Assorted articles and Information

A study by the Global Wi-Fi Alliance has predicted that the Wi-Fi market in India will grow to $891million in four years. The adoption of Wi-Fi, which enables people to access the Internet without cables, would ride piggyback on the infrastructure and retail boom in the country, according to the study. Around 95 per cent of the laptops being sold in India at present are Wi-Fi enabled. The study also notes a steady increase in the sales of mobile handsets with Wi-Fi capability. This is another factor which would increase Wi-Fi adoption.

Other factors that will ignite Wi-Fi in India include large-scale developments of hotspots by corporates, telcos and PSUs. For instance, the Indian Railways recently announced that all important rail-routes between metros would be made Wi-Fi-enabled together with 50 railway stations (20 of which to be completed by March, 2008). Tata Communications, which has already rolled out rolled out 350 plus public hotspot locations is set to increase the chain to about 1,000 this year in 2008. Similarly, BSNL is setting up 100,000 Community Service Centres which will be carrying a powerful info kiosk that has Internet connectivity, plans to make a significant number of these Wi-Fi enabled.

While new technology solutions (PON, WiMAX, ADSL) will continue to address growing demand for broadband in India, Wi-Fi will continue to play a strong role in sub-tending the last mile to multiple end-points - slashing costs, improving inventory management in organized retail, enabling faster check-ins at airport counters, medical services in rural India, creating jobs in a rural BPOs, spreading education in hinterlands of India and enriching quality of life for many, the Wi-Fi Alliance study adds.

The study forecasts that by 2011-2012, the market for Wi-Fi networking gear and services (excluding laptops, handsets, and chipsets) in India will top $891 million, marking a 36 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2008. With real estate development exceeding 30 per cent annual growth, deployment of Wi-Fi networks in new residential, retail and corporate construction is cited as a key opportunity for Wi-Fi device manufacturers and service providers. The report profiles the work of a non-profit organization, Byrraju Foundation, which leverages Wi-Fi technology to connect rural farmers to experts in agriculture, remote patients to doctors, and young villagers to training and employment opportunities.

Microsoft on 1st Feb, 2008 said that it had offered to buy struggling Internet firm Yahoo for 44.6 billion dollars (30.0 billion euros) in cash and stock. And it had proposed 31 dollars per share to Yahoo’s board of directors, representing a total equity value of approximately 44.6 billion dollars. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo stock It said Yahoo shareholders could elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft stock, with its total offer consisting of one-half cash and one-half stock.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer said that they have great respect for Yahoo and they together can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers and being better positioned to compete in the online services market.  Yahoo revealed plans to lay off 1,000 employees as part of an effort to revitalize a company that analysts say strayed from its profitable strengths. 

Terry Semel, Yahoo chief executive said that Yahoo has been hit by sluggish revenue growth despite launching a new online advertising platform a year ago and having hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Yahoo reported that its profits dipped to 206 million dollars in the final three months of 2007 but still topped expectations by Wall Street analysts. Yahoo reported its revenues for 2007 climbed eight percent to 1.8 billion dollars compared with revenues in the prior year. However, Yahoo’s net profit for 2007 was 660 million dollars compared with 751 million in 2006.

Chris Liddell, chief financial officer of Microsoft said that Microsoft will probably borrow money for the first time to finance its proposed $44.6-billion takeover of Yahoo. The company will use available cash and stock to pay part of the $31 a share it has offered for Yahoo and the rest by tapping the capital markets for the first time in its history. Microsoft, which had $21.1 billion in cash and short-term investments as of December 31, proposes to pay half the Yahoo purchase price with cash and half with stock. Also he added that the company wanted to offer an attractive price to speed acceptance of the bid as it takes on Google in the internet advertising market.

AIRTEL

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group, has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector and broadband services. On November 7, 2001 Airtel unveiled ‘TouchTel’ as its Brand. And noe Touchtel to lead Bharti’s leadership strategy for its non-wireless business line including broadband. TouchTel marks the beginning of a new era in telephone services and a giant leap on the delivery of integrated end to end telecom solutions. The TouchTel brand will encompass voice based telephone services, high capacity leased lines, private leased circuits, dedicated ISDN services and enhanced value added services like video conferencing etc.

Airtel Broadband is powered by Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology. This technology provides fast and secure Internet access and can be delivered to both homes and to businesses. And it is delivered through a regular telephone line. The data rates can vary from 128Kb to 8Mb per second depending on the type and cost of the service. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology provides instant Internet and network access at speeds up to 50 times faster than a 28.8Kbps modem on a standard analogue phone line. There are no dial-up delays, no busy signal.

The Broadband plans offered by Airtel in Home plans are Flexi 777, Super Value 499 and Super Value 699. Here Broadband speed varies from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps and there is usage limit in these plans. Other Home plans offered are Combo 666, Combo 666, Combo 777 and Combo 999. Here the Broadband speed varies from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. Here also the user have browsing limits.

Airtel has now announced 8 Mbps.With the Broadband speed of 8 Mbps, one can now enjoy the real magic of the Internet. With 8 Mbps speed one can enjoy rich multimedia experience and can download movies in just 12 min or a song in 5 sec. And we can get uninterrupted movie and music streaming, online games and much more.

Home plans available in 8 Mbps are Combo 1299, Combo 2222, Combo 4444, Combo 9999 and Combo 19999. The Broadband speed is extremely fast but limited free usage of browsing is a limiting factor. For unlimited browsing one can opt for unlimited plan such as Unlimited 999 and Unlimited 1499. And there is no browsing limit but the Broadband speed comes with 256 Kbps and 512 Kbps respectively.

The Broadband is also available for business purposes. The plan included in Business plan are Business 2 Mbps1299, Business 2 Mbps 2222, 2 Mbps 4444 and 2 Mbps 8888. And 8 Mbps speed connectivity is also available, like 8 Mbps 2222, 8 Mbps 4444, 8 Mbps 9999 and 8 Mbps 15999. Unlimited browsing is not allowed in Business Plans. 8 Mbps plans are available in limited areas in National Capital Region. Bangalore, Chennai. Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata & Mumbai.

RELIANCE

Reliance is one of the major Internet service providers in the recent years and it has lived up to the expectation of the people, for the reason that it provides excellent Internet connection as well as a fast faced internet connection and this factor is also greatly responsible for Reliance becoming a part of the majority of the households. Reliance in the recent times started their own broadband Data/Voice Services in Technopark.It is also required to state here that the Reliance PAN India OFC is also connected to the FLAG, which is an under sea cable system, a company of the Reliance. It is interesting to note that the FLAG Telecom backbone connects 134 countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom, Middle East and many others as well.

Reliance Communications offer Broadband services named as ‘Broadnet’. It offers prepaid and postpaid plans. It also comes with prepaid combo and postpaid combo plan which the user can enjoy both Broadband Internet Access and a Fixed Line Phone.

Reliance BroadNet prepaid offers a very wide choice of plans, it includes Online Speed Select (pay per minute), Data transfer (pay per MB) and Flat Fee ( unlimited use) in prepaid plans. In Online Speed Select the download speed varies from 100 Kbps to 1000 Kbps and charge is calculated as usage per minute. In Data transfer plan the user can download at a speed of 600 Kbps and data transfer is calculated @ Rs.1.25/ MB. In Flat Fee, the user has the opt to have unlimited usage of Broadband. Prepaid Vouchers are available at various dominations according to the user needs starting from Rs 333 to Rs 1666 with 1 month validity and Rs 1020 to Rs 5555 with more than 1 month validity.

In prepaid combo plan the user have Broadband Internet Access and a Fixed Line Phone.The user has 2 options to choose Reliance Landline Phone + Online Speed Select plan of Reliance Broadnet and Reliance Landline Phone + Data transfer plan of Reliance Broadnet.And the recharge option ia also the same as that of prepaid plan.

Reliance BroadNet also offers postpaid plans which includes Online Speed Select (pay per minute), Data transfer (pay per MB), Flat Fee — unlimited use and Night Unlimited. In Online Speed Select the download speed varies from 100 Kbps to 1000 Kbps and charge is calculated as usage per minute. Data transfer plan offers Download speed of 2000 Kbps to 4000 Kbps . In Flat Fee plan the user can have unlimited usage of Broadband. And the download speed varies from 75 Kbps to 1 Mbps. It also offers Night Unlimited plan by which the user can have unlimited browsing during night hours between 10 pm to 8 am.

In postpaid combo plan the user can have Broadband Internet Access and a Fixed Line Phone. The monthly charge for this offer is Rs 249 and Rs 349 with Download speed of 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps respectively. Also the user can opt for Reliance Landline Phone + Online Speed Select plan of Reliance Broadnet and Reliance Landline Phone + Data transfer plan of Reliance Broadnet.

SIFY

Sify, which stands for Satyam Infoway Limited is one of the main Internet service providers as far as India is concerned. This company is based in Chennai and the most important fact that is associated with this service provider is that it is a large internet provider of India. The Sify offers a wide array of Internet Services such as Internet based virtual private networks for business/other enterprises, broadband Internet access for homes as well as for business, public Internet access points through a chain of franchised cybercafes, hosting of services for business/other enterprises and dial up Internet access for homes.

Sify Broadband uses the latest technology called ‘fixed wireless.Simply put,this uses a stationary 10″ X 10″ rectangular device called the subscriber-unit. Mounted on the roof of a Cable Operator’s building, this device points to the closest Sify Base Station that sends and receives signals. As the signal is received in your Cable Operator’s subscriber-unit, it is sent through wired cable to your home/building to reach the computer in your home.

For Home users it offers 3 range of service plans like Hourly Range, Family/Unlimited Range and Data Transfer Range.Hourly Range - This range is suitable for residential users who use the Internet for occasional downloading and regular browsing. It is also good for Voice Over Internet. Family/Unlimited Range - This range is best for users with simple mailing and text chatting requirments. Data Transfer Range - This range is best for Hi-Speed surfing and browsing sites with high content of images, video streaming and handling emails with heavy attachements.

In Hourly Range the user can use 15 hrs a month for Rs 214. In Data Transfer Range, the data transfer speed is 128 kbps. And the usage differs from 400 MB to 4.8 GB according to the tariff choosen by the user. And in the Family Range, the usage limit is 150 MB per day. There comes with 2 packages Happy Hours 64 kbps and Happy Hours 128 kbps, charging monthly Rs 463 and Rs 596 respectively. Another is Unlimited Plan with Upload Speed 64 kbps and Download Speed 128 kbps. And its speed is 128 kbps and charges Rs 711 per month.

TATA INDICOM

Tata Teleservices includes Tata Indicom Broadband which offers Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, the top provider of Internet Services and International Telecommunications in India. At present, VSNL is offering internet services in India and growing its importance in business and retailing by providing a wide number of internet products, such as high speed broadband , net telephony and dial-up Internet. Supported by the dedication and technical proficiency of both the companies, Tata Teleservices changes the ways of living of many by offering them an innovative and unique internet experience.

Tata Indicom Broadband offers both prepaid and postpaid plans.Tata Indicom Broadband brings you Personal Plans at superfast speeds of upto 2 Mbps. The prepaid plan includes Volume based Plans, Time based Plans and Unlimited Plans. In Volume based Plans the user can have Unlimited hours of Internet connectivity and includes plans like Surf Power 3750, Surf Power 7500 and Surf Power 15000. The download speed comes to 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. In Time based Plans the user can have Unlimited data transfer and includes plans like Quick Power 180, Quick Power 360 and Quick Power 720. In Unlimited Plans the user can enjoy Unlimited data transfer and hours of Internet connectivity and these plans are recommended for non-stop Internet usage. But the download speed is from 128 Kbps to 512 Kbps, according to the user requirement.

In postpaid plans, it offers Unlimited Plans and Volume based Plans. In Unlimited Plans, the user can have Unlimited hours of Internet connectivity and includes plans like Infinity - 256, Infinity - 512 and Infinity-1Mbps. The Volume based Plans are ideal for businesses who need very high speeds. And the user can select from a range of data transfer plans depending on their usage of the internet. It includes plans like Business Plus - 5000, Business Plus - 8000 and Business Plus - 20000. And the speed varies from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. Unlimited browsing is not available in this plan.

BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL )is one of the major Internet service providers of India as well as the largest and the oldest communications service Provider. The Broadband Service has been launched in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata from 14th January 2005.

The Broadband service will be available on DSL technology (on the same copper cable that is used for connecting telephone), on a countrywide basis spanning 198 cities. The Services available through Broadband are High speed Internet Access, Bandwidth on Demand, Multicasting, Dial VPN Service, Video and Audio Conferencing and Content based Services.

The Broadband Plans offered by BSNL are Startup Plan 250, Home Plan, Home Combo Plans, Business Plans, Unlimited Business Plans and 8 Mbps Business plan. The different tariffs available in Home Plan are Home UL 900 Plus, Home UL 900, Home 250, Home 500, Home 1000, Home 1800 and Home 3300. The speed in Home Plan varies from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. Unlimited Browsing is avaliable only in Home UL 900 Plus and Home UL 900. ^{The different tariffs available in Business Plan are Business 700, Business 1200, Business 3000, Business 5000 and Business 9000. Here Bandwidth speed varies from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. And here Unlimited Browsing is not allowed. Another Business Plan available in BSNL is Unlimited Business Plan which came in effort from 16 th March 2007. Here Bandwidth speed varies from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps.BSNL has also recently launched 8 Mbps Business Plan. The different tariffs available in this Business Plan are Business 2000, Business 4000 and Business 15000. Here the user can enjoy the Bandwidth speed of upto 8 Mbps. But there is upload/ Download limit ie) 12 GB, 27 GB and 125 GB respectively.}