Mobile Medication Reminder Application

3G Technology Well Accepted among Hypertensive Patients in Underserved Communities.

3G handsets and the Pill Phone (News - Alert) mobile medication reminder application are well accepted among patients participating in George Washington University and Wireless Reach Pill Phone Research Study.

The announcement was made by George Washington University Medical Center, One Economy, Cricket Communications, VOCEL, and Qualcomm’s (News  - Alert) Wireless Reach initiative at a mHealth seminar hosted by the George Washington Center for Global Health and the Department of Emergency Medicine.  

“3G wireless technologies offer new opportunities to communicate with patients and the potential to improve health outcomes,” said Dean Brenner, vice president of government affairs for Qualcomm, in a statement.

Thanks to the grant from Qualcomm's Wireless Reach initiative and contributions from One Economy, Cricket Communications (News - Alert) and VOCEL, the George Washington University Medical Center conducted and analyzed a seven-month study to measure the efficiency of the Pill Phone application to improve medication adherence among hypertensive patients.

The Pill Phone study was aimed at analyzing how wireless technology can engage patients, improve health outcomes and reduce health costs. Subjects included 50 Medicaid patients who were recruited from the internal medicine, renal/hypertension and cardiology clinics of The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington.

Hypertension affects more than 65 million adults in the United States and the main reason is poor adherence to blood pressure medications. African Americans are two to four times more likely to have kidney disease than their white counterparts due to uncontrolled hypertension. Hypertensive patients have other issues requiring additional medications and this forces them to take up to 10 pills a day.

“High blood pressure and diabetes are the leading causes of kidney disease, and Washington, D.C. has some of the highest rates of end-stage kidney disease in the nation,” said Richard Katz, director of the division of cardiology at The George Washington University Hospital. “The importance of the Pill Phone Research Study is that it offers a model for disease self-management that can be applied to at-risk communities.”

Each hypertensive patient received a 3G wireless handset pre-loaded with the Pill Phone application. The Pill Phone provides visual and audible medication dosage reminders, tracking and storage of dosage records, image displays of prescription pills and information about potential drug side effects.

VOCEL announced the Pill Phone application in 2008 for three major U.S. wireless operators. Pill Phone enables healthcare providers to remotely monitor patient adherence through a secure Web site, according to company officials.source

3G rollouts could change dynamics

INDIAN TELECOM: MNP initial data suggests it is not a game-changer; 3G rollouts could change dynamics

Only 1.7m subscribers (0.23% of wireless subscriber base) requested for porting during the first fifteen days of MNP implementation.

Assuming post-paid ARPU is 5x pre-paid, 0.23% subscriber churn can result in no more than 0.5% revenue churn.

TRAI has clarified that certain port-in requests are being rejected due to non-fulfillment of required conditions or errors made by subscribers.

We continue to believe that MNP is unlikely to be a game-changer given largely pre-paid nature of Indian market (>96%) and high blended churn levels (48-120%)

3G rollout can impact MNP dynamics as 1) operator focus is higher on 3G rollout, 2) high-end subscribers could be awaiting rollouts before deciding to port.

On a circle wise basis Haryana circle has seen cumulative porting of 1.2% in more than two months. Number portability was test launched in Haryana effective 25th November 2010. Gujarat and Rajasthan recorded the highest no. of porting requests (~0.4% of customer base) in the northern and western regions. We believe that MNP induced churn is insignificant given the already high churn levels in the Indian market.source

3D movies on a 3G cellphone

Those clever chaps at Fraunhofer have found a way to put 3D on a cellphone by combining the new LTE-Advanced mobile radio standard with a video coding technique.

They've come up with a special compression technique for films in high-resolution HD quality, computing the films down to low data rates while maintaining H.264/AVC quality.

And what the H.246/AVC video format is to HD, they say, the Multiview VideoCoding (MVC) is to 3D.

"MVC is used to pack together the two images needed for the stereoscopic 3D effect to measurably reduce the film’s bit rate," says Thomas Schierl of the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications. The technique, he says, can be used to reduce the size of 3D films by as much as 40 percent.

And this means that it's possible to receive excellent quality 3D films over a 3G-LTE mobile radio connection.

The key element is the radio resource management integrated into the LTE system, which allows flexible data transmission while including various quality of service classes.

"The 2D and 3D bit streams divided up by MVC can be prioritized for each user at the air interface to support different services, thus opening up a completely new field for business models," says colleague Thomas Wirth.

This could involve premium services, for example, where only the paying user can watch the 3D version of the film. It could also enable a 3D quality guarantee - even in unfavorable reception conditions such as in a moving car.

The team plans to show off the system at MWC next week.source

Alcatel-Lucent 'radio' reduces half of the mobile network energy

There is very little that we can do as a society to stop of the flood of mobile devices vying for wireless connections around the world. But what technology innovators CAN do is look for ways to minimize the environmental impact of the network infrastructure being deployed to support all those mobile phones, personal digital assistant and (now) tablets vying seeking to connect.

Enter Alcatel-Lucent, which has teamed up with Freescale and Hewlett-Packard to create a new, less power-hungry base station infrastructure technology called lightRadio. The architecture — which will be available in trials starting in the second half of 2011 (notably in China) — combines the multiple antennaes that currently support 2G, 3G and LTE systems, compressing them into a single multi-frequency, multi-standard Wideband Array Antennae.

There are a number of very green-techy reasons that lightRadio is pretty interesting:

1. It uses about half the energy that current radio access network equipment uses. In the press release about the new technology, Alcatel-Lucent cites data estimating that base stations currently emit about 18 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
2. The technology can be installed pretty much anywhere — poles, buildings, anyplace there is power and a broadband connection
3. Building on point No. 2, there are future innovations planned in terms of microwave backhaul and compression techniques that would make this infrastructure relevant in emerging markets where renewable energies (solar, wind, etc.) could be used as the source of power

This development dovetails with other Alcatel-Lucent and telecommunications initiatives seeking to make mobile networks much more energy-efficient. Here are some related articles:

• Tech pioneers test energy storage with solar-powered telco base station
• Verizon Wireless shores up green credentials
• Sprint CEO: Prioritizing greener wireless services, mobile gadgets

Realistically, it will be a long time before anyone picks their wireless network because it is greener than someone else’s. But as the demands on these networks increase exponentially, so will the electricity consumption — unless technologies like this one are embraced. If for no other reason, the wireless carriers will be scrambling to contain their exposure to electricity costs.

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OnMobile Inks Licensing Agreements In China; Launches Social Karaoke Service

Mobile VAS company OnMobile has launched Karaophone, as service that will allow users to, well, karaoke on social networks through mobile and landline phones. They can choose a song of their choice, create a karaoke version and share it with their connected friends, challenge them and get ranked against fellow players.

The application offers voice based real time updates, supports speech recognition for 30 different languages and has a scoring system based on melody and rhythm; the company feels the service can also be used as a promotional tool for media houses and record labels. Ratnesh Sharma, VP (Marketing) at OnMobile, told MediaNama that the service will initially be integrated with Twitter and Facebook. The company, according to Sharma, is in talks for OEM relationships and is expected to finalise a deal with an operator in the overseas market. In the past, OnMobile competitor Tanla Mobile has launched Karaoke applications – last year, with Reliance Communications, and Telescope Inc, as well as on iTunes.

Licensing

What readers need to keep in mind is that companies need to take a separate Karaoke license for music. Sharma wasn’t willing to comment on which licensing partners OnMobile has tied up with, and declined to comment on potential impact on content licensing cost for the company, or the revenue share details of the product.

Expansion In China; Licensing Agreements For Dilithium

Meanwhile, OnMobile has also announced expansion plans in China and has opened up a new office in the country. Representatives at the China office will support OnMobile’s handset software R & D team, the sales and technical support team for video products deployed in China, as well as provide support for Chinese OEMs. The office also features a fully functional R&D lab.

OnMobile has also completed an upfront deal that involves royalty stream to the company on handset shipments in the region. The company has licensed its Dilithium Video Calling software stack to several major handset, chipset and platform vendors, including a dominant operator in China. The licensees will be able to embed the company’s video calling software in different handsets, including ones based on Android.source

10 consumer Mobile Apps for 2012

Analyst firm Gartner has identified what it believes will be the most important mobile applications in 2012. Focusing on high-end devices with an average selling price (ASP) of more than $300 dollars, analysts have identified the top 10 cutting-edge technologies and trends for 2012.

Winning mobile apps will have unique features that cater to the mobile environment rather than act as a mobile extension of their online peers.

“Mobile applications will be a highly competitive marketplace that attracts the interest of many stakeholders," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

“Increasingly, mobile applications will define the user experience on high-end devices and device vendors that proactively integrate innovative apps and technologies at the platform layer will have the competitive edge."

Mobile apps themselves will not only generate good revenue ($15.9 billion in expected end-user spending in 2012) but will also drive hardware sales, advertising spending and technology innovation.

Gartner said it expects brand companies to increasingly shift their marketing budget to the mobile channel, and experiment with cutting-edge apps to capture marketing and sales opportunities.

Companies, as well as technology and service providers, that stay abreast of the latest developments could make their products stand out from the pack, enhance brand image and retain user loyalty, said Gartner.

Gartner’s top 10 consumer applications to watch in 2012 are:

• Location-based services (LBSs). Location is one of the main enablers that deliver services to users based on their context and, Gartner expects the total user base of consumer LBSs to reach 1.4 billion users by 2014. LBS strive to deliver features and functionalities in tune with the user’s context, taking into account the user’s location, personal preference, gender, age, profession, intention and so on, thus offering a more-intelligent user experience than basic location services can. Gartner analysts believe context-aware services are a key trend for mobile apps, and location is a key enabler of that.
  
• Social networking. Mobile social networking is the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category of the 19 tracked by Gartner. Social network platforms are sucking in increasing amounts of network traffic. They are becoming portals, transit hubs and cloud storage for increasing amounts of messaging and e-mail traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce. As mainstream adoption progresses, global social sites will be driven toward providing services in partnership with third parties using open APIs, and are likely to evolve to a role as infrastructure providers acting as data warehouses and providing user data and access to the more-consumer-facing brands.
  
• Mobile search. Visual search is usually related with product search to enable price comparisons or to check product information. To bring mobile search to the next level, the app would allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and so on. Gartner advises search providers to build the experience around mobile to allow users access to immediate results and to take actions, given the short time span users have. Mobile device vendors should partner with or acquire promising search providers to integrate the technology, preferably at the platform layer, to offer a differentiated user experience.
  
• Mobile commerce. Today, mobile commerce is more of an extension of e-commerce but in a smaller form factor and with a more-streamlined experience. However, over the next 24 months, Gartner expects the emergence of uniquely mobile functions, such as the ability to “check in" to a store to alert a retailer that you are there, or the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store. In the future, Gartner expects richer mobile commerce capabilities to expand from native apps to the mobile browser as HTML5 starts to be deployed, though this will happen at a much later stage.
  
• Mobile payment. Although near field communication (NFC) payment will be included in high-end phones from 2011, Gartner does not believe that it will become mainstream before 2015. In order to get consumers on board, payment solution providers need to address ease-of-use for users and ease-of-implementation for customers without compromising security. They also need to increase user awareness, extend the service coverage and address ease-of-use to appeal to end users.
  
• Context-aware service. Context-aware applications provide improved user experiences by using the information about a person’s interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. Mobile carriers, along with handset manufacturers, should provide expanded location services to include, among others, directory assistance, mapping, advertising and privacy controls.
  
• Object recognition (OR). High-end devices have an increased sensor and processing capability that enable sophisticated applications to recognize the user’s surroundings, including specific objects of interest. Because OR provides an easy-to-use interface, more apps will come to the market with enhanced capabilities by 2012. Users will rely on the camera, as well as other device sensors as a communication tool when OR capabilities are combined with more-traditional app functions, giving users advanced search capabilities and a plethora of entertainment and productivity functionality.
  
• Mobileinstant messaging (MIM). Gartner expects MIM to attract consumers to new types of unified communication (UC) client, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype. These service providers are threatening traditional communications service provider voice revenue. Companies that consider including MIM into new products should consider integrating it with other communications types, such as location and presence, but be cautious about developing other functionality, such as federation of social network activity.
  
• Mobile e-mail. Smartphones have begun to drive the mainstream adoption of mobile e-mail through a series of technology enhancements enabling low-cost mobile extensions to existing e-mail service. Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide to increase from 354 million in 2009 to 713 million in 2014, to account for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base. E-mail addresses are personal and potentially extremely sticky, thus provide carriers, e-mail service providers and OTT players with an opportunity to lock in consumers. Technology and service providers should consider how they can make it easier for consumers to use their affiliated mobile e-mail services as a way of ensuring long-term engagement with customers.
  
  Technology and service providers should consider how they can make it easier for consumers to use their affiliated mobile e-mail services as a way of ensuring long-term engagement with customers.
  
• Mobile video. Mobile phones with larger screens and media tablets offer the ideal platform for video consumption and with careful marketing and consumer education, Gartner believes that carriers and content providers would be able to drive mobile video usage in the coming years. Mobile carriers should partner with YouTube and other popular video providers, so that users can replicate their Internet behavior on their mobile phones, while mobile device manufacturers should integrate HD and 3D capabilities in their high-end devices and look to bundle content either as pre-loaded or as free downloads through an app store. source

TRAI suggestion disastrous, say mobile operators

Its like changing the goal posts in middle of the game, says COAI

While the government can rejoice on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations on pricing of the 2G spectrum, mobile operators, particularly old ones, have all the reason to worry as they will have to pay hefty amounts for spectrum they are holding or have asked for. This would not only hit the earnings of telecom companies, but may also force them to hike tariffs to cover up for the outgo.

Reacting to the proposed six-fold hike for pan-India 2G spectrum, from Rs.1,658 crore (2001 prices) to Rs.10,972 crore (2010 prices) and Rs.4,571 crore for one 1 MHz of pan-India spectrum, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), which represents GSM operators, termed the recommendations “disastrous.”

“The TRAI's recommendations are like changing the goal posts in the middle of the game. We cannot go among subscribers and recover it. The assumptions used by TRAI are open to question… it has used very sophisticated mathematical modelling. It may take a couple of weeks for us to understand, but on the face of it, these look very disastrous for the industry,” COAI Director-General Rajan Mathews said.

Bharti Airtel said the TRAI recommendations went against the stated principle of the government to offer affordability, fairness and level-playing field. There seems to be huge inconsistency in terms of the differences of prices in various circles, it said.

“The proposed pricing of spectrum renewal fails to provide a level-playing ground between the older operators and those who have got licences in 2008. Thus, while 2008 licensees walk away with spectrum for 20 years at 2001 pricing, the older operators whose licences come up for renewal in few years will have to pay exorbitant one-time charges. Level-playing field demands that the price for spectrum allocated in 2008 to the new operators and cross over technology operators, should be the same, whatever is implemented for the renewal of licences,” it said.

All spectrum given under 2G bands — GSM as well as CDMA — must be clubbed and considered as ‘total allocated spectrum' for purpose of pricing and eligibility, it added.

However, new operators who are still to roll out their services due to scarcity of spectrum believe that this would force old players to vacate spectrum which they have been hoarding and help them to start their services. “This would legalise the additional spectrum hoarded by GSM players at a fraction of the cost. The contracted limit of spectrum is 6.2 MHz and the government must seek return of additional spectrum without any delay. Moreover, the price of additional spectrum is just one-time entry fee, whereas it should be recurring on an annual basis,” a senior executive of a new operator said.source

Alcatel-Lucent Partners with DeviceAnywhere to Help Mobile Operators Launch New Services

Alcatel-Lucent, a major telecom infrastructure equipment provider, and DeviceAnywhere, a provider of mobile application testing, have partnered to help developers and mobile operators launch new services more quickly.

Both companies are trying to accelerate application testing and certification, reducing development costs and removing fragmentation barriers. By offering laptop access to service provider’s mobile devices in the cloud, the companies make it easier for service providers to fill their apps stores with new voice, data, multimedia and video services.

With the integration of Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform andDeviceAnywhere’s (News - Alert) TestCenter, developers can instantly and remotely test and certify their apps across thousands of mobile devices on live global networks.

 “Application submission and certification is arguably the biggest challenge for operators to overcome before they can successfully launch their own application storefronts,” said Faraz Syed (News - Alert), CEO and co-founder, DeviceAnywhere, in a statement. “By introducing proof-based certification on live, networked devices, operators can empower their developer partners to manage their own certification process, yet still retain full control of the testing results.”

Besides improving the end-user reach, this cloud-based testing improves subscriber discovery of cool new Web, mobile and video apps, which accelerates return on investment for operators and developers alike.

“The integration of DeviceAnywhere’s technology further strengthens Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform, which is the industry’s most comprehensive solution for helping service providers open up their networks and manage their own application storefronts,” said Scott Monson, director of Alcatel-Lucent’s (News  -Alert) application services, in a statement.

Developers can use their personal computer to quickly and economically verify their apps to ensure that they are running smoothly on networks, devices and operating systems. This kind of cloud-based testing helps speed up the introduction into apps stores, company officials said.

A recent report from Multimedia Research Group (MRG) said Alcatel-Lucent is leading the IPTV (News  - Alert) Access market worldwide. The company has been leading the IPTV Access market since 2007. Read the full report here.

A Mobile service that saves voicemail and recordings to the cloud

Irish company RecordMyCall.ie has developed a new service that allows the user to record all important phone calls and save all valuable voicemail messages to the internet cloud.

The service requires no purchase or installation of equipment and works from mobiles and landlines. The cloud-based offering works by dialling just one number.

RecordMyCall.ie also allows you to record a meeting or dictate notes and as such this service will prove hugely beneficial for solicitors, doctors, accountants and journalists, amongst other professional users.

Recordings can be immediately emailed for dictation and backup, eliminating the need to return to the office with a dictaphone.

Adventurer Pat Falvey has also started using RecordMyCall.ie to record his daily reports as he treks across the ice and snow to the North Pole - he wanted a solution that took his call recording at any time and had the ability to email the MP3 file to his website.

Voicemail has become a critical part of people’s lives

With more than 5m mobile phones in use in Ireland, voicemail has become a critical part of people’s personal and business lives.

The voicemail service is operational across O2, Vodafone, Meteor, 3 and Tesco Mobile.

Users register using a mobile phone by calling 01 52 42 171. RecordMyCall sends you a welcome text – you reply with your email address and all recordings are automatically sent to this email address (recordings are in a standard MP3 format).

Recordings are securely encrypted, and users must comply with the Irish Data Regulator.

The cost of using the service ranges from 1 cent per minute to record a meeting or dictate notes, to 10 cents a minute to record a landline call, to 25 cents a minute to record a valuable voicemail message.

“We believe Recordmycall.ie will prove an invaluable service in people’s lives and we are currently offering a free trial,” Paul McCarthy of RecordMyCall.ie said.

“For now, you can use this service to call any landline or mobile numbers, 0818 and 1850 numbers.

“And we will soon be able to offer international call recording. Our secure computer data centre is located in Ireland and our website was designed and developed in Ireland. We’re an Irish business supporting Irish businesses.” source

22.62 million mobile users added in December

India added 22.62 million mobile phone subscribers in December, taking the total number of cellular users in the country to 752.19 million till Dec 31, official data said. 

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI )), the wireless phone user base grew 3.10 percent in December 2010, from 729.57 million in November. 

But the report said that in December the total number of active subscribers was only 529.22 million. 

The growth in wireless phone category was led by Reliance Communication with an addition of 3.3 million users, 14.54 percent of the country's net addition in December, taking its user base to 125.65 million. 

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel followed next with an addition of over 3.1 million subscribers accounting for 13.71 percent of the net addition in December, taking its total number of subscribers to 152.5 million 

Vodafone stood at the third spot with an addition of 3 million subscribers, taking its total subscriber base to 124.26 million. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 2.98 million subscribers and thus has 86.71 million subscribers. 

Other telecom players such as Idea Cellular performed remarkably well with the addition of 2.95 million users, closely followed by Uninor, which added 2.31 million users. This took their total subscriber base to 81.78 million and 18.51 million respectively. 

According to the data, the broadband subscriber base grew 1.88 percent from 10.71 million in November to 10.92 million in December 2010. 

However, the wireline segment declined marginally from 35.19 million in November to 35.09 million at the end of December 2010.source

MNP or Mujhe Nahi Pata service?

With the much-hyped Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service, one would expect customers, who have long been frustrated with their service provider, heaving a sigh of relief. But sadly that is not the case.

Vikrant Jain, a professional in Ahmedabad, was very excited about the introduction of the MNP service. He was convinced that he would be able to switch to a better service provider and retain his old number at the same time. Three days after the MNP was introduced, Jain put forward his request to switch from Reliance to Aircel.

Despite TRAI's norm and the initial response from Aircel to effect the change within seven working days, Jain is yet to get a response from them, even after a fortnight. He also tried sending email reminders to both the service providers, but in vain.

And Jain is not the lone case. Many customers wishing to switch providers are facing the same problem.

Take the case of 68-year-old Nimesh Pujara (name changed) who applied to shift from Reliance to Vodafone. Pujara was denied the Unique Porting Code (UPC), which is essential to change the service provider, by Reliance. "I sent more than five mails to get the status but Reliance refuses to provide me with the code," he said.

In fact, consumers have nicknamed MNP as Mujhe Nahi Pata service, as service providers are clueless when consumers ask for any clarity.

Kalpesh Khara, a professional in Rajkot is yet another victim. Khara claims that he sent an SMS to 1900 on January 22 as he wanted to switch from Airtel to Idea or Vodafone.

"For that I need a UPC, which I will get from their customer care number 1901, after I send them a text message at 1900. I sent the text message thrice to this number. However, despite waiting for more than 12 days, I have not received the UPC to help me switch over to other operator service," Khara said.

"I emailed Reliance customer care more than 50 times and Aircel more than 20 times to get the status of my request but both the companies are completely clueless. When Reliance issued the UPC, Aircel said the code was incorrect. Aircel also said that Reliance conveyed to them that I had signed an agreement with them whereas I have never done anything like that," said Jain.

Jain said he also wrote to the principal secretary of TRAI. "I was told that the UPC is valid only for a fortnight. I can't recharge my number as it would be wasted if I move to Aircel. According to norms, the balance in prepaid account cannot get transferred to a postpaid account. So, I have to make do with a top-up of Rs10 and Rs 20 every day," he said.source

World Cup matches on your Mobile by VODAFONE

Cellular service provider Vodafone Essar on Thursday said it has tied up with the official broadcaster of the upcoming cricket World Cup ESPN Star Sports (ESS) for live streaming of the matches on mobile phones.

As a co-presenting broadcast sponsor, Vodafone will enable its subscribers to see ‘ball-by-ball’ live coverage of 49 matches of the event that begins from February 19 onwards.

“The 2011 cricket season in India coincides with an exciting time in the telecom industry, when mobile number portability and 3G are buzz words and the entire consumer base is being wooed afresh by incumbent and new competitors alike,” Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer Mr Kumar Ramanathan said in a statement.

Live streaming of the matches on ‘ESPN Mobile TV’ can be availed on both 2G (GPRS enabled) and 3G handsets, the statement said.

Vodafone will also launch an on-air advertising campaign around the World Cup soon. source

Future Group Targeting Rs 200-300 cr from 'T24'

Kishore Biyani-led Future Group today said its telecom venture launched under the brand 'T24' would add Rs 200-300 crore to its topline within a year, even as it plans to open seven more Big Bazaar stores in the northern region. 

"The T24 mobile service is expected to add Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore to Future Group's total sales which is (pegged at) Rs 10,000 crore," Future Group CEO (Telecom) Mayur Toshniwal told reporters here, after launching T24 mobile services in Punjab and Haryana. 

Future Group rolled its GSM mobile service under T24 brand in alliance with Tata Teleservices last year and it is currently providing mobile services in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. 

"T24 mobile service is targeted at a very niche market...our focus is on shoppers, especially women who like to shop in our stores and this service will increase the loyalty we enjoy among millions of customers who patronise our stores," he said. 

T24 offers per second rates for pre-paid customers on the Tata Teleservices network. 

The main highlight of this mobile service is that customers will be rewarded with free talk time for shopping in Big Bazaars or Pantaloon stores at certain price levels. 

For example, if a customer spends Rs 2,001 in Big Bazaar, he/she would gain Rs 84 worth free talk time. Customers will also be rewarded with special deals and promotional schemes at Future Group stores every time they buy paid recharge. 

"The mobile connection will be available at Future Group stores such as Big Bazaar, while recharge vouchers will be available at all Tata Teleservices stores," he said. 

Since the launch of T24 last year, the company has made a subscribers base of 6 lakh. 

"We will soon roll out our services in Rajasthan, Mumbai, MP, Chhattisgarh...by March, we will have presence in all circles," he said. 

Future Group also plans to open more Big Bazaar stores in Punjab and Haryana to deepen its penetration. "We will open Big Bazaar stores in Ludhiana, Baddi, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Mohali, Rohtak and Yamunanagar," he said. 

Future Group has Big Bazaar stores in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Zirakpur, Ambala and Panipat.source

Aircel plans 3G roll out before World Cup

Aircel will become the fourth private sector telecom company to launch 3G services with a roll out across 13 circles 
before February 19. “We will be launching our 3G services commercially for our subscribers before the cricket World Cup that begins February 19,” said Aircel’s chief operating officer, Gurdeep Singh.

Singh said it would be a phased launch across 13 circles where it has 3G spectrum and all circles will be covered by the time the World Cup gets underway. However, he refused to identify the circle from which the services will be launched.
Singh said it would be a phased launch across 13 circles where it has 3G spectrum and all circles will be covered by the time the World Cup gets underway. However, he refused to identify the circle from which the services will be launched.

The prices for its 3G services will be competitive, Singh added. Aircel won 3G spectrum for 13 circles in the auctions conducted last year. It paid Rs 6,499.46 crore with the maximum amount going for Karnataka circle where it forked out Rs 1,579.91 crore. The country is divided into 22 circles and no operator won a pan-India licence for 3G services. “The roaming agreements with other telecom companies are still being worked out and they would take some time, possibly after the World Cup,” he said.

Aircel also won bids for broadband wireless access (BWA) for eight circles, paying Rs 3,438.01 crore. “The BWA roll out will happen towards the latter half of the year and we will take a call on whether to opt for LTE or WiMAX technology towards end of March,” Singh said.

Aircel will be the second private sector telecom company after Bharti Airtel to launch 3G services this year. Last year, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Reliance Communications (RCom) had launched their 3G services at similar tariffs. TTSL that launched its 3G services in November last year, set the ball rolling with tariffs that work out to less than a paisa per second.

Its tariffs start from Rs 350 for pre-paid offering of 500 minutes talk time and 150 MB of 3G data while for post-paid subscribers, tariffs start from Rs 500 for offering 750 minutes of talk time and 250 MB of 3G data. Its stand-alone data packs start from a minimum of Rs 90 for pre-paid offering of 100 MB of 3G data and Rs 200 for post-paid offering of 200 MB of 3G data.

Rcom that launched its 3G services last December, offers its prepaid customers packages between Rs 299 and Rs 699, with a talk time of 300 and 600 minutes and data of 200MB and 500MB respectively. For post paid subscribers, the company offers three plans – Rs 199 for 300 minutes of talk time with 50MB data, Rs 499 for 1,000 minutes of talk time with 100 MB of data and Rs 2,499 for 6,000 minutes of talk time and 5 GB data. Tariff at the highest end works out to 42 paisa per minute.

Airtel’s tariff structure offers time-based plans for light users of data, with usage and billing by the hour while for heavy users the company offers flexi-shield plans where usage and billing will be capped.

Accordingly, light usage subscribers can choose from packs of value Rs 10, Rs 45 and Rs 60 packs, medium users can pick a 30-day pack of either Rs 200, Rs 450 or Rs 750, while heavy users get 1.25 GB free by paying Rs 650 and in case data usage exceeds the limit, they would be charged 10 paisa per MB.source

Etisalat Distances Itself From License Scam

Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesman of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the scam, said it had arrested Shahid Balwa, vice chairman of the joint venture, Etisalat DB Telecom.

The irregular allocation of 2G licenses and spectrum in 2008 to some Indian operators may have cost the country about US$39 billion, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said in a report that was presented in India's Parliament in November. Former communications minister A. Raja and two civil servants were arrested last week.

Balwa is managing director of DB Realty, which founded Swan Telecom and later sold a 45 percent stake to Etisalat. The company was subsequently renamed Etisalat DB Telecom.

DB Realty said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday that Balwa was wrongly implicated in the investigations into the 2G licenses.

The CAG report said that some companies including Swan Telecom had benefited from the irregular allotment of 2G licenses and spectrum in early 2008.

Etisalat said Wednesday that it acquired its stake in December 2008, after Swan had applied for and obtained 15 licenses. Etisalat had no involvement whatsoever in the license application process, and purchased its stake in the company in the belief that the licenses had been validly granted, it said.

The company said that it always operates within the laws of the countries in which it functions, and will cooperate fully with the Indian authorities if approached. The company said it was "here to stay" and deeply committed to India.

The Indian government faced allegations this week of another spectrum scam, this time by Antrix, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which entered into an agreement in 2005 with a start-up in Bangalore to provide S-band spectrum from Indian satellites.

The CAG is said to have questioned that an agreement was reached over allocation of spectrum without an auction, which was also a question it raised about the 2G licenses by the Department of Telecommunications in 2008.

Officials of the Department of Space said late Tuesday that it had in fact decided to cancel the agreement in July last year, as it was decided that there were other high-priority and strategic requirements for the spectrum. The actual termination of the agreement may take some time, because of the complexity of the procedures involved, they said.source

One97 Invests In Scottish Mobile Service Firm Ciqual

Mobile value added services firm One97 has invested in Ciqual, a Scotland-based mobile broadband customer service solutions firm along with Google CEO Eric Schmidt'sTomorrow Ventures and current Scottish investors, Par Equity.

One97 has started a $100-million fund with SAIF Partners to invest in mobile services related companies. Though the investment in CIQUAL was not disclosed, the firm invests typically in the range of $500,000 to $5 million.
 
"Mobile broadband and smart phone ecosystem requires whole customer experience to be built from bottom up. We are excited to partner CIQUAL and be part of its success,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of One97 Communications Limited said. The size of the investment was immediately not known. Despite several attempts, the company spokesperson could not be contacted.

This latest round of financing will enable Ciqual to promote and distribute their patented technology, ‘Session Insight’ which delivers the most accurate, real-time, dynamic view of mobile broadband service and user experience.
 
“We are thrilled that multiple investors have come together to recognize and support Ciqual. With our current customers already benefiting from our capabilities, this investment enables Ciqual to promote and deliver our solutions to a larger international user base,” Tom Walls, CEO for Ciqual said.

Ciqual enables Mobile Operators to improve their data services through actual knowledge of the customer experience. CIQUAL combines direct selling with a series of channel partner relationships, including a worldwide channel partner agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks.

Scotland-based Par Equity is a venture capital firm providing financial and intellectual capital to innovative small and medium-sized companies with high growth potential. TomorrowVentures is an opportunistic investment firm with a global focus toward seed and early-stage venture capital investments. 

The deal was advised by the Scottish Investment Bank, a division of Scottish Enterprise which operates Scotland-wide, in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

One97, which has filed for a Rs 120 crore IPO, made more than 2.5 times on its investment in Singapore-based tenCube last year. tenCube is a mobile security services company whose product includes WaveSecure mobile security service. It was acquired by McAfee, Inc for $9.5 million in July whereas One97 had invested in late December '09 in the firm.

One97 has also backed Oorja, a customer analytics firm; Paytm, a mobile commerce platform and Oc2ps, a social networking application.