Category: Technology

MUMBAI: In a third and final orbit-raising operation, Insat-4B has been successfully placed in near-geosynchronous orbit.

In yesterday’s manoeuvre, conducted from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka, the liquid apogee motor (Lam) on board the satellite was fired for a duration of 3 min 50 sec and the satellite has achieved an orbital period of 23 hours and 52 minutes.

After placing Insat-4B in near-geosynchronous orbit, the deployment of its two solar panels and two antennas was successfully completed. The two solar arrays of Insat-4B together generate 5,860 W of electrical power. The two antennas are used for various transmit and receive functions. The satellite was put to its three-axis stabilised mode today.

Insat-4B was successfully launched by Ariane-5 on 12 March from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite is presently located at 74.88 deg E longitude and is drifting towards its final orbital position of 93.5 deg E. The satellite drift will be arrested at 80.5 deg E longitude to carry out in-orbit testing of the payloads after which, it will be moved to 93.5 deg E longitude where it will be co-located with Insat-3A.

MUMBAI: On the second day of the fifth International Conference on Communications Convergence being organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC), one of the opening sessions looked at DTH vs Cas vs Wireless vs Mobile vs IPTV vs…?

Indiantelevision.com founder and CEO Anil Wanvari spoke the web versus the rest. He said that the versus term is exaggerated. “The different platforms will co exist side by side. A person will check out news on his mobile on the go. He will come home and watch television and then surf the Internet.

Having said that, the Internet will be the next media of choice. That is due to the social networking opportunities it offers. The net is good for short form content of two to three minutes in length. Going forward five to six minutes of content will be the norm.

“Rajshri Media is using the net already for fiction content. We at Indiantelevision.com are producing clips with TV stars. This has proven to be very popular with readers. More importantly it opens up opportunities like those of social networking. What is also promising is that bandwidth costs are going down.
Gaming, chats also make the net a rocking area to be in for a consumer.”

It is estimated that there will be over 100 million cable and satellite homes in 2010. DTH homes will be around 10 million. At the moment 21 million people access the net. This number doubles when you take into account cybercafes. In three years time there will be 100 million net users. There will be 20 million broadband subscribers by 2010. Right now it is around two million which is much less than what had been anticipated. The number of mobile users is growing at the rate of six million a month. This is expected to hit the 200 million mark by end 2007. In IPTV there should be one million homes in the next two to three years, but Wanvari noted that this platform is turning out to be a lame horse. This is due to the lack of differentiated content.

As far as the net is concerned he quoted figures from an Iamai study released last year. This notes that as the age of the user goes up he/she spends more time on the net. Also those with broadband spend more time compared to those who have a narrowband connection.

While school kids spend 322 minutes a week on the net, college students spend 433 minutes. Older men spend 580 minutes. Working women spend 535 minutes each week online. Blogs, P2P, online radio and online TV will drive net usage in the years to come.

He says that DTH faces an uphill battle against Cas.
For instance in his building the society did not allow the DTH dish to be put up.

“Cas consumers are happy with what they are getting.
While I am not in a Cas mandated area I have taken a set top box. I pay Rs. 300 for 186 channels. When my area falls under Cas I will be wiling to pay double that. After all going for a film with my family costs around Rs. 1000. One needs to bear in mind that at the end of the day the consumer does not care about how he gets the content. What the content consists of is more important.”

IndusInd Media and communications executive director Ashok Mansukhani took up the case for cable. He says that in a convergence arena television will grow fast.

Today there are 64-68 million cable and satellite homes. Out of this 34 million are controlled by small and medium operators. Analogue cable is a challenge as the broadest pipe can only accommodate 100 channels.

There are around 220 channels in existence. The government he says is now looking at digitisation in 35 cities by 2010. 500,000 set top boxes have thus far been installed. He gave credit to Trai for setting up a voluntary Cas committee and also to its tribunal.

He says that the cable fraternity does not treat DTH as a joke. Also it does not look at IPTV as something that will not happen. “We are willing to meet the competition. Along with television cable operators offer internet, VoD. DTH is a more costly proposition compared to cable. Also one DTH operator has a call center in Poona. I do not know how much they will know about Napean Sea Road. The cable operator has a more close contact with his customers. What we are finding during Cas is that the customer wants only 10-15 channels. They do not want their bill to cross Rs. 200. We have asked the government to allow Cas on a nationwide basis.”

He says that set top boxes are available on rental schemes. He says that cable operators should look at buying back boxes of dissatisfied DTH customers. “It will also be exciting to see the impact of ARPU. IPTV has issues. Unfortunately the government is sleeping over the issue of whether it is a telecom service or a video service. A successful business model needs to be built. Also the issues regarding 3G in mobile should be settled as soon as possible.”

The basic issue is to bring in competitive choices at value for money pricing. While cable will be the mainstay of television viewing regulation needs to lead technology not follow it. He is favour of the communications convergence bill being revived. It is technology neutral and will thus allow a firm that is affirm that at once is an MSO, a broadcaster running local channels and a net player to operate in a broad facilitative environment.

Reliance Communications CIO Sumit Chaudhary says that one should be able to buy the digital rights to a product like a film and then view it on different platforms. That is what convergence is moving towards.

“If I have the digital rights to a film then I should be able to get the ringtone for a song without having to approach another operator. One should be able to transfer content to different devices.” He also spoke about the front end and back end nature of content. Front end is what the consumer sees in front of him.

Backend is the network infrastructure, customer management service which allows the operator to get revenue. DTH needs a headend, transponder. The customer needs a dish. Cas has a digital headend. The consumer needs a box.

Content travels through a fibre or copper medium. Broadband also travels in this manner. At the backend challenges include audio and video restoration, colour correction. There is a pre processing and post processing that happens. The latter involves things like meta tags, trailers, ads.

The encoding system is different for each platform. Digital Rights Management is key or the content owner will not allow you to transmit content. The IPTV headend he notes has al kinds of servers. Then you need to work on Metro area networks and building access networks.

Reliance will add 100,000- 200,000 building networks a year. The challenge is that the cable industry is tough to breach.

MUMBAI: As a developing nation, India has only recently discovered the bountiful prospects that digital technology brings in its wake. Providing a forum and a platform to explore the benefits that of what some experts says is “The Digital Era,” the Internet and Mobile Association of India (Iamai) organized a day long seminar titled ‘Digital Marketing: Are you ready for it?‘

Sourcing professionals from across the industry, the schedule for the event sought to address multiple issues that India is grappling with in adapting to newer technology. Kick starting the day were pioneers in this field including Yahoo! India MD George Zacharias, BharatMatroniny Group CEO J Murugavel and Rediff.com founder and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan providing insight on ‘What the medium is and what it can be?‘ Following which four panel discussions explored the effectiveness, the creativity factor, brand building propositions and promotional marketing efforts that the medium offers.

A concern for many is ROI deliveries that the new medium will provide and Tribal DDB India country head Leroy Alvares promptly admits that when using the internet – relevance, originality and impact (ROI) play a critical role. Highlighting the benefits that ICICI have experienced in using the internet, head corporate brand Tina Singh says that because financial products are ‘information heavy‘ it proves to be expensive on other mediums as compared to the internet, but it can provide greater consumer engagement online. “What differentiates the medium is that it integrates the customer response into the systems giving us an upper edge. Therefore, internet accounts for 1/5 of our customer acquisition costs and 1/10 of customer service costs as opposed to using some other channel. In March 2006 internet transactions have increased to 18 per cent, from 2 per cent in 2000.” adds Singh.

Highlighting another advantage of the internet, Rajshri Media MD Rajjat Barjatya spoke of the power of using video to enhance the consumption of the internet as it allows the user to personally define his experience on the net. This session was moderated by Pinstorm Technologies Ltd founder and CEO Mahesh Murthy, with additional inputs from Citibank head eBiz Special Initiatives Srinivasan Rajagopal and Taj Hotels Resorts and Places director internet marketing Ashok Lalla.

Moving onto the debate on whether ‘Creativity is an impediment on the Digital Medium,‘ the moderator for the discussion WPP India country manager Ranjan Kapur said that we have entered the realm of ‘co creation‘ of content, brands and values, with the $150 billion company Google , whose impact has transformed the entire digital landscape into what he calls ‘Before Google and After Google.‘

Leo Burnett National creative director KV Shridhar, popularly referred to as ‘Pops,‘ emphasised the influence of the internet as giving birth to a “second life” for the user. While BC Webwise CEO and MD Chaya Brian Carvalho introduced the audience to what she calls the Five I‘s of the Internet (Indidvidual, Infinte, Impulse, Interactive and Information).

Ranjan concluded the session by saying that the opportunities the medium provides will see a rapid transition of India into this new digital era and refuting all claims that state that it will kill the traditional advertising agency by 2020, similarly ad agencies will get morphed into a separate identity.

From a brand building perspective, the case study that was repeatedly emphasized at the event was HLL‘s Sunsilk Gang Of Girls community building campaign which now commands a life of its own. HLL general manager media services, Unilever South Asia Rahul Welde validated the effectiveness of the campaign saying, “Apart from fuelling an increase in sales growth and market share, it enhanced the imagery of the brand transforming it into a modern female youth (18+) brand. The internet is cost effective as opposed to traditional media and we are willing to put serious money behind it as it is the fastest growing area that we are willing to play in.”

GroupM COO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja forsees that the digital medium will grow from currently comprising 1 per cent of the ad expenditure to 3 per cent in 2010 saying, “Digital is going to be the single largest enabler to drive a shift from an age of interruption to that of engagement.”

Although, Yahoo! India director advertising sales Pearl Uppal says online media is indispensable for its inherent interactive potential, she believes that an adequate measurement system is lacking. However, Welde countered that, “I would not agonize about measurement at this stage but rather over the dearth of creative ideas. There should be a greater concentration towards ideation when using this medium.”

The last session addressed the issue of promotional marketing through digital media, however two panelists Hungama MD and CEO Neeraj Roy and Kidstuff Promos and Events president Jai De Costa were unable to be present.

With the seminar largely tackling the online space, the scope of mobile seemed to be overshadowed, but as the country progresses towards digitization, of which it is only presently scratching the surface, forums such as these would be beneficial. Nevertheless, lessons from early risk takers in the digital space were lapped up by students and companies eyeing the potential of this medium.

NEW DELHI: With the Government stressing on increasing broadband connectivity and facilitating convergence of technologies, one more meet on the subject – the 15th Convergence India International exhibition and conference – is opening in the capital on 20 March, thus becoming the third such gathering in recent weeks.

After the international Convergence Exhibition and Conference organized by the Broadcast Engineering Society (India) in Delhi from February One to three, the Fourth International Converging World 2007 Exhibition and Seminar was held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata from March 9 to 11, organized by the Delhi-based Zeal Broadband Solutions.

Participants from 22 countries will take part in the 15th Convergence India International exhibition and conference to be held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi from March 20 to 22, put together by the Delhi-based Exhibitions India in collaboration with the Cellular Operators Association of India.

The first Convergence India had been organized fifteen years earlier jointly by Exhibitions India and BES (I) but the two had parted ways after two shows and have been organizing separate events.

Meanwhile, the 14th Convergence India last year had attracted 386 participants from 25 countries and Exhibitions India founder Prem Behl told indiantelevision.com that the meet this year was expected to surpass that figure. The meet will see the participation of the telecom, mobility, broadcast, cable, satellite, information and technology, and information security sectors. A special feature is the theme pavilion to be set up by the International Security Industry Organisation being set up for the first time as part of this fete.

The panel discussion on the opening day will be on ‘Convergence: The Future – Fuelling the Indian Economy‘. Panelists include former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Pradip Baijal, Software Technology Parks of India Director-General S N Zindal, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Director (finance) S D Saxena, Qualcomm Chief Techno logy Advisor Nikhil Jain, UTStarcom Vice-President Brian Caskey, Alcatel-Lucent Worldwide CMO John Giere and a panelist from Ericsson.

There will be a workshop on e-governance, and the conference will bring together industry leaders, investors, government officials and users on a single platform to discuss all aspects of the ICT industry. Subjects include ‘Next Gen Telecom‘, ‘Wireless Delivery: Broadband for all‘, ‘Services on Demand: Business and Infotainment‘, ‘Towards Mobile Information Society‘, ‘Security Challenges for the Enterprise‘, “Enabling SMB‘s and SME‘s for tomorrow‘s growth”, and a round-table on ‘Broadband Revolution and Rural
Connectivity‘.

The meet will see participation from Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Latvia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, the United States, and India.

Exhibitions India also publishes the monthly ‘Convergence Plus‘ journal to publicise the advantages of convergence of information communication, telecom and broadcasting.

NEW DELHI: While denying that millions of poor families would be deprived of entertainment as a result of implementation of the Conditional Access System, the Government has informed Parliament that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been asked to give its comments on extension of Cas to Zone II areas in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Claiming that the implementation in selected areas in the three metros had been a success, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told Parliament in reply to a series of questions that no decision had been taken yet to increase Cas in more areas or other cities.

He said the Cas scheme had been implemented vide notifications of 31 July last year after due consultation with stakeholders including broadcasters, multi-system operators, cable operators, and Trai.

The minister clarified that while the charges under Cas were notified by Trai in its Tariff Order issued from time to time and were dependent on the number of pay channels a subscriber opted to receive, the charges in non-Cas areas were notified on 26 December, 2003 with provisions of a 7 per cent enhancement. However, this would also depend on whether service providers opted to telecast additional pay channels after December 2003.

MUMBAI: At the fifth International Conference on Communications Convergence being organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) Maharashtra minister for finance and planning Jayantrao Patil says that the state is determined to lead other Indian states in terms of convergence of technologies.

As has been the case in the past Maharashtra will continue to be the growth driver of the Indian economy by providing a fertile ground for newer science and technologies. In 2003 Maharashtra accounted for 15.8 per cent of India‘s telephone subscribers, 9.5 per cent of telephone connections, 9.1 per cent of urban connections and 1.1 per cent rural connections.

“These figures have risen steeply in the last three years. At the end of 2006 the teledensity inn the country has risen to 17.16 per cent. This is much more than the targeted teledensity of 15 per cent at the end of 2010.” Mumbai he notes has 6.5 per cent of the country‘s mobile users. For the state it is 14.5 per cent.

Financial Technologies Group CEO Jignesh Shah says that India has a rich pool of talented young people.

“Even in the face of heavy odds and lack of infrastructure India‘s telecommunications sector has witnessed enviable growth. ETH research chairman Dr Vijay P Bhatkar notes that on 15 March researchers in Pune launched a multi play technology. This he says is a path breaking discovery after India leapfrogged into the are of supercomputing several years ago.

MUMBAI: The fifth International Conference on Communications Convergence kicked off today in Mumbai.

The event is being organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC). One of the speakers at the inaugural session was Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) vice chairman and MD Anand Mahindra spoke about the need for companies to adjust to how consumers perceptions towards their products is changing in a convergent environment.

He notes that a new breed of people is shaping the world of the future, which is that of communications convergence. “This community works in a different manner from traditional communities. They are not constrained by geographical boundaries or culture. Access to technology and shared interests link them.However when companies think of convergence they should remember that it goes beyond just technology. It is what happens to the mindset when one uses devices in a certain way to seek connections. For example when music becomes a set of digital files it changes the manner in which the community looks at it.When you say goodbye to a loved one on Skype it alters one‘s perception of distance.”

Companies he says must note that the convergent community has three characteristics. Firstly they are collaborative. To make a purchase decision they often depend on word of mouth like blogs. That is why Mahindra checks out blogs more than he looks for advice from his marketing manager. “Opinions, expertise is shared like on car sites. One can use this to one‘s advantage or get destroyed. An inspirational consumer online can become a spokesperson for your brand.

Secondly Mahindra notes that the convergence community is fickle. Lifelong loyalty to a brand or a movie star is a thing of the past. He gives the example of an ad where a youngster is watching an ad featuring a television.

A caption appears saying that the channel has three seconds to convince him before he zaps the channel. What media brands need to do is grab the viewer and engage him across different platforms. For example the film The Matrix was available not only on film but also in books, games, animation. The third thing firms need to keep in mind is that the convergence community wants to act as an influence of change in the world.

He gave the example of the Jessica Lal case where public pressure was brought to bear. Firms need to understand how people use technology. The race will be won by those who understand this and not necessarily to those who act the fastest.

One firm that has started to take advantage of convergence is MTNL. It has been six months since it launched its IPTV service in Mumbai. MTNL GM broadband Peeyush Agrawal says that the bandwith issues have been sorted out. Technology integration was major challenge for the firm. It has a

Contentknock platform where the content is kept on servers. “Our vision is to achieve complete simplicity within two years. Quality of experience is key. At the same time there needs to be a need for quality content from the consumer. When there is that requirement broadband will take off. I expect to have at least 50,000 IPTV subscribers next year. The customer needs a modem for the DSL stream. There is also a set top box.”

He says that the IPTV package costs Rs. 299. However a fortnight from now it will introduce a package where for 15 channels one will pay much less. MTNL carries 130 channels including those from Star, Sony and Zee.

It hopes to add over a hundred this year. MTNL has also introduced a network based recording system where one can record shows. It is also looking at introducing time shift viewing on TV. Right now discussions are going on with broadcasters as they are concerned about how this will affect viewership of ads. MTNL‘s IPTV service also has a library of 850 films. The service also offers e-learning and e-shopping among other services. One can play high speed gaming with friends. In this manner it offers interactivity.

Sam Pitroda spoke about the importance of developing a knowledge based society. “A knowledge commission was set up last year to look at knowledge based initiatives. The country he notes faces skill shortages, which need to be addressed, or growth will be affected.” While telecom took 20 years to get to where it is today knowledge initiatives he says will take 25 years to see fruit. The government is looking to set up a national knowlege network which will connect different places through 5000 nodes. It will cost around a billion dollars.

NEW DELHI: MTNL, country‘s leading Telecom Service
provider has once again headed forward for a mobile cause and adding zing to the Cricket World Cup 2007. The World cup fever has taken the cricket crazy nation by the storm. This World Cup MTNL Delhi has come out with a unique initiative for both, their landline and mobile users MTNL has made a special arrangement to bring live cricket scores to their massive customer community in Delhi. To get the latest cricket updates of all the matches played by India starting from 17th March 2007, all the customers need to do is dial 24012401 from their landline phone.

SMS has always been the best way for mobile users to the required information at their fingertips. Therefore, MTNL has also introduced a mobile service where the updates are available through SMS, keeping it simple and accessible. All the customer has to do is type CRI and send it to 2001 from their Garuda, Trump and Dolphin mobile connections. (CDMA and GSM).

MTNL has been thoughtful by offering this service also to those customers who do not have reach to television and radio in the remote areas. Keeping the cricket mania going MTNL‘s initiative will for ensure cricket fans all over the country cheering for all the matches when boys in blue are ready to take over the world.

MUMBAI:Punjab cellular operator Spice Telecom announced the launch of a new application around World Cup called the Cricket Genie. The application will allow Spice‘s pre paid and post paid subscribers to get ball-by-ball updates in an animated format on Spice mobile. Apart from watching live matches, subscribers can also access Live Score for each match, results of concluded matches and highlights of the cricket matches.

Speaking at the launch of the Spice World Cup Cricket services Spice Telecom Punjab COO Man Mohan Nandwani stated that “Spice has always made efforts to understand the needs and requirements of its subscribers and thus offer them the best value added services. With the launch of the World Cup services, we have provided our subscribers with an ideal opportunity to stay actively involved in the game through rich and exciting cricket content like watching the matches LIVE on the mobile handset, latest match alerts, and exciting cricket contests.”

While the download of the application from the Spice GPRS is free, subscribers will have to pay Rs 10 for a one day match and Rs 99 to watch the entire series live on their handsets.

Spice subscribers can also access cricket updates through multiple platforms like IVR, USSD and SMS.

They can also test their cricketing wits by participating in two new exciting cricket contests- ‘Ball vs Bollywood‘ and ‘Who WINS‘. Charged at Rs 6 per minute the right answer to the question will win the subscriber runs and the winner gets an all expense paid holiday to Singapore.

Spice Telecom, the brand name of Spice Communications Limited is presently operating Cellular Phone Services in the states of Punjab and Karnataka. Spice Telecom has been promoted by Modi Wellvest Private Limited.

MUMBAI: Visiware has announced that Playin’TV has been awarded “Best interactive television game service” on EchoStar‘s Dish Network.

“We are very proud to receive the “Best iTV game service on Dish Network” award which symbolises the continuous quest for quality and innovation, said Visiware chairman Laurant Weill.

“Playin’TV, now in 77 countries, has also launched the first unique triple play game offer (TV, Mobile, Broadband) in Europe and in Asia. We will start rolling out this exclusive offer in the rest of the world to offer to our customers the freedom to play anytime, anywhere,” Weill added.