akkar is one of the many 3G users across the country whose spirits were not dampened with the government diktat asking telecom operators to bar 3G video calls for security reasons.
For instance, ScalArk Inc CEO Varun Singh thinks he has made a smart move with 3G. Singh access the large music database of his computer on his mobile phone using Audio Galaxy – that remotely connects his personal computer to his mobile – without storing any files on the handset. “The same programme works with 2G as well. But it would take five minutes or more to download a song. With 3G, I can stream music live.”
It has been a little over two months since private telecom companies started 3G services with Tata Docomo launching in November and Reliance Communications in December 2010. Experts said they have already observed a trend where full-track downloads of songs and videos have increased.
However, the much-touted explosive growth in video content seems to be taking a while. “We see growth in music services in the early days, followed by snacking video content consumption,” said Albert Almeida, COO of Hungama Mobile, a mobile content and services provider.
The company already has a music player application – MyPlay – which enables consumers to browse over two million tracks and videos and create personalised playlists. The company expects the application to be more popular in the 3G environment as live streaming would be faster. 3G Internet connections offers speeds close to 4-5 mbps.
Gaming is yet another area that has seen a surge and is poised to grow even more as 3G allows high-definition, multi-player gaming. The mobile gaming industry has been growing at 10 per cent month-on-month, but in the last six months the number of games downloaded have increased by 60 per cent. Increase in the number of high-end phones in the 3G season has also contributed to the trend, experts said.
“The advent of 3G will give the same experience of gaming that one gets in a personal computer or a laptop. We expect to see an increase in games downloaded by at least by 100 per cent and as many as 60 3G-enabled games will be launched in the next few months,” said Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies.
Nazara, which has a tie-up with California-based Electronic Arts (EA), is planning to get EA’s 20 3G games to India within the next three months.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decision to lift the ban video calls on 3G mobile networks – with a rider that service providers should provide interception capabilities by July 31 – has also set the ball rolling for users to get hooked on to video calls — but that time would say. For now, users’ imagination have caught up with the animated world beyond video services on 3G.source
The desire to stay connected with friends on video calls had prompted Atul Akkar to buy a 3G-enabled smartphone with a front camera for Rs 27,000. Despite an initial set back – the government ban on 3G video calls and the realisation that most of his friends do not have 3G-enabled devices – the 22-year-old does not regret his decision.
Now, he enjoys the enhanced internet speed that 3G offers and is hooked onto his handset, instead of his laptop, to chat with friends.
Akkar is one of the many 3G users across the country whose spirits were not dampened with the government diktat asking telecom operators to bar 3G video calls for security reasons.
For instance, ScalArk Inc CEO Varun Singh thinks he has made a smart move with 3G. Singh access the large music database of his computer on his mobile phone using Audio Galaxy – that remotely connects his personal computer to his mobile – without storing any files on the handset. “The same programme works with 2G as well. But it would take five minutes or more to download a song. With 3G, I can stream music live.”
It has been a little over two months since private telecom companies started 3G services with Tata Docomo launching in November and Reliance Communications in December 2010. Experts said they have already observed a trend where full-track downloads of songs and videos have increased.
However, the much-touted explosive growth in video content seems to be taking a while. “We see growth in music services in the early days, followed by snacking video content consumption,” said Albert Almeida, COO of Hungama Mobile, a mobile content and services provider.
The company already has a music player application – MyPlay – which enables consumers to browse over two million tracks and videos and create personalised playlists. The company expects the application to be more popular in the 3G environment as live streaming would be faster. 3G Internet connections offers speeds close to 4-5 mbps.
Gaming is yet another area that has seen a surge and is poised to grow even more as 3G allows high-definition, multi-player gaming. The mobile gaming industry has been growing at 10 per cent month-on-month, but in the last six months the number of games downloaded have increased by 60 per cent. Increase in the number of high-end phones in the 3G season has also contributed to the trend, experts said.
“The advent of 3G will give the same experience of gaming that one gets in a personal computer or a laptop. We expect to see an increase in games downloaded by at least by 100 per cent and as many as 60 3G-enabled games will be launched in the next few months,” said Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies.
Nazara, which has a tie-up with California-based Electronic Arts (EA), is planning to get EA’s 20 3G games to India within the next three months.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decision to lift the ban video calls on 3G mobile networks – with a rider that service providers should provide interception capabilities by July 31 – has also set the ball rolling for users to get hooked on to video calls — but that time would say. For now, users’ imagination have caught up with the animated world beyond video services on 3G.source
Now, shopaholics get to recharge their mobile phones for free
Being a shopaholic may notnecessarily lighten the wallet as various new schemes in theIndian market are providing exclusive free recharging optionsto shoppers.
One of the country''s largest retailers, Future Groupis offering free mobile phone talktime to its customers of BigBazaar and Pantaloons while another start-up portal is givingaway free retail coupons equal to the value of recharge donethrough their website.
Within few months of its launch, the uniqueconvergence of retail and mobile telephone services, two ofthe businesses which have witnessed a boom in India, iscatching up fast among the youth in the metros and the largercities.
The T24 GSM mobile service, launched by the Futuregroup in association with Tata Teleservices in June, now hasaround 350,000 subscribers in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Besides the traditional ways of buying a recharge, onecan simply shop at the company''s retail chains like BigBazaar, Food Bazaar, Pantaloons, EZone, Central, Home Town andBrand Factory to get free talktime.
For example, a shopping bill of more than Rs 1000 atBig Bazaar gives a free talktime of Rs 35.
"My ever-increasing shopping bill is now helping mereduce my mobile phone bill," says Meenakshi Naidu, aHyderabad-based young housewife who bought a T24 mobileconnection late last year.
Moreover, under the ''Talk More, Shop More'' scheme, onecan even get discounts on goods bought from Future Groupstores after buying a mobile phone recharge.
"Shopping and talking on our mobile phones are amongthe two favorite activities for all of us in India. With T24,we have been able to develop a unique customer valueproposition that combines these interests of the aspirationalIndians," says Future Group''s CEO (Telecom), Mayur Toshniwal.
On the other hand, at www.freerecharge.in, around 1.5lakh netizens log in to recharge virtually for free from thewebsite as their talktime charges are refunded in the form offree coupons from retailers and hang-out joints likeMcDonalds, Barista and PVR Cinemas. .
"Besides talking to my girlfriend for longer duration, I can also take her out to a multiplex on weekends with thefree coupons I get on recharging my phone. It serves me dualpurpose as recharging is easier on the Internet and is alsoavailable 24x7," says 22-year-old college student RockyAgarwal.
Launched in August last year, the first-of-its-kindbusiness model has already acquired a patent pending status.
"The response has been overwhelming for us as ourmodel is a win-win situation for mobile operators, retailersand users. With a spurt in the growth of the number of mobileand e-commerce subscribers in India, the online prepaidrecharge market will also grow," the website''s founder KunalShah told PTI.
Already having the leading mobile phone operators,retailers and hang-out joints on board, they are now settingup long-term partnerships with restaurants, apparel and evengrocery store chains.
"By the end of this April, we are hoping to have25,000 transactions each day on our website," Saha said addingthat they expect to start making profits by next year.
Similarly, Future Group plans a pan-India rollout ofits T24 mobile services and taking its customer base to onemillion.source
Tata Communications to acquire BitGravity
Tata Communications announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire BitGravity, an award winning content delivery network (CDN). BitGravity’s network and products accelerate the delivery of media assets to end-users and enables scalable, real-time video communications over the Internet. Upon successful completion of the transaction, Tata Communications (Netherlands) B.V. will own 100 percent BitGravity, Inc., which will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Communications. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
In 2008, Tata Communications entered into a strategic alliance with BitGravity that included the licensing BitGravity’s CDN technology and the federation of BitGravity’s and Tata Communications’ delivery networks. The company also made a strategic investment of $11.5mn in BitGravity. The alliance enabled Tata Communications’ to enter the market with its own global CDN in 2008 and has resulted in successful traction with high profile media, content and gaming companies in Europe, Asia and India such as NDTV, IAH Games, Quick Heal Technologies and Nimbus Communications.
“Two years ago, we made an investment in BitGravity to provide content delivery services for Tata Communications” said Genius Wong, Senior Vice President, Global Network Services, Tata Communications. “With the success we’ve seen in the marketplace and our ownership of BitGravity, we can now fully invest in the potential that exists around the globe and accelerate the delivery of new features and services to our customers”.
“Tata Communications bet on BitGravity’s vision and people to provide innovative video services. We are ecstatic that this will be a positive outcome for all the stakeholders; we are equally excited about what this means for BitGravity and its products going forward,” said Perry Wu, CEO and co-founder of BitGravity. “As a combined entity, we can propel our position in the market, and the opportunity to accelerate our vision on a significantly larger scale was one we couldn’t pass up.”
BitGravity, a privately held company located in Burlingame, California, was founded in mid-2006 and launched its services in 2008.source
In 2008, Tata Communications entered into a strategic alliance with BitGravity that included the licensing BitGravity’s CDN technology and the federation of BitGravity’s and Tata Communications’ delivery networks. The company also made a strategic investment of $11.5mn in BitGravity. The alliance enabled Tata Communications’ to enter the market with its own global CDN in 2008 and has resulted in successful traction with high profile media, content and gaming companies in Europe, Asia and India such as NDTV, IAH Games, Quick Heal Technologies and Nimbus Communications.
“Two years ago, we made an investment in BitGravity to provide content delivery services for Tata Communications” said Genius Wong, Senior Vice President, Global Network Services, Tata Communications. “With the success we’ve seen in the marketplace and our ownership of BitGravity, we can now fully invest in the potential that exists around the globe and accelerate the delivery of new features and services to our customers”.
“Tata Communications bet on BitGravity’s vision and people to provide innovative video services. We are ecstatic that this will be a positive outcome for all the stakeholders; we are equally excited about what this means for BitGravity and its products going forward,” said Perry Wu, CEO and co-founder of BitGravity. “As a combined entity, we can propel our position in the market, and the opportunity to accelerate our vision on a significantly larger scale was one we couldn’t pass up.”
BitGravity, a privately held company located in Burlingame, California, was founded in mid-2006 and launched its services in 2008.source
Mobile finance: A new way to manage your money
Mobile finance services are gathering steam as mobile banking is the easiest way to do money management.
Stock market digital highlights some key benefits brought by the mobile finance services.
Result-oriented service
Besides being convenient, Mobile finance service is a solution-based service. There will be a very strong organic growth in the mobile finance service segment just because it gets your quicker results with a click of a button.
Advantageous applications
Mobile applications come with excellent benefits. Mobile applications like Money Transfer can assist you in sending money via SMS messages. Mobile Payment is another application that will soon erase the traditional practices of money deployment.
Mobile-Wallet
Since mobile is omnipresent and does not require special arrangements to communicate the way internet does, every Tom, Dick and Harry can use his mobile as a wallet. Plus, the M-wallet will take care of the payment delay issues and will ensure timely delivery of money.
Mobile finance service is not a new phenomenon anymore. Intensive consumer adoption has led the technological innovation and we will see improved ways of managing money through our inseparable, sixth finger – Mobile. source
Result-oriented service
Besides being convenient, Mobile finance service is a solution-based service. There will be a very strong organic growth in the mobile finance service segment just because it gets your quicker results with a click of a button.
Advantageous applications
Mobile applications come with excellent benefits. Mobile applications like Money Transfer can assist you in sending money via SMS messages. Mobile Payment is another application that will soon erase the traditional practices of money deployment.
Mobile-Wallet
Since mobile is omnipresent and does not require special arrangements to communicate the way internet does, every Tom, Dick and Harry can use his mobile as a wallet. Plus, the M-wallet will take care of the payment delay issues and will ensure timely delivery of money.
Mobile finance service is not a new phenomenon anymore. Intensive consumer adoption has led the technological innovation and we will see improved ways of managing money through our inseparable, sixth finger – Mobile. source
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