The deadline had already been extended to the end of this month and would have allowed customers of du and Etisalat to have switched operators without having to change their phone number.

Now, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) had previously stated number portability would have been available by mid-2008, but it remains to be manifested in a country known for its technological  [read more →]]]> The United Arab Emirates again delayed mobile number portability on Tuesday, the chief executive of telecom operator du told reporters.

The deadline had already been extended to the end of this month and would have allowed customers of du and Etisalat to have switched operators without having to change their phone number.

Now, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) had previously stated number portability would have been available by mid-2008, but it remains to be manifested in a country known for its technological prowess.

Number portability is seen as a major boost to competition.

When asked if number portability had been delayed again, Osman Sultan, du’s chief executive, told reporters “that is correct.”

“We were testing. In the testing phase certain technical issues can appear. We are just evaluating how long it will take,” he said.

It is still unclear when mobile number portability will be available in the country.

Source: Bikyamasr

“AT&T AdWorks is committed to delivering valuable intelligence on aggregated and anonymous audience segments at scale on behalf of its advertiser clients,” said Greg McCastle, senior vice president of AT&T and head of  [read more →]]]> Leading digital research firm comScore has ranked AT&T AdWorks among the top five online ad networks, according to comScore’s latest Media Metrix report. With its network of owned and operated web sites and partner inventory, AT&T AdWorks online audience network now ranks among the largest in the industry.

“AT&T AdWorks is committed to delivering valuable intelligence on aggregated and anonymous audience segments at scale on behalf of its advertiser clients,” said Greg McCastle, senior vice president of AT&T and head of AT&T AdWorks.

“We draw insights from over 100 million subscriber relationships to inform and bring value to advertising,” McCastle said. “Given our strong commitment to protecting the privacy of AT&T customers, we aggregate and anonymize this information to enable marketers to reach their desired audience across nearly 10 billion1 monthly mobile ad impressions and over 47 billion monthly display ad impressions.”

“AT&T AdWorks’ ability to deliver across a variety of platforms — display, mobile, tablets and television — combined with a higher level of intelligence across these platforms — distinguishes us in the current fragmented industry landscape,” said McCastle.

AT&T AdWorks is committed to protecting the privacy of AT&T customers and its offerings focus on reaching audience segments based on non-personally identifiable and aggregate information.

For more information on the Media Metrix Core Reports

That changed Monday when Cisco unveiled a special Juniper-ragging website at www.overpromisesunderdelivers.net.

Cisco’s claim is that Juniper has yet to deliver on some of its most highly anticipated products, such as QFabric, and hasn’t technically come through on certain promises, such as the claim of a single operating system for all products.

This is new. For years, Cisco avoided discussing its competitors directly, at least  [read more →]]]> For years, Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) generally avoided mentioning Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) by name.

That changed Monday when Cisco unveiled a special Juniper-ragging website at www.overpromisesunderdelivers.net.

Cisco’s claim is that Juniper has yet to deliver on some of its most highly anticipated products, such as QFabric, and hasn’t technically come through on certain promises, such as the claim of a single operating system for all products.

This is new. For years, Cisco avoided discussing its competitors directly, at least in keynotes and media briefings, and in many cases wouldn’t even mention Juniper by name.

Cisco executives haven’t precisely spelled out why they’re changing tactics, but it sounds like the company has been frustrated with — even jealous of — the market’s love affair with Juniper during the past year or so.

“Some vendors have repeatedly over-promised and under delivered, and still somehow receive credit for their vision!” writes Rob Lloyd, Cisco’s executive vice president of worldwide operations, in a blog entry published Monday.

Cisco’s stagnant stock price has made it a Wall Street punching bag lately, forcing moves such as the closure of Flip camera unit. Some are questioning the company’s entire future and wondering why CEO John Chambers hasn’t been ousted.

Juniper, by contrast, went back to being a bright up-and-comer, thanks to products such as QFabric and MobileNext (Juniper’s mobile packet core, previously named Falcon). Its stock price had been climbing, although the economy put a stop to that. (See Juniper Darkens 2011 Outlook.)

A major part of Cisco’s needling centers on the amount of time it’s taken to bring these products to market, but Juniper is refuting those points, according to a Monday Wall Street Journal story (registration required). Falcon, for instance, has been shipping for a while, Executive Vice President Stefan Dyckerhoff is quoted as saying.

Might Juniper retaliate? Actually, considering that Cisco competitors rarely have a problem calling out Cisco by name, that question feels a little obvious.

The more serious question might be whether the campaign could backfire. Cisco had some sound PR reasons for not acknowledging Juniper by name. Juniper executives could pretty easily claim that Cisco’s new tactics are a reaction to Juniper’s power in the market.

UPDATE: Juniper has issued this statement from David Shane, vice president of global corporate communications: “We’re not going to comment on a competitor’s publicity stunt. Customers tell us they want an alternative to the legacy approach, and we’re focused on delivering innovation for them. It appears as if Cisco has once again lost focus.”

Source: lightreading

At a meeting held by the Prime Minister`s Principal Secretary T K A Nair here to review performance of the Department of Space, it was decided that a feasibility study would be conducted for a new site, sources said.

The decision to find a new site was taken after the meeting was told that ISRO  [read more →]]]> Amid requests from various countries for launch of their satellites, India has decided to set up one more launch site to expand its capacity in this aspect.

At a meeting held by the Prime Minister`s Principal Secretary T K A Nair here to review performance of the Department of Space, it was decided that a feasibility study would be conducted for a new site, sources said.

The decision to find a new site was taken after the meeting was told that ISRO has only two satellite launch pads, both of which are affected during the cyclone season, the sources said.

The two launch pads are located at Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR).

During recent years, there have been requests from a number of countries for launching their satellites in India.

The meeting was also informed that despite successful launch of GSAT-8 and GSAT-12 satellites, there is shortage of transponders primarily due to DTH and communication requirements.

It was decided that steps should be taken to meet the gap within two years, the sources said.

At present, Department of Space is leasing transponders and using foreign launch vehicles to meet the needs.

The sources said thrust is being given by the PMO on these spheres as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s desire to see boost in scientific innovation in the current decade.

Distinguishing between spectrum for commercial and non-commercial or strategic/public interest use, the draft states that for “spectrum for commercial use, the Commission shall follow fair, transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory market-based competitive assignment which may include (but not limited to) methods such as auction, tender, bidding”.

The draft,  [read more →]]]> The outcry over the 2G spectrum scam has prompted the government to prepare a draft Spectrum Act, which could well become India`s first ever legislation to govern management, pricing and allocation of a scarce national resource.

Distinguishing between spectrum for commercial and non-commercial or strategic/public interest use, the draft states that for “spectrum for commercial use, the Commission shall follow fair, transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory market-based competitive assignment which may include (but not limited to) methods such as auction, tender, bidding”.

The draft, which is divided into 12 chapters, has been prepared by a committee chaired by Justice Shivraj Patil, a former Supreme Court judge who had also examined the allocation of spectrum from 2001 to 2009.

The Act is proposed to be enforced through a `Spectrum Management Commission` of 10 members, including two part-time members. The Cabinet secretary and DoT secretary will serve as its chairperson and vice-chairperson respectively.

Secretaries from the ministries of defense, space, and I&B will be its members.

Spectrum pricing, according to the Draft Spectrum Bill prepared by government, will follow the present system of license fees and spectrum usage charges. The bill allows for spectrum sharing, trading – either completely or partially, subject to certain conditions. Spectrum rights will be granted under the provisions of this bill via a radio spectrum license, which will have a specific validity date. The license will be liable for revocation, suspension, renewal, and transfer.

The bill seeks to delink spectrum management from the license given to service providers and will result in restructuring of the Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) Cell of DoT, which is currently tasked with the management and allocation of spectrum.

The Spectrum Management Commission shall be the sole body for dealing with all matters relating to spectrum notwithstanding the current provisions of the Trai Act, but may request Trai for recommendations on spectrum-related issues from time to time.

The proposed Spectrum Bill envisages serious punishment for wrongful possession of wireless equipment or use of radio spectrum without license as well as for spectrum hoarding. For any person found guilty of spectrum hoarding, a strict fine and up to three years of imprisonment, or both is proposed. The bill envisages spectrum reforming where appropriate and the establishment of a Spectrum Reforming Fund, for which a separate administrator will be appointed. A percentage of money received from licence fees and spectrum usage charges will be credited to this fund. The draft bill is in the early stages.

No consultation with industry or external stakeholders has taken place – but that will be a crucial step before the bill is passed.

The telecom service provider, which is 49 per cent owned by Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), has been unable to pay its network vendors over the last few months because of a cash crunch.

Mobile operators have been unable to secure loans from financial institutions and banks because of the uncertainty prevailing in the telecom sector. STel is one  [read more →]]]> Mobile operator STel is finding it difficult to provide “connectivity” to its customers as its network vendors have started disconnecting services over non-payment of dues.

The telecom service provider, which is 49 per cent owned by Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), has been unable to pay its network vendors over the last few months because of a cash crunch.

Mobile operators have been unable to secure loans from financial institutions and banks because of the uncertainty prevailing in the telecom sector. STel is one of the operators to have been issued a showcase notice on license cancellation as it did not follow rollout norms. The telecom ministry is yet to take a final call on the issue.

In a written communication to the department of telecom (DoT), STel said while it was in talks with its vendors seeking a moratorium of 1-2 years on payments against standing invoices, vendors had resorted to disconnection of network equipment over non-payment of dues, resulting in “network connectivity” problems.

“The prevailing telecom environment, negligible funding by banks and the conduct of passive infrastructure vendors, engaged by STel, in resorting to blatant disconnection of our communication equipment… have brought significant strain upon our ability to even run our day-to-day operations, much less serve our subscribers as the company is in a severe liquidity crunch because of non/negligible funding by banks out of the sanctioned term loan facility,” the STel letter said.

Sources said STel’s main IT vendor Tech Mahindra, on August 29, unilaterally and without any prior intimation discontinued its call centre and managed services, resulting in STel handling all customer care calls on its own.

The! Operator has sought intervention from the DoT to resolve the issue.

The service provider has also requested the DoT to allow it to set up a call centre for the redressal of customer grievances without obtaining a separate OSP license (meant for BPO/call centers) since it will serve its own subscribers and not other firms.

Intelligence agencies have raised security concerns about Etisalat DB`s parent company – the UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corp.

This comes even as the company`s mobile licences are under the scanner for alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam.

According to the International Long Distance (ILD) license conditions, Etisalat DB is supposed to set up at least one gate  [read more →]]]> Etisalat DB`s international long-distance telephony plan is in trouble with security agencies yet to give clearance to the company for setting up gateways in the country.

Intelligence agencies have raised security concerns about Etisalat DB`s parent company – the UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corp.

This comes even as the company`s mobile licences are under the scanner for alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam.

According to the International Long Distance (ILD) license conditions, Etisalat DB is supposed to set up at least one gate way within three years to fulfill its roll out obligation.

The company was given a license in October 2008. Therefore, if the company does not set up a gateway before October 5 this year, then the Department of Telecom will encash the performance bank guarantee submitted by the company.

The bigger problem for the company is that, in effect, without security clearance Etislat DB will not be able to start the services because gateway is the physical place where the domestic network is connected to the international network.

This is critical to the international telephony business as without it the company will not be able to take the telephone traffic out of country.

With just about one month for the deadline to expire, the DoT has now written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to give a final view on whether the company should be permitted to set up gateways or not.

Varying views

while the Intelligence Bureau has recommended that the company may be allowed to st! art limited services such as voice, fax and SMS services, the Research and Analysis Wing has said that they do not recommend granting clearance to the company for setting up ILD gateways in Mumbai unless security concerns are addressed and demonstrated. Since the two agencies had varying views, the DoT has referred the issue to the MHA for a final decision.

When contacted, a senior executive from Etisalat DB said that they are awaiting clearance from the authorities and have not heard from DoT on the issue.

“We have demonstrated all our systems to the intelligence agencies in compliance with the license conditions. We are hopeful of getting clearance,” he said.

The TDSAT rejected Idea Cellular`s plea after observing that it would be “improper” to pass any order as the Department of Telecom (DoT) is yet to pass the final order. The Telecom Disputes Settlement a! nd Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also made it clear that after the DoT passes an order in  [read more →]]]> Telecom tribunal TDSAT has dismissed the petitions filed by Idea Cellular challenging the show-cause notices issued by the government on merger of Spice Communication with the Aditya Birla group firm.

The TDSAT rejected Idea Cellular`s plea after observing that it would be “improper” to pass any order as the Department of Telecom (DoT) is yet to pass the final order. The Telecom Disputes Settlement a! nd Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also made it clear that after the DoT passes an order in this regard, Idea can challenge it.

“Keeping in view the fact that the respondent (DoT) is yet to pass any final order in the matter, we are of opinion that this order may not be construed to mean that in the event such an order is passed, the petitioner would be remediless,” said the TDSAT bench headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha.

It further said that Idea “would be entitled to raise all such contentions which are available to it for filing appropriate application before this tribunal in such event.”

In its notice dated June 1, 2011, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had said the merger happened despite it rejecting it on January 7, 2010. It also said that such information was suppressed by Idea before the Delhi High Court in its application for amalgamation of Spice Communication with Idea Cellular.

However, in its judgment, the tribunal said that it would not go into the order passed by the high court. The Delhi High Court on July 4, 2011, dismissed Idea`s plea and had directed the company to surrender the spectrum to DoT along with a penalty of Rs 1 crore penalty for suppressing fact.

This was challenged by Idea Cellular before a division bench, which had on July 21 directed to maintain status quo over the licences of Karnataka and Punjab. It had also directed the DoT not to take any coercive step.

“We have not considered the other aspects of the matter, including the finding of the single judge of the Delhi High Court to which reliance has been placed by Ms Dhir (DoT`s counsel) as we opine that it would be improper on our part to comment, on way or the other on the judgment of a competent court of law with which we are not concerned,” the tribunal said.

The company has carved out a special business unit in order to give the desired degree of focus to this practice so that target the numerous SMB clusters in the country can be systematically targeted, according to Mr AG Rao, Executive President, Enterprise Business & Technology, Tata Teleservices.

“We see huge potential in the SMB space given that every unit is  [read more →]]]> Tata Teleservices intends to invest over Rs 100 crore every year in developing and marketing solutions for small and medium businesses.

The company has carved out a special business unit in order to give the desired degree of focus to this practice so that target the numerous SMB clusters in the country can be systematically targeted, according to Mr AG Rao, Executive President, Enterprise Business & Technology, Tata Teleservices.

“We see huge potential in the SMB space given that every unit is looking for improving productivity through efficient use of technology and telecom services. Tata Tele has already invested ‘a few hundred crores` in the SMB business. Going forward the endeavor is to invest ‘a few hundred crores` every year,” Mr Rao told Business Line.

TTSL provides both wireless and wireline products that assist SMBs with their voice and data needs.

It already had 20,000 SMB customers, many of whom prefer the ‘pay as you use` and ‘build as you go` model, said Mr Rao. By definition, many of the SME clusters are located in and around tier-two cities, be it Jalandhar (for sports goods), Nagpur (for power loom and fabrication) or Coimbatore (machine tools).

Going forward, TTSL`s plan is to collaborate with handset makers and tablet manufacturers to offer SMB customers customized handheld devices that can be used on the go, said Mr Rao.

“We are in talks with handful of tablet makers and Smartphone companies. We will also engage group companies Tata Communications and Tata Consultancy Services for this endeavor,” he added.

Recently, TCS had introduced ‘iON`, its integrated information technology solution for small and medium businesses (SMBs) that works on pay-per-use model.

On the other hand, Tata Communications too is of! fering cloud-based computing infrastructure services in India, with plans to extend the services to other markets including the US, Europe, Singapore and South Africa.