In November last year, Communications Minister A Raja had announced the implementation of MNP, which permits users to change the operator without giving up their existing mobile number, by the fourth quarter of 2008. "The department of telecommunications has to form a consortium of operators, which, in turn, has to set up a central database of operators and their subscribers. "This is a long-drawn process," an official in the government pointed out.
The Anil Ambani group company is in advanced talks with France Telecom for a branding, marketing and franchisee agreement. The company plans to launch the brand by the second quarter of FY09, according to sources close to the development. Initially, the Orange may be launched on RCom's CDMA network -- spanning across 23,000 towns and 5 lakh villages in India -- and later extended to its 8 GSM circles. The Indian company has a total of 44.5 million subscribers in India.
The operators believe that the industry is not ready for these services, even though such plans are good for users in Singapore. The service charges in the country are already lowest in the world and will not slide further for sometime. Moreover, this is also against the existing practice of an operator trying to match every scheme launched by competitors.
Consumer durables major Videocon Industries has firmed up its telecom plans and is making an initial investment of Rs 6,000 crore for rolling out GSM services, notwithstanding spectrum and legal issues besieging the sector. The services will be launched through its subsidiary, Datacom Solutions, by May. In case of a delay in spectrum allocation, the company may opt for taking spectrum on lease.
Richard Branson, after a dramatic launch of Virgin mobile in India, is keen on his India venture and is also exploring the possibilities of using bio-fuel for his aviation arm.
In a major development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has cleared applications of nine telecom aspirants and is close to issuing them Letters of Intent. This will be followed by issuance of universal access service licences and allocation of spectrum.
In a move that would result in the mellowing of the spectrum issue and enabling the new service providers to commence operations, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has begun identifying the quantity of unused spectrum across 23 circles in the country.
DoT is asking the public to help to check illegal routing of international calls, which is causing the dept a loss of Rs 5000 cr.
Firming up its plans to rollout direct-to-home (DTH) television services, telecom firm Reliance Communications (RCom) has booked capacity on Malaysian satellite system, MEASAT-3. The deal size could not be confirmed, while it is understood that the deal is signed for around 15-20 years. RCom has booked four transponders, with an option to add four transponders after a year on MEASAT-3.
There is a growing number of celebrities who are regular bloggers and make it a point to chat with their fans logging on at a pre-decided time.
The Department of Telecommunications has mooted a proposal for increasing additional spectrum charges and has also suggested slashing of one-time fixed spectrum charges.
The high mobile telephony penetration in India's major metros and cities is expected to lead to a dramatic churn in the space
Mobile call rates are declining in face of fierce competition. In this price war, PCOs are likely to be the first casualty.
While the extent of Iran's isolation was unclear, many blogs alleged that the cable cuts and outages in West Asia were a ploy by an intelligence agency to disrupt Iranian commerce, targeting an emerging petroleum exchange that the country was shortly hoping to roll out.
In the wake of recent submarine cable cuts that disrupted Internet and telephony services across the world, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is looking at putting in place a mechanism to ensure immediate restoration of lines in case of such incidents in the future.
In less than a week's time, a fourth submarine cable was severed in West Asia, disrupting voice and telecommunication traffic between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The company - Mumbai-based Netcore Solutions - provides around 20 SMS-based channels like news, Sensex, cricket, jokes, horoscope and Bollywood free-of-cost to subscribers, irrespective of the operator or the circle. Further, these services are available across all the 23 circles in the country.
The company is exploring fund raising options to start services in 22 circles in the next two years.
In an effort to make the world's cheapest car more affordable, Tata Motors is exploring the possibility of providing loans for the Nano either through Tata Motors Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary, or existing financing channels.
Tata Teleservices MD, Charles Anthony, has called it quits.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances