Reliance Communications (RCom) has paid Rs 1,651 crore as licence fee to start pan-India GSM operations.
From a policy point of view, India's telecom industry is getting exciting once again. After a lull of a few years, we're back to the same half-truths from regulators/policy makers, and the all too familiar attempts to help favoured firms.
The company is also bringing in a regime of 'getting paid for receiving calls,' while offering local calls at 50 paise per minute.
Mobile call rates are declining in face of fierce competition. In this price war, PCOs are likely to be the first casualty.
Tata Indicom on Thursday launched a dual mode handset, Samsung Duo, which can run both GSM and CDMA based mobile connections.
In a strong attack on the telecom tribunal, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has argued in its petition to the Delhi High Court that the tribunal has erred in law and on facts in ignoring the three cardinal principles of grant of interim injunction.
According to sources, with this deal and some others in the anvil Reliance would be able to double its network capacity(GSM and CDMA) from 35 million lines currently.
State-owned telecom major Mahanagar Telephone Nigam -- telecom service provider in Mumbai and Delhi circles -- has slashed domestic long-distance (STD) rates by 66 per cent with immediate effect. The STD calls made from landline and Garuda (CDMA service) will now be levied at Rs 1.20 per minute, a reduction of 66.66 per cent, as against the existing rate of Rs 2 per minute.
The declining prices of mobile handsets and low connectivity costs have helped in doubling Internet access through cellphones this year.
In a letter sent to DoT last week, a senior ministry official said the Rs 1,650 crore did not reflect the current value of spectrum, the radio waves that enable wireless communications.
The marketplace was simply not conducive to the extension and evolution of broadband networks, particularly for less dense rural markets, so connectivity and services suffered.
The move will deprive millions of the freedom to choose service providers without changing their phone numbers.
Recommendations may encourage consolidation.
A note prepared for Communications Minister A Raja by the DoT officials cites the October 18 meeting and offers various options available before the ministry given that it does not have enough spectrum to meet the needs of the 46 companies who have made 575 applications for spectrum in 22 telecom circles across the country.
Arun Shourie had legitimised Reliance Communications' CDMA-mobile phone offerings on its fixed line licence in 2002 and Telecom Minister A Raja decided to treat its CDMA-licence as a GSM-mobile one to award it GSM spectrum. With such things falling in place for RCom, the firm asked the ministry to allow it to use the 880-890 MHz band. Such incidents indicate that favourable spectrum allotment for RCom & its smooth sailing in the current spectrum issue is not mere coincidence.
Powered by an Intel Xscale processor and Windows Mobile operating system, the Atom has significant Wi-Fi capabilities that can be used for browsing the Web with the the internal IE browser.
The 40 per cent market share cap suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is likely to make mergers between existing telecom operators extremely tough.
Trai has mandated service providers to give hard copies of post-paid mobile bills to all mobile users.
According to the developers of the application, it can be deployed in both GSM and CDMA networks and it will deliver operators the ability to increase revenues through opt-in advertising.
CDMA technology developer Qualcomm on Tuesday said it was not negotiating with Indian telecom players, including Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications, on lowering the royalty paid by them.
LG Electronics on Friday introduced its ultra-light weight CDMA mobile handset 'LG RD 2330' in the domestic market.
Under pressure from rival CDMA operators and government on the spectrum front, Bharti Airtel on Monday offered Rs 2,650 crore (Rs 26.50 billion) for all-India frequency as an initial bid that can be increased further.
The company will charge around Rs 100 per month for its services, the lowest in the country for browsing the Net over mobile phones, compared with the existing tariffs of around Rs 500 per month charged by other service providers.
Tata Teleservices chief executive officer Darryl Green has quit the company after a two-year stint.
These phones are SIM-enabled, allowing consumers to move from one CDMA service to another, a flexibility hitherto available only on GSM handsets.
AT&T has also applied for a universal access service licence (UASL), which allows operators to offer services in both GSM and CDMA technology, with the Mahindra & Mahindra group, for 22 circles. The US company, however, has stipulated that it wants a majority equity stake in the mobile venture.
The proposed merger between US- based Lucent Technologies Inc, a CDMA telecom equipment provider, and French major Alcatel is a 'strategic fit for India', a senior Lucent India executive said on Thursday.
The offer is applicable from September 25 to October 31 and qualifies new post-paid customers across all Tata Docomo brand stores to win iPhone 5S, Samsung and HCL tablets, data packages, powerbanks, discount coupons from Jabong, among others.
The new card is priced at Rs 1,000.
Nothing works better than a price cut in a price sensitive market like India. A GSM Association study says that for every one dollar cut in prices, no fewer than 20 million subscribers could be added.
You may soon be able to talk without worrying about alarming bills, while on roaming.
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