|
|
Date:
24/3/2002
Spice
restructuring
Spice,
B.K. Modi's holding company for the group's telecom and hardware ventures
may be restructured and its businesses Spice Communications, Spice Net
and Xerox Modi could be merged to create a single entity.
|
Date:
22/3/2002
Cellular
and Basic operators associations in Supreme Court
ABTO
and COAI filed two seperate caveats in Supreme Court. ABTO didi it in light
of COAI's plans to contest the recent TDSAT judgement permitting limited
mobility and COAI has moved the court for maintaining status-quo on the
issue of V5.2 interface.
|
Date:
21/3/2002
BPL-BTAL
merger by second quarter
According
to BPL Innovision Business Group chairman and CEO Rajeev Chandrasekhar
the merger is on track and is likely to be completed by secnd quarter f
next financial year. The telecm entity formed out of this will be the largest
mobile service provider in India valued at $2 billion. The circles covered
will be MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi.
|
Date:
21/3/2002
Philips
to focus on mobile phone market in India
One
of the world's top consumer electronics company Philips will be re- focussing
on mobile phone market in India and China by launching new range of mobile
phones demonstrating their capability in meeting the exacting needs of
mobile phone users in Asia Pacific and globally today according to Alan
Sparks, senior vice-president, Philips Consumer Communications, Asia Pacific
who was speaking at the regional launch of new products at Singapore.
|
Date:
20/3/2002
Hutchison
Essar to start services in new circles
Hutchison
Essar is likely to start mobile phone services in Chennai, Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh by May this year.
|
Date:
20/3/2002
Mr.
K Ravishankar full time director
Mr.
K Ravishankar was inducted as full time director in BPL Communications
which is part of BPL Innovision Business Group. He was one of the oldest
members of senior management team of the company. He was group's CFO in
'96 and president and COO in 2000.
|
Date:
20/3/2002
Competetion
in Kolkata
Bharti
acquired SpiceCell in Kolkata last July and renamed it as Bharti Mobitel.
At that time it was behind Command ( Hutchison) by 20,000 subscribers.
But latest subscribers figures released by COAI shows Command leading by
51,582 subscribers. Also Bharti's subscriber base declined in February.
This is the first cellular market where Bharti has lost subscribers after
launching its AirTel and Magic brands.
|
Date:
19/3/2002
Gujarat
cellular service providers to share infrastructure
The
competing cellular service providers in Gujarat Fascel, Birla AT&T
and Bharti Cellular are devicing methods to cut down costs by sharing infrastructure.
It is believed that with the entry of fourth cellular operator and WiLL
getting a go-ahead, the forthcoming competetion will be driving several
such tie-ups.
|
Date:
19/3/2002
TDSAT
issued status quo on COAI's plea
Telecom
Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal TDSAT has issued a status quo on
a petetion filed by COAI seeking to prohibit basic telecom service providers
from using mobile switching centre for WLL services. COAI contended that
to keep the mobility limited it is necessary to stop the use of equipment
nat based on prescribed V5.2 standard.
|
Date:
15/3/2002
Internet
telephony open from April 1st
VSNL's
monopoly over international voice traffic is being lifted from April 1st.
With this internet telephony would also be thrown open to private participation.
ISPs would be allowed to provide internet telephony without paying additional
licence fee. All the recommendations of TRAI on Internet Telephony were
accepted by the government today.
|
Date:
14/3/2002
Microsoft
tie up with Deutsche Telekom
Microsoft
tied up with Deutsche Telekom to develop a software platform aimed at corporate
users. After PCs, Mobile phones and other wireless devices are being targeted
by software development companies.
|
Date:
12/3/2002
MTNL
to launch PAS systems in Delhi
Personal
Access Systems ( PAS) is a kind of cordless communication services which
is suited for highly congested areas where digging new copper lines is
very difficult. It offers mobility within a neighbourhood. MTNL will offer
the service at same price as fixed phone ie. Rs.1.20 for 3 min call in
the areas like Chandni Ckowk, Okhla, East of Kailash etc. in Delhi. The
phone will cost Rs.2000 approx. The technology complies with V5.2 standard.
PAS offers 128 kbps data, SMS, email, location based services and Imode
services.The US based company UTStar which is providing the technology
to MTNL is in talks with other fixed line operators also like Reliance,
Tata Teleservices, Bharti etc. This technology is widely deployed in China.
|
Date:
11/3/2002
Bharti
registered record subscribers in Punjab
Bharti
registered record 30,000 subscribers for its cellular phone service in
the first month of operations in Punjab. Its AirTel brand has its
services in 40 towns and cities in Punjab today and will be expanding to
a total of 81 towns & cities by 31st March 2002.
The
company was offering attractive tariff along with 30 min of free airtime
till Baisakhi.
|
Date:
11/3/2002
MTNL
may reduce workforce by 33%
MTNL,
government owened cellular & basic telecom service provider in Delhi
& Mumbai may reduce its workforce by 33% to reduce excess staff and
make the company more efficient.
|
Date:
10/3/2002
Virus
attack on cellular phones
In
Japan e-mail message sent to cellular phones contained internet link that
on clicking caused phones to repeatedly dial naitional emergency number.
The wireless carrier halted all emergency calls untill the bug was repaired.
In Europe SMS was used to send code that crashes phones forcing the user
to detach battery and login again. Cellular phone virus or trojan horse
program can force a mobile phone behave abnormly and do bizarre things
like the ones seen in computers. Since majority of the US is still using
relatively primitive cell phone technplogy, the people were saved from
such malicious events so far.
|
Date:
9/3/2002
Essar,
Hutchison merged entity pegged at 2.2 billion dollar
A
holding firm will formed by merging the independent companies of Ruias'
Essar Teleholdings and Hutchison which is pegged at 2.2 billion dollar.
Essar group will have 37% stake in the merged entity. It will come out
with an Initial Public Offer (IPO) early next year diluting upto
20% of the equity. Both the groups togeather have 10 cellular circles out
of which 7 would be merged in the first phase of restructuring excluding
Haryana, UP(East) and Rajasthan where Essar has 100% stake.
|
Date:
6/3/2002
COAI's
petition rejected
COAI's
petition in TDSAT to stop implementation of equipment other than V5.2 standard
has been rejected on technical grounds. DoT has allowed WiLL companies
to use equipment other than V5.2. It says that operators can deploy V5.2
and/or its approved or improved versions and abide by the licence agreement.According
to TDSAT any technology that is in the interest of people cannot be stopped.
COAI says decision will affect investments in mobile sector. The gainers
from the decision will be MTNL, Reliance Info, HFCL, Tata Tele, Hughes,
Shyam Telecom.
|
Date:
6/3/2002
Siemens
plans to invest $500m in India
Siemens
to invest $500m in India on electrical and electronics markets and infrastructure
projects. It will focus on leveraging the capabilities of Indian operations,
increasing hardware sourcing from India using its local manufacturing facilities
and resources to cater to the export market.
|
Date:
6/3/2002
VoiceXpress
launched in Delhi
Hutchison
Essar launched its voice messaging service VoiceXpress that allows users
to to send a voice message to any phone in US or Canada at Rs. 5.95 per
minute by dialling 12425.
|
Date:
6/3/2002
Sony Ericsson's multimedia
mobile smartphone
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications
unveils its P800 multimedia mobile smartphone that has a built in camera
and internet connection. Sony Ericsson is a joint venture between Ericsson
and Sony Corp. that began its operations in October last year.
|
Date:
5/3/2002
Cellphones
cheaper
The
handset manufacturer Siemens has slashed its prices by approx. 10%. Motorola,
Nokia and Samsung are expected to reduce prices within this week. The price
cuts are more at the top end. The companies may discontinue some low end
handsets. The lowering of duties in the latest budget is not considered
sufficient by the industry since the price differential between the organised
and unorganised market which was 35 to 45% is still there at about 20-30%. |
Date:
4/3/2002
VoiceXpress
to USA at Rs. 5.95
Mumbai
cellular operator Hutchison launched VoiceXpress, a voice messaging service
that allows users to send voice messages to any phone in US and Canada
at a cost of Rs. 5.95 per minute. The international phone calls to US otherwise
costs Rs. 48 and Rs. 42 per minute on peak and non-peak hours respectively.
|
Date:
4/3/2002
Bharti
launched its fixed line service 'Touchtel'
Bharti
launched its fixed line service 'Touchtel' for central and south Delhi
which will be extended over time to other areas. It will be issuing two
series of seven digit numbers starting from 85 and 86. The installation
charges for a non STD connection is Rs. 3,000 to be paid in three installments.
For STD, ISD same amount is to be paid upfront. Monthly rental is Rs. 250,
first 75 calls are free 76-500 calls rate is Re. 1 and above that Rs.1.20
per call. This service is offering features like free voicemail, faster
internet connectivity and caller line identification. It is also offering
free internet connectivity for 90 days.
|
Date:
4/3/2002
ILD
sector to open up
International
Long Distance service segement which was a monopoly of VSNL till now will
open up for competetion from April 1st.
Reliance
infocom has already signed the licence. Bharti Televentures, Data Access,
Pacific Net and Connecting Networks have also applied for the ILD licence.
Among the latest applicants are Satyam Infoway, BPL, Aircel Ltd. and Spice.
|
Date:
28/2/2002
Cellular
handset prices will fall due to lowering of duties
The
lowering of duties in the budget will result in 8-9% fall in cellular handset
prices. Cellular phones and pagers are exempted from CVD. Although there
is an increase in basic customs duty from 5% to 10% which will mean an
effective lowering of duties to a level of 14.5%. The budget has also recognised
the telecom service sector as industrial undertaking under Section 72 (A)
of Income Tax Act which will enable the companies to carry forward their
losses to new merged entities. This will benefit telecom operators who
plan to merge their different entities. The reduction of duties from 15%
to 5% on the import of various WLL infrastructure equipment will benefit
basic telecom service providers by bringing them at par with cellular,
internet and VSAT service providers.
|
Date:
28/2/2002
New
Chief Technology Officer for Bharti
Bharti
TeleVentures Limited has appointed Norman D Price as its Chief Technology
Officer. Norman worked with McCaw Communications and its affiliate companies.
This appointment is the latest in the series of recent appointments of
senior professionals from international projects who have come back to
India to join the company.
|
Date:
26/2/2002
Telecom
will be a thrust area for TATAs
TATAs
will be focussing on Telecom and IT. Group company Tisco may venture into
telecom.This was told to investors by Group Chairman Ratan Tata at a conference
organised by Merrill Lynch.
|
Date:
25/2/2002
Reliance Infocom first
company to sign ILD licence
Reliance Infocom signed
licence for providing International Long Distance (ILD) services when this
segment will be opened up for competition from April 1, 2002. The company
paid a licence fee of Rs. 25 cr and submitted a bank guarantee of the same
amount to DoT. Currently VSNL has a monopoly in ILD till March 31st. Reliance
also has licence for National Long Distance (NLD) services for which
it has already laid a substantial fiber optic network . It has licence
for basic telephony in 17 states too.
|
Date:
25/2/2002
BSNL
to invest Rs. 14,076 cr in the next financial year
Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will be investing Rs.14,076 cr in the next
fianancial year to install 65 lakh new telephone connections. Out of this
23 lakh will be fixed line connections, 24 lakh GSM based cellular connections
and 17 lakh WLL connections.BSNL is keen on tapping the rural demand
apart from the urban market.
|
Date:
21/2/2002
BTAL
to spend Rs.500 cr on Delhi cellular operations
Birla
AT&T and TATA combine which won the fourth cellular licence for Delhi
plans to spend Rs. 500 cr on its Delhi operations. This includes licence
fee of Rs. 170 cr. Company plans to start services by June this year when
it will be unveiling a new brand also. Lintas will be looking after promotion
& advertising. Nokia is providing network for BTAL's Delhi operations.
|
Date:
19/2/2002
NTT
DoCoMo and Nissan Motors tie up
Japan's
mobile telecom giant NTT DoCoMo tied up with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. to combine
their respective strengths to develop a system to deliever maps, weather,
news & entertainment to cars. The system will be centered on DoCoMo's
3G mobile network.
|
Date:
19/2/2002
Microsoft,
TI & Intel announce blueprints for new cellphones
Technology
companies Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., and Texas Instruments Inc announced
blueprints for new cellphones and handheld computer phones using reference
designs at 3GSM World Congress, Europe's largest trade show for wireless
industry at Cannes. On the other hand Nokia said it would offer other mobile
handset suppliers a complete design kit for making internet ready phones.
|
Date:
18/2/2002
Bharti's
listing
Bharti
Televentures Ltd.'s IPO raised Rs. 834 crore through book building process.
The shares were simultaneously listed on BSE, NSE and DSE in a record 10
working days from the close of the issue. The listing of the issue was
started with a "bell ringing ceremony". The IPO opened at 22% higher than
the offer price of Rs. 45 on the bourses although it ended first day below
the offer price.
|
Date:
17/2/2002
Telecom
equipment & software manufacturers using Indian centres
Telecom
equipment manufacturers like Motorola and Ericsson and telecom software
companies like PraireComm, ConvergeLabs, Ubinetics, Hughes etc. are using
their Indian development centres for 3G software development.
|
Date:
4/2/2002
SMS
on landline !
Spice
Telecom introduced a new service in Punjab where cell phone subscribers
can send SMS to reach landline phones. Claimed to be in-house development,
through this service a subscriber sends SMS to a pre-specified number and
using Text to Speech (TTS) technology application operator converts the
text into speech and sends it as voice call to that number. The message
could be delievered instantaneously and the system tries to resend it twice
if it doesn't reach.
|
Date:
3/2/2002
Bharti
TeleVentures Ltd. book over subscribed 2.5 times
Bharti
TeleVentures Ltd. issue opened on January 28th 2002 till 2nd Feb. for 18.5
crore equity shares representing 10% of the post issue capital of the company.
The book was oversubscribed 2.5 times. The issue price is now fixed at
Rs. 45 per share in consultation with the book running lead managers JM
Morgan Stanley and DSP Merrill Lynch. Only 35% of the huge demand from
FIIs was met. 80% of the total demand from domestic financial institutions
was met. All retail investors would be allocated shares.
|
Air India's flight
info on Mobile
Air India's Mumbai passengers,
who are Orange subscribers, will be now able to access information regarding
A-I's flights on their
mobiles through Short Messaging
Service (SMS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Mumbai passengers
seeking flight information will have to enter the text message on the mobile
phone and send it to Orange (number 12323) in the Message Menu.The new
arrangement also provides a facility to ascertain the status of a particular
flight to be accessed through SMS by entering the flight number and city.
Similarly, users of WAP-enabled mobile phones have to get the setting of
the phone from their mobile service providers. After navigating to Service
Menu, they can connect to site , click on Travel Menu where flight information
and booking status will appear.
|
Date:
1/2/2002
Escotel
and GAIL form biz alliance
The
cellular service provider Escotel signed an exclusive service agreement
with GAILTEL, the telecom business group of GAIL (Gas Authority of India
Ltd.) where it will use GAIL infrastructure. GAIL would provide bandwidth
capacity to Escotel Mobile communications Ltd. in western U.P. and to Escorts
Telecom Ltd. in eastern U.P. and Rajasthan exclusively for next five years
and would get 5-10 crores from this deal each year. GAIL has Rs.3,200 crore
investment plans for telecom business for 2002-10. It is in talks with
many telecom companies like Tatas, Reliance, Birla AT&T etc. for providing
similar services.
|
Date:
31/1/2002
Broader
spectrum allocated to cellular operators
Department
of Telecommunications (DoT) today issued an order allocating a frequency
spectrum of upto 10 Mhz to Delhi and Mumbai cellular service providers
Essar cellphone, AirTel, Hutchison and BPL. This will enable them to add
upto 20-30 lakh subscribers without compromising on the quality of service.
All of these operators have around 4-5 lakh subscribers and had allocated
frequency upto 6.2 MHz. Operators pay 3% of their revenue as spectrum fee
to Wireless Planning Cell ( WPC). For accessing higher spectrum they will
pay 1% additional fee for usage above 6.2 MHz.
|
Date:
31/1/2002
TRAI
order put on hold
Telecom
Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) stayed the TRAI's intrim
order on distribution of default STD traffic between BSNL and Bharti's
IndiaOne on alternate days for mobile to mobile STD calls. This order was
NOT applicable on fixed to mobile or fixed to fixed STD calls.
|
Date:
31/1/2002
Mittals
may buy Telia's stake in Bharti Mobile
Mittals
hold 74% in Bharti Mobile Ltd. while 26% stake is with Swedish partner
Telia. It is believed that Telia proposes to exit Indian telecom scene
for strategic reasons and hence reviewing all investments. According to
industry sources Mittals may buy all of this stake in an all-cash deal.
|
Date:
30/1/2002
National
Roaming to cost less from 1st March
Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked cellular service providers
to cut rates for national and regional roaming facility. The new rates
will be effective from 1st March 2002 and the ceiling will be Rs. 3 per
minute as against the current ceiling of Rs.10 per minute. Global roaming
charges will remain the same. TRAI has also said that there will be no
entry fee for roaming and the ceiling on monthly roaming rental will be
Rs.100.
|
Date:
30/1/2002
TDSAT
moved by BSNL against TRAI order
Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has moved Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate
Tribunal (TDSAT) against TRAI's order to start Bharti Telesonic's STD services.
According to BSNL under present circumstances the implementation of Carrier
Access Code (CAC) and Carrier Identification Code (CIC) is not feasble
from all of its exchanges as it requires significant hardware & software
modifications at basic / cellular operators level along with customer education
on CAC programme.
|
Date:
29/1/2002
Recharge
using ATM
For
the first time in India cellular service provider AirTel has tied up with
ICICI Bank to facilitate its 'Magic' pre-paid card users who wiill now
be able to recharge their cards using ICICI Bank's ATM at any time of the
day.
|
Date:
28/1/2002
Reliance
signed agreement for NLD
Reliance
signed the licence agreement for providing national long distance services.
It paid a licence fee of Rs.100 crore and submitted a bank guarantee of
Rs.400 crore to the government. Reliance is expected to launch its services
within three months. It has already laid down ducts in major part of the
country.
|
Date:
27/1/2002
BSNL
asked TRAI to defer implementation of Bharti's STD services
BSNL
has requested TRAI to defer the implementation of Bharti Telesonic Ltd.'s
NLD services giving a number of reasons supporting the issue. According
to BSNL the proposed arrangement of handling the STD traffic on alternate
days by the two operators is deviation from TRAI's stand in the past and
'impractical'. It also implies that an operator with limited investment
and only 10-12 points of presence (POPs) is handed over 50% of the traffic.
It said that the untill all the hardware and software modifications are
made for the technical and billing systems on all exchanges, CAC code dialling
can lead to ficticious calling and even network collapse. Hence a reasonable
date should be fixed in consultations with all cellular and fixed line
service providers before the launch of CAC.
|
Date:
26/1/2002
Bharti's
IndiaOne started operations today
Bharti's
long distance network IndiaOne started operations today on the occasion
of Republic Day after getting the intrim order from TRAI. The company has
started handling the STD traffic from its partner cellular networks. The
service is currenly available on cellular to cellular calls in select cities.
To choose IndiaOne's NLD service one has to dial 01050 before the mobile
number he want to reach.
|
Date:
25/1/2002
Essar
cellphone & AirTel cut rates on pre-paid cards
The
two private cellular service providers in Delhi Essar cellphone and AirTel
announced upto 46% reduction in airtime tariff on their pre-paid cards
'Speed' and 'Magic' respectively. This is in response to the the launch
of MTNL's pre-paid card 'Trump' at 50% less than the existing tariff.
|
Date:
25/1/2002
TRAI's
intrim order
Through
an intrim order issued by TRAI, inter-circle mobile to mobile phone callers
in India will have choice of NLD service provider and will enjoy low cost
talktime. According to the ruling both state owned BSNL and private long
distance service provider Bharti's IndiaOne will become default carriers
of long distance calls on a 24 hours basis every alternate day of the week.
The user can dial a Carrier Access Code (CAC) which is 50 for Bharti and
20 for BSNL to choose the long distance carrier. Although this is a stopgap
arrangement till BSNL upgrades its huge telecom network, intended to balance
the interests of service providers and giving users a choice.
|
Date:
23/1/2002
Bharti's
IPO opens on Jan 28th
Bharti
Televentures Ltd. is finally valued at Rs. 8,325 crore as per the floor
price of Rs.45 per share fixed for its 100% maiden initial public offer
through book building process. The book for the issue will open on January
28th and closes on 2nd Feb. 2002. Out of 18.53 crore shares of face value
Rs.10 each, 60% are reserved for institutional bidders, 15% for non-institutional
buyers and balance 25% for the public. Analysts feel that the upswing in
price from the book building could boost value to Rs.10,000 crore.
|
Date:
17/1/2002
Hutchison
and Essar to combine their telecom properties
Hutchison
Telecom International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa and
Essar Teleholdings have agreed to combine their 11 cellular networks, seven
of Hutchison and four of Essar to form another mega entity in telecom.
According to Arthur Andersen the combined entity's enterprise valuation
is $2.2 billion which is likely to go public by 2003 in the form of domestic
listing in two stages.Essar Teleholding's share in the combined entity
is $750 million. Hutchison Telecom International will own 49% of the new
entity, Essar Teleholdings 37% and rest 7% will be between Hindujas &
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and 8% with Hutchison-Kotak joint venture
special purpose vehicle.
|
Date:
16/1/2002
BPL
mobile launched GPRS
BPL
mobile is the first cellular service provider to launch GPRS ( General
Packet Radio Service) in India. The compatible handsets will be priced
at Rs.10,000 and above and are offered by most of the handset manufacturers.
GPRS is wireless internet technology which is much faster than WAP.
|
Date:
15/1/2002
SMS
roaming for Command subscribers
All
Command subscribers can now enjoy the benefits of SMS roaming. New Command
post and pre paid cards will have built-in SMS roaming facility. Command
is country's first operator to offer this service. With this facility,
Command subscribers, whereever they are will be able to send SMS across
any cellular network at Rs. 3 per message while incoming SMS is free.
|