Indian Telecom Folder

The Technology & Economic Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to Technological and Economic developments in India. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
Singha
BRF Oldie
Posts: 66601
Joined: 13 Aug 2004 19:42
Location: the grasshopper lies heavy

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

indeed. and the pvt players may not be willing to invest in smaller cities.
BSNL doesnt really care a whole lot.

--
BSNL to improve network along Bangla border

SHILLONG, Nov 3 – State-run service provider BSNL will be setting up at least 10 towers along the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya to improve its network.

While launching the third generation (3G) mobile services here on Saturday, Chief General Manager of NE I Telecom Circle, Vinod Kumar said earlier there was a restriction by the Union Home Ministry to set up towers within 10 km from the international border.

Now the restriction has been reduced to only 500 metres. The new towers are likely to be erected within a year, he said.


Most people use the services of Bangla Grameen Mobile Company Ltd near border areas because of poor service of BSNL. However, of late, some of the trading hubs along Indo-Bangla border areas of Meghalaya – Dawki, Shella, Mahendraganj and Baghmara – have been brought under BSNL’s network.

Officials say inaccessible terrain and poor infrastructure has slowed down the expansion work. BSNL authorities had earlier admitted that Bangladesh telephone network had taken advantage of the situation and anti-social elements were also using their network. – PTI
AjayKK
BRFite
Posts: 1520
Joined: 10 Jan 2008 10:27

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by AjayKK »

Raja bluffed his way to the ‘FCFS’ route
Raja and his party chieftain M Karunanidhi of the DMK, and a powerful ally of the UPA Government, even went on to say that the decision to sell the precious and scarce spectrum at the 2001 price of Rs 1651 crore, had the approval of Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — clearly an attempt to drag the two into the scandal.

In particular it is not clear how the rate of Rs 1600 crore, determined as far back as in 2001, has been applied for a license in 2007, without any indexation, let alone current valuation. Moreover, in view of the financial implications, the Ministry of Finance should have been consulted in the matter before you had finalised the decision.”

At that time, senior DoT officials had said it was not just new players, even old ones have received Spectrum in many circles on first-come-first-serve (FCFS) basis, which is now being opposed by certain sections which have alleged that it was not transparent and has caused loss to the exchequer.

Contrary to the belief that only new entrants benefited from the spectrum for just Rs 1,658 crore ($340 million), existing majors, including Vodafone, Idea and Bharti, reaped the advantage for the same fee, they added.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/stor ... %20Chidamb
rahulm
BRFite
Posts: 1247
Joined: 19 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by rahulm »

From a choice of Reliance Netconnect, TATA Indicom Plug2Surf and BSNL EVDO and my fair travel requirements, got myself a Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ 3G card in Pune.

On paper the BSNL product looked good and was my first choice. However, a visit to the BSNL local office changed my mind. Sarkari attitude and they only had product brochures. No demonstration offered. I was told to visit the office in the city for the product.

Plug2Surf and Netconnect+ support CDMA 1x broadband but plug2surf did not have did not have the higher speeds offered by Reliance.

Netconnect+ will also switch seamlessly between CDMA 1X and High speed

Netconnect+ is available as pre and post paid. I opted for pre-paid.

The local Reliance dealer came home and demonstrated the product on my laptop.

* initial cost Rs. 3,500 which includes 10 GB transfer (upload and download) allowance that expires after 30 days.
* form factor: USB stick with a microCD card slot (Huawei EC1260)
* Installation time 15 minutes.
* activation time - 4 hours (too long in my view but still acceptable)

Field tests:

* max speed achieved: 200kps (good enough for me) from morning to evening
* minimum speed achieved 2 kbps at CDMA 1X sporadically (unusable) usually at night
* Average speed (guesstimate) 30-50 kbps

My verdict: good enough for me. Works well more than 80% of the time. National roaming with seamless switching between CDMA 1X and Broadband+, Pre-paid options, quick set up.

While, top speed of 200kbps achieved so far is well short of wired broadband speeds, what I get in return is national mobility at no extra charge.

Note, pre-paid data blocks cost more than post paid while initial cost of Rs 3,500 is the same for both.
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4521
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

Singha wrote:bband (dsl) or cable by definition does not need a telephone call active. the per-min conn thing is a legacy thing - 53k dialup analog lines.

DSL uses a different part of the spectrum on same wire.
Thanks Singha... I was aware of the above, but was trying to find out if our babus had still managed to somehow make a fast buck out of this. Good to hear its not that way!
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4521
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/ ... ectrum.htm

Amazing. Beggars belief. All on A. Raja's watch.
manish
BRFite
Posts: 848
Joined: 29 Jan 2009 16:13

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by manish »

More troubles for Nokia-Siemens (NSN). Their new CEO had earlier predicted that there was room for only 3 big players in the industry, and it is looking like his company may have a tough fight on its hands if it wants to stay in the top 3 bracket.
Huawei narrowly overtakes NSN in mobile infrastructure sales
Huawei continues its storming progress up the mobile infrastructure league tables, overtaking Nokia Siemens in the third quarter, just as it did Alcatel-Lucent in the first, to end up second only to Ericsson.
Nokia Siemens lost its number two position as its own share fell from 24% a year before to almost 20%, fractionally below Huawei. Following NSN's awful third quarter results, co-parent Nokia said it expected the joint venture's market share to decline by more than previously expected in 2009 as a whole.
Nokia seems to be under attack on all fronts simultaneously. Apple, RIM and Samsung to contend with in the handset biz, and on the eqpt front, Huawei and ZTE. India must be the lone bright spot on their radar at the moment - both the handset division and NSN are doing well here, at least for now.
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4521
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... mobile.htm

Very good move IMHO, long overdue. Was in the specification 10 years ago..

How many providers implement the EIR?
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Neshant »

are there any local developers & manufacturers of cell phones in India.

the only one I've ever heard of is the Spice Group.

is it the case that the cell phone market like the soft drink market has been handed away on a silver platter to foreign corporations.
animesharma
BRFite
Posts: 269
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 20:56

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by animesharma »

BSNL has long waiting times from what I hear, and I think they are the only one with broadband in the Rs.500/month range. Airtel's cheapest 256 kbps plan is Rs.799, and I think Tata Indicom is similar. Not sure about Reliance.
Reliance offers Broadnet broadband service, which is a wimax based service. The cheapest tarrif is for 1150 for a 400 kbps unlimited plan. This is the cheapest in unlimited plan. A few limited plans with cap is cheaper.. but what good isit to call them broadband!
Sachin
Webmaster BR
Posts: 8965
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: Undisclosed

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sachin »

Neshant wrote:are there any local developers & manufacturers of cell phones in India.
MicroMax produces cheap cell-phones in India. My understanding is that it is a totally Indian owned company (not subsidiary) and market and service cell phones. I have a cell phone from them. It cost me INR 2000, can accomodate two SIMs (this is a feature I desperately wanted), has unique IMEI numbers for both the SIMs, have bluetooth support as well. The bluetooth is a bit of a shaky tooth, and I had difficulties in configuring my Movon car/hands-free kit to get going ;).
Raju

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Raju »

this came in MTNL subscriber's mailbox
Dear Customer,

MTNL is in process of launching extraordinary high speed Broadband service using VDSL technology facilitating download upto 50 Mbps and uploads upto 12 Mbps within the distance of 1 Km from telephone exchange.

...
are there any local developers & manufacturers of cell phones in India
there is one Karbonn in Noida. Manufactures dual-sim handsets and so on ..
animesharma
BRFite
Posts: 269
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 20:56

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by animesharma »

Airtel takes Pay-Per-Second tariff war outside India

Nice to see Airtel taking the fight outside. It will be interesting to see industry reaction in US.
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4521
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Tanaji »

http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/327850

India to set up automatic monitoring of communications
A pilot of the new Centralized Monitoring System (CMS) is to be started by June next year, subject to clearances by other government agencies, Gurudas Kamat, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology told the Rajya Sabha, according to an announcement by the government's Press Information Bureau.

The CMS will have central and regional databases to help central and state-level enforcement agencies intercept and monitor communications, the government said. It will also have direct electronic provisioning of target numbers by government agencies without any intervention from telecom service providers, it added. It will also feature analysis of call data records and data mining of these records to identify call details, location details, and other information of the target numbers.
More likely that this gives a central place to tap in to the switch for all law enforcement agencies, as opposed to monitoring all communications. Perhaps posters like sinha may have more information on this?
Singha
BRF Oldie
Posts: 66601
Joined: 13 Aug 2004 19:42
Location: the grasshopper lies heavy

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Singha »

apparently the cellphone subscriber add last month was a crushing 16.8 mil, the highest on record in the history of the world , pushed by the new /sec tariff plans

we are on track to smash the 750mil barrier like roadkill soon and proceed to 1bil.
Vipul
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3727
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 03:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

Yes. We crossed the half billion connection landmark sometime in the third week of this month, and with 5 new operators launching services within the next 3 months its going to be very interesting to chart the growth numbers.
darshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4018
Joined: 28 Jan 2008 04:16

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by darshan »

I am looking to forward incoming call to US number to an Indian number. Can somebody direct me to good provider of this type of service?
TIA.
milindc
BRFite
Posts: 740
Joined: 11 Feb 2006 00:03

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by milindc »

darshan wrote:I am looking to forward incoming call to US number to an Indian number. Can somebody direct me to good provider of this type of service?
TIA.
Reliance India call has this service where you can forward your US incoming calls to any number in the world. For India, they charge about 10 cents a minute. I did use this for a while.
darshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4018
Joined: 28 Jan 2008 04:16

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by darshan »

milindc, thanks.
Suppiah
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2569
Joined: 03 Oct 2002 11:31
Location: -
Contact:

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suppiah »

Sachin wrote:
Neshant wrote:are there any local developers & manufacturers of cell phones in India.
MicroMax produces cheap cell-phones in India. My understanding is that it is a totally Indian owned company (not subsidiary) and market and service cell phones. I have a cell phone from them. It cost me INR 2000, can accomodate two SIMs (this is a feature I desperately wanted), has unique IMEI numbers for both the SIMs, have bluetooth support as well. The bluetooth is a bit of a shaky tooth, and I had difficulties in configuring my Movon car/hands-free kit to get going ;).
Indian phone? That must be a joke. The phone I bought for HK$250 in Hongkong's Chung King mansion, exact same phone, is being sold under several brand names in India. I was laughing when I read about one of the 'manufacturers' marketing spin pubished as 'news' in a waste paper.

The so called companies do nothing other than order in bulk from Chinese vendors who will put your aunts name if you order a 100 pieces. Often our "manufacturers" dont even bother doing that. Just 'take care' of our DDM and they will report that a 'new phone has been launched' and the company has a team of 8 'designers' based on New Delhi who 'research and design' phones. What they actually do is chase shipments with cargo handlers and negotiate LCs and bribe babus!
animesharma
BRFite
Posts: 269
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 20:56

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by animesharma »

This may be true. I remember when i was negotiating with dell customercare to purchase a laptop. he spilled out a dell secret.
Dell has a manufacturing facility in kanchipuram, which is supposed to manufacture laptops. But instead they were manufacturing it in china and malyasia and just assembling it in india,even though the product has "made in india" tag.

the same is the case with many so called indian manufacturers. They use this practice to evade heavy import duties.
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15043
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

Supply chain issues are a significant problem with large scale manufacturing in India. A laptop or cellphone requires a significant base of parts suppliers for everything from mobile/laptop batteries to antennae, fans, boards and assorted part, who are flexible and reliable. This is not a 'dirty secret', but an acknowledged issue. Just having Nokia, Ericsson or Flextronics start a plant in Sriperumbudur is not sufficient for India to put together a full cellphone. A lot of parts still have to be imported, with the plant being the assembly line. This is where we still have to catch up with the Chinese or ASEAN countries, where there is more established base of small OEM parts suppliers. This indigenisation process is analogous to domestic parts content in automobiles. The auto parts industry is more developed than the electronics parts industry in India.
bart
BRFite
Posts: 712
Joined: 04 Jan 2008 21:33

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by bart »

animesharma wrote:This may be true. I remember when i was negotiating with dell customercare to purchase a laptop. he spilled out a dell secret.
Dell has a manufacturing facility in kanchipuram, which is supposed to manufacture laptops. But instead they were manufacturing it in china and malyasia and just assembling it in india,even though the product has "made in india" tag.

the same is the case with many so called indian manufacturers. They use this practice to evade heavy import duties.
FYI...All PCs/Laptops are not 'manufactured' but assembled. So I am not sure what he is talking about. Dell itself buys components from various people and puts it together. It doesn't manufacture any core component like CPU/Memory Chips/Hard drives etc, perhaps it makes some enclosures and minor parts but even those are likely to be outsourced. So Dell assembles stuff in Penang just like it assembles in Chennai.

Perhaps its a wrong analogy. What you said would be true of an 'Indian made Mercedes', it is basically a CKD kit sent from Germany with little or no local manufacture, just assembly. It is done to circumvent the extremely high duties on a fully built import and the level of local supply chain will be very little compared to say Hyundai.
Rishirishi
BRFite
Posts: 1409
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 02:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Rishirishi »

bart wrote:
animesharma wrote:This may be true. I remember when i was negotiating with dell customercare to purchase a laptop. he spilled out a dell secret.
Dell has a manufacturing facility in kanchipuram, which is supposed to manufacture laptops. But instead they were manufacturing it in china and malyasia and just assembling it in india,even though the product has "made in india" tag.

the same is the case with many so called indian manufacturers. They use this practice to evade heavy import duties.
FYI...All PCs/Laptops are not 'manufactured' but assembled. So I am not sure what he is talking about. Dell itself buys components from various people and puts it together. It doesn't manufacture any core component like CPU/Memory Chips/Hard drives etc, perhaps it makes some enclosures and minor parts but even those are likely to be outsourced. So Dell assembles stuff in Penang just like it assembles in Chennai.

Perhaps its a wrong analogy. What you said would be true of an 'Indian made Mercedes', it is basically a CKD kit sent from Germany with little or no local manufacture, just assembly. It is done to circumvent the extremely high duties on a fully built import and the level of local supply chain will be very little compared to say Hyundai.

To put it in perspective. The parts of the laptop may be somewhere arround 4-500 USD, and the "Indian input of putting the pieces together and putting it in a box is max 10-15 usd.

Having said that, I think Dell has some 20 000 people engaged in India (sales, support, service etc) They are adding value in a huge way.
Suppiah
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2569
Joined: 03 Oct 2002 11:31
Location: -
Contact:

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suppiah »

We are not talking about CKD imports, assembly from parts or heavy import dependent manufacturing here, we are talking of a trader trying to pass off as a manufacturer.
amit
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4325
Joined: 30 Aug 2007 18:28
Location: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by amit »

Hi folks, need some help. I usually go back for a holiday to India (Kolkata) for three weeks to a month each year. In fact I'm going later this month.

I'm looking for some type of pre-paid 3G/WiMax type broadband service - anything over 256kb is fine for me - via a dongle while I'm there. I need wireless as I don't have any phone lines coming into my house. Are there any such services available with Reliance, Aritel or anyone else? Or is it more convenient to get a wired line in?

Ideally I'd like to go in activate the service with a fee, buy a pre-paid account and then use. And repeat this everytime I go back.

TIA
kmkraoind
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3908
Joined: 27 Jun 2008 00:24

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by kmkraoind »

amit wrote:Hi folks, need some help. I usually go back for a holiday to India (Kolkata) for three weeks to a month each year. In fact I'm going later this month.

I'm looking for some type of pre-paid 3G/WiMax type broadband service - anything over 256kb is fine for me - via a dongle while I'm there. I need wireless as I don't have any phone lines coming into my house. Are there any such services available with Reliance, Aritel or anyone else? Or is it more convenient to get a wired line in?

Ideally I'd like to go in activate the service with a fee, buy a pre-paid account and then use. And repeat this everytime I go back.

TIA
Try either Reliance or TATA USB modems. The standalone USB modem costs around 3000-3500 Rs. and you have choice of data usage or time based plans. Contact local store for any bundled offers. The speed claimed by the vendor is upto 3.1 mbps, so getting 256 kbps speed will not be a problem.
kmkraoind
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3908
Joined: 27 Jun 2008 00:24

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by kmkraoind »

Now, telcos may need DoT nod to buy equipment
It makes it mandatory for all Indian companies to apply for a prior mandatory security clearance for all the equipment that they propose to use in their network.
Expect Huawei and ZTE will be blocked from selling their telecom gear to Indian companies.
nithish
BRFite
Posts: 438
Joined: 02 Oct 2009 02:41

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by nithish »

BSNL hangs up on Huawei deal
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has cancelled an equipment purchase order given to Chinese firm Huawei because of unacceptable conditions imposed by the vendor.
The development is the latest in a line of problems plaguing its massive Rs 32,000-crore project to install 93 million GSM lines.

Earlier, BSNL had to confront the home ministry, who had issued a directive against engaging Chinese equipment makers in building networks in the border areas.
Besides, Nokia-Siemens had taken the PSU to court for not hiring the company as a vendor.

Home ministry opposition had prompted BSNL to choose Huawei for installing 20 million GSM lines in the south, a region without an international border.
According to sources, BSNL’s extreme step comes in the wake of the Chinese vendor’s conditional supply of equipment.
The Huawei spokesperson declined to comment.
“There was no scope for accepting conditions as the order was placed after detailed negotiations and as a government-owned firm we do not accept conditions,” a senior BSNL official said.
The official, however, declined to comment on the conditions.

The PSU is negotiating with another vendor, Ericsson, for the northern and eastern regions but is yet to finalise the orders.
Sources said BSNL was weighing multiple options, including going for a fresh round of bids. The company, however, denied the possibility.

A delay in installing the lines means BSNL will cede ground to private rivals, officials said.

BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal had said last month that the company was in advanced stages of negotiations with Ericsson for the north (25 million) and east zone (18 million).
BSNL had chosen the bids of Ericsson and Huawei, while rejecting the offers of Nokia Siemens, ZTE and Alcatel Lucent.

Nokia-Siemens had challenged the decision and a final verdict is pending in the court.
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Neshant »

The so called companies do nothing other than order in bulk from Chinese vendors who will put your aunts name if you order a 100 pieces. Often our "manufacturers" dont even bother doing that. Just 'take care' of our DDM and they will report that a 'new phone has been launched' and the company has a team of 8 'designers' based on New Delhi who 'research and design' phones. What they actually do is chase shipments with cargo handlers and negotiate LCs and bribe babus!
I suspected as much.

Its a sad state of affairs when there is such a huge base of mobile users and not one respectable mobile phone company which does its own R&D and manufacturing in the whole country.

The ones that claim to be indegenous are just importing chinese crap and re-labelling it.
Suppiah
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2569
Joined: 03 Oct 2002 11:31
Location: -
Contact:

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suppiah »

At least for phones there is a valid excuse - lack of supply chain etc. This is now a pattern followed elsewhere too. Look under any USHA or other brand fans, iron boxes and other things that we have been making for a century you will see 'Made in China' label. It is far cheaper to import from China than to deal with labor hassles, plundering babus and other ills of manufacturing in India. Perhaps that is the intention of our Stalinist friends who often stir up trouble in factories to force them shut down so imports can come from China.
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Neshant »

How about Tata or some such large company buys out Motorola which is exiting the cell phone business?
-----

Motorola to Exit Cellphone Manufacturing

According to Nomura International’s Richard Windsor, Motorola may be leaving the handset industry to concentrate on being and enterprise and government company. Moto announced a $388 million operating loss last year. According to Windsor, the problem is non-hardware but the software and platform on which Motorola phones operate.

It’s also unlikely a Chinese outfit will buy out Motorola’s handset division as no one has an idea how to bring it up to the time when Moto RAZR ruled.
Suppiah
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2569
Joined: 03 Oct 2002 11:31
Location: -
Contact:

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suppiah »

Except for high end phones like the ones HTC makes or the high end Samsung models like Jet/Galaxy/Omnia, it is a low margin volume game which requires abundant disciplined, skilled labor, excellent supply chain and low infra bottleneck and low tax regime. All of which are absent in India. By the time tata waits for a few containers of spares to clear one of our ports some Chinese player will introduce 15 new models.

Western companies typically exit when the product stops being a high margin play and becomes commodities. It happened with VCR, TV and PCs now phones. Only Nokia is left. Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel, Philips etc. etc. are all long gone..that was before the current craze for high end phones selling for $500 a piece started..that will only delay things by a few years perhaps.
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Neshant »

I don't think cell phones are going to fall by the way side so easily as some commodity like VCRs.

Cell phones are destined to morph into streaming devices and information boxes that will be entertainment, knowledge centers, cinema, classroom, communication, navigation and eventually identification, travel document and payment system all rolled into one. Companies that have control over this space will reap enormous riches.

Quite shocking that even with the domestic market wide open, not a single half decent domestic player is on the scene to drive that vision. We don't manufacture jack when it comes to high tech items and I'm sure the chicoms are hoping to keep us that way.

A while back I heard a government owned semiconductor facility in India was burnt down. It left me wondering who had vested interest in doing that.
vipins
BRFite
Posts: 471
Joined: 12 Jun 2008 17:46

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by vipins »

Number portability to miss January deadline
Mobile Number Portability, which allows consumers to change their mobile operator without having to give up their phone number, will be implemented only next year.

The telecom regulator had earlier said that the facility will come into effect from January 1, but most of the mobile operators are not prepared to offer the service.

Barring Vodafone, most of the other incumbent GSM players are not yet ready with their network. State- owned BSNL and MTNL have also not yet upgraded their network to enable MNP.

To make the system work all the operators have to be ready simultaneously. New GSM players, including Tata DoCoMo and Uninor, are however compliant with MNP requirements.

“Even if all the players upgrade their network over the next 2-3 weeks, it would take another 2 months to test the system before MNP can be offered to all the customers,” said one of the MNP operators.

The Department of Telecom had given licences to Telcordia and Syniverse to implement the system. All other operators are supposed to upgrade their network to accommodate MNP and then interconnect with the two MNP operators.

Earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had fixed a ceiling of Rs 19 on the charge that an operator can take from a subscriber porting his phone number.

The MNP operators who have invested in setting up the facility for rolling out service are still working out the business case since they would be getting only Rs 19 for each number they port.

Number portability is expected to increase competition in the mobile segment forcing operators to invest more on good quality network.

It is also seen as being beneficial more for new players as they can attract subscribers of incumbent players with innovative tariff plans. But with operators not ready to implement the system, it may be as late as June 2010 before consumers can take the benefit of MNP.
SSridhar
Forum Moderator
Posts: 25087
Joined: 05 May 2001 11:31
Location: Chennai

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by SSridhar »

One more submarine cable between Chennai & Singapore
Hong Kong-based long-distance telephony service provider Pacnet announced that it will be building a new submarine cable system connecting Chennai to Malaysia and Singapore at an estimated investment of $150 million.

The new submarine cable network called West Asia Crossing (WAC) will provide direct connectivity between India and Asia, and address the country's growing requirements for international bandwidth.

TeleGeography expects demand of international bandwidth to India to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 83 percent between 2009 and 2015.
Suppiah
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2569
Joined: 03 Oct 2002 11:31
Location: -
Contact:

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suppiah »

They can build all the cables they want but the ordinary man on the street, particularly in smaller towns, is not going to get anything more than 256k 'broadband' at reasonable price, unless BSNL is forced to give up its cable network or until wireless technology delivers us freedom not just from wires but from these parasites.

Now the parasites are realising that instead of refusing to share mobile network infra with private players, had they opened up earlier, they could be making money in that process and developing mutually beneficial as well as dependent relationships, and also prevented Airtel etc from building their own infra. Today they give a s..t for what BSNL does. This is what happens when you let clerical parasites controlled by Stalinist unions who have care nothing for Indian economy set policy.

They should at least now, open up on their cable network, because it is going to become useless fairly soon..

GOI on its part is already bumbling with 3G licenses to delay it so that customers are denied choice..
Vipul
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3727
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 03:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

kmkraoind
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3908
Joined: 27 Jun 2008 00:24

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by kmkraoind »

Vipul
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3727
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 03:30

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Vipul »

11.09 Million new users added in November by the GSM Operators. Depending on how RCOM and TATA(On Turbo Charge since the last 3 months) have fared, this may well turn out to be another record month.
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15043
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

India to Levy Antidumping Duty on China Telecom Gear
India will levy antidumping duties of as high as more than three times the value on some telecommunication equipment imported from China, according to the governments in both countries.

The levy will be on synchronous digital hierarchy, or SDH, transmission equipment, a standard technology for digital telephone networks, the ministries of commerce in India and China said in separate statements posted on their Web sites.

ZTE Corp. will need pay a duty of 236% and Huawei Technologies Co. 50%, the statement dated Dec. 11 on the Web site of the Chinese ministry showed.

According to the Indian government statement, Fibrehome Telecommunication Technologies Ltd. will have to pay 236% and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co. 29%, while equipment exported from China by Israel's ECI Telecom Ltd. (ECIL) will attract a duty of 93%.

India's Directorate General Of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties had April 21 initiated investigations on imports of SDH equipment originating in or exported from China and Israel following a complaint by India's Tejas Networks Ltd. that the importers were undercutting their prices, leading to pressure on local manufacturers.
Post Reply