Jio Brings Happy New Year Offer, Free Services til 31st March 2017

As Jio promised to extend its free offerings to the subscribers til 31st March 2017, we are now getting texts from Jio regarding that too.

MyJio app also started showing migration notice: 

5 Roadblocks for Jio to Win over Incumbents

Jio, the digital platform from the house of Reliance Industries has shaken the Indian telecom and digital scenario in a way which nobody can ignore. India’s business tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s ambitious greenfield telecom project Jio is being targeted as a digital platform over Jio’s own LTE network expanding over 2300MHz, 1800MHz and 850MHz.

However Jio’s datagiri sees roadblocks in many ways, so that the company has to extend its unlimited offerings for another 3 months til 31st of March, 2017.

Voice Network Yet to be Stable

Unlike existing players who depend on 2G/3G networks for voice calls Jio offers voice over LTE network. Though technically Jio’s VoLTE is better than traditional voice network there are many glitches which are experienced by subscribers of Jio. Jio did a great job to open up the interconnectivity between other operators after a fight but that’s not enough.

For example I often can’t make calls when data connectivity is on, I need to switch off data before making the call. Sometimes there is no sound during a call.

Being voice is the major applications on a telecom network, nobody would make Jio as their primary connection, rather use others who have stable voice network.

2020 September Update: Jio now has very stable IP based VoLTE services. 

Coverage Issues

Jio on its first go, have covered almost 70-80% of areas but in many places it has no network. During my travel to Harit, 30km away from Kolkata there is no Jio network. Similar to this Bakkhali, a popular beach in West Bengal has no Jio 4G coverage.

However this is the initial days of Jio and they will definitely iron out coverage issues.

2020 September Update: Jio now has widest 4G coverage. Thanks to Jio's LTE800 the indoor coverage is also best among 4G operators. 

Technical Help is Almost Nil

Apart from Reliance Digital Stores and toll free helplines Jio subscribers have nowhere to go to seek help. But I often faced the situation where Digital guys could not solve the problems.

Jio need to take care of it, very seriously. They should use the social media to tackle issues of subscribers like Airtel, Vodafone and others as they use Twitter to reach customers and solve their problems.

2020 September Update: Jio ironed out most technical glitches in a way, that you don't need the help 95% of times. 

Competition from Others

Thankfully launch of Jio brings super affordable data & voice services from almost all operators. Airtel, Vodafone & Idea has responded accordingly and the game is not won by Jio. Price game is yet to work for Jio and Jio remains to be the second SIM on our daily usage.

If you follow Airtel’s latest traffic revision, they are offering unlimited calls & 1GB data at Rs 350 approx. and 4GB data at Rs 250. So in total for Rs 600 you are getting offers similar to Jio on a stable (if not superior) network.

2020 September Update: Competition is there, market is consolidated heavily - the active operators are now Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL-MTNL. Tariff revision happened, and Jio is no more cheapest operator. More or less every operator offer the same. Phone calls are virtually free thanks to unlimited calling + calling over apps, if you spend Rs 5-6 per day. 

Slow Data Network

Lastly we must talk about Jio’s slower data services on its legacy LTE network. As Jio’s services are free, nobody is nagging regarding it. But it’s an important issue that Jio must resolve before subscribers start paying for it. Right now on my personal experience Airtel & Vodafone’s 3G & 4G services are better in terms of speed and stability.

2020 September Update: In my experience Airtel still offers most robust 4G network, but inside a house Jio is better - based in Barrackpore. But whenever I go to Kolkata metropolitan area, the signals of all operators seem to be same. 


Many may think that I am too much negative and getting harsh on this new baby of Indian telecom, for them I had something to say: this new boy has country's richest dad, so don't spoil him.

The article was first published on Telecomtalk.info on 21st Dec, 2016.

Indian Rail's UTS App for Suburban Ticket Booking

Indian Rail has introduced a new app - UTS for suburabn ticket booking. I found it immensely helpful.

However few days back I found that I could not log in to buy a ticket. Instead I am getting this message:

Please Login using registered Handset or give Handset Change Request from website www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in

Though I did not change my mobile, the error occured. The issue is solved after logging in to that mentioned website and requesting handset change option.

But there is a catch, the process did not work on mobile, I had to open that link on laptop and log in to do so. 

[Press Release] Now Donate Digitally with FreeCharge

Akshaya Patra, MagicBus tie-up with FreeCharge in the Season of Joy

Donors and NGOs go cashless to continue their support

National, December 02, 2016:  It is the season to share the joy and spread some smiles. It is also the time when the cold weather in parts of the country makes life harder for the under-privileged. The demonetization move has suddenly impacted the ability of NGOs to receive contributions from willing donors. 

In such times, FreeCharge, India’s fastest growing digital payments platform, is doing its bit to help create digital donations bridges through its app. In a recently launched feature, it now has a “Donate” button on its app, through which FreeCharge users can make instant donations to leading NGOs in the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation; Magic Bus India Foundation; GiveIndia powered - Maitri India, Foundation for Mother and Child Health, Abhoy Mission; other NGOs and Nizamuddin Dargah are already live on FreeCharge. Many more NGOs catering to the causes such as children’s education, mother and child care, care for the elderly will get added over the next few weeks.

Commenting on FreeCharge’s donations category, Mr. Govind Rajan, CEO, FreeCharge said, “Our users had reached out to us expressing their desire to be able to donate through FreeCharge. Volunteers in our product and technology team worked to roll out this feature quickly. Use of digital wallets for nonprofit contributions is a great idea that helps users stay connected with the causes they care for, in a seamless manner. In the past few days, hundreds of users have connected with us requesting to add NGOs of their choice and we are in the process of making that happen.”

Indian Rural LTE Will Come via 850MHz As of Now!

Few days back I visited Harit, a village nearly 60km away from Kolkata. To my surprise this area does not have any JIO network even LTE850 is also absent there.

My perception was JIO have covered majority of Indian landscape but that's not true. There is another thing (it needs to be verified) JIO is yet launch its LTE850 network with RCom's spectrum.

However my point is India's wireless digital life program needs sub-1GHz spectrum for the better indoor coverage, wider outdoor coverage and less CAPEX expenditure for all these.

Worldwide LTE-FDD deployment on 700MHz is considered to be a global roaming enabler and at the same time it can transform the rural telecommunications by covering the white spots.

However in India the situation is different - here 2G services are also weak at places, 3G network is expanding slower than expected and don't ask about 4G (though Jio's legacy 4G-only network breaks that myth and it has quite better coverage than other operators' 2G/3G network). Debt ridden operators in India skipped the 700MHz spectrum auction recently citing the financial reason.

So as of now India's rural wireless broadband will be depending on 850/900MHz LTE roll out, while LTE900 is yet to come and LTE850 is limited to Jio and Reliance Communications.

Very recently BSNL expressed their interest on 700MHz band for LTE/4G roll out but I am very much skeptical about BSNL's move which is often hindered by several factors. 

JIO Kolkata : Band 3 Gets Total 10MHz, Better Speed Sparked

In most of the parts of Kolkata, Jio begins operations with 20MHz x 2300MHz (Band 40), 5MHz x 1800MHz (Band 3) and 5MHz x 850MHz (Band 5, from RCom) to cover up indoor and outdoor. 

As I found yesterday Jio now adds another 5MHz in 1800MHz (Band 3) in Kolkata - making use of 2 x 5MHz channels on this band. It improves both downlink and uplink immediately as I experienced in Barrackpore, Northern suburb of Kolkata. 

Apart from Rajasthan and Kolkata, Jio does not have its own 10MHz spectrum in 1800MHz band. So in other circles Jio will create 2 channels of 5MHz on 1800MHz by sharing spectrum from RCom, but I guess it will take some time. 

Vodafone and Idea Bet Big on LTE-2500 (TDD), But LTE2500 Ecosystem is NOT Mature Enough

In the recently concluded spectrum auction country's second and third largest mobile operator -Vodafone India and Idea Cellular has acquired a good amount of spectrum in 2500MHz band, which will be used for LTE roll out. This band of spectrum would be used by Vodafone and Idea as a replacement of Jio, Airtel and Tikona's spectrum on 2300MHz band. It should be noted that Vodafone and Idea did not bag any spectrum on 2300MHz band in 2010's auction.

Vodafone and Idea will create a new LTE ecosystem in the country on 2500MHz band (TDD-LTE on Band 41). Both companies did not have any spectrum in the 2300MHz band and they are currently offering LTE-FD on the liberalized 1800 MHz band only. Vodafone has acquired 2500MHz spectrum in 14 circles while Idea won the same in 15 circles.

While Vodafone targets metro circles and mostly cat-B circles for its upcoming LTE-TD Band 41 services, Idea skips metro circles and has concentrated on cat-B and cat-C circles.

Jio Sets to Change Indian Telecom Landscape : My Take

It has been nearly a month after India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has announced his ambitious telecom project - digital services of Reliance Jio. Jio is different from all existing mobile operators of the country by many ways.

Jio is completely green field operator which has only 4G-LTE network without any fall back 2G/3G network. And since its network went online it continues to offer services free of cost to its customers and will be free til 31st December 2016.

Let's see how Jio changes the market.

Huge Footfall in Reliance Digital Stores

Reliance Digital stores are yet to make a spot as a cheap store for gadget lovers. We at Kolkata still depends on Chandni market or more recently on online stores. Reliance Digital stores had few visitors, however after Jio announced free SIM at Digital stores, people are now visiting these stores. And it becomes a crowd.

WiFi at Sealdah Railway Station (of RailWire-Google) : Review

In West Bengal, the main two gateway railway station - Sealdah and Howrah both have free WiFi offerings. Howrah got the first with MTS, while Sealdah got its later, but from Google-Railwire initiative.

While MTS offers 30 minutes free usage at Howrah railway station, Google-Railwire offers unlimited usage at Sealdah (though speed goes down after sometime as a part of fair usage policy).

Note that RailTel Corp (RCIL) signed an agreement with Mahataa Information India Pvt Ltd (MIIPL), an arm of Google Inc, to equip 400 stations with Wi-Fi. Hence when you are online, your ISP will not be detected as RailTel or RailWire, rather it will be detected as Mahataa Information India.

Logging in to Google's free Wifi at Sealdah Station is easy. Just keep your WiFi on your smartphone, it will be detected as RailWire WiFi. 

JIO Data Speed Fell Drastically within 3 Weeks of Launch Announcement

I am bit hurry while typing down this story. Let's cut it short, for last 3 days I found that JIO's downlink is quite slow, and very much slow whenever I go indoor and Jio LTE moves to LTE1800 or LTE850.

Using the Jio's Netvelocity app, I checked out all three LTE frequencies - Band 40/Band 3/Band 5

Location : Barrackpore
Time : 00:00 to 01:00 am, 2016-09-24

Reliance Communications LTE Speed Test (850MHz FDD-LTE)

Reliance Communications or simply RCOM took a major step in June this year - winding up CDMA and deploy LTE on this vacated spectrum.

In Kolkata RCOM LTE was launched in August 2016. RCom is sharing its own 850MHz spectrum with Jio. Though Jio does enable this band for when you go indoor with poor signal on 1800MHz.

Initially RCom started offering LTE to CDMA customers only, later LTE was extended to GSM customers also.

True MVNO soon to be a reality in India

More than 2 years back I discussed about MVNO in India – their challenges and how they can be successful in this country despite the telecom space is crowded and tariff is overall lower than other countries. (Read more 'Not Truly' MVNO Failed in Most Cases & Future of Mobile Virtual Players is Bright in India, Provided Regulations at Place )

It’s 2016 now and Indian telecom players are consolidating – Airtel bought Loop, Augere & Aircel’s 4G spectrum and liberalized spectrum from Videocon; RCom is merging with MTS and Aircel. After all the merger and acquisition we will have handful of operators. Pan Indian operators includes Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Rcom-Aircel-MTS merged company, Reliance Jio and state owned BSNL-MTNL while regional player list includes Tata Tele, Telenor and Videocon.

So there will be less number of operators and as country’s 4G ecosystem including devices are getting more matured it gives immense opportunity to potential MVNO players.

Telecom Update: Airtel is Ahead of the Curve, PSTN to All-IP Upgrade

When the commercial launch of Jio was announced with a bang, it basically hit all mobile operators of India. Big three of Indian telecom - A-Vo-Id will be hit severely in coming days. However right now Airtel is in the best position among them to fight back to Jio.

1. Pan India LTE presence & 2300MHz in 17 circles 

Airtel has 20MHz x 2300MHz spectrum in 17 circles and in all circles they have complimentary 1800MHz spectrum for LTE roll out.

Vodafone & Idea have no spectrum in 2300MHz and they are rolling out LTE/4G on just 5MHz of 1800MHz band.

2. Airtel will spend less on spectrum in future

With this much of spectrum bank, Airtel will have to spend less in near future to buy out spectrum.

In the upcoming spectrum auction in October this year Vodafone & Idea will shell out money to buy the LTE compatible spectrum. Also they will have to spend a huge to roll out LTE, while Airtel has better LTE coverage than the duo.

3. LTE-A by Airtel 

To counter act Jio, Airtel has launched faster LTE Advanced in Mumbai & Bengaluru which can offer upto 135Mbps downlink. LTE-A is actually a software upgrade for carrier aggregation - 20MHz 2300MHz + 5MHz 1800MHz.

While Vodafone and Idea are away from such things for atleast 1 year. They have to acquire more spectrum in upcoming auction and then they have to deploy the technology and then only they can offer such things.

For Jio carrier aggregation would be easier - they have LTE over 2300/1800/850MHz already and just a click they will begin offering LTE-A in all circles.

PSTN to All-IP Upgrade becomes a Reality

Nokia and Orange Polska had a succesful pilot project to migrate 4,000 subscribers on legacy public switched telephone network (PSTN) to all-IP unified network in a suburban area of Warsaw using Nokia’s PSTN Smart Transform solution. As the officials said, the migration will help to support current and future broadband needs as well as IP-based voice services and significant operational benefits including energy savings and real estate optimization.

This may be helpful for BSNL who is struggling across the country on all turfs - be it landline, wired broadband, or mobile voice & data. 

Is Jio Doing a Google Thing in India?

With the announcement of commercial launch of Jio in India, it is now time for the operators to re-think their position in the market. Over the years telcos were providing services on their networks and now they are fat with the traditional voice calls and texts. As Mukesh Ambani explains it as 'Datagiri' it is actually the network capacity and reach of network will define how strong is the mobile operator.

Along with LTE network (both TDD & FDD over 2300 MHz and 1800/850MHz) for mobile services, Jio will roll out nearly 1 million WiFi hotspots across country by middle of 2017. Jio's LTE and WiFi Hotspots are backed by enormous fiber backbone. What I want say that Jio will upkick level of India's telecommunications to something which developed nations are enjoying.

Project Fi - Google's MVNO in US:

In US Google is doing similar thing without owning a network. In April 2015, Google has launched its MVNO services in US under the branding of 'Project Fi' which connects the user to best WiFi or cellular networks (backed by Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Three). Google announced LTE/HSPA+ roaming in Europe for Project Fi users in February 2016, while international roaming is available over 135 countries as of now.

For roaming in Europe for Project Fi users in July this year Google had made a deal with Hue to use different operators across the continent. However as per a Hue spokesperson the arrangement does not cover markets where Hutchison lacks a network presence.

Jio's Wireless Data Goes Commercial, Jio MyFi Review

While we are waiting for Jio to announce its commercial launch, Jio has actually launched part of its services commercially. That's data services i.e. wireless broadband from Jio via WiFi hotspots has already been launched.

Though Jio has kept mum, almost 2 weeks back all Reliance Digital stores started selling MiFi devices with out any invitation, referral codes or anything. You walk into the store, pay Rs 2899, Rs 1999, submit your ID proof and a passport size photo and you get the device. But the device does not come with a SIM card itself, rather you will get the SIM once your KYC documents are verified.

 ** Update: On 1st September Mukesh Ambani has removed the curtain over Jio. Jio services will be free to all customers till 31st December 2016. Post that you can use Jio prepaid or postpaid plans. The plans are coming with unlimited voice & text, plus data (with unlimited data in night and WiFi data to be used on JioNet public WiFi networks). 

Once verified you will get a text from Jio on your mobile and then visit the store again to collect the SIM. This whole procedure takes 3-4 days generally, but it might take upto 10 days. In my case I got the text on 6th day. Note that you can't select a number - Jio will allot a no. to you.

Vodafone 3G vs 4G : Review at Kolkata

Last week I made my first MNP - ported my Tata Docomo prepaid GSM number to Vodafone prepaid. The reason behind porting was Tata Docomo has no 3G in Kolkata. The process was pretty fast - I generated porting code on 2nd August and submitted at Vodafone store that day. On 5th Tata Docomo SIM got switched off and Vodafone SIM is activated on the same day after televerification.

The Vodafone SIM card I received, is a 4G enabled SIM. So I planned for a 4G vs 3G speed test on Vodafone.

During the televerification I was told that using MyVodafone app will get me 100MB 3G/4G data. However I received the data on 13th and made some speedtests using SpeedTest.net app and Jio's NetVelocity app.

Discussion : Future of Tikona

In the begining of August this year Tikona got nod from the Finance Ministry on the basis of the recommendations made by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), for the issuance of CCDs worth Rs 267 crore thereby increasing foreign equity to 76.73 per cent. It means Tikona can now attract FDI of Rs 267 crore. By the last week of August, Tikona has raised $171 million for import of capital goods, as reported.

Founded in 2008, Tikona is brain child of Prakash Bajpai who is founder, MD and CEO of the company. Tikona is funded by several private equity companies.

Telenor Expanding 4G in India, Now in 13 Cities

Telenor India is expanding its 4G/LTE services in its operational circles very fast. In February this year Telenor had said that they will roll out 4G services on their existing 4G-compatible 1800MHz band and they started the field trial with Huawei's LeanGSM technologies. In March Telenor has entered into 4G space by introducing 4G in Varanasi. 

In 5 months Telenor has been rapidly increasing the 4G footprint. Right now in 6 circles Telenor 4G is live with coverage in 16 cities as of now. 

JIO Money Failed on My First Transaction of 'Pay at Shop'

Whenever Reliance Industries backed JIO Digial services is launched (via invitation system), I became very skeptical about it inspite of the fact that I from the very begining was so assured that JIO will be a successful story in the history of Indian telecommunications and will pave a new horizon in the digial India. 

JIO has its own mobile money services, called JIO Money and it's active for a quite long time. As Jio is about to launch its services commercially across the country, different apps from Jio are being updated and added with new features. JIO Money has introduced 'Pay at Shop' option.

So I thought of tring the new cashless facilities on Jio Money at Reliance Fresh, the super marketplace chain from the house of RIL. 

Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus (TIT-AL00)

I am using this smartphone from Huawei for last 1 months and counting. In this post I will share the experiences with this low cost yet powerful smartphone of Honor series.

India's Telecom Map - 2G/3G/4G [2016]

Back at Telecomtalk I had made a series of Telecom Maps. I had shared 2G, 3G and 4G maps earlier. But with the change of time those maps need to be updated. However this year i.e. 2016 will be the year of LTE in India. Apart from Airtel who started 4G services back in 2012 this year will see several players to jump into 4G space. Idea and Vodafone already launched their 4G services in selected markets. Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries will launch its commercial launch anytime soon. 

Let's start with Idea Cellular. We will discuss both 3G and 4G spectrum of Idea Cellular. 

Idea Cellular - 3G and 4G Maps

Idea won 2.1GHz spectrum in 11 circles in 2010, those airwaves are used for 3G services. In 2015 auction, Idea grabbed a chunk of 5MHz on 2.1GHz band in Kolkata and 900MHz spectrum in Delhi. In Delhi Idea launched UMTS900, i.e. 3G services over 900MHz band (similar to Airtel's Platinum 3G). 

It should be noted that Idea has almost pan India 3G presence via ICRA route over Airtel and Vodafone's 3G networks.

In last 2 years Idea kept saying that India is not ready for 4G/LTE. However sensing the threat from Reliance Jio's entry in 4G turf, Idea started rolling out 4G services in selected circles using it's technology neutral 1.8GHz band. 

In November 2015 Idea acquired spectrum in two more circles (Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh West) from Videocon. Right now Idea is capable of roll out LTE-FDD on 1800MHz band in total of 12 circles. The deal with Videocon was cancelled and eventually Airtel acquires 6 circles from Videocon.

It should be noted that in 2010 Idea did not win any of 2.3GiHz band. 

Living with Redmi Note 3

I am always a fan of CDMA data - they are just smooth, like imported scotch! However using CDMA EVDO data on smartphone came to me a bit late. I started using a imported Boost Mobile HTC Desire 510 with my MTS connection since August 2015. The phone was good with few issues. Data is working flawlessly with Reliance CDMA and MTS both.

Why Redmi Note 3 then? Answer is why not! It supports CDMA, unofficially and runs on MIUI.

I planned for RN3 3Gi/32Gi but did not get one, thanks to Xiaomi's shitty flash sale. After 2 tries, I bang on RN3 2Gi/16Gi from Mi.com.

When I got RN3, I did not put SIM/RUIM in it, and started using it over WiFi. My Google got registered, contacts, Gmail and all Google apps synced without any problem.

Enable National Roaming to Get Network Access on Reliance 4G SIM

Whatever the loyal fans of CDMA are thinking, CDMA will continue to be ceased in India. Starting from BSNL and MTNL which has pretty low subscriber base, the largest CDMA operator of the country – Reliance Communications continues to shut down its CDMA services across the country in the favor of LTE.

Before the migration RCom promised CDMA users will be shifted to 4G, but post-migration users were actually shifted to GSM platform and in circles with no 3G spectrum for RCom people are struggling with 2G. It seems RCom has made a fast boot of CDMA to 4G without a proper plan.

Many users who are using R-CDMA as their primary numbers suffered the most. But there are lots of R-CDMA users who are enjoying fast and cheap data over RCom’s EVDO platform, and many of them are using non-RUIM based imported smartphones. With the closure of CDMA services their smartphones had become just a paperweight.

Post migration many users were not able to connect to internet over R-GSM. RCOM stores were able solve this issue by a software patch installed in the newly replaced 4G enabled Smart SIM. But even after patch some users’ data connectivity to Reliance 3G/2G was not restored (note Reliance 4G is yet to be launched to these users). According to RCOM customer care you must enable national roaming via ‘SIM TOOLKIT’ to get access to Reliance 2G/3G.

Another Local Taxi Aggregator UTOO Launched in Chennai

Serial entrepreneur Sivasankaran again jumped into another new turf after telecom. Siva Group was earlier promoter of Aircel, which was later sold to Maxis. In 2008 he again tried telecom with STel partnering Batelco. In 2012 STel's 2G license was cancelled and Shiva Group closed down its telecom venture.

Cut to 2016, he launched UTOO - another taxi aggregator in the country. However unlike Ola and UBER, Sivasankaran promoted UTOO is initiated in Chennai and promised to offer luxury cabs. They also promised no surge in pricing.

The website reads, " UTOO is a premium taxi service in Chennai aimed at making every ride a journey to remember. Our transparent pricing policy is designed to ensure great rides and peaceful minds.

We believe technology as a main driver to provide the most hassle-free ride experiences for the users. We take pride in fielding a great team of chauffeurs on the ground who keep up our commitment to customer experience."

Kolkata has Three 4G Signals Live

The fourth one will be Reliance 4G which is due by August. 

WiFi Equipment Vendors - List

​

TP Link
Belkin
Binatone
Hewlett Packard
Netgear
Sanghai DareGlobal - http://dareglobal.en.ec21.com/
Shenzhen Wewins - http://www.we-wins.com/
Dragon Path
D Link International
D Link International Pte
Alpha Networks
Ericsson
CISCO
Zygate
Tenda
Alfa
Motorola Mobility
Zyxel
Juniper
Smartlink
Sonicwall
Sony Mobile

Will be updated....

RCom Admits the 4G Network is Yet to be Live

I am getting texts on my Reliance prepaid no. (CDMA to GSM/4G migrated) that 'Welcome to Reliance 4G GSM network!' But where is the fucking 4G from RCom.

4G from RCom is a LIE !! A Lie which killed CDMA and traps the loyal CDMA subscriber base of RCom to its pathetic GSM/3G network.

However in the last text they mentioned that Welcome to Reliance 4G ready GSM network.

[Press Release] Ballr Hires Head of Sports from Samsung

              Maurizio Barbieri joins Ballr to spearhead football partnerships across Asia Pacific.

Ballr, an entirely mobile, micro-fantasy, fan engagement platform, designed for emerging markets, announced today that Maurizio Barbieri, previously Head of Sport at Samsung Asia Pacific, has joined to lead global football partnerships.

“We’re pleased to welcome Maurizio to the team. In his role, he will drive strategic partnerships with global football organisations and aggressively target regional soccer fans for the all mobile games we design” said Sam Jones, founder, and CEO of Ballr. “Maurizio’s extensive experience in the

sports industry and network of sports teams, brands, content providers and network operators, will help prepare Ballr for its rapid growth across Asia”.

Barbieri joins Ballr from Asia’s market leading handset manufacturer, Samsung, where he held the position of a Head of Sports and Strategic Video services, APAC. In his role, Maurizio spearheaded a number of consumer driven content and fan engagement programs. His unrivalled access and deep understanding of sports fans in Asian gives Ballr an additional competitive edge. Prior to Samsung, Barbieri was CEO of GoalShouter a crowd-sourced football data platform.

No SMOKING !

Anti smoker campaigners will be happy to see that now cigerette makers are coming up with packets with massive disturbing photo of throat cancer along with the specific warning : smoking causes throat cancer. 

I personally think with such photos, people will be little bit bothered to use such packets in public. 

Reliance Messed up with CDMA to 4G Migration (4G SIM is Active for Me)

On 6th May I visited local Reliance store and recharged my Reliance cdma no with 4G migration voucher.

Tata Docomo CDMA is Not Dead, Confirmed by CC

At least in Kolkata, CDMA services from Tata Docomo is not dead as confirmed by CCR (Customer Care Representative).

RCom Revised 4G FRC at Re 1, Pre-Migration Offers Withdrawn

Reliance Communications has revised their 4G offerings - all FRC has been changed and now it is priced at Re 1 for prepaid and data card users.

Check out the previous offer from RCom as 4G SIM Upgrade: LINK

Prepaid customers will not get 1GB EVDO data and 150 mins of local calling and unlimited R2R for 30 days as pre migration offer. However the base tariff will be 2p/sec for all local calls and other local/STD calls at 2.5p/sec - the thing is not clear that is it R2R local @ 2p/sec or R2others local, STD and R2R STD @2.5p/sec.

Telenor India Discards Payment Bank Plan, Acquires Prabhu Money in Malaysia

Oslo based telecom giant Telenor's 100% owned local Indian unit - Telenor India has planned to move away with their financial services. 

Last year in September Telenor Financial Services, IDFC Bank and Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma were granted licence of 'Payment Bank' by RBI. Anyway all the three parties have mutually agreed not to persue the plan to start payment bank services. 

The reason of withdrawl of plans are yet to be known, however ET quotes an advisor of the JV that the lack of adequate physical presence will hamper the JV's bussiness. 

However in Malaysia, Telenor is acquiring Prabhu Money Transfer Sdn Bhd. 

Idea 3G Speedtest at Barasat (West Bengal) [May 2016]

Once again, I tested Idea 3G (the network was actually latched to Vodafone 3G) in Barasat, West Bengal.

Checked on 18.05.2016 - in between 3:30 am to 4 am (when the network has least traffic)

[Press Release] Ballr - Sports App Launched by Harabhajan Singh

•  Unique & disruptive, free to play; Ballr, the second screen of live sport addresses upwards of 400 million sports fans in Asia.

•  Addictively social gaming platform that offers fans a chance to win sporting experiences, phones, apparel, cars, sporting tickets & other premium prizes.

•  Launching in three Asian markets, Ballr open offices in Singapore, Sydney, Delhi & New York.

New Delhi, 19 MAY 2016: Today, Fantasy Sport Technologies held a landmark press conference at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi, hosted by much celebrated Indian cricket star Harbhajan Singh, to celebrate the launch of its unique and disruptive sporting application, Ballr.

Ballr, the entirely mobile, micro fantasy, fan engagement platform is the first of its kind to launch in Asia. Unlike traditional fantasy sports games, Ballr has introduced a new way to play - rapid fire micro gaming and has replaced monetary prizes with money can’t buy experiences and premium prizes.

Speaking on the occasion, Harbhajan Singh said, “I’ve been deeply associated with the leadership of Ballr in India and believe this will be a great platform for fans to connect with the game. It gives them the chance to play alongside, test their skill and get rewarded by brands. It is a much more interesting way to watch cricket and I am sure to play with it as well.”

Jio Can't Have a Cakewalk in the Business, Airtel Keeps Kryptonite Ready!

Jio is probably ironing out all the last moment wrinkles from its 4G & Digital services at this moment, but Jio will not have a cakewalk in Indian telecom once it's launched.

How is Bharti Airtel making its pitch stronger against formidable rivals?

No doubt about the fact that all the major telecom operators are now gearing up for the 4G war. When it comes to India’s top service provider Bharti Airtel, it has not left any stone unturned to brace itself up against its formidable rival Reliance Jio. Project Leap, and 4G launch in every other city are some of the examples, which indicate that it is in no mood to compromise with its numero uno position.

The company has invested massively in Project Leap, a program to transform its existing networks and reframing spectrum for better utilisation of the resources. It is also making a next generation data network with strong fiber backhaul.

Comparing to the latest comic book movie from DC Comics, Airtel seems to be Batman and Jio with its M(oney)-power from RIL (=Krypton) looks like Superman. Airtel's Project Leap can be considered as Kryptonite. 

The comparison seems more real, as RCom's notification of upcoming LTE800 comes in a Superman's cape labeled as 4G and RCom is Jio's partner in crime in 4G roll out. 

Here, we bring to you some of the initiatives that Airtel has taken or is taking to make its pitch stronger.

Airtel’s 4G Strategy:

LTE-TDD: Airtel had only 4 circles with 2.3GHz spectrum in 2010 and now, it has 2.3GHz in 9 circles via acquisition of Qualcomm’s Indian venture and Augere Wireless.

Last month Airtel bought out Aircel's 4G assets (BWA spectrum) in 8 circles - i.e. Airtel now has 2300 MHz spectrum in 17 circles.

LTE-FDD: Airtel keeps buying spectrum on 1800MHz band, which is most popular for LTE across the globe. With the partial acquisition of Videocon Telecom’s spectrum, Airtel sets its 4G footprint in 4 new circles – Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh East and West.

Apart from West Bengal, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir in all circles, Airtel can launch 4G/LTE – FDD or TDD or both. (considering 20MHz on 2300MHz or atleast 5MHz on 1800MHz or both)

LTE-Advanced: In 8 circles, Airtel has enough spectrum for both LTE-TDD and FDD roll out. Airtel already has been running field trials for carrier aggregation for LTE-Advanced. In Kerala they demonstrated that peak speed can reach 135Mbps on LTE-A.

LTE on sub 1GHz band: Among the sub 1GHz band, the Indian government had auctioned only 800MHz and that spectrum was taken up by the CDMA operators as CDMA2000 (including 1x, EVDO Rev A and Rev B) was deployed on 800MHz in India. The Defence Ministry owns a huge access on 1900MHz and so, Airtel did not seem to be interested in that band.

In coming years, the government will sell 700MHz band, but the price seems to be too high for all the operators. Even Airtel seems not to be interested.

Circle category	Circles	Platinum 3G	4G | LTE LTE-TDD and LTE-FD
Metro	Delhi		Delhi, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon
	Kolkata	Kolkata	Kolkata
	Mumbai	Mumbai	Mumbai
Cat A	Andra & Telengana	Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad	Guntur, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Nellor, Sricity, Tirupathi, Kakinada
	Gujarat	Ahmedabad, Baroda , Botad, Ankleshwar, Deesa
	Karnataka		Bangalore, Belgaum, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Hubli, Mangalore, Manipal, Mysore, Tumkur, Udupi
	Maharastra & Goa		Ahmednagar, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nalasopara, Nasik, Pune, Solapur, Vasai, Virar, Goa
	Tamilnadu & Chennai		Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Hosur, Madurai, Pondicherry, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Vellore
Cat B	Haryana	Ambala, Panipat, Karnal, Hisar, Rohtak, Sonipat, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind	Ambala, Hissar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Sonipat, Yamunanagar
	Kerala		Calicut, Cochin, Thrissur, Trivandrum, Manjeri, Tirurangadi, Thalaserry  * Airtel carried out LTE-Advanced trials in Kerala
	Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh	Bhopal, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Indore, Raipur, Bilaspur, Jabalpur
	Punjab	Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, Kharar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Moga, Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Dera Bassi	Amritsar, Batala, Bathinda, Chandigarh, Fazika, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Khanna, Kotkapura, Kurali, Ludhiana, Malerkota, MandiGobindgarh, Moga, Mohali, Muktsar, Nabha, Panchkula, Pathankot, Patiala, Patran, Phagwara, Rajpura, Rayya, Ropar, Samana, Sirhind, Tarn Taran, Zirakpur
	Rajasthan		Ajmer, Bhilwara, Kota, Udaipur
	Uttar Pradesh East	Lucknow, Kanpur
	Uttar Pradesh West
	West Bengal
Cat C	Assam	Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Nalbari, Dhemaji Etc = 60 Towns
	Bihar
	Himachal Pradesh		Baddi, Mandi, Shimla, Solan
	Jammu Kashmir
	North East	Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, Shillong, Itanagar, Imphal, Churachandpur	Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Naharlagun, Shilong, Tawang
	Orissa	Puri, Kendujhar, Jagatsinghapur, Chhatrapur, Balugaon, Baripada, Gopalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Jajapur, Kendrapara, Sundargarh, Nayagarh, Barbil, Joda, Jajpur = total 40+towns	Balasore, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jharsuguda, Puri, Rourkela, Sambalpur

** Regarding the table: 4G markets are updated till April 2016 and Plat3G markets are updated till May 12, 2016. The table would be updated time to time. 


Partnering up with other operators:
Airtel has some network sharing deals with Jio that includes international bandwidth and existing network infrastructure sharing deals. Even Airtel has plans to ink out similar deals with BSNL to reach out to remote areas.

VoLTE :
Currently, Airtel offers call fall back technology to its 4G/LTE subscribers, voice call temporarily goes to 2G/3G network and then again data moves to 4G network (CSFB). Unlike Jio, Airtel keeps its cards aside for Voice over LTE but watching this evolving technology very closely.

Spectrum Refarming on 3G and 4G:
Airtel is refarming its spectrum bank for better utilization of spectrum. For example, 900Mhz, which was being used for 2G services, will now be used for 3G in selected cities.

Airtel’s 3G on 900 Mhz, branded as Platinum 3G offers better network coverage, superior indoor signal, lesser power consumption and faster connectivity.

Idea Cellular also launched its 3G on 900 bandwidth, which is up and running in Delhi, Pune and Nashik.

What other Players are up to?
Till now Vodafone, Idea and Telenor have launched their 4G services in the country. While Vodafone is expanding its 4G network slowly and launched it in selected pockets of Kerala, Kolkata, Bangalore and Navi Mumbai; Idea Cellular is expanding very fast.

Idea has launched 4G/LTE in 8 of its 10 circles (AP, Karnataka, Maharastra, Tamilnadu incl. Chennai, Haryana, Kerala, Punjab, North East and Orissa) where it has enough spectrum on 1800MHz band. However Idea is still not in the right position with 4G due to its spectrum crunch.

Idea is yet to launch LTE in Maharastra and North East. It should be noted that Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, are offering 4G at 3G price or little higher price than 3G.

Telenor India offers 4G in Varanasi and Vishakapatanam. For Telenor which basically offers 2G voice and data, 4G data is just a big opportunity for revenue.

Tikona also announced a soft launch in Varanasi, which is yet to be confirmed whether it’s LTE or MIMO (it’s Tikona’s basic & existing technology to offer broadband services). Even BSNL has similar launch in Chandigarh, but on 2500 Mhz band.

Let’s make it short, right now among existing players only Airtel and Idea seem to be serious on 4G turf.

While Reliance Jio keeps delaying its commercial launch, incumbents will expand their 4G services to keep their high ARPU postpaid and prepaid customers and poach from other operators to try their 4G services.  Jio has so much of spectrum across 800, 1800 and 2300Mhz band and extensive fiber coverage across the country. It has tied up with several tower companies and already has its 4G and fiber coverage even in remote areas.

Meanwhile, the reports are coming that Jio 4G SIM cards are pre bundled with Reliance Digital’s LYF smartphones. Apart from few VoLTE enabled smartphones from LG and Micromax, Jio 4G will be mostly offered over Chinese OEM made LYF smartphones, which have pretty low specs compared to their pricing. And don't expect any Android update on these devices, only you can get OTA update of Jio services.

4G uptake has mainly 3 barriers – coverage, affordability and devices. Jio already has good coverage and lower tariff schemes will literally bleed the incumbents, but with Jio’s bundled device strategy, incumbents may easily go ahead of the curve as they allow all 4G phones with CSFB voice support.

So as a result, I am not convinced with Jio's strategy with the upcoming 4G launch. 4G uptake has mainly 3 barriers - coverage, affordability and devices. Jio already have good coverage and tariff will literally bleed incumbents. But with Jio's bundled device strategy incumbents may easily go ahead of the curve as they allow all 4G phones with CSFB voice support. So Jio is not welcomed in Indian telecom, they have to fight back to make a business.

The original story was first published on April 7, 2016 on Telecomtalk.info 

LYF Smartphones+ Ad Emails Getting into My Spam !!

Just checked my 'JUNK MAIL' and guess what found, LYF SMARTPHONE+ ad from  support[A]evouchercode dot com & support[A]kiddybazaar dot com - Definitely they are from spam senders, and clicking on them new pages opens biibo dot com, which is blocked by my Avast AV.

However check out the ad [pic]

[Press Release] Gemalto offers audio services over LTE with world’s first VoLTE Cat. 1 module

Santa Clara, California, May 09, 2016 – Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, is revolutionizing Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity by bringing high-quality voice capabilities over LTE to industrial applications using single-mode LTE Cat.1. At its IoT World pre-event in Santa Clara, the company is demonstrating its world-first Cinterion® Voice over LTE (VoLTE) Category 1 (Cat.1) module enabling the combination of simultaneous voice and data capabilities using LTE. It is ideal for solutions migrating to LTE that want to keep the flexibility of cost-effective audio capabilities. This includes security and alarm systems, mHealth monitoring and smart home and building applications.

Being the most complete Machine Type Communication standard in service on the market today, this module joins Gemalto's growing family of LTE Cat. 1 modules offering the reliability, longevity and power efficiency of 4G. Delivering simplified end user control and voice capabilities, the solution benefits from greater cost efficiency and improved connection speeds compared with traditional VoIP services.

Yes You Can Use Jio 4G Now - Get Invitation and Buy LYF Smartphone

Reliance Jio is yet to be launched, and only Mukesh Ambani knows when. However Jio services are already in use by Jio and RIL employees and it has been expanded by invitation system to general population. A Jio user can send 10 invitations to other non-Jio users to jump into Jio 4G.

Well there is a catch, you need to buy a LYF smartphone to get this offer. Once you show referral code to Reliance Digital store you buy a LYF phone with a Jio SIM card.

Have a look into it:

In another note, check this picture too !!

Reliance CDMA to Reliance 4G - Answers to FAQ

Reliance Smart SIM Kit for 4G | LTE

So keeping a Reliance CDMA RUIM working turns out to be great, as I got offer from RCom to jump into their 4G services. Well I have got my Reliance Smart 4G SIM 1 days back.

Jionet Log-in Page Shows JioChat Offers

RCom Announces Migration Plans for CDMA-to-4G, Phase I Launch in 9 Circles Only

Anil Ambani headed Reliance Communications (RCOM) has announced its migration plans for the CDMA subscribers who will be migrated to RCOM's 4G/LTE network once it's commercially launched.

Details are available here: http://www.rcom.co.in/Rcom/personal/4G/4G_overview.html

Note that Reliance will use its CDMA spectrum (i.e. 850MHz band) for LTE-FDD roll out. That will be first LTE800 network in India.

In Phase I, RCOM will launch LTE800 in 9 circles. Including three metros (Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai) RCom will launch LTE800 in Gujarat, Andra & Telengana, Maharastra & Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh West and East.

Work in Progress : 5G May Go Commercial by 2020

Though India is yet to see 4G in full potential, developed nations are keeping their tastebud ready for next generation of mobile telephony. Verizon, United States' largest mobile operator already has kickstarted their 5G projects. and was able to hit 1Gbps+ speed in some 5G field trials.

Verizon has used infra from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, and deployed 5G at 15GHz, 28GHz, 39GHz and 64GHz band, though most trials ran on 28GHz. Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s restricted rules, Verizon was able to conduct 5G for fixed wireless.