Uninor ignites tariff war in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: No end to the steamy price war in India can be seen and the new entries in the telecom sector are all the more igniting it. Uninor is the latest one adding fuel to the fire and other companies may have to offer better pricing to keep their customers.
The company has decided to reduce the call charges to as low as 20 paise per minute and it is also contemplating to introduce the concept of dynamic pricing. Discounts ranging from 5-60 per cent can be used by the subscribers under this dynamic pricing concept.
More discounts will be offered to the customers if there is more traffic and vice versa. This also means that a one minute call cannot exceed the limit of 50 paise and can in no case go below 20 paise. According to Executive Vice-President (operations) of Uninor, Rohit Chandra, the new plan will be a win-win situation because on one hand it will help the customers to have good discounts while on the other it will help Uninor to keep its network busy.
Uninor subscribers to get call destination based discounts
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Adding fuel to the already ignited tariff competition in the Indian market, discounts have been offered the subscribers by mobile operator Uninor on the basis of where they make their calls from. Depending on congestion levels at the tower where the call is initiated, discount up to 60% will be offered to the subscribers for local calls.
The user is eligible for the maximum discount of 60% on the standard call rate of 50 paise per minute if the load on a tower is very low. Users will be able to see on their handsets the discount that will be available at any point of time.
According to the company, aim of its new services is not to set off another tariff war but to offer this interesting service to all its users. Telenor service along with Grameenphone is already a hit in Bangladesh.
Uninor launches GPRS services for prepaid subscribers (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The GPRS service for the prepaid subscribers has been launched by One of India’s new mobile network operators, Unitech Wireless, which offers services under the Uninor banner. Customers in seven circles will receive GPRS data plans.
The seven circles include- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Free trial of the services will also be offered to all the users until May 6, 2010.
According to David Mengehello, executive vice president of marketing for Uninor, Uninor will focus hard on data, building on its data capabilities to launch many more exciting ideas soon and the company has some solid experience in markets very similar to India with unique and successful data-based applications.
India’s 3 telecom biggies to join 3G race
India’s Telecoms majors including names like Bharti, Reliance and Vodafone have confirmed that they are all set to bid for 3G licenses.
According to the reports, Idea Cellular is also expected to submit its application for 3G spectrum very soon.
While Bharti and Reliance are seeking spectrum in each of India’s 22 telecom zones, Telenor-backed Uninor might also bid for 2100 MHz in the metro circles apart from other lucrative regions in the country.
Indian unit of Telenor hunt for bigger rival
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an aim to reflect the expanded ambitions for India, the Indian unit of Norway’s Telenor is considering buying a bigger rival. The step will herald the arrival of consolidation in the jam-packed mobile phone market.
The company is taking several steps to materialize this idea. Bankers are appointed by Uninor to advise it on the likely acquisition of a mid-sized operator besides equipping itself with an internal report on consolidation in the mobile space.
According to Telenor spokeswoman Glenn Mandelid, Telenor has previously stated the group is currently not planning any major acquisitions and Uninor has just launched with the focus on establishing the brand as a preferred provider of mobile services in India.
Unitech Wireless enters five more circles in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Five more telecom-service areas in India will start receiving mobile service from Unitech Wireless, a joint venture between India’s Unitech Ltd. and Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor ASA.
Unitech Wireless after launching its operations in eight of the India’s 22 telecom service areas in December will next enter the service areas of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Unitech Wireless operating under the Uninor brand currently has about 2.5 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, Telenor has invested about INR20.22 billion more in the joint venture as planned for a 7.15% stake, taking the Norwegian company’s total stake in Unitech Wireless to 67.25%.
All inclusive deal inked between Uninor & Harris Stratex
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An all inclusive deal has been signed between mobile network operator Unitech Wireless (Uninor) and US-based vendor Harris Stratex covering the supply, installation, commission and maintenance services, as well as the backhaul of access microwave links.
The latest Eclipse platform microwave solution of Harris Stratex will also be supplied by Harris Stratex under this five year contract to meet both TDM and IP backhaul requirements.
According to Harald Braun, president and CEO of Harris Stratex, the company is proud to help enable this coverage with its industry-leading Eclipse platform, and world-class service and support.
Uninor’s subscribers list reached 1.2 million mark
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Uninor’s subscribers list reached 1.2 million marks in the eight telecommunication circles in India where its GSM services are available. Uninor is a joint venture between Indian real estate Company Unitech and Norway’s Telenor Group.
On December 3, the company launched its service in the circles Uttar Pradesh west, Uttar Pradesh east, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and on December 22, it was launched in Orissa.
Two price plans were introduced by Uninor at the time of the launch. One is the base plan called talklonger@ INR 0.29, designed for customers who make longer calls, and a subscription plan called callmore@ INR 0.29, for those who call more often.
GSM mobile services launched by Uninor in Orissa
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the launch of its services in Orissa, Uninor, the GSM mobile service brand of Unitech Wireless and the joint venture company of India’s second largest real estate major
Unitech Limited completes the Blue Arc taking its toll to eight circles pan India. Now Uninor’s service is available in nine states including Orissa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
According to the Unitech Wireless managing director Stein-Erik Vellan, the company is planning to focus on gaining shares where they have launched their services.
The company emphasized on the fact that they want to stay the closest to their customers. From product, pricing to customer services, the firms aims at creating value for individual customers.
According to the executive vice-president of Uninor, Akash Das, the company’s national distribution presence went up over 50 distributors following the launch in Orissa apart from four exclusive stores ready for service across the state. Managing director of Unitech, Sanjay Chandra regarded the project as a mega-success. Uninor’s services have two basic price plans including a base plan known as talklonger@29p and a subscription plan known as callmore@29p.
The former plan is for customers who make longer calls. The plan offers its customers STD call at 49 paise per minute and local calls at 29 paise per minute after charging a call set up fee which costs 39 paise and charged at the time of activation of the cell.
Telenor concerned over lack of spectrum (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Claiming it as the largest single day launch in telecom history, Uninor, Telenor’s Indian unit launched its GSM network covering nearly 600 million people. But at the same time, the company also expressed its
concerns over the lack of spectrum.
The company said that when they got the license, they were said to be given extra spectrum after reaching certain subscribers level. Two third of Uninor is owned by Scandinavia’s Telenor while the rest is owned by India’s Unitech Group.
The company plans to cover 22 telecom circles in India in which eight circles will be covered in this month while five will be covered early next year. Instead of offering per second billing, Uninor has offered 25 paise per minute tariff for local calls, and 49 paise for STD.
