Indian Telecom Folder

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krishnan
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by krishnan »

Data transfer in excess of Fair Usage Limit as per the applicable tariff plan shall be treated as a violation of TCISL FUP.

Upon such violation of FUP, TCISL shall contact the Customer suggesting for reduction in usage or upgrade to a higher bandwidth plan.

Despite the above, if the customer fails to upgrade to a high speed plan or continue to violate the TCISL FUP, TCISL reserves the right to suspend or terminate the customer’s account immediately without prejudice to other rights available to TCISL under these Terms and Conditions.
http://www.tataindicombroadband.in/term ... html#new11
manish
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Post by manish »

Good, so things really are moving then.
BTW Telcordia, in its earlier avatar of Bellcore, was the pioneering co in the field of IN. AFAIK, they pretty much defined the first generation IN standards. Nice.
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Post by Vipul »

9.2 m new GSM users in Feb.

Mobile operators led by Bharti Airtel using the mainstay GSM technology added 9.2 million new users in February, a slight dip on the previous month, as the industry signalled continued strong growth in the months ahead, contrasting the steady stream of poor data from a raft of industry sectors.

The February addition was less than the 9.7 million in January, but industry officials attributed it to the three fewer working days in the month. These numbers do not include data from Reliance Communications, an operator that uses rival CDMA technology but recently kickstarted its GSM operations.
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Post by Vipul »

Reliance Communications adds 3.38 mn wireless customers in Feb.

Inlcuding the yet to be released TATA figures, looks like a total of 13.5 to 14 million new connections for the month.
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Abhijeet
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Post by Abhijeet »

What's the status of WiMax deployments in India? I'm not up to date on wireless broadband in India, and the only articles I can find through Google are highly optimistic ones with fantastic subscriber projections from a year or two ago. I believe the reality is a bit less cheerful.

Tata Indicom apparently started a WiMax rollout early last year - is that service still alive? Any idea how well it's doing?

I also see a lot of ads here in Mumbai for wireless data cards from Tata Indicom, Vodafone etc. I believe this is using a different technology than WiMax?

Is the general consensus now that WiMax will not be the magic bullet to solve the last mile connectivity problems in India?

Sorry for the newbieish questions, I'm not a telecom expert in any way.
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Post by jamwal »

Why Chinese phones face death

About 250 lakh handsets are expected to be out of service from April 15, as GSM service providers, including Airtel and Vodafone. These are unbranded Chinese mobiles that do not have IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers and pose a serious security risk.

All mobile phone service users have been directed by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to disconnect these phones. In fact, two deadlines - January 6 and March 31 - have already been missed by the companies. Now they have undertaken to acquire the necessary equipment to track these phones by April 15 and discontinue their services thereafter - a process that is expected to take another 15 days, that is, by April 30.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

India adds 10.8 Million new GSM subscribers in Mar 2009.

For the first time Vodafone adds more customers then Airtel.The surprise performer was BSNL with new subscribers at 2.5 million.
The monthly figures would in all probability shoot past the world record set up in January for highest new connections at 15 Million. :)
This month the total connections would go past the 400 Million mark.
Last edited by Vipul on 14 Apr 2009 17:42, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by vina »

Yawn.. Oldest PSU, the Pinnacle of Commanding heights, defaults on debt "fully guaranteed" by the Govt. Now now, dont believe all that story the CPI-M and the Trade Union ideologues hand out about govt - good, good, and very safe, private "risky" . Well, if ITI were a pvt company, it would have got liquidated by now and be in Chapter 13 or whatever the equivalent in India. But no sir. The Govt can't default can it ?. Well, now good luck in trying to deal with the Govt Babudom and trying to get your money back from the govt.. :rotfl:
Oldest PSU fails interest payment to bondholders
Vikas Dhoot
Posted online: Apr 13, 2009 at 0854 hrs

New DelhiEven as the government is concerned about its long-term sovereign rating outlook being downgraded from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ by Standard & Poor’s, rating agencies are closely watching the developments at Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited — the first PSU set up in independent India.

A monopoly producer of telecom equipment till 1991, ITI had raised Rs 332 crore through two series of bonds in 2004 — months before it turned sick — on the strength of an ‘unconditional and irrevocable’ guarantee from the Centre. However, ITI bondholders haven’t yet received the interest payment, which was due on March 31, 2008.

Incidentally, bonds worth Rs 94 crore were due for redemption on March 31, 2009. In another four months, the remaining bonds worth Rs 238 crore will also be up for redemption.

“If investors don’t get money on time, it’s a worry as timely payment of dues is important. If it was a private sector firm, we would have put it in junk grade immediately. But since it’s backed by a sovereign guarantee, we don’t have the right to classify it as a default,” said Soumendra Dash, chief economist at rating agency CARE Limited, which tracks ITI. It has, however, downgraded ITI from AAA to D grade.

A Singapore-based S&P economist who tracks India’s sovereign rating told FE, “It can’t be considered a sovereign default as we need to understand the conditions under which the guarantee was extended to ITI. But it’s an interesting case to watch.”

Central government guarantees, like the one extended to ITI, are off-balancesheet liabilities. As per latest RBI data, outstanding guarantees by the Centre stand at Rs 1,09,826 crore (through 466 guarantees). This adds up to 2.6% of GDP.

“The FRBM Act lays down a target of 0.5% of GDP for government guarantees. That’s about Rs 32,000 crore. The administrative ministry should be working on paying investors as soon as possible,” a senior government official said.

“Several state governments keep defaulting on bond payments backed by them, even when they have money in the coffers. But if the Centre’s promise is not sacrosanct, then government guarantees are worse than election promises,” said Amit Gopal, vice-president of India Life Asset Management Company, many of whose clients have invested in ITI.

“It’s not just the ability to pay, but also the willingness to pay that matters,” Dash pointed out.

Though Maharashtra’s finances are better than Gujarat’s, the latter has been assigned a better credit rating by CARE as its track record on honouring bond guarantees is better than Maharashtra.

Last August, ITI’s debenture trustee, Canara Bank, held a meeting with bondholders to consider a proposal to sell some of the company’s surplus land to ensure interest payments. But the idea was turned down by bondholders, as they wanted a fresh valuation of the land in question.

In January 2009, ITI officials wrote to investors and said since the bonds are guaranteed by the government, they have written to the nodal ministry (telecom ministry) for assistance to service the interest.

The firm also pointed out that its request to the Centre for a comprehensive revival package of Rs 3,700 crore includes bond liabilities, and is being considered by the Board of Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE).

“Kindly bear with us till the grant against revival package is released by the ministry to ITI for servicing of interest,” ITI wrote. As of February this year, the BRPSE was seeking to get state-owned BSNL to take over ITI, but Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited hasn’t evinced any interest so far.

Meanwhile, investors are getting restive and want the debenture trustee to invoke the guarantee. But the debenture trustees for government-backed bonds are usually public sector banks and financial institutions and don’t like confronting their owner— the government.


It is tough for the common investor to take action in such cases as filing a case against the state is often futile. Debenture trustees need to act in a tough manner against defaults to avoid such experiences. The policies governing debt issues need a relook,” Dash concluded.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

no doubt some of the ULIP schemes and pension schemes would have invested in the bonds. its tough to find a safe harbour these days.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

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Post by Gaurav_S »

BSNL told to test networks supplied by China's Huawei
NEW DELHI: The communication ministry has warned state-owned telco BSNL that telecom networks supplied by Chinese equipment major Huawei must be
tested for trapdoors, blackboxes, malwares, and also, if it is susceptible to remote hacking before they can be allowed to be operational.

Last week, as first reported by ET, BSNL was permitted to award telecom network contract to Huawei, but subject to the condition that the orders be restricted to the southern states of the country, as this region did not share borders with sensitive countries such as China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. The communication ministry has also warned that networks provided by companies such as Huawei can go live only when all requisite security audits are done.

This latest warning comes as the communication ministry is worried that network and hardware vendors of suspect origin, especially from China, may install back door entries — remote login facilities also design Trojan horses — and may not reveal it when they sell the equipment to BSNL.

....

The DoT has also told BSNL that networks provided by Huawei should not have remote access. Remote access (RA) means monitoring the data and voice traffic from remote locations in India and abroad. At present, Indian regulations allow RA. “BSNL should have a DoT approved network and disaster recovery management plan and capability. Such a plan or capability should be submitted to the licensor for approval,” the DoT communication added.

In fact, Huawei was also the sole company that was shortlisted for BSNL’s 25 million lines in Western India, but the PSU now plans to award this contract, worth $1.5 billion, to French-Indian combine Alcatel-ITI. BSNL has identified this as an alternate solution as the telco cannot award this contract to Chinese equipment major Huawei on security grounds as the West zone shares sensitive boundaries with Pakistan.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by krishnan »

They have been asked to do away with any chinese eqpt in sensitive areas.
Tanaji
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

The communication ministry has warned state-owned telco BSNL that telecom networks supplied by Chinese equipment major Huawei must be
tested for trapdoors, blackboxes, malwares, and also, if it is susceptible to remote hacking before they can be allowed to be operational.
It is impossible to guarantee this on so many levels.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

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Singha
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

Bharti is doing a merger with MTN each with 100m subscriber. MTN operates in ~20 countries in africa and middle east.

good move imo, to get a foothold before the chipanda decides home market is saturated and wants to expand.

in other news ZTE has been given another $10b line of credit by Exim bank of China to add to the $15b line it
already has. so the strategy is to capture anything they can through wal mart type discounts and vendor financing.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by krishnan »

With Raja being fav for taking up IT and telecomunications what does the future hold for both in india?
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

MTN done.Next in Line - Orascom for RCOMM?
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Katare »

krishnan wrote:With Raja being fav for taking up IT and telecomunications what does the future hold for both in india?
I think Dayanidhi Maran would get Telecom and Raja would get transport. Maran being a rich and successful businessmen makes a much better telecom minster. Raja was a train wreck.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sachin »

Don't know if I will get a quick response here or in Nukkad 8).

The story: I had registered with DnD (Do Not Call Registry) last year. And after 45 days, the calls from various Insurance agents, service providers stopped. For the past one month, I am getting an automated promotion call from my own service provide Air Tel. It always comes from one single number, so I know that it is a crank-call and I should not pick it up. But this is not possible when I am driving/riding.

I complained to the Air Tel customer care atleast thrice. Most of their front desk seems to be manned by clowns who don't know what is happening. I asked for their shift leads, who are better and say that they will resolve the problem. But then that is all what happens.

I sent a mail seen in the Do Not Call Registry web site asking what further action can I take against this sort of unwanted and cheap propoganda. I have not got any response so far. Mean while Air Tel is taking its own sweet time to resolve the issue.

Is Do Not Call Registry some kind of setup which says lots of things, but then offers no remedy if the service providers continue to misuse their services like this? Has any one got into a similar situation like me?
krishnan
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by krishnan »

Send a email threatening legal action if they dont stop it :mrgreen: .
Sachin
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sachin »

krishnan wrote:Send a email threatening legal action if they dont stop it :mrgreen: .
I am trying to dig out the relevant laws/information so that if I send a threatening (legal action) mail, it should sound convincing. Telling that to the jokers in the Air Tel call centre is of no use.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Gaurav_S »

krishnan wrote:Send a email threatening legal action if they dont stop it :mrgreen: .
Well I was thinking of simple solution of automatically rejecting calls from the number you are getting calls. My mobile provides this feature.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Rishirishi »

Sachin wrote:Don't know if I will get a quick response here or in Nukkad 8).

The story: I had registered with DnD (Do Not Call Registry) last year. And after 45 days, the calls from various Insurance agents, service providers stopped. For the past one month, I am getting an automated promotion call from my own service provide Air Tel. It always comes from one single number, so I know that it is a crank-call and I should not pick it up. But this is not possible when I am driving/riding.

I complained to the Air Tel customer care atleast thrice. Most of their front desk seems to be manned by clowns who don't know what is happening. I asked for their shift leads, who are better and say that they will resolve the problem. But then that is all what happens.

I sent a mail seen in the Do Not Call Registry web site asking what further action can I take against this sort of unwanted and cheap propoganda. I have not got any response so far. Mean while Air Tel is taking its own sweet time to resolve the issue.

Is Do Not Call Registry some kind of setup which says lots of things, but then offers no remedy if the service providers continue to misuse their services like this? Has any one got into a similar situation like me?

The do not call register is for cold calling. All comapnes are allwed to call their won customers. In some phones there are functions that can stop the number from particualr callers. Perhaps that can be an aswer.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by krishnan »

Sachin wrote:
krishnan wrote:Send a email threatening legal action if they dont stop it :mrgreen: .
I am trying to dig out the relevant laws/information so that if I send a threatening (legal action) mail, it should sound convincing. Telling that to the jokers in the Air Tel call centre is of no use.
Right email to the right people can do the trick. It worked for me on two occasions. One with Hero Honda and two with BSNL. And also with Hathway. Few years back, i talked to hathway support telling them i was switching ISP because you people were too costly and connection was unreliable. Few days later got a call from them telling me they were ready to give me a unlimited connection for 1100 rs per month at around 256 kilobytes. This was 4-5 years back.
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Post by putnanja »

Delhi High Court slams spectrum allocation policy
The Delhi High Court on Friday slammed the first-come, first-served spectrum allocation policy of the telecom ministry, days before Telecom Minister A Raja is to take charge for the second time in Sanchar Bhawan.

"It is like selling cinema tickets," observed a division bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Valmiki Mehta after they did not get satisfactory answers from the Department of Telecom (DoT) counsel as to how much spectrum the government has alloted and how much was remaining with it.

"We find it very strange that public exchequer and valuable resources have been involved and misused in this way.... We are completely astounded."

...
He added that these violations were apparent in the case of Swan Telecom and six subsidiaries owned by real estate major Unitech. Some of them later sold the alloted spectrum at much higher prices.

Consenting to his allegations, the bench said, "prima facie we find that spectrum has been allocated in a worst manner and public Exchequers have lost thousands of crores (rupees)".

In his submissions filed before the high court Gupta alleged that while giving 2G spectrum DoT had violated self-established norms of net worth and cross holding criteria.
...
It is shameful that A Raja has been given the communications ministry again. The country has been swindled out of thousands of crores of rupees.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by sum »

All the maya of Kalaignar...

If the DMK had lesser seats, there is no doubt that a better person would have been given the portfolio..
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by KarthikSan »

Sachin wrote:
krishnan wrote:Send a email threatening legal action if they dont stop it :mrgreen: .
I am trying to dig out the relevant laws/information so that if I send a threatening (legal action) mail, it should sound convincing. Telling that to the jokers in the Air Tel call centre is of no use.
Sorry to Nukkadize this thread but couldn't resist! :rotfl:

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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Dileep »

This was made int a TV Ad with a mumbai background. I forgot which product it was for. Some candy.

The ad ends like this:

Where were you last night?
Biwi ki sath
Kis ki?
Suraj
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

Chalk up another mark:
India's mobile subscriber base crosses 400m
The number of mobile subscribers in India crossed the 400 million mark in April, official data showed Tuesday, putting the country on track to reach its goal of 500 million customers by next year.

Some 11.90 million subscribers were added in April compared with 15.64 million during the previous month, figures posted on the Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI) website said.

The rise took India's total wireless subscriber base to 403.66 million, TRAI said.

The slowdown in subscriber growth came after cellular operators withdrew special deals on offer during the final months of the fiscal year to March when the firms sought to boost revenues to help their annual accounts.

But India remains the world's fastest-growing mobile market and analysts say the government's target of 500 million mobile phone users could be reached ahead of schedule.

The total telecom subscriber base made up of wireless and landline customers stood at 441.47 million at the end of April compared with 429.72 million in March, TRAI added.

Total penetration stands at close to 38 telephones for every 100 people, TRAI said.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by jamwal »

Considering that so many people these days own multiple SIMs and mobile phones, I'm a bit wary of such figures of high telephone density. Do telecom companies strike off the connections from their reports that go off use after subscriber discards them ?
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Post by Suraj »

Telecom connection data is reported on the basis of lines, not unique individuals; so there is nothing wrong with the report in this regard - the same logic about multiple phones/person applies everywhere. Inactive accounts are periodically removed by providers.
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Post by Vipul »

India will get next 400 million mobile users five times faster.

It took 15 years for India to get 400 million mobile users, but under three years it will add the next 400 million.

According to the revised estimates by the Cellular Operators Association of India, the mobile subscriber base is expected to zoom to 893 million by 2012. That is 150 million more subscribers than what was projected earlier. The COAI’s earlier estimates had put the mobile user base at 743 million by 2012.

The reason for the new optimism is derived from the huge uptake of mobile services in rural areas.

Explains Mr T. V. Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI: “We have revised the projections because the rate at which infrastructure is growing is faster than what we had expected. Operators are moving into the hinterland and uncovered areas. Secondly, we are getting almost 50 per cent of our new additions from the rural areas. The third factor is that the level of competition has increased with new players in the sector which again leads to faster deployment of networks.”

According to Mr Atul Bindal, President, Mobility, Bharti Airtel, three out of five new subscribers are now coming from non-urban areas. “Indian growth story is here to stay. I will push back against any view that says to the contrary. There is still a huge untapped market in both rural and urban areas,” says Mr Bindal, who expects Airtel to get its next 100 million users in another two-three years.

India, with 400 million mobile users, is now the second largest market in the world after China which has over 650 million subscribers. According to COAI’s projection, there will be 1.24 billion mobile users in 2015 - which means one phone for every Indian.

Our Mumbai Bureau reports: India could have 100 million mobile broadband users on the GSM platform by 2014, if the 3G auctions happen during the current fiscal, according to the GSM Association. Overall broadband penetration in India is 4.7 per cent now.

3G investments would lead to economic benefit worth around $70 billion, Mr Jaikishan Rajaraman, senior director, GSMA, said at a press meet here on Wednesday.

The delay in the auction of 3G spectrum in the past two years has led to a huge loss of around $16 billion, according to a study by global consulting firm LECG Corp.
The losses include direct investments as well as those arising from missed opportunities.“Cost of capital increases whenever you choose to defer investments,” said Mr Rajaraman.
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Post by chetak »

Ruckus in RS over tainted Raja
He also said, “The election manifesto of the Congress pledges to bring the fruits of the IT revolution to more cities and towns. But it has ended up in delivering the fruits of the IT revolution to Gopalapuram, Chennai, so much so that BSNL now probably denotes Brother, Sister, Nephew Limited.
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Post by Vipul »

Tata Tele-DoCoMo begins GSM price war.

Triggering a fresh round of tariff war, the country's sixth largest mobile operator, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, will launch GSM handsets for less than Rs 1,000 in the rural markets. The move will mark the company's entry later this month into the GSM segment, for which an investment of $2 billion has been earmarked.

The Rs 900-handset would be the cheapest GSM device bundled with talk-time in the market. Analysts see this as the first major push by the Japanese major into the Indian market. The $40-billion NTT DoCoMO has operations in nine Asian markets, including in South Korea and the Philippines.

Toshinari Kunieda, senior vice-president and managing director, global business division, NTT DoCoMo, in an exclusive interview with FE said, "Through the $20-30 handset bundled with talk time, we would penetrate the rural markets. We expect average realisation per user (Arpu) of as low as Rs 95-Rs 150 ($2-$3) in the rural area". Around 60% of subscriber addition in the mobile space is from the rural areas, where the teledensity is just about 17%.

NTT DoCoMo has around 50% market share in Japan, with an Arpu of around $25.

He said the company's focus is on voice-based services in India, unlike in Japan, where it is focused on data-based services. "Though the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and Delhi are very similar to Japan and it is easier to introduce our data services there, it is the rural India which poses the actual challenge. The majority there doesn't have a handset, and SMS is probably the only data used by the rural people at this point," Kuneida explained.

The company would procure the ultra low-cost handsets through contract manufacturing from Chinese vendors.
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Post by Vipul »

India adds 8.3 mln GSM mobile users in May.

GSM users in India now number over 300 million while those for CDMA are over 100 million.
After reaching a high of 15 million new additions for a couple of months, the run rate is now a more sedate 12 million.Hope with the imminent launch of Loop and Datacom and also the GSM service of TATA, the numbers would again pick up.
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Post by Suraj »

India contributed a full 30% of worldwide wireless subscriber growth in 1Q 2009, as much as Europe+NorthAmerica+SouthAmerica+MiddleEast+Africa combined:

Image
Global Cell Phone Growth Slowed During Q1
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Post by Rishirishi »

Suraj wrote:India contributed a full 30% of worldwide wireless subscriber growth in 1Q 2009, as much as Europe+NorthAmerica+SouthAmerica+MiddleEast+Africa combined:

Image
Global Cell Phone Growth Slowed During Q1
China has managed to build up at least 2 large vendors for wireless (Huawei and ZTE). They have done so by helping the companies to aquire (steal/copy/develop) by handing them out market shares.

Indias own ITI is in recievership. Now India has to pay billions of dollars to import the equipment.
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Post by vina »

Rishirishi wrote: China has managed to build up at least 2 large vendors for wireless (Huawei and ZTE). They have done so by helping the companies to aquire (steal/copy/develop) by handing them out market shares.

Indias own ITI is in recievership. Now India has to pay billions of dollars to import the equipment.
Well, ITI had 100% monopoly for decades. I didnt see them do anything at all . So why go down the path of failure again ?. Lets face it. In India, the command model does not work. In China it might.

The list goes on and on. Look at ITI, Look at Air India/IA just to start with and see the damage the 100% monopoly given to "commanding heights" has caused. If we had given the equipment market to ITI we would have to wait for a mobile connection until Kingdom comes, just like we waited for a decade or so to get a telephone in the 70s and 80s, after paying close to Rs 3000 deposit (remember, back in those days, most people's salary was not even 4 digits).
Adrija
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Adrija »

The list goes on and on. Look at ITI, Look at Air India/IA just to start with and see the damage the 100% monopoly given to "commanding heights" has caused. If we had given the equipment market to ITI we would have to wait for a mobile connection until Kingdom comes, just like we waited for a decade or so to get a telephone in the 70s and 80s, after paying close to Rs 3000 deposit (remember, back in those days, most people's salary was not even 4 digits).
Everyone has the right to his/ her views, but it might help to have a little more historical context in place..... as a concept, local manufacturing and development has been the model WORLDWIDE till late 80s/ early 90s, particularly in wireline (and yes, it took decades for even the US to reach universal service....... perfectly understandable if you would care to know about the economics of the industry)....... as for mobile, India was amongst the earliest to liberalize.

As for the practice, do you have some awareness of how much prices of telecoms equipment crashed after C-DOT was successful in its RAX/MAX, and what all was done to make sure it did not flourish?

Last word on the topic, little sense in getting into a "all stupid/ all useless public sector" vs "all perfect/ faultless private sector" debate again :roll:
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