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Airtel updates

Started by NAREN, Sep 30, 2008, 07:57 PM

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NAREN

Free Airtel GPRS Access for Internet on mobile by using TeaShark Browser

Now you can surf unlimited Internet on your mobile phone  by FREE AIRTEL GPRS activation (access) if you use free TeaShark Browser for your mobile handset.
Teakshark is a free browser for mobile phone. you can download this Teakshark browser from here. Remember that this Teakshark browser is made for smart phones only. Few handsets may not be able to run this browser.

After installing Teakshark browser on you mobile hand set, just do
following to surf Internet on your mobile free of cost. This is  useful for all including  Airtel Blackberry users.

1. you need to have Airtel Sim card on your mobile phone.
2. After installing, open it on your mobile, it will ask for access point, choose Airtel Live as access point. you need not to activate GPRS through SMS for using it, just choose Airtel Live as access point.
3. After finishing settings, open any website. All website will open in it.
You will find that your money will not be debited from your Airtel account.

The exact mechanism of how it is working is  still not known, It may be due to some unseen programs. It is expected that in future this facility will not be available for free.

You need not to set any configuration of Airtel GPRS for this facility. Use it with cautious, you may be debited in future (no evidence found yet).
nice games here

dwarakesh

Airtel ties up with BIG Street to launch India's first ever air-conditioned bus shelter

Airtel and BIG Street announced the opening up of an air-conditioned bus station in Bangalore situated at the pavement diagonally opposite to Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium and is adjacent to the pavement near Cubbon Park entrance (Kasturba road).

The bus shelter has a capacity to accommodate 20 people and has dimensions of 25x8 feet. It will be manned by a guard.

Venkatesh V, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka, said, "Airtel has always been the first when it comes to offering innovative services to customers - be it path breaking services like Hello Tunes, BlackBerry or the iPhone. On the communication front, the first-of-its-kind Airtel Rajdhani Express and this Airtel Air conditioned bus shelter, which is India''s first ever such bus shelter are two such examples of our innovative initiatives."

dwarakesh

Airtel and Bookmyshow.com collaborate to provide services to mobile subscribers

Leading mobile services provider, Bharti Airtel and online movie ticket portal, Bookmyshow.com announced a tie-up to offer mobile access to subscribers of Airtel though a wapsite as well as tele-booking facility.

Bookmyshow CEO and co-founder Ashish Hemrajani said, "We are indeed happy to extend our service to Airtel customers for an effortless ticketing experience. We hope this alliance would help Airtel customers discover an easy and convenient way to book tickets, which is what Bookmyshow is about."

dwarakesh

Airtel launches Tamil voice portal

CHENNAI: Airtel on Tuesday launched a Tamil voice portal as a value-added service for users in the State, who can listen to music, jokes and dialogues of their favourite comedians or wise up to a quote from the Thirukkural.

The portal, for which content has been developed by On Mobile, comes for a monthly rental of Rs.15 and a call tariff of Re.1 a minute.

Users can dial 52222 from anywhere in Tamil Nadu to access 'Airtel Ungal Choice.'

Music director Yuvan Shankar Raja, who launched the portal, said music was the only universal language.

Airtel CEO Rajiv Rajagopal said the portal was expected to cater to the tastes of the youth.

dwarakesh

Broadcom to provide DTH solution to Bharti Airtel

US-based Broadcom Corporation has partnered Bharti Airtel for providing integrated set top box (STB) solutions for its direct-to-home (DTH) service.

We are excited to support highly integrated satellite STB solutions that provide advanced services and reduce the overall STB cost for Indian operators," Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group Senior Vice-President and General Manager Dan Marotta said in a statement.

The solutions will allow Bharti Airtel to offer additional services, channels, and on-demand and interactive content within the same transponder allocation.

According to In-Stat market research, the number of DTH subscribers is expected to grow to 22.2 million by 2012 from 4.3 million in 2007, a compound annual growth rate of 38.9 per cent.

sajiv

Airtel launches pay-by-phone facility

Coimbatore:
Airtel, cellular service provider, has introduced bill payment facility for its post-paid customers through credit card, that too from Airtel mobile phone number.

Rajiv Rajagopal, CEO of Mobile Services, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, Bharti Airtel Limited, says the facility comes with complete security and risk-free service on all credit cards.

To access the facility the post-paid subscribers should call 121 from their Airtel mobile.

Subscribers could dial *121# for information on outstanding, unbilled, billed summary, payments and service request status. Airtel prepaid customers could also dial *121# for information on balance, validity, offer of the day and hello tunes.

Registration
For getting the payment-by-phone facility, the subscriber will have to first register for the service.

Upon completion of each transaction, the customer will receive an SMS confirming the same. The service is fully automated.


dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel and Virtela ink pact for MPLS connectivity

Bharti Airtel
and Virtela, today announced an alliance to offer MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) services to more than 5,000 PoPs (Point of Presence) across 190 countries.

As part of the deal, Bharti Airtel and Virtula have integrated their networks in Southeast Asia and Europe. Bharti Airtel said that the tie-up will enable it to enhance its offerings to its clients on a global scale.

"The need today is for world class telecom networks that can deliver a host of converged services through innovative and reliable communications technology. The partnership with Virtela is in line with our strategy to extend the global reach of our customers and to provide them with a secure, consistent and robust network running right from their doorstep to the most populous markets and beyond. There is a growing need amongst Enterprises for quality, value, consistency and reliability – anywhere, anytime and we are committed to deliver that value proposition for our customers across the globe." said David Nishball, President Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel.

dwarakesh

RCom goes into battle with Bharti

Reliance Communications (RCom) is angry with Bharti Airtel.  In a missive to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) RCOM complained that the latter is not cooperating with it to in mitigating the crisis caused by the cable damage. RCom alleged that Bharti is not providing access to its Chennai submarine cable landing station.

Three sub-sea cable systems on the Trans-Atlantic route failed on December 19, and telcos were re-routing traffic through the trans-Pacific leg.

Bharti Airtel has two cables – consortium cable SEA-ME-WE-4 (SMW-4) and own cable i2i – at its landing station in Chennai.

Bharti claims that it is co-operating fully with all operators.

RCom complained in a letter, "We filed the requisite application and have also made the payment. We have requested Bharti to expedite the access to 2 STM-16 capacity on SMW-4; however, we have not got the access yet".

Bharti denies these charges and said that it is actually is committed to resolving the crisis. There has been a fibre cut on SMW-4 and other major submarine cables near Palermo in Italy affecting the overall traffic between India and Europe. Bharti also said that it is routing its traffic through the back-up network provided by i2i. The company also said that it will accommodate traffic from other operators as well.

dwarakesh

Bharti Teletech announces top-management appointments

In an effort to strengthen its core management team, telecom equipment manufacturing firm, Bharti Teletech announced some senior level appointments.

Atul Jain who was previously with Jumbo Electronics Rtails as Country Head & CEO, has joined Bharti Teletech as Director-Sales & Distribution. Suresh Gupta, formet Intex Technologies India Ltd Director-Operations, has joined the company as Chief Finance Officer.

The company has now created a post for Director-Sales and distribution. Sandeep Tiwari will serve as Head-Marketing & Alliances.

"The new leadership team is ready to carve out a fresh wave of growth for Bharti Teletech. We will enable technology companies worldwide to be able to access Indian masses through Bharti's endeavour of cost-effective delivery of their products," said Sunil K. Goyal, Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Teletech.

dwarakesh

Airtel Lanka may launch operations on Jan 12   

Bharti Airtel's Sri Lanka subsidiary, Bharti Airtel Lanka Pvt Ltd may finally roll out its operations on January 12. The company had originally planned the launch for December last year.

Airtel Lanka's launch plan, to an extent, was delayed because of issues of interconnection agreements with Sri Lanka's incumbent operators. The two sides reached to an agreement late last year.

dwarakesh

Airtel's Lanka operations to commence from today

Bharti Airtel Lanka will formally launch its mobile operations in the island nation of Sri Lanka from today as the company aims to replicate its success achieved in the Indian market.

The marketing campaign of Airtel in Lanka features Shahrukh Khan as the brand ambassador.

Airtel's competitors in the market include Telekom Malaysia-owned Dialog Telecom which is the largest operator in Sri Lanka, Celltel Lanka, Hutchison and Sri Lankan government-owned Mobitel.

Sri Lanka currently has around 30 percent mobile penetration rate and the country's mobile subscribers are growing at the rate of 2 million per annum.

Airtel has acquired licences to offer 2G as well as 3G services in the country.

dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel introduces Lifetime Prepaid at Rs 99

Taking forward the tariff war in the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel, today introduced its Lifetime Prepaid offer at a lower price point of Rs 99

Under the new Lifetime Prepaid, the customer can stay mobile by paying just Rs 99 and recharging with a minimum of Rs 200 every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime validity benefits.

Lifetime Prepaid 99 is available to all existing as well as new Airtel mobile users with effect from today.

This offer come close on the heels of Reliance Communications' recent GSM offering, which offered life time prepaid scheme at Rs 25 (including the SIM card).

Commenting on the new offer Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel said: "The lower pricepoint of Rs 99 will enable a large number of uninitiated rural consumers to go mobile and enhance their lives."

dwarakesh

Airtel eyes 10 mn subscriber mark in UP & Uttarakhand   

Bharti Airtel is aiming to take its subscriber base in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand circles to 10 million by the end of current fiscal. The company needs to add 3 million new subscribers to achieve the mark.

The two states are popularly perceived as rural segment markets and have a combined population of 200 million.

dwarakesh

Airtel offers international toll-free services   

Telco Bharti Airtel has expanded its premium international toll free services to enterprise customers in India.

The services enable enterprises offer a convenient and cost-effective way to their overseas customers from 80 countries, business partners and employees travelling abroad, to communicate with them through an international toll free number, a company press release said.

The call is free for the calling party as the cost is borne by the customer 'company'. The most significant benefit of this service for enterprises is that the cumulative billing is done in Indian Rupees, instead of foreign currency, which is the case when calls are routed through international operators, it added.

Airtel is offering two types of premium international toll free services - 'International Inbound toll free services' (free phone acess for global users to call into India) and 'International Outbound toll free service (free phone access for callers in India to call international destination).

David Nishball, President of Enterprise services, Bharati Airtel said, 'Airtel's international toll free services can create enhanced business opportunities for our enterprise customers in India by enabling them  offer easy and convenient access to their customers and partners across the globe. With our customers going global, we provide them with every possible support to help grow their business'.

dwarakesh

Airtel, mCheck claim one mn user base for mCommerce services, launch new services      

Bharti Airtel and mCheck announced the tie-up clocked one million user registrations for its mCommerce services since lunch of the services in June 2008.

We strongly believe that mCommerce will be one of the top 3 services offered over mobile in the future and going forward it has the power to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way consumers do commercial transactions and business," said Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.

"Consumer adoption and repeat usage of the service has been extremely encouraging", said Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek. "With the Reserve Bank of India's mobile payments guidelines now in place, banks and merchants are fast adopting our open-platform to build a thriving eco-system, and a compelling suite of services for consumers."

The tie-up also announced the launch of mCheckMall which will be available on WAP and Java environments enabling Airtel subscribers to conveniently book flight, movie and other services through their mobile phones. All new Airtel SIM cards will come preinstalled with mobile payment capability.

dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel to launch IPTV services

Soon after launching DTH cable operations, India's largest private telecom firm Bharti Airtel is all set to start IPTV (Internet Protocol on Television) services or popularly known as triple play (voice, data and video) in the country.

According to sources close to the development, Airtel may announce launch of services in next one or two days.

IPTV refers to TV delivered through broadband. Besides Airtel, other telecom operators like MTNL, RCom and HFCL have already started IPTV services in various parts of the country.

Airtel has already tested IPTV services through its soft launch in some of the cities, sources said, adding this would cater to a different set of customers from DTH users.

The company has close to three million broadband and fixed line subscribers and it would be looking to cater to these customers as well as new users, who are looking for three services together from a single operator.

When asked about the detailed plans, including pricing, sources declined to comment, saying the company would announce all details in the next few days.

dwarakesh

Airtel, mCheck claim one mn user base for mCommerce services, launch new services

Bharti Airtel and mChek announced the tie-up clocked one million user registrations for its mCommerce services since lunch of the services in June 2008.

We strongly believe that mCommerce will be one of the top 3 services offered over mobile in the future and going forward it has the power to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way consumers do commercial transactions and business," said Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.

"Consumer adoption and repeat usage of the service has been extremely encouraging", said Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek. "With the Reserve Bank of India's mobile payments guidelines now in place, banks and merchants are fast adopting our open-platform to build a thriving eco-system, and a compelling suite of services for consumers."

The tie-up also announced the launch of mChekMall which will be available on WAP and Java environments enabling Airtel subscribers to conveniently book flight, movie and other services through their mobile phones. All new Airtel SIM cards will come preinstalled with mobile payment capability.

VelMurugan

Airtel to soon launch IPTV

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the country's largest cellular operator, will soon become the first private sector company to launch Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services in India.

The company is expected to make on announcement on its IPTV plans this week. This follows the recent launch of its direct-to-home (DTH) services in the country. IPTV and DTH services are separate technologies to deliver television content into the consumer's home.

Companies providing IPTV services send television content to consumers through a broadband Net connection. Both IPTV and DTH are seen as an alternative to the services provided by the local cable operators.

A senior executive with a media company told that Bharti is also looking at tie-ups with large retailers including Future Group's Big Bazaar for launching retail points that will market and sell both its DTH and IPTV offerings.

Bharti will target its 3 million plus broadband customers for this service. The company's broadband services are currently available in 95 cities.

Airtel has already test launched its IPTV services for customers in Gurgaon and the National Capital Region (NCR). The company will soon extend these services in a phased manner to eight of the key cities within the next couple of weeks.

When contacted Bharti Telemedia Services president Atul Bindal refused to divulge any details. Bharti has roped in US-based networks major UTStarcom as technology partner for its IPTV service. The telco is also working with IBM and last year awarded the IT company a fresh contract worth $150 million for its IT requirements for its DTH and IPTV services.

IBM already provides the IT backbone for Bharti's mobile services in both India and Sri Lanka and also provides solutions to supports the telco's DTH platform in the country. Bharti executives claim that the company has an edge over their rivals in both the DTH and IPTV space as it uses its existing backend for mobile services for these platforms also.

As of now MTNL and BSNL are the only two telcos offering IPTV services in some cities in collaboration with content delivery companies like Aksh Optifibres.

Recently Aksh has started offering IPTV connection without a broadband connection to encourage the enetration of IPTV in the masses. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group is the other player which is expected to launch its IPTV services this year.

IPTV is a system where digital television service is delivered using the Internet protocol. It can easily be bundled with broadband Internet service and VoIP services to offer what is popularly known as Triple Play.

Interactivity is much easier to perform with IPTV than a normal cable, satellite or broadcast TV system. New generation IPTV can offer video on demand that allows you to request movies, TV shows and much more at your convenience.

Source : IndiaTimes

dwarakesh

Bharti offers triple play service

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, becoming the first private company to offer 'Triple Play Service' (telephony, broadband and entertainment services over a single connection). Initially the service will be available in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. It will be introduced in other metros and major cities later.

Launching the service, Bharti Airtel President (Telemedia Services) Atul Bindal said the company had already tested IPTV services through its soft launch in some cities. "We will soon extend these services in a phased manner to the top eight metros and mini-metros over the course of the year," he added.

In the IPTV service, the television content is supplied through broadband connection. The service offers features including real-time interactivity, where customers can order pizzas and book movie tickets on their TV, record programmes for seven days, rewind, forward, and order movie-on-demand. "We have introduced the latest technology that enables high-speed broadband connectivity which in turn delivers superior digital video and audio quality," Mr. Bindal said.

Bharti Airtel will provide these services under two packs. The triple play plan, 'Magic@ Home Pack', at Rs. 999 a month offers 135 channels along with 256 kbps broadband speed with unlimited download and a landline connection, while the 'Combo Pack' at Rs.599 a month gives 117 channels with 256 kbps broadband speed with download limit of 2.5 GB.

dwarakesh

Airtel and Mchek usher in Mcommerce

Bharti Airtel
has announced that more than one million of its users have registered for the Mchek on Airtel service since its commercial launch in June 2008. Airtel has also introduced a new range of capabilities and offers for users of Mchek on Airtel.

"The Mchek on Airtel solution empowers an Airtel mobile user to make transactions with just an SMS, be it prepaid recharge, postpaid bill payment, landline bill payment or other merchant transactions like flight ticket booking, movie ticketing, insurance premium payment and toll recharge, etc," said Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer for mobile services with Airtel.

Gupta added, "We strongly believe that Mcommerce will be one of the top three services offered over mobile in the future, and going forward it has the power to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way consumers do commercial transactions and business."

The companies launched Mchek Mall, a mobile mall on WAP and Java environments which brings a range of flight ticketing, movie ticketing and other innovative services to the mobile phone. It will be available nationwide, with the Mchek on Airtel application pre-installed on all new Airtel SIM cards, for users of all handsets including entry-level models.

Mchek has now been expanded to include insurance premium payments for ICICI Prudential, payments for the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza, payments at Ecommerce websites such as Indiatimes shopping, Yatra.com, Futurebazaar.com, SIFYMall.com and HomeShop18.com, movie ticketing sites like BookMyShow.com, MakeMyTrip.com and Yatra.com for flight and travel ticketing, and redBus.in for bus ticket booking.

"Consumer adoption and repeat usage of the service has been extremely encouraging," said Sanjay Swamy, CEO of Mchek. "With the Reserve Bank of India's mobile payments guidelines now in place, banks and merchants are fast adopting our open platform to build a thriving ecosystem and a compelling suite of services for consumers."

The companies also announced that in light of the success and current growth trend in the mobile payments space, more banks would be introduced onto the platform, allowing many more customers to actively start using the services by linking their bank accounts or credit/debit cards.

Source: IT Examiner

dwarakesh

Airtel's one-stop shop launched

CHENNAI: Bharti Airtel has launched a chain of retail stores across Chennai to serve as a one-stop shop for the full range of its products.

Other than postpaid and prepaid connections, the outlets will also sell other products such as life insurance policies, DTH - Set top box and recharge, Broadband, Blackberry and Datacards.

Until now, Airtel had separate showrooms for each product in its portfolio.
Shopping made easy

Anirban Ghosh, COO, Mobile Services, said "The One Airtel" stores would considerably ease shopping for its subscribers. In the initial phase the initiative will be implemented in 16 Airtel Relationship Centres across Chennai.

Source: The Hindu

sajiv

Airtel's one-stop shop launched

CHENNAI: Bharti Airtel has launched a chain of retail stores across Chennai to serve as a one-stop shop for the full range of its products.

Other than postpaid and prepaid connections, the outlets will also sell other products such as life insurance policies, DTH - Set top box and recharge, Broadband, Blackberry and Datacards.

Until now, Airtel had separate showrooms for each product in its portfolio.

Anirban Ghosh, COO, Mobile Services, said "The One Airtel" stores would considerably ease shopping for its subscribers. In the initial phase the initiative will be implemented in 16 Airtel Relationship Centres across Chennai.

dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel plans $5 bn capital expenditure for 2009-10

Telecom major Bharti Airtel has earmarked around $5 billion as capital expenditure (capex) for mobile services and infrastructure business for the next financial year, a top official said here Thursday.

"About $2.5 billion have been earmarked as capex for mobile services and approximately $2.5-3 billion for the passive infrastructure," Bharti Group deputy chief executive Akhil Gupta said.

Gupta said around $3 billion will be invested in the company's tower business run by Bharti Infratel (a wholly owned subsidiary) and Indus Towers, an independent tower company formed by Bharti, Vodafone and Idea to provide passive infrastructure services in India.

However, this capex does not include the amount the company will spend during 3G auctions.

"Most of the money will be raised internally for 3G auctions if the bids are sensible. However, we cannot state any figure right now," Gupta said.

The company has received spectrum for second generation (2G) mobile services in nine more circles and eight applications are still pending with the Department of Telecom (DoT), Gupta said.

Talking about making corporate governance guidelines more stringent, Gupta said: "Our corporate governance is not guided by any mishap in India or internationally. At Bharti, it is a constant exercise on trying to improve our internal policies."

Source: EconomicTimes

sajiv

Airtel network extended

DINDIGUL: Airtel has extended its net work to seven more places in the district.

Sendurai, Mallapuram, Tennampatti, C.C.C. Quarry, S.R.G. Pudur, Valayapatti and Uliyakottai are some places brought under its network, according to Rajiv Rajgopal, CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Limited, (Tamil Nadu).

With this addition, the total areas under coverage have gone up to 29 towns and 301 villages in the district and 767 towns and 14,420 villages in the State.

sajiv

Airtel commissions cellular sites

Coimbatore: Airtel, cellular service provider, has expanded its services in Coimbatore district by adding five new towns to its existing network.

A press release from Rajiv Rajagopal, Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Limited, Tamil Nadu, said that the new cell sites added are Kalipalayam, Oorapalayam, Velampalayam, Sevanthampalayam and Annur.

sajiv

Airtel expands network

DHARMAPURI: Airtel has expanded its network to eight more towns in Dharmapuri district during December last. The towns to which the service has been extended are Samanur, Koppalur, Bandharahalli, Peyalmari, M. Dhadempatti, Eirkalpatti, Kilanur and Veppampatti. With this, a total of 11 towns and 372 villages are covered by Airtel in Dharmapuri district, a release said.

dwarakesh

Airtel, Reliance Lock Horns over Free Call Offer

Tiff over Reliance offering talk time worth Rs. 10 everyday for the first 3 months to its new GSM subscribers

Telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications have gotten into a tiff of sorts over the issue of the latter offering free talk time worth Rs. 10 everyday for the first 3 months to its new GSM subscribers.

It's been an interesting war of words from both operators.

Instead of tackling the situation as a competitor's move and altering its tariff, Airtel has dismissed this offer by calling it an offering for "deal seekers" who are not loyal to any brand.

It has condemned Reliance Communications' scheme of offering its subscribers Rs. 10 worth of daily talk time by saying that this maneuver will not help Reliance Communications pull long-term subscribers.

On the other hand, Reliance Communications, who is a new entrant in the GSM arena, defends its free talk time scheme as a method to pull consumers to its GSM network for the long run and not just deal seekers.

"A large percentage of our new GSM customers are recharging beyond their free minutes," says Reliance Communications president (wireless) SP Shukla.

Source: Techtree

dwarakesh

Bharti Teletech , leading manufacturers and distributors of telecom and allied products announced a tie-up with Logitech under which Bharti Teletech will offer products of Logitech to the enterprise customers in India.

The products also involving IT accessories will be distributed through Bharti Teletech's network comprising of 100 institutional distributors across 35 cities and towns. The products offered under the tie-up will not be available on the retail network of Logitech and will be offered exclusively to Bharti Teletech's customers.

The tie-up aims to offer range of products including mice, keyboards, webcams, speakers and headsets. Logitech also plans to market its range of Home Entertainment Products including the Harmony Universal Remotes, Pure-Fi iPod Speakers and Squeeze Box Streaming Music Systems.

Sunil Goyal, CEO, Bharti Teletech, said, "We are delighted to partner Logitech in their endeavor to further their reach into the enterprise segment in the country. With this partnership, our customers can now look forward to an exclusive range of technologically advanced accessories made available right at their doorsteps. Our understanding of the Indian market coupled with our extensive distribution reach is a perfect match for Logitech's growth strategy in India. The mutually beneficial partnership will provide both the partners with opportunities to further strengthen their reach and position in the enterprise market."

"We have been consistently launching innovative peripherals for our consumers. We realized that there is a huge market that would benefit from our technological innovations in the business sectors. Hence we decided to introduce customized products for these elite customers. And Bharti Teletech with its wide spread in India will help us tap this market in the best possible manner." says Mr. Subrotah Biswas, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Logitech. "This partnership would help Logitech to cater to corporate & institutional business and also Government business needs."

Source: Telecomtiger

sajiv

Bharti Airtel's lifetime recharge option at Rs 49

Chennai, Bharti Airtel, India's leading telecom services provider, today announced its popular Lifetime Prepaid Recharge option for just Rs 49.

Existing Airtel customers can avail this facility at Rs 48.This initiative is to further reinforce Airtel's commitment to make mobile services more affordable and provide grater value to Airtel prepaid customers.

On the introduction of this latest plan, Mr Anirban Ghosh, COO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Limited, Tamil Nadu said, "Airtel is constantly on the look out for opportunities to provide an unmatched mobile experience and affordability to all its customers.

"Lifetime validity at Rs 49, the latest offering from Airtel, once again emphasizes our commitment of providing affordable and quality service for our customers.

"The low price point will enable a large number of uninitiated rural consumers to go mobile," he said.

Under the new Lifetime Prepaid Scheme, the customer can go mobile by paying Rs 49 for the Starter Pack and Rs 49 for recharge.

The customer has to do a minimum of Rs 200 recharge every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime validity benefits.

With effect from February one, 2009, Lifetime Prepaid 49 is available to new Airtel mobile users and for all existing Airtel mobile users at Rs 48, he said.


dwarakesh

Airtel comes up with Prepaid SMS Dhamaka in Delhi & NCR

Bharti Airtel today announced a new scheme for its prepaid subscribers in Delhi and NCR branded as 'Prepaid SMS Dhamaka' with an aim to offer a more economical tariff plan to its subscribers for SMS services.

The company launched 5 new schemes ranging from Rs13 to Rs112.

Shashi Arora, CEO - Bharti Airtel Limited, (Mobile Services), Delhi & NCR said, " Our Prepaid SMS Dhamaka offer has been introduced after studying the SMS usage patterns of customers across Delhi & NCR. Since youngsters are heavy users of SMS, this offer is likely to appeal mostly to the students and college youth."

Source: Telecomtiger

dwarakesh

Airtel lifetime validity plan

Airtel cellular service has launched a lifetime pre-paid recharge option at Rs. 49.

The new offer will be available to existing customers at Rs 48.

Chief Operating Officer of Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Limited, said that under the new lifetime pre-paid scheme, the customers could go mobile by paying Rs. 49 for the starter pack and Rs. 49 for recharge.

The customers are required to recharge for a minimum amount of Rs. 200 every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime validity benefits.

Source: Hindu

dwarakesh

Microsoft to offer software support to Airtel

Microsoft
is set to offer software services to the customers of Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel, for its monthly rentals ranging from $4 - $14 (Rs 199 – Rs 699). The telco has inked a similar deal with Nivio.

The move comes as Bharti diversifies its portfolio beyond voice and data services. Both connectivity and software services will be provided, especially to small and medium enterprises. Bharti will soon unveil a new offering known as Airtel Online Desktop. A senior Airtel official said that the services will be available in 95 top cities where the telco operates.

The telco eyes fat revenues from these software services.

Bharti Airtel president Atul Bindal has reportedly said that this move is aimed at small companies, which do not want to increase revenues on capex. Various services, including all Windows applications, will be offered. They are looking at three aspects - security, storage and software.

Bharti also plans to offer software services across five key verticals, including retail and logistics. It expects Microsoft and Nivio to ink similar deals with other firms.

Source: Itexaminer

dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel launches 'Online Desktop' services

Bharti Airtel formally launched its online desktop services targeted towards the small and medium enterprise segment as well as retail consumers in tie-up with Microsoft and Nivio.

Currently on offer in 95 cities across the country, the service is available in various packages. For Rs. 199 per month Retail Pack, customers get 5 GB of online storage space, free Anti Virus protection, Windows-based operating system, automatic backup which is accessible from anywhere in the world. Another package called the Professional and Business Packs at  Rs. 399 and Rs. 699 per month respectively provide a Windows-based Operating System and MS Office. Additionally, the customer can get 5 GB of online storage space for Rs 99 per month.

Atul Bindal, President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said on the occasion, "With this initiative, Airtel hopes to increase computer and broadband penetration by making it easy, affordable and with low access barriers. Our Online Desktop platform – powered by Microsoft and Nivio - will be useful in making computing more accessible to SMBs, SMEs and SOHOs as well as individual home customers of Airtel broadband. This is part of our larger commitment to offer an enhanced broadband experience to our customers and to drive the adoption of broadband by innovating and collaborating."

nithyasubramanian

Bharti says it has 30% revenue market share in mobile business

Barcelona, Feb 17: Ahead of its competitors in the subscriber base, GSM major Bharti on Tuesday said it has cornered a 30% revenue market share in the overall mobile segment.

"We have leadership of the market, (with) a 30 per cent revenue market share now. We don't talk about subscribers (any more)," Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal told.

The gap between (Bharti) and the next GSM operator was 10-12 million last year. Now the difference is over 25 million, he said.

Asked about the company's views on 3G, which has been deferred to the next fiscal, Mittal said, "There is no issue on time and we are not pushing for it. Let the Government take that call ... we can offer the first connection within six months of getting 3G spectrum."

Mittal said there is no point keeping the reserve price very high as that may result in certain areas not getting the bids at all, given the additional factor of the Government having the right to cancel the bids in case it (government) doesn't get the money it is expecting.

The DoT had proposed a base price of Rs 2,020 crore for an all-India 3G licence while the Ministry of Finance wanted to double it.

courtesy : Zeenews.com
Thanks and Regards
- Nithya Subramanian
Kenvivo Communications
http://nithya-subramanian.blogspot.com/

dhilipkumar

Airtel to get ISO 27001 certification


BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: India's biggest mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel has become one of the first enterprises globally to have received ISO 27001 certification for its information security management system, across 300 locations and over 40,000 information assets.

The certification will help the company become India's most trusted brand by 2010, said Jai Menon, director customer service and technology of Bharti Airtel. "As we expand beyond traditional voice-based services to areas such as mobile commerce, ISO 27001 will play a critical role," he said.

The ISO 27001 standard replaced BS7799 few years ago, which had over 2,500 organisations worldwide certified against it.

Bharti has almost 2,500 computer servers and around 2,500 terabytes of data. "Apart from securing digital data, we are also including physical data security as part of this initiative," Mr Menon added. Bharti started rolling out its comprehensive information security policy in 2003, received its first certifications two years ago. "We will need to sustain this intiative through continued compliance," he said.

"While it took tremendous involvement from the entire organisation to achieve this feat, what makes it extra special is the sheer extent of its scope, which encompassed all the strategic Business units of Bharti Airtel, viz. all the circles of mobile services and all the hubs of both, Telemedia Services and Enterprise Services.

The scope also included all Data Centers, network zones, landing stations, switch locations and Airtel Center. The geographical extent of the scope covered around 300 locations spread across the entire country. In terms of personnel, the scope covered all the employees of Bharti Airtel," Mr Menon added.

The telco said that it has been awarded awarded 29 ISO 27001:2005 certificates by the British Standards Institute. According to the data available in the International Register of ISMS Certificates, this is the largest number of ISO 27001:2005 certificates awarded to any single company in India across all sectors and one of the largest in the world.


sajiv

Airtel says can grow in tough market

Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top mobile operator, says competition in the world's biggest democracy is intense but the company can continue to grow revenue market share and is not worried by new entrants.

In an interview with Reuters at the Mobile World Congress trade fair, President and Chief Executive Manoj Kohli said consolidation would come to the Indian market within three years and said Airtel saw no strategic reason yet to acquire domestic rivals.

He said the group was also looking at possible deals in other emerging markets in Africa, Asia Pacific or the Middle East but said it was in no hurry.

"We're looking at various markets," he said. "We're looking at all opportunities but we're not in a hurry. We definitely don't want to pay more than the asset deserves to be paid, so maybe when that opportunity comes in one year or two years we'll look.

"The values (of emerging market assets) are definitely better but the seller also has to be at the table."

Mobile operators in the world's fastest-growing wireless market have been adding more than 10 million new users a month, even as a slowdown hits much of the country.

But an increasingly crowded market -- there are 12 mobile firms and at least four more are set to launch operations this year -- has prompted cut-throat competition among operators, with rivals launching low tariff plans.

Kohli said he was not seeing demand for lower tariffs from his customers, more a request for quality, and said he thought new entrants to the Indian market would struggle for years to come.

Norway's Telenor ASA has said it plans to launch mobile services in India in the third quarter and invest 22 billion crowns ($3.98 billion) in the venture until its expected breakeven in five years.

Asked about new entrants, Kohli replied: "We feel these operators that come in do not have a viable business model and they will see a struggle in India for many, many years to come.

"They will not find it easy to build a critical mass to garner enough economies of scale."

Kohli also said he was not concerned by the delay to the auction for third-generation spectrum, saying Airtel was in a strong financial position and a couple of months delay would not matter.

He said the government had not decided whether to hold the auction before or after its general election expected by May, and that the auction could run as late as August or September.


dwarakesh

Airtel takes a big leap, doubles subscriber gap with closest rival

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom company in terms of subscribers, claimed it has doubled the gap with its nearest competitor.

Chairman Sunil Mittal   said, "Now, it is not market share but the revenue share which is the main indicator. In revenue, we lead with a 30 per cent share of the market.''

Sunil MittalThe company is also prepared to roll out its much-awaited third generation (3G) services in six months from the allotment of the spectrum, he said.

Auction of the spectrum has been deferred indefinitely to the next financial year on account of unresolved issues pertaining to the reserve price of each block and the number of blocks to be auctioned. While the Department of Telecom (DoT) had recommended a reserve price of Rs 2,020 for pan-India operations, the Ministry of Finance had asked to double the price.

Commenting on this, Mittal said, "The auctions will have to have a reasonable price to get a nice response. And the government holds the right to cancel the tender any time. If the reserve price is reasonable, then we will do it (bid) everywhere...We have ample funds and if required, we will borrow. Rolling out of the of 3G spectrum will require large amounts of money."

However, he said that the company had no plans to raise funds at present, even as the government recently eased the norms of foreign direct investment in the country.

Source: Economictimes

dwarakesh

Airtel may be misleading customers

Sales and service operatives at Bharti Airtel, responsible for the company's broadband and Internet services, are failing to mention newly-adopted  terms and conditions when customers enquire about new connections.

This is could either be the result of ignorance or a company directive to convert all sales enquiries into a deal.

According to a newly introduced fair use policy by Airtel, in case of a 256 kbps unlimited usage plan, if the amount of bandwidth data transfer usage exceeds 25 GB, the download speed for the particular users is reduced by 15 to 20 per cent.

When IT Examiner approached one of the sales and service officers in Bangalore, the person denied the existence of any such practice, claiming that customers will get the promised bandwidth and transfer speeds from the first day of installation, 24*7*365.

The customer care executive at Airtel said, "The unlimited usage plan starts from Rs 700 rental and download speed of 256 kbps." When asked about the new policy, she said that customers with Value 799 or Value 1199 have the download limit, even if the brochures and the website say it to be unlimited download. However, "In order to really avail unlimited download facility, the customers need to switch to the more expensive Value 1499 plan.

IT Examiner did not receive any official response from the company, but we have seen an email sent by Airtel to one of its customers discussing the new policy.

nithyasubramanian

Bharti Airtel moves Supreme Court on sale of 'light energy' issue

New Delhi, Feb 19: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to decide whether transactions related to providing broadband services to subscribers can be treated as "sale of light energy" for levying sales tax.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan asked the company and the Karnataka government to maintain the status quo till March 9, the notified date of hearing.

Airtel has sought the apex court's directions in deciding whether the sale of light energy to the customer while transferring data and voice from one point to another was liable to sales tax.

The telecom major has challenged the Karnataka High Court's decision, which upheld the demand notices issued by the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes asking Airtel to pay value-added tax amounting to more than Rs 25.63 crore, which included penalty and interest, for selling "light energy".

The High Court, while terming "light energy" as goods for the purpose of imposing sales tax, had held that there was a transfer of the right to use the network to subscribers and the dominant object of the transaction was the sale of artificially created light energy and not the service of transferring data.

courtesy : Zeenews.com
Thanks and Regards
- Nithya Subramanian
Kenvivo Communications
http://nithya-subramanian.blogspot.com/

VelMurugan

Airtel Launches 'Speed-on-Demand' Service

Bharti Airtel has launched a 'speed-on-demand' service, specifically targeting its customers in the South. As the name suggests, the service will be offered in a pay-per-use model, with customers being able to select when they need high-speed and pay accordingly.

The service will come in 4 different broadband speed options that range from 256kbps (Rs.25/hr) to around 2mbps (Rs. 120/hr).
Customers can log on to the Airtel SelfCare portal to view their usage and session details, which will subsequently be mentioned in the bill as well.


Tariff Structure
Airtel Telemedia customers can choose from 4 different broadband speed options:
1)      Broadband speed of 256 KBPS at Rs. 25/- per hour
2)      Broadband speed of 512 KBPS at Rs. 40/- per hour
3)      Broadband speed of 1024 KBPS at Rs. 75/- per hour
4)      Broadband speed of 2048 KBPS at Rs. 120/- per hour


Source : TechTree

dwarakesh

Airtel Launches 'Speed-on-Demand' Service

Bharti Airtel has launched a 'speed-on-demand' service, specifically targeting its customers in the South. As the name suggests, the service will be offered in a pay-per-use model, with customers being able to select when they need high-speed and pay accordingly.

The service will come in 4 different broadband speed options that range from 256kbps (Rs.25/hr) to around 2mbps (Rs. 120/hr).
Customers can log on to the Airtel SelfCare portal to view their usage and session details, which will subsequently be mentioned in the bill as well.


Tariff Structure


Airtel Telemedia customers can choose from 4 different broadband speed options:
1)      Broadband speed of 256 KBPS at Rs. 25/- per hour
2)      Broadband speed of 512 KBPS at Rs. 40/- per hour
3)      Broadband speed of 1024 KBPS at Rs. 75/- per hour
4)      Broadband speed of 2048 KBPS at Rs. 120/- per hour

Source: techtree

dwarakesh

Airtel's offer

Bharti Airtel  announced the launch of its innovative 'Speed-on- Demand' service for its broadband customers. 'Speed on Demand' is an innovative offering that enables Four options are available — 256 kbps at Rs. 25 an hour; 512 kbps at Rs. 40 an hour; 1024 kbps at Rs. 75 an hour and 2048 kbps at Rs. 120 an hour.

dwarakesh

Airtel launches rural service centre

VIJAYAWADA: Airtel launched its first rural service centre in Vijayawada zone at Undavalli centre near here on Monday, stating that its aim was to provide all services to rural people at locations nearer to them.

Manoj Gour, the zonal business manager of Airtel Vijayawada zone, who inaugurated the centre, said Airtel Service Centre (ASC) would be a "one-stop shop" for all mobile queries of customers in rural areas. About 500 such rural service centres would be opened in the zone, comprising the districts of Khammam, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur, by May this year. Each centre, which would generally be a multi-brand retail outlet, would have a retailer trained and empowered to have direct access to call centre agents of Airtel for solving specific needs of rural customers.

The ASC would sell new connections, provide recharges and accessories and also sell and exchange SIM cards, activate, reactivate, recharge and provide suitable value added services. Services like exchange of damaged or lost SIM, which was hitherto done only in urban areas, would also be done here.

Mr. Gour said this model of distribution and service had evolved out of studies that confirmed that rural consumers were hesitant to speak to machines and most rural people were not comfortable speaking with the call centre executives.

They were found to prefer to deal with a local person in local dialect.

dwarakesh

Airtel Digital TV launches new promotional offer   

Bharti Airtel's DTH subsidiary, Airtel Digital TV launched a new offer wherein new subscribers of the service stand to gain a chance to meet celebrities including names such as A R Rahman, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Gautam Gambhir in addition to some other prizes on offer.

The offer valid till May 31, 2009 requires the subscriber to send an SMS completing the slogan, "I love Digital TV because..."

Airtel is offering its DTH services at a competitive rate of Rs 1,750. Other prizes include 60 Samsung 37 inch LCD TVs, 600 Samsung MP3 players, 1200 Nokia phones and 12000 Cash Backs vouchers of Rs. 250 each.

Source: Telecomtiger

VelMurugan

Airtel Introduces New BlackBerry Service Plan

Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) have introduced a new service plan for Airtel BlackBerry customers in India.

Now, the BlackBerry Personal Mail service plan will offer subscribers unlimited email and instant messaging services for Rs. 499.

According to Airtel, this is the first service plan priced at less than Rs. 500 to offer unlimited email and IM services to BlackBerry smartphone customers in the country.

With this tariff, the company is trying to target a wider market, making the service affordable for people like young professionals, small business owners, and students.

The BlackBerry Personal Mail service plan offers unlimited access on the BlackBerry platform, allowing Airtel customers to access up to 10 supported POP3/IMAP email accounts (including the most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail) as well as various instant messaging services (including Windows Live Messenger, GTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, and BlackBerry Messenger) from a single device.

Source : Techtree

dwarakesh

Airtel Introduces New BlackBerry Service Plan

Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) have introduced a new service plan for Airtel BlackBerry customers in India.

Now, the BlackBerry Personal Mail service plan will offer subscribers unlimited email and instant messaging services for Rs. 499.

According to Airtel, this is the first service plan priced at less than Rs. 500 to offer unlimited email and IM services to BlackBerry smartphone customers in the country.

With this tariff, the company is trying to target a wider market, making the service affordable for people like young professionals, small business owners, and students.

The BlackBerry Personal Mail service plan offers unlimited access on the BlackBerry platform, allowing Airtel customers to access up to 10 supported POP3/IMAP email accounts (including the most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail) as well as various instant messaging services (including Windows Live Messenger, GTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, and BlackBerry Messenger) from a single device.

Source: Techtree

dwarakesh

Bharti Airtel withdraws '95' dialing as per DoT directive for fixed line services

Bharti Airtel, today announced the withdrawal of '95' dialing for long distance calling on its fixed line service as per the directive of the Department of Telecom (DoT). The withdrawal will come into effect from today midnight.

Subscribers will now have to dial the STD code prefixed with '0' before calling to any long distance destination.

Airtel said that it is also providing its customers the convenience of not activating their STD facility but continuing to access the cities which are within 500 kms of a telecom circle and less than 50 kms of the adjoining SDCA. They will need to dial the city STD code prefixed with 0. To access numbers outside of this perimeter, the customer will have to activate his STD facility by calling 121 from his Airtel fixed lined number. The customer will continue to be billed for all calls as per the prevailing tariff, said Airtel.

Source: telecomtiger

nithyasubramanian

February sees 9.1 mn new mobile users; Bharti tops in customer base

New Delhi, March 10: Slowdown failed to hit rising mobile usage as Indian GSM operators added a record 9.1 million subscribers in February, taking total users to 277.1 million, thus, maintaining rapid expansion in the world's fastest-growing wireless market.

Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top mobile operator, led the signings, adding 2.73 million subscribers in February to take its mobile customer base to 91 million. Vodafone Essar Ltd, controlled by Britain's Vodafone, added 2.5 million users in the month, to take its subscriber base to 65 million, data from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) showed.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd added 1.5 million users in February taking its total to 44 million. Idea Cellular gained 1.5 subscribers as well, and now has 41 million users.

There are five other companies that offer GSM services, including Reliance Communications Ltd, which has majority of its subscribers on the rival CDMA network, and announces its subscriber additions separately.

India's mobile market is booming, thanks to call rates as low as one US cent a minute, the availability of cheap handsets and expansion of networks to smaller towns and rural areas.

courtesy : Zeenews.com
Thanks and Regards
- Nithya Subramanian
Kenvivo Communications
http://nithya-subramanian.blogspot.com/

dwarakesh

Airtel to cover 15,400 census villages by March

MADURAI: Telecom services provider, Airtel, has planned to provide mobile phone coverage in around 15,400 census villages in the State by March 2009.

Till date, around 94 per cent of the census village in the State have been covered.

A spokesperson said, the tie up of telecom major with Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has helped it penetrate into over 4,000 farmers' societies that have 67 lakh active members.

The IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited services were available through the Airtel mobile phone.

The farmers were getting voice messages on farming activities, including cattle-rearing, poultry and weather forecast everyday. Besides, farmers were able to get their doubts clarified from experts through calls made to a dedicated phone number from their Airtel mobile connections.

The IFFCO Airtel connections allowed the members to make calls among themselves at a lower call charge of 50 paise a minute. G. Venkatachalam, secretary of the Villur Primary Agriculture Cooperative Bank, said that the society was able to make around Rs. 5,000 profit through 'easy recharges' it made for its IFFCO Airtel customers. "The service was useful to the farmers in many aspects, including clearing their doubts on farming activities" he said.

nithyasubramanian

Airtel CEO sells entire stake for Rs 7 cr

Mumbai, March 12: Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli has sold his entire stake of 1.23 lakh shares last week for over Rs 7.20 crore, a move that coincided with the announcement of new Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) regime which is bound to affect company's revenues.

"I have sold my current holding in Bharti Airtel for personal reasons. I continue to hold 1.80 lakh options in the company, some of which have already vested and the balance will vest from time to time as per the vesting schedule," Kohli, Bharti Airtel's CEO and Joint Managing Director, said in a statement.

According to company spokesperson, these options of 1.80 lakh would be converted into as many number of shares by the middle of next year.

The company separately said in its stock exchange filings that Kohli sold his entire current holding of 1.23 lakh shares for about Rs 7.21 crore on March 6 and March 9 -- resulting in an average sale price of about Rs 586 a share.

Shares of Bharti Airtel today dipped by 6.4 per cent to close at Rs 550.30 on the BSE.

On Friday, telecom regulator TRAI had announced the revised IUC regime and slashed the termination charge by about 33 per cent to 20 paise a minute with effect from April 1, 2009, from 33 paise now.

Termination charge is a levy paid by an operator to another on whose network the call ends.

The GSM Operators' lobby had opposed the move saying cut in termination charge would affect telcos' revenues.

It is evident from the movement of the scrip on the stock exchanges with Bharti Airtel's share prices plunging by 8.61 per cent since March 6 or 6.37 per cent since March 9 that cut in termination charge, as announced by TRAI, affected company's share prices.

Kohli also said in a statement that he continues to be the CEO and Joint Managing Director of the company.

On March 6, Kohli offloaded 53,000 shares of the company valued at Rs 3.13 crore, while on March 9 Kohli sold 70,000 shares for Rs 4.07 crore, as per the stock exchange filing.

courtesy : Zeenews.com
Thanks and Regards
- Nithya Subramanian
Kenvivo Communications
http://nithya-subramanian.blogspot.com/