Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance that may be used with certified products that belong to a class of wireless local area network (WLAN) devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. Because of the close relationship with its underlying
standard, the term Wi-Fi is often used as a synonym for IEEE 802.11 technology.The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global, non-profit association of companies that promotes WLAN technology and certifies products if they conform to certain standards of interoperability. Not every IEEE 802.11-compliant device is submitted for certification to the Wi-Fi Alliance, sometimes because of costs associated with the certification process, and the lack of the Wi-Fi logo does not necessarily imply a device is incompatible with Wi-Fi devices.


Campus-wide Wi-Fi

Carnegie Mellon University built the first wireless Internet network in the world at their Pittsburgh campus in 1994, long before the Wi-Fi standard was adopted.

Direct computer-to-computer communications

Wi-Fi also allows communications directly from one computer to another without the involvement of an access point.This is called the ad-hoc mode of Wi-Fi transmission.

The term Wi-Fi suggests Wireless Fidelity, compared with the long-established audio equipment certification term High Fidelity Wireless Fidelity has often been used, even by the Wi-Fi Alliance itself in its press releases and documents; the term may also be found in a white paper on Wi-Fi from ITAA. However, based on Phil Belanger's statement, the term Wi-Fi was never supposed to mean anything at all.


Wi-Fi allows LANs to be deployed without wires for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.

Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option included in even more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures.


Wi-Fi availability in the home is on the increase. Examples of remote monitoring include security systems and tele-medicine. In all these kinds of implementation, if the Wi-Fi provision is provided using a system running one of operating systems mentioned above, then it becomes unfeasible due to weight, power consumption and cost issues.

Increasingly in the last few years (particularly as of early 2007), embedded Wi-Fi modules have become available that incorporate a real-time operating system and
provide a simple means of wirelessly enabling any device which has and communicates via a serial port. This allows the design of simple monitoring devices, for example, a portable ECG device monitoring a patient at home. This Wi-Fi-enabled device can communicate via the Internet.

These Wi-Fi modules are designed so that implementers need only minimal Wi-Fi knowledge to provide Wi-Fi connectivity for their products.

WiMAX

Wi-MAX

WiMAX, meaning Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access. The technology provides up to 10 Mbps broadband speed without the need for cables. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access). The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".


Main Uses

The bandwidth and range of WiMAX make it suitable for the following potential applications:

* Connecting Wi-Fi hotspots to the Internet.
* Providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for "last mile" broadband access.
* Providing data, telecommunications and IPTV services (triple play).
* Providing a source of Internet connectivity as part of a business continuity plan. That is, if a business has both a fixed and a wireless Internet connection, especially from unrelated providers, they are unlikely to be affected by the same service outage.
* Providing portable connectivity.

Wi-Max Broadband access

Companies are evaluating WiMAX for last mile connectivity. The resulting competition may bring lower pricing for both home and business customers or bring broadband access to places where it has been economically unavailable.


WiMAX access was used to assist with communications in Aceh, Indonesia, after the tsunami in December 2004. All communication infrastructure in the area, other than amateur radio, was destroyed, making the survivors unable to communicate with people outside the disaster area and vice versa. WiMAX provided broadband access that helped regenerate communication to and from Aceh.

In addition, WiMAX was donated by Intel Corporation to assist the FCC and FEMA in their communications efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.[5] In practice, volunteers used mainly self-healing mesh, VoIP, and a satellite uplink combined with Wi-Fi on the local link

IPTV over WiMAX

Deploying Internet access and Voice over IP using WiMAX radio access is quite easy. In order to have a full triple-play offer, IPTV service has to be added. But it's not straight forward, since the use of IP multicast over a WiMAX radio transmission to carry the IPTV channels may be a technical challenge. Such commercial service are not yet available, but trials have been conducted or are undeway.


Comparison with Wi-Fi

Comparisons and confusion between WiMAX and Wi-Fi are frequent because both are related to wireless connectivity and Internet access.

* WiMAX is a long range system, covering many kilometers, that uses licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver a point-to-point connection to the Internet.
* Different 802.16 standards provide different types of access, from portable (similar to a cordless phone) to fixed (an alternative to wired access, where the end user's wireless termination point is fixed in location.)
* Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to a network.

* Wi-Fi is more popular in end user devices.
* WiMAX and Wi-Fi have quite different quality of service (QoS) mechanisms:
o WiMAX uses a QoS mechanism based on connections between the base station and the user device. Each connection is based on specific scheduling algorithms.
o Wi-Fi has a QoS mechanism similar to fixed Ethernet, where packets can receive different priorities based on their tags. For example VoIP traffic may be given priority over web browsing.
* Wi-Fi runs on the Media Access Control's CSMA/CA protocol, which is connectionless and contention based, whereas WiMAX runs a connection-oriented MAC.
* Both 802.11 and 802.16 define Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and ad hoc networks, where an end user communicates to users or servers on another Local Area Network (LAN) using its access point or base station.



BSNL Launched country's first mobile broadband fourth generation Internet access network--Mobile WiMAX in
Kerala.


Union minister of state for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs K V Thomas, launched the facility at Kochi

BSNL is also the first operator in the country to launch the service, for which technology has been provided by AVIAT, formerly Harris Stratex.

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology, can provide a speed of up to 37 mbps. It is being deployed in Kerala with 900 BTS (Base Transmitting Stations) to cover the entire state, Principal General Manager, BSNL, Ernakulam, E M Abraham said.

In the first phase, 450 BTS would be set up to cover all major cities, district headquarters and important towns at a project cost of about Rs 100 crore.

In the second phase, another 450 BTS would be commissioned to cover the remaining towns.

The technology will provide access to broadband at a cost performance ratio that is far better than any other technology, he said.

It provides features like high speed broad band connectivity anywhere, anytime for devices like Desktop, Laptop on wireless.

It has two tariff plans - Home Plan with a fixed monthly charge of Rs 999 while the Business plan is Rs 1,999 for a band width 512 to 2 mbps.




WiMax (World Interoperability for Microwave Access) has been provided by AVIAT, formerly Harris Stratex. 450 BTS are being set up to cover major cities, district headquarters and important towns. 25 BTS will cover Ernakulam, Tripunithura, Kalamassery, Aluva and Angamally muncipalities.

Alluva and Angamally was commissioned on the same day and the remaining 59 are to be commissioned soon. It has two tariff plans – Home Plan with a fixed monthly charge of Rs 999 while the Business plan is Rs 1,999 for a band width 512 to 2 mbps. It provides features like high speed broad band connectivity anywhere, anytime for devices like Desktop, Laptop on wireless.

BSNL Broadband

BSNL Broadband is a broadband internet service from state owned BSNL in India since 14 January, 2005. Until September 30, 2007 it was known as Data One


BSNL is commissioning of a multi-gigabit, multi-protocol, convergent IP infrastructure through Internet backbone-II (NIB-II), that will provide convergent services through the same backbone and broadband access network. The Broadband service will be available on DSL technology (on the same copper wire that is used for connecting telephone), on a countrywide basis spanning 198 cities.

In terms of infrastructure for broadband services NIB-II would put India at par with more advanced nations. The services that would be supported includes always-on broadband access to the Internet for residential and business customers, Content based services, Video multicasting, Video-on-demand and Interactive gaming, Audio and Video conferencing, IP Telephony, Distance learning, Messaging: plain and
feature-rich, Multi-site MPLS VPNs with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. The subscribe will be able to access the above services through Subscriber Service Selection System (SSSS) portal.

The Service will be given through the state of the art Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based IP Infrastructure, which is designed to provide reliable routes to cover all possible destinations within and outside the country. Layer 1 of the network will consist of a high speed Backbone comprising of 24 powerful Core Routers connected with high speed 2.5 Gbit/s(STM-16) links.

There are different plans available for rural,urban and village consumers.

Sify Technologies Limited

Sify Technologies Limited
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Sify Limited and Satyam Infoway Limited) is an Internet service provider established in 1998, based in Chennai, India.Sify is an Internet service provider in India. Seventy five per cent of the 1.6 million visitors in 2008 to the web site sify.com hail from India. It was rated as one of "The ten top technology companies world-wide recommended for investment" by Fortune in 1999.

Sify India

Sify was one of the first private sector player to offer internet access, when internet access was opened to private sector (until then the state run VSNL had a monopoly in providing internet access). It leased international bandwidth from global vendors, domestic connectivity from telecom players and set up last mile connectivity by multiple methods: wi-fi connections using roof top antennae, copper connections using phone lines or cable tv connections. Sify also started providing internet network connectivity for business enterprises in India. Sify set up a chain of franchised internet cafes (today a network of over 3,300+ cybercafes).

In 2007, Sify got the registration of its UK branch.

Sify is now owned by Mr. Raju Vegesna, the enterpreneur who has made several billion dollars with his other company Serverworks. He took over the company in June 2006 after Mr. Ramaraj quit as the company's CEO. Under the leadership of Mr. Raju, his company has earned a maiden profit after 10 years of its existence. It reported revenues of $ 128 million for the full financial year 2006-07, 17.9 % higher than the previous year and a Net profit for the year was $ 2.3 million compared to a net loss of $3.50 million for the previous fiscal.

Mr.Raju Vegesna is also CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up company, ServerEngines


It has 481 points of presence serving more than 400 cities in the country.

Loop Mobile India

Loop Mobile India
Loop Mobile (Formerly BPL Mobile) is a mobile phone service provider in India.

It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage in Mumbai circle

BPL Mobile Communications, the country’s oldest mobile telecom service provider, has changed its name to Loop Mobile, following the expiry of its brand-use agreement with the TPG Nambiar-owned BPL Group.


Loop Mobile will also have the latest NGIP (Next Generation Internet Protocol) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology. The operator is hoping to leverage these technologies to introduce innovative VAS, as well as micro-segmented tariffs for subscribers.



Type - Private
Founded -1994 as BPL Mobile
-2009 as Loop Mobile
Headquarters -Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Key people -CEO -Sandip Basu
Industry -Telecom
Products -Mobile
Telecommunication operator
Owner(s) -Essar Group (8%)

For more info pls visit Loop Mobile Website

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam-MTNL

MTNL
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is an Indian Government-owned telephone service provider in the cities of Mumbai, Thane, New Delhi, and Navi Mumbai in India. The company was a monopoly until 1992, when the telecom sector was opened to other service providers.


MTNL provides fixed line telephones, cellular connection of both GSM — Dolphin(Postpaid) and Trump (prepaid) and WLL (CDMA) — Garuda-FW And Garuda-Mobile and internet services through dialup and DSL — Broadband internet TriBand. MTNL has also started Games on demand, video on demand and IPTV services in India through its Broadband Internet service called Triband. Phone numbers belonging to MTNL start with the prefix 2 infixed line telephones and WLL & in GSM Mobile services start from 901x/ 9869/9969/9868/9968. MTNL also provides other services such as VPN,Internet Telephony- VOIP and leased lines through BSNL and VSNL.

MTNL has been actively providing connections in both Mumbai and New Delhi areas and the efficiency of the company has drastically improved from the days when one had to wait years to get a phone connection to now when one can get a connection in even hours. Pre-activated Mobile connections are available at many places across both Metros. MTNL has also unveiled very cost-effective Broadband Internet access plans (TriBand) targeted at homes and small businesses. At present MTNL enjoys the largest of the market share of ISP services in Mumbai and Delhi.

Former Indian Communications Minister Thiru Dayanidhi Maran had declared year 2007 as "Year of Broadband" in India and MTNL is gearing up to provide five million Broadband connectivity by the end of 2007. MTNL has upgrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mtnl_3g.jpgaded existing TriBand (Broadband) connections for a speed of up to 2 MB/s without any extra cost. This 2 MB/s broadband service is being provided by MTNL at a cost of just US$5.00 per month.



India's First 3G Mobile Service By MTNL

MTNL started 3G services in India under the name of "MTNL 3G Jadoo" Services offered include Video call, Mobile TV and Mobile Broadband with high speed data connectivity up to 2 Mbit/s speed from 11th December 2008, getting India on the 3G map of the world. MTNL plans to offer 3G services across India by mid-2009. After that MTNL Mobile users would be able to surf the internet with speeds up to 2 Mbit/s on their smart phones. MTNL also provides data cards for surfing internet on the PC and Laptop at 3.6 Mbps. MTNL will be installing 15 lakh 3G lines in the first phase of its 3G roll-out in Mumbai and Delhi (which currently have 40 lakh existing mobile lines).


India's First 3G BlackBerry Service By MTNL

MTNL rolled out its BlackBerry solutions on the 2G and 3G networks by launching India’s first 3G enabled BlackBerry Bold smart phones.


visit MTNL website

Aircel

Aircel is a mobile service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India. Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications and Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis has a 74% stake in Aircel and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals. It is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 31, 2009. It has a market share of 12.8% among the GSM operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present in 18 of the total 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Chennai, Delhi & NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai, North East, Orissa, Rest of Maharashtra & Goa, Rest of Tamil Nadu, Rest of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West) and with licences secured for the remaining 5 telecom circles, the company plans to become a pan-India operator by 2010.



Additionally, Aircel has also obtained permission from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) telephony services. It is also a category A ISP. It is also having the largest service in Tamilnadu.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, is an ISO 9000 certified company. ABS is a registered member of WiMAX forum – both in the Indian and International Chapters. ABS’ product range includes enterprise solutions such as Multiprotocol Label SwitchingVirtual Private Networks (MPLS VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol> (VoIP) and Managed Video Services on wireless platform including WiMAX.

Aircel has won many awards for its services. Aircel was honored at the World Brand Congress 2009 with three awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, Marketing Campaign & Marketing Professional of the Year. Aircel was honored by CMAI INFOCOM National Telecom Award 2009 for, ‘Excellence in Marketing of New Telecom Service’. Aircel had been selected as the best regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel was rated as the top mid-size utility company inBusiness Worlds ‘List of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007. Aircel got the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in 2006 by voice and Data.

Aircel is one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League cricket Team Chennai Super Kings, which is captained by Mahendra_Singh_Dhoni. It is also the major sponsors for Chennai Open ATP tennis tournament in India, and Professional Golf Tour of India.

In latest news, Maxis, Aircel's majority stake holder, raised RM11.2 billions (USD 3.36 billions)for its shareholders, making it the largest IPO in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Aircel boat. Aircel, placed an actual dinghy lifeboat to a downtown billboard. A rope with a sign reading, “In case of emergency, cut rope”, held up the branded raft. July 15, 2009 the monsoon arrived and so did Aircel customer service. The dinghy was cut down and pedestrians were safely transported. What Aircel calls “Corporate Social Responsibility – A Solution”. The company was able to generate positive publicity and show consumers that they care.

Type	Private
Founded	1999
Headquarters	Chennai
Key people	Gurdeep Singh, COO
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Mobile Telecommunication operator
Owner(s)	Maxis Communications (74%) Apollo Hospital

for more info visit aircel website

MTS India

MTS India



Shyam Telelink is an Indian telecom service provider. Shyam holds the Unified Service Access License for the Rajasthan circle and operates Basic Telephony, mobile telephony (CDMA) and broadband services in the province. Shyam Telelink is the end-to-end service provider in Rajasthan with more than 269,000 subscribers as on August 2008 and a strong brand - Rainbow.

Acquisition by Sistema

The largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS - Sistema acquired a 10% stake in Shyam Telelink for a total cash consideration of US$ 11.4 million at the end of September 2007. In October 2007, Sistema signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of an additional 41% stake in Shyam Telelink and a call option agreement, which gives Sistema the right to increase its stake in Shyam Telelink from 51% up to a maximum of 74%.

Later in December 2007, Sistema received an approval for the acquisition of the blocking stake in Shyam Telelink from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of India. As a result of the acquisition of the additional 41% stake, the overall purchase price totaled US$ 58.1 million.

Pan-India rollout

Shyam Telecom along with their partner Sistema had applied for UASL license in 21 telecom circles of India. In August 2008, they became the first new mobile operator to get a pan-India start-up spectrum to start their mobile service operations in the country.

They would be providing mobile services based on CDMA technology under the brand name MTS.Shyam Telecom given Project to ZTE and Huawei for network expansion.


As of sep 30,2009 the total subscriber base of MTS India is 1,960,532 present in 7 circles,just launched in Delhi.
MTS India Offices

At present MTS India present in 8 circles out of 22 telecom circles of India. AUSPI reports shows MTS gets a huge response in India due to its excellent competitive & cheaper tariff:


* Bihar-Jharkand
* Delhi
* Karnataka
* Kerala
* Kolkata
* Mumbai
* Rajasthan
* Tamil Nadu
* West Bengal

visit MTS INDIA official site


MTS India wireless internet USB

MTS India has 2 types of Internet services, one MBlaze which works on EVDO and other MBrowse which works on CDMA network.




The plans start from as low as Rs.198 per month, which gives 150MB.

MBlaze half gives 0.5GB of data at Rs.498/month

MBlaze 1 – 1GB – Rs.598/month

MBlaze 3 – 3GB – Rs.798/month

MBlaze 5 – 5GB – Rs.898/month

MBlaze 10 – 10GB – Rs.1200/month

MBlaze 15 – 15GB – Rs.1500/month

MBlaze 30 – 30GB – Rs.3000/month

MBlaze 50 – 50GB – Rs.5000/month

Any extra usage will be charged at 50ps/MB and extra usage outside the validity period will be charged at Rs.2/MB.

Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in all the 22 telecom circles in India based in Mumbai. It is the 3rd largest GSM company in India behind Airtel and Vodafone and ahead of state run player BSNL.

In 2000, Tata Cellular was a company providing mobile services in AP. When Birla-AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger of these two entities was a reality. Thus Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as Batata, was born. In 2001, the Batata triumvirate agreed to merge its operations with the Rajeev Chandrasekhar promoted BPL Communications. The merger could have brought in regions like Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which seemed to be a perfect accompaniment to what it already had. This was critical with the bid for the fourth operator licence round the corner.
However, the engagement with BPL was broken. Then Idea set sights on RPG’s operations in Madhya Pradesh which was successfully acquired, helping Batata have a million subscribers, and the licence to be the fourth operator in Delhi was clinched.

In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the Escorts group’s Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala — and licences for three more — UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of that year, four million Indians were on the company’s network. In 2005, AT&T sold its investment in Idea, and the year after Tatas also bid good bye to pursue an independent telecom business. And Idea was left only with one promoter, the AV Birla group When the company’s stock listed on the bourses in March 2007, its subscriber base was 13 million with presence in 11 circles. In less than three years, the subscriber numbers have more than quadrupled. The public issue was oversubscribed 50 times and raised Rs 2,450 crore.



In June 2008, Idea Cellular bought out BK Modi’s stake in Spice Communications for Rs 2,700 crore adding Punjab and Karnataka circles. Modi’s joint venture partner, Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000 crore for a 14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then, Idea’s subsidiary, Aditya Birla Telecom sold a 20% stake to US-based Providence Equity Partners for over Rs 2,000 crore.

The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas.

Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years.


Holding

Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each.

Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecommunications (DOT) license norms, one promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its licence.

The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company. Currently, Aditya Birla Group holds 49.1% of the total shares of the company. Malaysia based Axiata controls a 14.99% stake in the company.

Users




Idea's subscriber base as of November 2009 according to the is as follows

* Maharashtra and Goa - 8,703,670
* Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - 6,313,183
* Andhra Pradesh - 6,020,386
* Kerala - 5,021,067
* Kolkata - 140,149
* Gujarat - 4,721,945
* Uttar Pradesh (West) & Uttarakhand - 5,203,726
* Delhi - 2,430,274
* Haryana - 1,881,659
* Uttar Pradesh (East) - 3,133,981
* Rajasthan - 2,073,877
* Himachal Pradesh - 212,014
* Mumbai - 1,221,653
* Bihar & Jharkhand - 2,403,949

* Tamil Nadu & Chennai - 58,639
* Odisha - 455,495
* Punjab (Spice) - 3,002,267
* Karnataka (Spice) - 2,181,237
* Rest of Bengal - Newly launched
* Assam - Newly Launched

for more information about !dea cellular visit idea cellular

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers based in the United Kingdom and operating in India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States and France; the brand survived only briefly in Singapore. The international Virgin Mobile businesses each act as independent entities, usually in a partnership between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and an existing phone company. Virgin Group provides the brand, and the phone company operates the network infrastructure.



Virgin Mobile was the world's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator when it launched in the United Kingdom in 1999. It does not maintain its own network but instead contracts to use the existing network(s) of other providers.

Global network

In the United Kingdom, Virgin Mobile uses the T-Mobile network. In the USA,Sprint Nextel is the networker. There is no roaming to other networks in the United States. In Australia, Virgin Mobile operates on the Optus network. In Canada, it uses the Bell Mobility network. In France, it uses Orange SA. Virgin Mobile South Africa uses the Cell C network for coverage across South Africa.
In India, it uses the network of Tata Indicom. These networks use two different mobile telephony standards, GSM and CDMA. GSM is used in the UK, South Africa, Australia and France. CDMA is used in the US, India and Canada.GSM was lanched in India recently.



In all countries, Virgin Mobile offers prepaid mobile phone pay-as-you-go service. In the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa, Virgin Mobile also offers a post-paid option to approved customers. They are also looking to establish another setup in Pakistan. Already very common in the UK at the time of Virgin Mobile's launch, prepaid wireless service was a very small part of the US wireless market. Nevertheless, competitive pricing, and a "no-frills" approach ensured a small but significant market share.



In June 2009, Virgin Mobile announced and started a pay-as-you go mobile data program called "Broadband2Go" in the United States, using Novatel Wireless hardware, and available exclusively through the Best Buy chain of stores originally, but now available at other retailers including RadioShack and The Source (in Canada). It uses a USB flash drive type device plugged into a user's computer for internet connectivity.

Virgin Mobile USA

On July 28, 2009 Sprint agreed to pay $483 million to purchase Virgin Mobile USA. The Federal Trade Commission has since given the go-ahead on the acquisition. Virgin Mobile USA was originally conceived as a joint venture between Virgin Group and Sprint, and uses Sprint's cellular bandwidth in the U.S. Sprint officials said they anticipated retaining the Virgin Mobile name after the deal closes.

Virgin Singapore

Virgin Singapore was launched in October 2001 as a joint venture with Singtel. The operations were closed down by October 2002 after failing to attract a significant number of customers.

Failure of the joint venture was attributed to a saturated mobile market and Virgin Mobile's positioning as a "premium" brand.



Virgin Mobile India

On 2008-03-01, Virgin launched the Mobile brand in India through a franchise arrangement with Tata Teleservices. This is Virgin’s seventh launch globally and its largest investment to date in India, said Branson, noting that the Indian market was very attractive, growing like none other in the world. The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) had opposed the tie-up, alleging that it amounted to Virgin's entry into India as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) which is currently not allowed in India, due to prevalent regulations. However on 2008-03-29, the Department of Telecom (DoT) cleared the deal after clarification from Tata Teleservices indicated that Virgin had not entered India as an MVNO.

Vodafone Essar Telecommunications

Vodafone Essar Telecommunications
Vodafone Essar, formally known as Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 23 telecom circles in India based in Mumbai. Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 67% and Essar Group 33%. It is the second largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue behind Bharti Airtel, and third largest in terms of customers. As of June 31, 2009 Vodafone India has 18.8% customer market share and 20.7% revenue market share.


On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on May 8, 2007. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with good presence in the metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the country's 23 licence areas. It is among the top three GSM mobile operators of India.


Previous brands

Initially around 1995 it was called "MAX TOUCH"...then around 2000 it was ORANGE..... In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide, consolidating its services under a single identity. The Company entered into an agreement with NTT DoCoMo to launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India during 2007.

The company used to be named Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was marketed as Hutch. After getting the necessary government approvals with regards to the acquisition of a majority by the Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007.

On September 20, 2007 Hutch became Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition exercises in recent times.


Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs. 250 crores on this high-profile transition being unveiled today.Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. The company also plans to launch co-branded handsets sourced from global vendors as well.

A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from across-the-world into India."

Incidentally, China's ZTE, which is looking to set-up a manufacturing unit in the country, is expected to provide several Vodafone handsets in India. Earlier this year, Vodafone penned a global low-cost handset procurement deal with ZTE.

Reliance Communications

Reliance Communications, formerly known as Reliance Infocomm, along with Reliance Telecom and Flag Telecom, is part of Reliance Communications Ventures (RCoVL). It is the second largest mobile operator in India, based on number of subscribers. According to National Stock Exchange data, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani controls 66.77 per cent of the company, which accounts for more than 1.36 billion shares.[3] It is the flagship company of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, comprising of power (Reliance Energy), financial services (Reliance Capital) and telecom initiatives of the Reliance ADAG. It uses CDMA2000 1x technology for its existing CDMA mobile services, and GSM-900/GSM-1800 technology for its existing/newly launched GSM services.


RelCom is also into Wireline Business throughout India and has the largest optical fiber communication (OFC) backbone architecture [roughly 110,000 km] in the country.

Reliance Communications has launched its Direct To Home (DTH) TV also, known as "Big TV". RelCom have presence across all B2C communications channel in one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Bid For Hutch

In 2007, Reliance Communications had bid for 67% of Hutch but lost to Vodafone.
Acquisitions

In July 2007, the company announced it is buying US-based managed ethernet and application delivery services company Yipes Enterprise Services for a cash amount of Rs. 1200 crore rupees (equivalent of USD 300 million). The deal was announced of the overseas acquisition, the Reliance group has amalgamated the United States-based Flag Telecom for $ 211 million [roughly Rs 950 crore (Rs 9.50 billion)].
Recent news

On the 19th December 2008,one of the flag telecom cables in the mediterranean sea was damaged.Flag Telecom is now part of Reliance Globalcom.

On the 30th December 2008, Reliance became the first telecom company in India to operate in both CDMA as well as GSM technologies.
Reliance GSM

On the 30th December 2008, Reliance Communications became the first telecom operator in the history of Indian telecommunications to simultaneously launch its GSM services in 17 circles, namely Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh(East & West) thereby establishing itself as a pan-India operator.


It already operates GSM services in 8 circles namely Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, North Eastern states, Orissa, West Bengal. but operates under the brand Reliance Smart GSM. Reliance Smart is owned by their sister concern Reliance Telecom.They got these license when they took over USHA PHONE