It's All About Updates

India’s 2nd biggest GSM telecom giant recently launched 2 new unlimited GPRS voucher for its West Bengal (except Kolkata) circle customer. These two GPRS vouchers come with a denomination of Rs.18 and Rs.23 respectively.

The Rs.18 voucher comes with a validity of 3 days, more distinctly 72 hours from the time of recharge and this voucher will allow a customer to surf unlimited Vodafone Live on his/her mobile without any FUP .

The Rs.23 voucher will allow a customer to surf unlimited Vodafone Live for 7 days at night (11PM-8AM). The Rs.23 GPRS pack comes with a FUP of maximum 2GB(uploading /downloading).

Zen Mobile has launched another Dual SIM mobile handset – the X390. The handset comes with VGA camera, FM Radio and MP3/MP4 Player. It can store utpo 500 contacts. Other features include a 3.5mm jack, a torch, talk time upto 4 hours, and usage of both English and Hindi language. The X390 is priced at Rs. 1,649.

Talking about X390, Mr. Deepesh Gupta, MD, Zen Mobile said, “With Zen Mobile rapidly expanding its reach over to the masses in the crucial Indian market, the launch of the X390 will have a mass appeal in the market. We have always strived in bringing the best to the customers at the most reasonable price range. With this new handset, we are all set to provide the Indian mobile users another handset with the latest technologies and stylized experience.”

In a bid to provide more to subscribers,Tata DOCOMO has come up with a new plan for subscribers in Mumbai,Maharashtra and Goa - "Just 2 Simple" offer.This plan allows all local and STD calls to Tata numbers for as low as 1 paise/2 seconds and Local and STD calls to any network at 5 paise/6 seconds.This plan is available for Rs.79 for new subscribers and Rs.71 for existing subscribers and comes with a validity of 4 months for new and 5 months for existing subcribers.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has acquired Zain Group’s (“Zain”) mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of USD 10.7 billion. With this acquisition Bharti Airtel becomes the 5th largest mobile operator in the world. This acquisition will Bharti Airtel to operate in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.

Bharti’s acquisition of Zain’s African mobile services operations covers 15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 million. The total population base covered is over 450 million with telecom penetration of approximately 32%. The countries in which Bharti has acquired the operations are - Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Zain is the market leader in 10 of the 15 countries and second in 4 countries.
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom firm completed acquisition of Kuwait based Zain Telecom’s African business for $10.7 billion (about Rs 48,000 crore).

This buyout not only makes Bharti to put footprint in Africa, but also positioned it as world’s fifth largest wireless company with operations across 18 countries and a subscriber base of around 180 million.

Of the $10.7 billion enterprise value of Zain, Bharti will be paying $8.3 billion upfront and $700 million after a year. It would also take over approximately $1.7 billion of Zain’s debts as on December 31, 2009.

Of the $8.3 billion paid to Zain, Bharti has raised debt from a consortium of foreign banks and State Bank of India with the lead-arranger and lead-advisor Standard Chartered Bank committing the highest amount $1.3 billion, followed by Barclays at $900 million.

Apple has unveiled its much awaited iPhone 4 featuring FaceTime, for video calling, and Apple’s stunning new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone. In addition, iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40 percent longer talk time.. iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4.

iPhone 4 is the thinnest smartphone ever—9.3 millimeters—with an all-new design and build quality. The front and back are made of aluminosilcate glass, chemically strengthened to be 30 times harder than plastic, more scratch resistant and more durable. The front and back glass have an oil-resistant coating that helps keep it clean, and encircling iPhone 4 is a highly finished stainless steel band made of a custom alloy that is forged to be five times stronger than standard steel.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) recently upgraded bandwidth of its customers using Unlimited Home Plans at no extra cost. BSNL has doubled the speed of 750 Home unlimited plan from 256 kbps to 756 Kbps and the speed of 1350 plan is increased 4 Times from 512 Kbps to 2Mbps.

iAd, the mobile advertising network of Apple, will make its debut on July 1 on iPhone and iPod Touch running on iOS 4. iAd will kick off with mobile ad campaigns from leading global brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Company, Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm, Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios. Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over $60 million, which represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010.