ITV

Tag: WhatsApp

  • Jio extends HNY free data offer up to 31 March ’17

    Jio extends HNY free data offer up to 31 March ’17

    MUMBAI: Taking a significant lead over the incumbent telecom operators, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani today showed some more `datagiri’ while announcing a slew of new offers and initiatives that all had an underline themes of Digital 2017 and Happy New Year (HNY).

    Ambani, while addressing RIL employees and stakeholders in a meeting, revealed that starting 4 December 2016, every new Jio user will get data, voice, video and the full bouquet of Jio applications free till 31 March, 2017. He also added that all the existing customers will get extended benefits of Jio Happy New Year offer on the existing SIMs.

    Speaking about Jio’s success, India’s richest man said that it was the fastest-growing technology company in the world. He said that the e-KYC (know your customer or the customer verification process) allowed the activation of SIM within five minutes — the fastest experience for SIM activation in the world.

    Ambani said that Jio successfully rolled out e-KYC across 200,000 outlets in India, which is nearly equal to ATMs in India. “We are in the process of doubling this network to 400,000 digitally enabled outlets by March of 2017,” he added.

    RIL CMD also mentioned that, in the first three months, Jio has grown faster than Facebook, Whatsapp or Skype. “In 83 days, Jio added 50 million customers on its 4G LTE all-IP wireless broadband network.”

    However, swelling subscriber numbers are also a burden on the infrastructure; especially when 50 million+ customers vie to take full advantage of the free Jio `Welcome Offer.”
    On an average, a Jio customer, as per claims, is using 25 times more data than the average Indian broadband user. And, Jio signed up over 600,000 customers every day for the past three months. According to Ambani, a Jio customer today is consuming data “on par” with and, in many cases, “more” than sophisticated users anywhere in the world.

    Still, admitting that Reliance has found out few issues with data speed on Jio network, Ambani said that about eight per cent of Jio towers experienced “congestion” due to “abnormally high data usage, which resulted in customers served by such telecom towers experienced lower data speeds.

    “While 92 per cent of our base stations and customers have been experiencing consistently high data speeds, we are working to de-congest these eight per cent towers, so that impacted customers go back to experiencing true-4G speeds. On the whole, Jio is not only delivering four times more data than all other Indian telecom operators combined, but also much faster throughputs than any other mobile network in India.”

    Reliance Jio, which has been at loggerheads with other telecom operators and also the telcos’ apex industry body COAI, is now playing the customer card having announced expansions and new initiatives like digital wallet/money.

    Dwelling on indifferent to bad voice services on Jio network, Ambani took a pot-shot at competition: “While customers have shown unprecedented love for Jio services, we have not received the required support from existing operators. In the last three months, nearly 9000 million voice calls from Jio customers to the networks of our three largest competitors were blocked… We thank the government and regulator for enforcing the licence conditions.”

    Targeting the high-end customers, who, probably, don’t have time to go to a Jio store to acquire a SIM card and want to retain their existing phone numbers, Reliance is offering SIM delivery at home and full number portability. “I am happy to inform that Jio now fully supports mobile number portability,” Ambani said, adding free home delivery and e-KYC features were being launched across India through the MyJio application to be available in the top 100 cities by 31 December 2016.

  • Jio extends HNY free data offer up to 31 March ’17

    Jio extends HNY free data offer up to 31 March ’17

    MUMBAI: Taking a significant lead over the incumbent telecom operators, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani today showed some more `datagiri’ while announcing a slew of new offers and initiatives that all had an underline themes of Digital 2017 and Happy New Year (HNY).

    Ambani, while addressing RIL employees and stakeholders in a meeting, revealed that starting 4 December 2016, every new Jio user will get data, voice, video and the full bouquet of Jio applications free till 31 March, 2017. He also added that all the existing customers will get extended benefits of Jio Happy New Year offer on the existing SIMs.

    Speaking about Jio’s success, India’s richest man said that it was the fastest-growing technology company in the world. He said that the e-KYC (know your customer or the customer verification process) allowed the activation of SIM within five minutes — the fastest experience for SIM activation in the world.

    Ambani said that Jio successfully rolled out e-KYC across 200,000 outlets in India, which is nearly equal to ATMs in India. “We are in the process of doubling this network to 400,000 digitally enabled outlets by March of 2017,” he added.

    RIL CMD also mentioned that, in the first three months, Jio has grown faster than Facebook, Whatsapp or Skype. “In 83 days, Jio added 50 million customers on its 4G LTE all-IP wireless broadband network.”

    However, swelling subscriber numbers are also a burden on the infrastructure; especially when 50 million+ customers vie to take full advantage of the free Jio `Welcome Offer.”
    On an average, a Jio customer, as per claims, is using 25 times more data than the average Indian broadband user. And, Jio signed up over 600,000 customers every day for the past three months. According to Ambani, a Jio customer today is consuming data “on par” with and, in many cases, “more” than sophisticated users anywhere in the world.

    Still, admitting that Reliance has found out few issues with data speed on Jio network, Ambani said that about eight per cent of Jio towers experienced “congestion” due to “abnormally high data usage, which resulted in customers served by such telecom towers experienced lower data speeds.

    “While 92 per cent of our base stations and customers have been experiencing consistently high data speeds, we are working to de-congest these eight per cent towers, so that impacted customers go back to experiencing true-4G speeds. On the whole, Jio is not only delivering four times more data than all other Indian telecom operators combined, but also much faster throughputs than any other mobile network in India.”

    Reliance Jio, which has been at loggerheads with other telecom operators and also the telcos’ apex industry body COAI, is now playing the customer card having announced expansions and new initiatives like digital wallet/money.

    Dwelling on indifferent to bad voice services on Jio network, Ambani took a pot-shot at competition: “While customers have shown unprecedented love for Jio services, we have not received the required support from existing operators. In the last three months, nearly 9000 million voice calls from Jio customers to the networks of our three largest competitors were blocked… We thank the government and regulator for enforcing the licence conditions.”

    Targeting the high-end customers, who, probably, don’t have time to go to a Jio store to acquire a SIM card and want to retain their existing phone numbers, Reliance is offering SIM delivery at home and full number portability. “I am happy to inform that Jio now fully supports mobile number portability,” Ambani said, adding free home delivery and e-KYC features were being launched across India through the MyJio application to be available in the top 100 cities by 31 December 2016.

  • ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    MUMBAI: WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy has been rejected by the Delhi High Court on Friday. With a few safeguards, the online messaging platform’s modified policy was originally scheduled to come into effect on 25 September and proposed to share information of users with the parent company Facebook and affiliate entities.

    This order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Over-The-Top (OTT) platform users against changes in the messaging service’s policy that took effect on 25 August. The order was given by the division bench of justices G Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal. WhatsApp has been directed not to share with Facebook information of users who would deactivate their accounts as well as the existing users up to September 25 to protect their interest.

    The bench said that, keeping in view that the issue relating to the existence of an individual’s right of privacy as a distinct basis of a cause of action is yet to be decided by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, it was considering it appropriate to issue the said directions. WhatsApp had earlier informed the court that, when a user account was deleted, the information of that person was no longer retained on its servers.

    The platform has been directed to erase all information, data and details of users who choose to delete their accounts. The bench has also prohibited the messaging service from sharing any data or information acquired from users who decide to remain post the date mentioned.

    The aggrieved users had also sought for directions to be issued to the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider the issues regarding the functioning of applications like WhatsApp and take an appropriate decision as to whether it is feasible to bring the same under the statutory regulatory framework.

  • ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    MUMBAI: WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy has been rejected by the Delhi High Court on Friday. With a few safeguards, the online messaging platform’s modified policy was originally scheduled to come into effect on 25 September and proposed to share information of users with the parent company Facebook and affiliate entities.

    This order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Over-The-Top (OTT) platform users against changes in the messaging service’s policy that took effect on 25 August. The order was given by the division bench of justices G Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal. WhatsApp has been directed not to share with Facebook information of users who would deactivate their accounts as well as the existing users up to September 25 to protect their interest.

    The bench said that, keeping in view that the issue relating to the existence of an individual’s right of privacy as a distinct basis of a cause of action is yet to be decided by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, it was considering it appropriate to issue the said directions. WhatsApp had earlier informed the court that, when a user account was deleted, the information of that person was no longer retained on its servers.

    The platform has been directed to erase all information, data and details of users who choose to delete their accounts. The bench has also prohibited the messaging service from sharing any data or information acquired from users who decide to remain post the date mentioned.

    The aggrieved users had also sought for directions to be issued to the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider the issues regarding the functioning of applications like WhatsApp and take an appropriate decision as to whether it is feasible to bring the same under the statutory regulatory framework.

  • 9X M’s Audience – Brand Connect ties with Pepsi for campaign

    9X M’s Audience – Brand Connect ties with Pepsi for campaign

    MUMBAI: 9X Media has partnered with PepsiCo for its campaign around Emoji’s Jaisa mood, waisi Pepsi. This partnership with the Audience – Brand Connect (ABC) division of 9X Media will provide the brand customized solutions across 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO.

    As part of the campaign, 9XM will launch Pepsi Jaisa Mood Waisa Song from 16 June 2016. The song calls for selfies from viewers expressing their various moods and the channel will match a song reflecting these moods.

    9X Media Pvt. Ltd chief revenue officer Pawan Jailkhani said, “After the success of Asktrack and Shopclues, we are delighted to announce our latest association with Pepsi through A-BC. We will be promoting the Pepsimoji campaign through customized programming innovations across our channels 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO. At 9X Media, it is our constant endeavor to provide well researched solutions to our Clients, after taking into consideration data analytics, brand ethos, TG and the geographies for the campaign. Pepsi Jaisa Mood Waisa Song emphasizes on music and emoticons, which is the universal language of the Youth. We are confident that our offering will resonate with the fans and viewers of the channel.”

    Similarly to this song on 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO, it will air the weekend property titled Jo Mood Wohi Song and Songs for Every Mood respectively. These hourly bands will play the latest songs complementing viewer’s selfies and moods.

    PepsiMoji partnership across channels will be promoted across our digital platforms. Our 15 million plus fans across Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook can celebrate their moods with PepsiMoji. Entries can be posted via Instagram, Whatsapp and Twitter platforms. Moods like Happy, love struck, naughty and party can be posted using #JMWS on the 9XM digital platforms.

  • 9X M’s Audience – Brand Connect ties with Pepsi for campaign

    9X M’s Audience – Brand Connect ties with Pepsi for campaign

    MUMBAI: 9X Media has partnered with PepsiCo for its campaign around Emoji’s Jaisa mood, waisi Pepsi. This partnership with the Audience – Brand Connect (ABC) division of 9X Media will provide the brand customized solutions across 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO.

    As part of the campaign, 9XM will launch Pepsi Jaisa Mood Waisa Song from 16 June 2016. The song calls for selfies from viewers expressing their various moods and the channel will match a song reflecting these moods.

    9X Media Pvt. Ltd chief revenue officer Pawan Jailkhani said, “After the success of Asktrack and Shopclues, we are delighted to announce our latest association with Pepsi through A-BC. We will be promoting the Pepsimoji campaign through customized programming innovations across our channels 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO. At 9X Media, it is our constant endeavor to provide well researched solutions to our Clients, after taking into consideration data analytics, brand ethos, TG and the geographies for the campaign. Pepsi Jaisa Mood Waisa Song emphasizes on music and emoticons, which is the universal language of the Youth. We are confident that our offering will resonate with the fans and viewers of the channel.”

    Similarly to this song on 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9XO, it will air the weekend property titled Jo Mood Wohi Song and Songs for Every Mood respectively. These hourly bands will play the latest songs complementing viewer’s selfies and moods.

    PepsiMoji partnership across channels will be promoted across our digital platforms. Our 15 million plus fans across Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook can celebrate their moods with PepsiMoji. Entries can be posted via Instagram, Whatsapp and Twitter platforms. Moods like Happy, love struck, naughty and party can be posted using #JMWS on the 9XM digital platforms.

  • Airtel’s new postpaid campaign urges customers to ‘Waste Nothing’ and make the most of their mobile expenditure with MyPlan

    Airtel’s new postpaid campaign urges customers to ‘Waste Nothing’ and make the most of their mobile expenditure with MyPlan

    MUMBAI: Sasha Chhetri, the Airtel 4G Girl, is back once again and this time she is telling customers to stop wasting the benefits that come with traditional postpaid mobile plans and move to Airtel MyPlan to get the best value for their monthly mobile spends.

    Commenting on the launch of new marketing initiative, Mr. Srini Gopalan, Director – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel MyPlan is designed to simplify the postpaid customer experience and offers them the flexibility to create their own plans. The new campaign is based on a simple consumer insight – that a lot of postpaid mobile users end up with plan benefits that they never fully utilize and end up wasting these benefits month on month. MyPlan addresses this problem by giving customers the freedom to choose what they actually need in their postpaid plans and gives them absolute value for their spends by eliminating any wastages.”  

    With traditional postpaid plans offering pre-defined voice/data/SMS benefits, customers end up wasting some of these benefits as their actual usage/requirements may be very different.

    *For example, if a Delhi customer is primarily using mobile apps like WhatsApp/Hike etc. for texting, why have hundreds of free SMS in the plan. Why not have the option of trading the free 200 SMS of the existing plan for 90 local minutes or 120 MB 4G/3G data?

    *Also, if one is a heavy data user and hardly talks, why have too many free calls in the plan? What if the Mumbai customer gets an option for trading the extra 450 Local minutes of their plan for 600 MB 4G/3G data? 

    *Customers also have the flexibility of changing their MyPlan whenever they want. If they are going for a vacation, they can always switch calls to data so that they have ample data to navigate, find the best restaurants or just upload vacation pics in real-time. Again, helps optimizing phone bills every month and waste nothing.

    *Not just that, under the plan, customers can also share the extra benefits with their family by getting one member connection at a nominal rate of Rs. 199/year. No separate rental is charged for the member connection.

    (*The above mentioned plans are purely for illustrative purposes. For more information on plans, per your requirements, please log on to www.airtel.in/myplan and click ‘My Plan’)

     

  • Airtel’s new postpaid campaign urges customers to ‘Waste Nothing’ and make the most of their mobile expenditure with MyPlan

    Airtel’s new postpaid campaign urges customers to ‘Waste Nothing’ and make the most of their mobile expenditure with MyPlan

    MUMBAI: Sasha Chhetri, the Airtel 4G Girl, is back once again and this time she is telling customers to stop wasting the benefits that come with traditional postpaid mobile plans and move to Airtel MyPlan to get the best value for their monthly mobile spends.

    Commenting on the launch of new marketing initiative, Mr. Srini Gopalan, Director – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel MyPlan is designed to simplify the postpaid customer experience and offers them the flexibility to create their own plans. The new campaign is based on a simple consumer insight – that a lot of postpaid mobile users end up with plan benefits that they never fully utilize and end up wasting these benefits month on month. MyPlan addresses this problem by giving customers the freedom to choose what they actually need in their postpaid plans and gives them absolute value for their spends by eliminating any wastages.”  

    With traditional postpaid plans offering pre-defined voice/data/SMS benefits, customers end up wasting some of these benefits as their actual usage/requirements may be very different.

    *For example, if a Delhi customer is primarily using mobile apps like WhatsApp/Hike etc. for texting, why have hundreds of free SMS in the plan. Why not have the option of trading the free 200 SMS of the existing plan for 90 local minutes or 120 MB 4G/3G data?

    *Also, if one is a heavy data user and hardly talks, why have too many free calls in the plan? What if the Mumbai customer gets an option for trading the extra 450 Local minutes of their plan for 600 MB 4G/3G data? 

    *Customers also have the flexibility of changing their MyPlan whenever they want. If they are going for a vacation, they can always switch calls to data so that they have ample data to navigate, find the best restaurants or just upload vacation pics in real-time. Again, helps optimizing phone bills every month and waste nothing.

    *Not just that, under the plan, customers can also share the extra benefits with their family by getting one member connection at a nominal rate of Rs. 199/year. No separate rental is charged for the member connection.

    (*The above mentioned plans are purely for illustrative purposes. For more information on plans, per your requirements, please log on to www.airtel.in/myplan and click ‘My Plan’)

     

  • Datawind wants Govt to promote affordable internet

    Datawind wants Govt to promote affordable internet

    NEW DELHI: Welcoming the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s consultation paper on Free Data, Datawind CEO and founder Suneet Singh Tuli said “the key barrier to getting broad internet adoption in India is breaking the affordability barrier.  This will require innovate out-of-the-box business models, and the consultation-paper is an important step towards exploring such solutions to provide free data.” 

    He described it as very progressive step to address the forgotten billions, “who are our largest constituent of digital age today.”

    He said the need was to have the vast majority of Indians, over a billion, who are still not on the internet. There is a need to deliver affordable internet access for the common man.

    “More importantly, despite the boom in smartphone penetration, studies show over 62 percent of customers with 3G enabled devices, are not activating data plans.”

    He said DataWind intends to bring the world’s most affordable internet access to India, using it’s patented technology. DataWind firmly believes that this digital and internet divide can be addressed through technology intervention, at an affordable price for this segment of customers. It is focused on driving the cost downward to a level where access to technology becomes ‘universally affordable’ and democratization of technology finds its true meaning.

    He added that DataWind’s innovations have always been focussed to break the affordability barrier and provide internet access to empower the billions of people globally who are left out of the digital age. The company’s patented technology allows for a fast, rich and affordable experience on existing networks without any new infrastructure.

    Free-search has made Google, free social networking has built Facebook, free messaging has built Whatsapp and free data will bring the next billion Indians online, he concluded.

    Stretching the discussion on net neutrality, TRAI had issued a paper wanting to know whether there is a need to have TSP agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users, without violating the principles of Differential Pricing for Data laid down in TRAI Regulation.

    In the consultation paper on Free Data, TRAI has asked stakeholders to suggest the most suitable model to achieve the objective. Replies have to be filed by 16 June with counter replies if any by 30 June.

    The regulator also wants to know whether such platforms need to be regulated by the TRAI or the market should be allowed to develop these platforms.

    It wants to know if free data or suitable reimbursement to users should be limited to mobile data users only or could it be extended through technical means to subscribers of fixed line broadband or leased line.

     

  • Datawind wants Govt to promote affordable internet

    Datawind wants Govt to promote affordable internet

    NEW DELHI: Welcoming the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s consultation paper on Free Data, Datawind CEO and founder Suneet Singh Tuli said “the key barrier to getting broad internet adoption in India is breaking the affordability barrier.  This will require innovate out-of-the-box business models, and the consultation-paper is an important step towards exploring such solutions to provide free data.” 

    He described it as very progressive step to address the forgotten billions, “who are our largest constituent of digital age today.”

    He said the need was to have the vast majority of Indians, over a billion, who are still not on the internet. There is a need to deliver affordable internet access for the common man.

    “More importantly, despite the boom in smartphone penetration, studies show over 62 percent of customers with 3G enabled devices, are not activating data plans.”

    He said DataWind intends to bring the world’s most affordable internet access to India, using it’s patented technology. DataWind firmly believes that this digital and internet divide can be addressed through technology intervention, at an affordable price for this segment of customers. It is focused on driving the cost downward to a level where access to technology becomes ‘universally affordable’ and democratization of technology finds its true meaning.

    He added that DataWind’s innovations have always been focussed to break the affordability barrier and provide internet access to empower the billions of people globally who are left out of the digital age. The company’s patented technology allows for a fast, rich and affordable experience on existing networks without any new infrastructure.

    Free-search has made Google, free social networking has built Facebook, free messaging has built Whatsapp and free data will bring the next billion Indians online, he concluded.

    Stretching the discussion on net neutrality, TRAI had issued a paper wanting to know whether there is a need to have TSP agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users, without violating the principles of Differential Pricing for Data laid down in TRAI Regulation.

    In the consultation paper on Free Data, TRAI has asked stakeholders to suggest the most suitable model to achieve the objective. Replies have to be filed by 16 June with counter replies if any by 30 June.

    The regulator also wants to know whether such platforms need to be regulated by the TRAI or the market should be allowed to develop these platforms.

    It wants to know if free data or suitable reimbursement to users should be limited to mobile data users only or could it be extended through technical means to subscribers of fixed line broadband or leased line.