Indian Telecom News Digest (24-Jan-10)

Devices We may have our own desi-Kindle soon – no not the one that Amazon would ship – Infibeam , Indian e-commerce portal will launch “Pi” it seems. Apps & Services After Airtel, DoCoMo & other operators, Reliance too has launched comics – again in tie up with Nazara Technologies. Chennai based Next Wave Multimedia is also big time into comics now. Airtel has tied up with a new co – Limelight Networks – to operate their content delivery network. Guess we should expect more focus on content from Airtel now. Mobile-trading might soon be a reality – SEBI is told to be giving final touches to the guidelines. OMG, what will the Sys-Admin in IT cos do – no firewall as yet to block mobile trading. India’s largest bank, SBI has taken a commendable step to introduce mobile banking through the low end handsets too. Spanco Systems is told to be developing the solution – hope they make it happen with just SMS. Operators After Aircel & Airtel, Idea too announced that it would launch its App-Store for India soon. Airtel’s store has been available at airtel.in/appcentral already. With several AppStores coming to India, no doubt companies like Qutesys are setting shop in India – they are setting up VAS test center. The quasi-MVNO in India, Virgin Mobile has launched GSM services in a few southern circles. Genelia & Ranbir Kapoor are brand ambassadors! If they really want to get out of this college-crowd segment, they better look for other ambassadors, after all, how many people in South India might know Ranbir. Further, when I saw that longish TV ad featuring them, I did not realize that it was for a GSM service – I thought it was yet another Virgin Mobile ad. In contrast, when they started GSM service, Reliance took pains to explain but Tata did it best with a new brand in DoCoMo. Meanwhile, Aamir Khan might endorse Etisalat’s mobile services in the country. BSNL is launching video telephony service soon. But they are steadily losing market share and has actually become the 6th player now but its 3G subscribers are a silver lining – they claim to have crossed 7 lakhs recently – which will continue till 3G auctions are held. Further, their WiMax roll out in rural areas is also running into trouble . With these kind of news, their IPO might become a dud. Airtel is still intent on buying stake in African cos . Even MTNL, BSNL kind of operators are keen. Network solutions provider Telecordia feels that the next step in the mobile tariff war is Rs.0 per min for a phone call – supported through advertisements. Regulation As of now, 3G auctions are planned to start on 25-Feb for 3 slots. They are expected to get over by first week of March. Raja believes that Rs. 25000 crores would be made through 3G & WiMax auctions and the fact that 4G might be maturing & available soon would not affect this. The circus about number allocation continues – 8 digits, 10 digits, 11 digits etc etc . Latest, operators might need to pay for getting numbers allocated to them. The ban on pre-paid mobiles in J&K has been removed – wonder what they have done to identify terrorists now. But DoT has made it mandatory for operators to get their approval before buying any telecom related software or hardware – in fear of Chinese. Well, it may sound as overkill but with what Chinese have been doing with Google et al, may be it is needed. Misc Nokia got into trouble with their factory employees in Chennai striking from work for a few days but it seems to have been amicably resolved . A new mobile design house called Longcheer has entered India, this news says. I could not understand if they will provide consultancy / service to other companies or if they would launch their own models. An analysis of my favorite mobile-ad firm (because it is an Indian co and is doing good globally) InMobi is available here . Another Indian player with global ambitions, SMSGupShup has raised more money to expand outside India. To travel to Nepal , you may not need a passport, but do you know that you should be ready to spend Rs. 55 per min on phone calls. Moser Baer has launched content-loaded SD cards . Well, it might completely depend on the pricing model for it to be a success. Niche portals for mobile are emerging now – Check out carazoo.mobi

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Indian Telecom News Digest (24-Jan-10)

Indian Telecom News Digest (24-Jan-10)

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