National Telecom Policy 2011: Free Roaming, High Speed Broadband

Kapil Sibal, Minister for Telecommunications and IT today release the draft of the National Telecommunications Policy-2011 aims to have 100% tele-density by 2020 also targets affordable and reliable broadband on demand by 2015 and Free National Roaming on Mobile Services.

The New Telecom Policy recommends one Nation, one license policy across services and service areas to abolish Roaming charges. The distinction between local and STD calls would vanish, as the policy aims at a ‘one-nation-one-licence’ regime.

Under the new telecom policy, telecom ministry also provisions for inter-circle Mobile Number Portability (MNP) i.e. Full MNP, which involves changing an operator while retaining the same phone number in different telecom circles.

NTP-2011 aims to revise the existing broadband download speed of 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps by 2011 and subsequently to 2 Mbps by 2015 and try to make 500 MHZ spectrum available by 2020. It will De-link issuances of licenses and spectrum allocation. The revenue generation will be the secondary consideration in the New Telecom Policy 2011.

Mr. Kapil Sibal says “We will seek seek TRAI recommendations on license framework under the new Telecom Policy 2011. State operators BSNL and MTNL will continue to play important role in penetration. Mission is to have special coverage of remote and rural areas. The New spectrum act will look into spectrum pricing and spectrum to be made available at market valuations.”


Highlights : National Telecom Policy – 2011 :



One Nation-One License to mean removal of Roaming charges on Mobile phone service.
Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One Nation – Free Roaming.
Efforts Towards ‘Right to Broadband’
Affordable and reliable Broadband on demand by 2015 and to achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed and making available higher speeds of atleast 100 Mbps on demand.
To revise the existing broadband download speed of 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps by 2011 and subsequently to 2 Mbps by 2015 and and higher speeds of atleast 100 Mbps thereafter.
300 MHz spectrum to be made available by 2017
Aim to make 500 MHz spectrum available by 2020
Mission is to have special coverage of Remote, Rural areas across India.
Protect consumer interest by promoting informed consent, transparency and accountability in quality of service, tariff, usage etc.
Optimize transmission of services to consumers irrespective of their devices or locations by Fixed-Mobile Convergence thus making available valuable spectrum for other wireless services.
Convergence of services will cover voice, data, video, Internet, VAS
The technology neutral Unified Licenses are envisaged to be in two separate categories : (a) Network Service Operator (NSO)/ Communication Network Service Operator (CNSO)
(b) Service Delivery Operator (SDO)/ Communication Service Delivery Operator (CSDO)
To permit resale at retail level like MVNO
De-link licenses issuances & spectrum allocations
Spectrum to be made available at market valuations
Seek TRAI recommendation on license framework
Will allow trading, sharing, pooling of spectrum
Will enact a separate spectrum act
Aim is to have the policy take effect by December 2011


Note : All above regulations are proposed by Telecom Ministry and would be effective if the policy comes into effect.

World’s Cheapest Android Tablet ‘Aakash’ Launched In India

The much awaited world’s cheapest $35 android Tablet is finally launched in India dubbed as Aakash developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Rajasthan).

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resourced Development launched Aakash Tablet and it will be sold to students at the subsidized price of $35 (approx Rs. 1720) to expand digital access across India.

Speaking on the launch of Tab, Minister Kapil Sible announced that the “Aaksh Tablet” will initially be available in a pilot run of 1,00,000 units before being rolled out to millions of secondary students over the next few months. The tablets will be distributed state-wise and each state will get 3000 units in first phase. This device was also distributed among 500 children on the occasion.

Powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo) the 7-inch tablet has a resistive multi touch screen and Conexant CPU with HD Video and accelerated graphics.

Manufactured by London (UK) based DataWind, branded as UBSLATE and renamed as the Aakash tablet weighs 350 grams and has 256 MB of RAM and 32 GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports. The tablet also has support for Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g connectivity and includes a microphone and stereo earphones. It comes with one year replacement warranty.


in pic:Minister for HRD, Communications and IT, Mr. Kapil Sibal launching the "Aakash" Low Cost Android Tablet



According to DataWind, The Premium version of Aakash Tablet inbuilt cellular modem (GSM/3G) and SIM card slot to access Internet, which will be absent in the $35 (Rs.1720) device, supplied to the Government of India will be available at retail stores across India at MRP of Rs. 2999 by the end of October 2011.

A keyboard portfolio case for the Aakash Tablet will also be made available during the premium version launch at an additional cost of Rs. 300.

Vodafone’s New GPRS Packs For Kerala

In a bid to provide more affordable data offerings Vodafone, country’s 3rd largest operator revised its 2G data pack portfolio in Kerala circle. Now Vodafone is offering 2G data plans for 1 day, 3 days, 7 days and 30 days validity.

But Vodafone cut down the usage from 2GB to 1GB in 30 day validity pack.

This move follows the Airtel’s step.

Indian Smartphone Users Spend More Time on content Than on Voice & SMS

India’s growing population of Smartphone users now spends more time on entertainment and internet based content than on voice calling and text messages finds the newly formed strategic alliance between Nielsen and Informate Mobile Intelligence.

The average Smartphone user spends 2.5 hours a day using their phones with 72% of their time spent on activities such as gaming, entertainment, apps and internet related content.

Only 28% of their time is now used for voice calls and text messaging.

Key Findings by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights


Smartphone users in India are using their phones for more than 2.5 hrs per day, of which communication (calls, SMS, emails) accounts for only 28% of usage.

Younger Smartphone users (15-25 yr olds) spend more than 3 hrs per day on their phones and spend 60% of the time on entertainment & browsing e.g., gaming, surfing the net and multimedia.
68% of 15-24 year olds used a chat app last month as compared to 42% for the 31+ year olds.

Data usage for 3G users was close to 44% more than 2G users.

An Android user installs an average of 19 apps in a month compared to 10 apps for a Symbian user.

84% of Android users played a game in the last month compared to 59% for Symbian users.

Apps and gaming behavior by Operating System.

Tata
Docomo
has
come
up
with a
long
term
first
recharge coupon (FRC) for the new activations for its Karnataka Customer especially for Bangalore & Mysore customers
on the occasion of Dasara. During this Dasara Festival Customer from Bangalore & Mysore can enjoy this special benefit of FRC 89 where he can enjoy all local tata calls at 1ps/6sec (10ps/min) , all other local calls at 1ps/2secs( 30ps/ mins) & STD calls at 1.2ps/sec (72ps/min) for the period of 90 days. Also customer can enjoy 98 free sms, after first two sms getting charged at 50ps/sec and also Customer will Get 500 MB data with 3 months validity and also customer can download exclusive premium content of Dasara which will be activated within 72hrs of activation. The new activations on this starter pack will also get 250 MB extra data free which is only to be used for Yahoo websites with 30 days validity. This FRC is applicable only on the New Dasara Special Kit. One more special benefit is that customer will get Premium numbers like, 7788, 7868, 8833, and 1111 as the last series numbers without any extra charges. There is also a lucky draw running during this new activation customer can win Gold coins upto 400 Gms . Lucky draw on 31st Oct 2011.

Tata Docomo karnataka new FRC

Tata
Docomo
has
come
up
with a
long
term
first
recharge coupon (FRC) for the new activations for its Karnataka Customer especially for Bangalore & Mysore customers
on the occasion of Dasara. During this Dasara Festival Customer from Bangalore & Mysore can enjoy this special benefit of FRC 89 where he can enjoy all local tata calls at 1ps/6sec (10ps/min) , all other local calls at 1ps/2secs( 30ps/ mins) & STD calls at 1.2ps/sec (72ps/min) for the period of 90 days. Also customer can enjoy 98 free sms, after first two sms getting charged at 50ps/sec and also Customer will Get 500 MB data with 3 months validity and also customer can download exclusive premium content of Dasara which will be activated within 72hrs of activation. The new activations on this starter pack will also get 250 MB extra data free which is only to be used for Yahoo websites with 30 days validity. This FRC is applicable only on the New Dasara Special Kit. One more special benefit is that customer will get Premium numbers like, 7788, 7868, 8833, and 1111 as the last series numbers without any extra charges. There is also a lucky draw running during this new activation customer can win Gold coins upto 400 Gms . Lucky draw on 31st Oct 2011.

Uninor Introduces Combo Pack

Uninor
today
announced
the
launch
of Combo Pack targeting Andhra Pradesh telecom circle. The Combo pack comes with a Special Tariff Voucher of Rs. 27 and offers 3000 Free SMS (100 Local / National per day) for 30 days along with 100 MB of internet browsing with a validity of 30 days. Looks like Uninor is constantly
coming up with innovate ideas to bring out simple products that benefit its customers to the maximum. Understanding that youth across the state are the biggest users of SMS and internet we hope this pack will give them the freedom to stay connected in a cost effective manner.