Mobile number portability (MNP) when implemented will prove a boon to users who want to change the service provider without losing their number. However, a study conducted by a research firm Strategy Analytics has something different to say which vaguely forecasts MNP a complete dud in India.

Their survey results claim that almost 90 percent of subscribers prefer to stay with their current provider and are content with their services.

In the last 12 months 81 per cent of the users have not changed their operators and 89 per cent of the users are not going to switch between operators in the next 12 months.

We Say: This is a positive statistic as far as service providers are concerned. But we doubt the percentage to remain constant at this level after MNP is introduced. Maybe the subscribers are actually waiting for MNP to come into effect before taking the plunge. Or the operators are tightening their belts to offer good service so that their subscriber base doesn’t deflate. Nonetheless, it is we, the consumers are benefitting from this. Aren’t we?

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India added 7.32 million mobile subscribers in September in its GSM telecom networks, which is the highest ever number of GSM subscriber additions in a single month, confirmed by ‘The Cellular Operators of India’ (COAI). The total subscriber base at the end of September stood at 233.3 million, as against 225.98 million in August.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel added 2.70 million subscribers in September taking its total base to 77.5 million; Vodafone on the other hand, added 1.87 million users to take its base to 54.6 million users.

BSNL, which is gearing up for a $10 billion public offer, added 676,965 new users to have a base of 39.2 million users at end-September.

BPL Mobile which till recently was considered to be small player in Mumbai, bounced back with a growth rate of 9.65 % for the month and additions of 146,510 connections in the highly competitive Mumbai circle.

Vodafone Group has decided to launch the BlackBerry Storm smartphone in all its global markets which is a result of the long-term alliance between RIM (Research in Motion) and Vodafone. The BlackBerry Storm is the first ever ‘clickable’ touch screen smartphone and will be available exclusively on Vodafone’s high speed 3G mobile broadband network in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand from next month. (Hope India gets 3G by that time)

The 3.25″ ‘clickable’ touch screen gives users the sensation of actually pressing down on virtual keys, which also lights up when touched. This makes it easy to type texts and e-mails as well as navigate through the phone’s functions. This phone is the most advanced smartphone to date from RIM’s stable and would be positioned globally in competition to Apple’s iPhone, though it would obviously be targeted at business customers. No official pricing details are available yet, but these companies are expected to reveal prices in the coming weeks.

With the Indian telecom market getting attractive by the day and users upgrading to better cellphones and services, RIM, which provides the BlackBerry cellphones has decided to expand its operations in India. The move comes close to the launch of the BlackBerry Storm that has been launched to combat the iPhone in India.

Currently the company has tie-ups with 5 operators in India and is eyeing more of such collaborations. The decision by RIM is justified by the increasing number of users witnessing a transformation in their needs and thus opting for better and more high-end services and handsets. It’s expansion plan has started rolling with the opening of a new office in Mumbai, which is witnessing strong growth.

Source: ET

TRAI has released the official subscriber figures for the month of August which makes the wireless subscriber count to pass the 300 million mark. This feat was possible because of the 9.16 million wireless subscribers which were added during the month.

Every player managed add an adequate number of subscribers but Bharti Airtel managed to cram up more than 2 million subscribers which makes it the leader of the wireless segment.

Russian telecom giant Sistema’s Indian subsidiary Shyam Telecom was the few new telecom operators to get the Pan-India license to start their services in both GSM and CDMA space.

The word has it that they will be initiating their services in Rajasthan followed by some southern states in the next 2-3 months. The company has already set-up 800 plus towers in Rajasthan to start its services. They will first go by the CDMA route trying to give some competition to major players like RCom and Tata Teleservices. Let us wait and see how it goes.

It seems the Blackberry security controversy in India will finally come to an end. Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Intelligence Bureau and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) have claimed to crack the Blackberry encryption codes which helps them to track the data sent from a Blackberry device to a non Blackberry device. The government has successfully tested this on operators like Airtel, Vodafone, BPL Mobile and Reliance barring the newest entrant Tata Indicom.

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The Indian Telecom authorities have given foreign telecom companies to auction for 3G spectrum. This means that the companies do not need an Indian partner to get a piece of the attractive 3G cake in India, which was the case sometime back. 

This would heat up the auctioning process and make it more competitive, but the step has some conditions too. In the end, when all the spectrum allocation would be dealt with, the foreign telcos would have to partner with Indian companies to start off their services here. Also, in order to get a license for the allocation, these companies would have to shell out an additional amount of Rs.1650 crore over and above their bid amount.

The Indian market is being considered as one of the Hotspots for Telecom companies and enjoying every bit of it are the Telecom Authorities and also (in the long run) the Consumers.

Being owned by the government has its own advantages. MTNL and BSNL have been already allotted the 3G spectrum and if all the trial tests prove successful, MTNL will be launching its commercial services by December. The current trial network is in and around the Delhi’s Connaught Place area. Mumbaikars will be getting their hands on the 3G pie by early next year.

DoT recently allocated one block of spectrum each to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai and to BSNL in other service areas. This has been done ahead of the forthcoming auction of 3G spectrum for each telecom service area. DoT has already initiated the process for selection of the specialised agency for conduct of the e-auction. MTNL and BSNL will pay a price for the spectrum allocated to them equal to the highest bid in the respective service area.

The most attractive and the most happening circle in India is set to accommodate 4 new service providers. Mumbai is what we are talking about and the 4 new service providers are Tata Teleservices (with it’s GSM offering), Videocon (Datacom Solutions), Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom.

Amongst the 4, only the first one would be an existing player, with the latter being new entrants into the market. The penetration in the circle is about 70% and with new entrants coming in, the market seems to be getting heated up. There are also possibilities of a dip in charges with increasing competition.