Aircel becomes the seventh cellular operator in Delhi, NCR to offer postpaid and prepaid mobile services. Aircel is a joint venture between Malaysian based Maxis Communications and Apollo Hospital Enterprise and it now has its GSM presence in 13 telecom circles out of the total 23 telecom circles in India.

There are currently close to 20 million mobile subscribers in Delhi owned by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, MTNL and Vodafone Essar, yet considering the rapidly growing Indian telecom market, Aircel is very optimistic to get sufficient space in the Delhi, NCR telecom circuit.

The company is quite confident of getting a pan-India 3G license and is aggressively working on expansion. It has already allocated $1 billion for investment in current year. Its future plans include introducing the service in Mumbai as well as eastern and western parts of Uttar Pradesh, and the company claims it has already started working towards this next phase.

Airtel initiated the SMS payment system by collaborating with mChek around six months back and today Tata Indicom is the newest entrant in this field to offer prepaid top-up and post paid bill payment through SMS.

Tata Teleservices has partnered with mChek to allow its 34 million subscribers across the country to pay mobile bills and recharge their prepaid accounts through SMS. Tata Indicom subscribers can now make their payments anytime and from anywhere.

So, if you are a Tata Indicom subscriber and want to try out this newest service of payment, just SMS “PAY TATA” to 59909 subsequent to which you receive an automated call back on your phone to register your credit card and approve the transaction. Also, as a security measure the transaction is approved only upon matching the 6-digit mChek PIN number which is not shared with anyone else.

However, Tata Indicom has just initiated this SMS payment service and is currently offering only mobile bill payment and recharge option to customers. As seen with Airtel, Tata Indicom is still not offering any innovative services like booking movie or travel tickets, online shopping, etc. but we are quite optimistic that these services will come in soon.

Image Source: www.fonearena.com

Every time there is some new about the 3G auction, it is about its postponement. Now the recent news is that, 3G spectrum auction which was likely to happen in April will further get pushed to May. The telecom ministry is proposing to push it due to the month-long general elections that begin in mid-April.

Telecom Secretary ‘Siddhartha Behura’ officially said that the 3G auction looks difficult before the general elections. We consumers don’t have an option but to wait for the day the 3G auction would actually happen.

Source: The Financial Express

Loop (BPL) Mobile has launched its very own online bazaar called as Mobile Bazaar. Currently on offer are some T-shirts with wacky lines, wrist watches, perfumes and electronics. However, none of the products being sold here seem to be branded and are being offered at cheap prices (except the electronics).

We personally think that the products on offer aren’t great at all and selling it online makes it even worse. We do not see many users coming to Loop’s Bazaar and buying stuff and won’t be surprised if it shuts shop in sometime. 

State-owner telco – BSNL is expected to offer Blackberry services from April. This move would help the operator gain an edge over the others. Here’s how::

• BSNL is one of the two operators offering 3G services in the country. 
• The other operators which provide Blackberry services, are in the queue to bid for 3G, which is not expected to take place soon…
• Thus, lau, nching the service in April could give it a first-mover advantage in the Blackberry-3G zone. 

However, the user base for the service is quite small and with Airtel and Vodafone providing ‘killer’ plans for Blackberry users, BSNL might just find it tough to compete against the private telcos. We expect BSNL to come up with some equally good plans to counter competition.

Tata Indicom launched the RCV 1100 Prepaid plan for its users in the NCR region. In line with Tata Indicom’s great value for money plans, this one too will not let you down. Here is a look at its components:

• Cost: Rs.1100
• Talktime: Rs.996.74
• Validity: 101 days
• Free Incoming calls for a year
• 1100 minutes of  local Tata to Tata calling FREE

The plan has been launched by the operator in order to retain its position (2nd) in the circle. 

We Say: Firstly, the plan gives users a good talktime amount – Rs.996 for the amount they are paying. Also, this plan would work wonders for users who talk on-net (T2T) more than calling other networks. Overall, the plan does not have any cons and offers good value for money. 

Remember ‘Get in the Loop’ campaign initiated by BPL Mobile way back in 2007? Well, it was just a first step towards a progressive migration because from today midnight, BPL Mobile will be known as Loop Mobile. The transition is the result of BPL Mobile’s rapid growth and also the deployment of NGIP (Next Generation Internet Protocol) and EDGE technologies.

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There is further news on the Mobile Number Portability service which is anticipated to arrive by September this year. Indian telecom ministry has selected two US based firms, Syniverse Technologies and Telcordia Technologies to run this technology in India.

Telcordia Technologies has joint-ventured with the Indian telecom ministry to form MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. which will administer the MNP services in southern and eastern circles whereas; Syniverse will operate individually, covering the northern and western circles. Syniverse said in a press release that it already has been awarded a letter of intent by the Indian government to conduct these services.

BSNL launched its 3G services a while ago and we are here to give you the Gyaan you need on the same. This review will take you through all the plans on offer and their respective pros and cons::

Basic Gyaan::

• The service is available for both Prepaid and Postpaid users. 
• Currently, users cannot migrate from existing 2G service to the 3G one. 
• They will have to buy a new Sim for the same. 
• Users can avail voice and data benefits through the service 

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In an attempt to fuel its expansion plans and make its presence felt in the Telecom market, Aircel has planned to inject $5bn into its business. This announcement came along with the operators expansion into the Hyderabad circle. Aircel is currently a part of Malaysia-based Maxis Communications Bhd and has a subscriber base of 17mn users.

Here’s what Aircel has planned:

• The operator plans to invest $10bn into its operations this year. 
• $5bn is expected to be diverted into its Hyderabad operations. 
•  Aircel also plans to step foot in the northern belt – Delhi and UP as well as Maharashtra.
• This will take the count to 18 circles by the end of next month. 
• The operator also has set optimistic goals of doubling its subscriber base by the end of the year. 

We Say: The operator is being well backed by Maxis and has plans to expand in circles, which might help meet its objectives. Though doubling its user base might be difficult, it is never impossible. We can only wait and watch.