More and more companies are opting for outsourcing data centres. Data centre operators are also called managed service providers (MSPs). These MSPs include Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bharti, Netcore, and Ctrl S. The biggest outsourcers are enterprises, banks and financial institutions. IT managers in the Asia-Pacific region rely on outsourcing data centre operations more than their peers.
Reliance Communications has decided to launch a call centre to help its subscribers locate a particular destination. It will give information on the shortest route to a destination, important places to visit while travelling to another city, location of theatres, hospitals and ATMs. The information, if required, will also be texted to user. The service, currently in its pilot phase, will be launched across the country within a fortnight.
The government has ruled out banning Blackberry services in India. This was stated by the telecom secretary in New Delhi on Friday.Security agencies had said that they should have access to data that are being encrypted by services like BlackBerry on mobile phones and then decrypted when the phone reaches its destination. The government had cited security concerns as it could not monitor the content on RIM's servers, which were located in Canada and other foreign locations.
Vodafone 3G plans now start from Rs 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12 GB data usage.
BSNL on Monday moved the Supreme Court against an order of telecom tribunal TDSAT, directing it to provide interconnection to Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications through copper-based link.
Internet.org is a Facebook-led initiative
The company is also in advanced stages of negotiations to rope in the kingdom's largest telecom service provider, Bhutan Telecom, as partner.
In fact, both the Classmate PC projects (from Intel) and OLPC pilots (with Reliance Communications) besides low-cost initiatives from players like Novatium, Encore, Xenitis and Allied Computers are gathering momentum independent of each other in the country.
After seeking the surrender of spectrum, Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani is seeking installation of frequency-efficient technologies such as synchronised network and FemtoCells that can be used at no additional cost. Ambani listed seven technologies to improve mobile network efficiency in the country.
Leading telecom players like RCom, Tatas, Vodafone and Idea Cellular failed to bag a single circle for Broadband services, saying the BWA spectrum price was too high to make a viable business case.
Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has proposed that the government should make it mandatory for telecom service providers to surrender additional spectrum that they are not utilising. Putting his proposal into practice, Ambani has also conveyed his willingness to surrender the extra 1.8 MHz spectrum that his group has in the Bihar circle.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
Reliance Telecom and Bharti Airtel have entered the second round of qualifying process for a GSM-based mobile license in Qatar that the Gulf country plans to award by October this year.
Ambani termed COAI's appeal to the telecom tribunal against the government granting RCom dual-use technology (CDMA and GSM) as "unnecessary and unwarranted". RCom, the country's largest provider of CDMA mobile services, recently received permission to start GSM services under its existing licence for which it paid a fee of Rs 1,651 crore (Rs 16.51 billion).
Even as the implementation of MNP is likely to be delayed from the scheduled date of September 20, the PSU, which hopes to attract substantial number of users from the rivals like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, has called for expression of interest for MNP gateway.
Reliance Communications announced a new rate plan - Simply Unlimited Pack - with unlimited talk time on a single monthly recharge for its CDMA pre-paid customers.
The Maoists have already blown up as many as 16 telecom towers in different places of these districts, thereby disrupting the mobile telephone services.
A special audit of Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications will be delayed, as the auditor Parakh & Co. has sought an extension for three months from mid-July.
Telecom firms like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and MTNL have shown interest to start IPTV services, where television signal is carried to homes through telecom lines and broadband.
Reliance Communications has received approvals from Maharashtra and MIDC for its proposed 45-acre special economic zone.
According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authoroty of India, the total number of GSM subscribers of RCom at the end of September was 41.2 million, while the CDMA base was 55.28 million.
Lack of a commercial agreement between RCom and GSM operators is a major reason for the lack of inter-connectivity agreements. RCom is unwilling to re-negotiate the terms of interconnection and this is hindering interconnect issues, COAI said in a letter to Trai. However, there arises a need to 'mutually establish the technical and commercial terms of interconnection for RCom's new GSM network, and consequently establish the physical interconnectivity for the same,' it said.
This new service will compete with several other providers, including Reliance Communications. But VSNL officials were upbeat about their offering.
On 60th Independence Day, it is bonanza time for telecom subscribers with operators rolling out a range of services.
In what could be one of the largest outsourcing deals in the Indian telecom space, Reliance Communications is close to awarding a $500-600 million (Rs 2,500-3,000 crore) operations and maintenance contract to Foprench telecom infrastructure provider Alactel-Lucent.
Multinational mobile companies such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and LG, who dominate the mobile handset space with over 75 per cent of the market share, might face a new challenge. This time it's not from Chinese unbranded products, which have been flooding the Indian market.
With these repayments, RCom has now fully liquidated the borrowings from 23 foreign banks and financial institutions
On September 1, 2007, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reigned in the 'don't call regime' with setting up of the NDNC. Subscribers had to register with the NDNC by calling the respective service provider and the marketing calls were to stop within the next 45 days. However, even after 10 months, unsolicited calls still haunt mobile users.
The companies are looking at tapping solar power, wind energy and bio-fuels, including fish and vegetable oil, to run base transceiver systems in areas with poor power supply.
Reliance Communications Ltd and Research In Motion on Tuesday announced the launch of BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone in India.
Solicitor General of India Goolam Vahanvati has said no further allotment of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz should be made to telecom operators till the report of the committee on its pricing and allocation is received.If the opinion is acted upon, it would affect companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel, which have applied for extra spectrum in other circles.
Tata Teleservices spokesperson confirmed the development, and said: "We have written to theDoT seeking clarity on the issue."
Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications on Monday announced entering into an exclusive negotiations with South Africa's telecom giant MTN to discuss potential combination of their businesses.
Though the controversy over the security of BlackBerry services is yet to be resolved, the four operators that offer these services - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL Mobile and Reliance Communications - have added over 50,000 customers in the four months since the problems began. Before this, the push-mail service, which was introduced in India in October 2004, had 400,000 subscribers according to industry estimates.
New telecom operators such as Swan, Unitech, Datacom and Loop, and Reliance Communications have asked regulator Trai to reduce the termination charges, while existing GSM players, led by Bharti, want the 30 paise per minute charge to continue.
But with the tower asset sale being called off, RCom now has to wait for a new plan before it can reduce its staggering Rs 33,000-crore (Rs 330-billion) debt, which would have been reduced by over half (Rs 18,000 crore or Rs 180 billion) if the tower deal would have gone through.
The actor is ready with the Kannada film which also stars Anjana Sukhani and Yuvika Choudhary.
Idea cellular trebled its share in the Mumbai market, albeit on a low base. RCom, for its part added five million (including GSM) subscribers during the month, numbers that have both surprised and confounded the market.
Close on the heels of cellular operators announcing the launch of one-paisa-per-second billing scheme for all local/STD calls, roaming services and SMS, MTNL has slashed mobile tariffs to half-a-paisa per second on home network.
