ravi_patent

@ ramesh i remeber having read recently that per minute realization for rcom and airtel differs by only 3 paise(61p and 64p respectively).and probably that could be due to gsm expansion capex.so both are capable to make money,at the moment airtel is making more money.. @dear rajesh probably you might have been cheated ,but i am using reliance services since 2003 and had never faced any issues.

@sadik small correction lifetime customers will contribute to the spectrum needs in cdma, which as you said is going to be used only for data.

Trai tries again http://www.business-standard.com/india/new...s-again/351428/ With the rapid increase in the number of telecom subscribers and the equally large surge in usage, you would expect the costs of calls to keep coming down. And so they have, to levels where they are probably the lowest in the world. Which is why telecom users across the country celebrated when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) mandated a further cut of 10 paise per minute in what are called ‘termination’ charges — or the tariff calls paid by Vodafone, say, to Idea when a Vodafone subscriber calls an Idea subscriber. In effect, this could mean a 10 per cent reduction in telecom tariffs. Users, however, would be well advised to not uncork any bottles just yet. For one, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is already in appeal against the earlier Trai order which fixed such ‘termination’ charges at 30 paise a minute (the latest order cuts them to 20 paise) — the case has just concluded at the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and a judgment is expected any day. If the judgment strikes down the earlier ‘termination’ charge as unfair, it is obvious what will happen to the new one. In any call, there is an ‘origination charge’ paid to the company whose network you belong to, a carriage charge for carrying the call from one network to the other and a ‘termination charge’ paid to the network on which the call terminates. At the end of the day, the dispute is about what costs have to be covered through the ‘termination’ charge. The COAI view is that since companies like Vodafone are spending thousands of crores of rupees to set up new networks (which could get clogged each time there is a call from an Airtel network to the Vodafone network), the capital costs have to be included while calculating the ‘termination’ charge. Trai’s view, on the other hand, is that companies are increasingly not spending on setting up infrastructure (many telecom providers have hived off their telecom towers business, for instance), so the capex is really irrelevant — all the matters is the operating expenses or opex. But what if a company does need to spend capex? Trai’s view is that ‘service providers are free to recover their capex from the rental, and the origination charge that is under forbearance’ — in other words, charge less from others who want to use your network but charge more from your own customers! There are several such instances of differences between the COAI and Trai and, like the previous case of fixing ‘termination’ charges which is before the TDSAT, this case too is likely to end up there. The COAI says that if the ‘termination’ charges are kept too low, it will affect the telephone companies’ ability to set up rural networks (since rural customers receive more calls than they make, the ‘termination’ charge is a big source of revenue here); COAI’s estimate is that a 35 paise charge is the correct one to take care of future expansion costs as well. Trai, on its part, cites the high Ebitda (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation charges) margins of telcos to refute this. There is ad hocism in the current system of fixing cost ceilings. Trai recognises that telcos over-charge on SMSs, but there has been no move to rein these in. Similarly, while fixing ‘carriage charges’ for long distance calls, Trai said it ‘had provided (a) mark up of 25 per cent on the weighted average cost of carriage of NLDOs (national long distance operators) at that time’. While fixing carriage charges for long-distance calls, Trai relied on old traffic data; the use of new data would have resulted in the lowering of long distance carriage charges. In short, any tariff setting has to look at all costs, and not just at parts of the whole. In an ideal world with so much competition, it can be argued that termination charges should be freed up. This however is not feasible as players with large market power (Bharti has the biggest network today) can hike up charges so as to kill the competition. There is, however, a case for looking at all costs, in a more comprehensive manner.

"Even though there is a linkage between lower termination charge and lower tariffs the result is not as obvious or immediate. Lower termination charges do not mandate operators to lower tariffs though it provides a strong incentive to do so. TRAI chairman N Misra told TOI, "Tariffs are a function of market forces. It is not mandatory upon operators to reduce the tariffs". http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/article...2,prtpage-1.cms The regulator has also proposed to reduction in the carriage from the current level of 20 paise a minute to 15. This could result in lower tariffs for calls made from a private operators network to BSNL’s 35 million fixed line users http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/0...31051340400.htm meanwhile shyam sistema says Where is the logic in retaining this 65 paise/minute tariff, which was specified in 2003? Especially considering that most of the existing operators have already recovered the cost of building their networks,” said a top executive with Shyam-Sistema. These five new entrants are slated to meet Trai shortly. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...890.cms?curpg=2

imp point 1.The ceiling on carriage of domestic long distance calls retained at 65 paise per minute. Trai expects the non-reduction of this ceiling to encourage national long distance operators to expand into rural areas. http://www.business-standard.com/india/new...e-down/56369/on @ramesh only termination charges and not the tariffs were reduced.worlds cheapest tariffs is a misleading point.that is due to rupee to dollar conversion ratio.and considering that by devaluation of rupee from 38 to 50 against dollar our tariffs have become lesser in dollar terms but not for us.also no country divides itself into various parts and allows roaming charge.

well said himanshu,atlast a gsm telco offering unlimited on net..probably fearing aircel and the anticipated competion the late entrant is offering this.however dont expect other majors to repeat this anywhere

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/4227890.cms In a bid to create a level-playing field for new entrants such as Unitech (Telenor), Datacom, S Tel, Loop and Swan, telecom regulator TRAI is examining the option of specifying that these players pay lower inter-operator charges such as carriage fees, port charges and termination charges. In technical terms, this implies that India may move to an ‘asymmetric regime’, where telcos pay different amounts to each other for carrying and terminating mobile calls. The logic behind such a model is based on the fact that existing telcos started operations at different times, are at different stages of setting up their networks and therefore, the cost of providing interconnection services vary considerably between operators. Currently, all these charges have been fixed by the regulator and are uniform across all telcos. But telcos can enter into mutual agreements where they offer lower rates to each other. For instance, new players such as Swan or Unitech will have to pay upto 30 paise per minute to Bharti as termination charges if its subscriber calls an Airtel user. Similarly, since these new players are unlikely to have nation-wide infrastructure to carry their calls, they will have to pay 60 paise a minute to existing operators as carriage fee for using their network. New entrants say these charges were specified in 2003 and most telcos have already recovered the cost of building their networks. They want Trai to revise these charges and make them cost-based (the actual cost it takes to carry or terminate calls). The ‘asymmetric regime’ model has been adopted by several countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy, to offer a level-playing field to new players. Globally, this model has been used as a temporary option for a period determined by the regulators to enable new players to gain a fair market share and compete with established telcos. But existing operators such as Bharti, Vodafone, Idea and Aircel are all opposed to changing the current model. These telcos say India already enjoys the lowest tariffs in the world, and operators often recover their heavy investments in rural expansion from termination and carriage charges. "With higher costs and lower revenue potential, the economics of extending coverage (to rural areas) has become increasingly challenging. A reduction of even one paisa would be a retrograde step towards the goal of bridging the digital divide," the telcos said in a joint statement.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...2.cms?prtpage=1 Department of Telecommunications (DoT), India has awarded the mandate to implement mobile number portability (MNP) solutions in the south and east regions to MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India(MITS), a joint venture backed with a 74% stake and Rs 45 crore paid up capital by US-based Telcordia Technologies. It was only by end of February that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) allowed Telecordia, a NASDAQ listed company to bring in 74% foreign investment in MNP. The company already has a presence in India, and has been associated with Tata Teleservices. There is a one time, non-refundable, entry fee of Rs. 1 crore for the license, and the licence fee is one percent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the licensee Company. There is no license fee for first two years. The south and east regions, comprising of 11 licensed telecom service areas, two of which are metro service areas, are grouped as zone 2 for the purpose of MNP implementation. MITS will manage this zone for a period of five years. "Telcordia has a firm commitment to the Indian market and today’s announcement is a testament to the DoT’s confidence in us to be able to deliver an effective solution to ensure prompt roll out of MNP Services to the Indian consumers. We will be initiating the process of fulfilling the necessary guidelines set out by the DoT in the letter," said Telcordia India representative Ashok Sapra. According to the letter of intent received by MITS on Thursday, company is expected to implement MNP solutions in all southern metros and 'A' circles six months from the date of issue of the license. In the second phase, all circles in these regions will get MNP in the consecutive six months. The whole process is expected to be completed by mid-2010.

dear himanshu open market handsets are available from samsung and nokia

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/La...how/4225293.cms The 95 dialling, which was introduced for intra-state landline communication, will soon be removed, as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is planning to introduce this level for mobile services. In technical terms the first digit of a telephone number is called a level, like 9. DoT has communicated this decision to fixed-line/landline service providers, like BSNL that they must stop the 95 dialling facility. From hereafter, the mobile number will not give away the identity of service providers, which is the case right now, like BSNL numbers start with 94, Tata and Reliance with 92 and 93 respectively. The DoT has also decided to vacate levels such as 92, 93 and 94, which are currently exclusively available with mobile service providers such as Tata Communications for CDMA, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication for CDMA and BSNL, respectively. Now, these numbers will also be available to other mobile service providers in the country. "This is in preparation for number portability, which DoT will soon introduce, so all levels will now be shared across operators," said Chandra Prakash, chief general manager, BSNL, Maharashtra circle, adding, the 95 level is being vacated from fixed-line operators and will be given to mobile operators because the existing levels do not fulfil the mobile subscribers' need. "We stopped the 95 dialling for fixed lines from March 1," he said. Talking about the introduction of a new level level 8 Prakash said, "Operators need to keep some spare capacity as numbers discontinued by current subscribers cannot be immediately allotted to new subscribers. With the increasing number of mobile users, even the entire level 9 will fall short. So level 8 will also be opened for mobile operators soon." DoT had earlier proposed to start using Level 8 from March, but the implementation has been postponed for some time, he added. Reliance communication had stopped the service for two days last month, but is currently providing it. "DoT has sent us a letter to stop 95 dialling from February 23," a Reliance official said, refusing to divulge more.

Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 at 13:55 Source : CNBC-TV18 Q: Let me first start by asking you, where does Bharti Airtel stand today? The last declared results showed very robust performance. But there were some points of stress including a decline in the ARPU, lower minutes of usage. We already pick up from the market that a lot of SMEs and other companies are capping telecom expenditure. What is your overall take on Bharti Airtel and its performance going forward? A: We always rely on our past declared results for people to make their own assessment about the forecast. So, I would say using the same numbers that are publicly available, I would say that the industry continues to grow fairly strongly. In fact, the numbers of customers were already declared by COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) last week. So that number is pretty robust. So, I would say while there is a 15 million number that has been given for the last month. But take some of the early offers and freebies out of the system; you are still looking at a robust growth of 9-10 million customers a month. Many of them are coming from tier-II and rural areas. Q: Reliance Communications – and since you mentioned the last declared numbers, 5 million on an average addition over months – isn’t that a big threat? Do these numbers come as a surprise to you or are you shocked? What is the company doing to prepare for this kind of onslaught? A: Our focus for the last several years has been on revenue markets here and not on customer markets here because whenever you go into markets, you give special promotions. It is not only about Reliance, it is about Vodafone coming into new circles, Aircel, Idea. And you see a swell, including when we were launching circle after circle you see a swell of customers, and then it kind of stabilises. But what is important is what is the revenue coming in from each customer? Where you have to focus is on where our revenue market share is? You have seen that certainly increasing quarter-after-quarter. Despite the fact that we have had a strong numbers growth, we haven’t had a skewed number growth compared to some of the skews that you see in the market. But the revenue has constantly gone up. So, I would say the focus is on revenue earning customers, not just open SIM cards that are in the marketplace. Q: So in other words, what you are saying is that there is time that will be taken to finally arrive at a real number of R Comm subscribers considering that it is a subsidiary driven scheme. But in terms of its overall impact on the market, don’t you think it is having an impact on expectations and a lot of the incremental additions at the lower level of the market are going to R Comm. And if it has managed to bag so many subscribers, I am sure they would at least be able to retain 70-80% of the subscribers going forward and convert them into revenue paying subscribers? A: All I would say is good luck because we always want the GSM environment to expand and for many years there were people who said GSM is a lost case. People like us stuck our neck out saying, this is the world technology and everything else is really temporary. That is what you are seeing. Therefore the large investments made by some of the competitors in wrong technologies costing them billions of dollars need to be dealt with now and we are very happy when the GSM ecosystem grows. I said the same when BSNL was growing in very large numbers that it is good news that the ecosystem is growing, because we believe that when the GSM ecosystem grows people have more handsets in their hands and at the end they will make the right choice to go to the right brand and service. We have seen in the past that all the GSM customers that were created ended up benefiting Airtel. Q: While Bharti on its own has very strong cash flows, a lot of new operators have been licensed. Do you feel it is a sustainable model for the telecom industry, the way subscribers are being added on in India possibly driven by the need to grab as much spectrum as is available? Do you think that the model of the Indian mobile industry is good and sustainable over a longer period of time? A: My view is very clear and I have said this before and I can say it again. This is a very tough market to operate in terms of economics in this industry. The business model is very tight. So you need to have very large scale to survive in this market. When you have an average tariff at Rs 0.50-60-65, you have to get your money or returns out of the same paisas. Unless you have scale it gets very difficult. People like us and some other large operators have very large minutes’ usage every day. Our minutes are in excess of 1 billion and it is far in excess of 1 million minutes a day. If we were at a lower minutes usage even companies like us will not have a rosy picture. Now imagine new operators who are coming in, they have to have the whole network, same expenses, brand building has to be done. There are very small minutes usages on the network. It is very hard to make a business case. But from our point of view, good luck, open markets are good, competition is great. We have never quibbled about more competition. All we have always said is the existing operators must be given their due weightage in the industry, in the environment by the government, by the regulator. Give us our legitimate due spectrum, do not tighten us. After that what do you want to do? We will play in the market. In fact, lower tariffs mean some of them will not be even able to start their businesses. But companies like us who have very large volumes will still be fine. Q: Has the government been fair to Bharti Airtel over the last two-three years? A: You’ve been a long standing tracker of the telecom industry. I think you know the answer. We don’t believe we have been dealt a fair hand. Time and again, I think regulations have been made to populist noises and demands. It continues to happen. Occasionally when you see some balancing coming into play, I am pleased that the regulator personally has gone on stage many times to say, the existing five-six operators who have built this industry need to always be saluted and counted in, in any decision making that happens. So, I think there are senior voices. But occasionally the populist noise, and sometimes it comes from the media saying we want lower tariffs, MVNO will bring further lower tariffs. Those voices then get resonance in the form of policies sometimes that are not conducive to the industry. Q: Over the past two years, would it be fair to say that Bharti Airtel and Mr. Sunil Mittal failed to manage the regulatory environment, the telecom policy environment in a proper manner? Do you personally sort of feel a deficit on that front? A: We have been a recipient of policies. We have never managed policies. The good news here is that we have played with every hand that has been dealt to us. Most of the time the hand dealt to us has been tough, but we have played with it. The good news is our concentration has been in the right quarters. Those right quarters are not in the public policy or in the telecom policy framework, they have been in the area of markets. Distribution, brand building, customer care, innovation, new products, we have relentlessly put our energies into those areas. So while some people have managed regulation to hit us, we have managed the markets to mitigate those hits. Q: 3G, Mobile Virtual Networks, Mobile Number Portability, new norms on spectrum and several other things that have happened. For instance in 3G, do you feel it would be a fair assessment that private operators like you have been denied an opportunity of an early 3G auction while government-owned operators like BSNL today has announced expansion in eight cities. They have already done Chennai on Sunday. Your major competitor, Reliance Communications is already planning to do EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only) on its existing CDMA network, while we don’t have a clear timetable for a 3G auction. What is your view on this? A: I think it is unfortunate. We were all set to be participating in 3G auctions a month to month and a half back. We were all prepared, all set. There have been forces at work that have been trying to create hurdles in the early auction of 3G. I think it is evident again who wants 3G and who don’t want 3G. Most of the existing players would like 3G to come through. An auction is an auction. Let the price be discovered in the market. I will also not quibble in terms of what the base price is. From my point of view, put a reasonable base price and then float the bidding, don’t make it too high. Q: What is a reasonable base price? A: I think the first recommendation which came in itself was a very good benchmark. You must reckon a Rs 2,000 crore odd that was there, should be fine for an all India 3G measure. After that if we feel that the bids that have come in are not satisfactory the government is within the right to cancel the tender. That right always belongs to the government. Imagine if you have a Rs 2,000 crore base price and if you get out of the process a very decent bidding amount, I think it will be seen as a successful tender. You have twice the amount and you see a marginal increase over that amount, it will be seen as a failed tender. So from my point of view, the government must keep this lower, allow 3G networks to come in. They are very good for rural areas. You will never be able to reach copper or fibre in the rural areas. This is to my mind the only thing to create a broadband culture, framework, network in the country. The faster we do it, the better the economic benefits that would come out of that. It is my view that 3G would further kick the GDP growth rates by quarter or 0.5 percentage points, which is direly needed by India today.

same topic running..pl see this http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?show...=17997&st=0

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/0...22051880100.htm The Department of Telecommunications has decided to peg the entry fee for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) at a maximum of Rs 85 crore for a pan-India licence. MVNOs do not own spectrum or infrastructure. They buy airtime wholesale from the existing mobile operators and then resell it to consumers under own branding and tariff plans. Usually, MVNOs target a specific-user group such as the youth or women. Companies with an existing retail and distribution chain are ideally suited to become an MVNO. DoT is expected to spell out the policy to give the licences soon. This will enable international companies, which had missed out on getting a telecom licence, to get a foothold in the fastest growing mobile market. Global players including BT (formerly British Telecom), Verizon and France Telecom have approached the telecom regulator to open up this segment. The Telecom Commission has decided that virtual operators will have to pay an entry fee which is equivalent to 10 per cent of what the unified access licence players pay, subject to a ceiling and floor price for each service area. The maximum entry fee for Metro and Circle A states has been pegged at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore for Circle B states and Rs 1 crore for Circle C states. The Commission has set the floor price at Rs 1 crore for Metros and Circle A states, Rs 50 lakh for B Circle states and Rs 25 lakh for C Circle regions. For example, in order to get a licence for Delhi, MVNOs will have to pay only Rs 5 crore even though 10 per cent of the entry fee paid by the unified access providers would work out to be Rs 17 crore. In the case of Jammu & Kashmir, virtual players will have to pay Rs 25 lakh despite the 10 per cent working to be just Rs 20 lakh. The Commission has also decided that MVNOs will have to pay spectrum charges similar to what existing operators pay. In addition they will have to give a performance bank guarantee equivalent to 5 per cent of what the existing mobile players have paid. Conducive factors According to analysts, new players will have significant excess capacity available on their networks to sell to MVNOs. Some of the existing players who are not in the top 2-3 in terms of market share could also partner with virtual operators. The other major catalyst for the emergence of MVNOs is the rollout of third generation technology-based networks. As customers are migrated to 3G, the 2G network capacity becomes more readily available for MVNOs.

dear himanshu u have a point reg mobility and ur conclusion reg loss of benefit with intra circle mobilty is indeed correct. i had clarified from ccare abt the same ..atleast in my case the fixed ones will avail the offer to prevent loss of offer on intra circle mobilty...

http://www.business-standard.com/india/new...a/00/06/349897/ Into the second phase of its expansion in Karnataka, telecom operator Aircel will invest Rs 1,100 crore over the next year to set up base stations across the state. Aircel marked its formal entry into the state by launching GSM mobile services in Bangalore on Monday. Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh said on the occasion that the company has so far spent Rs 550 crore as start-up investments in Bangalore, and become the ninth cellular operator to start operations in the city. A late entrant into the state, the Chennai-based firm plans to set up 1,200 new base stations in Karnataka over the next two months, from the 500 base stations it has employed currently to start operations in Bangalore Urban and Rural districts. “Bangalore has a penetration rate of 78 per cent, and this is indicative of the huge potential the market holds for us. Many overseas markets have penetration rates in the region of 130 per cent or so. Hence, we see huge scope to widen the market further through innovative product launches and value-adds,” Singh said. Aircel has operations in 11 telecom circles, which include the states of Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Kerala. Last week, Aircel announced plans to invest Rs 500 crore in its first phase of expansion in Kerala. Services in Hyderabad are scheduled to be launched within two weeks, and New Delhi, Mumbai and east and west Uttar Pradesh circles are expected to come under Aircel’s footprint by September this year. “We expect to close 2009 with a topline of over $1 billion (from about $600 million in 2008), operating in 18 circles in India out of a total of 23 circles,” Singh said. He added that the company, which sponsors the Chennai Super Kings team, is keen to acquire a pan-India presence before the next edition of the Indian Premier League sets in. With a market share concentrated predominantly in Tamil Nadu, Aircel has a national subscriber base of over 16 million currently. also see http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/busine...us/15231863.htm BANGALORE: Aircel, one of the fast growing Pan India telecom operator in the country, on Monday launched its GSM mobile services in Bangalore, With a subscriber base over 16 million, Aircel, the fifth largest service provider, rolled out its 12th cir cle with Bangalore. Mr Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel said, 'we will be introducing products and services uniquely tailored to meet the special needs of our Bangalore consumers. To reward high usage in a simple manner there is an inbuilt reduction in tariff on all local calls after the first minute to 50p for all subsequent minutes'. The Bangalore launch augments the next phase of our Pan India rollout. Aircel will be launching a rich bouquet of VAS services with localised content including a WAP portal page in the local language that would work on any GPRS handset, he said. Bangalore, having a strong business corridor with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Aircel has introduced segment wise tailored offers for its customers. It enables subscribers in Bangalore to make STD calls to Kerala and Tamil Nadu Aircel to Aircel at only Rs 1 p er minute. Also in view of the high ILD traffic to the Gulf and US/Canada from Karnataka, to facilitate usage, Aircel has an attractive inbuilt ISD tariff of call to Gulf at Rs 5.99 per minute and calls to US/Canada at 3.99 per minute, Mr Singh said in a release.

dear setu 325 is no cheap i agree.. i was talking abt the request of H.E. karunanidhi,who may promise free colour phones in the next elections

NEW DELHI: After a series of delays, the communications ministry has got cracking on mobile number portability (MNP), which allows consumers to change their telecom operator but retain their number. Over the weekend, the Department of Telecom (DoT) invited bids from companies with worldwide experience to implement MNP in India. According to the new timeline, the last date for the submission of bids will be February 6 and the winner will be announced on March 5. If the latest timeline is followed, customers can expect to access this facility in the second half of 2009. DoT has also clarified to all potential bidders that the amount customers will have to pay to change their operators will be decided by Trai. In 2006, Trai had recommended that consumers pay between Rs 200 and Rs 300 every time he/she wants to change their service provider. But, DoT has now said that the regulator would specify a new port fee before MNP is introduced. The government had approved MNP in late-2007 and said the facility would be introduced in the four metros by the second half of 2008. Since then, implementation of MNP has missed several launch dates. Number portability has so far been introduced in countries like Australia, Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, the UK, most of Europe and Pakistan. According to reports, its introduction has been followed by up to 20-50% subscribers switching operators in some of these countries. The communications ministry has turned down demands of a few potential bidders to relax existing norms that allows only those companies to participate in the bid which have experiences in similar projects in international markets. Besides, DoT has also added that these companies should have ported a minimum of about 25-million numbers in the markets they currently operate in. The Department has said that the list of pre-qualified bidders will be released on February 16 and selected companies will have to make presentations on rollout plans on February 23-24. DoT will select two centralised operators who will administer and implement this service. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...2.cms?prtpage=1

dear himanshu even without consensus some times certain things can be usefull for some if not for all .this a good if not great plan at least for me .though i am angry that reliance has withdrawn 496 unlimited for prepaid customers..but my usage of 1500 mins pm is best taken care of forever if i recharge all the 3 numbers belonging to us for ever by recharging once with 4444..the nominal 200 for 6 months is not going to be abig amount considering the inflation in this country ...btw one of the 3 numbers is having a long validity in view of similar offer i got 1.5 years back (recharge for 1947rs and 1947 days validity along with same value talk time).this is another reason i like prepaid but again this another area where hardly any consensus exists.sometimes certain expectations now matter how reasonable they are will not be fullfilled by the market forces and the only remedy is competition.after the withdrawl of 496 prepaid i have moved to 770 unlimited and then to virgin in early february and now Reliance only compliments my needs.it is easy to see that reliance it self was equally a big looser but relaince doesnt recognize that.. cheers

so after free colour tv's our ingenious CM wants cheap tariffs.probably he may promise and fullfill free colour mobiles for the next election unmidfull of the financial implications.it is another matter that present atheist regime seeks money from Saibaba having emptied the coffers judiciously to clean up the highly polluted rivers in chennai.and all regimes here encourage water sales (no piped water in chennai,and purchasing potable water continues to be a common feature and H.E donot likes to talk abt the same.

dear kumaar you are correct..i have enquired again with ccare and they have confirmed now...and they were also saying that the scheme is avlbl till 31.3.09

according to customer care this 2222 offer gives only 500 mins only for local r2r mobile for 12 months ,in chennai..p.k daga ji can you pl confirm

btw aircel is also going to launch its services in ap and ktaka in 3 months

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/ptech/02/...phone.chargers/ Cell phone makers Tuesday pledged to end one of modern life's chief frustrations --- and introduce a universal charger for handsets by 2012. The GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association), which represents more than 750 of the world's cell phone operators, made the announcement at its annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Tuesday. Under the scheme, phone makers have pledged that a majority of new handset models will include the universal charger by January 1 2012. The planned device will use a micro USB plug. Aside from bringing relief to drawers stuffed full of redundant chargers, the GSMA stressed that the new device would reduce raw materials. "The mobile industry has a pivotal role to play in tackling environmental issues and this programme is an important step that could lead to huge savings in resources, not to mention convenience for consumers," said Rob Conway, CEO and member of the board of the GSMA in a statement. Last year an estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold, according to University of Southern Queensland data reported by the GSMA, of which handsets accounted for between 50 and 80 per cent. That equates to between 51,000 and 82,000 tonnes of chargers. The GSMA hopes the initiative will slash the greenhouse gases that result from the manufacture and transport of chargers by 13.6 and 21.8 million tonnes each year. "There is enormous potential in mobile to help people live and work in an eco-friendly way and with the backing of some or the biggest names in the industry, this initiative will lead the way," Conway added. The GSMA says that companies which have signed up to the plan include 3 Group, AT&T, KTF, LG, mobilkom austria, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

@savramesh and virgin is paying from these termination charges earned

dear kshah i dont know abt Morgan stanley with authority but it is a fact that call rates will drop.just as assumed them to have vested interest there will be others having their own interest and get prepared reports like this(http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=17884&hl=). probably the realty lies some where in between .yes like you all of us are frustated with the pace of happenings in this sector nevertheless telecom reforms are and will continue to yield some benefits to us .