EVDO Data Tariffs Comparison - September 2012

If you consider a dongle based wireless broadband services, CDMA operators will be your first choice in India. CDMA operators were the first to offer true Wireless Mobile Broadband before 3G/HSPA landed in India.

Using EVDO rev A ( 3.1 Mbps downlink and 1.8Mbps uplink) over 800 MHz spectrum CDMA operators – Reliance (Netconnect), Tata Tele (Photon+),  MTS India (Mblaze) and BSNL all offer EVDO based HSD data services in India. 

 We have summarized all the EVDO tairff plans offered by above operators in the form of fact sheets. CDMA – EVDO is offered over 800 MHz enjoys better indoor coverage than GSM’s 3G/HSPA which is deployed over 2100 MHz.

But CDMA operators are not keen to offer EVDO based data services to their mobile phone users, as a result their high speed data offering is mostly limited to data card subscribers.

Let’s check the comparison of EVDO data tariffs:

	Reliance Netconnect+	Tata Photon+	MTS MBlaze	BSNL EVDO
1GB	Rs 153 (7days), Rs 255 (30 days), Rs 98 (2days + 1X UL)	Rs 255 (30 days)	Rs 96 ( 1 day + 1X UL), Rs 248 (30 days)	Rs 285 (30 days)*
1.5GB	Rs 350 (30 days)	Rs 350 (30 days)
2GB	Rs 449 (30 days)	Rs 450 (30 days), Rs 700 (30 days+ 1x UL)	Rs 298 (7 days+ 1x UL), Rs 375 (30 days)
2.5GB				Prepaid Rs 565 (30 days)*Postpaid – Rs.500/month
3 GB	Rs 650 (30 days)	Rs 750 (30 days+ 1x UL)	Rs 490 (30 days)
5GB	Rs 800 (30 days+ 1x UL)	Rs 850 (30 days)	Rs 798 (30 days+ 1x UL)
6GB		Rs 1000 (30 days+ 1x UL)
7GB			Rs 818 (30 days+ 1x UL)
10GB	Rs 800 (30 days+ 1x UL)		Rs 999 (30 days+ 1x UL)
11 GB		Rs 1200 (30 days+ 1x UL)	Rs 1010 (30 days+ 1x UL)
15GB	Rs 1200 (30 days + 1x UL)		Rs 1298 (30 days+ 1x UL)
17GB			Rs 1330 (30 days+ 1x UL)
Long Validity Packs	12GB  - Rs 1500 (90 days)	6GB  - Rs 1500 (90 days)	4GB  - Rs 698 (60 days)
	30 GB – Rs 3000 (180 days)	6 GB – Rs 2501 (365 days)	6 GB – Rs 998 (90 days)
		20GB – Rs 5000 (365 days)	15GB – Rs 1499 (90 days)
			5GB/month – Rs 3990 (180 days)
Speed Based (postpaid only)	256kbps: 6AM – 10PM 8GB, 10PM-6AM 15GB for Rs 500		256kbps: 6AM – 10PM 8GB, 10PM-6AM 15GB for Rs 499
			384kbps: 7AM – 11PM 15GB, 11PM-7AM 20GB for Rs 749
Time based (postpaid only)		1800 min free usage for Rs 500, extra use Re1/min
TrueUnlimited plans	NA	NA	Rs 303 (15 days, 12-6am), Rs 550 (30 days, 12-6am) – available in selected circles	Rs 55 (1day), Rs 251 (7 days), Rs 440 (15 days), Rs 825 /Rs.750 (30 days)
Special Plans			6GB Weekend (30 days) for Rs 295
			4GB + unlimited access on facebook, twitter & linkedin for Rs 647 (30 days)
Extra Usage charge	50p/MB	Varies from Re1/MB to 50p/MB on different plans	Re1/MB (prepaid)20p – 40p/MB (postpaid)	* On limited plans extra usage charge 10p/100kB (7am to 11pm), 5p/100kB (11pm to 7am)

** Comparison table is based on mostly prepaid plans. Plans can be changed without prior notice as operators change them. Some plans are not available in all circles.

From the table you can understand that BSNL has fewer options, but only BSNL offers True Unlimited plans (Home and Roam), while MTS has widest data plans for its MBlaze customers, which may confuse the customers. Reliance and Tata have more or less similar plans.

India Court Adjourns Vodafone India Transfer Pricing Case To Oct 5

An Indian high court has adjourned the hearing of Vodafone India transfer pricing case to October 5 and would pronounce its verdict on that day.

The case relates to Rs 8,500-crore transfer pricing case involving Vodafone India Services Pvt. Ltd and the Indian government .

In February, Vodafone had challenged I-T Department’s jurisdiction in issuing a draft transfer pricing order. The department had sought Rs 8,500 crore additional to the taxable income of Vodafone.

The draft transfer pricing order, issued in December 2011, related to transaction on Vodafone’s call centre business.

The income-tax department’s draft transfer pricing order, issued in December, related to a transaction on Vodafone’s call centre business. Indian companies pay 30 per cent tax on their income and a 3 per cent surcharge.

There are large number of incidences of disputes relating to transfer pricing as it is often difficult to arrive at a price agreeable to both the I-T department and the companies.

For Vodafone, the development was a fresh blow, as it was already facing a tax liability of Rs 11,000 crore for purchase of Hutch’s mobile operations in India. In 2007, Vodafone Group bought Hutchison Telecommunications’ 67 per cent equity stake in Hutchison Essar for $11.1 billion.

2G auction: DoT set to invite applications

Updated: Sat, Sep 29 2012. 02 10 AM IST

New Delhi: The department of telecommunications (DoT) late on Friday issued the much-awaited notice inviting applications from potential bidders for the coming auction of 2G telecom spectrum.

The notice lists all the rules and regulations governing the auction and is considered the only legally binding document regarding the auction.

Potential bidders have until 19 October to submit applications. DoT will publish ownership details of bidders on 21 October. By 28 October, DoT expects to have a list of pre-qualified bidders and a mock auction is expected to start on 7 November. The actual auction is expected to start on 12 November.

The notice lists the eligibility criteria for bidders, the auction rules and the frequencies that are up for auction.

To increase the number of bidders and ensure that no spectrum remains unsold, DoT is also likely to raise the number of slots of top-up spectrum to be allotted to new operators. Top-up spectrum refers to slots that only new operators can bid for if they are unable to get the minimum 5MHz of spectrum needed to start operations in the country.

As per the information memorandum issued by DoT on 27 August, the government will first auction spectrum in the 1,800MHz band and once that concludes will begin the auction process for 800MHz after two days. DoT will auction a minimum of eight blocks each of 1.25MHz (10MHz of 1,800MHz) in all the 22 telecom circles in the country and another three top-up blocks.

A new entrant will have to win a minimum of four blocks of spectrum in a service area to start business in India. Existing telcos will be allowed to bid for up to two blocks of 1,800MHz spectrum and one block of 800MHz spectrum. Delhi and Mumbai have only eight blocks of spectrum in 1,800MHz available while the rest of the country has the necessary 11 blocks, as per the DoT notice.

After much deliberation by an empowered group of ministers headed by finance minister P. Chidambaram, the cabinet fixed the base price of Rs.13,999.96 crore for 5MHz of pan-India spectrum in the 1,800MHz band and Rs.13,649.97 crore for 3.75MHz of 800MHz spectrum.

The operators who might have to pay penalties for implementing 3G intra-circle roaming have asked for DoT to hold a pre-bid conference after the publication of the notice. This is because in the pre-bid conference held for the 3G spectrum, DoT had said it would allow all roaming that is allowed in the telecom licence, as part of its clarifications. However, in court, after sending notices to the telcos asking them to stop their 3G intra-circle roaming arrangement, DoT said the clarification was not legally binding. “There has to be a meeting where the clarifications are legally binding,” a senior executive with one of the affected telcos said, requesting anonymity.

The February 2 Supreme Court ruling cancelling 122 telecom licences allocated to nine companies gave the government till 2 June to complete the auction of the spectrum and licences. The government was able to get two extensions of the deadline with the latest being 11 January 2013, by when DoT has to allocate the spectrum. Failure to do so will invite contempt action against erring officials by the court. Companies that lost their licences have till 19 January to operate.

Benefits of Telecom Expense Management

Benefits of  Telecom Expense Management

Improve Profits

• Identify significant savings on your telecom expenses 
• Eliminate fraud and unauthorized charges 
• Identify errors and recover funds through close inspection or an outsourced audit of your wireline and wireless services

Streamline Operations

• Reallocate personnel to focus on strategic core competencies 
• Streamline order fulfillment, auditing, asset management, and payment processes 
• Realize more efficient use of employee time

Reduce Risk

• Assure corporate business policy and regulatory compliance 
• Increase accuracy in expense tracking and reporting 
• Achieve financial goals through no-risk investment models

Intellibuzz on Social Media

Over the next few weeks, Intellibuzz team will contribute to social media with updates, posts,and other items. 

We are planning to engage authors to write blog posts on the importance of Telecom Expense Management and benefits to the organizations, via Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Stay tuned. 

What is TEM?

TEM stands for Telecom expense management.

Essentially, it means managing your wireless, voice, and data environment with the goals of reducing risk and cost. This is a process you can do yourself, via a web-based softwares or you can partner with a Third Party firms to do one or all the below services on your behalf. Whoever does it, it includes building an accurate real time inventory, gathering all of your telecom bills and looking for overcharges through a telecom audit, searching for contract violations, optimizing your environment to save money, and negotiating directly with vendors to get a better deal.

Services often included in telecom expense management are:

• Wireless Management
• Wireline Management
• Order Management
• Inventory Management
• Invoice Processing
• Invoice Audits
• Refunds & Recovery
• Contract Negotiations & RFPs
• Telecom Expense Forecasting / Budgeting
• Cost Allocations
• Physical Site Audits & Service Evaluations
• Real Time Telecom Expense Management

TEM in USA & UK

TEM has a very established Markets when it comes to USA & UK, most of Major Players in Global TEM industry Either have Origin & also Operate from USA / UK or they Operate from USA / UK but have back end Opperations Offsoured to countries like India, China, Philippines etc. with more then 400 small and large TEM service providers USA Leads the way.

TEM in India

TEM in India..........

Great Scope with arguably worlds biggest Telecom Market but a Place where concept of TEM is only known to a few.

There are only a few service providers in India who offers this services all or partially because of lack of awareness regarding this Industry.

As Per Voice and Data......."Source: http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/stats/112081701.asp"

In June'2012, GSM Connections in only 4 Metro's accounted to 76,927,359 !!!