Cotendo's Content Acceleration Service Targets Mobile Devices

The use of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has grown rapidly over the last decade, allowing consumers to become constantly connected. Despite the enormous market potential, the mobile experience that many organizations provide is nothing less than painfully slow — a definite negative in the impatient world of the web. Content delivery network (CDN) provider Cotendo (news, site) has announced an offering that might help. Cotendo has announced an extension of its web acceleration service, the Mobile Acceleration Suite (MAS), that can significantly reduce page load times on mobile devices. 

Fast Sites Everywhere

Users don’t like slow sites, no matter what device they are using to browse a site. Slow loading reduces customer conversions and engagement. According to Cotendo, use of the Mobile Acceleration Suite can result in up to a 33% performance improvement for delivering content without having to modify the original site. MAS applies optimizations to speed mobile content delivery at the logic, content and network layers. Cotendo’s web acceleration software is used by many demanding web applications, and although the mobile optimization service was just announced, it is already in use at a number of Cotendo’s existing customers.

Cotendo’s newest solution supports all types of content, including highly dynamic sites that are challenging for content delivery networks (CDNs) and even specialized mobile solutions to support. Mobile content may vary by device type, user profile, location or cellular network. Truly optimizing the mobile experience requires consideration of a multitude of factors such as device capabilities, network conditions and storage size. MAS is aware of device, network, location and context, enabling the tool to make informed decisions regarding content optimization.

Despite the technical complexity of managing mobile content, Cotendo has also made its technology easy for customers. No applications changes are required on the website application side. In addition, the company provides a web-based portal to manage MAS and other Cotendo offerings. The portal provides a detailed real-time view of traffic volumes, site usage patterns, and associated costs. MAS also integrates with the company’s other content acceleration solutions — a key benefit for organizations that are seeking a holistic content acceleration solution. MAS offers:

• Optimized reliability and performance over inconsistent connections
• Dynamic Content Acceleration for personalized and adapted content, with accelerated SSL and object caching
• Modifications that optimize source content for mobile devices
• Mobile logic optimizations that “forward deploy” key cloud logic and data

Cotendo Gets a $17 Million Investment

In addition to the mobile acceleration, Cotendo has also announced the completion of a US$ 17 million private funding round. Cotendo says the influx of cash will be used to provide even more innovative solutions for delivering content quickly. The company has an impressive list of supporters like new business partners Citrix and Juniper networks. Cotendo also plans on plans on expanding its operations across Asia and Latin America where consumers are more likely to have a smartphone to access web content instead of a PC.
As Internet access on mobile devices continues to grow, more prolific organizations will begin seeking innovative solutions to ensure customers have a positive experience across all delivery channels, and Cotendo hopes that it will be on that list.

Mobile Number Portability: Port of Distress?

The much awaited mobile number portability service was rolled out in January this year after a test launch in Haryana in November last year.

The much awaited mobile number portability service was rolled out in January this year after a test launch in Haryana in November last year. According to a report from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), by the end of February, about 38.33 lakh subscribers opted for the service. In a country with over 80 crore mobile subscribers, this is still a significant number. The service allows subscribers to change their service provider while retaining the same number. This is a big draw as many people who were dissatisfied with their service provider would previously grudgingly put up with it solely because they didn’t wish to change their number. With MNP, they can easily change their service provider without having to worry about changing their number. Roadblocks While the process seems quite simple, the execution is not without obstacles. People who have tried to port have faced a number of issues, leaving them in a lurch. Take, for instance, the case of Rajiv Patel, who ported from BSNL to Tata Indicom. He says, “I was not satisfied with BSNL mainly because of poor network. As I run a wholesale business, I didn’t want to change by number. So when MNP was launched, I decided to shift to Tata Indicom. Everything went fine; I even received the SMS informing me of the time and date when my number would be activated on Tata Indicom. But when that day arrived, I discovered that BSNL deactivated my number in the morning itself and there was nothing I could do but wait for Tata Indicom to activate my number. Thankfully, my number was activated sometime late in the night. However, the people who tried calling my number couldn’t reach me and were informed that this BSNL number has been temporarily disconnected. This continued for a week or two and finally after complaining, my issue was resolved. All in all, it was a nightmarish experience and I even lost some business as people could not reach me.”    Rajiv is not alone, as there many who faced similar predicament. Funnily enough, a few others found that their number was active on both service providers. Aditya Soni, who had a Reliance connection ported to Vodafone realized that his number was active in both places. The entire porting process in itself went smoothly other than this minor glitch, which he says went on for about a week. On the other hand, many users found their MNP request rejected due to various reasons, the most common being that they were part of special group plans. Another common ground for rejection was outstanding payment due at the existing provider. While the scenario looks chaotic, not everyone faced issues with the porting process. Prateek Chakraverty, who had a BSNL connection and switched to Vodafone, says, “I had a BSNL connection and, as you can imagine, the network quality was pretty lousy. Hence, I decided to move to a private player. The MNP process for me took about 10 calendar days (8 business days). But, of course, it depends on the old network operator. If they choose to delay the process, it might take a while, which is 14-21 business days. There would be a "no service" window for about one hour before your number is ported to the new network operator, about which you will be informed well in advance.” Is it worth the hassle? Or is it Hassle-Free Freebies With MNP, the power is finally in the hands of the consumer. If they are not satisfied with the service, talk plans, network, etc., they can switch to a different service without having to worry about changing numbers. On the other hand, in this highly competitive market, the service providers are tripping over each other to come up with exciting offers in a bid to retain their customers and woo others. While some have waived off the Rs 19 MNP fees, others are offering free talk time, free SMS, and even a free SIM card. But nothing beats the free pizza offer! Many users simply sent the SMS without ever intending to switch services, just for the free pizza. Where to Lodge Complaints? Almost all the service providers have set up dedicated helplines for MNP, but the experience is similar to calling up their regular helpline. It’s no guarantee that you will be able to get through, and if you do, you’ll probably be put on hold while the executive tries to figure out what’s wrong. Seven out of ten times, you will be asked to go to the customer care outlets, where you have submitted your documents. Most of the issues should get resolved at this stage. If not, you can approach the nodal officer of your service provider with the docket number of your complaint. You will find the contact details of the nodal officer on your service provider’s website or the TRAI website. As with anything new, there are teething problems that have come to light and TRAI, along with the major players, is keeping an eye on the situation and making amendments wherever required. Things to keep in mind before porting Porting can be done in the same service area only. Mobile numbers cannot be retained for another city. There should be no outstanding payment with your existing service provider. Maximum porting time is 7 days in most parts of the country, except for Jammu & Kashmir. Disruption time while switching off service providers cannot exceed two hours and happens during the night. You will have to wait for a period of 90 days before you can switch again. source

Tata DOCOMO adjudged as the Best Social and Digital Media Advertiser of the Year

Awards conferred at the Annual Indian Digital Media Awards
A testimony to the brand for leveraging digital media for driving connect and creating a strong and unique position in the digital world.

Tata DOCOMO won seven prestigious metals under the various categories such as Best Website (Corporate and Micro site), Best Use of Blogs, Best Integrated Campaign and the Best Use of Online Advertising

Interface Business Solutions, Tata DOCOMO’s digital media agency too won Best Social and Digital Media Agency of the year award
Doing the new, doing it in style and changing the game – yet again. Tata DOCOMO, the GSM arm of Tata Teleservices Limited, has been awarded with the most coveted Best Social and Digital Media Advertiser of the year award 2011 at the prestigious Indian Digital Media Awards 2011 (IDMA).
Tata DOCOMO was awarded the prestigious Digital and social media advertiser of the year for path-breaking marketing across digital and social media platforms. The brand successfully leveraged digital medium to create strong consumer affinity and connect through innovative creative and media strategies and rode on the viral power of Internet to drive engagement and cut-through the clutter.    
In addition to the top honors, Tata DOCOMO bagged four Golds across various categories including - the Best Website / Micro site (service) for it’s innovative and educative 3G Life website, Best Use of Blogs (for the innovative integration of Online chat with top Telecom Blogs in India, as a new way of leveraging blogs for driving customer satisfaction), Best Video Creative (digital media) and Best Website (corporate) categories. Tata DOCOMO also won one silver and one bronze metal under the category of Online Advertising for Rich Media and Best Integrated Online Campaign respectively.
As a cherry on the cake, Interface Business Solutions (Tata DOCOMO’s Digital Media Agency) triumphed with the Best Social and Digital Media Agency of the year award. Tata DOCOMO’s work often took a very simple but effective approach to digital media – for example, for the
Best Video category, the brand ran a video pre-roll ad of 15 seconds showing the buffering image, before the main copy telling the audience that this ‘buffering wait’ dispels if they use Tata DOCOMO 3G.
On the brand’s latest achievement, Gurinder Singh Sandhu, Head – Marketing, Tata Teleservices Limited, said “I am very happy that we have won these awards in the digital and social media space, which today, is one of the most pertinent media for consumer connect. This rich haul at Indian Digital Media Awards 2011, is a reflection of the continued leadership that we enjoy in the Digital Marketing sphere.”
According to Mr Sandhu, “Tata DOCOMO has always stayed a step ahead in leveraging Internet as a media. For example, the launch of Tata DOCOMO profile on Twitter coincided with the brand launch, two years ago. Ever since, Tata DOCOMO has worked around events in the life of the brand and category to set up interesting and relevant conversation with the digital audience. Over the last year, the brand has successfully filled-in the information gap on 3G and Mobile Number Portability through its social media activities. No wonder, Tata DOCOMO, today is the most engaged brand community on Facebook with over 2.2 Million Primary fans and a near universal reach to all Facebook users in India. According to Socialbakers.com, Tata DOCOMO is amongst the Top 100 (Rank 83) brand communities globally”.
“These awards re-affirm our dedicated efforts to set industry benchmarks in Social and Digital Marketing space for innovation and service excellence which has been recognized in the past with Abby’s, Yahoo Big Chair and BBC-Campaign India Digital Media awards,” added Mr Sandhu.
About Tata DOCOMO
TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited’s telecom service on the GSM platform—arising out of the Tata Group’s strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata Teleservices Limited has received a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has been allotted spectrum in 18 of these Circles. It has rolled out its GSM services in all of these 18 Circles—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Haryana-Punjab, Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP (East), UP (West), Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan (subsidiary company Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited has launched GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand in the Mumbai and Rest of Maharashtra Circles). TATA DOCOMO recently became the first Indian private operator to launch 3G services in India in all the nine telecom Circles where it won the 3G license. In association with its partner NTT DOCOMO, the brand finds itself suitably positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. With 3G, TATA DOCOMO stands to redefine the very face of telecoms in India. Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile operators—in the Japanese market, the company is the clear market leader, used by over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users.source

ProAll deploys Atom technologies' m-commerce solutions for its unique Dial N Sing service

Users of Dial N Sing service will be able to make payments through atom’s IVR, atom mobile application or atom Net Banking/IPG platform
ProAll, telecom value-added services (VAS) company has entered into a partnership with atom technologies, India’s top m-commerce (mobile commerce) solutions provider, for deploying atom’s mobile payments platform. ProAll will extend mobile payment facilities to customers of its Dial N Sing service, which is the world’s first karaoke service on phone.
Atom is the largest m-Commerce solutions provider in the country. Till date, atom has processed more than Rs 2,000 crore worth of transactions on its platform. Its clientele comprise of 400+ best associates across various industry verticals and includes corporates, Government utilities, Travel and Tourism companies, Insurance firms, DTH service providers etc. ProAll will deploy atom’s IVR solution, atom mobile application and atom Net Banking solutions to give customers of Dial N Sing the flexibility to choose from various options of making payments through their mobile phones. The greatest benefit of atom’s m-commerce solutions, apart from the ease of making payments, is that it ensures personal details of customers such as credit card and bank information etc are absolutely secure while they make payments for the Dial N Sing service.

Elaborating on the tie-up, Kiran Kamtikar, MD, ProAll, said, “The Dial N Sing service is a huge advantage for those who love to sing, be it professional singers, aspiring singers or even bathroom singers. Dial N Sing subscribers just have to dial a unique number to sing along a karaoke track for UNLIMITED number of times, record their song with studio effects and listen to the recording instantly. They can also download their recorded songs from the website www.dialnsing.com. Dial N Sing, therefore, brings recording studio at everyone’s doorstep as now, anyone can record a song in their own voices without any fears or hassle and from the privacy of their homes. Additionally, this facility can also be used to send a song as a gift for the loved ones or friends on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, festivals etc. atom’s single interface for all payment solutions and its stringent risk management practices will make this product even more user-friendly and easy to use for our customers.”
Mr. Dewang Neralla, Director, atom technologies, said, “atom is the largest IVR (interactive voice response) payment solutions company in India with a market share of over 80%. We also, have a huge network for IPG/netbanking payments and have tied up with more than 20 banks for this facility. Dial N Sing is a very innovative concept in VAS and I am sure our solutions will help ProAll to solve its problem of collecting payments from its customers.” source

Comviva to expand Africa ops, to hire 200 people in 6 months

New Delhi, June 13 (PTI) Mobile value-added services (VAS) firm Comviva will hire close to 200 people over the next six months in Africa as it expands its operations in the continent.
"We plan to create jobs for 200 people in the first phase, creating employment opportunities for talented individuals and providing all necessary training for people recruited directly from schools and colleges," Comviva Vice-President (HR) Sandyp Bhattacharya said.
This will be done over the next six months. The company has already made over 35 offers to fresh technical graduates in East Africa, he added.
"Today, Comviva is the largest Indian VAS player in Africa, with over 30 per cent of our revenue coming from the African continent," Comviva CEO Manoranjan Mohapatra said in a statement.
The company is in the process of expanding its pan-Africa operations significantly and as part of this further expansion, it is building its ecosystem partners in the VAS space, Mohapatra added.
Currently, the company has close to 70 people for its African operations.
"Our larger goal is to enhance the capability of the workforce in the VAS domain and thereby help spread knowledge, better customer experience and overall prosperity in the region," Mohapatra said.
In Africa, Comviva is working with operators like Airtel Africa, MTN, Tigo and Safaricom.
Comviva first entered the Africa market in 2003, when it deployed its dBILL billing solution for a leading operator in Nigeria.
Since then, Comviva has deployed solutions in 34 countries. Comviva''s Africa team is present in a number of countries across the continent, with support teams also located in Nairobi and Johannesburg, it said.source