e-News Journal

(IT & Telecom)

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TELECOM

 

Courtesy The Economic Times

Bids for 3G licence reach $3.1 bn

11 May 2010, 2313 hrs IST,REUTERS

 

NEW DELHI: Bids for one set of nationwide third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum licences in India reached 140.26 billion rupees on the 27th day of an auction, a spokesman for India's Department of Telecommunications said on Tuesday.

 

Bidding for the spectrum, which would allow firms to offer high-speed Internet and other premium services such as video calling on mobile phone, started on April 9 and is expected to wind up in coming days. The base price for one set of pan-India licences was set at 35 billion rupees.

 

The government will sell four such licences -- three from the auction and one set to state-run telecoms firms which would have to match the highest bid price paid by the private operators. Nine mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel , Reliance Communications and Vodafone's Indian unit, are participating in the auction.

TRAI spectrum proposal progressive: RCom

11 May 2010, 2208 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications on Tuesday welcomed the TRAI spectrum proposals saying they are consumer-centric, while Tata Teleservices said the recommendations on 2G spectrum have not addressed inequalities in spectrum allocation.

 

"TRAI recommendations would lead to spectrum efficiency and rural penetration. Government would be able to release additional spectrum," Syed Safawi, CEO, wireless business, RCom said in a conference call.

 

He said incumbent operators will have to pay for the excess spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz which could go up to Rs 10,000 crore and they could face huge opex and capex costs due to this. He said RCom, which offers both GSM- and CDMA-based services, does not have to pay much for the excess spectrum, which could be just 22 crore.

 

Tata Teleservices, however, said the recommendations of TRAI on 2G spectrum have not brought in the level playing field and has not addressed the inequalities in spectrum allocation and issues of excess spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.

 

Tata Teleservices has been waiting for 2G spectrum allocation in Delhi and many other key Indian cities for the last more than 30 months now, it said in a statement.

 

"The recommendations instead of recognising our status as a dual-technology UASL-holder, has rather pushed us further behind in the queue, as it now proposes to award the spectrum first to those players who already have 4.4 MHz to 6.2 MHz and then to those who have been waiting.

 

"The recommendations thus impacts TTSL adversely and makes our case of expecting minimum spectrum the worst in the industry," it said.

Expensive spectrum could hit telecom sector growth: COAI

11 May 2010, 1927 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: GSM operators' association COAI today said the rising cost of spectrum could affect telecom growth plans, particularly in rural areas.

 

The share price of leading telecom operators nosedived after TRAI made new recommendations on 2G spectrum pricing. Airtel shares on the BSE closed 3.11 per cent lower at Rs 285.20 on the BSE, while Idea Cellular closed at Rs 59.70, down 5.31 per cent.

 

RCom was down 4.95 per cent at Rs 147.05, while MTNL hit a low of Rs 68.15, down 1.8 per cent on the BSE.

 

Tele-density in rural areas could be the biggest casualty.

 

"Growth could be hampered," said COAI Director-General Rajan S Mathews on the TRAI recommendations, which have suggested that telcos pay for 2G spectrum beyond the contracted amount of 6.2 Mhz, based on prices discovered through the 3G auction.

 

Asked if the rising spectrum costs suggested by TRAI could lead to a reversal of the current low tariff regime, as operators would try to recover costs, he said, "Tariffs can't be arbitrarily increased."

 

Call rates in India have touched their lowest levels, which are hitting the profitability of the mobile companies.

 

Mathews said the good thing about the recommendations was that TRAI has proposed a reduction in licence fees to 6 per cent of gross adjusted revenue, which could bring down the overall cost of the operators.

 

Mathews said capping of spectrum per operator can also be detrimental to the expansion plans of the operators. TRAI has proposed a 10 Mhz spectrum cap for GSM operators.

 

A leading mobile operator said it is reading the fine print before making any comment on the likely repercussions if the recommendations are passed.

 

India, the fastest growing wireless market in the world, has 584 million mobile subscribers and about 15 million users are added monthly.

TRAI for uniform licence fee of 6% by 2014

11 May 2010, 1817 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator TRAI today proposed that the licence fee paid by operators should be reduced in the next four years to an uniform 6 per cent of adjusted gross revenue from the current 6-10 per cent.

 

Releasing its 2G spectrum allocation and pricing recommendations, the regulator said currently, telcos are charged a licence fee of 10 per cent in the metros and A circles, 8 per cent in B circles and 6 per cent in C circles.

 

This licence fee should be brought down progressively from the existing rates to an uniform rate of 6 per cent by the year 2013-14, said TRAI chairman J S Sarma in a news conference.

 

Rajan Mathew, the DG of GSM operators' association COAI, said this is a positive development, as it would bring down operators' costs. This has been a long-standing demand of the operators, who said the total levies of the telecom sector in India were the highest in the world, at 30 per cent.

 

Operators pay licence fees as a revenue share of their adjusted gross revenue.

Bharti sees recovery in India usage; consolidation

11 May 2010, 1806 hrs IST,REUTERS

 

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the top carrier in the world's fastest-growing wireless market, expects to see a recovery in usage per user and stabilising call charges, the company's South Asia chief said on Tuesday.

 

Sanjay Kapoor, who took over in March as the company's CEO for India and South Asia, said in an interview that consolidation in the fiercely competitive Indian mobile phone market was inevitable, with room for five or six carriers compared with 15 at present.

 

Bharti, 32 percent owned by Southeast Asia's top carrier Singapore Telecommunications, last month reported its first profit drop in three years. March quarter earnings were hit by a margin-crushing price war among operators in their bid to add more customers. "The resurgence of traffic and the resurgence of revenue earning customers during the last quarter is delightful," said Kapoor. "It has set a good recovery trend in hyper competition," he said when asked about the outlook for the company.

 

Bharti saw the total minutes carried on its network growing 12 percent from the previous quarter, while average usage per user bounced back after falling for six quarters. In March, Bharti struck a $9 billion deal to buy telecoms operations in 15 African countries from Kuwait's Zain, and expects to become the world's No. 5 mobile firm after closing the deal.

 

Work to close the deal is in process, Kapoor said, declining to elaborate. The chief executive for the company's international unit, Manoj Kohli, said last month the firm aimed to close the deal by mid-May. Nine mobile carriers including Bharti are bidding for high-speed third-generation mobile phone licences in India. The highest bid for a nationwide licence reached $3 billion on Monday, in excess of expectations. The tender process is expected to wind up in coming days.

 

Kapoor termed the bidding as "aggressive" and said expensive entry costs would prevent firms from offering cheap services. He also said there should not be any import restrictions on telecoms network equipment into India. Under the current rules, telecom carriers must apply for security clearance from the federal government before placing any purchase order.

Telecom watchdog wants operators to pay for unused spectrum

11 May 2010, 1650 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: India's telecom watchdog Tuesday suggested a one-time levy on unused radio spectrum with service providers based on the price derived from the auction for 3G frequency that could bring Rs.35,000 crore ($7.7 billion) of additional revenue for the government.

 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also recommended the removal of curbs on the sale of stake by service providers, in a move that could lay the groundwork for major consolidation in the world's second largest mobile phone network and the fastest growing among emerging economies.

 

India currently imposes a three-year cap since the grant of operator licence on telecom companies before the promoters can sell their majority stakes. This clause has prevented a consolidation in the market where spectrum is at a premium.

 

The watchdog said telecom operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Reliance Communications, which hold radio spectrum beyond 6.2 mega hertz be charged a one-time fee based on the price derived from the ongoing auction for frequency for 3G services.

 

The regulator -- whose recommendations may or may not be accepted by the government -- has also called for a spectrum cap per operator of 10 mega hertz for Delhi and Mumbai and 8 mega hertz for other circles to be imposed on operators.

 

"As per our estimates, there is 156 mega hertz of spectrum beyond 6.2 mega hertz across India. So, going by the price being discovered for the 3G spectrum, it could amount to a revenue of Rs.30,000-Rs.35,000 crore," said TRAI Chairman J.S. Sarma.

 

"What we have said is that beyond 6.2 mega hertz, the price must be paid," Sarma told a reporters here.

 

The move comes against the backdrop of the government being assured at least Rs.54,000 crore worth of revenues from the ongoing auction of 3G spectrum. The opposition parties had also charged that the spectrum for 2G telephony was handed over rather cheap.

 

At the end of March, India had 584.32 million wireless telecom subscribers, serviced by 15 companies, including two public sector undertakings. As many as 20.31 million new additions accrued in March alone.

 

The dominant players are Bharti Airtel with a 21.84 percent share, followed by Reliance Communications with 17.53 percent, Vodafone with 17.26 percent, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd with 11.89 percent, Tata Teleservices with 11.29 percent and Idea Mobile with 10.92 percent.

TRAI for not auctioning 2G spectrum

11 May 2010, 1601 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: Virtually endorsing the Telecom Ministry's decision not to auction 2G spectrum two years ago, telecom regulator TRAI today said bidding out mobile spectrum would not have yielded major economic gains for the exchequer. ( Watch )

 

"It is not feasible to subject the spectrum in 800-900 -1800 Mhz band to auction process, considering that the amount of spectrum after meeting the obligation of contracted spectrum is very limited and the number of claimant for additional spectrum would be extremely few," TRAI Chairman JS Sharma said.

 

The Telecom Ministry's decision to sell 2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices had become the subject of a major controversy, with the Opposition parties alleging a scam that cost the government Rs 60,000 crore.

 

The telecom regulator today released its recommendation report on spectrum allocation and pricing.

 

TRAI also suggested that from now 2G spectrum (radio waves) could be priced on par with what is discovered through the 3G spectrum auction and also delinking the sale of spectrum from issue of licence, as is the current practice.

 

Sarma added: "The authority is conscious of the fact that there are several views about deriving the true price of 2G spectrum and keeping this in view the authority is separately initiating an exercise to further study the subject and would apprise the government later, but for the present the authority recommends that 3G prices could be adopted as the current price of 2G spectrum."

 

Telecom Minister A Raja's decision to allocate mobile licences with 4.4 Mhz of 2G spectrum at a price of Rs 1,651 crore to a host of companies that included realty player Unitech Wireless, Videocon, Swan, prompted the allegations of corruption.

 

Consequently, the CBI was roped into to look into the allocation of giving away spectrum at rates much below the market price.

 

Raising the quantum of minimum amount of spectrum (contracted amount of 6.2 Mhz to the operators), the regulator said: "All the spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz will have to be paid for at the current market price (linked to 3G price) by GSM operators and for the CDMA operators the spectrum assigned beyond the contracted amount of 5 Mhz will have to be paid for."

 

Dealing a big blow to several existing operators like Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone Essar, the regulator said the service provider will have to pay an additional one time charge for the spectrum they hold beyond 6.2 Mhz, which will be paid at the current price of spectrum upto 8 Mhz and after that it will be charged at 1.3 times the current price.

 

This would mean existing operators would have to 3G rates for spectrum they hold above 6.2 Mhz.

 

The Big three players - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL - hold around 10 Mhz spectrum in many key circles.

TRAI suggests lifting telecoms M&A restrictions

11 May 2010, 1405 hrs IST,REUTERS

 

NEW DELHI: Telecoms regulator on Tuesday recommended ending restrictions on telecoms firms selling out, a move which will help consolidation in the world's fastest growing telecoms market. ( Watch )

 

Currently, India restricts telecoms firms from selling majority stakes within three years of getting licence.

 

India's telecoms regulator also suggested telecoms firms pay a one-time fee for holding radio-spectrum beyond 6.2 mega hertz (MHz) based on 3G prices, a move that will hit established operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

 

India currently grants additional radio airwaves to firms when they reach subscriber-addition milestones, only charging a usage fee for the resource.

 

The recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have to be accepted by the telecoms ministry before they become law.

 

Fifteen operators service 584 million mobile phone users in India, the world's second-largest market for such services after China. The addition of nearly 16 million users each month has attracted global names like Norway's Telenor, Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Abu Dhabi's Etisalat.

 

Courtesy Business Standard

 

Sistema Shyam to invest Rs 250cr

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad May 12, 2010, 0:45 IST

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), a joint venture company between Russia's Sistema and Shyam Group of India, will be investing Rs 250 crore to expand its code division multiple access (CDMA) network in Andhra Pradesh by the end of this year.

Announcing the launch of its MTS services in the state, which completes the company's presence in the entire south corridor and 12 circles across the country, on Tuesday, SSTL president and chief executive Vsevolod Rozanov said the plan for this year was to complete all the 22 circles with an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore. SSTL had tied up with Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), a $10-billion operator in Russia and the eighth largest telecom brand in the world, to franchise the brand in India.

Currently, SSTL has 4.5 million subscribers, including 72,000 for high-speed data services. “Data is the future of our company and is clearly a differential business model than other aggregators. We expect data services to account for one-third of our revenues and achieve break-even by 2013,” Rozanov said.

In Andhra Pradesh, SSTL services will initially be available in 557 towns covering 50 per cent of the population. Eight cities in the state will have MTS mobile broadband services this year, which will be scaled up further next year, he said, adding the company will also come up with post-paid services in the next few weeks.

The MTS-to-MTS charges within Andhra Pradesh will be one paisa for four seconds.

Replying to a query, Rozanov said the company would switch to another vendor if China-based Huawei Technologies’ products were not allowed into India.

It may be recalled that the Indian government has blocked Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation from selling telecom network equipment to domestic phone carriers due to security reasons.

IT/ITES

 

Courtesy The Economic Times

Google's Android outsells iPhone, threatens BlackBerry

11 May 2010, 2303 hrs IST,IANS

 

TORONTO: Though the Canadian icon BlackBerry continues to maintain its lead in the US smart phone market, handsets with Google's Android operating system may upset it soon, says a report released on Monday.

 

In fact, the devices with the Google operating system have left Apple's iPhone behind in the first quarterly sales, says the report.

 

Prepared by the NPD Group, the US consumer market research company, the report says Google's Android operating system has shaken up the mobile phone market, moving past Apple to take the number two position among smartphone operating systems.

 

According to the report, the Android operating system is now at second position with a share of 28 per cent, just behind BlackBerry's 36 per cent. Apple's share is 21 per cent.

 

"As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share,'' the report quoted NPD Group executive director Ross Rubin as saying.

 

Android's growth has been fuelled by aggressive marketing by the carrier Verizon Wireless. But Google's operating system still has a long way to go as it controls only 9 per cent of the US market as against iPhone's 25.4 per cent.

 

The US smart phone market is controlled by four carriers - AT&T (32 per cent), Verizon Wireless (30 per cent), T-Mobile (17 per cent) and Sprint (15 per cent).

 

"Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future,'' said Rubin.

 

The report comes just more than a month after Forbes said in March that BlackBerry's lead over iPhone is shrinking and it will overtake the Canadian icon by early next year.

 

Forbes had also said that the "end of AT&T exclusivity will give Apple's iPhone wider distribution in the US (comparable to BlackBerry distribution)."

Alstom, Infosys expand strategic partnership

11 May 2010, 2018 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: French equipment maker Alstom and Indian software exporter Infosys Technologies today announced the expansion of their strategic partnership in areas of global research and development, engineering and engineering IT services.

 

This partnership envisages substantial strategic investments over the next five years to develop next generation solutions for the power sector, an Alstom release said.

 

Infosys will provide support to Alstom Power's global business units in core areas like product development, product lifecycle management and engineering IT, it said.

 

Infosys will also support Alstom in building knowledge management processes for its design and engineering teams.

 

"We see this long-term technological partnership with Infosys as one of the key drivers to developing the next generation of Alstom's power solutions," said Alstom Power President Philippe Joubert.

Newest Apple iMac 27 inch desktop

11 May 2010, 1318 hrs IST,ET Bureau

 

Despite its beefy built-in electronics, the iMac is one of the quietest computers you’ll never hear. Even with a DVD in the drive, the faint hum of the fans is drowned out by the sound of typing. Shame there’s no Blu-ray option though.

 

The smooth aluminium body is still only 1.5 inch thick and the dictionary definition of elegance. It’s still not height-adjustable , but in every other respect it’s perfect. It’s even regained the SD card slot it lost when it first went metal.

 

The 27 inch panel is vibrant and the LED backlight is blindingly bright. Viewing angles are amazing, you can read text even when standing side-on . The switch to a 16:9 ratio makes sense too.

 

Behind that display you have the option of a 3.06GHz dual-core processor or one of Intel’s latest quad-cores. The AMD graphics chip is a step up from before, though it isn’t enough to drive newer games at the monstrous native resolution of the screen. A thing of great beauty with a lustrous display and enough power for serious work, but the mouse isn’t quite “magic.”

 

Tech Talk:

 

Rs 89,900

 

Screen 27in, LED-backlit LCD, 2560x1440

 

CPU Intel Core 2, 3.06GHz

 

RAM 4GB

 

Graphics AMD HD4670

 

Hard drive 1TB

PC software piracy in India drops to 65% in 2009: BSA

11 May 2010, 1645 hrs IST,PTI

 

NEW DELHI: More people are opting for licensed software, bringing down piracy levels to 65 per cent in 2009 from 68 per cent a year ago, a BSA-IDC report today said.

 

While the PC software piracy rate, or installations of unlicensed software on personal computers (PC), has fallen, the dollar losses caused by software piracy continued to remain in the USD 2 billion range, it said.

 

"About 40 per cent of the desktop PCs sold in India continue to be white boxes (assembled), but the drop in piracy levels shows that people are now opting for legal and licensed software over the pirated ones," BSA Vice-President and Regional Director, Asia-Pacific, Jeffrey Hardee told reporters over a conference call.

 

The report, in its seventh edition, tracks PC software piracy rates in more than 100 economies worldwide.

 

The IDC study found that even though piracy levels remain high, anti-piracy education and enforcement campaigns spearheaded by the software industry, governments and law enforcement agencies have made commendable progress in bringing down piracy rates.

 

"In India, we have made significant progress in further bringing down the piracy rates as compared to 2008. However, our annual commercial value of unlicensed software still stands at a whopping USD 2.03 billion," Keshav S Dhakad, Chair of the India BSA Committee, said.

 

BSA has taken up various initiatives with the state governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra, as well as with FICCI, and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and Ministry of Small and Micro Enterprises, toward increasing awareness about benefits of using licensed software and protecting indigenous IT innovation opportunity.

 

Global PC software piracy has dropped in 54 of the 111 countries studied, but the worldwide piracy rate has risen from 41 per cent in 2008 to 43 per cent in 2009, due to exponential growth in PC software deployments in emerging economies.

 

The US, Japan, and Luxembourg continue to hold the lowest piracy rates of economies surveyed (20, 21, and 21 per cent, respectively), while Asia-Pacific economies with the highest piracy rates include Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan.

 

The 2009 BSA/IDC Global PC Software Piracy Study covers piracy of all software that runs on PCs, including desktops, laptops, and ultra-portables, including netbooks. This includes operating systems, systems software, such as databases and security packages, and applications software.

Bill Gates visits Amethi, promises to develop it as IT hub

11 May 2010, 1524 hrs IST,PTI

 

UTTAR PRADESH: The high-profile Amethi Lok Sabha constituency of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today had a distinguished visitor in Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who promised to develop the area as an IT hub.

 

After landing at the airstrip here Gates, accompanied by Gandhi, drove to Bahadurpur village in Jais town and addressed a meeting of Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojna, a self-help group of women.

 

Gates explained the importance of computer education and promised to try his best to develop Amethi and adjoining Rae Bareli, a Lok Sabha seat represented by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, as an IT hub.

 

Gandhi and Gates are likely to visit a number of villages and see various development works being carried out in Amethi constituency.

 

The Congress leader had spent a night along with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a ramshackle hut belonging to Shivkumari Kori, a poor Dalit, at Simara village in Amethi in Jaunary last year.

 

Gandhi is likely to take Gates to the same village.

Facebook board member's account hacked

11 May 2010, 1624 hrs IST,ANI

 

LONDON: Jim Breyer, who is a Facebook board member and investor, was a victim of a hack attack.

 

According to reports, his account was hacked into, and several messages were then sent to his 2,301 contacts. The messages read: 'Would you like a Facebook phone number?' with a link to 'see more details and RSVP'.

 

"This was a phishing scam Jim's account appears to have been compromised. The issue has since been resolved and we're actively trying to block this activity," The Telegraph quoted Larry Yu, a Facebook spokesperson, as saying.

 

According to BusinessInsider, the attack couldn't have come at a worse time what with Facebook under the microscope for its privacy policies.

 

Last month Zuckerberg announced Facebook's plan to replace its Facebook Connect platform with a new set of social plugins which will extend Facebook's influence and presence on the web, allowing its service to be more deeply embedded into third party websites.

 

The new service launched at the company's annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco with 30 partners including several UK brands such as LoveFilm and Sky.

 

Facebook users will be able to click a 'Like' button on stories, photos, music or videos they want to share with friends, via the site. The 'Like' will then be kept by Facebook and can then be released back to the third party's website, for them to use and tailor a more personalised online experience for that individual and their friends. Facebook estimates that it will serve one billion 'Likes' buttons by the end of its first day.

 

Zuckerberg said the changes were intended to put Facebook's users and their friends at the "centre of the web".

India tops in originating spam, phishing in Asia: Report

11 May 2010, 1554 hrs IST,IANS

 

BANGALORE: Hackers have kept pace with India's leap into the internet world, making the country number one in Asia for originating the highest number of spams and phishing, says a study by global security solutions provider Symantec.

 

"India ranked first in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region and third highest in the world as the originating country of spam and hishing," said the IT major's latest internet security threat report.

 

India also ranked second for the origin of web-based attacks in the region, contributing 16 percent, after China, which accounted for 37 percent of the total attacks.

 

Spam is an unsolicited message hackers post on the internet and mail to unknown recipients who would not otherwise choose to receive it.

 

Phishing is a fraudulent process used by cyber criminals to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details online by posing as a trustworthy entity in the electronic communication.

 

The report, based on a survey conducted during 2009, found that 21 percent of the spam in the region originated from India, accounting for four percent of the worldwide spam volume.

 

Spam made up 88 percent of all e-mail in 2009.

 

Similarly, 28 percent of spam zombies (bots) in the region or six percent of the world reside in India while seven percent of the regional phishing hosts are located in the Indian sub-continent.

 

Bots are a type of malware or malicious software code, which allows an attacker to gain complete control over the infected computer. Some of the notorious codes are viruses, worms, Trojan horses and backdoors.

 

"The scale of these web-based attacks originating from India and other countries makes security in the virtual world a major challenge requiring global cooperation between vendors, intermediaries and users," Symantec India managing director Vishal Dhupar told IANS here.

 

Hackers have turned their attention to enterprises with an eye on monetary gains from compromised corporate intellectual property.

 

"Hackers have evolved from simple scams to sophisticated and focused campaigns to fuel the underground economy. Cyber criminals are not just content stealing hard-earned money from ordinary users but focusing on high-end crime," Dhupar noted.

 

Abundance of personal information available on social networking sites has come in handy to synthesize socially engineered attacks on key individuals within targeted companies.

 

"Web-based attacks are growing unabated by luring unsuspecting users to malicious websites, which in turn hack the victim's web browser and vulnerable plug-ins used to view video or document files," Dhupar said.

 

Though the US ranks top globally in origin of web-based attacks due to factors such as high broadband penetration, the quantum jump of 16 percent in India is alarming, as the country accounted for less than one percent of such attacks in the region in 2008.

 

In a bid to make a fast buck, cyber criminals use stolen credit card information quickly to purchase goods online where minimal card details are required to authorise transactions.

 

"Besides physical goods purchased online for subsequent delivery, hackers buy digital goods such as domain registrations, music, software and gift certificates from online stores," the survey revealed.

 

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), Internet usage across the country shot up 20 percent in 2009, with netizens spending more time online.

 

As a result, India surged to fifth spot in malicious activity in 2009 from 11th spot in 2008.

 

"We have identified over 240 million distinct new malicious programmes in 2009, a 100 percent jump over 2008, with Sality.AE virus, Brisv Trojan and SillyFDC worm as the most frequent threats," Dhupar added.

 

With the highest density of netizens, Mumbai figured at the top, with 50 percent of the country's bot-infected computers, followed by Delhi at 13 percent, Hyderabad seven percent, Bangalore six percent, Kochi five percent, Chennai four percent, Pune three percent and Ahmedabad two percent.

Google keen to stream live sports on You Tube

11 May 2010, 1315 hrs IST,PTI

 

CHICAGO: Fresh from the success of IPL's live streaming on its subsidiary You Tube, Google is looking at broadcasting other sports on the platform, even as it promises to be "better prepared" for next year's IPL and offers an improved experience to viewers in India.

 

"This year certainly surpassed expectations, so we are very pleased. We did not expect that many viewers in India in particular and we pretty much exhausted all the internet capacity in the country to deliver the experience to as many fans of IPL as we could," Google India Managing Director Shailesh Rao told PTI here.

 

Rao said the company saw many more viewers for IPL on You Tube than it had expected. From the amount of time viewers spent watching per visit to the number of countries from which You Tube saw viewership, "on almost every metric we were beyond our initial expectations."

 

This year, YouTube carried the Indian Premier League's 60 matches live around the world. This was the first time the company showed a major sporting event live.

 

Google has entered into a two-year tie up with IPL to broadcast the 20-20 format cricket extravaganza on its You Tube platform.

 

"What we learnt is how to run live events on the web, how to make sports on the internet successful in a live format. We have received a lot of inquiries from around the world about doing other events, other sports and we are in active conversation about that," Rao said.

 

Rao added that the company learnt quite a bit about how to make a live streaming experience on the internet successful and would be better prepared next year to deal with the large number of viewers.

 

"We just had more viewers than we expected. It's obviously an issue but it's a good problem to have. Now that we know where the demand is coming from and that India has a lot of people who want to watch IPL on You Tube, we would certainly be better prepared next year."

 

Terming India as "one of the most successful markets we have in the world as a company," Rao said Google would continue to invest in the country, where "our business has grown manifold both in terms of usage and revenue."

 

He said the company will continue to work with firms, making them aware about how to use digital advertising to grow their business.

 

"A lot of our engineering resources are exclusively focused on making sure our products are as secure as possible and we are confident that the products are absolutely safe and secure to use," he added.

IBM sees biz analytics market growing sharply

11 May 2010, 1622 hrs IST,ET Bureau

 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The twin troubles of information overload and the increasing difficulty in arriving at actionable information based on data analysis is opening up a robust market for business analytics solutions, according to officials at the IBM Software Group.

 

Country manager of IBM Software Group in India/South Asia for information management, Nitin Singhal says there is increasing awareness and demand for business analytics capabilities in sectors like banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing and ITES.

 

“Companies are increasingly conscious of turning information into wealth”, says Singhal, adding that it is imperative that information that is accessed by an employee to act upon, must both be accurate as well as trusted and secured information.

 

IBM has invested $ 12 billion in the business analytics area over the past two years, most of which has been in acquisitions of companies involved in information integration, information sharing, content and data management, and business consulting services.

 

Some of the company’s acquisitions include Guardium, Cognos, Initiate Systems, SPSS, and FileNet, a provider of business process and content management solutions that help companies simplify critical, everyday decision making processes.

 

Company officials say that the acquisition of SPSS is expected to strengthen IBM’s information agenda initiative aimed at helping companies turn information into a strategic asset, while the Guardium buy will enable IBM’s clients to maintain trusted information infrastructure by continuously monitoring access and activity to protect high-value databases against threats.

 

Singhal says IBM’s solutions in the business analytics domain not only provides pointed executive information by analyzing historical data, but also provides predictive analytics allowing clients to manage information in real time as well as forecast trends that may impact their business.

 

Industry estimates put the business analytics market size at $ 105 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 7-8%, and IBM’s own recent CIO study revealed that 83% of business leaders identified analytics as a top priority for their businesses.

US-based CSS acquires two firms; eyes at $140 mn turnover

11 May 2010, 1536 hrs IST,PTI

 

CHENNAI: Technology solutions provider Cybernet-Slashsupport (CSS) Corporation has acquired two US-based companies in "an all cash transaction deal" to consolidate its Information Technology and telecommunications portfolio, a top company official said here on Tuesday.

 

Glow Networks engaged in telecommunication service business and InteQ, a remote infrastructure management services firm, were acquired by the California-headquartered CSS in an "all cash deal" recently, CSS CEO Nick Sharma told reporters here.

 

However, he declined to divulge details on the financial transactions. He said the acquisitions were an 'important milestone' for the company and expressed confidence that its turnover would cross the USD 100 million mark by next year.

 

'We are a USD 80 million company. (From the acquisitions) Organically, we are expecting to reach USD 125 million - USD 140 million by next year', he said.

 

He termed the acquisitions as 'a very good buy' for CSS Corporation and added that the company's balancesheet "was healthy" enough to fund them.

 

The Glow Networks was valued to be of USD 25 million firm and InteQ was USD 125 million company, he said adding CSS would add about 500 employees for both companies this year.

 

Through the acquistion, CSS would provide design, deployment and operations of 2G, 4G, packet and optical networks and also cater to network equipment vendors.

 

It would also help CSS to provide unified communication services design, operations and support for enterprises and service providers, he added.

 

CSS Corporation's 85 per cent of income was generated from US, seven per cent from Europe and rest from their operations in India, Singapore and Australia, company officials said.

 

Courtesy Business Line

TRAI wants 2G spectrum price pegged to 3G

GSM players face Rs 35,000-cr hit; major impact on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, May 11

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Tuesday dealt a Rs 35,000-crore blow to existing GSM players by recommending that they be asked to pay a one-time fee for 2G spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz. The fee to be paid will be calculated on a pro-rata basis on the final bid amount received in the ongoing auctions for third generation (3G) spectrum.

If TRAI's recommendations are accepted by the Government, it will hit incumbent players including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and State-run telecom majors Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

"Our estimation is that 156 MHz of spectrum is being held by various players beyond the limit of 6.2 MHz. Going by the current 3G prices, roughly it might mean Rs 30,00035,000 crore revenue to the Government," said Mr J.S. Sarma, Chairman, TRAI.

In addition, TRAI has suggested that operators with spectrum in 900 Mhz band should be asked to pay 1.5 times the price of 3G spectrum. This will further jack up the cost for Bharti and Vodafone since they had got their initial spectrum in the 900 Mhz band. The two operators have close to 8 Mhz in most circles, which could mean a payout of around Rs 7,000-8,000 crore each based on Monday's price of 3G spectrum.

Further, TRAI has proposed that existing operators be asked to pay for the entire spectrum they hold at the time of renewing their licence at the end of 20 years. Bharti and Vodafone got their licences between 1994 and 1996, which means that they will have to cough out more than Rs 20,000 crore for renewing their licences over the next four-six years.

To make matters worse for them, the regulator has suggested that all the 900 Mhz spectrum should be re-farmed at the time of renewal and auctioned. The operators will be given bandwidth in the 1,800 Mhz band, which is a less efficient frequency compared with the 900 Mhz band.

TRAI has put a cap on the maximum spectrum a single operator can hold at 8 Mhz in each circle and up to 10 Mhz in Metro areas.

New operators such as Uninor, Videocon and Etisalat DB will get up to 6.2 Mhz without any additional fee but they will have to fulfil certain rollout obligations. Though subscriber-linked criterion has been done away with, TRAI has also kept away from suggesting the auction route despite the success of the ongoing 3G auction.

New players also gain as the regulator has done away with the three-year ban on selling promoter's equity. Removing the lock-in period will allow these players to sell or buy equity in the market.

TRAI has also changed the allocation criteria for additional spectrum by giving top priority to operators that have already been given start up spectrum and are awaiting additional allocation. This benefits Reliance Communication, which will be the first to get air waves as it already got 4.4 Mhz spectrum and is waiting for the additional tranche.

But this bad news for Tata Teleservices and other new GSM players which have not even got start-up spectrum. This category of operators has been kept at the No 3 spot in terms of priority for allocating 2G spectrum.

TRAI has also allowed spectrum sharing and suggested lowering licence fee for all types of services provider to six per cent by 2014. Internet Service Providers and telecom tower companies have been asked to pay an annual licence fee.

BT waiting for Satyam merger to exit Tech Mahindra

Adith Charlie

Mumbai, May 11

Telecom conglomerate BT may wait for Tech Mahindra to merge with Mahindra Satyam before it offloads a large portion of its stake in the Mumbai headquartered company.

Divesting its stake in the merged entity could get BT (formerly British Telecom) higher valuations than what it would have otherwise received for standalone Tech Mahindra, sources told Business Line.

BT may, however, choose to sell smaller chunks of its holding through open market transactions, even before the merger.

BT, which holds 31 per cent in Tech Mahindra, has already charted out an exit strategy to divest majority holding by the end of this fiscal, they added.

Assuming that Mahindra Satyam has revenues of around $1.2 billion and profitability of 12 per cent as being widely reported, the merger with Tech Mahindra will directly add $150 million to Tech Mahindra's bottomline, assuming that the Hyderabad-based company's restated accounts do not throw any negative surprises.

If all goes well, Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam should begin the merger process within the next six months. Mahindra Satyam's restated accounts are made available on June 30.

BT's exit could throw up an interesting challenge for the Mahindras who hold 44 per cent in Tech Mahindra. The promoters have the right of first refusal as and when BT decides to offload its stake. At the current market price of Rs 708.20, BT's holding is valued at Rs 2,671 crore.

Tech Mahindra has already stretched its balance sheet by raising more than Rs 2,000 crore to fund its acquisition of the then Satyam Computer Services. However, the company has managed to bring down its debt component thanks to the Rs 968-crore it got as compensation after BT renegotiated some of its long- term contracts with the Mahindra group company.

At present, Tech Mahindra generates majority revenues from BT and enjoys committed business worth over $1 billion from the telecom behemoth.

Two years ago, the telecom operator was reported to be in talks with companies such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR) and TCS for buying out its stake in Tech Mahindra. However, the plan was put on hold because of the adverse operating environment.

BT's profits have been under pressure for several quarters now and analysts said this was one of the more immediate reasons for its keenness to sell its Tech Mahindra stake.

Toonz Academy, CMC in tie-up for animation training

Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11

Toonz Academy and CMC Ltd have entered into a strategic alliance to provide training in the field of animation, digital arts and multimedia through the latter's network of training centres in the eastern and southern regions of the country.

Toonz Academy is the training division of animation major Toonz Animation India while CMC Ltd is a leading IT solutions company and the education consulting company and a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The agreement was signed here on Tuesday by Mr Rajendra Prasad, Head, Special Business Unit - Education and Training, CMC Ltd, and Mr N. Radhakrishnan Nair, President, Toonz Academy.

With this tie-up, CMC education centres will now offer various career-oriented and industry-relevant diploma and short-term courses in animation and multimedia designed and developed by Toonz.

CMC is expected to start these courses immediately in 15 of its centres, to subsequently cover all CMC centres in the east and south.

Job opportunities

Students completing the courses will find job opportunities in the emerging animation industry and film, television, multimedia, web, graphics and digital arts industries.

“We are excited about the possibility of entering the booming animation and digital arts education segment. The tie-up with Toonz will give us the head start,” said Mr Rajendra Prasad.

According to Mr Radhakrishnan Nair, the tie-up brings together two pioneers in their respective segments. The synergy will help both to leverage each other's strengths and offer the best quality education to the student community across India.

Kerala IT to launch unified brand building exercise

Vinson Kurian

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11

Kerala IT, proxy for the Department of IT, is bracing to launch a unified branding exercise from this year backed by ‘a significantly raised' budget.

Speaking to Business Line, Dr Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary, IT, Kerala, said that it is inevitable that anyone trying to create such a brand should know both the State and the industry very well.

Explaining, he said visitors to Technopark here, the showpiece of State's IT infrastructure, are all enamoured by the settings and facilities available. But, when they learn about Kerala, they have apprehensions that stem from traditional perception problems about the State.

Technopark used to embody all that Kerala IT stood for. But, the State of Kerala was not seen as enjoying these benefits as cited by visitors and employees alike.

A second issue related to ‘brand diffusion' arising from the hub-and-spoke model expansion into Infopark and the Cyberpark.

These were seen as individually scuttling each others' prospects.

 

 

 

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