BSNL dials BlackBerry, Apple for 3G rollout

NEW DELHI: The much sought-after 3G iPhone and BlackBerry may soon be available in the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) network.

The country’s largest telecom service provider, BSNL, is in talks with Apple and BlackBerry to launch the services in India in its own network.

According to BSNL executives, talks with BlackBerry are at an advanced stage and this handset is likely to be available to BSNL’s customers by the year-end.

On the other hand, subscribers on the PSU’s networks may have to wait longer for access the 3G iPhone as talks with Apple are still lingering in preliminary stage, BSNL executives added.

If BSNL were to tie-up with Apple, the state owned telco would be the third player after Airtel and Vodafone to offer 3G iPhone in India.

However, BSNL will be the first player in the Indian market to offer 3G service on the iPhone. Airtel and Vodafone will only have 3G spectrum if they bag these radio frequencies in the upcoming auctions.
The government has already granted BSNL 3G radio frequencies and the telco is expected to launch high-end services on its 3G network early next year.

“We are in talks with Apple to launch 3G iPhone in our network since we will be the first ones to launch the 3G services here. We are also awaiting the launch of BlackBerry in our network by end of this year,”said BSNL CMD, Kuldeep Goyal.

Source : Economic Times

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Unitech gets start-up spectrum in Bihar circle

NEW DELHI: Realty major Unitech on Friday said its telecom arm has been alloted start-up radio waves or spectrum for rolling out its services in
Bihar circle.

"The Department of Telecommunications has issued the letter to the company's telecom subsidiary for allotment of 4.4 MHz of spectrum in 1800 MHz GSM band in respect of Bihar Service Area," Unitech said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With this, the company has been alloted initial spectrum in 13 service areas out of total 22 service areas, it said.

Source : Economic Times

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Sistema to invest over $1.5 bn to expand Shyam Telelink network

JAIPUR: Sistema, one of the largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS, on Tuesday announced that it would invest over $1.5 bn i
n India next year to build a pan-India telecom network on the CDMA platform.

The Russian major, which holds a majority stake in Shyam Telelink, also announced the launch of CDMA services under the brand name Rainbow in Rajasthan.

“We have already invested $1 bn in Shyam and will further invest over $1.5 bn in the company next year.

This marks the beginning of the expansion of Shyam Telelink’s pan-Indian mobile network. The company intends to provide its services to more than 35 mn subscribers by 2012, which represents approximately 7% of the Indian market,” Sistema’s chairman Vladimir Evtushenkov said.

According to him, while Sistema has been focusing on launching pan-India services on the CDMA platform, it is keeping its options open with regard to offering mobile services on GSM.

“We have applied for GSM spectrum. We will take a call on GSM soon. In Russia, we offer mobile services under the MTS brand, and we will decide over the next one month whether to bring this brand to India,” he added.

Shyam Telelink-Sistema is the first among nine new companies that were given licences earlier this year to launch mobile services.

Shyam -Sistema’s entry is also set to see a new round of tariff wars between India’s telecom operators. The company has already announced that it will offer all local calls and SMS for just 50 paise a minute in addition to offering a bundled handset for Rs 999 with lifetime validity.

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You may soon use your mobile phone as credit, debit card

NEW DELHI: In a development that could completely liberalise mobile commerce, the department of telecommunication (DoT) will soon write to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking guidance on linking telephone networks with banking services.

While the RBI recently announced certain guidelines for mobile banking in India, it only provides for a few basic banking services which can be undertaken through mobile phones. The new DoT move will allow consumers to virtually use mobile phone as a debit or credit card.

Sources told SundayET that the ministry would seek RBI's consultation to provide full-fledged mobile banking services to the customers, in line with discussion held between the 13th Finance Commission team and DoT officials on September 18, 2008. According to a senior DoT official, the ministry has so far not taken any initiative on linking telephone networks with banking services, but is keen on it as it will generate revenues, in addition to giving more value to telephone customers. "These services can increase the share of value-added services from the existing 7-8% of total revenues from the sector to almost about 25% which is the case in the developed countries," DoT said to the Commission's team. SundayET has a copy of the discussion paper prepared by DoT.

Explaining how the new initiative would help Indian consumers, Romal Shetty, director at KPMG India, said it would change the entire face of banking in the country. "So far, consumers can make only a few basic transactions through the mobile, but this will mean using your mobile as your credit or debit card. All you have to do is to send a message to make a payment," he said.

Mobile commerce in India has been limited primarily to basic banking transactions, purchase of travel tickets and payment of some utility bills, checking your account balance and last few transactions. Sanjiv Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Telesoft, that provides mobile banking facility to the customers in collaboration with Barclays Bank feels that both, banking and telecom industry, will have to come together to make mobile commerce a success in India. "There are certain laws to be considered regarding money remittances. Considering the IT security condition, coming together of both is a good sign," he said.

Vodafone also offers services like querying bank balance, requesting for cheque book, making stop payment etc. These services are available in association with banks such as HDFC Bank, ABN AMRO and Kotak Mahindra Bank. "Mobile banking is necessary to create access to the remotest of areas. Any kind of convergence is good for promoting mobile commerce. There is nothing better than both the systems coming together to provide a framework," said a Vodafone official.

The DoT's interest in the matter is sending positive signals to industry. "If the ministry takes up the matter with the RBI, it will definitely speed up the process. It will not only help the mobile users but will boost banks and even mobile operators to grow further," added Mr Shetty.

The DoT has informed the Finance Commission's team that revenues from auction of spectrum for 3G and BWA services could go up to Rs 30,000 cr. The 13th Finance Commission asked the DoT to give the revenue projection from the telecom sector between 2010 and 2015.

Source : Economic Times

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