Nine telecom companies are in the race for the much-awaited 3G (third generation) auction, and 11 for broadband wireless access (BWA) bidding

On the final count, nine telcos are in the race for the much-awaited 3G (third generation) auction, and 11 for broadband wireless access (BWA) bidding.

Although it looks like a keen contest, when the auction starts on

April 9, any of these applicants are free to stay away from the process.

While submission of applications to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had begun three days ago, the process culminated on Friday with all the established telecom service providers entering the fray.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, RCom, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, S Tel, and Videocon are learnt to have submitted their 3G applications. The companies to have applied for BWA auction are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Idea , Aircel, Tata Communications Internet Services, Qualcomm, Spice, Tikona, HFCL and Augere.

Among the notable absentees is Uninor, though it had maintained all along that it was not keen on a pan-India 3G auction as it’s still to get the spectrum that it deserves for 2G service.

India’s entry into 3G, or high-speed internet access and multimedia services on mobile handsets, is coming at a time when the country has close to 600 million phone subscribers (581 million end of January 2010), out of which at least 560 million are mobile users. The second largest telecom market by subscribers after China, India adds over 15 million mobile users every month.

In January, India added close to 20 million mobile subscribers.

Although the government had targeted Rs 35,000 crore revenue from 3G and BWA bidding in the financial year 2009-10, the auction had to be deferred due to non-availability of spectrum.

Subsequently, when the Defence Forces agreed to vacate some of its unused airwaves to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allocation of the same to telcos, 3G auction dates were rescheduled.

Now, though the finance ministry has set a target of Rs 35,000 crore revenue from 3G and BWA auction, the internal projection of DoT is to raise Rs 50,000 crore from the process.

Telcos are looking for opportunity to monetise 3G and BWA services at a time when the industry is caught in the midst of a price war and falling tariffs.

The all-India reserve price for 3G auction has been set at Rs 3500 crore, while that for BWA is Rs 1750 crore. Three slots (excluding BSNL/MTNL) each across 17 service areas, and four slots in the remaining five areas, would be thrown open for auction.

State-owned telcos, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which were given 3G spectrum ahead of others, are already offering the service.

For the past several years, 3G has been stuck over dearth of spectrum, disagreements between the defence and the communications ministries over vacation of airwaves, and the number of 3G slots that could be allotted. Many high-level committees and GoMs (group of ministers) later, the government has decided to conduct the 3G auction in April.

Bright Telecom has launched India’s first dual SIM, dual mode phone (G-588) under 'G-Fone' brand

Bright Telecom has launched India’s first dual SIM, dual mode phone (G-588) under 'G-Fone' brand. The dual SIM, dual mode means, the phone can have GSM + GSM or GSM + CDMA.

The G-588 dual mode phone is a full QWERTY keyboard loaded device having a nice 2.2-inch screen display. It comes with Nimbuzz preinstalled that makes it more useful for social networking for the networking buffs.

This G-Phone is incorporated with many features like Bluetooth, FM radio, WAP/GPRS, MP3 / MP4 player, Video recording, playback and expandable memory of up to 8GB.

There is also a 1.3 MP camera for the camera buffs to take nice snaps. The company has also customized the set to suit the Indian customers by putting an Indian Calendar having major festivals and cultural events of India.

This dual SIM, dual mode G-Phone is a strange gift for the Indian customers that comes for Rs. 4,799.

Reliance Communications has tied up with Polycom Inc.

Reliance Communications has tied up with Polycom Inc., the global leader in tele-presence, video and voice solutions, to introduce the world's first wireless, high-resolution video conferencing service. The service will be marketed through the Reliance ADA Group's retail arm, Reliance Webstore.

Bundling the easy-to-use Polycom QDX 6000 system with dedicated VPN connectivity through the Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ wireless broadband data card, the service significantly lowers the price barrier to adopting video conferencing and is expected to be a mass enabler of video conferencing usage across multiple industry verticals in India. The offering will be available at a price point below Rs.2 lakh and a connectivity plan of about Rs.1,500 a month has been specially designed for this service. This plan covers 10 GB of usage in a month. Additional usage will be billed at the rate of 50 paise per MB. The jointly developed offering will extend affordable, plug-and-play video conferencing to organisations of all sizes, enabling them to realise immediate productivity and efficiency benefits from real-time, face-to-face visual communication. According to Reliance Webstore Director and CEO Sarup Chowdhary, “with Polycom alliance, we are making video conferencing a simple plug-and-play operation that can be deployed and used virtually anytime, anywhere.” The Polycom QDX 6000 video conferencing system delivers high-resolution video and CD quality audio, along with simple-to-use content sharing capabilities even at a bandwidth of 256 kbps. Using this service, even family events can be webcast live by event managers on a pay-per-use basis.

INQ Mobile has launched its “Social Networking” phone in India at a price point of about 7.5K

INQ Mobile has launched its “Social Networking” phone in India at a price point of about 7.5K. We just reviewed PEEK Email-only Mobile device, and many commenter’s pointed out that if PEEK had Social Networking also built into it, it will become very attractive.

Aircel, who have incidentally launched PEEK have also forged partnership with INQ Mobile and launched its Social Networking phone in India.

INQ Mobile is specifically targeted at Social Networking, with specific thrust on popular social networking sites like Twitter, Skype, Facebook, Instant Messaging & Widgets. This device also has push email – INQ mobile being a QWERTY keyboard based phone can be an excellent mobile phone for heavy email users as well !

Another great feature is that it is a 3G phone, Although currently only BSNL is providing 3G services, sooner or later all currently mobile service providers will start offering these services as well..

Aircel have also been offering some great Internet plans like Rs. 98/- for unlimited GPRS connectivity INQ Mobile fits perfectly in the scheme of things here.

Tata Docomo has launched "Daily Plan" which is one step forward

In a bid to lure the youth with innovative plans Tata Docomo has launched "Daily Plan" which is one step forward than what other providers are providing.These packs are specially tailored to suit the needs of subscriber on per day basis.Further the facility to activate packs sitting at home is helpful for subscribers as it saves the time to go to the retailer.The packs are divided into various categories namely Talkathon,Night Birds,GPRS,World Calling and Entertainment.

Dial *141# from your Tata Docomo mobile and choose from a wide range of packs.

Following options are available for the subscriber to choose:

1.Talkathon

30 local minutes @ Rs.5 on Tata DOCOMO Network

30 local minutes @Rs.12 across Networks

30 local/National minutes @Rs.14

10 local minutes @Rs.5

2.Night Birds

This pack gives 60 local Tata Docomo minutes @ Rs.5

3.GPRS

Now get 10MB Browsing free @ Rs.5 only.

4.World Calling

10 minutes to USA/Canada @ Rs.20

5 minutes to USA/Canada @ Rs.10

3 minutes to Gulf @ Rs.20

5.Entertainment

15 minutes FREE music @Rs.5

Cricket alerts @ Rs.5/day

Terms and Conditions

Daily implies active till 12 midnight on the same day of pack activation. Ex: A subscriber activated the pack on 16th March 2010 then the pack with daily validity will expire at midnight of 16th March 2010.

In case on night packs the expiry of the pack will be 12 midnight of the next day of activation of the pack.

Ex: A subscriber activated the night pack on 16th March 2010 then the pack with daily validity will expire at midnight of 17th March 2010.

The pack will get activated within 15 minutes of request receipt on the system. You will get an automated confirmation SMS once the same is configured on our systems

You can activate multiple packs in a day

Facebook plans to open an operations and support center in India

Facebook said Monday it plans to open an operations and support center in India in order to better serve its U.S. and international customers.

"As more and more people share and connect on Facebook, we are growing our operations and teams to support them around the world," said Don Faul, Facebook's director of global online operations, in a blog post.

Facebook's new center in India will be based in Hyderabad, which is home to numerous, multinational tech companies.

"By having multiple support centers in a variety of time zones, we can provide better round-the-clock, multi-lingual support," said Faul. He did not specify how many workers Facebook plans to hire at the Hyderabad center.

News of Facebook's plans to open a center in India comes less than a week after the company said it will open a new facility in Austin, Texas.

That center will eventually house about 200 sales and operations workers. Facebook, which is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., was lured to the area by $200,000 in economic development incentives from local authorities.

"Both of these offices will allow us to better serve the more than 400 million of you now using Facebook worldwide, as well as our growing numbers of advertisers and developers," Faul wrote in his blog post.

"We are now hiring people to join the online sales and operations teams that we're forming in these locations," wrote Faul.

"The new offices come at a significant time in our international growth," Faul said.

"Seventy percent of the people using Facebook are outside the U.S. and are accessing the service from more than 70 languages," said Faul, adding that the social networking site has more than 8 million active members in India.

Micromax has come out with its latest gadget dubbed G4 Gamolution

Micromax has come out with its latest gadget dubbed G4 Gamolution, which is all about games and is the first mobile from Micromax with core focus in Gaming arena.

The brand ambassador of the new gaming solution would be stunt star Akshay Kumar, who could be seen running around with the Gamolution hand set in his hand during the IPL matches. Micromax is depending upon aggressive marketing strategy targeting the youth especially during the IPL 3 season.

Already, Micromax has made a good name for itself in crowded market with its mobile phones like Micormax Q3 and Micromax Q5. The company is offering Bluetooth games, Dongle, Lanyards Wrist band, Games CD, Game Codes and Game Manuals, specifically for gaming needs.

Micromax G4 Gamolution that comes from Gaming Evolution is capable of acting like a Wii like wireless motion controller for PC games.

Measuring 112 x 49.6 x 12.8 mm, Micromax G4 Gamolution comes along with 2 MP Camera. The 2 Mega Pixel camera is another unique feature Micromax G4 Gamolution carries, which also doubles as a web cam to a personal computer via the USB cable that comes along with the pack. An expandable memory of over 4 GB is added bonus that comes along with Micromax G4 Gamolution.

"Micromax G4 Gamolution comes with a 262K, 2.4" TFT, QVGA display. Micromax G4 Gamolution has a phonebook and sms memory capacity of 500 and 200 respectively. Micromax G4 Gamolution Li-Ion 850 mAh battery provides a good 5 hours talk time and 8 days standby. The device supports 3D motion sensor gaming and is enabled with GPRS and Bluetooth," said the company.

There has been no word on pricing and availability of Micromax G4 Gamolution.

India is set to miss the March 31 deadline for implementing mobile number portability (MNP)

India is set to miss the March 31 deadline for implementing mobile number portability (MNP), the facility that allows customers to retain their cellphone numbers, but change their operator, junior minister for communications and IT Gurudas Kamat told Parliament on Thursday.

This will mark the third instance of the country missing out the deadline to offer its 550-million cellular users this facility. The earlier date for introducing MNP was December-end 2009 in the metros and the category A circles. But, with the department of telecom (DoT) being unable to meet this deadline, it had then announced that this facility would be rolled out simultaneously across the whole country from April 2010.

For consumers, the latest development implies that their wait for MNP is only set to get longer.

Mr Kamat also said the government would soon announce the new deadline for MNP.

“Various activities are required to be carried out by the operators, including technical augmentation and upgradation of their existing networks, carrying out required instillation verification tests, establishing links with MNP operators and conducting inter-operator test. After the service providers are ready with their own inter-operator test results, a complete acceptance test is to be carried out by DoT across all the networks of all the concerned service providers in all the service areas before MNP service is implemented. Since all the networks are not likely to be completely ready by March 31, 2010, this deadline is not likely to be met.

The government is making all efforts to get MNP implemented at the earliest. The revised timeline will be announced by the government after ascertaining the status from all stakeholders and reasonable time required for acceptance testing, so that no network problem in call processing/completion surfaces out after MNP services are launched,” Mr Kamat told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the home ministry has cleared the proposal of Telcordia Technologies to implement MNP service in the country, clearing another roadblock that threatening to delay the implementation of this facility. While US-based Telcordia had earlier obtained the DoT licence to implement MNP in India, the home ministry had raised concerns stating its minority shareholders were only a front, who had no experience in running telecom operations, while also adding that the company had a presence in Pakistan.

Google's mobile Product Search will alert you if an item that you are searching for

Want to buy the latest gadget - like, right now? Well, a new version of Google's mobile Product Search will alert you if an item that you are searching for is sitting in a nearby store just waiting to be purchased.

Google has teamed up with stores like Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm to include information about their inventory in search results.

Looking for the latest point-and-shoot camera? Go to Google.com on your phone, tap "more" and then "Shopping." Do a search, and if the local Best Buy or Sears has that camera, a blue dot will appear next to the search results. Click on it and Product Search will tell you if it's in stock or has limited availability.

If you have enabled "My Location" or manually specified where you are, the app will also tell you how far away the stores are from where you are standing. The offering works on the iPhone, Palm WebOS phones, and Android devices in the U.S.

Google first demonstrated a preview version of this feature in December.

Twitter turned on its new geolocation feature

The microblogging site on Thursday night turned on its new geolocation feature, which allows you to tell the Twitterverse where you are when you tweet. The new feature, which is off by default, is only available to U.S. users right now, but should be rolled out in other countries fairly soon, according to Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

"A recent burst of interest in location-sharing applications, games and services has many Twitter users excited about appending geographic data to some of their tweets," wrote Stone in a blog post. "People who choose to add this additional layer of context help make Twitter a richer information network for all of us -- location data can make tweets more useful."

By noting your location, Stone said it will be easier for other Twitter users to find information about their particular area or neighborhood.

"Let's say I'm at my office and I hear a loud boom," he added in his blog. "It sounded serious, so I search Twitter for "boom." Among the first results could be someone who tweeted "Boom go the fireworks!" This could be anywhere in the world. However, if that person had activated the new tweet location feature, then the neighborhood data under the tweet would read, SoMa [San Francisco's South of Market district]. Now, I know it's just fireworks going off in my neighborhood."

A user's location also will be linked to a Google map so followers can use that to further explore the area.

Late in January, Twitter launched its Local Trends feature, which was designed to help users find tweets related to specific areas.

With yesterday's announcement, users will be able to note their own location, making it easier for other users to get information pertaining to an area of interest.

Nokia has filed a patent for a phone that would recharge itself (self charging)

In what seems to be a first of its kind, Nokia has applied for a patent for a technology that would allow future cellphones to charge themselves up - without the need for a power socket.

Ever since mobile phones shed off their image as basic communications devices to become multimedia powerhouses, battery life has been a cause of concern. As the processing power and features grow exponentially, the rate of growth of battery technology to charge these power hungry devices is almost at a standstill. It then becomes imperative that we look for alternate sources to power our phones rather than just depending on a power adapter. This is what Nokia has done.

The concept of this new device involves the use of heavy components inside the phone being supported on a sturdy frame. The frame will be able to move along two sets of rails, giving it the ability travel up and down (or side by side). These rails have strips of piezoelectric crystals at each end. These will generate electricity to charge the device whenever they are compressed using a capacitor that will briefly store the generated electricity and use that to charge the battery. This also means that the natural movement of the phones during travel and the times when they are inside our pockets, these piezoelectric crystals could be at work - slowly charging our phones.

This is just at the conceptual stage and there is no word if this design and concept will ever make it to a mainstream production Nokia.

Panasonic promoting its new 3-D televisions at the retailer's U.S. stores.

Panasonic, makers of the popular Viera HDTV line, announced that its new 3D TVs will go on sale in the United States later this week.

The new VT25 plasma HDTVs will arrive this Wednesday, as part of a joint promotion with Best Buy. The launch event will take place at Best Buy's Union Square store in New York City, and Best Buy will have demo units at hundreds of stores across the country, according to Engadget.

According to reports, one new model, a 50-inch 3D set (with included Blu-Ray player and 3D glasses), will cost around $2,500 at launch. That's roughly $2,000 less than its price in Japan. The lower price stateside is to help Panasonic reach its goal of selling 1 million 3DTVs this fiscal year.

Given the recent increase in 3D theatrical releases (e.g. Avatar, Up and the recently released Alice In Wonderland), it's no surprise that major HDTV manufacturers are making a serious 3D push.

Introduce two phones from Microsoft Corp. in about May or June that are targeted at teenagers

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, will introduce two phones from Microsoft Corp. in about May or June that are targeted at teenagers, two people with knowledge of the companies’ plans said.

The models will have easy access to social-networking sites and include keyboards for text messaging, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. The phones will be made by Sharp Corp. and carry the Microsoft and Verizon Wireless brands, the other person said.

Until now, Microsoft has focused on providing its mobile Windows software to phone makers, rather than offering a model under its own brand. The move would parallel Google Inc.’s decision to sell the Nexus One phone, which uses that company’s Android operating system. Microsoft is seeking to recapture a larger share of the phone market after Android and Apple Inc.’s iPhone lured away customers from Windows.

By moving directly into wireless phones, Microsoft and Google could risk hurting their relationships with other manufacturers and service providers. Microsoft will continue to work closely with handset companies that make Windows phones and the mobile carriers that sell them, the person said.

Microsoft executive Robbie Bach, who oversees the mobile- phone business, said in January that it would be “very, very difficult” for Google to sell its own phone while keeping manufacturers and carriers for other Android handsets happy.

Different Tack

With its phone, Microsoft will take a different tack than Google, said the person familiar with the matter. While the Nexus One is only available from Google, Microsoft’s phone will be sold by Verizon, the person said. The phone stemmed from a Microsoft project code-named “Pink.”

Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Basking Ridge, New Jersey- based Verizon Wireless, declined to comment, as did Jay Cudal, a spokesman for Microsoft. Chris Loncto, a spokesman for Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, also declined to comment.

Microsoft dropped 4 cents to $28.59 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading at 4 p.m. New York time. Verizon Communications Inc., co-owner of Verizon Wireless, fell 4 cents to $29.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Verizon is increasing its lineup of smartphones in a bid to get more revenue from data plans, which customers must buy to access the Internet or download applications. Smartphone shipments will increase 46 percent worldwide this year, research firm Gartner Inc. said. That compares with estimates for total mobile-phone market growth of as much as 13 percent.

Cliq, Sidekick

The phone is intended to address a similar audience as Motorola Inc.’s Cliq or T-Mobile USA Inc.’s Sidekick, one of the people said. In 2008, Microsoft acquired Danger Inc., which makes the software for the Sidekick. The Cliq includes software called Motoblur, which serves up Twitter messages, pictures and contacts to the phone’s home screen.

Microsoft will probably spend more money marketing its new mobile Windows software than the Pink phone, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington-based Directions on Microsoft. That will smooth over relationships with handset makers and carriers that are Microsoft partners, he said. Microsoft said last month that the software, called Windows Phone 7 Series, will be available in handsets by the holidays.

“They will say, ‘Windows phones is where our investment is going. You should be betting on that,’” Rosoff said. “They did keep a team working on the successor to the Sidekick and that’s what this is. This is a legacy of Microsoft being a big decentralized company doing a lot of things and seeing what wins. It’s not quite the same situation as with Google.”

Touch Screens

Rosoff said the Pink phones won’t run the new Windows software. Windows Phone 7 will offer touch-screen features, letting handsets work more like the iPhone. The software, unveiled at a conference last month, also has a new design and connects with Microsoft’s Xbox Live online games and Zune music service.

Microsoft’s Windows dropped to a 7.9 percent share of the worldwide smartphone software market in the fourth quarter, from 12.5 percent a year earlier, while the iPhone and Android posted gains, according to ABI Research.

The iPhone took 16.6 percent of the market in the fourth quarter, up from 10.8 percent the previous year, Oyster Bay, New York-based ABI said. Android climbed to 8.5 percent from 1.7 percent.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Pink phones would be made by Sharp and go on sale as early as the spring. Technology Web site Gizmodo posted yesterday what it said were photos of one model.

YouTube is making the tens of millions of videos it hosts more accessible to the deaf

Google is now letting anyone use its new auto-captioning feature for YouTube videos.

Back in November, YouTube released a robo transcription option for just a limited number of educational channels, saying it would expand the tool to more videos in the future. Well, the future is now and has begun rolling out across the entire website1.

YouTube auto-captioning uses algorithms found in Google's voice search technology for mobiles to automatically generate video captions, according to Google. The first thing you'll notice is that, while useful, it ain't magic. Unless the video has a very clear audio track, there will be some hiccups in the voice to text translation.

Automatic captions for a 14-year-old's video diary: nigh incompressible. US President Obama's weekly address to the nation: works pretty nice.

Video owners also have the option of downloading the auto-generated transcription, touch them up, and then upload the new improved version. Content owners can select a "request processing" option for existing videos that should hasten the availability of caption tracks. However, Google warns it may take a few days for the speech recognition track to become available.

Google said it plans to broaden the feature to include more languages going forward, although it's currently available only for videos where English is spoken.

In a Thursday blog post Google said that it hopes the auto transcription service will help make YouTube more accessible to the hearing-impaired as well as those learning English as a second language.

Adding transcription tracks to YouTube search could also make finding specific videos like that one with the dog riding the skateboard easier for viewers to locate. Assuming someone with a certain clarity of diction says within the video itself something to the effect of: "Oh wow, look at that dog riding a skateboard." Now who's rolling their eyes at the guy who always states the obvious?

Google said it expects a major jump in the number of channels with auto-captions available over the next few months.

Microsoft launching a feature phone with Verizon Wireless

Microsoft will be launching a feature phone with Verizon Wireless in the US, based on Windows CE but not compatible with the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series.

Rumours of a Microsoft feature phone have been knocking around for a while. It was codenamed "pink" and supposedly built to replace the venerable Sidekick using the skills Microsoft acquired when it bought the previous owner, Danger. But now Gizmodo has photographs and technical details of two handsets to be launched in July on Verizon, proving that Microsoft has eyes on much more than the smart phone market.

Even from the scant details available it's clear that neither handset is Windows Phone 7 Series - despite having lots of social networking hooks and the ability to download applications. Those applications will be developed using .NET, but without the feature set of 7 Series, and probably only in partnership with Microsoft.

According to tips received by Gizmodo the two handsets, both of which feature the sliding keyboards so beloved by Americans, are based on Windows CE but with a different graphical layer and fewer features than 7 Series. They are also CDMA devices, which realistically limits them to the US at launch, though a GSM variant is always possible. The handsets clearly don't conform to the physical requirements for a 7 Series phone, and are unlikely to be as highly-specified.

It shouldn't really come as a surprise that Microsoft is paying attention to the "feature phone" end of the market - that's where everyone else is looking these days. Samsung's Bada is aimed squarely at providing downloadable applications to feature phones, and Qualcomm's BREW is being reinvented as the solution to that problem too, not to mention that it's where Symbian is hoping to make its new home now that MeeGo has moved in upstairs.

The problem for Bada is that for the moment it needs the same processing power as a smart phone, while Symbian and BREW are much more suited to that market. Microsoft's ability to do things with limited resources is somewhat patchy. The company has generally preferred to wait for the hardware to get cheap enough for its software, but this time it's Apple that's depending on the trickle-down effect while Microsoft attempts to fit a quart into a pint pot.