Former minister’s aide found dead (India)
An associate of India’s former Telecoms Minister has been found dead. The aide, Sadhick Batcha, 37, was found hanging at his home in Chennai, his family claimed, although the police are still investigating the situation around his death.
Although a suicide note has been found, the police are still investigating the death and have not ruled out murder as a possibility.
CBI has stated that the investigation into the huge telecoms scandal over the country’s 2008 mobile network licenses will continue though. The investigators, who are close to wrapping up their Supreme Court-supervised investigation into the scam, stated that Batcha’s death is of little consequence now.
As per the CBI officer, everything is about documents, the money trail. His death will not affect it.
It had been claimed that Sadhick Batcha owned a company which could have been used to launder some of the claimed bribes that were paid to secure the GSM licenses back in 2008. The company had included the wife of the former telecoms minister as a company director, although she resigned in 2008.
DoT issues notice to Idea, Etisalat DB for cancelling licenses (India)
The Indian government has issued notices to Aditya Birla group company Idea cellular for Punjab circle and new operator Etisalat DB for Delhi and Mumbai for cancelling their 2G licences for missing roll-out obligations respectively.
According to DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar, a notice has been issued to Idea Cellular for Punjab circle.
Earlier, a similar notice had been issued to Etisalat DB for cancellation of its licence in Delhi and Mumbai circles.
In Idea’s case, the notice has been issued for not meeting launched obligations and for other violations of licence conditions.
DoT issued Letters of Intent (LoIs) to Idea Cellular for providing Unified Access Services in nine service areas– Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Orissa, North East, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) on January 10,2008.
3G connections to reach 400 mn mark in four years (India)
A new study has revealed that the number of 3G subscriber connections in India are predicted to reach 400 million mark within four years, representing almost 30% of the country’s total mobile connections.
According to the study, 3G connections are set to grow three-fold between 2011 and 2015 as operators ramp-up launch of new 3G networks.
It added that Indian operators spent a combined $15 billion in acquiring Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) 3G spectrum at an auction last year and are forecast to jointly invest a further $2.5 billion in building the new networks and launching 3G services in 2011. More than 80% of 3G connections would be based on WCDMA in five years, with the remaining 20% on CDMA-based 3G networks. Competition in the Indian 3G space is likely to be intense as most operators have set ambitious targets.
The study notes that India’s Circle A and Circle B service areas would account for 75% of the country’s 3G connections by 2015. Even though initial 3G launches are concentrated in the so-called metro areas (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata), they will soon be outstripped by fast-growing demand for 3G in more populous regions such as Punjab, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.
According to the study, by 2015, 3G market shares will more closely resemble the overall national picture: Bharti — India’s largest operator — is forecast to command the largest 3G share (18 per cent), followed by Reliance (15 per cent) and BSNL (13 per cent).
Airtel launches 3G services in Mumbai (India)
Bharti Airtel has launched its 3G services in Mumbai. The company has formally announced 3G services in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa circles.
<p style="text-align: justify%3
Airtel signs up 500,000 3G customers (India)
Bharti Airtel has claimed that it has signed up half a million customers to its 3G network – which it launched a little over a month ago. The announcement was made as the company launched its 3G service in the capital city, Delhi and the regions, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida.
According to Atul Bindal, President-Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, as the undisputed leader in the Indian telecom industry, they are truly driving the mobile data revolution in the country. Today, with just over a month since their rollout began, their 3G network covers around half a Million customers, has 4500 sites and is available across 7 cities. The company is definitely witnessing the tipping point of non-voice and data explosion in this country and will bring the Airtel 3G advantage pan-India soon as promised.
Airtel’s 3G network is currently available in the 7 cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Manipal, Udipi and Jaipur and some level of coverage will be available in all 13 3G-license circles that Airtel holds licenses for by the end of the month.
NSN expands Global Network Management Center in Chennai (India)
Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it will relocate and expand its Global Network Solutions Center (GNSC) to a new site in Chennai, India. GNSC in Chennai since its launch in 2007 has gained immense growth which includes a ten-fold increase in the number of subscribers. It supports on behalf of operators around the world to 77 million. In addition the center now remotely manages over 87,000 base station sites, 14 times the number when it opened four years ago.
The new facility, occupying 90,000 square feet, was inaugurated by Vishant Vora, Group CTO, Vodafone India in the presence of Armando Almeida, head of Global Services, Nokia Siemens Networks.
The Chennai GNSC was the first center set up by Nokia Siemens Networks in 2007 to provide remote delivery support across its services businesses including care, network implementation and managed services. It is one of three currently operating GNSCS, with two others in Noida, India and Lisbon, Portugal. Two further service delivery centers are currently being established in Russia and Brazil as announced in 2010.
All five are part of the company’s strategic response to the growing trend of operators outsourcing network management and maintenance as a way to increase efficiency and improve end-user experience.
Airtel to start Indo-China cable this week
If sources are to be believed, Bharti Airtel will open its first underground terrestrial fibre optic cable built in alliance with China Telecom this week, this cable will allow faster internet connectivity for consumers in the two fastest growing telecom markets in the world.
The direct terrestrial link between India and China, which took two years to build over a hostile terrain, will have an initial capacity of 40 Gbps going up to nearly 1 Tbps. This will offer an alternate and short route for data traffic alongside two existing undersea cables exiting from Chennai and Mumbai and will bring faster connectivity for Indian and Chinese internet customers, especially in the border areas.
According to Ajay Chitkara, Chief Executive officer of global data business at Bharti Airtel, currently in terms of traffic (between India and China), it is very low. But the Chinese internet market is growing very fast.
The new network will address surging web traffic emerging from China and will be largely focused on enterprise businesses. It will connect India and China to the US and Europe.
Bharti Airtel and China Telecom have constructed the network in their own territories from Siliguri to Nathula border in India and Nathula border to Yadong in China. In India, the high-speed network spans from Siliguri gateway to Nathula via Pedong on one path and the second path will reach Siliguri from Nathula via Gangtok forming a ring.
Bharti Airtel has invested more than $500 million in creating the two sub-seas and the new subterranean network.
It has also signed an agreement with China Telecom to create an interconnected network where data, voice or internet traffic will be handed over from one player to another.
Chitkara added that the MoU for China Telecom handing over traffic to Bharti Airtel has been signed and a similar agreement for handing over our traffic to them will be signed within a few days. Department of telecom has already given Bharti Airtel security clearances for the project.
Indian Base Station emissions levels below International Standards
According to a survey commissioned by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), radio emissions from mobile phone towers in Delhi, India have been found to be hundreds of times below international safety standards.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai (IITM), Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai (TCE) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, Chennai (CEWIT), while carrying out measurements on electromagnetic radiation at over 180 locations in New Delhi found that in all circumstances, the Cumulative Measurements were well below the compliance limit set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), adopted by the Government for the Telecom sector in India, bringing it at par to International safety standards.
While adopting international standards on public health and safety in 2008, companies in India must by law adhere to prescribed limits for Base Station Antennae for general public exposure.
The study measured cumulative emissions within the 800 to 2000MHZ band of frequency (which includes both GSM and CDMA technologies) across in the nation’s capital using calibrated equipment, as per the Dot prescribed procedure in line with the ICNIRP specifications.. The basic restrictions/proper limits for power density specified in ICNIRP guidelines for safe frequencies between 400 to 2000 MHz are as follows:
| Type of Exposure | 900MHz(inW/m2) | 1800MHz (in W/m2) |
| Occupational | 22.5 | 45 |
| General Public | 4.5 | 9 |
?According to Prof. P.R.Goundan, Joint Director Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, Chennai,it is one of the first studies carried out in the Indian environment to assess the level of emissions from the Mobile Towers. They are happy to note that the cumulative emissions are well below the prescribed limits and that service providers in India are in compliance with set safety norms.
The study was commissioned in tandem by COAI and AUSPI as a response to growing public concern over myths associated with the emissions from the cellular mobile towers and its alleged health effects on the human body.
Bharti Airtel to Launch 3G Services by End of this year (India)
Bharti Airtel Ltd. will launch 3G wireless data services before the end of 2010. Bharti, which won rights to offer 3G services in 13 of India’s 22 telecoms zones. These 13 telecom circles also constitute 68% of Airtel’s revenue market share. This includes key metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, which account for 21% of all data traffic in the country and are expected to have the strongest uptake of 3G services
According to the company, Airtel is also in advanced discussions with other quality operators to offer 3G services to its customers across the country.
The launch of 3G operations is expected to increase Bharti’s revenue amid falling call tariffs for basic services.
According to Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel 3G services will mark the beginning of the next phase of India’s telecom growth story and elevate India’s telecom sector at par with most advanced telecom markets in the world. 3G services have the potential to transform the lives of millions of Indians by taking a variety of life enhancing services on high speed broadband to the remotest corners and bridge the digital divide.
Bharti will be deploying high speed HSPA networks provided by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei.
Public sector telcos BSNL and MTNL are already offering the 3G services.
