Vodafone has launched its 3G services across large parts of Uttar Pradesh.

According to Vodafone East UP chief operations officer Ravi Santhanam, the Vodafone 3G services will give its customers a faster, smarter and better mobile experience with internet access at speeds up to 21.1 Mbps.

He added that the new service will empower Vodafone customers with exclusive access to retransmission of live matches of the cricket World Cup and streaming of entertainment and other content on their compatible mobile devices.

The launch of the 3G Services is supported by an extensive multi-media advertising campaign that will bring alive the benefits of this exciting and fascinating world of 3G.

He further stated that currently, customers in east Uttar Pradesh will have access to Vodafone 3G services at no additional cost.

Presently, Vodafone 3G services will be available in Lucknow and Kanpur. It will be extended to Allahabad and Varanasi over the next two months and subsequently in the remaining cities.

Reliance Communications has launched its 3G services in the three districts of central Kashmir and promised to cover the whole Valley in the next two months.

With the launch of the service, RCom has become the first private company to launch the service in the Valley.

According to Vivek Kumar, the company’s executive for the state, the north Kashmir health resort of Gulmarg and south Kashmir tourist resort town Pahalgam would be provided the 3G services within the next one month. While providing the 3G service in the Valley, the company was strictly abiding by the directives of the central telecom ministry and also the security guidelines governing such services. Recently, the company launched 3G services in Chandigarh, Punjab, Jammu and Mumbai.

The company executives added that with the 3G services in place, subscribers in Kashmir would have access to an Internet speed of 7.2 megabytes per second, 110 television channels, video conferencing, social networking and mobile cinema.

He concluded with the statement that Reliance Communications will lead the creation of a wire-free India through the launch of an affordable 3G service for all.

­A latest research report has revealed that the worldwide telecoms market will grow from US$1.8 trillion in 2009 to US$2.4 trillion in 2014, at a 6% CAGR.

Mobile data services will continue be the main engine of growth, offsetting the continued rapid decline of wireline voice revenues. Mobile voice revenue is forecast to grow at a 6% CAGR, but the revenue from non-messaging and messaging mobile data will grow at much higher growth rates: 21% and 12%, respectively.

Mobile broadband will have the greatest impact in both mature and growth markets, but finding the right business models and managing costs will be the keys to operator success.

Operators in mature markets have to contend with largely saturated mobile markets. To increase average revenue per user (ARPU), they must look for new types of service to offer consumers – for example, applications and content – in order to tap into a different source of spending. Consumers in mature, saturated markets are likely to be at, or approaching, the limit for their telecoms services spending. The creation of new business models will enable operators to capture a greater share of content and applications revenue.

Mobile messaging services are becoming commoditized in mature markets. Usage will decline as other forms of communication, such as social networking, become more popular.

Operators in emerging markets will need to shift their focus towards increasing revenue as the rapid growth in subscriber numbers they have enjoyed in recent years begins to slow. They must also exploit the growth in handset data and content services – demand for these services will grow as content and handset functionality improve and 3G services become more widely available. Increased usage will drive revenue growth, if operators can monetize these services.

Thai communications True has announced that it will retain the employees at the Hutchison mobile service when the company takes over the business.

True’s Chief Executive Suphachai Chearavanont vowed that none of the 1,000 people working for Hutchison’s Thailand business will lose their jobs. True, through two subsidiaries, has acquired the business in January from Hutchison.

According to Suphachai, the initial focus would be on maintaining the existing 800,000 Hutch subscribers, and on migrating them to 3G services on a HSPA platform.

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Reliance Communications has announced that it will be launching 3G services in 12 cities of Rajasthan, including Jaipur within a month.

According to Vinay Chandok, Hub Head– Gujarat and Rajasthan, Reliance, Communications, demonstration of 3G capabilities at Jaipur is an integral part of their vision 2015 of creating a Wirefree India, built upon the affordable 3G for all platforms.

He added that the 3G services will be launched within a month in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Udaipur, Sri Ganganagar, Bhiwadi, Alwar, Pilani, Pali and Bhilwara. The range of services to be offered includes video calling, mobile TV, video streaming.

All the applications will be accessed at superfast speeds ubiquitously on a variety of mobile and personal computing devices, for which the company will make available different customized plans for different users.

Bharti Airtel has launched its 3G services in Karnataka and announced that it will launch 3G services in its other circles by March this year.

3G enables customers to access high speed internet, watch videos and live TV, make video calls and perform other multimedia tasks.

The company won 3G spectrum in 13 out of the 22 telecom circles in a government-led auction.

According to Bharti Airtel’s chief executive officer (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor, 3G is much more than a technology migration – it is a transformational shift and Airtel’s focus would be to bring to its customers an enriched user experience on the back of a world class delivery network.

He added that world over, ‘data traffic’ on the back of high speed internet and use of social networking has already exceeded the ‘voice traffic’. India is ushering in the domain – though later than most of the world – but no doubt we will catch up at a much faster speed.

The company has introduced innovative 3G tariffs with personalized data usage limits. Customers will be able to manage their data usage alert and prevent “bill shock” with personalized and timely data usage alerts, the statement added.

The time-based plans, where billing will be by hour-basis, will be focusing on customers who have less use of data while the flexi-shield plans, where usage and billing will be capped, is aimed at heavy users of data services.

With this launch, Bharti Airtel becomes the third private operator to launch its 3G services in the country following Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.

India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has announced that it will commercially launch 3G mobile services within a week.

According to Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor, they will make the announcement for the commercial launch of our 3G service in next six to seven days.

Bharti had won spectrum (radio waves) for 3G services in 13 of the country’s 22 telecom service areas in the auction held by the Government last year.

Recently, the government permitted carriage of video calls on mobile networks subject to an undertaking by operators that they would provide interception capability by July 31.

Bharti Airtel has given contracts to leading global vendors — Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country.

State-owned CAT Telecom PCL’s board has approved a plan to collaborate with True Corp. PCL to provide 3G mobile phone services, a development that was cheered by investors as it could help resolve the uncertainty hanging over the telecom operator’s future.

The move will allow True to secure its future as its 2G mobile phone concession, granted by CAT Telecom, is due to expire in 2013 while the fate of 3G spectrum licensing remains unclear. The concessions of True’s two bigger rivals, Advanced Info Service PCL and Total Access Communication PCL, are due to expire in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

According to CAT President Jirayut Rungsrithong, CAT’s board on Friday agreed the company will terminate its marketing contract with Hutchison CAT Wireless MultiMedia Co. and will sign a new 14-year contract with True to provide both 2G and 3G services.

As per the contract, expected to be signed in January, True will switch CAT’s existing Code Division Multiple Access network to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology. In return, True will rent CAT’s mobile network and become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

True’s mobile phone unit, True Move, is currently offering 3G mobile-phone services to its clients on a trial basis, using HSPA technology on its existing 850 megahertz frequency in the absence of new spectrum license.

Thailand’s second largest telecom company, Digital Total Access Communication (DTAC) is planning to initiate a major network renewal project in March, involving equipment upgrades at over 10,000 cell sites.

Half of the sites are expected to be upgraded by the end of this year, with the project scheduled for completion in 2012.

According to the company, the programme will result in better quality voice and data services and faster access for smartphone users, whilst readying the network for the full rollout of 3G services, although it declined to reveal a vendor or cost for the project.

Presently, DTAC operates trial 850MHz HSPA-based 3.5G services with limited coverage, but will soon be expanding the pre-commercial footprint under an initial US$33 million budget after gaining permission to launch additional 3G base stations. Meanwhile, the country’s 2100MHz licensing process remains on hold.

The senior official of the company of Aircel has revealed that the company is planning to formally launch its 3G services in the market in the next 40-60 days.

According to Aircel Chief Technology Officer Mallikarjuna Rao, they are planning to launch the service in all the 13 circles they won.

He added that the company’s 3G service will be pan-India and there will be collaboration with other telecom companies who have the 3G licences in other circles. They will go for a pan-India footprint. It will be give and take thing because nobody has the pan-India licence and everybody will go for a pan-India service. Te company will use the intra-circle roaming system.