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Vodafone

Vodafone offers per second billing in MP-Chhattisgarh circle

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vodafone per second billing

Vodafone is the newest entrant to offer the per second tariff option, although this option is restricted to the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh circle only. To adopt to the per second tariff scheme, Existing Vodafone users will have to buy a special recharge voucher priced at Rs 59 which will enable them to make local as well as STD calls across all networks at 1 paisa/sec. This special card is called Bonus Card 59 and comes with an airtime of Rs 40.

People who presently do not use Vodafone can also get this scheme by purchasing a new Vodafone SIM car worth Rs 49 which will be set to this plan by default. The validity of this tariff option will be 365 days post which, users will have to re-purchase the special voucher.

India adds 14.38m wireless subscribers in July

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This information has just arrived and it’s good to see, there’s no stopping the Indian telecom sector. TRAI let loose the data for the month of July and we’ve got a subscriber reach of 441.66 million from 427.28 million in June. It’s a good increase of almost 3.36 percent.

Amongst the operators, Airtel took the crown for the most new customers – about 2.8m subscribers while Reliance came in second for almost 2.4m and Vodafone with 2.23m subscribers.

Vodafone Nokia launch N97 in India

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The Nokia N97 was launched in India and the operator partnering the launch was none other than Vodafone. The two companies have come together to introduce the new age phone which will lock horns against the iPhone and its likes. The added advantage for a user buying the bundled Vodafone offering are as follows::

  • Free data plan for 3 months of browsing the internet
  • Exclusive access to ‘The Groove’, a widget that keeps you updated on the latest happenings

As for the phone, you get a full touch screen phone with accelerometer and handwriting recognition. In addition, the phone is equipped with a 5MP Carl Zeiss camera, 32GB storage capacity which can expanded to 48GB via microSD card, A-GPS and 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

All of this is expected to cost you a whopping Rs.35,000, however, the prices haven’t been confirmed.

Special Audit for Four Indian Telecom Firms

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This could spell some trouble for four of India’s biggest telecom operators. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has ordered a special financial audit into the books of four telecom operators, including the country’s largest mobile phone service provider Bharti Airtel Ltd. and other big names like Tata Teleservices Ltd., Vodafone-Essar Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd.

The purpose behind this audit to check these operators’ revenue sharing with the government and to confirm if prescribed revenue sharing norms are being practiced. Telecom service providers in India are required to share between 6% and 10% of their annual revenue as license fees and 2% to 6% of their domestic and international long-distance telephony service revenues.

DoT has decided to appoint special auditors, who will be given up to three months to submit a final report. A similar special audit had earlier been ordered for RCom Ltd., and the auditor’s report is expected later this month. DoT has also ordered that if these operators are found guilty than they would be strictly penalized. The fiscal penalty will depend on the variation in shared revenues.

As of now, these four companies have not spoken to the media and Tata Teleservices and Vodafone-Essar claim to not have yet received an official communication on this matter.

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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

Vodafone now has more than 7 million subscribers in WB

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A couple of days back Vodafone Essar announced that it has crossed the 7 million subscriber mark in West Bengal to become the biggest cellular service provider in Kolkata and West Bengal circles.

Vodafone has a statewide coverage spanning over 3253 cities and towns and some 31,000 villages in West Bengal. When calculated in February last year, the company’s subscriber base in West Bengal was around 4 million subscribers and now it has shot over 7 million.

We say: Good going Vodafone!

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.

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. 

Amar Chitra Katha now on Vodafone

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Vodafone announced the launch of a whole new line of ACK stuff, which includes wallpapers, jokes, screensavers, comics and games from the ACK series. Users will now be able to relive those moments through their phone. Here are some specifics of the service:

  • Subscription: Rs.30/month
  • If you call 567607 and listen in, you will be charged 30p/min as usage charge
  • Callertunes: Rs.15/month
  • Picture quiz: Rs 5 / story
  • Trivia: Rs 10 for a bank of 10 trivia
  • Quotes: Rs 10 for a bank of 10 quotes
  • Rich Alerts: Rs 30 / month
  • Comic subscription: Rs 30 / month
  • Wallpapers: Rs 10
  • Themes: Rs 15
  • Videos: Rs 5 / download
  • Ringtones: Rs 15, Rs 20 and Rs 25
  • Games: Rs 50 and Rs 99

We say: Though the service is quite appealing to people who would like to experience the whole feel of ACK on their mobile, all of the options on offer are overpriced. It might be only worth one download or view.