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Maran visits Nokia site in Sriperumbudur

Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran Tuesday visited the site of Nokia’s first handset manufacturing unit in India, that is coming up in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu

Maran visits Nokia site in Sriperumbudur

Chennai: Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran Tuesday visited the site of Nokia’s first handset manufacturing unit in India, that is coming up in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

The state government and the mobile phone major had signed a memorandum of understanding Apr 6 for setting up its manufacturing unit in the country.

It is located at the State Industries Promotion Corporation of the industrial estate in Tiruvallur district.

Nokia is expected to invest $150 million in the first stage and an equal sum for ancillary units, providing direct and indirect employment to 8,000 people.

The day is considered auspicious on account of Ayudha puja, when all mechanical things are worshipped. Vishwakarma, the master craftsman and Saraswathi, the goddess of learning are worshipped on this day

Nokia Chennai plant to be ready by april 2006

Nokia?s Sriperumbudur plant (near Chennai) is likely to be completed by March/April next year, a little ahead of the original schedule, said Dayanidhi Maran, Union minister of communications and IT.

Nokia’s Sriperumbudur plant (near Chennai) is likely to be completed by March/April next year, a little ahead of the original schedule, said Dayanidhi Maran, Union minister of communications and IT.

Between Nokia and its component suppliers located within the Nokia Special Economic Zone (SEZ), more than 10,000 people would be employed, said Maran after a review of the construction work today.

The Sriperumbudur plant is Nokia’s 10th facility in the world. The plant and those of the component makers would be located within the 210.87 acre SEZ. Nokia’s plant would cover a floor space of 29,000 square metres.

Between Nokia and its component makers, an investment of $ 300 million (about Rs 1,315 crore) is expected to flow in over the next few years.

When Nokia announced its intention to set up the plant in Sriperumbudur in April 2005, the company’s officials said the plant would be initially used to make mobile handsets.

Maran said that there was a possibility that Nokia could also make telecom network equipment in India. It came in the context of the manufacturing obligation that has been imposed on global telecom companies that have bid for network contracts in India.

Some of the successful bidders such as Nortel are expected to use contract manufacturers to fulfil their obligations.

Flextronics, which is to set up a plant to make electronics/telecom equipment in Sriperumbudur, has a global manufacturing agreement with Nortel. Flextronics is likely to use its planned plant to make some equipment for Nortel.

A media release from Nokia said that construction work at the SEZ is being carried out by Leighton Contractors. Over 1,000 people are deployed at the site, added the release.

Source : Business Standard

Samsung planning a manufacturing unit for India

ndia is becoming one of the hottest markets to be in for mobile phone makers. World?s largest mobile makers Nokia along with LG and Elcoteq have already expressed their views to open a manufacturing unit in India. Now, South Korean tech giant Samsung is planning a similar venture to consider manufacturing mobile phones in India.

Samsung planning a manufacturing unit for India

India is becoming one of the hottest markets to be in for mobile phone makers. World’s largest mobile makers Nokia along with LG and Elcoteq have already expressed their views to open a manufacturing unit in India. Now, South Korean tech giant Samsung is planning a similar venture to consider manufacturing mobile phones in India.

The company indicated that they would start making cell phones in India along with the other electronic items already being manufactured in the local market. They are looking at Noida and Mumbai as the possible locations for such a manufacturing plant. Some rumors in the market claim that a decision has already been taken though no confirmation has been obtained from the company.

There are also possibilities of the company renting an existing factory instead of establishing their own to get the project going as soon as possible. It is expected to function as a standalone subsidiary, rather than any existing divisions of Samsung India. With the mobiles being commoditized here in the Indian market, it has become important for the manufacturers to find ways to cut costs and launch cheaper models to target the massive budget segment.

Interestingly, Philips has also committed to soon unveil a real cheap mobile phone in the Indian market to target that particular audience segment.

Source:TechWhack

Palm and Hutch Deliver Highly Acclaimed Treo 650 Smartphone to India

The Treo 650 smartphone provides Hutch customers with increased mobility and a way to simplify their business and personal lives with an all-in-one device,” said Paul Blinkhorn, vice president for Palm Asia Pacific. “Whether it’s reviewing email, viewing a presentation or simply making a conference call, the Treo 650 smartphone lets busy people manage the critical components of their lives while out of the office

MUMBAI, India–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 11, 2005–Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that its award-winning Palm(R) Treo(TM) 650 smartphone is now available on the Hutch network in India.

"The Treo 650 smartphone provides Hutch customers with increased mobility and a way to simplify their business and personal lives with an all-in-one device," said Paul Blinkhorn, vice president for Palm Asia Pacific. "Whether it’s reviewing email, viewing a presentation or simply making a conference call, the Treo 650 smartphone lets busy people manage the critical components of their lives while out of the office."

Naveen Chopra, corporate vice president of Group Marketing at Hutchison Essar, said, "Hutch is committed to bringing its customers value-added services that consistently enhance their service experience and help manage business with optimum efficiency, even while on the move. The Treo 650 smartphone is truly a professional mobile handset that will aid Hutch customers in optimizing our high-end services."

About the Palm Treo 650 Smartphone from Palm, Inc.

Building on the award-winning Treo 600 design, the Treo 650 smartphone from Palm makes it easier than ever for mobile professionals to stay connected. With carrier activation, the Treo 650 combines a compact, full-featured mobile phone with email, an organizer, messaging and web access,(1) allowing users to organize and simplify their business and personal lives all in one place. The Treo 650 offers integrated Bluetooth(R) technology, a higher-resolution screen, multimedia capabilities, a removable battery, non-volatile memory, an improved backlit keyboard, and support for direct corporate email access to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 using VersaMail(R) email software.(2) More information can be found at www.palm.com/Treo650.

About Hutchison Essar

Hutchison Essar, with over 9.2 million mobile users under the Hutch and Orange brands, is one of the most reputable telecom companies in India. Over the years, it has been named the "Most Respected Telecom," the "Best Mobile Service in the country" and the "Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year."

(Figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, as of August 2005).

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile computing, strives to put the power of computing in people’s hands so they can access and share their most important information. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) handheld computers, Palm Treo(TM) smartphones, Palm LifeDrive(TM) mobile managers, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm Retail Stores and Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.

(1) Within wireless service coverage area only. Email, messaging and web access requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost.

(2) Requires Exchange Server 2003 and access enabled by IT administrator.

Palm, LifeDrive and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.

Bill Gates to visit Chennai in Dec

Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates is expected to visit Chennai in December this year, said Dayanidhi Maran, union minister for communications and IT.

?I have asked Gates to come to India and also look beyond Bangalore. He will be visiting Chennai this time,? said Maran.

BANGALORE: Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates is expected to visit Chennai in December this year, said Dayanidhi Maran, union minister for communications and IT.

“I have asked Gates to come to India and also look beyond Bangalore. He will be visiting Chennai this time,” said Maran.

The minister said that he was pleased with the infrastructure improvement activities undertaken by the Dharam Singh government.” We need more visible changes. I have also requested the center to release Rs 500 crore under the Central Scheme for Critical Infrastructure to fund the construction of 50 flyovers in Bangalore.”

Maran also said that IT should grow beyond Bangalore and in other cities like Mysore and Hubli.

Gates has invested Rs 10 crore in a pilot project to take e-governance to the villages, Maran said, adding, Microsoft had taken the bold step of deciding to launch bi-lingual Microsoft Windows XP starter (in English and a local language). “Besides Hindi, the edition would be launched in eight local languages in January next year.”

On the education front, Maran said that Microsoft had agreed to sponsor a pilot project to train teachers. This involves deploying 5000 computers across a hundred schools in six states.

Source:CIOL

Raghu Rai is imaging ambassador for Nokia

New Delhi: To cash in on the popularity of camera phones, Nokia on Wednesday announced that it has selected acclaimed Indian photographer Raghu Rai as its imaging ambassador for the Asia Pacific region in the Nokia Nseries `See New’ Competition.

The competition is a Nokia Nseries global initiative aimed at increasing awareness about mobile photography. Along with Rai, Nokia has selected four high-profile photographers – Juergen Teller from Germany, Jian Cheng Dong from China, American photographer Philip-Lorca DiCorcia and the UK-based Nick Waplington to serve as ambassadors for their respective countries during the competition.

Full Story at Sify

Blackberry Services Now on Nokia

With the introduction of BlackBerry Connect in the country, Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) plan to extend BlackBerry wireless services to the Nokia 9300 smartphone, Nokia 9500 Communicator and Sony Ericsson P910i. Airtel’s BlackBerry portfolio will also include BlackBerry 7290 and BlackBerry 7100g

With this move, Airtel intends to offer customers a wider range of BlackBerry-enabled devices to suit their varying needs and preferences. The company also aims to provide IT departments, the added advantage of being able to support multiple-device types with the existing security and infrastructure.

Users of the Nokia 9300 smartphone, Nokia 9500 Communicator and Sony Ericsson P910i will now be able to enjoy features such as push-based BlackBerry e-mail delivery, attachment viewing, wireless e-mail synchronization, as also remote address look-up, policy enforcement, IT commands, Triple DES encryption and Wireless calendar synchronization.

Airtel has made BlackBerry Services available exclusively for its customers, starting at Rs 499 per month. Corporate and SME customers can opt for the unlimited data monthly rental plan of Rs 899 per month. For prosumers, this plan would cost Rs 1099 per month.

The BlackBerry Internet Service will allow smaller businesses and individuals, access of up to 10 e-mail accounts from a single device. For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software will integrate with IBM Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Exchange, and work with existing enterprise systems to facilitate push-based, wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.

The Nokia 9300 smartphone is available for Rs 29,000, the Nokia 9500
Communicator is priced at Rs 34,500 and the Sony Ericsson P910i is available for Rs 27,995.

Manoj Kohli, president – mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures, said, "Email continues to be a key communication medium and research indicates that the first application most mobile users like to see integrated into their mobile phones is their email. Emails also have one of the greatest impacts on productivity. A constantly widening group of mobile professionals have already recognized the productivity benefits of BlackBerry. Our announcement today of extending the BlackBerry service to a much wider range of new and stylish mobile phone handsets, allows us to address the needs of a broader target group of mobile users, thereby further catalyzing the adoption and usage of BlackBerry in India."

Chakrapani GK, country manager – enterprise solutions, Nokia India, said, "The availability of BlackBerry services to Nokia’s high-end enterprise devices, marks the convergence of two eagerly anticipated, business focused wireless products. The growth in demand for mobility solutions has substantially expanded over the last couple of years, and by offering BlackBerry on our smartphones, we are offering a truly powerful tool, complete with voice and data solutions, both for business and individual users."

Sudhin Mathur, general manager, Sony Ericsson India, said, "We’re delighted to be adding BlackBerry to the palette of solutions we support with our P910i, thereby further expanding customer choice. The P910i smartphone, which is a multi-faceted device offering productivity, entertainment & communications solutions will now also offer this proven, market leading mobile email & data solution. We are constantly seeking to offer our consumer the very best in usage experience through various innovative means, and this inclusion of BlackBerry is yet another step in that direction."

Source:TechTree

Airtel to invest Rs 400 Cr in Karnataka

Airtel, a leading mobile services provider in the country, would invest Rs 400 crores during the year 2005-06 as part of its expansion plan in Karnataka, Company Executive Director (Southern Region-Mobility) Atul Bindal said today

Bangalore: Airtel, a leading mobile services provider in the country, would invest Rs 400 crores during the year 2005-06 as part of its expansion plan in Karnataka, Company Executive Director (Southern Region-Mobility) Atul Bindal said today.

Talking to newsmen here, he said that with 1.5 million customers in the state, Karnataka was the second largest Circle in Bharti Televentures’ network which is playing a pioneering role in increasing mobile penetration in the country.

Mr Bindal said that with the projected expansion plan, the company by end of the year planning to reach out to approximately 45 per cent of the population in the state with a robust network that will span about 730 towns. It was intended to set up 600 additional cell sites across the state taking the total number to 1800 to ensure better reach than competitors.

The idea was to expand mobile network in rural areas and drive segmented applications and value added services in urban and semi urban markets, he said and added that the Company see lot of potential for development in Northern Districts like Gulbarga and Hubli.

Bharati Televentures COO Deepak Mehrotra said that the Company has adopted a three prong strategy–innovation, quality and outsourcing, to achieve its planned development. Bharati has recently signed agreements to outsource its call center operations to some of the best international BPOs. The agreement with Hinduja TMT, IBM Daksh, Mphasis and TeleTech services would enhance quality of customer service delivery to its customers across the country, he added.

Mr Mehrotra said that Airtel has moved towards setting up of a Future Factory in Bangalore fully dedicated to explore innovation and development of path-breaking applications for mobile customers across the country. Customers in cities like Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai were looking towards mobile commerce and the Future Factory here would take up development of drive applications that use mobile phone as a payment instrument for ticketing, money transfer and other commerce transactions.

He said under rural programme the company would focus on developing applications to make mobile telephone more relevant to the segment.

Be Very Careful About Nokia Phones Lying Around

Next time you hold a sensitive meeting, you might want to see if anybody around you has a Nokia telephone. And don’t be so sure the phone is turned off.

AGLAYA, a small Indian company is offer for just $250 software that can convert any Nokia 6600 model telephone into a spyphone.

"When someone calls the phone, it rings and operates as a normal telephone but when the phone is called using the pre-defined number, it automatically answers without any ringing, lights, change in the phones screen display or creating logs," the company’s website brags, adding "The phone works like a normal mobile phone and so shows nothing suspicious or unusual to the user."

AGLAYA says "you can access the phone from anywhere in the world with no range limitations, just dial in and listen."

The solution to all this? Ban telephones – or at least take out the batteries – that is if you can find them.

Via [Spero Forum Weblog]

Super Series to be live on mobiles

More than 30 million cell phone users in the country can watch the Johnnie Walker Super series cricket live when the tournament starts on October 5

New Delhi, Oct 4.(PTI): More than 30 million cell phone users in the country can watch the Johnnie Walker Super series cricket live when the tournament starts on October 5.

Reliance, BSNL, IDEA, Aircel, Tata Indicom, BPL, Spice, MTNL subscribers can watch the cricket series on their GPRS-enabled cell phones thanks to IMImobiles.

ICC has given the rights to three service providers in India — Airtel, Hutch and IMImobile.

Airtel sets up 1000th cell site

Cellular service provider, Airtel on Friday installed 1000th cell site in Maharashtra and Goa circle at Katol, 40 km from Nagpur, and claimed to have become first private player to do so

Cellular service provider, Airtel on Friday installed 1000th cell site in Maharashtra and Goa circle at Katol, 40 km from Nagpur, and claimed to have become first private player to do so.

"The total number of base stations will touch 1500 by March next year and Airtel will enter over 300 new towns across Maharashtra and Goa thus spanning the coverage to a total 550 towns and 33 districts," Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Televentures, Christopher Tobit told reporters.

Airtel will offer superior quality network in key tourist and pilgrimage destinations including Shirdi, Trimbakshwar, Mahabaleshwar, Shanishingnaapur, Nanded, Pandharpur, Lonavala and Khandala with an investment to the tune of Rs 250 crore for network expansion, capacity enhancement and other infrastructure, he said.

The company will also commission its third mobile switch centre (MSC) in second capital by end of March 2006, he said, adding during the current fiscal, Airtel will be covering additional highways like Bhusawal-Shegaon, Dhule-Nashik and Mumbai-Goa besides rail and road network on Mumbai-Goa and Vasai-Ahmedabad by next March.

Tobit said they will be launching 62 additional new towns and three new districts of Washim, Gadchiroli and Hingoli by March end.

It is also introducing network on wheels (NOW) and would be deploying five such NOWs in Maharashtra and Goa, he added.

Source:PTI

Hutch unveils voice response in Kannada

Hutch, one of the leading cellular service providers, on Tuesday announced the launch of content on the voice response platform in three more languages namely Kannada, Telugu and Tamil in addition to the already available English and Hindi languages

Samuel Selvakumar, director (operations), Hutch, told reporters here that this innovative voice enabled service will enable customers to access a range of offerings in the language of their choice and will be in tune with the Hutch philosophy of facilitating communication in a manner that is convenient.

Cellular launch services in Andman and Nicobar by March 06 says Hutch

Hutch would launch mobile phone services in the Andaman and Nicobar by March, 2006 while aiming to double the customer base in the Bengal circle in the next one year.

"We will be launching our cellular services in Andaman and Nicobar within the next few months, ie. By the end of the current financial year," Sridhar Rao, CEO, Hutchison Telecom East Limited, told reporters on Wednesday.

Speaking at the launch of the ‘Chota Recharge-Puri Baat’ coupon, he said the company expected to emulate its success story in the Bengal circle in the islands.

Hutch would be the third operator after BSNL and Airtel to launch its cellular services in the islands.

Hutch rolls out Rs 10 recharge coupons

Hutchison Essar has launched a new recharge voucher that enables subscribers to top-up pre-paid connections with denominations as low as Rs 10

Hutchison Essar has launched a new recharge voucher that enables subscribers to top-up pre-paid connections with denominations as low as Rs 10.

“The new coupon will help make pre-paid usage even more affordable to both ‘Hutch’ and ‘Orange’ users, and offers more talktime at the same cost, therefore more value for money,” said Naveen Chopra, corporate vice-present, group marketing of Hutchison Essar at a press conference.

Earlier, the voucher could be used only as an ‘add-on card’. This meant that the card can be used to make calls when the recharged value of a coupon expires, but the validity period continues.

The customer can then recharge using a Chota Recharge again after buying a Rs 199 card within the 30-day validity period. Even though, the customer gets additional talktime for the amount recharged, it does not extend his validity period.

A user can recharge any number of times within the validity period without paying any extra fee. This will bring in a significant change in the pre-paid industry and going mobile will become more affordable, he said.

With this launch, Chota Recharge becomes the lowest recharge voucher available in the country.

Prior to this launch, the add-on recharge card available with the Rs 199 voucher was of Rs 55 and Rs 60. These cards also had access fees. Earlier, Airtel had also rolled out recharge vouchers in low denominations of Rs 60 and Rs 120.

Source:business-standard

MTV Loveline On Mobile Phones

Coruscant Tec, a leading mobile solutions company that specialises in mobile content and commerce, today announced the launch of a new mobile social software called MTV Loveline in association with MTV India. The MTV Loveline will be available to subscribers on the Airtel, Hutch, RPG Cellular, BSNL, BPL and Tata Tele networks

Mumbai : Coruscant Tec, a leading mobile solutions company that specialises in mobile content and commerce, today announced the launch of a new mobile social software called MTV Loveline in association with MTV India. The MTV Loveline will be available to subscribers on the Airtel, Hutch, RPG Cellular, BSNL, BPL and Tata Tele networks.

The MTV Loveline platform is currently available over SMS and as a JAVA download over GPRS. All users need to do is SMS "love" to 6882 to access the MTV Loveline. The JAVA download version also allows the user to create and choose between different mobile chatrooms along with several other interactive features.

The company has ensured that elaborate security filters which include up to four levels of auto-monitoring and keyword searches filtering objectionable content are available.

In the words of Ajay Adiseshann, managing director, Coruscant Tec, "Social Software is the next killer enabler that everyone has been waiting for. MTV Loveline will set a trend in itself and Coruscant is proud to be a pioneer in this space".

On the future on mobile data applications, he added, "With voice being commoditised, the need for newer data applications is being increasingly felt. Coruscant’s vision is to identify these areas and empower users by empowering their mobiles." (See: Shop till your cell drops!)

Industry insiders predict that by 2008 there will be 16.3 million users of mobile chat and entertainment services, with a cumulative annual growth rate to 76.3 percent. Social software on mobiles is set to become one of the pillars in the mobile entertainment space alongside ringtones, wall papers etc.

Source:http://www.domain-b.com/infotech/itnews/2005/20050928_launches.html