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.