One of the newest entrants to the Indian telecom industry, Uninor, has announced a new initiative of dynamic pricing. The operator is the first mobile operator to launch the concept in India.
As per the plan, users get discounts on their calls based on the location from which the call has been initiated. A user can get a discount ranging from 5 per cent to 60 per cent on there calls. With a 60 per cent discount the call rates go as low as 20 paise per minute. This discount will be applicable on a standard base call rate of 50 paise per minute for any local call. STD, ISD and SMS rates will not change.
The plan has been named 24×7 Badalta Discount Plan and it will offer customers changing discounts on their calls based on traffic on the network. The discounts will change with location and with time, with each cellphone tower broadcasting a different discount. At the same location, the discount will change on an hourly basis.
The discount available at any given time will be visible on the screens of handsets that display cell broadcast. The discount visible on the screen at the time a customer calls will be the applicable discount for the call. When the call ends, a flash will appear on the phone screen indicating the actual discounted cost of the call.
According to an official statement, Uninor believes that the offer will help utilise its network capacity in a more efficient manner. Also, Uninor will be interacting a lot with customers, hence creating a much more engaging relationship with them.
The service is being launched simultaneously in the three telecom circles of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The plan will be subsequently extended to other circles where the Uninor network is present.
Over 20 operators are running a similar discounted plan in several African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Uganda and Congo.
Uninor launches dynamic tariff plan
Saregama goes mobile, plans music app
Saregama India has announced the launch of its mobile portal wap.saregama.com, through which users can access a database of over 50,000 songs in 10 languages. In conversation with Telecom Yatra, PK Prasannan, chief manager, new media, Saregama, revealed that the company is working on a mobile application that will soon be launched.
He further informed us that the link for the beta version has been live on WAP sites of Airtel and Vodafone for about six months now and that the response has been very good. The site registers 40,000 to 50,000 downloads per day.
The songs available include those sung by Lata, Rafi, Asha, Kishore and M S Subbulakshmi among others, in many genres such as Hindi film music, ghazals, devotional and regional music in ten languages.
Prasannan added, “The WAP site is accessible to all mobile GPRS users. However, DRM (digital rights management) free MP3 full song download is available with select operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel and Loop. Saregama is currently in talks with Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular for this service. Subscribers using services of other network service providers will get access to MP3 and polyphonic ringtones.”
One full song download takes less than two minutes on a 2G network and since the songs are DRM free, a user can keep songs forever and also transfer them to their PCs or other handsets via Bluetooth. Download charges are operator dependent.
Saregama’s mobile App will allow users to download lyrics along with a song downloaded onto a compatible handset.
Saregama India, formerly known as The Gramophone Company of India, is one of the largest and best known music companies with a library of over 3 million tracks. As per the company, Saregama owns the largest music archives in India, which are among the biggest in the world.
Nokia announces X2 handset with unlimited music download
Handset major Nokia announced the launch of the latest handset under its X series called X2. The handset is designed for music lovers and comes with dedicated music keys, a Headphone jack and FM radio with built-in antenna. The device also has a 5 megapixel camera with flash.
Considering the features, the handset is affordably priced at an equivalent of Euros 85 (about Rs 5,000). Its other features include Nokia Messaging for email and IM and access to Facebook from its home screen.
An interesting addition is the Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) service, which debuts with the Nokia X2 handset. This service allows users to access and download songs free for a year from a database of 4 million legal digital tracks at the Nokia music store.
Consumers who buy a Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited enabled device will be able to download songs to their mobiles or PC. Ovi Music Unlimited will be available on Nokia X6, 5800 Xpress Music, 5530, 5235 and 5130.
The tracks will be DRM protected but can be transferred between users of the service via Bluetooth.
The service also offers full metadata and the ability to search for tracks by the name of the actor, actress or movie, other than song title, artiste’s name etc.
New songs by major labels will also be available on Ovi Music Unlimited, when it is released in India. The service will include catalogues from major global labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. Nokia’s local partnership with the Indian Music Industry (IMI) brings a consortium of more than 150 music companies: Hungama that represents major labels including Yash Raj, Tseries, Eros; and SIMCA (South Indian Music Companies Association), amongst others.
The much awaited OMU service’s localised version offers tracks from local and international artists across 19 genres including rock, rap, hip hop, pop, bollywood, sufi, indipop, Indian classical, devotional, ghazals, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri.
Elizabeth Schimel, global head of music and connected entertainment, Nokia, said in a press statement, “India is the 30th market to launch our unlimited music download service, and follows recent launches in China and Indonesia. The service adds further scale, evolution and differentiation to our global music services.”
Mobile subscriber base rises by 20 million in March: TRAI
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI’s) monthly subscriber figures, the Indian telecom industry has seen a growth of 3.6 per cent in the number of new mobile subscribers in March, over February. The mobile subscriber base has increased from about 564.02 million in February to about 584.32 million at the end of March with a mobile teledensity of 49.6.
Among telecom operators, Vodafone registered the maximum number of subscribers in March at 3.6 million, followed by Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel at about 3 million each, Tata Teleservices at 2.8 million, BSNL at 2.7 million, Aircel at about 2 million and Idea Cellular at 1.7 million. Amongst the new entrants, Uninor added about 700,000 new subscribers in March, S Tel added 200,000 subscribers, Videocon added over 32,000 subscribers and Etisalat added only 354 subscribers.
As per the category of circles, Circle A registered 6.7 million new wireless subscribers in March, Circle B registered 8.7 million additions, Circle C added 3.2 million subscribers and the metros registered 1.7 million new subscribers.
The wireline subscriber base did not see any change in March over the previous month and remained at 36.96 million. BSNL and MTNL, the two public sector operators, hold 84.77 per cent of the wireline market share. The overall wireline teledensity is a little over 3 per cent.
According to TRAI, Circle A consists of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Maharashtra and Goa. Circle B comprises Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), West Bengal, Sikkim and Lakshadweep. Circle C comprises Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam, the North East, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The metros are Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
RCom inks deal with global app store, GetJar
Reliance Communications has announced a strategic partnership with USA-based GetJar for mobile application services. As per the alliance, GetJar will offer Reliance Communications a catalog of over 65,000 free mobile applications. Reliance CDMA and GSM users can access the App store via R-World, Reliance’s value added services platform. The app store will be accessible through a wide variety of handsets other than smartphones.
The app store will offer games, social networking, sports, entertainment and productivity applications. Talking about the demand for applications, Anil Pande, head, value added services, Reliance Communications, told Telecom Yatra, “Content download is currently very popular and social networking too is taking off in a good fashion.”
Although access to the app store and most apps will be free, Reliance Communications will charge 50 paise per MB of usage.
With this deal, Reliance Communications aims to increase data usage and adoption of data plans by subscribers, hence strengthening its data services segment.
Pande further added that Reliance is looking at more such deals with app stores such as the Nokia Ovi store.
GetJar claims to be the world’s largest cross platform application store with over half a billion downloads to date. It provides more than 50,000 mobile applications across all major handsets and platforms to consumers in more than 200 countries. In addition to distributing content directly to consumers, GetJar also works with distribution partners, which include Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Opera, Vodafone, 3UK and Virgin Mobile.
Ilja Laurs, founder and chief executive officer, GetJar, said in a press statement, “It made a great deal of sense to partner with India’s largest integrated communication service provider as GetJar is also the fourth most visited mobile site in India.”
Operators like Airtel and Vodafone also have app stores. While Airtel launched its app store in February this year, Vodafone announced one in March. By March, Airtel App Central had over 1,500 applications with 25 per cent of them being free of cost. Aircel and Idea Cellular also have an app store each.
Aircel set to launch international calling card
Aircel is all set to commercially launch its long distance calling card which will allow users to make calls to the USA and Canada at Rs 1.99 per minute. The average cost of making a call to these countries is about Rs 7 per minute.
An Aircel spokesperson informed Telecom Yatra that the promotional rate is currently applicable only to USA and Canada. Tariffs for other countries are still being worked on and would soon be announced. The service is expected to be launched next month, and will be available in all circles where Aircel is currently present.
The calling card is currently accessible via Aircel’s website but is not yet available at retailers. To avail the service, users need to register their number on Aircel’s website and buy a recharge card for Rs 100, Rs 300, Rs 500 or Rs 1000. Once the account is recharged the customer needs to dial a toll free number from an Aircel mobile.
In case a user dials from a phone number that is already registered on the Aircel site, he will need to punch in a 4 digit PIN or else a 12 digit PIN followed by the 4 digit PIN. After this the current balance and validity of the account will be announced and the destination number (in Canada or the United States), can be dialed.
Only Aircel subscribers can call the toll free number. However there is a possibility, in the future, of this number being accessible from phones using other networks.
“Delhi has high calling minutes to USA and Canada. Punjab only has for Canada while Kerala has for UAE. On the other hand, West Bengal has for Bangladesh and from Jammu and Kashmir high amounts of international calls are made to Pakistan,” added the spokesperson.
International calling card service is currently offered by almost all major network services provider in the country. Operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, MTNL and Idea allow their subscribers to make STD/ISD call at a lower rate.
Airtel to stream Radio Mirchi content
Bharti Airtel has partnered with private FM station Radio Mirchi to launch Mirchi Mobile. The new service allows Airtel mobile subscribers to choose a local Mirchi station or follow one of 12 Mirchi stations, from across India. The service costs Rs 10 for a week’s usage of up to 100 minutes of Radio Mirchi.
Powered by Spice Digital, this service also allows users who do not have an FM-enabled handset to access Radio Mirchi content streamed through the Airtel network. Mirchi Mobile will initially be available to Airtel customers in Delhi and Mumbai, followed shortly by the rest of the country.
Shireesh Joshi, director, marketing, mobile services, Bharti Airtel, said in a company statement, “Today we are happy to partner with Radio Mirchi to innovate the radio listening experience for our customers, enabling them to carry their favourite radio experience wherever they go to any part of the country. Not limited by location or by handset features, Mirchi Mobile on Airtel offers a unique experience only for Airtel customers.”
Owned by the Times Group, Radio Mirchi operates FM radio stations in 32 cities in the country and has more than four crore listeners.
MTS launches mobile TV on its data card
MTS, the CDMA services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), has announced the launch of a new service for MBlaze users. The service named MTS TV has been launched in association with Apalya Technologies, a mobile TV provider. MTS TV will allow MBlaze users to watch 60 live and video on demand (VOD) channels on the move. The channels may be from among the news, entertainment, sports, kids and regional language categories. Some channels that are available are Cartoon Network, CNBC Awaaz, CNN, ESPN MobileTV, IBN7, India TV, NDTV 24X7, Pogo, TV9 Mumbai, Zoom, Aaj Tak etc.
To access the service, users need to download an MTS TV application from the MTS website. The service will be available free. However, standard data charges according to the user’s data plan will apply.
MTS TV will be available in the 57 cities where MBlaze is present. Currently, 60 channels are available on the service and the company said in a press statement that other optional channels and live cricket updates will soon be offered.
Users are prohibited from copying, recording or re-purposing content. MTS TV uses Windows and MAC operating systems and does not require any other software. The service can also be availed while Roaming at standard data roaming charges.
Leonid Musatov, chief marketing officer, SSTL, said in a press statement, “As an emerging industry, mobile TV will require a willingness of operators, regulators, broadcasters and device suppliers to strike new deals. Consumer reaction and usage patterns will help the broadcast and mobile industries understand what content viewers want to see on this exciting new technology.”
Uninor rolls out data services for prepaid users
Uninor has announced the launch of data services based on GPRS for its prepaid subscribers across the nine states it is present in.
Uninor’s internet services will be available for free trial till May 6 and after that at a base tariff of 10 paise per 10 KB. Subscribers could also opt for myconnect 9, priced at Rs 9, valid for three days with free browsing of up to 60 MB and myconnect 90, priced at Rs 90, valid for 30 days and with 3 GB of free browsing. With both plans, usage beyond the free data limit will be charged at 10 paise per 10 KB and accessing social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will be free.
A Uninor spokesperson told Telecom Yatra that since a majority of subscribers use prepaid connections, it has first launched data services for them. He added that data services for post paid users will be launched soon.
Uninor also has an automatic device setting server which enables automatic download of GPRS settings on a handset as soon as the SIM is inserted. The system detects the device make and model and automatically sends data settings to the phone. Uninor’s mobile portal has six icons on the homepage including those for social networking.
Uninor is a joint venture between Unitech and Norway based Telenor Group. The Telenor Group has invested a little over Rs 6135 crore through new shares in the joint venture to hold 67.25 per cent stake in the company, which holds a pan India license to offer mobile services in 22 circles. At present, Uninor’s services are available in the eight circles of UP (West), UP (East), Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Dual SIM handsets make inroads, attract new customer segments
There has been a constant rise in demand for dual SIM handsets (supporting two mobile connections at the same time),which is estimated to be growing at the rate of 30 to 40 per cent annually compared to the overall Indian handset market which is growing at the rate of 15 per cent, according to research firm KPMG.
Speaking on the growth of dual SIM handsets, Jaideep Ghosh, executive director, KPMG says, “These handsets are amongst the fastest growing segment among handsets. This is reflected in the number of companies that sell dual SIM handsets, which has rapidly increased. Till about 18 months earlier, there were only three companies selling dual SIM phones – Micromax, Spice and Intex Technologies. Now, there are about 40 brands in the market offering these. The dual SIM handset market in India is pegged at about Rs 2,200 crore annually.”
Growth in focus
Interestingly, it is not just Indian manufacturers but international brands such as Samsung and LG that have become part of the dual SIM market. Recently, Nokia announced that it is readying its own dual SIM handset for India.
In fact, many dual SIM manufacturers in India have stopped manufacturing single SIM handsets and have turned their focus to dual SIM phones. One such company is Intex Mobiles which offers only dual SIM phones now. GeePee Mobiles, a Kolkata-based handset manufacturer, is also focused on producing multi-SIM handsets. Bijay Agarwal, managing director, GeePee Mobiles, remarks, “The dual SIM device market is growing at a fast pace. Today, dual SIM phones constitute almost 30 per cent of the entire handset market. 95 per cent of the handsets in our portfolio are dual SIM”.
Who’s the customer?
What is the market segment driving this growth, Ghosh says, “Most of the demand in India comes from prepaid services users looking to make use of the best rates and services on offer from different operators.”
Sudhir Kumar, national sales head, mobiles, Intex Technologies, shares, “Initially, maximum demand for these devices came from tier two and three towns. However, there has been a shift in the trend and now we are getting demand from bigger cities and metros as well.”
A handset manufacturer shares that the demand for these handsets is driven by three segments: urban users who wish to keep their professional and personal lives separate; semi-urban users who use two different SIMs because of the packages and connectivity that various operators offer and users who travel a lot and carry two SIM cards to control Roaming costs.
Santosh, owner of a handset retail store in Delhi, adds, “These people (who use dual SIMs) are either college students who want to get benefit of best tariffs available with different operators or people who come from low income group seeking maximum features at reasonable price.”
“There is a resistance in carrying two phones, especially when one can get the work done with a single handset,” says a Samsung spokesperson, adding that Samsung Mobiles expects 15 per cent of its revenue to come from dual SIM handsets this year.
Enter multi-SIMs
The dual SIM handset market is clearly big but handsets with three SIM slots are already gaining ground. GeePee, Intex and Olive are some of the manufacturers offering triple SIM handsets. Agarwal of GeePee says, “This feature is a value addition as three SIM slots give functions of CDMA plus GSM, plus GSM or CDMA. Customers using two CDMA with one GSM numbers or vice versa prefer going for triple SIM devices rather than dual SIM ones.”