Samsung and Tata DOCOMO launch Samsung Galaxy I7500 in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Tata DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd, and Samsung Mobile have launched the first Android-powered Samsung mobile phone with in-built Google Mobile Services —-- Samsung Galaxy (I7500) -- in India.

Samsung Galaxy is a cutting-edge Smartphone, featuring a 3.2” AMOLED full touch-screen and 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, providing users access to Google Mobile services and full Web browsing at excellent speeds.

“TATA DOCOMO is a young brand that recently rolled out GSM services across eight circles (so far),” Deepak Gulati, President, TATA DOCOMO, said. “When we launched our services, we had promised our subscribers that we would bring to them the best products and services—products that will stand for innovation and a pioneering spirit, and which would offer them convenience and simplicity.

“Living up to that promise, we are launching the Samsung Galaxy with one-touch Google Mobile Services (GMS). This launch marks the beginning of TATA DOCOMO’s relationship with Samsung. We will continue working together to launch more innovative mobile offerings for Indian consumers on the Tata DOCOMO platform,” he added.

Announcing the launch, B.D. Park, Director - Telecom, Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd stated: “We are very happy to be launching the Company’s first Android-powered mobile phone with Google Mobile Services in partnership with TATA DOCOMO. This powerful device will allow consumers to fully experience all mobile based Google applications on this phone. With its innovative features, Samsung Galaxy will offer a strong value proposition to discerning TATA DOCOMO customers.”

Samsung Galaxy (I7500) offers users access to the full suite of Google Mobile Services, including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Android Market.

The integrated GPS receiver enables comprehensive use of Google Maps features, such as My Location, Google Latitude, local search and detailed route description. Thousands of other applications are available in the Android Market. “Applications from the Android Market can be downloaded and installed on to this mobile over the air, without the use of a PC, thereby opening up an entire new world to the user.” states Asim Warsi, GM-Marketing, Samsung India Electronics Ltd.

Under an exclusive tie-up, Samsung and Tata DOCOMO are launching this complete touch-screen, lifestyle phone in all the Circles where Tata DOCOMO has kicked off its GSM services, with an attractive consumer offer of 500 MB free download per month, for a period of six months.

“At TATA DOCOMO, our promise has been to provide a refreshingly different experience to our fast-growing customer base,” Sunil Tandon, Regional Head, TATA DOCOMO, said. “The launch of the Samsung Android is part of that endeavor—to provide subscribers with a world-class product that lets them experience the vast range of applications of the Android Market.”

Based on Samsung’s proven product leadership, Samsung I7500 comes with latest multimedia features. The large and vivid 3.2” AMOLED display ensures brilliant representation of multimedia content and an enjoyable full-touch mobile experience.

Along with supporting a 5-megapixel camera and various multimedia codec formats, the I7500 also provides a long battery life (1500mAh) and generous memory capacity (Internal Memory of 8 GB and Expandable External Memory up to 32 GB) to enjoy all the applications and multimedia content. The phone also boasts a slim and compact design—it is a mere 11.9mm thick.

Tata DOCOMO has launched its services across eight telecom Circles in the country already, and the same has been received with great enthusiasm. Samsung Galaxy will target the tech-savvy and up market consumers who are always on the move and need to have constant access to information, entertainment and interactive mobile experience.

Samsung Galaxy comes at a special introductory price of Rs 28,990 in the Indian market.

Olive Telecommunication, Tata Teleservices, launch India's first 3G embedded netbook

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Olive Telecommunication, the parent company of Haier Mobile and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), the country’s fastest-growing dual-technology telecom service provider, today announced the launch of India’s first netbook embedded with High-Speed Internet Access for mobile Internet connectivity and broadband access.

The Netbook X107H, powered by Qualcomm’s QSC 6085 chipset, will leverage the capabilities of HSIA technology on TTSL’s network to enable users with ‘Anywhere, Anytime’ broadband connectivity and help them access advanced data applications and services on the move.

The Netbook has a 1.6-GHz processor, 1-GB DDR memory and 160-GB 2.5” HDD storage. The Netbook comes with attractive payment options and will be available at Tata Indicom stores and other retail outlets across the country.

Arun Khanna, Chairman, Olive Telecommunication, said: "I am very grateful for the opportunity to be a first mover in a space that will surely heat up in the near future, and thank our technology partner Qualcomm as well as telecom partner TTSL for all their support.

"The Netbook, bundled with Tata Teleservices’ data packages, will bring to the consumer the convenience of connectivity ‘Anytime, Anywhere’. We look forward to surprising the Indian consumer with data-enabling devices that will make lives easier and empower greater numbers of Indians to connect to the Net conveniently. TTSL has been a partner since our inception in the telecom sector and we are proud to be associated with them in this new initiative too."

The netbook is being exclusively offered on India’s best wireless broadband service, Photon Plus by Tata Teleservices.

"The Olive Netbook powered by Tata Photon Plus heralds a new era in versatile computing access, and is in keeping with TTSL’s endeavor to provide affordable and ubiquitously accessible high-speed Internet access,” Anil Sardana, MD, Tata Teleservices, said.

"The unique advantages of our high-speed Internet access service get compounded by the feature-rich and attractively-priced Netbook, which will be on offer with an exclusive range of tariff offerings, designed to bring the best of both worlds to the market," he added.

"We congratulate Olive Telecommunication and Tata Teleservices for launching India’s first 3G-embedded Netbook. Computing and wireless are fast converging to enable a compelling mobile broadband experience for consumers worldwide,” Ms Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice-President of the Americas and India, Qualcomm, said.

"We are pleased to collaborate with our partners to bring to the Indian market an innovative solution that offers a world-class computing experience and ubiquitous broadband connectivity."

Reliance Communications, China Telecom provide first terrestrial cable to directly connect China and India

HONG KONG: Reliance Communications and China Telecom have announced the opening of the first direct terrestrial cable link between the Chinese and Indian domestic markets.

The Reliance Communications and China Telecom constructed cable was the first cross border terrestrial connectivity project to be planned between India and China, and was completed earlier this month. The cable passes through the inhospitable terrain of the Nathula Pass, linking Yadong in China to Siliguri in India.

The cable will provide direct, enterprise class connectivity between all major Indian and Chinese locations as well as expanding high-bandwidth coverage to more rural regions and cities in both countries. Neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and even Pakistan and Bangladesh will also benefit in the longer term, through increased bandwidth availability and global termination options.

Reliance Globalcom, the global arm of Reliance Communications can now offer the additional protection of two separate cable routes between India and China with considerable less risk from natural disasters.

Both international businesses and consumers in the region will benefit from improved internet connectivity, lower latency and improved voice clarity calls. Previously, the only available option for high-bandwidth connectivity between the two countries was via undersea cable routes through Hong-Kong or Singapore.

The disruption to major international services in the region due to the recent typhoons and earthquakes has clearly exposed an associated risk with complete dependence on these cables. This new terrestrial link enables Reliance Globalcom to provide business critical service provision to its customers by offering dual cable route diversity between India and China for the first time.

“This announcement and cable connection is a landmark which represents many years of planning and hard work,” said Han YiHu, Managing Director of China Telecom. “We are very pleased with the increased dedicated bandwidth availability, connection speed and security this cable will provide to Chinese based enterprises and consumers. It will greatly assist our customers to become global industry leaders, while improving opportunities for international business development in both India and China.”

This new link increases the reach and diversity of Reliance Globalcom’s largest privately owned global cable network – by providing direct, dual cable route connectivity from emerging business locations within China to other international business hubs in Europe, Middle East and the East Coast US.

Similarly, Indian companies looking for connectivity to South East Asia, Japan and the West Coast US can now go via the terrestrial cable system to Hong Kong and then on a submarine route, enabling lower latency and improved network resilience.

“India and China represent the largest growing economies in the world, and the current global economic environment requires ever increasing high-bandwidth, converged applications to be run between these markets,” said Punit Garg, President, Reliance Communications.

“This new cable will help our customers across Asia and beyond to effectively compete on a global scale by providing increased network availability and secure connectivity from the world’s key business centres to these high growth markets. We are very pleased that Reliance Globalcom’s global network will play a major role in the development of international business opportunities in the region,” he added.

Indian comms sector to become largest GDP contributor by 2014-15: Nokia study

BANGALORE, INDIA: Nokia India shared the findings of a study that highlights the increasingly significant role of the communication sector in driving growth across rural and urban India.

The study – “Economic Impact of the Communication Sector in India” – has been carried out by Dr Rajesh Shukla (Senior Fellow) and K.A. Siddiqui (Associate Fellow) of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

The study indicates that the communication sector is predicted to emerge as the single largest sector of India’s economy, with a 15.4 percent share (equivalent to Rs.865,031 crore) of GDP by 2014-15. In India’s transformation from an agrarian to a services economy, communication is recognized as the fastest growing sector, growing by 25.7 percent during 2001-08.

The findings of the study indicate that the communication sector will be one of the major drivers of the Indian economy in the next five years. Its ranking in terms of contribution to total GDP has moved up from #17 in 1980-81 to #8 in 2007-08, and is further expected to surpass all other sectors by 2014-15, assuming that all other sectors grow at the average growth rates observed during 2001-08.

At the same time, the communication sector’s share of total GDP has increased from just 0.7 percent in the 1980s and 1 percent in the 1990s to 3.6 percent during 2001-08. In 2007-08, the sector accounted for 5.7 percent of GDP.

Trade, Communication and Registered Manufacturing have shown more than 10 percent contribution (16.7 percent, 12.24 percent and 11.68 percent, respectively) to GDP growth during 2001-2008; however, the Communication sector has outperformed the others despite its share of total GDP being only 3.6 percent as against the shares of Trade (14 percent) and Registered Manufacturing (10.2 percent).

The communication sector has also had a significant impact on employment in the country. The study predicts that the sector will generate an additional 8.5 million jobs by 2014-15, taking the total number of jobs in the sector to 10.3 million.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia said: “This study reinforces the view that the communication sector will continue to be an engine of the Indian economy over the next years. There is plenty of potential for growth in the sector considering that teledensity is currently only around 39.8 percent.”

Kallasvuo continued: “The role of communications in accelerating socio-economic development should not be underestimated. In India, communication is having a positive impact on employment in the services and retail sectors, and helping the country to emerge as a major manufacturing power.

"It is critical to empower every individual to connect to people, information and services regardless of their location or income. This is a key element in the vision of a truly inclusive knowledge society. Connected people can create, accumulate and disseminate knowledge, eventually leading to enhanced productivity and equitable socio-economic development. This latest study reiterates communication’s growing importance as an agent of transformation.”

Harris Stratex Networks to supply India's first urban mobile WiMAX network

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, USA: Harris Stratex Networks Inc., a leading provider of wireless solutions that enable the evolution of next-generation fixed and mobile broadband networks, has signed a contract with ICOMM, one of India's leading groups in the field of telecom, power transmission and distribution EPC, solar and infrastructure, to supply, install, commission and maintain an IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX network for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Under the multi-year contract, Harris Stratex will supply its StarMAX WiMAX solution to extend BSNL's public wireless access network to provide high-speed wireless mobility services to enterprise and retail customers in urban areas across the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Under the agreement, Harris Stratex will supply its StarMAX WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) IEEE 802.16e-2005 base stations, along with solutions for access services network (ASN) gateway; home agent; authentication, authorization and accounting; and network management system. Customer premises equipment and subscriber units will be supplied by ICOMM, along with deployment and project management services.

Formed in 2000, BSNL is the world's seventh-largest telecommunications company and provides a comprehensive range of telecom services to 7,330 cities and towns, and 550,000 villages across India.

In 2008, the government of India awarded BSNL 20MHz of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band, enabling the operator to introduce mobile WiMAX to expand the reach of its broadband network to deliver services to India's un-served and under-served communities, including rural and urban areas.

The contract award to ICOMM and Harris Stratex will enable broadband services to be deployed throughout the state of Kerala, India's fourth largest telecom market by revenue with a population of more than 35 million people in an area of 38,000 square kilometers. This mobile WiMAX rollout by BSNL will represent one of the largest deployments of this technology in the world.

"We are excited to work with Harris Stratex as a part of BSNL's landmark WiMAX network deployment. By combining ICOMM's infrastructure build-out expertise with Harris Stratex' sophisticated end-to-end 802.16e WiMAX solutions and top-tier customer focus, we will enable BSNL to provide its broadband users highly-reliable high-speed mobile broadband services," said C.S. Rao, chairman, ICOMM.

"We greatly appreciate BSNL's strategic leadership in India and its efforts to help the government reach its target of 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010, and are extremely proud to be a part of this very important undertaking," said Harald Braun, president and CEO, Harris Stratex. "We are thrilled to work with ICOMM to deploy one of the world's largest, most sophisticated 4G WiMAX networks for BSNL."

The StarMAX platform is the result of the March 2, 2009 acquisition of Telsima Corporation by Harris Stratex Networks and includes an extensive portfolio of IEEE 802.16d-2004 and 16e-2005 compatible base stations, fixed and mobile subscriber devices, ASN gateway solutions, home agent and network management tools.

The StarMAX product is part of Harris Stratex' complete end-to-end broadband network portfolio, which also includes high-speed IP wireless backhaul, advanced core network elements, umbrella network management and service assurance, and complete turnkey services from network design and deployment, to full network operations center managed network services.

Tata Sky achieves 4 million connections in India on end-to-end NDS platform

NEW DELHI, INDIA: NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today recognised Tata Sky, a leading provider of Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite pay-TV services in India, as having achieved a remarkable milestone in reaching four million connections in under three years since launch. The latest one million subscribers were gained in just over seven months.

Using technology from NDS, Tata Sky has revolutionised television viewing for Indian audiences. The platform is protected and powered by an end-to-end NDS solutions suite including VideoGuard conditional access system (CAS), MediaHighway middleware, an advanced electronic programme guide (EPG), as well as market-leading XTV technology for Digital Video Recorder (DVR) which allows subscribers to pause, record, play back, rewind and fast forward their TV programmes for viewing when they choose.

In addition, the wide range of multi-level interactive games provided by NDS has proven to be popular with subscribers. This NDS solutions portfolio enables Tata Sky to deliver advanced applications including Active Sports™, Cooking, Darshan, Wizkids, Learning, Stories, Games and movies on demand and is the basis for a viewing experience unsurpassed in the rapidly expanding Indian pay-TV market. NDS commercial and development facilities in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore all play a role in supporting Tata Sky.

Tata Sky launched its DTH satellite pay-TV service in August 2006 and reached one million connections in just 11 months. Tata Sky then took only another nine months to reach the two million connections mark and in less than three years it has reached the four million connections milestone.

On the occasion of today’s announcement, Mr. Vikram Kaushik, MD & CEO, Tata Sky Ltd. said: “Tata Sky has achieved significant success in reaching four million connections in such a short time, and in a highly competitive market. This milestone validates Tata Sky as the preferred service provider in the rapidly growing Indian pay-TV market.” He added: “The end-to-end digital solutions suite from NDS, coupled with our unparalleled customer service and innovative product offerings, have enabled us to provide differentiated applications and a superior viewing experience for our subscribers.”

“NDS congratulates Tata Sky’s for reaching four million connections in less than three years,” said Sue Taylor, Senior VP and General Manager of NDS Asia Pacific. She added: “India is among the fastest-growing DTH markets in Asia Pacific and Tata Sky truly stands out as a leader with their innovative and exciting new services. We are proud that our market-leading solutions have played such a pivotal role in enabling Tata Sky to achieve its impressive growth rates.”

SatNav in strategic alliance with three large format retail chains in India

HYDERABAD, INDIA: SatNav Technologies, pioneers in GPS Navigation in India, today entered into a strategic alliance with HCL Digilife, Reliance Autozone and Reliance Digital.

With these alliances, SatGuide products will now be available in over 100 stores situated at prime locations across 15 key cities including, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune and Vadodra.

SatNav witnessed a two-fold growth last year, largely owing to the product sales at a number of retail stores and online portals. With the increase in the consumer touch points across the company’s target markets, SatNav now looks forward doubling this growth in this fiscal.

“At SatNav we aim at providing innovative and user friendly products at a reasonable price. Our products have always been within easy consumer reach. We plan to further increase penetration and sustain momentum in major cities across nation by partnering with leading large format retail chains”, said Amit Prasad, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SatNav Technologies.

“We are sure that the alliance with HCL Digilife, Reliance Autozone and Reliance Digital will help us expand further and more easily reach out to our end users”, he added.

SatNav offers multiple GPS navigation devices including the award winning Moov300. SatGuide products can also be bought from other large format retail stores like Ezone, Croma, Car Plus, XCite, Bilt, Gizmos, Hypercity, Jumbo, Staples, Landmark and leading shopping portals like Indiatimes.com, HomeShop18, Gadgets.in and Items of Desire.

In addition, Garmin distributors in India also offer Garmin devices loaded with SatGuide map software at most of their stores.

SatNav’s products include the popular GPS Navigation Product -- ‘SatGuide’ that helps users enjoy hassle free road navigation. SatGuide product variants include navigation solutions for PNDs, PDAs, Phones, Laptops, Desktop and a SatGuide Logger.

Nokia Siemens Networks India appoints new head

BANGALORE, INDIA: Starting September 1, Nokia Siemens Networks will be led by Urs Pennanen in India. Currently Urs is the Head of Sales for the company’s Operations and Business Software business unit in Finland. He takes over as Sub Region Head of Nokia Siemens Networks for India and Nepal from Michael Kuehner.

Commenting on the appointment, Christian Fredrikson, Head of APAC Region, Nokia Siemens Networks said, “Urs brings with him close to 20 years of marketing, sales and general management experience, 16 of which were within this company. He’s a sales veteran, and currently leads sales for two business areas that are key to our future growth. This combination is perfect to steer our future growth in a dynamic market like India.”

Over the next few years, Nokia Siemens Networks’ focus in India will be to grow its market share in the country, with a specific focus on 3G. The company also seeks to consolidate its existing footprint among local communication service providers and build strategic partnerships with new entrants.

In his new role as Head of Sub-region India, Urs will drive this strategy, ensuring that Nokia Siemens Networks continues to enable the adoption of leading edge communication technologies in the country.

MASERGY adds India hubs in response to increased network traffic

DALLAS, USA: MASERGY, a global service provider that is redefining global business networks for enterprises, has announced the addition of hubs in Bangalore and Hyderabad to support the increasing demand for network services within India.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the customer networking experience, we are expanding our physical presence within India to address the needs of this rapidly growing market,” said Chris MacFarland, chief operating officer of MASERGY. “This development is in direct response to demand increases we are seeing for more sophisticated application deployments such as HD video conferencing, TelePresence and converged network services.”

MASERGY deployed network hubs in Bangalore and Hyderabad to better support its growing inter- and intra-India traffic. These two new hubs strengthen MASERGY’s global presence by reducing latency and increasing price competitiveness.

“We have experienced a threefold increase in demand for MASERGY’s services in this region over the past two years,” said MacFarland. “Expanding our presence in India demonstrates our continued dedication to growing our business in accordance with our ‘build it when they come’ business model, in which we align capital investments with customer growth.”

MASERGY's comprehensive delivery ensures the broadest location and application coverage for global enterprise customers with unsurpassed site-to-site QoS guarantees to every business location. The network service provider also provides customers with sophisticated management and control capabilities delivered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model on a global basis.

SMEs in India: Opportunities in credit crunch

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: According to Ovum, SMEs in India are highly price sensitive, less exposed to the global market, and confident about spending in the current economic climate. They are keen to move to managed services, although reluctant to increase the proportion of expenditure on mobile services.

India has a broad diversity of suppliers and is a highly competitive market place. There is no single dominant player across the country for telecommunication services and the competition is greater than in most of the Asian markets. The number of options for mobile service is greater than on the fixed services.

“As a result, in order to get the best of breed, the majority of SMEs prefers not to have single provider for multiple services”, says Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst at Ovum and author of this report. “The common strategy of bundling services, deployed by service providers in many other places, is less likely to be effective in this market,”

SMEs in India are looking at ways of reducing unnecessary up-front capital investment. Castelli adds, “Seventy one percent of the companies surveyed prefer to have a predictable monthly recurring charge per user for telecoms equipment and services.”

The high interest in opex-based models for telecoms equipment and services in this market is reflected in the SMEs mature views on managed services. A few SMEs are already using managed services and many others are planning to do so in the future.

“They are most keen to adopt managed audio/video conferencing, PBX/IP PBX, security and specialist business software applications”, says Claudio, based in Melbourne.

In addition, the share of mobile workers is growing; 43 percent of SMEs' employees have some degree of mobility. “However this isn’t reflected in the budget allocated for mobile services”, says Claudio. “Unsurprisingly, controlling the cost of mobility is a high priority amongst the SMEs.”

Like in many other Asian countries, the majority of the companies does not provide wireless devices to employees needing mobility for business purposes. This is a clear indication that users are generally providing and supporting their own personal mobile devices when at work.

Ovum believes this practice is dangerous and might result in business risks. For example, if a salesperson goes to a competitor, their customers will continue to contact him at that number.

Overall, players taking the managed services path will have higher chances to succeed with SMEs in this market. At Ovum, we expect the software as a service (SaaS) approach to be a good opportunity for services providers and solution vendors.

Nokia on VAT increase on mobile phones in Maharashtra

INDIA: Statement from Nokia increase in VAT on mobile cellular handsets in Maharashtra.

According to Vipul Sabharwal, Director Sales, Nokia India: "The move by the Maharashtra government to hike the VAT on mobile cellular handsets from 4 percent to 12.5 percent, is not just very distressing for the industry, but is also a very shortsighted move. The mobile industry is a fast growing segment, which contributes significantly to the GDP of the nation as well. This is a self defeating move, bound to reverse the growth of the industry, thereby impacting the socio-economic development of the state as well.

According to industry estimates, the sales of mobile handsets in the state of Maharashtra at present stands at a million units per month today, which translates into a turnover of Rs. 300 crore per month, at an average selling price of $60 (@ Rs. 50 = US$1).

With the proposed hike of 8.5 percent the Govt. Of Maharashtra expects its VAT revenues to increase to Rs. 36 crore per month from the current monthly revenues of Rs. 12 crore per month.

However, the telecom industry believes that an 8.5 percent hike, or a total VAT of 12.5 percent will lead to a massive drop in legal sales, with sales falling to Rs. 30 crore per month from the current Rs. 300 crore. This means that the VAT revenue collections will, in turn, fall to around Rs. 4 crore a month, thus leading to a loss of Rs. 8-10 crore per month or approximately Rs. 100 crore annually to the State Government exchequer.

Additionally, revenue from Octroi, which currently stands at Rs. 9 crore, is expected to be negligent on a monthly sales turnover of Rs. 30 crore.

This is because such a regressive move will lead to a resurgence of the grey market, with handsets coming in from both neighboring states as well as from international markets such as Singapore and Dubai.

This will in turn affect business on the organized trade as well, impacting employment and encouraging unethical practices –- all in all, a completely unfortunate and lose-lose situation for all stakeholders involved starting with consumers.”

Nokia Siemens Network rolls out Vodafone network in seven new regions across India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Vodafone Essar has completed a rapid service expansion into seven new regions across India. People living in or traveling to Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, North East and Orissa will now be able to use services provided by India’s second largest GSM operator. Nokia Siemens Networks, Vodafone Essar’s existing infrastructure partner in 12 regions, undertook the new network roll out in just ten months.

The planning and building of the seven networks was undertaken as in the first phase of a three year expansion contract awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks in 2008. Further expansion will carry on through 2010.

Nokia Siemens Networks has a strong track record in speedy network roll out, and in India alone it sets up 5,000 base stations a month. With this contract, the company has emerged as the largest network implementation partner for Vodafone in India, with more than 80% of Vodafone’s subscriber traffic in the country flowing through infrastructure set up by Nokia Siemens Networks.

“We are proud to partner with Vodafone Essar as it charts an aggressive growth strategy and are committed to helping it realize its goals,” said C.B. Velayuthan, Head, Vodafone Customer Team, Nokia Siemens Networks. “India’s vast geography and varied topology, in addition to the acute power shortage in remote areas, make network expansion a challenging task. Our Flexi Base Station and services capabilities are the ideal solution for service providers who want to achieve more, with less.”

CDMA subscriber base closes in on half a billion!

COSTA MESA, USA: The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that high-growth markets such as Africa, China and India are raising the number of CDMA subscribers worldwide closer to half a billion.

At the end of the first quarter of 2009, there were 480 million subscribers to the CDMA family of technologies worldwide, including 472 million 3G CDMA2000 and 120 million EV-DO broadband users.

During the quarter, China Telecom began offering EV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) services while expanding its CDMA2000 network in China, resulting in the addition of almost 5 million new customers. India continued its strong growth as the second-largest CDMA market, with operators in the country adding over 9 million new customers during the same period.

CDMA2000 continues to thrive in Africa, with nearly 50 CDMA2000 operators adding 3.5 million new users during the quarter. The growth from these emerging markets supplemented steady gains in North America, which in the same period, added 5.8 million subscribers.

"CDMA2000 is seeing rapid growth in those markets that have embraced 3G mobile broadband, as the migration to 3G CDMA accelerates worldwide," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "Markets such as China and India are creating economies of scale that will further reduce handset prices, increase wireless penetration and contribute to bringing new 3G-enabled devices to market, such as netbooks and smartbooks."

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
CDMA2000 broadband service providers worldwide added over 23.5 million EV-DO users from March 2008 to March 2009, representing a 24 percent increase. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a leading mobile broadband technology worldwide, with 134 operators in 63 countries offering always-on CDMA2000 broadband data services to 120 million users.

Sixty-two of these operators have deployed CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A networks to offer advanced mobile broadband services, and another 37 operators are in the process of deploying Rev. A. Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw a notable increase of 4.5 million EV-DO subscribers over the past year, growing from 1.6 million to 6.1 million total subscribers, representing an annual growth rate of 277 percent.

The rapid uptake of EV-DO broadband services in Africa, rising from under 200,000 EV-DO users a year ago to 3.5 million current subscribers, highlights the pent-up demand for broadband wireless access.

Operators in the Americas and Asia also continued impressive gains with EV-DO, driven by a wider availability of mobile broadband-enabled devices and the increased usage of smartphones and feature phones.

North American (US and Canada) operators added 16 million new EV-DO subscribers over the past year at a 31 percent growth rate, while Latin America and Caribbean users increased by 41 percent to surpass 6 million and subscribers in Asia Pacific approached 40 million.

CDMA2000
Overall, 17 million new CDMA2000 subscribers were added during the first quarter of 2009, contributing to the 38 million new users added between March 2008 and March 2009. Europe, Africa and the Middle East continue to be the most rapidly-growing regions for CDMA2000, adding 16 million CDMA2000 subscribers in the past year representing a 96 percent growth rate.

In the first quarter alone, operators in the region added more than 4.6 million customers and Africa, the fastest growing market, now comprises 5 percent of the global CDMA2000 market share. This is a strong testimonial to CDMA2000's ability to excel in emerging markets underserved by wireline telephony and broadband data services.

At quarter's end, Asia Pacific accounted for 52 percent of the global CDMA market, adding 13 million new CDMA2000 subscribers during the period. China Telecom ended the quarter with 33 million CDMA customers and has stated its goal to add 35 million CDMA2000 customers in 2009, supported by strong marketing efforts and a wide selection of handsets and devices for both CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO services.

North America saw an addition of 16 million new CDMA2000 users over the year to reach 154 million subscribers. CDMA accounts for more than 52 percent of the US wireless market and India expects to double its CDMA2000 subscriber base within the next two years.

Growth despite recession proves people need benefits of broadband

SINGAPORE: Broadband has become a necessity for people around the planet –despite the economic downturn. That’s the message delivered in Singapore today by Broadband Forum Chief Operating Officer Robin Mersh.

Mersh was giving a keynote address at the giant CommunicAsia conference and exhibition in Singapore, where more than 2,000 exhibitors were gathered to discuss and debate the latest issues surrounding telecom and broadcast technology.

“Broadband is no longer a luxury in the home –- it is a necessity -– and we are seeing that despite everything going on in their lives, people are depending on their broadband,” he said.

“This is an extremely positive sign for the industry, although we must not be complacent and the next quarter’s market penetration figures will give us further evidence, or otherwise, of the rise of the broadband phenomenon.”

Mersh backed his view by highlighting the latest statistics for broadband and IPTV which were published earlier in the week. He pointed out that 20 countries had grown their broadband by 10 percent or more, with India and China particularly showing potential. IPTV’s growth to 24 million lines was also helping broadband reach the next level.

He explained that while new technologies were coming onstream to support broadband, DSL remained stable and ADSL2+ had in fact seen the highest technology increase of all the access options.

Broadband lines in the world are now approaching 430 million. India experienced the biggest growth percentage at 13.4, while China added 4.8 million lines, to top more than 88 million lines.

Mersh told the audience of top ranking telecommunications figures from across Asia that for fast broadband rollout and effective network management, operators needed three things -– a single architecture across all transport options, a single WAN management protocol and common Quality of Experience (QoE) measurement specifications.

“The consumer doesn’t care how the service is delivered –- they just want to know it’s dependable and that they can buy their service with confidence,” said Mersh.

He explained that the Forum, which has around 200 of the world’s top operators and equipment and chipset vendors among its membership, focused its work on three main areas.

The first was the network, which included core, access aggregation and last mile options. The second was management specifications, which focussed on operational excellence, and the final area was remote management of the user, which spanned from digital homes, offices and cell towers.

He also called for standards bodies to follow their initiative in co-operating among themselves and highlighted the work the Forum recently completed in cooperation with 3GPP and the Femto Forum, which resulted in the first industry standard for Femto Access Point management.

Tata Teleservices, ECI Telecom to offer fixed broadband services across India

MUMBAI, INDIA: ECI Telecom, a global provider of networking infrastructure solutions optimized for NGN migration, and Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), have partnered to deliver India's largest fixed-broadband access network supporting speeds of up to 18 Mbps.

As part of the frame agreement, TTSL will deploy an all-IP next-generation network featuring ECI's award winning Hi FOCuS Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) and SR9000 Carrier Ethernet Switch Router (CESR) platforms.

This end-to-end broadband access solution for TTSL's 'Photon Pro' network has already been successfully deployed across eight cities: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vizag, Vijayawada, Surat and Baroda.

ECI's solution, part of the company's 1Net framework to simplify networks and allow for a smooth transition to NGN, represents one of the most comprehensive multi-service, IP-based, broadband access networks on the market today, simultaneously supporting next-generation data, video and voice, over both fibre and copper infrastructure.

The state-of-the-art solution will enable TTSL to lead the market with innovative triple-play services and applications such as IPTV, video on demand, high speed broadband Internet, VoIP and other bandwidth intensive services.

"ECI's expertise and in-depth understanding of broadband access solutions were key factors in our decision to choose ECI for this important project. The company's market leading solutions allow us to deliver a full spectrum of next-generation services today, well ahead of other operators in the market, while addressing our evolving needs as network architecture and technologies change in the future," commented A.G. Rao, President & Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices.

The contract marks a significant milestone in the long-term relationship between ECI and the Tata Group. Israel-based ECI has been successfully providing the India communication conglomerate with network infrastructure solutions, such as wireless backhaul, WiMax backbone, and broadband access and transport solutions for over five years.

"We are proud of our long term partnership with TTSL and honored to be chosen as a trusted partner for this inaugural project. ECI brings proven experience and excellence in the broadband access market, servicing and supporting some of the world's largest tier-1 networks," commented Rafi Maor, President and CEO, ECI Telecom.

HTC Touch Diamond2 -- next gen communication device now in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: HTC Corp., a global designer of mobile phones, today unveiled its new flagship device, the HTC Touch Diamond2.

The device integrates innovation and simplicity with a unique style and an intuitive interface. HTC Touch Diamond2 perfectly balances function, form factor and cutting-edge technology to personalize communication and mobile Internet experience.

"The HTC Touch Diamond2 ushers in a mobile communication experience that simplifies how we communicate with people in our lives whether through voice, text or email," said Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India. "At HTC, our endeavour has always been to deliver the latest, cutting-edge sophistication in our portfolio of mobile phones that seeks to improve how people live, work and communicate, and the HTC Touch Diamond2 is the extension of the same conviction of ours."

Simplifying how people access information with push Internet
Continuing on its commitment to make the mobile Internet easier and more enjoyable, HTC is proud to introduce Push Internet technology with the HTC Touch Diamond2. HTC Push Internet alleviates slow downloading and rendering of Web pages on a mobile phone. Users can preselect their favourite Websites to get immediate access to them when needed.

Single view contact integration
With the HTC Touch Diamond2 launch, HTC is introducing a new people-centric communication approach, providing a single contact view that displays the individual conversation history of contacts regardless of whether voice, text or email were used. This can be viewed from the contact card or the in-call screen during a phone conversation, ensuring the latest communication contact-by-contact is always at hand.

HTC TouchFLO 3D integrated with Win Mobile
The HTC Touch Diamond2 incorporates HTC's latest TouchFLO 3D interface. TouchFLO 3D has been more deeply integrated into a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 to deliver more consistency throughout Windows Mobile applications and menus.

Focused on making navigation easier and more intuitive, TouchFLO 3D brings important information to the top-level user interface, including quick access to people, messaging, email, photos, music and weather. As part of this improved Windows Mobile integration the touch focus areas have been enlarged to be more finger-touch friendly.

The HTC Touch Diamond2 is the next step in the evolution of the successful HTC Touch Diamond. Crafted to fit perfectly into the hand, the Touch Diamond2 evolves the compact design and iconic style of the original HTC Touch Diamond. It incorporates a larger 3.2-inch high-resolution wide-screen VGA display for a greater viewing area in a design just 13.7mm thick. The phone also includes a new touch sensitive zoom bar for even faster zooming of Web pages, emails, text messages, photos or documents.

Leveraging HTC's TouchFLO 3D experience combined with a people-centric communication approach and HTC's new Push Internet technology, the Touch Diamond2 offers an advanced touch experience that is optimized for one-hand use.

With a five mega-pixel auto focus camera, expandable memory, gravity sensor and an ambient light sensor, the Touch Diamond2 brings the most sophisticated capabilities to a broad consumer audience looking for the professional benefits of a smartphone without sacrificing size, looks or functionality.

Pricing
The HTC Touch Diamond2 will be available at a market operating orice of Rs. 29,990 at all leading HTC authorized resellers across the country.

Telesoft aids SMS and USSD services growth in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Telesoft Technologies announced the introduction of the MILBORNE SMS USSD Gateway for the India market.

With a field proven open standard SMPP interface developers can create SMS applications such as bulk SMS broadcast/alert, mobile advertising and mass telephone voting as well as USSD applications like subscriber balance checks, prepaid top-up and menu driven information services such as weather, news, and sport. India has a rapidly growing subscriber base representing a huge opportunity for text services.

A high capacity cost effective solution, the MILBORNE Gateway allows application developers to rapidly deploy value added SMS (short message service) and USSD (unstructured supplementary service data) services into GSM networks via the use of an SMPP (short message peer to peer) interface.

“The SMPP interface is straight forward to use and hides the complexity of core network protocols”, said Mathew Downham, Channel Manager, Telesoft Technologies. “It reduces development time for new applications allowing a faster return on investment”.

Supporting both mobile originating (MO) and mobile terminating (MT) SMS applications the MILBORNE Gateway maps incoming texts to a virtual handset and acts as an SMSC for outgoing texts. A virtual HLR within the MILBORNE makes adding new virtual subscriber numbers easy, facilitating short duration activities such as competitions. The SS7 signalling interfaces allow very high SMS volumes with up to 100 different applications simultaneously supported.

USSD allows transmission of information over the signalling channel to the GSM network. USSD is session orientated, unlike SMS, which is a store-and-forward technology. Therefore response times for interactive applications are shorter for USSD than SMS. Typically incoming messages from the handset are fed to the relevant application. The application sends the user back a response in the form of a simple text reply or structured menu. Information flows in both directions and can be network or subscriber originated.

India is the world’s fastest growing wireless market with 15.64 million new subscribers in March making it 391.8 million, according to the newest available data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

BOLT mobile browser takes India by storm

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Two months after its public debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Bitstream Inc. today announced that BOLT, the company’s web browser for mobile phones of all types, has more active users in India than in any other country outside North America.

Today, one in six of BOLT’s active users reside in India where users have visited more than 5 million web pages and consumed more than 1 terabyte of bandwidth using the mobile browser since it debuted in February of this year.

“Seeing how popular the BOLT mobile browser is becoming in India is particularly gratifying for the team here in India which has contributed to its engineering,” said Lokesh Joshi, director of research and development at Bitstream India. “The BOLT browser has been getting good reviews and strong support from users all over the world but it’s very exciting to see such strong adoption here in India. We are impressed with the number of feature phones in India on which BOLT is installed, leading us to believe that India’s mobile population is embracing mobile applications for regular phones faster than we are seeing in the West.”

BOLT’s feature set:
* Fast, secure, desktop-style web browsing on both high-end and low-end handsets.
* Unrivalled speed -– routinely at least 25-50 percent faster than competitors.
* Streaming video capabilities.
* Split screen and full screen modes for easy navigation and viewing.
* Easily add and select favourites and view browsing history.
* Intuitive keystroke shortcuts for easier navigation and content selection.
* Protection against spyware and malicious or faulty add-ons.

People are enjoying the video streaming feature of the BOLT browser -– the only mobile browser that lets people enjoy videos on average mobile phones from popular services such as YouTube, vids.myspace.com, video.yahoo.com, blip.tv, dailymotion.com, metacafe.com and more.

BOLT usage in India
Well over 100,000 different web pages have been visited by BOLT browser users in India, resulting in over 5 million web pages served in just the last fourteen weeks.

The top five domains visited most by BOLT browser users in India include:
orkut.com
google.com
youtube.com
yahoo.com
gmail.com

The top 5 Indian-based domains visited by BOLT browser users in India are:
rediff.com
manoramaonline.com
masalatalk.com
exbii.com
santabanta.com

Nearly 300 different models of mobile phones are currently used by BOLT users in India. Unlike in North America where BOLT has become very popular among the users of smartphones such as BlackBerry smartphones from RIM, India’s BOLT users are using feature phones in far greater numbers.

The 10 most popular phones used in India are:
Nokia N73
Sony Ericsson W200
Nokia N70
Nokia 3110C
Nokia 6233
Nokia 6300
Nokia N95
Sony Ericsson K530
Motorola MOTOROKR E6
Nokia N72

You can download the BOLT mobile browser for free

Bharti Airtel renews MTN partnership efforts

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel Ltd announced that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group Ltd (“MTN”) and is exploring a potential transaction whereby, pursuant to a scheme of arrangement, Bharti would acquire a 49 percent shareholding in MTN and, in turn, MTN and its shareholders would acquire an approximate 36 percent economic interest in Bharti, of which 25 percent would be held by MTN with the remainder held directly by MTN shareholders. Bharti and MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with one another until July 31, 2009.

The potential transaction between Bharti and MTN would create a leading telecom service provider group aligning Bharti’s market leading Indian business with MTN’s market leading African and Middle Eastern operations.

The broader strategic objective would be to achieve a full merger of MTN and Bharti as soon as it is practicable to create a leading emerging market telecom operator which today would have combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti, said: “We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse. Both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from enhanced scale. We see real power in the combination and we will work hard to unleash it for all our shareholders. This opportunity also represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South cooperation.”

The discussions contemplate that the potential transaction, which would be achieved through a scheme of arrangement, would include the following principal elements:

• MTN would acquire approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti for an effective consideration of approximately $2.9 billion in cash and newly issued shares of MTN equal to approximately 25 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN.
• Bharti would acquire approximately 36 percent of the currently issued share capital of MTN from MTN shareholders for a consideration comprising ZAR 86.00 in cash and 0.5 newly issued Bharti shares in the form of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) for every MTN share acquired which, in combination with MTN shares issued in part settlement of MTN’s acquisition of approximately a 25 percent post-transaction economic interest in Bharti, would take Bharti’s stake to 49 percent of the enlarged capital of MTN. Each GDR would be equivalent to one share in Bharti and would be listed on the securities exchange operated by JSE Limited, South Africa.
• Bharti would have substantial participatory and governance rights in MTN enabling it to fully consolidate the accounts of MTN.
• MTN's economic interest in Bharti would be equity accounted and would have appropriate representation on the Bharti Board.

Singapore Telecommunications, a major existing shareholder of Bharti, will continue to be a strategic partner and significant shareholder after the implementation of the potential transaction.

The potential transaction, when completed, would be expected to create value for Bharti shareholders due to, among others, synergistic benefits and further diversification of Bharti income streams into the fast growing and relatively under-penetrated African and Middle Eastern markets.

This potential transaction would combine the strengths of two leading emerging market telecom operators to create a leading telecom group serving the large populations of Asia, Middle East and Africa. The potential transaction will represent a significant development in South-South cooperation between India and South Africa. Additionally, along with Bharti’s partner, Singapore Telecommunications, and its Bridge Alliance the combined networks will cover a geography spanning Africa to Australasia.

Bharti would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in India and Asia while MTN would be the primary vehicle for both Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in Africa and the Middle East.

The discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to any transaction. The structure and terms of the potential transaction may be adjusted to reflect further discussions between the parties and discussions with lending banks and applicable regulators. No decisions or agreement to acquire any shares or implement the transactions outlined above have been made by the Boards of either MTN or Bharti.

Standard Chartered Bank and its affiliate First Africa SA (Pty) Ltd are the financial advisers and AZB & Partners and Bowman Gilfillan are the legal advisers to Bharti.

Breakthrough cellular technology for remote communities in India and Asia

MUMBAI, INDIA: Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) across India and South Asia are reaching out across their respective regions to deliver wireless services where, until now, communities have been without even the most basic forms of telephony. The technology now exists to enable them to do so, profitably -- and rapidly.

At India & South Asia Com in Mumbai, leading provider of wireless solutions for cutting the cost of communications, Altobridge, will be delivering its exclusive paper: “Cost-Effective Wireless Communications in Remote Parts of India & South Asia”, in which company Sales Director, Colm Jones, will discuss how MNOs can solve the technical, operational and business issues of delivering mobile services to their most remote, low-population user groups by using the world’s most cost-effective remote mobile communications solution –

‘The Altobridge Remote Community Solution’
In India, less than 30 percent of the 1.16 billion population live in urban areas, leaving a rural population of immense proportions. While less than 38 million fixed phone lines are in use across the whole country, the growth in mobile phone penetration since deregulation has been phenomenal, with 362 million mobile phones now in use with an ARPU of US$5. Combined fixed and mobile phone density, however, remains low at around 35 phones per 100 people.

Many of those without phones are spread amongst the 10,000 small, remote, rural communities in need of communications and whose only hope, technologically, is on mobile solutions combined with satellite backhaul. However, to ensure an effective ROI on any deployment, MNOs need to adopt significant changes in their core network.

This is where Indian and Asian MNOs can benefit from the technologies Altobridge has developed, which will enable them to reach out immediately with the most cost-effective solution to deliver mobile communications to these hundreds of millions of people.

The Remote Community Solution from Altobridge combines its patented Split Architecture with a unique Local Connectivity function. The Split Architecture creates an on-demand use of expensive satellite bandwidth, which restricts usage to times when only revenue-generating traffic is occurring. The Local Connectivity element switches ‘local calls’ locally at the community base station, eliminating unnecessary backhaul onto the core network transmission links. This, in turn, improves call quality by removing double satellite hops.

Mike Fitzgerald, Altobridge CEO, said: “A further compelling aspect of our solution is our Operational Model, which bundles our unique wireless offering with new and installed Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) and benefits from the existing local teams of installation and support professionals already on the ground and serving remote communities.

“The Indian National Satellite System, which comprises six satellites, supports 33,000 VSATs across the country and is a major asset to the whole challenge of delivering services to India’s remote regions. These installed VSATs can combine perfectly with the Altobridge solution to deliver cost-effective services.

“VSATs are very low cost and today exist in their tens of thousands, deployed around the world. They are, however, very much under-utilised in small remote communities throughout developing and emerging countries like India. MNOs have already identified this installed base as the ideal, cost-effective means of rapidly extending their GSM services to remote communities, and ‘bundling’ GSM and VSAT at remote locations enables ‘Sathaul’ -- base stations backhauled over satellite -– to provide operators with an effective and practical means of delivering GSM services where they would otherwise not be viable,” Fitzgerald concluded.