Reliance Communications (RCOM) announced the launch of 3G Mobile and Data Services in Jammu and Kashmir telecom circle. RCOM’s 3G services has already been launched in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chandigarh.

Mr.Ataul Haque, Circle Head, RCOM, Wireless Business (J&K) said,

The launch of service is an integral part of our vision 2015 of creating a wire-free J&K, built upon the affordable 3G for all platform, personalization of services, simplification of tariffs and a content rich portfolio on the best in class service.

Reliance 3G services will enable a host of rich multimedia services such as video calling, video on demand, and provide a richer experience for existing services such as mobile internet, mobile TV and MMS. [source]

In-Stat forecasts that unit shipments of smartphones will be nearly  850 million by 2015, as they move toward the 1 billion shipment mark. The demand for advanced mobile handsets that contain significant processing power, robust memory,  large screens, and open operating systems has dominated the mobile phone market for the past several years.  Smartphones will continue to dominate into the future.

Allen Nogee, Principal Analyst says,

“There are several critical factors that drive smartphone success. These include a powerful browser, a wide variety of apps, an easy to navigate user interface, and a good keyboard or touch screen.  Additionally, other intangible attributes, such as being ‘fashionable’ and that ‘your friends have one’ are important.”

Recent In-Stat research found:

• More than half of US handset shipments will be smartphones by 2012.
• Android is maintaining its momentum and will continue to be the leading OS. The demise of Symbian has been greatly overstated. On a global basis, annual unit shipments of Symbian-based handsets will continue to grow, resulting in Symbian having the second highest unit shipments of all the smartphone OSs.
• The smartphone OS war is heating up, as relatively new or renewed entrants such as MeeGo, Bada, WebOS, and others join a very crowded market.
• By 2015, over two thirds of smartphones will still be WCDMA-based. LTE smartphones will comprise only a small minority of annual handset shipments, even in 2015.
• The display and baseband/apps processor are the two high cost items in the bill of materials. Other significant items include memory, camera, software and licensing, and case and manufacturing.

Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, launched a Mobile Health  Service named ‘Sparsh’ which provides nformation on sexual and reproductive health- related issues. It aims to build awareness about issues related to sexual and reproductive health related concerns.

Tata Docomo customers can access this service by calling 529222 chargeable at Rs. 10/- for 10 days & browsing charge is 1p/sec.

The service would be available in English, Hindi and Marathi, while other languages like Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam will be added soon.

The content of the service is extensively accurate and certified by FPAI (Family Planning Association of India), one of India ’s largest sexual and reproductive Health NGO (Non Government organization). [source]

Idea Cellular started a helpline to guide over 700 million mobile users on various aspects of the mobile number portabiltiy service. MNP enables subscribers to change operator while retaining their mobile numbers, is rolled out across the country on January 20.

Idea’s new Toll Free Number 1800-270-0000 will offer all relevant information on the processes and procedures of availing MNP and porting requests from mobile subscribers who wish to switch to Idea. [via]

According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman, J S Sarma, 4G is to come in India next year. TRAI will bring out a 4G consultation paper on 4G in the middle of this year.

The fourth generation (4G) technology offers download at ultra-broadband speed and high definition video on demand. [via]

It is estimated that, since the launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Haryana on November 24, there have been number porting requests of about 140000, of which 50000 were rejected for various reasons, resulting in 80000 actual transfers. Haryana has a total subscriber base of 19 million.

MNP facility will be introduced in the rest of the country from January 20.

MNP is expected to increase competition between providers to improve their service. It is estimated that about 25 per cent of mobile users would like to shift to a new service provider.

According to a forecast by the consultancy group, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, India will become the second largest economy in purchasing power in the world by 2050. In terms of GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP), India is said to be on track to overtake Japan this year.

According to the report,  India has the potential to be one of the three great economies of the 21st century, together with China and the US. But the report warns,  it would require significant improvement in ”India’s energy and transport infrastructure, less red tape, increased education levels in rural areas, particularly for women, and the continuation of the open attitude to trade and investment seen over the past 20 years”.[Source]

Bharti Airtel and China Telecom have announced the launch of new direct underground terrestrial cable high capacity direct link between the world’s two fastest growing economies India and China. The underground network offers data speeds of up to 40Gbps.

The network will address the international traffic and the requirements of both the nations. Telecom subscribers in India and China would enjoy the best of services these two operators have to offer.

The terrestrial cable system will be built on resilient ring infrastructure, and represents Bharti Airtel’s third International Gateway for customers in India.

Bharti Airtel and China Telecom have constructed the network in their respective territories from Siliguri to Nathula border in India and Nathula border to Yadong in China. In India, the high speed network spans from Siliguri gateway to Nathula via Pedong on one path, and the second path will reach Siliguri from Nathula via Gangtok, forming a ring.

Bharti Airtel has also outlined an MoU with China Telecom to develop the Network-to-Network Interconnect (NNI) which allows for seamless access to the combined regional and global network resources of both the operators.[source]

According to Lux Research, India will emerge as the next best market for solar Energy with its abundant sunlight, exploiding demand and gigantic population.

India’s energy demands will more than double by 2030. At the same time 400 million people in the country have no access to electricity. The result is a severe energy shortage, in particular in rural areas. 30 percent of all electricity is lost during distribution due to poor infrastructure and theft.

India’s  National Solar Mission has introduced cash grants and favorable electricity rates for solar installations. $1 billion of funding has been allocated up to 2013 to promote 1 GW of utility-scale plants, 100 MW of distributed PV installations and 200 MW of off-grid installations. Cash grants of 30 percent of install costs are available for off-grid installations less than 250 KW. India’s solar market has already started to heat up, with the country seeking 300 MW of solar bids this month alone.[Source]

The next-generation Time Division-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology, that can download over 150 megabytes per second will be used globally by 2015. It is  currently under trial and is promoted by the China Mobile Communications Co. TD-LTE .

TD-LTE stands for Time Division LTE, and was developed by China Mobile over the last three years. China Mobile, the world’s biggest wireless operator by subscribers, said 15 TD-LTE trial networks have already been deployed in a number of countries.

According to China Daily, many international operators have contacted China Mobile and expressed willingness to adopt TD-LTE networks.[source]