The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in association with The World Bank, has proposed a national forum on mobile applications in April. The proposed National Forum on Mobile Applications for Inclusive Development and Sustainable Development will offer an opportunity to all stakeholders to present project ideas, policy papers and case studies related to mobile applications.
Speaking to Telecom Yatra, DK Agrawal, deputy advisor, TRAI, said, “It would be a platform to discuss the present and future of mobile applications. The world is moving from fixed to mobile and applications that were available online are now being made available on mobile phones. Mobiles are affordable as compared to computers and in India mobile phone subscribers are growing at a fast pace.”
He added, “Based on the discussions (in the forum), we will think of relevant policies and regulations. TRAI, Reserve Bank of India and the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) will surely think of policies based on forum’s outcome.”
As per a statement on TRAI’s website, selected papers from the conference will be considered for publication. The statement also gives details on how interested parties can present their proposed papers. The last date for final paper submissions is March 26.
The statement adds that the proposed topics for the Forum are: High level overview of mobile applications, present status of e‐governance practices and synergy required for mobile governance, international experience in development of mobile applications to provide public services and challenges, mobile banking and m‐commerce, tele-medicine and e‐health applications, mobile applications for education and agriculture.
TRAI calls for papers on mobile apps
BSNL, MTNL share 3G experiences
The 3G India Mobile Operators Executive Summit was held in New Delhi on Tuesday to throw light on several facets of the third generation (3G) network and to discuss ways in which operators can maximise their revenues from its deployment.
In a panel discussion on ‘Making 3G a Commercial Reality in India’, several industry veterans spoke on business strategies to tackle declining ARPU (average revenue per user) in telecom services, deployment strategies for nationwide coverage and operational challenges for running dual technologies (2G and 3G). Present on the panel were RN Prabhakar, member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI); AK Bhargava, principal general manager, wireless services, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited; SS Sirohi, principal general manager, VAS, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Tommy Quitt, general manager, RBU Asia at ITI Telecom. The session was moderated by Kunal Bajaj, managing director, BDA.
The discussion kicked off with Bhargava and Sirohi speaking on the challenges MTNL and BSNL have faced with 3G network deployment. According to Bhargava, MTNL’s 3G roll out was quicker than 2G as the company had used the established infrastructure and technology for the former. He said that the best strategy for operators who are planning to start 3G services is to “leverage their existing infrastructure”. He added that while “there are no challenges on the technology side, there are challenges from the ancillary aspects such as billing, CRM and customer acquisition.”
Bhargava also said that there are challenges in educating the customer as the customer thinks that 3G services are drastically different from the existing ones and expects these services to be available at the same tariff. “Customers don’t care about 2G and 3G. Increased bouquet of services at same tariffs is what customers want,” he added.
Sirohi took the discussion forward by saying that the “roll out of 3G services will have to be seamless and if the coverage is not complete in a city, the user experience gets a jolt.” He added that when 2G and 3G are running together, “there are challenges in terms of handover and the network takes time to stabilise.” Sirohi echoed Bhargava’s views on educating the customer and said that “educating the customer is extremely important. With the deployment of this new technology, you certainly would like to have this as a premium service for premium customers. “But we found that when we planned a strategy with 3G tariffs slightly higher than 2G, people were not willing. We failed to educate our customers,” he added.
Speaking on the challenges, Quitt said that it is not enough to buy network, there are lot of other challenges too such as Bandwidth consumption.
Prabhakar remarked, “We (TRAI) are getting a lot of complaints for quality of service on 3G. Till the network really stabilises, TRAI will have to take care of the quality of service.”
Mobile-only comic series launched
Comicshead, a Nextwave Multimedia venture, has launched Rambow Ramu, a comic series for mobile phones. The application can be downloaded free of cost on Nokia’s Ovi Store, Apple’s iTunes Store and Android Store. Nextwave Multimedia is a digital media technology, communications, e-learning and entertainment company that provides solutions and develops products for desktop, mobile and internet.
Rambow Ramu is a series on misadventures of a village lad who wants to become the next a Bollywood superstar. The first volume of the series was launched recently.
In a conversation with Telecom Yatra, PR Rajendran, chief executive officer, Nextwave Multimedia, said, “We plan to launch new series of Rambow Ramu after every few weeks. We are planning to launch this series on Windows Mobile, Sony Ericsson’s Play Now, Samsung and Nokia E Series phones. We will also launch this on Blackberry but the issue is that Blackberry doesn’t allow free uploading of content. It usually charges $100 per content and since we plan to launch new series after every few weeks it would be expensive for us.” He added, “We are also looking to offer comics on 3G.”
Rajendran also said that the company is keen on partnerships with telecom operators and is talking to Aircel and Airtel. Speaking on the response from subscribers, he said, “The response has been good. We have thousands of downloads everyday.”
Nextwave currently offers mobile comics such as The Story of Gandhi, Thomas Alva Edison and Panchatantra Tales on various mobile application stores.
In addition to mobile comics, the company also has a library of about 50 mobile games, which are available on Ovi Store, iTunes Store and Android Store.
BSNL expects a million 3G subscribers by March
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is expecting about one million subscribers of the third generation network (3G) by end of March 2010. The state owned telco currently has 700,000 3G subscribers in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 3G India Mobile Operators Executive Summit, SS Sirohi, principal general manager,VAS, BSNL, told reporters, “We should have about one million 3G customers by the fiscal end.”
Earlier in the day, he had said that BSNL plans to cover 760 towns and cities in India with its 3G network within the next 3-4 months.
Sirohi also said that the company is presently offering bundled 3G services with phone manufacturers Nokia and Samsung at a price which that is 10 per cent lower than what customers get in the market, where 3G-enabled mobile phones come with a price tag of Rs 5000 onwards.
The state telecom operator offers video calls, mobile TV, mobile broadband, video downloads, movies and video sharing, mobile multiplayer gaming and video PRBT (personal ringback tone). It has recently launched two services, namely, SMS counselling and Hamshakal. The Humshakal application helps to match the face of a person with celebrities such as film stars, sport persons and other important personalities.
BSNL 3G services are available in over 100 cities in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Utttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Andaman and Nicobar and some North Eastern states.
Uninor claims 1.2 million subscribers in a month
Uninor, the GSM venture between Norway’s Telenor and India’s Unitech group announced that after a month of launching operations, it has acquired 1.2 million subscribers from the eight circles where its services were available. The company had launched in the circles of Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh on December 3, 2009 while in Orissa it was launched later on December 22, 2009.
“We are building on our launch, and scaling up our network and our distribution. We will also compete for every new subscriber. In a market this competitive, it will never be easy, but we have a long term ambition and we have made a positive start,” said Stein-Erik Vellan, managing director, Uninor in a statement.
As per guidelines, the company has already submitted its monthly numbers to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India). It being early days and less than a month since fully operational circles, the company does not expect any significant impact of these numbers on the 2009 calendar year revenues.
To tighten the ongoing tariff war, the company had launched its service with two pan-India price plans – talklonger at 29 paise for customers who make longer calls and callmore at 29 paise for those who call more often.
Virgin Mobile launches data card
Virgin Mobile has announced the launch of vFlash, a USB Modem device that offers internet services with a surfing speed of up to 3.1 Mbps and storage slot of up to 8 GB.
vFlash will come bundled with a live TV service, vFlash TV, and on-demand download services. Through on-demand service, users can download movies, songs, music videos, mobile ringtones and wallpapers, and they can access up to 40 popular television channels through vFlash TV.
The modem is priced at Rs 3,499 and will come with tariff options ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 1,100 per month, along with special night plans and annual rental plans. In the introductory offer, Virgin has come out with a zero data plan rental and a zero rental on vFlash TV for the first 30 days for all subscribers who have been acquired before January 31, 2010. It will also offer zero rental on on- demand services for all customers acquired before March 31, 2010.
MA Madhusudan, chief executive officer, Virgin Mobile India, said in a statement, “Today, the youth wants to stay connected 24 by 7 and with the launch of vFlash, we aim to put the surfing experience at their fingertips. With the rise of internet penetration in India, the data segment furnishes a stupendous opportunity allowing the customers to always stay connected.”
Virgin Mobile services are being offered in the country by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with USA-based Virgin group.
Clay Telecom launches Worldberry services
Wireless telecom solution provider Clay Telecom has launched Worldberry, global Blackberry services, for its customers.
The Worldberry service can accessed by subscribers while Roaming across the globe. BlackBerry is a platform of wireless mobile devices from Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM). The service is mostly known for its capability to send and receive e-mail wherever it can access a wireless network of certain cellular phone carriers. Almost all the service operators in India offer their services on BlackBerry.
Through this service the company claims that the subscribers can check emails, browse websites and chat at lesser costs of up to 70-80 per cent while roaming abroad.
Speaking on the service Gaurav Dhawan, executive director of Clay Telecom, said in a statement, “Clay Telecom is offering this service for the first time in India where a customer can have unlimited emailing on Clay’s Blackberry SIM cards for a fixed amount of Rs 2400.”
The company initially started providing international postpaid SIM cards with coverage in 40 countries. Further, it launched the global prepaid SIM for leisure and business travellers and works in 200 countries across the globe. Besides the voice solutions, Clay Telecom also provides data services in the form of GPRS and data cards for various countries.
New Delhi-based Clay Telecom was established in the year 2001 by Falcon Business Resources, a 30-year old company engaged in different business ventures. The company is the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) for over seven networks and has corporates as its clients.
Tata Docomo expands comic portfolio
Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) formed out of an alliance with Japan’s NTT Docomo, has launch Docomics, an addition to the operator’s recently announced m-comics service. Japan-based NTT Docomo is a provider of voice, data and multimedia services for mobile phones and Docomics is a trademark of NTT Docomo in India.
Subscribers can use Docomics to read full comics books, along with special effects like character vibration, sounds and zooming text bubbles. On this, Tata Docomo will offer popular Marvel titles such as Spider-Man, X-Men, Civil War; and Japanese Manga titles such as Goebreeders, Tamahagane, Aqua Planet Chronicle, Silent Mobius Complete Edition, Shinesman and Old Friend.
Customers can view the content frame by frame and can also download the same from the WAP site or through the viewer application. In the introductory offer, they will be charged Rs 15 per comic chapter and there will be no additional data charges in the home network.
Tata Docomo had launched a similar m-comics service, Comix on the go, in November 2009. It offers about 2,000 titles from mythological tales, Supandi from Amar Chitra Katha, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Princess Diaries from Disney, and Sadhu and Devi from Liquid Comics. The service is available at various price points – Rs 3 for small scripts, Rs 10 for short stories, Rs 20 for full comics.
Speaking about Comix on the go, Zubin Jimmy Dubash, assistant vice-president, new products development, TTSL, told Telecom Yatra, “Though it is too early to comment on this, with its growing popularity we are expanding our comics portfolio and going forward, customers will get many more titles. We expect a good response and our comics product is very competitively priced compared to our competitors.”
On the demographic profile of comics subscribers, he added, “Comics reading is enjoyed by all genres from teen to youngsters to adolescents. But largely our target group remains in the age group of 18 to 35 years.”
What will drive mobile internet usage?
According to a report released by the IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) and IMRB, derived from TRAI findings, there are only about 2 million users accessing the internet through their mobile phones and other mobile devices on an active basis, that is, at least once a month.
The report further states that there are close to 127 million mobile subscribers, effectively 27 per cent of the total subscriber base of 471 million, who have internet ready mobile phones. Of these 127 million subscribers, only 9.4 per cent (12 million) users have used the internet over their mobile phones ever in this year. This number further reduces to 2 million or 1.7 per cent when it comes to active users. These figures are based on TRAI’s findings as on September 2009.
Telecom Yatra spoke to a few industry professionals on what could be the drivers of mobile internet. Rajiv Hiranandani, co-founder and executive director of mobile marketing agency Mobile2win, feels that mobile operators should educate their customers about using mobile internet. Moreover, he feels better and affordable data plans will also increase its usage. Mobile internet penetration in tier II cities will also steer the growth as these areas ape urban India, adds Hiranandani.
Sujata Dev, managing director, Times Broadband, feels that good Bandwidth and connectivity will push mobile internet. She says that rich data is what users will be looking for on the internet. “The data download on mobile will buck up ARPUs (average revenue per user).” According to Dev, the major chunk of people using mobile internet are the ones on Blackberry and other high-end handsets. Considering the price consciousness in India, she thinks right pricing by the operators could boost mobile internet.
However, Krishna Durbha, head of VAS, Mobile Data and content at Reliance Communications, feels that the roadblock to mobile internet is not pricing but the difficult accessibility in phones. He explains that even if the operators introduce affordable data plans, the handset should be compatible enough for easy internet access. Durbha thinks that handset manufacturers should make the access of internet at one click on mobile. The GPRS settings are sometimes too complicated, which turns down the usage, he adds.
Telecom operators have already started introducing affordable data plans. For instance, Aircel introduced pocket internet cards for Rs 98. Tata DoCoMo has Gtalk and Facebook included on its internet enabled phones. MTS offered 15 GB free download on purchase of its MBlaze data connection as a part of inaugural offer in Mumbai.
Aircel, Infosys launch mobile app store
Aircel, a part of Malaysia’s Maxis Communication, and technology giant Infosys Technologies have announced the launch of a mobile application store to provide services across different segments to Aircel subscribers. The Aircel Application Store will offer mobile applications related to health, lifestyle, entertainment, productivity (traffic, weather, etc) and education, among others. Subscribers can access these apps through voice, SMS, GPRS and internet (on a desktop). The store is will offer apps that are compatible with most handsets, irrespective of the model and manufacturer. Aircel is currently offering many free apps along with marginally priced and premium ones, and it also has several India-focused apps in its store.
Infosys will be providing the ecosystem and the platform for the Aircel Application Store. The store will be powered by Flypp, a ready-to-launch application platform by Infosys that enables operators to offer a range of apps, across devices. The platform can be integrated into an operator’s current technology environment or they can plug-and-play with their existing applications.
Throwing light on the App market in India, Sandeep Sawhney, head, new product development, Aircel, said at a press conference, “Over 200,000 apps are available through various providers globally and there were 2.5 billion downloads, of which most happened during the last nine months. In India, the app market is very small and less than one per cent of devices are smartphones. Voice and SMS dominate here and Indian needs are not taken care of by global app providers.”
Aircel is presently operating in 18 circles and has a subscriber base of 30 million as on December 31, 2009.