BSNL IPTV in Karnataka in August

According to reports, BSNL is all set to launch Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) in Karnataka in August this year.

What is Internet Protocol Television? A system where a digital television service is delivered by using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection.

Simply put, viewers can ask for a particular channel, program, or movie at a particular time. Also, they can pause an ongoing program in the middle in case of work, and get back at any convenient time.

According to T S Kuppuswamy, chief general manager of Karnataka Telecom, with the broadband facility, Bangalore customers will be able to get voice, data, and video.

BSNL's IPTV service will also be reportedly used for e-education. Features such as slide shows, video lectures, and other modes will be used to impart education through the Internet.

To enjoy the service, customers will have to purchase a set top box known as WICE (Window for Infotainment, Communication and Entertainment), and have it installed for a certain fee along with security deposit.

Meanwhile, Karnataka will not be the first city in the country to get BSNL IPTV. Pune already has the service, where a set top box is typically available for Rs 3,950, or can be rented for a fixed monthly charge of Rs 100, along with a security deposit of Rs 1,500.

BSNL's IPTV service will be supported by CSIR, under triple-play broadband technology, which is at par with what is available worldwide. The franchisee for broadband here is India Online.

Telcos to tighten user check norms

Government today directed mobile operators offering pre-paid services in Jammu and Kashmir and North East to follow instructions on verification of particulars of new users.

After issuing the new instructions earlier this month, Department of Telecom today held a meeting with mobile operators and asked them to strictly follow them after the industry raised concern over its implementation.

Official sources said there were apprehensions by operators on the guidelines that an existing subscriber of minimum three month old should become a witness for a new connection of the same service provider. According to operators this would not be possible in case of new operators who are planning to roll out services.

Operators have suggested that instead of existing subscribers, gazetted officers of the state Government should be authorised to verify new prepaid mobile customers, sources said.

DoT allowed pre-paid mobile services in these terrorist-infested states in February for a period of one year. However, with the rising number of fake addresses and identification given by the subscribers, government fears that terrorists could abuse pre-paid mobile service and walk away scot-free.

"The application for the prepaid connections should be witnessed (sic) by an existing subscriber who must be a regular revenue paying subscriber for at least three previous months of the same service provider," said the DoT guidelines issued in the first week of June.

Pre-paid mobile connections were allowed earlier this year in J-K and northeast, while post paid connections there were allowed earlier.

The mobile company has to also randomly verify 10 per cent of the witness within three months from the date of issuing connections.

The mobile subscriber verification drive all over the country has already set the ball rolling for authentic documentation. Now DoT wants service providers to take necessary action to effectively sensitise the public of these states about the misuse of a mobile connection with fake documents, which would attract stringent action, the letter said.

It is also the responsibility of the service provider to verify telephonically with the witness before activating the new telephone connections. Even the remarks of the witness will be recorded on the application form along with his or her contactable address.

Spice Telecom Selects Ericsson for Push Email Service in India

Ericsson announced that it has received a contract from the Indian telecom operator, Spice Telecom, to provide push email and personal information management services via its hosted enterprise solution.

The push email solution provides users with easy-to-use secure, real-time access to email and personal information via a wide variety of mobile devices. It enables quick and easy access to emails, contacts and calendar functions while on the move.

Emails are delivered wirelessly in real-time and all activities, such as writing, deleting or sending messages, are instantaneously reflected in the subscriber's account. Installation and maintenance of the email solution are designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible, offering low total cost of ownership.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson will provide hosting, systems integration and day-to-day management of the service.

Prakash Nanani, CEO, Spice Telecom, said, "Spice believes in launching cutting edge mobile applications and Spice Push mail service is another such service. We are proud to offer push email to our customers, enabling them to have full control over their email, whether in the office or on the move. This service will enable the consumer to access an email solution that is useful, fast, secure, simple and cost-efficient."

"What is more is that customers don't need to have any particular handset, as the service is not handset dependent, and shall work on most handsets that support GPRS. We expect this to help Spice to broad base the reach of email service to the masses," added Nanani.

Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson India, said, "Operators are increasingly positioning mobile push email solutions beyond the professional segment, moving into the mass-consumer domain. Hosting is a proven business model that meets operators' growing needs to quickly and cost-efficiently launch new multimedia services for both business segment and the consumer."

Trai no-reply to congestion

Telecom regulator Trai is unable to curb the growing incidence of network congestion in mobile calls because the matter is sub judice. Around six million cellular subscribers are added every month.

“The matter is pending with the tribunal. Therefore, the authority is unable to issue showcause notices against non-compliant telecom companies,” said a senior official of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

“With more people using limited resources, network congestion is increasing. It is leading to a loss of calls and poor quality of service,” he added.

However, the telecom watchdog’s power over interconnection has become a matter of legal dispute. The body can do little more than publishing reports and analysis, said the Trai official.

According to a Trai directive of June 7, 2005, all service providers should give interconnection within 90 days of payment.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had gone to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal against this notice. The matter is pending with the tribunal.

Trai has been monitoring the level of congestion at points of interconnection (POIs) between different service providers on a monthly basis.

A POI reveals the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a person of another network. It also reflects the effectiveness of interconnection between two networks.

According to the benchmark set by Trai in its quality of service regulation, only one out of 200 calls should face congestion.

In its analysis for the January-March period, Trai showed that there was greater congestion at the POIs in March this year compared with December 2006.

The number of congested POIs had increased to 499 in March 2007 from 389 in December 2006, the report said.

High congestion leads to loss of calls, repeated call attempts, deterioration in quality of service and consumer dissatisfaction, the Trai official said.

According to the report, 245 POIs had a congestion level greater than 5 per cent in March this year compared with 199 POIs in December 2006.

There were 183 POIs with more then 10 per cent congestion in March 2007 against 137 in December last year.

The worst affected POIs, with congestion level of more than 40 per cent, numbered at 46 in March compared with 39 in December.

In cases where calls from a private operator goes to BSNL, the number of POIs having congestion has increased from 300 in December 2006 to 337 in March 2007.

During the same period, POI congestion among private mobile operators increased from 89 to 162, said Trai.

The 'HTC Touch' from Airtel, HTC

According to reports, Bharti Airtel, along with High Tech Computer (HTC) has introduced the "HTC Touch" touted as the world's first mobile phone with 'TouchFLO' technology.

"HTC Touch" operates on 'TouchFLO', an intuitive touch-screen navigation technology, and will be now exclusively available to Airtel users.

Featuring a 2.8-inch LCD touch-screen with backlight and 240 x 320 resolution, the "HTC Touch" is a stylish, versatile handset with a wide variety of capabilities that enable mobile consumers to balance work and play.

The phone comes with an internal memory of 128 MB, and microSD expandable slot. It integrates a 2.0 megapixel CMOS color camera, a built-in microphone, and 3-in-1 speaker, as well as connectivity options including Bluetooth and WiFi.

According to HTC, the new phone is capable of recognising and responding to the sweep of a finger across the screen. It promises enough intelligence to be able to distinguish between finger and stylus input, and respond accordingly.

The "HTC Touch" will be available next week onwards exclusively for Airtel users in ten cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. It will come for a price of Rs 19,900.

Vodafone to invest 2 bn dollars on expansion in India

British mobile phone company Vodafone Group Plc will invest two billion dollars to expand its new India mobile unit, its Chief Executive Arun Sarin said on Friday.

"Last year, we spent about a billion dollars. This year, we'll spend at least two billion dollars. We will monitor the situation to see how many cell sites we can add. Clearly, we are interested in having new customers join the Vodafone Essar Company. And that's what we are about," he told reporters after a meeting with Hutch Essar officials.

Sarin also said he was talking to other mobile firms in India on the possibility of sharing infrastructure like towers.

"Infrastructure sharing is one important way for us to reach every possible consumer...the 1.1 (billion) people who live in India. What we are interested in doing is setting up a platform with whoever wants to join us so we can build our India (operations) in a very cost effective way, most importantly provide excellent services that Vodafone Essar can provide to consumers. We are well on our way with a number of parties to make sure we have excellent network experience around the country," he said.

Vodafone has already announced network sharing plans with top mobile operator Bharti Airtel Ltd. in which Vodafone had owned 10 percent.

It will appoint eight members to Vodafone Essar's 12-member board, with Essar appointing four, Sarin said.

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone operator outside China, agreed in February to buy a majority stake in Hutchison Essar from Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. for 11.1 billion dollars.

But Indian officials later questioned the deal, particularly the size of the foreign holding, and sought further details.

India's foreign investment body finally approved Vodafone's acquisition of the country's third-biggest mobile operator in April, and the company is expected to officially change its name to Vodafone Essar by the end of this month.

India is the world's fastest-growing cellular market that has been adding more than six million users every month, lured by call rates as low as one US cent a minute.

Tata Teleservices to invest Rs 1 bn in Punjab

Tata Teleservices the CDMA operator, is planning to pump in around Rs 1 billion in Punjab (India) in this financial year, reports Business Standard.

The investment is targetted at raising coverage capacity by expanding the number of base transceiver stations (BTS), backbone network for data communications, true-value shops and hubs.

At present Tata Teleservices has a subscriber base of 750,000 including those in Punjab and Chandigarh (fixed and mobile telephones taken together).

On the expansion plans, chief operating officer Subhash Arya Punjab said,` In order to strengthen our presence and to have a better penetration in Punjab, we will put up more towers as well as share towers. At present, we are sharing about 50% of the towers with other players. We have plans to increase this percentage to 75 per cent in this financial year.`
He added that putting up new towers was a costly proposition, and that`s why the company intended to share towers with other players wherever possible.

He further said the company had plans to cover the entire Punjab. At present, there are about 500 cell sites in Punjab which cover 6000 villages and 270 towns. Apart from that, it has plans to increase true-value shops and hubs.

Today, the company announced the launch of `Freedom call Voucher` offering free and unlimited outgoing calls to any local Tata phone, both mobile and fixed. The voucher is available for Rs 325 for 30 days and gives Rs 150 bonus talk-time for other calls. It also offers lucarative call rates, local mobiles at Rs 0.49 per minute and local fixed line at Rs 0.99 per minute.

Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices(Maharashtra) together serve over 17.1 million customers covering over 3,400 towns. The telecom company is targeting to achieve 100 million subscribers by 2011 by offering world class technology and user friendly services in 20 circles.

Tata frees up local calling

The local mobile rates will now be free, with Tata Indicom introducing a direct plan under which there will be no charges on calls within the company's network, while 49 paise will be charged for calls to other mobile operators.

Launching a pre-paid mobile card of Rs 325, in which the talk time is worth Rs 150, Tata Teleservices' President (Consumer Business) Naresh Malhan said, "Consumers will get the local mobile call free of cost to other Tata Indicom phones. These free calls are not limited to any number, they are unlimited.”

While, local calls from Tata Indicom mobiles to other fixed lines would cost 99 paise, STDs would cost around Rs 2.4.

Trai to review telecom licensing norms

In a move whose outcome will determine the future of telecom in India, regulator Trai on Tuesday launched a consultation process seeking the industry’s views on reviewing key licence conditions and capping the number of telecom operators in a circle.

The process also seeks to rework the existing merger and acquisition guidelines and also find answers to the crucial question of whether operators can be allowed to provide both GSM and CDMA-based services in the same circle.

Trai has said that review of the current norms was necessary as competition and steady subscriber growth by itself may not be sufficient to sustain the phenomenal growth that this sector is currently witnessing. “It is imperative that policy framework is periodically reviewed to provide required catalyst for sustained growth.

From the perspective of the cellular telephony market, there is an urgent need to ensure a clear, fair, predictable, transparent and stable policy and regulatory framework, especially with regard to spectrum policy, investment norms, competition policy, and the licensing regime,” the regulator said.

At present, there is no cap on the number of operators who can provide services in a telecom circle, except that every circle must have a minimum of three telecom players. While refusing to take a stance on this issue, Trai has instead called for an open debate to address it.

If the existing operators wanted a cap, Trai has asked them to specify the methodology for fixing this number. Besides, Trai has also said that the consultation will examine if the number of operators in each service area should be determined by market forces.

With CDMA players such as Reliance Communications, HFCL and Shyam Telecom seeking spectrum in the GSM space, the consultation process will determine if these players can offer services using both technological platforms.

If there is consensus on the fact that players should be permitted to offer services on both platforms, then the process will also lay down guidelines which specify both the priority and methodology that will be followed for the allocation of spectrum in such cases, Trai said.

Acknowledging that mergers and acquisitions play an important role in enhancing economic growth, establishing effective competition, attracting investment, enhancing efficiency, improving economies of scale and scope and promoting efficient utilisation of resources, Trai has sought the comments from all stakeholders to rework all M&A norms.

This is because, under existing norms, which were issued in 2004 to induce competition and curb monopolies, an operator cannot hold more than 10% stake in a competing service provider in the same circle. (It was this clause that led to the Tata group selling its equity stake in Idea Cellular to the Birlas. This also resulted in Vodafone reducing its 10% holdings in Bharti Airtel after it acquired Hutchison’s 67% in Hutch-Essar.)

In case of a merger or acquisition, currently, the combined entity cannot hold more than 15 Mhz of spectrum in any circle. Besides, an acquisition or merger cannot take place if the process reduces the number of operators in any circle to less then three or if the combined entity has 67% market share in any telecom circle.

The consultation process, also seeks to review the 15 Mhz spectrum cap in the case of mergers. It will also determine the spectrum cap in the case of cross technology merger, where a GSM-based operator buys out a CDMA player or vice-versa. This is because, GSM and CDMA operators have different allocation criteria.

With regard to roll-out obligations, the regulator has sought the industry’s comments if these should be removed completely and market forces be allowed to decide the extent of coverage, as reported by ET on Tuesday. Trai has asked all stakeholders to send their comments to this consultation process by June 27, 2007.

5 million GSM subscribers added in May

The GSM operators have added over 5 million subscribers in May as telecom services are becoming increasingly affordable in the country.

This takes the total number of users to 130.6 million in the month, compared with 125.57 million recorded in April, an increase of 4.02 per cent.

Bharti Airtel added 18.5 lakh users during the month, followed by Hutch at 15.1 lakh and Idea had an additional 7 lakh. BSNL had 2 lakh and MTNL, 64, 098.

In terms of subscriber base, Bharti Airtel had 4.07 crore subscribers and a market share of 31.20 per cent, Hutch-Essar had 2.92 crore and a market share of 22.36 per cent, while BSNL had 2.79 crore users, with a market share of 21.43 per cent.

The metro subscribers in the country grew by 3.04 per cent over the previous month, with Delhi recording the highest growth at 3.93 per cent followed by Chennai at 3.59 per cent.

Commenting on the subscriber additions, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general, T V Ramachandran said, “We are pleased with the growth of the GSM subscribers, which is being driven primarily by aggressive network expansions by the operators, coupled with decreasing tariffs and increasing affordability.”

RComm lifetime GSM for Rs 222 only

Reliance Communication has further reduced its lifetime GSM service offer to Rs 222 from Rs 495. It has also come out with a bundled handset offer at Rs 1234.

Reliance GSM's double bonanza offer comes with a lifetime validity recharge at Rs 222 in all its eight GSM circles and also a handset offer in which the company will be providing a Classic 2010 monochrome set along with the connection at Rs 1234, RComm personal business president SP Sukla said while launching the scheme.

The lifetime incoming validity coupon has Rs 10 talk time and the subscribers meed to use Rs 75 in every 60 days to stay active.

Shukla said Reliance GSM plans to spread its service from 2000 towns in eastern India at present to 9000.

RCom operates both GSM and CDMA mobile services, with a total subscriber base of 32 million. With a subscriber-base of eight lakh, the growth rate in GSM connections was 10% to 12% during the last fiscal.

RCom awaiting spectrum allocation for national GSM roll-out

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm 'Reliance Communications' is awaiting allocation of spectrum from the government for national roll-out of its GSM service, a company official said today.

The company had already applied for additional spectrum allocation to the government, Reliance Communications president (Personal Business), S P Shukla, told reporters here.

Reliance GSM service was being currently available in eastern India under the 'Smart' brand name. It is the first GSM mobile service operator in eastern India.

Shukla said at present, Reliance GSM service was spread across 2000 towns in eastern India, which would go up to 9000.

RCom operates both GSM and CDMA mobile services, with a total subscriber base of 32 million. With a subscriber-base of eight lakh, the growth rate in GSM connections was 10 per cent to 12 per cent during the last fiscal.

Shukla said RCom would invest around US$ 2.5 billion to expand its wireless network, both in CDMA and GSM. The likely investment for the GSM expansion would be about Rs 3000 crore.

The basic infrastructure would be common for both CDMA and GSM services, Shukla said.

On a national basis, RCom plans to be present in 22,000 towns across the country from the present levels of 10,000, in both CDMA and GSM.

Register with operators, DoT, telemarketers told

As part of measures to curb unsolicited commercial calls, the government today asked telemarketing companies to register themselves with telecom service providers and with the Department of Telecom.

Telemarketers will have to apply in the prescribed proforma and a processing fee of Rs 1,000 per centre to access service providers, an official statement said.

The application would be acknowledged on receipt and would be treated as provisional registration for a period of three months for providing service by telemarketer, it said.

Subsequently, a registration would be issued by Department of Telecom to the telemarketer, which would be valid for 10 years.

Existing telemarketers, without any registration, should register themselves by August 31, the statement said.

National Informatics Centre has been authorised to set up a National Do Not Call Registry within three months, which will maintain a record of users who do not want unsolicited commercial calls.

Telecom regulator TRAI decided to impose a fine of Rs 500 on telemarketers for each unsolicited commercial call or message to users who would be registered with the registry.

India rings to add 10 mn cell users a mnth

India, the world's fastest-growing mobile-phone market, may add as many as 10 million subscribers a month by the end of the year, as cheaper rentals bring more customers on to phone networks expanding into the hinterland.

“I'll not be surprised,”' T.V. Ramachandran, head of the Cellular Operators Association of India, told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday, referring to the forecast. ``The best is yet to come. We haven't seen anything yet.''

Inexpensive plans offering customers lifetime subscriptions have helped increase the number of users in the nation of 1.1 billion people, many of whom had considered a telephone a luxury until private competition drove down user charges. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., once a monopoly in fixed-line telephones, expanded into rural areas, connecting more people to networks that now add on average six million users a month.

India aims to more than double the number of telephone users to 500 million by 2010 from 212 million. Call rates in India are as low as 2 cents a minute, the cheapest in the world.

More than 80 percent telephone subscribers use mobile phones and carriers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd. are expanding their networks to rural areas where two-thirds of the nation's 1.1 billion people live.

RCOM, BSNL & MTNL make roaming easier

Indian mobile operators led by Reliance Communications, BSNL and MTNL today announced a bonanza for their users who are frequent travellers by waiving or nearly eliminating roaming charges.

Anil Ambani group's flagship Reliance Communications unveiled two post-paid plans that made incoming calls while roaming free of cost for the first 200 to 900 minutes depending on the scheme.

Simultaneously, state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL announced cutting roaming tariffs to Re 1 a minute for incoming calls and Re 0.40 for outgoing calls within any visiting network under a post-paid plan from June 3.

Mobile leader Bharti Airtel had in February reduced roaming rates to Rs 1.40-2.40 a minute for outgoing calls and Rs 1.75 per 60 seconds for incoming calls.

Tata Indicom said in a statement that its rates were already low at 50 paise a minute for incoming roaming calls.

Reliance Communications said in a release that users could avail of its free roaming service under the 'India Roam Free 990' and 'India Roam Free 390' plans.

Besides, the CDMA operator also announced 50 per cent reduction in international long distance call tariffs on select routes including US and Canada (Rs 1.75 per minute), UK landline (Rs 2.99) and Gulf (Rs 6.75). The rates would be available on purchase of RCOM's calling card worth Rs 2,250.

BSNL too launched a similar calling card worth Rs 2,000 offering identical tariffs. Bharti Airtel's ISD rate to US and Canada is Rs 1.99 a minute on a calling card costing Rs 2,245.

In February, TRAI had reduced the roaming charges, fixing a cap of Rs 1.40 per minute for outgoing local calls, Rs 2.40 for outgoing national long distance calls and Rs 1.75 for incoming calls. It had earlier removed roaming rental.

BSNL looking at Ericsson price offer; Raja seeks deal details

The 45-million GSM network expansion plan of BSNL, already delayed by six months due to a legal battle, could be held up further over prices quoted by the two lowest bidders - Ericsson and Nokia.

"It is big contract spread over three years.. We are still working on the APO (Advanced Purchase Order) where we are looking at the selected bidders' quoted price.

"Once that is over, we will work out our own suitable price of the tender and ask them to provide the equipment at that price. If they don't agree, we will negotiate with them. Let that stage come, we are yet to do that when negotiations will take place", BSNL CMD A K Sinha told PTI.

Sinha did not say what would be BSNL's offered price. But talks of negotiation spells trouble for both the vendors, as it is common in big tenders for companies to award contracts first and bargain later.

Swedish bidder Ericsson had quoted 107 dollar per line and had got 60 per cent of the 45 million GSM contract, while the second lowest bidder Nokia secured 40 per cent.

Asked whether the Telecom Minister A Raja wants BSNL to place the APO on a lower price of 100 dollar, Sinha replied: "Minister wanted to know certain details on the deal from us and we have already told him that."

Idea-Spice deal stuck over valuation

AV Birla-owned Idea Cellular’s negotiations to buy out BK Modi’s 51% stake in Spice Telecom have got stuck over the valuation of the company. Sources said Modi wanted Spice to be valued between Rs 4,500 crore and Rs 5,000 crore, but Birlas have valued the company at less than half—at Rs 2,000 crore. Telecom analysts FE spoke to said Spice would be valued in the region of Rs 2,000 crore.

While sources within Idea confirmed talks would continue, they said a buyout would be preferred to a merger.









Even as the buzz about the impending merger between Spice Telecom and Idea Cellular grew louder, the two telcos vehemently denied the rumours.

BK Modi, who owns Spice Telecom told FE, “We have got the approval for an IPO. What is the justification behind merging with Idea Cellular?” Idea Cellular managing director Sanjeev Aga said, “We do not wish to comment on speculative reports.” The Idea Cellular stock was down 2.27% to close at Rs 122.90 on the BSE on Wednesday.

Industry sources claim a buyout or a merger would be synergistic since the circles the two companies operate in are complementary. Spice Telcom, present in the Punjab and Karnataka circles, would give a fillip to Idea’s aim to gain a pan-Indian presence. Idea has a subscriber base of 14.5 million, whereas Spice is a marginal player with just 2.8 million subscribers.

A merger would give Telekom Malaysia, which currently holds 49% in Spice, a greater presence in India, and allow Idea to capitalise on the foreign partner’s strength and deep pockets to tread an ambitious growth path.

Interestingly, Idea which has recently concluded a rights issue and an IPO, successfully raising as much as Rs 2819 crore, has chalked out aggressive capex plans and has repeatedly claimed it would be open to acquisitions and consolidating its presence further.

“A merger will allow them to emerge as strong regional players and catapult the merged entity to the fifth position in the Indian cellular telephone market,” said Sumit Modi, analyst, Emkay Share and Stockbrokers.