The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued orders to all telecom service providers in the country that all bulk SMS and all bulk MMS messages shall remain banned in all service areas till October 01, 2010.
Earlier on September 22, all bulk messages were banned with immediate effect for 72 hours. On September 24, the ban was further extended till today.
The decision is said to be a precautionary measure to prevent misuse of the technology to fuel communal violence, ahead of the Ayodhya land dispute verdict.
The ban will not impact individual SMSs sent between mobile subscribers. However, various essential Messaging services including alerts from banks, financial institutions, railways, airlines etc. have been blocked.

E business companies have started using mobile commerce, apps, and self service features, which now form a major part of their mobile strategy.
These companies have also started providing customer service from within a mobile website or app. However, it is still in nascent stages, but picking up fast.
Such a service is very important as customers need immediate and contextual assistance, as per a report by Forrester Research.
Compared to customer service on a web site, mobile customer service is accompanied by urgency. The capability to quickly answer customer service questions via a mobile device can support consumers, who will not need to be in front of their computers.
Moreover, as mobile internet and customer service technology continues to grow, mobile customer service will become a more pressing priority.

Mobile internet usage risesBy mid 2009, 17 per cent of USA cell phone owners, representing nearly 40 million American consumers, accessed the mobile web once a month or more often.
In India, the number of people hooked to mobile internet, according to Google, has now more than doubled, from about 8-10 million in the beginning of the year 2009.
This is driving several changes in the mobile internet landscape.
Firstly, mobile phone users are now accessing m commerce web sites and apps.
Secondly, upgraded networks and handset technologies have further driven the adoption of mobile internet.
Thirdly, consumers’ expectations of mobile internet functionality are moving up. Simple WAP pages are increasingly being replaced by more sophisticated mobile web sites. These sites offer relevant and immediate content and services, frequently replicating the functionality of online web sites.

Mobile customer care strategyMobile customer service is in its early stages, but there is considerable interest in it amongst e business professionals. However, there are certain things that need to be kept in mind to enable smooth functioning of this medium.
First is that mobile internet sites should make contact information accessible, and given the screen size limits, they should display contact numbers clearly.
Second, optimising help content such as FAQs or search can be complex across multiple platforms but this challenge will diminish as technology providers find innovative solutions. Also, mobile internet-help content will need to be formatted for a smaller screen.
Third, mobile internet sites should integrate web site service functions. Customers who are seeking information online about a potential or completed purchase may also seek this information on a mobile device.
The fourth point is that virtual agents are new on the mobile medium, and as they gain popularity, e business professionals will start considering the benefits of these software services. These agents provide automated assistance by simulating a two way conversation with customers through a mobile device.
Fifth, mobile SMS chat can offer live help to consumers wherever they are. This enables the company to reduce waiting time. Moreover, SMS chat requires no device support. A key issue for SMS chat is that consumers without unlimited SMS plans will have to pay for the SMS messages. Companies should consider free-to-end-user (FTEU) codes.
And last but not least, click-to-call is going mobile. There is increased interest in mobile click-to-call among e business professionals as there are notable advantages to this function. Mobile click-to-call can pull data from the session and match it to internal systems using identifiers such as an email address or telephone number to assist in the identification of the customer. Through this, the contact representative will have some context when beginning the telephone call.

Indian scenarioIn India, the use of mobiles in customer care is till now restricted to mobile operator companies. Operators are enabling self care for things such as balance enquiry via unstructured supplementary services data (USSD), change in plans etc.
According to Sangeet Chowfla, executive vice president of global market units, and chief strategy officer, of integrated VAS solutions company Comviva, “Mobile customer care is happening in India and it will be picked up quite widely by companies. Operators and direct to home (DTH) companies are already using it as it is very effective in taking the load away from call centres, as well as in reducing costs.”

The futureMobile customer service space will continue to evolve as technology becomes more sophisticated. The intersection of mobile and customer service will have far reaching implications. Regardless of the current mobile customer service strategy, e business professionals need to consider customer service capabilities on mobile internet and road maps of vendors, and continue to review the landscape regularly.

Türkiye üzerinde geçtiğimiz yıllarda ortaya çıkan özel numara tahsisi gün geçtikçe ilerlemeye devam ediyor. 444’lü telefon numaraları ile başlayan bu serüven IP telefonlarla ceplerimize kadar girmeyi başardı. Cosmoscell isimli yeni bir girişim ise müşterilerine normalde olduğundan çok daha uygun fiyatlar ve üst düzey performans güvencesi ile hizmet veriyor.

Peki özel numara önemli mi?

0216,0212,0850i,0232 Alan kodugibi başlangıca sahip olan telefon numaraları ile müşterilerinize veya çevrenize karşı prestij kazanabilirsiniz. Ayrıca bu numaralara kuracağınız santraller ile hizmet kalitenizi de arttırmanız mümkün.

Sanal santral nedir?

Sanal Santral, kişisel veya iş amaçlı olarak iletişim ihtiyacınızı çözmeye yönelik bir hizmetler bütünüdür. Sanal Santral size, normal bir santralin yapabildiklerine ek olarak yeni ve teknolojik özelliklere sahip bir sistem sunar. Sanal Santral, sayesinde tüm bu gelişmiş özelliklere sahip olmanın yanı sıra, tasarruflarda sağlarsınız. Sayısallaşan telefon hatlarınızın sabit ücreti ortadan kalktığı gibi, hesaplı görüşme ücretleriyle de, görüşme bedellerini de aşağılara çekersiniz.

Santral Hizmetleri, Sms Hizmetleri ve 0850 telefon numaraları hakkında daha fazla detaylı bilgi içinCosmoscell‘in sitesini ziyaret edebilirsiniz.

Yeni Nesil Telefon Hizmeti İle Tanışın

Telefon; gerek bireysel ve gerekse kurumsal iletişimin vazgeçilmez bir parçası haline gelmiş durumda. Günümüzde yoğun olarak kullanılan telefon iletişi özellikle şirket ve kurumların iş ve pazarlama süreçlerinde önemli bir noktada yer alıyor. Ancak klasik telefon hizmeti olarak adlandırılan mevcut telefon sistemleri hem ekonomik açıdan pahalı seviyelerde yer alıyor hem de verimlilik açısından çağın gereksinimlerini karşılayamıyor.

Yeni Nesil Telefon Hizmeti: Sanal Telefon Sistemleri

Teknolojinin imkânlarından faydalanılarak geliştirilen yeni nesil telefon sistemlerinde en çok dikkat çeken özelliksanal santralözelliği. Fiziksel olarak santral kurulumuna ihtiyaç duymadan santral işlemlerinizi yürütebileceğiniz sanal santral hizmetlerimiz hem ekonomik maliyeti ile hem de etkin iletişim açısından verimli seçeneklere sahip. Telefon trafiğinize göre sunduğumuz sanal santral sistemlerine ilişkin çözümlerimizden muhasebe ve hukuk ofislerinden çağrı merkezlerine kadar pek çok şirket ve kurum faydalanıyor.

Kurumsal iletişim ve kurumsal telefon sistemleri denildiği zaman akla ilk olarak850li numarasistemleri geliyor. Günümüzde bankalardan alışveriş sitelerine, pazarlama şirketlerinden sigorta şirketlerine kadar tüm kurum ve şirketler 850 ile başlayan kurumsal numaraları tercih ediyor. Kurduğumuz sanal iletişim hatları sayesinde sunduğunuz hizmetin türü ve hitap ettiğiniz hedef kitlenin yapısı ne olursa olsun kurumsal bir iletişim kimliğine sahip oluyorsunuz.

Kısa Mesajlı Tanıtım Sistemleri

Firmamızın sunduğu diğer bir hizmet türü isetoplu smsgönderim hizmeti. Gsm operatörleri, bankalar, alışveriş siteleri, devlet kurumları, polis, jandarma gibi geniş kitleler ile muhatap olan kurum ve şirketler; tanıtım, bilgilendirme ve duyurularını toplu sms sistemleri aracılığı ile gerçekleştiriyorlar. Kullanımı kolay bir yazılım ile aynı anda dilediğiniz kadar kişiye sms göndermenize imkân tanıyan toplu kısa mesaj sistemleri; normal sms maliyeti ile kıyaslandığında üçte iki oranında tasarruf sağlıyor.

Cosmoscell olarak sadece yukarıda sayılan hizmetlerimiz ile değil aynı zamanda uluslararası görüşme tarifelerimizle de sizlere ekonomik çözümler sunuyoruz. Dünyanın pek çok ülkesi ile ekonomik fiyat tarifesi üzerinden görüşme imkânı sunduğumuz uluslararası tarifelerimiz uluslararası faaliyet gösteren şirket ve kurumların ilk tercihi konumunda yer alıyor.

Siz de ekonomik ve kaliteli iletişim ile tanışmak istiyorsanız Cosmoscell dünyasına adım atmalısınız.

OnMobile, one of the largest mobile value added services companies, says that even after the rollout of 3G services in India, it will continue to focus on 2G and 2.5G.
Speaking to Telecom Yatra, Kiran Anandampillai, vice president, products, OnMobile, says, “We will be providing both 2G and 2.5G services along with 3G services. This is because we feel that even after 3G is rolled out, about 85 per cent of customers will be on 2G and only 15 per cent will use 3G. 2G will continue to remain a large market.”
Anandampillai says that most operators will be rolling out 3G services by January 2011 and even after one or two years, there will be only 15-20 per cent of penetration of these services.
“But it will still make a lot of difference to revenues of operators as well as VAS providers. There is a huge opportunity for VAS players in the industry, and as 3G gets rolled out, the adoption of VAS in India will increase,” he adds.
Currently, only BSNL and MTNL offer 3G services in India, and private operators who recently won 3G spectrum are gearing up for the launch. In the auctions, Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and S Tel, had bagged 3G spectrum.
Both the state owned telcos had launched these services in early 2009, and within a year of launch, BSNL is serving 14 lakh 3G subscribers, and aims to have more than 40 lakh by the end of the fiscal.
Anandampillai says, “The time of launch of 3G services by private operators will not be very different. Each operator wants to have some unique offerings around 3G, through which they can build their brand and market. We are in discussions with operators to offer innovative products that suit their demands and we will do our best on this front.”
3G will enable high quality multimedia services such as video calling, high speed internet browsing and live TV on 3G enabled mobile phones.

The Indian Telecom sector has been riding high on success. The country, second only to China, is inching closer to achieving the billion subscriber feat. The total telephone subscriber base crossed the 688 million mark at the end of July, taking teledensity to 58.17 per cent.
India has emerged the fastest growing telecom market in the world. In fact, its increasing contribution to the Indian economy cannot be ignored. During Indian Telecom 2009 event, Minister of Communications and IT, A Raja recognised telecom as a major driver of the growth of India’s economy and stated that the sector contributed 5.6 per cent to GDP.
In fact, even in the year 2009, which is considered the worst year for telecom growth globally, owing to the recession, Indian telecom sailed through smoothly.
A major contributor in bringing the telecom sector to its present glory has been the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which was set up in 1997 through TRAI Act 1997 with an aim to “ensure that the interests of consumers are protected, and at the same time to nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications, broadcasting and cable services in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society.”

How has TRAI fared?Before the establishment of TRAI, the government — DoT — had a monopoly over the telecom sector. DoT not just acted as a regulator, but also as the licensor.
Initial years of TRAI were marred with roadblocks despite which it took a number of initiatives. Since its inception, TRAI has been instrumental in introducing regulations like Unified Access Licensing Regime, Calling Party Pays, abolishing Access Deficit Charge etc.
During its tenure as the regulator of one of the most booming sectors of the economy, most of the industry believes that TRAI has fared well.
Nipendra Mishra, former chairperson, TRAI, says, “TRAI is one of the best regulators in the country and has also received international acclaim.”
RN Prabhakar, former member of TRAI believes, “Within the constraints of TRAI act, the regulator has been very effective. TRAI introduced transparancy in policy matters and issued regulations which helped in bringing down tariffs. Also, TRAI forced operators to introduce two digit VAS activation policy (for eg, using *9 as apposed to * for ringtone activation,) which has significantly reduced the number of VAS related complaints by customers.”
Prabhakar adds, “Interconnection policy introduced by TRAI has also been beneficial for the consumers.”
SC Khanna, secretary general, Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India agrees, “TRAI brought in competition in the market. Our entire business model is based on competition. It helped entry of player like Docomo in India, which initiated the tariff war in India.”
Experts believe that over a period of time TRAI has brought more stability and lesser uncertainties in the telecom sector. The regulator might experience some hiccups such as 2G spectrum pricing where its recommendations have been debatable, but overall it is moving in the right direction.Rajan S Mathews, director general, Cellular Operator’s Association of India, says, “I think overall, TRAI has had a good record. The chairpersons have been great and they have initiated some important rulings like unified license, interconnection, revenue share, calling party pay etc. All this has helped to make cellular services affordable.”
He adds, “However, recently there are some issues that have raised concern for the regulator like the 2G spectrum pricing issue. Industry is of the view that their interest in not being taken into consideration. Then, we are waiting for TRAI to make regulations on unsolicited calls.”
While most of the industry in is tune about TRAI’s satisfactory performance, some differ in their point of view.
Anil Prakash, secretary general, ITU-APT Foundation of India, however, is of the view that there are different phases in which TRAI’s performance can be measured.
He says, “Initially TRAI was not effective, later they became effective and now they are totally non effective. They have failed in both their mandates: fixing of tariff and improving quality of service. Because of the tariff war that started, there are so many tariffs in the market, which confuses and frustrates customers.”
He added, ” Under the regime of TRAI, there are 25 prepaid plans offered by a single operator in each circle, and since there are around 10 operators in each circle. It comes to around 250 plans in each circle.”
He adds, “Issues related to quality of service have also been resolved. We still have problems of network congestion and call drops.”

Does TRAI need more powerIndian telecom is maturing in terms of reach, service as well as technology, and with 3G and BWA spectrum allocations over, Broadband promises to usher in the next era of evolution.
On the other hand, the road ahead is full of challenges. These include MNP, 2G spectrum pricing, improper subscriber verification, unsolicited calls etc.
The question arises whether TRAI will be able to continue with its current set of powers. Will these be enough to empower TRAI to regulate the expanding telecom market in future?
TRAI has already said that it should be given more powers and has sent a request to DoT regarding the same, to which it is awaiting a reply.
Khanna agrees that the regulator should be given more powers. Citing the example of unsolicited marketing calls, Khanna said, “If we take the example of Do Not Call registry, TRAI doesn’t have the power to prosecute. It cannot punish the violators. To deal with the problem it is necessary that TRAI get power to punish and fine the violators as well.”
Prabhakar agrees, “TRAI should have the power to take disciplinary action against defaulters at least in the areas of quality of service, tariff and interconnection. If we have this power we can at least penalise the operators and then they will be forced to improve their quality.”
However, Jaideep Ghosh, executive director, KPMG, differs. He argues, “Even in other countries regulators role is restricted to regulating and making policies. They don’t have any power to take action against defaulters. It is the work of the ministry, mainly DoT which is authorised to take action against the defaulters.”
He believes that TRAI’s role is and should be restricted to enhancing teledensity and overall performance of the telecom sector.
Agrees Matthews, “The regulator doesn’t need additional powers; The regulatory arm’s right to judge and punish should not be put all together. Earlier DoT was everything wrapped into one and that is why TRAI was formed.”
He adds, “As far as levying of penalties is concerned, there has to be an appropriate forum for that like now we have TDSAT. There are always two sides of any story and both need to be heard before making a judgment. Hence, there should be a separate body for that.”
TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal) was constituted under TRAI (Amendment) Act 2000, to deal with the issues of consumer grievance and to adjudicate any disputes between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers or between a service provider and a group of consumers.
General opinion in the telecom industry is that both TRAI and TDSAT have been remarkably transparent and open. The websites of TRAI contains discussion papers, recommendations, notifications and orders passed by TRAI. Similarly, the website of TDSAT contains all the judgments passed by TDSAT.
TRAI in its endeavor to improve the telecom scenario in India has tried to create a supportive regulatory environment.
The growth of telecom services in terms of increase in the number of service providers, subscriber base and vast network of the telecom services covering the length and breadth of country are witness to the efforts of TRAI.
These measures undertaken by the regulator have also resulted in overall benefits to the consumer in terms of choice of services and affordable tariff.

MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), today announced its tie up with sportswear brand Reebok as part of its marketing initiative for the festive season.
“MTS has entered into a three months exclusive partnership with Reebok. As part of the tie up, we will be giving away free Reebok shoes for every purchase our MBlaze internet datacard, ” SSTL CMO Leonid Musatov told reporters.
He said the initiative called ‘Speed Ka Double Dose’, will be rolled out in 84 towns across the country where MBlaze network is available.
Speaking on the tie-up, Reebok said the partnership is part of its initiative to enhance its consumer reach.