As per figures released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on GSM subscribers for May, about 11 million new subscribers were added in the month, taking the GSM subscriber base to 444 million.
The figures also show that Uninor, a relatively new telecom operator in the industry, has reduced more than 8,000 subscribers in the month of May. According to a press statement released by Uninor today, “Uninor has declared a subscriber base of 5.01 million as of end of May. This is lower than the subscriber numbers reported for April by 8,722, resulting from the purging of data pertaining to inactive SIMs from the overall subscriber count. Inactive SIMs have been defined as those where no call, SMS, data usage or recharge activity has occurred over the past 60 days.”
In May, maximum new subscribers were added from circle B at 4.4 million. Circle A registered about 3.3 million additions, followed by circle C at 1.9 million and metros at 1.7 million.
According to COAI, UP (East) registered the maximum additional subscribers at almost 1.4 million. This was followed by Tamil Nadu (excluding Chennai) with over 950,000 additions, Andhra Pradesh with over 830,000 new subscribers, Mumbai with 780,000 and Bihar with 7.5 new subscribers.
Among operators, Bharti Airtel, with an additional three million subscribers, remained on top with a total subscriber base of about 133 million. Vodafone registered over 2.6 million new subscribers, followed by Aircel at 1.6 million, Idea Cellular at 1.4 million and BSNL at one million new subscribers.
New entrants, S Tel and Etisalat DB added over 120,000 and 5,000 subscribers respectively.
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.
GSM subscriber base reached 444 mn in May: COAI
vRock Mobile partners with Nimbus; plans voice blogging
Value added services provider vRock Mobile on Tuesday announced that it has bagged mobile rights for the forthcoming Asia Cup cricket tournament. The Asia Cup is scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka from June 15 to 24, and will have cricket teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh participating in it.
The company has signed an agreement with broadcaster Nimbus Sports for providing score alerts via SMS, video streaming, video clips, interactive voice response etc.
vRock has already roped in telcos such as BSNL, MTNL, Aircel, Tata Indicom and Tata Docomo for providing services to their subscribers. Jatin Ahluwalia, chief executive officer, vRock Mobile Communications, told Telecom Yatra that they are in discussions with other leading mobile operators and are awaiting responses from Airtel, Idea and Vodafone. vRock has the rights to the Asia Cup for the next two seasons till 2014. This is vRock’s second deal, the first being the five year contract with IPL for matches.
Ahluwalia says that though they are laying strong emphasis on sports right now, they plan to introduce lifestyle events.
vRock has also partnered with technology company Vuclip to power its mobile video search and UTV Indiagames for developing mobile games based on the Asia Cup.
Taking about services to be launched in the near future, Ahluwalia said, “We are going to launch our viral communication service. It would include value added voice services like voice blogging. We have partnered with Bubble Motion for this service. The service should be launched in the next quarter.”
Bubble Motion is a global provider of mobile Messaging and social media applications. It offers services like BubbleTalk, a personal voice messaging service, Bubbly, a voice-based social networking service and BubbleCast, an audio content broadcasting service.
Although the company will continue offering services via network services providers, it plans to have a direct consumer portal as well.
Videocon Mobile Services launches unlimited internet pack
Videocon Mobile Services has announced the launch of an internet plan which offers limitless browsing. The service is available at a monthly recharge of Rs 96.
As of now the offer can be availed by Videocon GSM prepaid customers in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana.
The base of mobile internet users in India has grown 245 per cent since 2008, highlighting the rapid growth of data users on mobile service networks, stated a company release.
The GPRS services works on its 2.75 EDGE GSM network.
Videocon Mobile services are currently available Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Kerala.
Zen Mobile appoints Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador
The 10-month-old mobile brand, Zen Mobile, has appointed one of the oldest stars in Bollywood — Amitabh Bachchan — as its brand ambassador.
The company signed the veteran actor, as he fit the bill in terms of values and qualities the brand represents. “We want to be perceived as a company that offers quality products which are also durable; and we found those qualities in Bachchan. He is a person who is known for his quality, long-term commitment and has stayed over the years,” Deepesh Gupta, MD, Zen Mobiles tells afaqs!.
The company’s primary target is users in tier 2 and 3 cities. Gupta adds that associating with Bachchan would help the company create a deep impact in the minds of its target audience, and help the brand and its products meet success.
The company plans to leverage its association with Bachchan through a media campaign, comprising print, TV, radio and BTL, with focus on print and TV. The campaign is expected to be on-air in about two months. Bates 141 is Zen Mobile’s creative agency.
The company has a marketing budget of Rs 25-30 crore for the year and expects a turnover of about Rs 800 crore. It plans to sell about 4 lakh handsets in a month, whose prices range between Rs 1,400-7,000.
Zen Mobile is geared up to launch a slew of QWERTY and multimedia feature-rich mobile handsets, loaded with social networking experience, at an affordable price for the Indian market. The current focus of the company is to provide high-quality, touch-screen phones with high-end multimedia features.
Founded in September 2009, Zen Mobile is a sister concern of the Telecare group, which has 15 years of experience in managing and distributing various first-tier mobile brands.
Bachchan’s brand endorsements include Pepsi, ICICI, Parker, Cadbury, Nerolac, Reid & Taylor, Dabur Hajmola, Rin, Himani Fast Relief, Navratna, Emami Boroplus and Eveready.
TTSL crosses 70 million subscribers mark
Tata Teleservices (TTSL) added 2.33 million new subscribers in the month of May to take its subscriber base past the 70 million mark. The company claims it has achieved the landmark in just over five years of the launch of its mobile telephony services.
The company stated that it has seen record subscriber growth rate of over 100 per cent in the last 12 months. TTSL recorded a subscriber base of 35 million in May 2009.
Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Teleservices, said in a statement, “With the countdown on 3G services having begun, we will continue to walk the innovation path, providing our customers with differentiated products and services which will take telecom to the next level. We are working closely on the creation of such relevant products with our partners, particularly NTT Docomo, which is acknowledged as the world leader in telecom technology development, and we look forward to the next wave in Indian telecom.”
In India, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications have crossed the 100 million subscriber mark. The first operator to achieve the benchmark in India was Bharti Airtel, which counted 100 million wireless subscribers in May 2009. Reliance Communications achieved his in March while Vodafone Essar announced the same in April.
Samsung unveils Bada in India
Samsung Electronics has announced the launch of its much awaited mobile operating system (OS) Bada OS in India. Although the OS was first showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2010 held in Barcelona, Spain, it was launched in November last year. The OS was launched at the Global Developer Day organised by Samsung Electronics in Bangalore on Monday. The platform marks the entry of Samsung into the mobile operating software segment.
The biggest benefit that Samsung Bada offers is that it is an open mobile platform. This means that a variety of mobile applications developed by independent developers will work on this OS, which can be customised by developers. The flexibility of the Bada platform makes it applicable to a wide range of devices.
The operating system is optimised for Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface technology and provides flash control, web control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control, and face detection. Also By using various Sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity, and activity sensors, application developers can implement context-aware interactive applications, which respond to movement.
Kobian plans to launch 10-12 handsets this year under the brand Mercury
Singapore-based Kobian has recently announced its foray into the Indian mobile handset market with its Mercury B2 Bizmobile. Kobian has been associated with India IT channel partners for nearly two decades with its brands Mercury and IXA.
In an email response to Telecom Yatra about the company’s foray into the handset industry, Sushmita Das, country manager, Kobian, said, “There is a convergence happening between the mobile and computing world. It’s a natural extension for IT brands to move into the mobile space. Mobile phone is a multifunctional device which is every common man’s need and desire today. The demand and growth is quite similar to what we saw as a growing demand in computer industry two decades back.”
Das further said that Mercury phones have been launched in the Middle East, South Africa, Nigeria and Russia, simultaneously with India. The company plans to launch 10 to 12 Mercury branded handsets in India this year.
The company believes that demand in this industry is huge, enabling various players to co exist and that their prices and schemes planned for each market segment will give them a competitive edge. “Our product positioning is clearly demarcated with the segment whom we are addressing thus one shall find a gizmo type phone for a young chap and also find handsets with special buttons and dimensions suited for our elderly people. The models are different for the business users and for the regular consumer.” adds Das.
Kobian is currently working on various plans to rope in a celebrity for brand endorsement. As of now the company has no plans of manufacturing phones in India.
Kobian already has operations in India under brand names Mercury and IXA. Mercury IT vertical offers a wide spectrum of IT peripherals such as motherboards, chassis, speakers, etc. Kaizen Infoserve, the service arm of Kobian, caters to the after sales support all Mercury and IXA products across country.
Microsoft offers Hotmail without GPRS
Microsoft India has announced a new service by which Hotmail users in India can send and receive email messages without a GPRS connection. The alerts are sent via SMS and are free of cost. The company claims that the service enables efficient viewing of emails by allowing users to specify the email address or domain from which they like to receive alerts.
Hotmail users need to log on to www.mobile.live.com, feed their mobile number and enter a verification code sent to their mobile to get started, the company said in an official statement.
Out of the 506 million mobile users in India, only 18 million have GPRS on their mobile phones and email access is available to a meagre 4 per cent of the total mobile user base, stated the company release.
“Today, staying connected is very important. We have gone on to integrate two of the most widely used and needed technologies and tools that help people stay connected – email and SMS. We saw a large addressable audience who would require a service such as this to make email available to them while on the go. We wanted to ensure that it’s simple, easily accessible and absolutely free, So now consumers are connected anytime, anywhere and can actually carry their Hotmail in their pocket”, said Prashant Thakur, head, mobile and search, Microsoft India.
UTV Indiagames partners with UK-based Mobile Streams
Mobile Streams has announced that it will partner with UTV Indiagames to distribute mobile content to network operators throughout India as well as via the mobile internet. Mobile Streams is a UK-based company which distributes and retails mobile content around the world through their mobile internet store (www.ringtones.com) and through network operators. With this alliance, Mobile Streams will foray into the Indian mobile market.
UTV Indiagames plans to use its relationships with India’s major network carriers to distribute content from Mobile Streams’ content catalogue, according to the press release. Mobile Streams has over 270,000 items from the top content providers in its catalogue including the popular Mr Bean along with a wide range of World Cup 2010 content such as wallpapers, tones, video and games.
Arnd Aschentrup, chief operating officer, Mobile Streams, said in a press statement, “Our aim is to extend our global footprint and offer our content partners the best exposure for their brands to increase their fan base and mobile revenues. We are delighted to be building on our existing relationship with UTV Indiagames and to be gaining access to mobile phone subscribers in India.”
A UTV Indiagames spokesperson was not available for comments.
Mobile Streams’ distribution network is present in the UK, Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The company also owns and operates the mobile internet portals, www.ringtones.com and www.mobilegaming.com.
Vodafone to bring iPhone 4 to India
Vodafone Essar announced the launch iPhone 4 in India in the coming months. The device was unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco and will be available from June 24 in the USA, France, Germany, Japan and UK.
The iPhone 4 comes with a FaceTime feature, which allows two iPhone 4 users to do video calling over WiFi. This feature was not present in previous iPhone models, including iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The company claims that the Retina display technology on iPhone 4 is said to be the sharpest and highest-resolution phone screen ever, with four times the pixel count of previous iPhone models. Apart from these features, it comes with high definition video recording and editing and a 5 megapixel camera with LED. The company says that this allows the iPhone 4 to recognise motion gestures which results in greater precision in games, among other things.
iPhone 4 is priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32 GB globally. However, the price for the Indian market has not been revealed yet.