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Tag: K. Radhakrishnan

  • StarQuik selects 26FIVE India Lab as its digital and social media management partner

    StarQuik selects 26FIVE India Lab as its digital and social media management partner

    Mumbai: In a strategic move to rejuvenate its digital presence and amplify customer engagement, StarQuik, a TATA Enterprise, announces its collaboration with 26FIVE India Lab as the creative partner to manage its digital and social media presence. The India Lab of the US-based global strategy and creative powerhouse clinched the opportunity post a rigorous multi-agency pitch, marking a transformative chapter in StarQuik’s digital evolution.

    StarQuik, an omnichannel Grocery App offering from TATA — in addition to its Star Bazaar stores — offers a one-stop destination for home delivery of grocery shopping including fruits, vegetables, non-veg and more. The brand sets itself apart by providing goods at the lowest possible prices for significant budget savings.

    26FIVE will assume the mantle of driving StarQuik’s comprehensive digital, app and social media operations, with a mandate spanning from initiating dynamic seasonal campaigns to ensuring the brand’s everyday creative vibrancy.

    Commenting on the alliance, StarQuik director K. Radhakrishnan remarked, “Joining forces with 26FIVE thrills us. As we aim to infuse a vibrant contemporary vigor and sharp customer messaging into StarQuik, partnering with a digitally savvy and young agency is pivotal. 26FIVE’s creativity mirrors our aspirations, making them an ideal cohort to elevate our online stature.”

    StarQuik brand marketing lead Bhavna Hariharan added, “This partnership is an exciting one, as we are looking to grow our brand while focusing on customer retention. Our communication, as well as our brand look and feel, must integrate the two. This partnership has the power to transform, and with 26FIVE onboard, we march toward a common goal: to maximize business growth, creatively.”

    Echoing the sentiment, 26FIVE India Lab CEO Ritesh Rao shared, “Our alliance with StarQuik is a momentous step. Their esteemed stature in the e-commerce and grocery sectors matches our ambition to craft visionary digital narratives.”

    Former Unilever and P&G retail marketing specialist and current 26FIVE Global Lab COO Kevin Flagg added, “We’re committed to synergising with StarQuik, materializing groundbreaking strategies that reshape industry standards. This collaboration stands as a tribute to both companies’ unwavering quest for digital excellence.”

    The new relationship exemplifies StarQuik’s dedication to remaining at the digital vanguard, promising customers avant-garde online engagements. Backed by 26FIVE’s creative insights, StarQuik is primed for a remarkable digital metamorphosis.

  • ISRO’s GSLV D5 successfully launches GSAT-14

    ISRO’s GSLV D5 successfully launches GSAT-14

    MUMBAI: The first time it was about to launch in august 2013 a technical snag forced an abortion. But now Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) twenty third communication satellite GSAT-14 has been successfully launched on 5 January 2014 from launch vehicle Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-D5 that is using an indigenous cryogenic engine for the first time. The launcher propelled the satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) after which it used its own propulsion system to settle itself at 74 degrees east longitude orbit.

    The mission was an important one for ISRO since India has been developing cryogenic engines or two decades but till now had been dependent on Russian ones. This launch puts India at a prominent position in space science at par with countries like the US and Russia. Previous attempts at launches using a cryogenic engine have ended up in a mess. The launch that was telecast live on DD National saw the rocket being propelled up into space with each stage crossing at its intended time. 

    ”Team ISRO has done it. The cryogenic engine has performed as predicted and injected GSAT- 14 in the intended orbit. This is an important day for science and technology and space technology in the country. 20 years of our effort in realising an indigenous crygoenic engine has now fructified. We have put in excruciating efforts of three and a half years after test flight of cryogenic stage in 2010,” said an ecatatic ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan as the whole team rejoiced  when the the cryogenic stage was initiated and completed and years of ISRO’s hard work paid off. The launch cost approximately Rs 370 crore.

    The previous attempt to blast off GSLV into space was aborted following a fuel leak in its engine that developed hours before launch. ISRO worked on it and gave it a better metal covering following which it decided to give it another shot. A three stage rocket- the first stage runs on solid fuel, second on liquid fuel and third on the cryogenic engine – the GSLV-D5 carried the 1982 kgs GSAT-14 to replace GSAT-3 that wa decomissioned in 2010.

    The new satellite’s structure is based on ISRO’s two ton weighing (I-2k satellite bus). The satellite has six Ku band transponders (51.5 dBW EOC-EIRP), six C band transponders (36 dBW EOC-EIRP) and 2 Ka band transponders and will be co-located with INSAT-3C, INSAT-4CR and KALPANA-1.

    A 29 hour countdown began at 11: 16 am on 4 January and the launch was at 4: 18 pm on 5 January from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The 17 minutes and 8 second flight launch is the first of 2014 after the postponement of Space X’s launch of Thaicom-6 from 3 January to between 6 to 9 January. The Elon Musk backed company decided to go in for a later liftoff as problems had emerged with Falcon-9 rocket’s fairing.

    This mission is likely to have a beneficial spinoff. It could lead to orders to build more rockets that can carry payloads of up to 5 tonne to Lower Earth Orbit. Till now ISRO has been using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that carries loads of around a tonne.

  • Satellite woes bog down Tata Sky’s Harit Nagpal

    Satellite woes bog down Tata Sky’s Harit Nagpal

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky Managing director Harit Nagpal is extremely irate. The reason: he has not been able to expand his DTH service’s offerings for sometime now. And for no fault of his or his company’s, he says.

    Eight years ago, his company had contracted to use the government owned Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) satellite Insat 4A, with a proviso thrown in that if he needed more capacity, the satellite organisation would make the transponders available to him within two years of his request.

    In 2007, his organisation wrote in asking for more capacity. By then, Tata Sky was having about two million subscribers with dishes pointing in the sky towards where the Insat 4A satellite is located in orbit.

    Isro was slated to launch its Gsat-10 satellite with communications capabilities and Tata Sky had booked 12 transponders on it. The launch was delayed on account of something or the other. It finally, got into space in September 2012 off an Arianespace launch vehicle from Kourou in French Guiana.

    The launch gave him some relief, but what has dumbfounded him, is the fact that the transponders have not been made available to him almost eight months since launch.

    Since then, it has been a constant to and fro for his company. “We have been in touch with ISRO for a long time. We have written 100 emails to the ISRO chairman, met at least three to four times in the past six months. I know he wants to move things,” says Nagpal. “But despite his wanting nothing is.”

    Nagpal has been told Tata Sky’s allocation is stuck with the Space Commission currently. Prior to that, it was held up with the Insat Coordination Committee for a few months. He has even written to the Prime Minister’s Office which has then forwarded his request to ISRO. And the yo-yoing has been going on since.

    “It’s extremely frustrating,” says Nagpal. “I am a customer with a contract that entails me to pay Rs 50-60 lakh a month per transponder to the government as a rental. And I don’t have the government sticking to its contractual obligations.”

    But why is this happening? “I guess it is inertia,” says Nagpal. “Like everything has been stuck in bureaucracy. Even on this front no one is taking a decision as yet. Our contract is stuck in bureaucratic limbo.”

    Each of the 12 Ku-band transponders on GSat-10 have 36 MHz usable bandwidth with a footprint covering the Indian mainland with a power of 51.5 dBW. It is located at 83.0 degrees east in the same orbital location as Insat 4A and another Isro satellite GSAT-12.

    “I am open to other options. If officials are worried, then let them throw Insat GSAT-10 open for tender,” highlights Nagpal. “There will be no takers for it. Tata Sky is the only DTH provider, which has 10 million dishes nationally pointing towards the same zone in the sky that GSat-10 is at currently. Imagine you have an expensive bird in the sky costing $300-400 million and it is not being used productively.”

    Nagpal says he is days away from approaching the law of the land to force the government to stick to its commitments. “It’s not the ideal way,” he says. “I have been waiting for six years for my satellite transponders to be given to me. It has gone on long enough. There are no problems with my application; everything is sorted out. I am one of their main customers; so why such an extended delay?” he asks.

    Is somebody in government listening? Or in Isro?

    Indiantelevision.com called Isro chairman K. Radhakrishnan. And at that the time of writing was still awaiting a response from him. Keep watching this space for updates!