MNP norms: Swap between CDMA, GSM & retain number

NEW DELHI: The department of telecom (DoT) has made significant changes in the mobile number portability (MNP) norms to allow customers move between GSM and CDMA services provided by the same operator.

As per the earlier norms, customers could move to a different operator and retain their number. But following the amendment, a customer will now be allowed to shift to different technology platform offered by his own operator and still retain his mobile number.

The move is set to benefit Reliance Communications (RCOM), Tata Teleservices, and state-owned players, BSNL and MTNL. RCOM and the Tatas now offer pan-India mobile services on the CDMA platform. They are now all set to launch GSM operations within the next couple of months. BSNL and MTNL, which currently offer GSM services, are rolling out full-fledged services on the CDMA platform.

ET has learnt that telecom minister A Raja had cleared this amendment on September 23. DoT has also inserted a clause mandating that revenues to the government must not be impacted, when a telco moves a customer from its CDMA to GSM network or vice-versa.

In another significant change, DoT has now said if an subscriber is shifting from GSM to CDMA or vice-versa within the same service provider, then the process need not be routed through a centralised agency.

“They can set up their own database and execute the process, bypassing the centralised operator,” said sources close to the development. But as per the MNP guidelines unveiled by Mr Raja in August, all porting must be routed only through two centralised operators who will be chosen by DoT.

The norms add these centralised operators will become mobile number portability clearing house administrators (MCHAs) and will set up the number portability database (NPDB), which will have the mobile numbers of all cellular users. All service providers will have to link their networks with MCHA and NPDB.

Industry sources said dual technology players, operators who offer services on both GSM and CDMA, would be the biggest beneficiaries.

“The DoT plans to allow this facility even before the actual MNP, including all operators, is implemented. This may help CDMA players, provided they rollout their GSM platform before MNP comes into effect. Under the actual MNP, the customer can move to any operator.

However, the dual tech operators can now give their customers the flexibility to move to another technology platform even before MNP kicks off across all operators. Thus, they get to retain their subscribers who want to move to a new technology platform,” said industry sources.

Market surveys have shown that 25-50% of the mobile users in India are unhappy with their operator, and are willing to switch to another service provider if allowed to retain their number.

Source : Economic Times

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Four firms bid for 3G e-auction agency

NEW DELHI: Four information technology firms Thursday submitted bids for selection of an e-auction agency that will conduct online auctions for third generation radio frequencies in India, an official said here.

"Only four companies - mjunction, Rothschild, MSTC Ltd and Sai Information System - have submitted their bids with us today," a Department of Telecom (DoT) official told reporters.

The interested firms were required to submit their bids by Sep 25.

According to DoT guidelines, all the firms bidding to be the agency to conduct the e-auction will have to declare their shareholding pattern - both Indian and foreign firms, if any.

Besides, the DoT has said potential bidders cannot have more than 10 per cent stake in any telecom or Internet service provider in India.

Under the guidelines, only those companies which have a paid-up capital of Rs.25 million, a net worth of at least Rs.100 million, and have conducted similar auctions before will be eligible to apply.

"All applicants that meet the eligibility criteria will have to make a presentation before the evaluation committee demonstrating their experience and capacity to conduct the auction Monday, September 29," DoT official said.

While the covering letter was opened Thursday, the government will declare the eligible bidders Friday. The eligible bidders will make presentations before the DoT evaluation committee Sep 29.

The finalisation and declaration of technical bids will be Oct 1, to be followed by the opening of financial bids Oct 3. The bids are to be finalised by Oct 6.

The DoT had earlier said the auctions of 3G radio frequencies for telecom operators will be held within three months of selecting the agency to conduct the same. This implies, if the agency in selected by October, the auctions must be conducted before January, 2009.

Souece : Economic Times

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Samsung unveils Omnia to compete iPhone

NEW DELHI: Now, iPhone will have yet another competitor in the market, Samsung’s Omnia (SGH-i900). The company announced the launch of its premium, all-in-one phone in the Indian market on Wednesday.

Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the phone, starting at Rs 37,999, comes with MS Office and is 100% touch screen. An optical mouse has also been included for easy navigation, putting it on a par with iPhone and HTC Touch.

“With all the features included in the mobile phone, one can easily make out the difference. It is our flagship model, aimed at users who desire a lot of functionality, style, usability and entertainment in one device. It will help users to be at the forefront of work and play at the same time and stay connected anytime, anywhere,” said Samsung Telecom country head Sunil Dutt. He, however, refused to comment on the competitors.

The handset offers a 3.2-inch WideQVGA display (240 x 400 pixels) and a five megapixel auto focus snapper with a face and smile detection plus auto-panorama shot.

The camera features include geo-tagging as i900 has a built-in GPS receiver. The mobile comes in two versions—with 24 GB memory (internal memory of 8 GB and an extendible memory of 16 GB) and with 32 GB memory (internal memory of 16 GB and an external memory of 16 GB). It is priced at Rs 39,999 for 32 GB and Rs 37,999 for 24 GB phone.

Source : Economic Times

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Google rolls out rival to iPhone

NEW YORK: T-Mobile has rolled out Google's answer to the iPhone as the Web search giant makes its biggest stab yet at leaping from consumers' computers into their pockets with a device cheaper than rival Apple offers.

The widely-anticipated G1 phone, introduced on Tuesday made by HTC Corp, has a touch-sensitive screen, a computer-like keyboard, Wi-Fi connections and uses Google's new Android operating system. Available in three colors, black, white and brown, it includes familiar Google services, such as Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube.

Like the iPhone and other "smartphones" the device is meant to broaden the appeal of Web surfing on the go. "If we see more mobile Web usage we'll be happy," Google co-founder Sergey Brin told media after arriving at the launch on roller-blades.

His company, a powerhouse in Web advertising, would benefit if Android led more cell users to spend time on the Web, no matter which phone they are using. Google is well ahead of rivals Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp in Web search on computers, but it wants to use Android to ensure this dominance carries over to the phone when mobile Web surfing becomes more popular.

But while no clear mobile Web winner has emerged so far, Google faces stiff competition from longer established phone players such as Nokia, Research In Motion Ltd's BlackBerry and Microsoft, as well as Apple.

Analysts saw the device as a "good first step" rather than an iPhone killer, but some expect as many as 400,000 to be sold in the United States by year-end. A T-Mobile executive said the estimate was "not incredible."

When it becomes available to US consumers on October 22, the G1 will sell for about $179, slightly cheaper than the entry-level price of $199 for Apple Inc's iPhone, with a two-year contract. The G1 will be launched by T-Mobile's UK unit in November and other European countries such as Germany, Netherlands and the Czech Republic in the first quarter of 2009.

"The G1 doesn't threaten Apple now, but Android has raised the bar for competing mobile platforms. The bigger concern here is for Microsoft and Nokia if Google can win over the hearts and minds of operators and developers," said Geoff Blaber, an analyst with British firm CCS Insight.

Next Google phone may change

Both Google and Apple are wooing developers to create applications for their devices, but unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software, Google's Android is open to be changed by outside developers.

Asked if the user interface of future Google phones would look anything like the first one, Andy Rubin, who developed Android for Google, said: "Its completely replaceable." For example, Leslie Grandy, T-Mobile USA's product development vice president sees the carrier selling a range of Google-powered phones in future, including more basic ones without a touch-screen or full keyboards.

The new phone features Android Market, where customers can find and download free applications to expand and personalize their phones. T-Mobile's Grandy said the marketplace would eventually include applications that are sold for a fee.

"Because the platform is open, we think Android is somewhat future proof," Rubin, Google director of mobile platforms, told the audience at the launch. A similar strategy helped increase the buzz around Apple's second-generation iPhone, which can support more than 3,000 applications available online.

Amazon.com's digital music store will be loaded on the G1, allowing users to search, download, buy and play more than six million songs, pitting it against iPhone's music player. Android also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been solidly gaining ground.

HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou told Reuters his company, which has concentrated on Windows phones so far, is already planning more Android and Windows devices. Between the United States and the United Kingdom, Chou said he expects to have sold more than 400,000 G1 by the year end.

Android's biggest competitor is Symbian software, which represents 60 percent of the smartphone market and which Nokia plans to buy out and open to other developers. Nokia, which has about 40 percent of the mobile phone market, has also branched into mobile Web services such as mapping that compete directly with Google.

Speaking at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said he was not worried by new competition. "The entry of Apple and Google, in fact today in a very concrete way, in mobile communications is the best possible illustration of the fact that there's a lot of possibility here," he said.


Source : Economics Times

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New spectrum charges to be announced by next month: Raja

NEW DELHI: Telecom Minister A Raja today said new spectrum charges, which will be a one-time charge for the radio wave beyond 6.2 MHz, would be announced by the end of October. He said that the telecom ministry is in discussions with finance ministry and GSM operators to work out new charges for additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.

The minister also said his ministry is also talking to finance ministry on the issue of relaxing borrowing norms for aspiring 3G spectrum bidders. COAI and AUSPI have written to the finance ministry for easing ECB norms to enable prospective 3G bidders to access funds, cost effectively.

On the Blackberry issue, Raja said, "While a solution is still being worked out, the services cannot be denied to the customers."

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3G in India: No easy path for foreign telecoms

NEW DELHI: Foreign telecom firms could gain access to India's booming mobile market through a global auction of 3G licences this year, but low call rates and established players mean it could take years to turn a profit.

Foreign telecoms with 3G experience are allowed to bid at the auctions, opening the way for firms such as AT&T, Etisalat, NTT Docomo to gain a foothold in the world's fastest-growing mobile market. But India's 2G operators, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and TM International-backed Idea Cellular, are not going to cede their territory easily.

"There will be a mad fight," said Madhusudan Gupta, a Singapore-based analyst with research firm Gartner, which sees Indian mobile users rising to 737 million by 2012 from nearly 300 million now, with 20 per cent of those using 3G.

"You have a long queue of foreigners. The potential is enormous in India." Five 3G licences will be available for most of India's 22 service zones, although limited spectrum means there will be a maximum of three in large cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai. Next-generation high-end 3G services give users a chance to enjoy fast Internet access, games and a host of multimedia content from maps to music on their cellphones, areas where 2G has been handicapped by a slower data transfer capability.

India's mobile user base increased by 25 times between 2002 and 2007, but a winning bid will not be a licence to print money, especially for a new entrant up against India's cheap call rate model. Local call rates are less than 1 U.S. cent a minute, and local operators want to implement the same style of model in 3G.


"In India tariffs have to be where Indian tariffs are," said Sunil Mittal, chairman of top mobile firm Bharti. "The idea in India is to provide telecom services at most affordable rates."

3G IS NOT EASY

The low-cost plans will be a challenge given 3G has been associated with high-tariff structure globally, as new operators have to put up billions of dollars for licences and networks. India has set a base price of 20.20 billion rupees ($435 million) for a national licence. Actual bids are expected to be higher, especially in lucrative centres such as Mumbai and New Delhi, as the government is looking to raise up to $9 billion.

Foreign telecom firms not already in the Indian market will also have to fork out 16.5 billion rupees ($355 million) for a telecoms licence, which the existing operators already have. "It is not going to be a cakewalk. It will be kind of a Catch-22 situation. You will have to spend so much, but you can not pass on in the same proportion," said Gartner's Gupta.


Source : Economic Times

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