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BSNL

Aircel and BSNL to share network towers

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This is a first of its kind deal between a public and private telecom company. Aircel is the first telecom operator to sign a passive infrastructure sharing agreement with the publically owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Mr Gurdeep Singh, COO, Aircel, said, “This is a historic moment for the company. Aircel will now have access to strategically located sites across BSNL’s 21 circles (excluding Mumbai & Delhi). Leveraging BSNL’s passive infrastructure will help Aircel meet its aggressive network roll out plans in addition to reducing operational cost.”

Mr Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL added, “We are happy to partner with Aircel. BSNL has a strong nationwide coverage and offers the best value proposition in the Indian telecom market. Our objective is to provide quality and reliable service and thereby increase our partner’s confidence”.

Aircel currently has approximately 32,000 network base stations across the country and post this partnership, it will also have access to BSNL’s 45,000 network towers across its 21 circles.

BSNL brings Diwali goodness to Kerala

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BSNL has announced a new promotional offer for prepaid users in Kerala. Starting from today till Diwali i.e. October 17, a user will get 10 percent additional talk time on top-up recharges of Rs. 100, Rs. 200 or Rs. 500. In addition to this, users can also avail unlimited GPRS voucher that will cost Rs. 20 for one day or Rs. 199 for the whole month.

Exclusive: All (GSM) Blackberry Plans reviewed

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Ed’s Note: Our overworked brains ditched us. Sorry for the goof up, we have added the plans and edited the story accordingly.

When TeleGyaan did an exclusive review of MTNL’s 2G/3G plans, one of our avid readers voiced his opinion and asked us to look at other operators in the landscape. Given the reader-friendly blog we are, here is a post comparing all the GSM – Blackberry plans on offer::

[Read more…] about Exclusive: All (GSM) Blackberry Plans reviewed

Exclusive Review: MTNL 2G/3G Blackberry Plans

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Now that MTNL too has launched Blackberry services along with 3G, here is a quick look at the plans the public operator is offering its users.

Plans for Individual users

BIS 2G Unlimited:

  • Monthly Rent: Rs. 1099
  • Unlimited data download

BIS 3G Unlimited:

  • Monthly Rent: Rs. 3099
  • Unlimited data download

 

BIS 2G Value:

  • Monthly Rent: Rs. 500
  • Free usage of upto 500Kb (Strange isnt it???)
  • Data charges post free usage: 50p per Kb (Expensive isn’t it???)

BIS 3G Value:

  • Monthly Rent: Rs. 1,500
  • Free usage of upto 1,000Kb (Strange isn’t it???)
  • Data charges post free usage: 30p per Kb (Expensive isn’t it???)

[Read more…] about Exclusive Review: MTNL 2G/3G Blackberry Plans

MTNL launches Blackberry services in Delhi

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TeleGyaan recently brought you a post on BSNL coming out with Blackberry services in April.  Now it’s the other public operators turn to offer the same. Yes, MTNL announced the launch of Blackberry services in Delhi yesterday. The service will be made available through MTNL’s postpaid arm – Dolphin. 

As for the phone, the operator will be selling the Blackberry Bold as a part of its initial offerings. Also the operator is trying to take due advantage of the 3G spectrum, by offering this 3G enabled phone. This will give both the operators an edge over others. Along with the above phone, MTNL will also be offering Blackberry Curve 8310/20 and Blackberry 8700. The prices of these handsets are:

  • Blackberry Bold: Rs. 34,000
  • Blackberry Curve 8310/8320: Rs.24,000
  • Blackberry 8700G: Rs.14,000

We Say: Reiterating the fact, the two public operators will have an edge over other players as they will be offering the Blackberry service along with 3G to users. However, it solely depends on the plans being offered by MTNL and BSNL.  

BSNL to offer Blackberry services from April

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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.

BSNL’s 3G talk/data Plans Reviewed

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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 

[Read more…] about BSNL’s 3G talk/data Plans Reviewed

Who’s standing where: GSM Market Share update

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With the additions done and dealt with, let’s have a look at the market shares and user base of these GSM operators. Here it goes:

  • Airtel – 32.88% – 91,114,971
  • Vodafone – 23.79% – 65,920,902
  • BSNL – 15.94%  – 44,180,880
  • Idea – 14.98% – 41,518,613
  • Aircel – 6.31% – 17,476,962
  • Reliance – 3.88% – 10,744,953
  • MTNL – 1.47% – 4,084,579 
  • BPL – 0.75% – 2,073,184 

We Say: With Bharti adding the highest number of users to its kitty each month, it is unlikely that it will lose its position. However, Vodafone is trying its level best to reach closer by adding around the same number of users as Airtel. BSNL and Idea also seem to be battling it out for the third position. Though Reliance may seem to be a small player out here, it is adding large number of users each month and we expect to see it climbing up the rankings soon. 

9.18 million additions in Feb’09

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The month of February turned out to be quite positive for Indian Telecom, with GSM operators adding 9.18 mn users in the month. This has taken the total count to 277.11 mn. In percentage terms, the industry clocked a healthy growth rate of 3.43%. 

Getting into specifics, here is how some operators contributed to the figure (additions and growth rate):

  •  Airtel: 2.7 mn @ 3.09%
  • Vodafone: 2.58 mn @ 4.07%
  • BSNL: 1.5mn
  • Idea: 1.5mn
  • Aircel: 0.7mn @ 4.27%

We Say: Going by the figures, nothing seems to be obstructing the growth of Indian Telecom, making it even more lucrative to more giants. However, we hope to see this growth accompanied by a simultaneous growth/ improvement in the management and service quality.