DoT initiates an Internal Committee on TRAI Recommendations
July 7, 2010

The Government has decided to refer the concerns of telecom operators on recent recommendations of TRAI to an Internal Committee of the Department of Telecommunications headed by Member (Technology).

This decision was taken in a meeting of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Shri A. Raja with the representatives of Access Service Providers viz. COAI and AUSPI and representatives of their member service providers. In addition, the CMDs of MTNL and BSNL were also present.

Various issues on licences, spectrum, allocation, charging of spectrum and roll-out obligations, merger and acquisitions and other related issues were discussed in the meeting and it has been decided that the Internal Committee will finalize the views and refer to Telecom Commission.

Telecom Subscribers in India reached 653.92 million at the end of May 2010
June 28, 2010

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 653.92 Million at the end of May-2010 from 638.05 Million in April-2010, thereby registering a growth rate of 2.49%. With this, the overall Tele-density in India reaches 55.38.

In the Wireless Segment (GSM, CDMA & FWP), subscriber base increased from 601.22 Million in April-2010 to 617.53 Million at the end of May-2010, registering a growth of 2.71%. Wireless Teledensity stands at 52.30.

The Wireline Segment subscriber base declined from 36.83 Million in April-2010 to 36.39 Million at the end of May-2010. BSNL/MTNL, two PSU operators hold 84.32% of the Wireline market share. Overall Wireline teledensity is 3.08.

Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 9 million in April-2010 to 9.24 million in May-2010, there by showing a growth of 2.67%.

DoT initiates to look at TRAI's 2G spectrum proposals
June 3, 2010

Although TRAI's recommendations on pricing of 2G spectrum and refarming is going to be available only after the month of July, the Department of Telecom(DoT) has asked its main divisions to look into TRAI's other proposals on the mobile radiowaves.

As per DoT, work has to start on the regulator's host of proposals on 2G spectrum pricing even as TRAI's further recommendations on the 2G spectrum pricing (linking 3G spectrum price to 2G) and refarming of spectrum in 800/900 Mhz band may take some time to be in place.

Samsung India introduces 3G full touch handset - Star Nano 3G
May 27, 2010

Samsung Electronics, leading mobile phone manufacturer, announced the launch of its most affordable, full touch 3G enabled handset, Star Nano 3G (S3370). The compact Samsung Star Nano 3G has a curvilinear design with advanced connectivity and seamless social communication.

Designed aesthetically with a compact and curvilinear design, a large 2.6” screen and with a 4 page menu, the Samsung Star Nano 3G offers a great resolution and a sense of elegance to its user. The phone has advanced connectivity with 384kbps DL/UL (3G ready), Pop Up SNS and fast multimedia downloads. The Touchwiz 2.0 Plus in the phone ensures seamless navigation home screen widgets, Gesture control and an interesting UI.

The phone comes with 35MB internal memory which is expandable up to 16GB 1.3 megapixel camera, music recognition, FM radio, video recording, English dictionary, mobile tracker, fake call and mobile prayer features. Samsung Star Nano 3G can store up to 2000 contacts on its phonebook and up to 800 SMSs. It comes with a 2GB memory card, stylus pen and leather pouch free. The Samsung Star Nano 3G is priced at Rs. 7320.

TRAI issues Recommendations on Foreign Investment in Broadcasting Sector
June 30, 2010

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the recommendations on Foreign Investment in Broadcasting Sector. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has requested TRAI to review its recommendations dated 26th April, 2008 on Foreign investment in Broadcasting sector in the light of recent changes in FDI policy.

The Consolidated FDI Policy dated 31st March 2010 issued by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has come into effect since 1st April, 2010. This policy has modified the methodology of calculation of foreign investment in Indian Companies.

The Authority, after consulting with stakeholders, has sent its recommendations to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 30th June, 2010. The key recommendations are as under:

(a) Foreign investment limit for the Broadcast carriage services who are upgrading to digital & addressable environment would be 74%;
(b) Foreign investment limit for LCOs would be 26%;
(c) The Foreign investment limits would be 26% for News & Current Affairs TV Channels and FM Radio;
(d) There will be no restriction on foreign investment for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels other than News & Current Affairs TV channels; and,
(e) All Foreign investment less than 26% would be through automatic route. Investments of 26% and above will require prior approval of the Government.

Digital broadcasting to enhance TV and Internet access
May 28, 2010

Guidelines to help countries manage their transition from analogue to digital broadcasting were presented during the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) in Hyderabad, India.

The transition to digital broadcasting has become an important global issue. It will provide a greater number of channels with higher quality within the same available bandwidth along with advanced applications and features, such as interactivity and electronic programme guides.

The guidelines provide information and recommendations on policy, regulation, technologies, network planning, customer awareness and business planning for the smooth transition to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) and the introduction of Mobile Television Broadcasting (MTV).

“The Guidelines for the Transition from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting” were developed by the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau with the support of the Korean Communications Commission (KCC), Republic of Korea.

TRAI releases Survey Report on Cable TV Subscription charges and other related issues
May 5, 2010

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a Survey Report on “Cable TV Subscription Charges being paid by the subscribers and other related issues”. In the context of exercise on “Issues related to tariff for cable TV services in non-CAS areas”, TRAI has commissioned a survey through Centre for Media Studies (CMS), who have submitted their report. This Survey Report has been placed on TRAI website (www.trai.gov.in).

Kobian rolls out Mercury MicroSD card
1 July, 2010

Kobian, one of the leading brands in Pc peripherals and lifestyle products, reinforced their product line with the launch of Mercury MicroSD, strengthening its portfolio with mobile memory solutions. The new Mercury MicroSD offers increased memory capacity and compact sized formats required to enhance essential features such as MP3 playback, video-downloads, high-quality cameras and gaming. Mercury MicroSD is available in all capacities starting from 2GB to 64GB.

The Mercury MicroSD Card allows user to Store and Share more of their own collections of music, movies, video clips, pictures, ring tones and more with friends, family and colleagues easily with this removable storage solution.

ON Semiconductor Introduces High Efficiency Synchronous Regulators in Compact SOIC-8 Packages
June 24, 2010

ON Semiconductor, a premier supplier of high performance, energy efficient silicon solutions, introduced a new family of high efficiency 2 ampere (A) to 4 A integrated synchronous regulators for consumer electronics applications such as set top boxes, DVD/hard disk drives, LCD monitors/TVs, speakerphones, cable modems, and telecom/datacom equipment.

The NCP3125, NCP3126 and NCP3127 are synchronous pulse width modulation (PWM) switching buck regulators with integrated high side and low side MOSFETs capable of delivering continuous output currents of 2 A, 3 A and 4 A respectively.

The new devices offer extremely low on-state resistance values [RDS(on)] for integrated switchers resulting in high efficiency system solutions. The NCP3125 has a 60 mΩ high-side MOSFET and 36 mΩ low-side MOSFET and provides system level efficiencies greater than 90 percent. All three new devices can produce output voltages as low as 0.8 V from an input supply of +5 V to +12 V. All three devices are pin-to-pin compatible, allowing the flexibility to scale the output current up or down during the product development process or speed up the product development process by allowing quick re-use on new designs. The devices feature an operating junction temperature range of −40 °C to +125 °C.

The NCP3125, NCP3126, NCP3127 devices are offered in SOIC-8 packages and priced at US$0.40, US$0.35 and US$0.30 per unit in 10,000 unit quantities.

Connectiva Systems launches Integrated Data Model for subscriber revenue optimization
June 18, 2010

Connectiva Systems Inc., a leading provider of revenue management solutions, announced an integrated data model for subscriber revenue optimization to drive greater business benefits for telecommunications operators.

All Connectiva products will natively support the integrated subscriber data model, optimized to serve the needs of the next generation telecom enterprise. Built in collaboration with leading operators across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, the model includes best practices and templates from Tier 1 and Tier 2 carrier implementations around the globe.

India will be the world’s second fastest growing enterprise software market through 2014: Gartner
May 11, 2010

India’s enterprise software market is forecast to maintain its strong performance, with an estimated growth rate of 12.3 % from 2009 to 2014, the second highest growth rate in the world, according to Gartner, Inc.

Despite the global slowdown in 2009 and the continuing challenging economic conditions, the software market in India is expected to rebound to an annual growth rate of 11.1 % in 2010.

According to Gartner's latest forecast in 2010 India will be the fourth largest software market (US$ 2.4 billion) in Asia/Pacific, and the country is forecast to account for 11 % share of the region’s total revenue of US$21.72 billion in 2010, the equivalent to 1.04% of the total worldwide software US$232 billion market share.

By 2014, India’s share of the software market in Asia/Pacific is expected to reach 12 %, representing US$3.8 billion in revenue or 1.3 % of total worldwide software market revenue of US$299 billion. Compared with mature countries in the Asia/Pacific region such as Australia (with 21 % share of regional spending in 2010), the software market in India is still relatively young and evolving.

Minicom brings the Data Center Alliance to India
May 4, 2010

The Data Center Alliance (DCA) was initiated by Minicom to fill the information gap in the marketplace by providing a centralized, comprehensive source for building successful IT infrastructures.

Minicom Advanced Systems provides KVM remote access, extension and management solutions designed to expedite and simplify IT services. The access solutions provided by Minicom can be the nucleus around which all other products and solutions for the data center can be integrated.

The key operation of the DCA is to serve as a central repository of data center and server room products and services and to provide IT decision makers with a clear understanding of the different solutions available for their IT infrastructures. Emarson IT Solutions (P) Ltd. is the country representative of Minicom in India.