Solar-powered telecom towers now

The high-powered schmoozing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has yielded a project to install solar-powered cell phone towers in India.
Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL) and lithium ion battery maker Boston Power today announced that the two companies have successfully developed the small-scale telecom stations which VNL plans to roll out this year.
The communications-based stations, called WorldGSM, are designed to operate entirely from a few solar panels and are not connected to the grid. The Boston Power batteries can power the tower, which can be set up in half a day, for up to three days without sunlight.
The idea for the product came about at last year's World Economic Forum where the CEOs of both companies met after winning "Technology Pioneer" awards.
VNL calls the WorldGSM towers a "microtelecom" product because they are designed for the billions of people who live in rural areas outside the mobile phone network's reach. VNL says these customers typically spend less than two dollars a month on mobile phone service.

Coupling storage with cell phone base stations makes sense in many places where connecting to the grid is a challenge or adds significantly to the cost. The WorldGSM base stations are being tested now and are set for deployment in different areas this year. source

TRAI WARNS MOBILE FIRMS ON MNP SCHEME

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), today swung into action in response to growing complaints from subscribers that they were finding it difficult to switch operators under the new mobile number portability (MNP) scheme.
Consumers can retain their mobile number but change to a new operator, under MNP. It is estimated 125,000 to 150,000 subscribers have already made such a request since MNP was launched across the country last week
DoT’s Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cell today sent notices to all operators, with a warning to comply or face stiff action. “Many instances of non-compliance and violations are being brought to the notice of the TERM Cell by customers. The conditions laid down by DoT and Trai regarding MNP are to be followed in letter and spirit. Any instance of violation of these may lead to penalty and other strict action as DoT may deem fit to take,” the notice said.

Trai decided to send experts to six of the top operators to check if the delays faced by consumers in switching their operators under MNP was due to technical issues or done deliberately. “We will get a clear understanding by the weekend,” said a senior Trai official.
Mandatory action
Mobile subscribers who want to avail the MNP facility have to send a message to 1900, which will generate a UPC (unique porting code) number. With this UPC, the customers have to fill in a form with the service provider they wish to move to. DoT has received many complaints from customers that operators are not generating the UPC number, a must for accessing MNP.
“Under no condition is the SMS to 1900 for UPC generation to be treated differently. It has been reported that a few telecom service providers are resorting to a regret message like ‘Sorry customer, please try after some time’, ‘Dear customer, please wait for some time’ and subsequently ‘Try to contact customer for retention’. This type of practice is not to be resorted to,” the notice said.
Some operators from where customers wished to shift, after sending the UPC, were rejecting the application, saying the UPC was not correct, though it was the same number sent to the subscriber. If a SMS is received on 1900, it is to be responded with the UPC, the department added.“Most companies that we checked have got about 50,000 to 100,000 customers who have requested for the code number in the last few days. However, about 30 per cent of them have not taken the next step of making a request for change after they get a call from their current operator,” says a senior executive of a leading telecom company.source

Want a free pizza? Threaten to switch mobile operator

The introduction of the mobile number portability (MNP) has prompted telecom operators to come up with innovative ways to retain customers. As if dirt-cheap call rates were not enough, operators are now treating subscribers to free pizzas as well.
Some of Bharti Airtel’s 145 million-odd subscribers were in for a pleasant surprise. Their threat to jump ship following the recent nationwide launch of MNP resulted in them getting pizza vouchers. Other service providers are also pulling out all stops — offering free talk time, discounts and customised data plans to retain customers.
Several subscribers chose Twitter to narrate their stories. “Airtel sends me a pizza voucher as a gift. First such freebie I’ve received from Airtel in six years I’ve used their service. MNP jitters?,” Bangalore’s Ashwin Prabhu tweeted on January 20, when MNP was launched by prime minister Manmohan Singh. “Airtel offers me a free pizza for being a loyal customer on fixed line. This on a day when MNP goes live,” tweeted Praveen Garlapati.
“We regularly offer delight programmes to our customers, MNP or otherwise. We are not offering any special plans for MNP,” Poonam Nikam, Bharti Airtel spokesperson, said.
A Vodafone spokesperson said, “We are not offering anything at this point of time.” However, Xylene from Bangalore wrote on Twitter on January 21, “Update Day 1: Vodafone called me and offered Rs99 VMC — Vodafone Mobile Connect — which they were previously offering for Rs299.”
Aggressive efforts by telecom operators to woo rival customers as well as retain their high-value customers seems to be the next chapter in a hyper-competitive telecom market in India. There are 10-12 operators per circle in the country.
From the perspective of competition, analysts tend to group telecom operators into old players or incumbents, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea and BSNL — and the so-called new entrants or challengers, including Uninor, Videocon, MTS and Etisalat.

Telecom sector analysts Rohit Chordia and Vineet Thodge of Kotak Institutaional Equities say the ‘carrot and carrot’ policy being used by incumbent operators has the potential to backfire. “We are surprised at the subscriber retention moves of the large incumbents post MNP launch,” Chordia and Thodge wrote in a note on January 21. “Put yourself in the shoes of a loyal customer with no intention to switch from her existing operator - she sees her mobile operator trying to woo new subscribers with attractive‘port in’ offers, and offering freebies to (some) fellow customers showing their intent to ‘portout’. Isn’t it natural for her to question the benefit of her loyalty?”
Loyal customers who have not been offered freebies may feel left out and hence, decide to port out, even if they are happy with their service provider. Even if the customer churn settles after a period of time, the MNP-related behaviour being seen now will likely have a long-lasting effect and financial impact as well, the analysts said.source

Enter The World Of 3G - Airtel (Bengaluru)

Great New Packs on Airtel Internet
http://www.airtel.in/Airtel-3G/tariff_chart.html 

Trai seek comment on pricing of financial service using mob phones

Telecom regulator TRAI today sought comments from various stakeholders on issues related to providing basic financial services through mobile phones like service charges and security of transactions.
"In order to identify and address the various issues related to the provisioning and pricing of delivery of financial service using mobile phone, the Authority has issued this consultation paper to seek stakeholders'' comments," TRAI said in a statement.
The last date for receiving comments is February 14, it added.
The paper sought suggestions on whether the customer would approach a Business Correspondent or its agent for opening of a non-frills account, would there be any provisioning requirements at the service provider''s end in any of the methods/options, and any other comments relating to provisioning and pricing of mobile services for financial transactions.
The government had set up an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) to prepare a framework for the delivery of basic financial services using mobile phones. The Group submitted its report on January 14, 2011.
The IMG has advised that people, living in areas that do not have access to banks, should be able to open accounts linked to their cellphones and be allowed withdrawals of up to Rs 5,000 a day.
IMG, constituted by Cabinet Secretary in 2009, has suggested that 1.55 lakh post offices across the country should be used to provide banking services with the help of cellphones to people in rural areas.
The report also suggested a 2 per cent transaction fees to be charged from the individual.

Finally Heats Up ------>>> 3G

After a slow start, the 3G scene in India is finally heating up with more players rolling out their services. Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its 3G services in Bengaluru. The company plans to launch services in all 13 circles, where it has 3G license by March 2011.

Another old GSM player Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular would be rolling out 3G services within this quarter. Amongst other big players, Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications have already started offering their 3G services. Tata Docomo had been the first off the block amongst the private sector players when it launched 3G services in December 2010

What telcos are offering!!

Telcom firms have launched a major advertising, marketing and promotional blitz to attract new and existing customers after the government launched a pan-India scheme that allows them to switch operators while retaining the numbers.

Although mobile number portability may not be a big game changer for the industry, it is certainly proving to be a boon for customers giving them the freedom to shift networks, as companies are not just improving their service but also throwing in freebies.

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), for example, has waived the porting charges and is offering a SIM card free of cost along with an additional talk value of Rs.100 for pre-paid customers who switch to their service from other operators.

Post-paid customers moving to BSNL will get 50 per cent rebate on their first bill. Idea Cellular, the first telcom operator which started campaigning for the service, has not announced any special offers for the customers, but it is making its presence with its round the clock "No Idea, Get Idea" campaigns.

"We have not launched any special tariff; however, our focus is to provide good network and customer services. We are confident that the large number of customers who want better network will switch to Idea," said Rajat Mukarji corporate affairs officer Idea Cellular.

However, the industry biggie, Bharti Airtel, has not gone full throttle on promotional campaigns. The company is restricting itself to a few offers like the "Airtel surprise" for customers who switch to its network free talktime, special call rates and free SMS.

Unlike Idea Cellular's campaigns citing negativities of the other networks, Airtel has taken a much softer approach with the punch line which says, "Move to Airtel. Bring your old number along."

Vodafone, known for its distinct advertising campaigns, too is not as aggressive as Idea. Its "everybody's welcome" television commercials are cute and feature the face of its promotional activities -- a pug.

One of the biggest players in the industry, Reliance Communications has also launched a slew of television ad campaigns to promote its network and attract customers after the launch of number portability service across the country.

"Global experience shows customers are keen on porting to a service provider offering better network quality, full suite of voice and data products, superior experience and enriched value-added offers," said Mahesh Prasad, president of Reliance Communications.

New telecom players such as Tata DoCoMo have also started campaigns with tags such as "Welcome to the world of freedom, welcome to the world of Tata DoCoMo."

To make it easy for the customers to port into their networks, the operators have also created helpline numbers. These are toll free services created to address the queries of the customers.

To avail himself of the service, a customer has to pay a maximum of Rs 19 to the new operator for "porting" the number and remain with the new operator for at least three months.

The customer has to send an SMS from the existing phone to 1900. Based on this, a unique porting code will be sent by existing provider. An application then has to be filed with the new service provider mentioning the code for transferring the connection.

The maximum waiting period for porting is fixed at seven working days. But the number may remain out of service for just two hours. India currently has over 700 million mobile phone users, making the network the largest in the world after China but ahead of the US. The country has been adding 15-18 million new mobile phone connections to the network every month. source

3G service to cover all circles by March 2012 -Bharti Airtel

Airtel 3G 

Bharti Airtel plans to take third-generation services to 1,500 cities across India by the end of March 2012.

The company, which has 3G licences for 13 circles, is also in talks with other service providers to roll out the services in the remaining 10 circles as part of its roaming offerings.

Atul Bindal, president for mobile services, Bharti Airtel  said, "We are in touch with other operators for 3G alliances outside our licenced zones."

But he declined to divulge the names and the partnership models. He said the company would initially launch the service in its 13 3G licence circles by March 2011.

Vineet Taneja, operation director, south, said, "We are in active discussions with various service providers in some circles and the terms of agreement are in their active closure stage.

The availability of spectrum with our partner to share is the main problem in most circles."

The company, which has operations in more than 19 countries across Asia and Africa, believes the new data services will help to stabilise its profit and average revenue per user.

"We expect ARPUs to definitely stabilise to a much greater extent than they would have otherwise done, for the very simple reason that there would be an explosion in terms of new products and services on the non-voice side," said Bindal.

The company on Monday launched 3G services in India in Bengaluru

The Karnataka  circle contributes the largest chunk of Airtel's revenue and is its largest circle by operation. With more than 15 million customers, Airtel has more than 50 per cent of the Karnataka market.

"Through 3G service and the recent roll-out of mobile number portability, we believe that a significant number of high value users and data users from our competitors will move to Airtel," said V Venkatesh, CEO, Karnataka circle, Airtel.

Asked about the security concerns on video calls, he said they had solutions to address the issues. He said, "The government has given us six months time till July and when they go for scrutiny, we will demonstrate the same."

"The entry of 3G to rural markets of Karnataka will take some time.

"It is a matter of prioritising. We are planning to take 3G experience to all our customers in 11 towns in Karnataka by the end of March 2011."source

Google launches Cloud Print wireless printing service for Android, iOS (iPhone), HTML5-compatible devices

While Google announced their cloud-based printing service in April of 2010, they today passed a huge milestone by offering the Cloud Print wireless printing service for mobile devices (as long as your desktop computer is powered on). Starting today, Android 2.1+ and iOS users can print Google Documents and Gmail right from their phone. Devices with HTML5-compatible web browsers should also be good to go with Cloud Print.

This wireless print option is not limited to Android and iOS, as any mobile device that supports HTML5 can take advantage of the feature. As it stands, the option to print from a mobile device is only available on certain Google websites (like the mobile version of Gmail), but we hope that future application updates will soon implement this. Cloud Print is currently only available to Windows PCs, but Mac and Linux versions should be on their way in the near future.
While we’re trying to go “all-digital” with our smartphones, and have physical print-outs become less important, Cloud Print is terribly convenient. Sometimes email just can’t do it all for you. Having the option to print a document while you are on your way to work and have it waiting for you when you get there may be a dream come true to many people, and giving mobile devices this option makes the service just that much more powerful.
Setting up the Cloud Print service is easy enough, and after you link the printer to your Gmail account, printing is only a couple clicks away. As you’d expect,  when viewing an email, hitting the menu option on the mobile site (Gmail, Docs) will reveal the option to print the current document, or email, that you’re currently viewing. As it develops, we can expect to see more advanced printing options become available.
So whether or not you think you’ll ever use Cloud Print, if you use the Chrome browser, you might as well set it up. You never know when you may need it.

Q3 Group Profit of Rs.243.05 Cr - Idea Cellular

(RTTNews) - Idea Cellular Ltd., a part of the $24-billion Aditya Birla Group and India's leading GSM mobile services operator, reported net profit and revenues for the third-quarter.

Consolidated Results
The Gandhi Nagar-based company posted a third-quarter consolidated net profit of Rs.243.05 crore or Re.0.74 per share, while it was Rs.170.11 crore or Re.0.55 per share in the third-quarter of 2009.
The company said results for the current quarter and nine months were not comparable with that of corresponding period, due to the merger of Spice Communications Ltd. effective March last year, prior to which it was joint venture.
Total quarterly revenue, including other operating income, amounted to Rs.3,955.61 crore, whereas the company posted Rs.3,149.47 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
For the nine months, the company's consolidated net profit was Rs.624.19 crore, while it was Rs.687.33 crore a year ago. Total revenue, including other operating income, amounted to Rs.11,268.50 crore, whereas the company reported Rs.9,099.28 crore for the Apr-Dec 2009 period.
Stand-alone Results
The company posted a third-quarter stand-alone net profit of Rs.221.06 crore, while it reported Rs.210.14 crore in the prior-year quarter. Total revenue, including other operating income totaled Rs.3,929.05 crore, while it was Rs.2,999.06 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Net revenue for the quarter from 'Established Service Area' was Rs.3,594.10 crore, while that of 'New Service Areas' amounted to Rs.396 crore.



The company added 7.6 million subscribers during the quarter, taking the total subscriber base to 81.8 million as at the end of December 2010.
Average revenue per user per subscriber was Rs.168, down 16 per cent from Rs.200 in the prior-year quarter, while average realized rate per minute declined 20 per cent to Re.0.41 from Re.0.51 in the year-ago quarter.
For the Apr-Dec period, the company's net profit was Rs.588.68 crore, while it was Rs.791.16 crore for Apr-Dec period last year. Total revenue, including operating income, grew 20 per cent to Rs.11,187.58 crore, whereas it posted Rs.8,656.18 crore in the corresponding period a year-ago.
The company said preparatory work for 3G roll-out was on track, and it would launch in the next few months 3G services in the 11 service areas, where it had won the 3G spectrum. It was also finalizing long-term arrangements with select quality operators for service areas, where Idea was not awarded 3G spectrum.
At the BSE, Idea Cellular closed Monday's trading at Rs.69.30, up by Re.0.70 or 1.02 per cent on a volume of 293,000 shares.

Tata unveils mobile 'sex education' service

 Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, today launched a new service 'Sparsh', which offers information on sexual and reproductive health-related issues.

"The service is aimed at using mobile phone to build awareness about issues related to sexual and reproductive health related concerns," Tata Docomo said in a statement.


The service would be available in English, Hindi and Marathi, while other languages like Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam will be added soon.


"Sparsh aims at creating awareness about sex education on the mobile. Majority of Indians are still conservative about openly discussing and clearing doubts about the topic", Tata Docomo Vice President New Product Development - VAS Zubin Jimmy Dubash said.


Keeping this in mind, we have introduced Sparsh, which offers the customer complete privacy in accessing this information through a simple IVR call, he added. source

3G will boost VAS earnings - Airtel

Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, Monday said it expects third-generation services to help stabilize its fast-dropping average revenue per user--a key gauge of profitability--and add to earnings.

http://telecombulletin.blogspot.com/search/label/3G

President Mobile Services at Bharti Airtel Atul Bindal, left, with operations Director Vineet Taneja at the launch of third generation services by Airtel.

Third-generation services allow multimedia capabilities on mobile networks and are likely to improve the operating performance of telecom companies as they can charge higher tariffs in a market where cut-throat competition has dented their revenue growth, margins, average revenue per user, or ARPU, and profitability.
ARPUs for Indian telecom operators have also dropped over the past couple of years as companies tapped lower revenue generating rural customers.
"We expect the ARPUs to definitely stabilize to a much greater extent than they would have been otherwise for the very simple reason that there would be an explosion in terms of new products and services on the non-voice side," Atul Mohan Bindal, president of mobile services, said at the launch of the company's 3G services in the southern state of Karnataka.
He expects the 3G offering to attract customers from rival networks, especially after mobile number portability--which lets users change operators without changing numbers--was launched in the country from Jan. 20.
"I cannot put a number to it...But I will be very surprised if it [3G] is not EPS [earnings per share] accretive," Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive of the company's operations in India and South Asia, told reporters.

Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

A vendor used his mobile phone at a vegetable market in Hyderabad.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal estimates Bharti Airtel's ARPU in India in the quarter ended Dec. 31 to have slipped 1% sequentially, to 200 rupees ($4.4). For the financial third quarter, the company is expected to report a net profit of 15.96 billion rupees, down 3.9% from the previous quarter, on revenue of 158.23 billion rupees, up 4% sequentially, according to the average of estimates in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 16 analysts.
The company is slated to report its third-quarter results on Feb. 2. Neither Bindal nor Kapoor said if the 3G services would boost ARPUs in the current January-March quarter.
Analysts said operators are unlikely to make any immediate profit on 3G services due to the high costs they incurred to acquire the bandwidth, including interest expenses on debt. Bharti Airtel itself won 3G radio spectrum in 13 of India's 22 telecom circles through an auction last year for 122.95 billion rupees.
The company plans to launch 3G services across all the 13 areas by the end of March. It became the third private operator after Tata Teleservices Ltd. and Reliance Communications Ltd. to launch 3G services in the world's fastest-growing telecommunications market.
Bharti Airtel reiterated that it is in advanced talks with other operators for arrangements to offer 3G services beyond the 13 areas, Mr. Bindal said, without naming the potential partners. Rivals such as Vodafone Essar Ltd., which plans to launch its 3G services during January-March, and Reliance Communications have also said they were talking to operators for similar tie-ups.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.--which didn't have to participate in the auction and were allocated bandwidth in 2008--launched 3G services in early 2009, but have so far received a lukewarm response.
Meanwhile, on mobile number portability, Mr. Kapoor said the service hasn't been a "game changer" in any part of the world, and won't be so in India.
"In fact, more people migrated from one operator to another because [for example] one had an iPhone and the other didn't," Mr. Kapoor said.
The company, India's largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, became the third private operator after Tata Teleservices Ltd. and Reliance Communications Ltd. in launching 3G services in the world's fastest growing telecommunications market.
The company had won 3G radio spectrum in 13 of India's 22 telecom circles through an auction last year for 122.95 billion rupees ($2.69 billion).
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.--which didn't have to participate in the auction and were allocated bandwidth in 2008--launched 3G services in early 2009, but have so far got a lukewarm response.
Third-generation services allow multimedia capabilities on mobile networks and are likely to improve the operating performance of telecom companies as they can charge higher tariffs in a market where cut-throat competition has hurt their profitability

BSNL presents iPad 3G Data Plans

BSNL will unveil iPad 3G Data Plans. BSNL will provide 3G Data Plans for iPad to both its Prepaid and Postpaid consumers. We have also learnt that BSNL will initially offer 3G Data Plans for iPad in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, UP (East), UP (West), Chennai and Kolkata telecom circle.
For pre paid customers it offers starter pack priced at Rs. 100, it will come alongwith Free Usage of 1GB/month for 6 months. For Prepaid consumers BSNL will provide 3 plans namely, Unlimited monthly plan, Limited monthly plan and Daily plan.For post paid customers it will charge one time activation fee of Rs. 100. There is only one plan available for Postpaid users i.e Unlimited Monthly Plan. It will be available at Rs. 999 per month with unlimited usage and no FUP.

Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in Rajasthan

Telecom service provider Reliance Communications today announced to launch 3G services in 12 cities of Rajasthan , including Jaipur within a month.

"Demonstration of 3G capabilities at Jaipur is an integral part of our vision 2015 of creating a 'Wirefree India', built upon the affordable 3G for all platform," Vinay Chandok, Hub Head-- Gujarat and Rajasthan, Reliance Communications, told reporters in a press conference.

He said the third generation (3G) services will be launched within a month in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Udaipur, Sri Ganganagar, Bhiwadi, Alwar, Pilani, Pali and Bhilwara.

Chandok said the range of services to be offered includes video calling, mobile TV, video streaming.

All the applications will be accessed at superfast speeds ubiquitously on a variety of mobile and personal computing devices, for which the company will make available different customised plans for different users. source

3G debut in KK for Airtel

After announcing that it would launch 3G services in January 2011, Airtel on Monday said it was launching 3G in Karnataka to begin with.

The company said it was now targeting a rollout of 3G services across the rest of its 13 3G licence circles by March, thereby acknowledging it was running behind on the rollout. Rival Vodafone too is unlikely to launch its 3G services before middle of February.

Announcing this, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO - Bharti airtel Ltd (India & South Asia) said, "It is indeed the start of a new era when 3G services in India roll out on Airtel's network. World over 'Data traffic' on the back of high speed internet and use of social networking has already exceeded the 'Voice traffic'. India is ushering in the domain -- though later than most of the world -- but no doubt we will catch up at a much faster speed."

Airtel's 3G services, delivered on high speed HSPA network, will bring in a new era of enriching services in entertainment, utility, commerce and health -- all now on the customer's mobile phone.

The Airtel internet on 3G will let users enjoy multimedia services, high speed mobile broadband and internet access with the ability to view videos on mobile phone, make video calls, watch live TV, access high speed internet and enjoy live streaming.

With the mobile industry across the world expecting to connect 2.4 billion people to the internet over the next five years, the launch of its 3G services is seen as a key milestone in Bharti Airtel's vision to play a leading role in delivering the power of the mobile internet to an increasing number of people in India.

Airtel plans to offer time-based and flexi 3G plans depending upon user requirements. source

Plan to PostPone 4G

India's telecom watchdog (TRAI)Telecom Regulatory Authority of India  must postpone the consultation paper on 4G (LTE) considering the current financial health of domestic telecom industry.
None of India's telecom operators will be able to spend funds to buy 4G spectrum if the government decides to release spectrum through an auction. Most of the operators have burnt their fingers following the heavily contested 3G and BWA auctions last year.
Since operators spent $23 billion to buy 3G and BWA spectrum, most of the operators are yet to commence 3G services due to paucity of additional funds. Companies such as Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, BSNL and MTNL have launched 3G in select circles only. BWA launch by private operators will take more time. Telecom equipment vendors are concerned about the delay. Further delay will result into less support for GDP growth. If India is looking for regaining the 9+ per cent GDP growth, a part can come from the broadband-driven economy.
Scarcity of spectrum and the auction format had forced all telecom majors to place extremely high bids at the BWA auction and many withdrew later. If the government is looking at LTE auction in 2011-12, it will be not be a good idea. At this point of time, TRAI must consult with the industry to assess the priorities of operators. Operators should be looking for bringing down cost, recoup from 3G licence fees, improve profit margins, increase mobile broadband through different technologies and rural expansion.
Operators grabbed 3G spectrum at exorbitant prices as it was the last effort to get some spectrum from the government. There's no appetite left with the operators. Instead of a consultation paper, TRAI can get views from the industry on the preparedness of operators. Let us watch the 3G and BWA space. Operators will take 3-4 years to break even after launching wireless broadband services. Cash starved telecom equipment vendors, especially from Europe and the US, are not in a position to bail out Indian operators if they go wrong.
India's 4G spectrum consultation will be attractive to few LTE operators in international markets. But without the support of Indian telecom majors, they may not be able to make a mark in Indian soil. Indian operators, who missed out on 3G and BWA, are already reeling under pressure from 2G roll out obligations. So, where's the space for LTE? I am not against LTE. India should have leapfrogged. But 3G-BWA auction put us in a bad condition. We do not want to create telecom companies which can write off bad debts at the cost of shareholders. India must rethink on LTE / 4G plans.

m-BANKING!!! r u ready for it???

Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are rolling out mobile banking services, but it remains to be seen how the concept catches up with consumer interest in 2011.
Mobile phone penetration is set to reach 60 per cent of India’s population in 2011, but banking touch points lag at about 0.07 touch points per 1,000 people, said a Deloitte-Assocham’s estimates.

However, with telecom and banking majors stepping up mobile banking services, 2011 is poised to be the year that would transform your banking habits — making payments or checking your account balance on your mobile. Yet, currently just about five per cent of all mobile subscribers are registered for mobile banking and more significantly, only 0.5 per cent actively use mobile banking (as per industry estimates), the customer base is woefully small.

But telecom players exude optimism about the platform providing business, financial services and insurance (BFSI) on mobiles. Ambrish Jain, director (operations), Idea Cellular says: “At Idea, we have an agreement to run a pilot project for various banking applications like branchless banking, payments etc. At an industry level, we add about 15-20 million new mobile subscribers every month. Even if a fraction of the over 700 million subscribers in the country take the service, it will be a good beginning.”
Recently, Bharti Airtel and State Bank of India announced a deal to offer mobile banking services. Separately, Vodafone Essar, too, tied up with ICICI Bank to offer mobile banking products. Axis Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Idea Cellular where Idea will act as a Business Correspondent of Axis Bank to provide a range of financial products and services offered by the bank, through the mobile operator’s retail outlets.
Not to be left behind, Union Bank of India recently tied up with Nokia and Obopay to roll out their mobile banking services. Deepak Chandani, CEO of Obopay says: “Mobile banking is going to be the next revolution in the telecom and banking sectors and almost all companies are tapping this segment for its obvious advantages.”
Most banks in India, including Standard Chartered, HSBC, Kotak and Yes Bank, provide SMS alerts on your mobile: credit/debit information and cheque status.
The good news is…
Banks are clearly kicking their heels to service new customers on the mobile network. S K Mitra, president (agri business & rural banking), Axis Bank says: “We were keen to adopt additional delivery channels to drive financial inclusion and particularly keen on a mobile-based channel, considering the reach and the low-cost service delivery platform.” Mitra says only 41 per cent of the adult population has bank accounts, whereas more than 70 per cent of adults own a mobile connection — associating with a telecom service provider is therefore the right choice.
Parents and the elderly are more likely to use mobile banking to pay utility bills, person-to-person payments to merchants and send money to their relatives. Youngsters use mobile banking primarily to recharge or top-up their cellphones or pay for caller tunes etc,” says Chandani.
In India too, remittance services via mobiles, banks and other financial institutions can attract new customers to related financial products such as deposits, loans and insurance, articulates the Deloitte-Assocham report.
Samaresh Parida, director corporate strategy of Vodafone is hopeful that the company can leverage “a few thousands” of the 1.5 million retail outlets as Business Correspondents who are empowered to make or receive payments on behalf of the bank. “We will roll out the first phase of the mobile banking services along with ICICI Bank this year. The focus will be the unorganised sector like migrant labours that need money remittance services,” says Parida.
Countries like Africa are a successful example for most Indian telcos where mobile banking gateways have seen great success. A case in point is Vodafone’s mobile payment solution M-Pesa in Kenya, which has been cited as a driver for the doubling of bank accounts from six million to 12 million in a year.
Device diversity, Paperwork might play a spoilsport
Telcos are concerned that the existing identification processes (i.e. Know Your Customer or KYC norms) might keep the rural or semi-urban users away. “A mobile account, which every user has to open for mobile banking and transactions, should be approached differently than opening a bank account to ensure profitability,” says Parida of Vodafone.
RBI requires all banking customers to abide by strict KYC and anti-money laundering norms. “These norms will be a major challenge for rural customers to fulfil as they usually do not have the requisite identification documents (address proof, ID proof, etc.) Although, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will start issuing unique identity numbers to Indian residents by February 2011, the government may consider relaxing KYC norms for the rural population in order to promote financial inclusion,” suggests Sachin Sondhi, senior director, Deloitte, India.
But the solutions are being worked out. Recently, an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) constituted by the Cabinet Secretariat said mobile banking users should be provided a mobile linked no-frills account (like a regular ‘No-Frills’ bank account) where the maximum value of each kind of transaction (deposit/withdrawal/transfer) will be Rs 5,000 per day and Rs 25,000 per month. IMG has also suggested that the 1.55 lakh post offices across the country should be used to provide banking services with the help of mobile phones the rural populace.
Sondhi of Deloitte estimates that SBI usually opens two million no-frills accounts every year. “With the scale that Airtel (telecom partner for mobile banking) brings, they are hoping to open approximately five million no-frills accounts.” As most of these new customers would be first-time banking users, they would need to be made aware of the mobile banking platform as well as about the best ways to use this innovative platform (this will help banks as the cost of serving a customer on mobile banking channel is typically 1/10th of the cost of serving them using traditional channels like bank branches).
Another worry is the diversity of devices and different mobile operating systems that exist today. Banks and telecom companies are expected to launch mobile apps, WAP sites that will run on all handsets and OSes, feel experts. Jain of Idea agrees: “Handset and OS diversity does pose a challenge. To overcome that, we plan to offer services via device and OS agnostic bearers like voice, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD, which is session oriented unlike SMS that is a store-and-forward, transaction-oriented technology) and SMS.” Idea will also deploy delivery channels like WAP portals and App Stores that dynamically identify the handset and offer the right compatible banking application for download.
But Sondhi of Deloitte warns: “There are genuine concerns about the security aspect of mobile banking and hence the rate of adoption will be gradual over the next five years.”
Plus, issues like complex and non-standard services, reluctance of customers to learn new technology, lack of pertinent initiatives from banks to move people to mobile banking channels, limited incentives for customers to use a new channel may also limit wide-spread adoption of mobile banking channels in the next two to three years.
Piloting a success story in mobile banking
Axis bank and Idea has flagged-off a “remittance pilot” between Dharavi in suburban Mumbai and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, which will enable money transfer using the mobile platform. During the “remittance pilot”, a remitter in Dharavi will be able to send money back home to his family in Allahabad. The remitters have the option of sending money to the beneficiary through either of the following routes:

• Through ‘Account to Account Transfer’ whereby the remitter, having an account with Axis Bank, deposit money to the beneficiary’s account with the Axis Bank.
• Through the Empays Payments Systems’ Instant Money Transfer (IMT) module whereby the remitter, with an Axis Bank account, remits money to the beneficiary, who has a registered mobile connection, even if he/she does not have a banking account.

Idea and Axis Bank will also explore extending the association to include other banking products and services like savings, credit, micro insurance, micro-SIP and micro-pensions in a phased manner.SOURCE

BSNL 3G services in all 760 cities soon

KANCHEEPURAM: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's target to roll out 3G services in 760 cities will be achieved by this fiscal, according to its Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Das.
Talking to mediapersons after a function on Rajiv Gandhi Salai in Padur, near Kelambakkam, on Saturday, he said the pan-India presence enjoyed by BSNL had helped in smooth and easy rollout of 3G services in 700 cities. In the remaining 60 cities, the 3G services would be rolled out by March 31, he said.
Earlier, he inaugurated BSNL's new broadband service offered through fibre-optic cables to the occupants of ‘Mantri' – a residential complex promoted by Mantri Developers. The new broadband service – Fibre to the Home (FTTH) – utilises fibre-optic cables and optical electronics instead of copper wire and DSL equipment, Mr.Gopal Das said. There were plans to provide FTTH service to high-end customers in 127 cities across the country.
The BSNL CMD also launched Smart Payphone Card services in Chennai Telecom District (CTD), where the phone card could be used to make calls from specially designed PCO boxes.
Chief General Manager of BSNL Chennai Telephones, A.Subramanian said the launch of FTTH would help improve business prospects of BSNL in the Chennai region.source

3G Services in a week - Airtel

With the government clearing decks for video calling on mobile phones, the country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Sunday said it will commercially launch 3G mobile services within a week. "We will make the announcement for the commercial launch of our 3G service in next six to seven days- Bharti.source

Rural India to drive mobile phone market growth

Rural India is expected to fuel the growth in mobile phone services in the next four years, as cell phones become a vital tool for the government in its financial inclusion programme, according to Global consultancy group Deloitte.

Deloitte said that low penetration levels of mobile phones would provide more business opportunities for service providers.

The paper focuses on how mobile phones can be used to deliver content and services that can help foster inclusive growth in India by digitally empowering citizens across all cross—sections of society, both urban and rural — This paper refers to these services as Utility mobile value added service (MVAS).

“The next wave of growth in subscriptions will come from semi—urban and rural areas. Today, the penetration of mobile phones in urban areas is already 100 per cent while in rural areas it is only 23 per cent,” it said.

The rural segment services includes selling and procurement information and support for farm commodities, educating farming community on best practises, delivery of healthcare and education to remote village via the mobile broad band network.

Mobile phone subscribers’ base has increased by 35 per cent between March 2009 and 2010 with an even higher increase in low—end subscribers and in rural areas.

Financial exclusion in rural India, which comprises 60 per cent of the Indian populace, is acute, with about 76 per cent of the rural populace facing financial exclusion.

It is increasingly difficult for banks to expand in rural areas because of various infrastructure, manpower, and operational problems.

RBI has focused its 100 per cent financial inclusion plan on the public sector Banks. SBI, the country’s largest public sector bank is currently piloting two initiatives for financial inclusion that are based on the mobile—platform.

SBI at present has a tie—up with two organisations for providing m—banking services in rural areas. Both initiatives were carried out in alliance with the application developers.

Initially, the 3G rollout is expected to be more focussed in urban areas—therefore the uptake of 3G services will be concentrated among urban subscribers, but with increasing coverage in rural areas the uptake among rural subscriber will pick up.

Consumers are also looking for diverse vernacular content at affordable prices — this would enable proliferation of 3G services across the country especially rural India. source