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BSNL to launch VoD for its mobile subs within a month

Published

14 years ago

July 7, 2012

NEW DELHI: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is to launch video on demand for its mobile phone subscribers in a month’s time.

This was announced by BSNL chairman & managing director Rakesh K Upadhyay while inaugurating VAS ASIA 2012, the 12th International Conference and Exhibition organised by Bharat Exhibitions.

During his address, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) executive director (Wireless Service) A. K. Bhargava said the story of the value added service on the mobile phone is just the beginning. All products on the mobile phone are for the masses, there is a requirement of creative innovation which should be cost effective and for masses, he added.

“The MVAS industry is expected to create a business opportunity worth around Rs 480 billion by the year 2015. This in itself is a clear indication of the future of VAS services in India. No doubt this has created a new excitement for all those who are in this space and for those who are entering,” said Bharat Exhibitions MD Shashi Dharan.

The emergence of the mobile phone as the single device for a host of services has changed the paradigm in the communication and entertainment industries with several discreet devices being displaced in favour of a single device, said Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general Rajan S. Mathews. He drew attention to some emerging problems in the telecommunication area where customer charges needed to be as low as possible for the mass communication device to be affordable to the last man.

“The exploding cost of regulation is a critical issue. The increasing introduction of regulatory issues into what is actually market driven service is affecting the growth of this sector, “said Mathews.

In his keynote address, Velti CEO Alex Moukas said: “Mobile internet users are expected to surpass the desktop Internet users 2014. The disparity in the time spent on mobile (10 per cent) and the advertisement spend (1per cent) would also rebalance soon, thereby boosting revenue from the mobile VAS for the operators. With advertising revenue rising by at least three times in two years from now this sector will also bridge the social media and location based marketing with personalization that was not possible till now.” He added that explosive mobile Internet adoption will surpass the desk top users.

“India’s Internet users penetration will rise to 35 per cent by 2015 and more than three quarters will choose mobile phone access,” said Mr. Sukesh Jain, head VAS & Content, Bharti Airtel.

The total Internet access capability by 2015 is expected to rise from 100 million to 450 million, of which 41 per cent will be using mobile only and another 38 per cent both cell phone and PC. Data service on the mobile is expected to broaden and deepen customer experience with the cell phone with the consequent improvement in the operator revenues. Revenue contribution from current VAS service is expected to come down as revenues from data increase as a percentage of total revenue.

It was noted that the slow growth of the smart phone base until recently had been holding back the prospect of huge revenues from mobile VAS. In the first quarter of this year, smart phones constituted only 2.7 million out of 50 million new devices sold, and the total smart phone base in the country is around 27 million, while the total subscribers base have crossed 950 million. The population that needs to be addressed is the regional language speakers who are the large majority compared to only 7 per cent knowing English speaking population.

“Mobile VAS has huge revenue potentials, the global average share of MVAS revenue is leading user countries is pegged at approximately 23 per cent ,” said Mr. Chandan Ghosh, Head -Global Wholesale & Carrier Business , Aircel Limited. The drive to increase average revenue per user and gain customer loyalty in a highly competitive market has led operators to liven up their mobile portfolios. Operators are looking at various means to use MVAS as a growth driver and key differentiator. According to him the industry falling prices of handsets and increasing competition was forcing manufacturers to shift focus to services. For operators falling voice revenues, increasing competition and heavy investments in 3G have made them to turn to VAS to secure their business.

New opportunities were emerging for banks, educational institutions and health care providers to use value added services over their mobile. This could be the game that operators would have to address to improve their revenues. The broad categories for successful monetization of MVAS were in M-education, M-commerce, M-Health and M-Infotainment. “The end game is not about generating new revenues. It’s about delivering compelling customer experience in order to extract new value from existing customers”, Ghosh added.

“The opportunity for the technology players to play a critical role in the further expansion of the Indian VAS Market has become more crucial now”, said DONJIN Communication Technology Co. Ltd. CEO John He.

Applications

Moltbook, the AI-only social network, sparks hype, doubt and fear

Published

2 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents, has emerged as the latest obsession in Silicon Valley, drawing intense attention for its explosive growth and surreal bot-driven interactions.

The platform hosts more than 100 communities where AI agents post, argue and joke about topics ranging from governance theory to esoteric “crayfish debugging” concepts. Within days of launch, Moltbook recorded tens of thousands of posts, nearly 200,000 comments and more than 1 million human visitors observing the activity.

Yet the numbers and the autonomy are under scrutiny, as per media reports. A security researcher has suggested as many as 500,000 accounts may trace back to a single address, raising doubts about Moltbook’s membership claims. Many posts could also be the result of humans instructing their AI tools to publish content, rather than bots acting independently.

The platform runs on agentic AI, powered by an open-source tool called OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot. Unlike chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, these agents are designed to perform tasks on users’ devices, from sending messages to managing calendars, with minimal human input. Once authorised, they can interact freely on Moltbook.

Some tech figures have hailed the platform as a glimpse of a post-human internet. Head of crypto custody firm BitGo Bill Lees, called it evidence that “we’re in the singularity”.

Academics are less convinced. Petar Radanliev, an AI and cybersecurity expert at the University of Oxford, said the idea of agents acting independently was “misleading”, describing Moltbook instead as automated coordination within human-set constraints. Columbia Business School assistant professor David Holtz, dismissed the spectacle as “thousands of bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves”.

Beyond hype, security worries loom large. ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore, warned that granting AI agents access to emails, private messages and files risks prioritising efficiency over privacy. Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey said high-level system access could lead to serious damage, from erased data to compromised company accounts.

Even OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, has felt the darker side of attention, with scammers hijacking his old social media handles after the platform’s rebrand.

For now, Moltbook remains a strange digital zoo: part experiment, part spectacle, where AI agents banter about philosophy, productivity and, occasionally, their fondness for their human operators.

Applications

Apple appoints Avtar Ram Singh as head of international marketing

Published

2 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Apple has handed a bigger global brief to a long-time insider. Avtar Ram Singh has taken over as head of international marketing for the App Store, Apple Arcade and the Apple Games app, deepening his remit across one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of international marketing, App Store, Apple Arcade and Games App at Apple,” Singh said while announcing the move.

The promotion crowns nearly seven years at Apple, where Singh has led services marketing across Southeast Asia and India and previously served as head of marketing for Southeast Asia content and services, business lead for Apple Podcasts in the region and interim marketing lead for the App Store internationally.

His new portfolio spans three pillars of Apple’s services push. The App Store, which Apple positions as a safe and trusted discovery platform, now attracts more than 850 million average weekly users globally. Since 2008, developers have earned over $550 billion on the platform.

Apple Arcade, the company’s gaming subscription service, offers unlimited access to a catalogue ranging from brain teasers to big-name franchises. The recent addition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition brings a AAA PC title to iPhone, iPad and Mac from 5 February.

Then there is the Apple Games app, unveiled at WWDC as a unified destination for games from the App Store and Arcade. It aggregates titles in one place, surfaces personalised recommendations, tracks events and achievements, and lets users compete with friends or connect controllers for a console-like experience.

Singh arrives with a hybrid background in strategy, data and creativity. His career spans digital and social media marketing, business intelligence, content, editorial and analytics across culturally diverse markets. He has worked on brands including P&G, Accor, Audi, UBS, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Pizza Hut, HBO and Singapore Airlines-linked businesses such as Scoot.

Before Apple, Singh led strategy at Falcon Agency, focusing on performance marketing and ROI-driven digital frameworks. He earlier ran the social practice at Publicis Singapore, where he oversaw operations, business development and regional social strategy for multinational clients. His career also includes roles at Ogilvy-linked Circus Social, Rocket Internet ventures Lazada and Zalora, and research firm IDC in Bangkok, where he analysed technology markets and won early awards for collaboration and client retention.

At Apple, he has been close to several service launches and expansions, including Apple Fitness+ in Singapore, Apple Creator Studio, global podcast subscriptions and new App Store marketing tools.

The timing is notable. Apple’s services business has posted record years, and gaming is becoming a sharper battleground as platforms chase engagement and recurring revenue. Singh’s brief sits at the intersection of content, community and commerce.

In a market where attention is scarce and loyalty scarcer, Apple is betting that sharper storytelling and smarter marketing can keep users inside its ecosystem. Singh now holds the megaphone. The real test will be how loudly the world listens.

Applications

Cloud nine in the capital Bharathcloud plugs Delhi into its AI plans

Published

3 weeks ago

January 30, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Bharathcloud is bringing its cloud closer to power. The Hyderabad-based sovereign AI cloud services provider has opened its Delhi office, marking its formal entry into North India and setting the stage for its next phase of growth.

The expansion comes as India’s digital transformation fuels rising demand for AI-ready cloud infrastructure, driven by wider adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and data-heavy applications. With the new office, Bharathcloud plans to onboard more than 100 employees in 2026, strengthening its workforce to support customers across government, enterprises, MSMEs and social sectors.

The Delhi presence is expected to sharpen the company’s engagement with organisations seeking secure, scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms that comply with India’s data sovereignty requirements. It also positions Bharathcloud closer to policy, public sector and enterprise decision-makers in the region.

Founded in Hyderabad, Bharathcloud offers AI-ready cloud infrastructure including Kubernetes-as-a-Service, zero-trust security architecture and multi-level data protection frameworks. Its platform supports AI and ML workloads, blockchain application migration from hyperscalers and distributed data management, with an emphasis on reliability, low latency and operational continuity.

“With the Delhi expansion, we are positioning Bharathcloud to engage more closely with AI-driven enterprises and technology hubs in North India,” said Bharathcloud co-founder Rahul Takallapally. He added that the move would help nurture local cloud and AI talent while accelerating the adoption of secure and resilient AI infrastructure across sectors.

The company currently operates in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai, employing over 200 people and serving more than 1,500 clients across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, IT and media. Aligned with national initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India, Bharathcloud continues to focus on building indigenous AI-cloud infrastructure to support data localisation and the country’s growing appetite for next-generation digital solutions.

With its Delhi office now live, the company is signalling a clear intent: to make sovereign, AI-ready cloud infrastructure not just an alternative, but a mainstream choice for India’s north as well as its tech capitals.