India Post to launch payments bank by March ’17, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said India Post will launch its payments  bank by March 2017. As many as 40 international financial conglomerates, including World Bank and Barclays, have shown interest to partner with postal department for the payments bank, Prasad said on the sidelines of an event on Good Governance.

He also announced that state-run MTNL, which offers services in Delhi and Mumbai, will offer free roaming services  from January 1. This will allow 35,22,000  MTNL subscribers to receive calls at no extra cost while travelling across the country.

Prasad also announced many initiatives for digitisation of India Post to facilitate faster delivery of goods and services, a crucial link for its partnering in e-commerce business. Some big initiatives for India Post such as facilitating it with hand-held devices for electronic transactions which will help in booking and delivery of speed post, registered mail, money orders, sale of stamps and postal stationary through these devices were announced.

The minister handed over solar-powered, biometric hand-held devices to three branch postmasters and 1,30,000 such devices would be rolled-out by March 2017. At least l,57,000 integrated state-of-the-art parcel centres have been created for booking, processing and delivery of e-commerce parcels.

Savings bank deposits and withdrawals, other deposits and loan or claim payments will also be done electronically on these devices and will automatically be uploaded on the central server,” said the minister adding that 197 ATMs are already operating at post offices and many more will be installed.

The minister said post offices will act as a common service centres and offer services such as rail reservation, online bill payment for electricity and water, mobile and DTH recharge, insurance policy premium payments & transactions for partner banks, insurance companies, mutual funds and other services.


Resource :http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/india-post-to-launch-payments-bank-by-march-17-says-ravi-shankar-prasad/184749/

Facebook Free Basics: Moral conundrum overshadows benefit aspect

There is no doubt that Facebook is doing this for a profit, but if Free Basics can dovetail with the Digital India initiative, it will be able to achieve what conventional methods haven’t been able to, so far


New Delhi: There is a rather vociferous debate in India around the interpretation of net-neutrality. And it all started after popular social networking company Facebook rolled out a massive campaign across media, urging people to support its Free Basics platform. The company’s marketing spiel included full page advertisements in almost all major national and regional newspapers in India, as well as prompts on Facebook asking users to sign in support.


Formerly known as Internet.org, Free Basics “provides free access to basic internet services to a billion people all over the world”. In other words, Free Basics is positioned as an app for the developing countries and allows people, who may otherwise find a typical 2G/3G/4G data plan a tad too expensive, to access some Internet services at no cost—news, weather, travel and even health, education and public service information. But after all the outrage on social media, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has put Free Basics on hold. The next step will be announced in January 2016.


At present, content available on Facebook’s Free Basics platform includes Wikipedia, AccuWeather and Supersport, among other region-specific health and education services. If one doesn’t pay attention to the finer details, it is easy to brush this off as a half-baked Internet platform. Designed to work on even the most basic phones, Free Basics has a set of guidelines for content providers to adhere to, before their content can be made available on this low-bandwidth platform. Which is why it is a bit hard to understand the logic when critics such as SaveTheInternet forum suggest, “Free Basics is not an open platform. Facebook defines the technical guidelines for Free Basics, and reserves the right to change them. They reserve the right to reject applicants, who are forced to comply with Facebook’s terms.” After all, who doesn’t have technical guidelines and terms and conditions for content on their platform? Google does, Apple does, Microsoft does, and the list goes on.


“We wouldn’t reject apps at their discretion and would not launch with operators if rejecting apps was a condition of their participation. We’d also be happy to have Twitter, Google+, etc on the platform,” said Chris Daniels, vice-president, Internet.Org, Facebook, during an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on Reddit. Based on Facebook’s experience in African and South American countries, he adds, “Within a month, 50% of people who started their journey with Free Basics are paying for the entire Internet. Only single digit percentages of people are only on Free Basics after that month.” Read more

There is no doubt that such a platform, because of its uniqueness, will draw divided opinion. And it most certainly is a clever and effective marketing strategy, keeping in mind Daniel’s own admission that people quickly upgrade from Free Basics to full-access Internet plans.

Free Basics needs to work

According to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) numbers, India had 354 million Internet users as of June 2015, of which 60% are accessing Internet services through their mobile phones. But, while this user base may look good on paper, the reality is that this accounts for just 27% penetration (China has 51% and US clocks 87%). In other words, large sections of the population are still not connected to the Internet. There are many factors for this, with the cost of Internet access being one big stumbling block. Facebook wants to take that away with Free Basics.

“Free Basics is open to any carrier. Any mobile operator can join us in connecting India,” says Facebook, while adding, “we do not charge anyone anything for Free Basics. Period.” Critics such as SaveTheInternet forum suggest, “Facebook doesn’t pay for Free Basics, telecom operators do. Where do they make money from? From users who pay.” But what is wrong with that, if it is actually getting more people connected? After all, doesn’t the government subsidise a lot of things in India—where does that money come from? The taxpayers, of course. By this logic, do we stop paying taxes because someone else is benefiting from LPG subsidies? Also, for example, Airtel has specific pre-paid recharge plans that offer unlimited access to Wynk Movies and Music streaming services. Should the likes of Gaana and Saavn not cry foul?

There is a massive chasm between people in big cities who access Internet on their phones, and people in rural areas who don’t. IAMAI numbers prove that. SaveTheInternet completely ignores the penetration numbers, and just looks at the burgeoning user base, no matter how skewed that might be, “We’ve added 100 million users in 2015.” The loud criticism about Facebook is that they are restricting access to full Internet and forcing Facebook’s own services down new users’ throats. The point is—Free Basics isn’t meant for you and me. It is meant for those who are yet to get the first taste of the connected world, and they wouldn’t care if they have forced access to Facebook or not.

SaveTheInternet also suggests, “Facebook gets access to all the usage data and usage patterns of all the sites on Free Basics. No website which wants to compete with Facebook will partner with them because it will have to give them user data.” While that is certainly true, it is hard to think of any web-based service these days that doesn’t track usage? Your Android phone does. Your Windows laptop does.

Another argument goes, “Facebook says that Free Basics doesn’t have ads, but does not say that it will never have ads on Free Basics.” That’s way too much to expect from corporate entity. We pay for subscribing to paid channels on cable and DTH—they still have advertisements. HBO started off in India many years ago as an advert-free channel, but had to change its tune after some time. Market forces decide that, eventually.

The premise of Free Basics is the disruptive model, that is perhaps a good way of increasing Internet penetration in a country where the government and state-funded as well as private telecom service providers are struggling to get a similar result. If it can spread awareness, knowledge, help with access to medicine and education, while bringing faster connectivity and perhaps limited access to those who are currently outside the connected demographic, it is worth a shot. A 2010 World Bank/IFC report suggests that for every 10 percentage point increase in high-speed Internet connections, there is a corresponding increase of 1.3 percentage point in economic growth. . Everyone agrees poverty is a bad thing; if Internet penetration can help, why not?


If conventional measures could have achieved the same results, why haven’t they? It clearly is time to try something out of left field.


Facebook’s gain is our gain



Yes, Facebook wants to earn a profit. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are not doing this for philanthropy alone, but there is a long-term profit motive. And there surely isn’t anything wrong with that.

It is also being said that with Facebook in control of the content, it could give top billing to one source which may make it difficult for the others to break through and be available to consumers. Well, that is just something that will stand the test of time. Google can lock everything on your Android phone tomorrow and force you to only use their apps—they can, but they haven’t. Nothing tells us Facebook will do otherwise.

The entire debate has taken a moral tone when it should be about who benefits and how. In this case, Facebook is benefiting, and so are deprived users who don’t yet know what the world wide web is. If Free Basics is able to connect even 1% of them with the promise of better education and eventually better job prospects, just think of the boost for the economy.


Resource : http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/a5r6BLvsCWBF6HaMOa1eCP/Facebook-Free-Basics-Moral-conundrum-overshadows-benefit-as.html

Paynear raises $2.5 million in pre-series A funding

Paynear Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a complete payment solution provider has raised pre-Series A funding of $ 2.5 million from serial investor Mr. Mitesh Majithia. Paynear aims to be the largest player in the merchant specific solution industry including payment processing.This will boost Paynear in raising the USD 10 million they plan to raise as Series A funding.


 Paynear Solutions is a complete payment solution provider, enablingindividuals and businesses of all sizes to accept card payments for their business and providing a seamless customer payment experience. The company mission is to activate the second rung of the Indian market for card payments, enabling merchants to engage and reward customers through a host of unique solutions. In a short span of time of less than one year of their launch, they already have presence in 20 cities in India with more than 4000 active devices.

Paynear contributes to the vision of PM Modi for a less cashless society by enabling electronic payment to all industries and segment with an affordable, simple and secured solution


 Commenting on this fundraising, Mr. Prabhu Ram (Managing Director Chief Strategy Officer at Paynear) said We are in a growth trajectory and this funding will help us in our expansion, increase our technical capabilities and also grow our sales. Consark Consulting Service, a Bangalore based boutique investment banking firm acted as an advisory for this investment. Mitesh has also joined our board as a Director and his experience will bring in immense value to our team and growth. We are also in the process of raising the next round of funding.


 Mr. Mitesh added mPOS and mobile payments are the next big thing and have a huge market potential in the Indian payment scenario. Paynear expertise in payment industry will revolutionize the way payments are made in India.


About Paynear Solutions Pvt Ltd Founded in 2013,


with its headquarters in Hyderabad, by a team of highly experienced and entrepreneurial professionals with a decade of experience in the payment merchant centric industry, Paynear set out with the goal to provide a secure and streamlined customer payment experience for all industries, through itswide range of innovative and reliable payment solutions. Paynear Omni channel package consists of mPOS solutions, CRM and payment gateway, designed to simplify payment processing. Its products Paynear mPay; is a mobile point of sale solution (mPOS) especially designed for merchants and businesses of all sizes and verticals, whereby merchants can start accepting credit/debit cards anywhere, anytime, through their Smartphones/Tablets and PC. Yet another revolutionary product is Paynear SPOT; which is a one-stop solution for recharges, bill payments and much more. With SPOT agents can recharge their customer prepaid mobiles, DTH, data cards, pay postpaid mobile bills, pay insurance policies and various utility bills and much more.
Resource :http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/sme/paynear-raises-3625-millionpre-series-a-funding_4599001.html

New TRAI net neutrality paper is a breath of fresh air after the last one

The latest consultation paper by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on telecom providers charging different prices for browsing different websites — the so-called differential pricing of data — comes across as a breath of fresh air after the last one, issued under former chairman Rahul Khullar.

While Khullar started with the assumption that net neutrality was not mandated by the existing law, the new paper starts by saying that ‘transparent and non-discriminatory pricing’ of telecom services is required by the law.

In other words, a telecom operator like Bharti Airtel or Vodafone cannot charge Rs 200 per GB for browsing the Times of India and only Rs 10 per GB for browsing Hindustan Times.

The last consultation paper by the TRAI was primarily concerned about operators’ profits, with the Authority expressing its worry that rising data use could hurt Indian operators’ profits.

This had led to unprecedented protests by Internet users in India, ending in an avalanche of a million emails to the regulator.

This time the authority — under new chief RS Sharma — has kept itself away from discussions about whether operators will make more money or less money because of data, and focused largely on a single point mentioned in the previous net neutrality paper — the question of ‘free Internet’ for the poor.

Indeed, free Internet for the poor is a pet theme of Facebook, the second biggest data-traffic generator in India (after Youtube.)

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has impressed upon the current government the need to provide free Internet to economically backward sections of the people, and the TRAI paper is essentially an attempt to see if this service can be allowed, and if so, under what conditions.

However, while Facebook may rejoice that its ‘Free Basics’ program is the subject of a regulatory consultation process, the new paper is unlikely to bring much cheer to the telecom companies because their main concern — profitability — has not found a place in TRAI’s discussion yet. In addition, their key demand — allowing ‘Zero Rating’ plans, has also not been treated sympathetically in the paper.

‘Zero Rating’ is a scheme under which the telecom operator takes money from the owners of websites in return for facilitating free and easy access by its customers to these websites. The website and app owners pay for ensuring smooth and cheap access to their websites and services.

Operators argue that such ‘Zero Rating’ schemes are already prevalent in voice services in the form of toll-free numbers.

However, unlike in case of voice — where there is only the price dimension — there are two dimensions to a data service — price and speed (bandwidth). While giving free access to 10 or 20 websites and apps may not hurt the whole of the Internet, giving preferential access  in terms of bandwidth will in a spectrum starved country like India.

The analogy with toll-free calling facility fails for this reason, as the provision of a toll-free number to your neighbor will not affect the quality of quality of voice calls that you are able to make, unlike in data.

This is a concern in competitive areas like e-commerce, where companies are looking for new ways to prevent their competitors from carrying out their business. An online shopping app could buy preferential access to a telecom companies’ customers, and if the rival’s app hangs or becomes slow as a result, the buyer of the preferential access can easily recover the money from increased sales.

This is especially a concern in a country like India where the experience on mobile Internet tends to far less than satisfactory. If and when operators are allowed to prioritize the traffic to and from the websites that are part of their toll-free service, the rest of the Internet will become almost inaccessible due to the proportionate reduction in bandwidth.

In other words, Amazon’s app may take ten times more to load compared to a rival who is in the Zero Rating program. To compete, Amazon will have no option but to pay the telecom operator to ensure that its app does not ‘hang’. While Amazon may be able to do so, this will prevent the emergence of smaller start-ups in online retailing as they are unlikely to be able to afford the kind of budgets that big, established players bring to the table.

This, essentially is the danger that the TRAI has highlighted in its consultation paper without using terms such as net neutrality.

In fact, the TRAI did not even go down into bandwidth issues. It flagged the concern purely from a pricing stand-point.

“Differential tariffs arguably disadvantage small content providers who may not be able to participate in such schemes,” the consultation paper points out. “Such providers may have difficulty in attracting users, if there exist substitutes for free. This may thus, create entry barriers and non-level playing field for these players stifling innovation.”

“In addition,” said the TRAI, “one can also argue that differential tariffs can be used as a tool by the telecom service providers to incentivize or disincentive access to different contents available on the internet by varying the price of access, upward or downward. Theoretically this might entail providing certain content for free while making other content prohibitively expensive for subscribers to access. Allowing service providers to perform what effectively amounts to a gate keeping function might potentially empower TSPs to select certain content providers and disadvantage others, thereby adversely affecting public interest,” it added.

The consultation paper also wondered whether telecom companies will end up buying or building their own apps, news websites, video services and search companies, and drive their customers into using these services by making them free or nearly free, while making competing services unaffordable.

“Telecom service providers may start promoting their own websites, apps and service platforms by giving lower rates for accessing them… This may be perceived to be an anticompetitive move that stifles innovation and competition, leaving absolute power in the hands of the telecom service providers,” it said.

However, said the regulator, since the telecom operators and social networks were very keen on helping the poor by offering free data, some way must be found to allow them to do so.

“One approach might be to delink free internet access from specific content, and instead limit it by volume or time,” it said.

Facebook, for example, offers free data only if it is for browsing their own or their partners’ websites. However, said TRAI, telecom and social networking companies could think of removing such a restriction and instead offer only a limited amount of data for the consumer to use as he wishes.

Aircel Cellular has already launched such a scheme. If a new subscriber uses the ‘first recharge coupon’ or FRC of Rs 144, he or she would get free Internet for 90 days.  The speed or bandwidth of this service will be capped at 64 kbps (2G speed).

TRAI also came up with certain suggestions.

“For instance, a telecom service provider could provide initial data consumption for free, without limiting it to any particular content. Current examples of this approach include allowing free browsing or discounted tariffs for specified time windows, or giving away a certain amount of data daily for free,” it pointed out.

TRAI also suggested that if a website like Facebook wanted to help poor people, it could reimburse those who visit the website in terms of talk time or money. The websites can in turn recover that money from the advertising revenue generated by these visitors.

“The other approach of promoting access through the Internet could be initiated by the content providers wherein they could reimburse the cost of browsing or download to the customers directly irrespective of which telecom provider he or she has used to visit the website. Coupons, direct money transfers or other methods and technologies can be employed to reward the users for their visits to these websites. The direct money transfer approach has been adopted in some initiatives that offer mobile credit to all consumers, in exchange for viewing advertisements,” TRAI said.

Resource :http://rtn.asia/s-e/16100/new-trai-net-neutrality-paper-is-a-breath-of-fresh-air-after-khullars-attempt

Payment Solution Provider Paynear Receives Funding

Hyderabad based payment solution provider, Paynear Solutions has raised about R16.68 Cr ($2.5 Mn) in Pre-Series A round of funding led by serial investor Mitesh Majithia.
The latest round is said to be a part its $10 Mn Series A funding plan.

Founded in 2013, Paynear Solutions is engaged in providing cashless payment services. It offers mobile point of sale solutions, payment gateway, mobile application and mobile payments services. It helps people accept card payments for their business and is aiming to build a service which helps merchants to engage and reward customers.

Its products Paynear ‘mPay’ is a mobile point of sale solution (mPOS) especially designed for merchants and businesses of all sizes and verticals, whereby merchants can start accepting credit/debit cards anywhere, anytime, through their Smartphones/Tablets and PC.

Another product Paynear ‘SPOT’ enables user to make recharges, bill payments and much more. On the other hand, agents can recharge their customer’s prepaid mobiles, DTH, data cards, pay postpaid mobile bills, pay insurance policies and various utility bills and much more.

Resource :http://www.dealcurry.com/20151210-Payment-Solution-Provider-Paynear-Receives-Funding.htm

Pakistan starts crackdown on illegal Indian DTH services

Pakistan’s electronic media watchdog has started a crackdown against the illegal provision of about 2.5 million Indian Direct-to-Home (DTH) services in the country’s major cities ahead of its plans to award official DTH licences to investors. “Already around 3,000 DTH equipments have been seized in Lahore and Islamabad but the major illegal connections are in Karachi,” Fakharuddin Mughal, a spokesperson of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (PEMRA) said.

The crackdown comes as PEMRA is preparing to award official DTH licences to Pakistani investors next month. ”This illegal business is worth around $150 million (roughly Rs. 998 crores) annually.Approximately this amount is earned by Indian DTH services and their agents in Pakistan annually from our market,” Mughal told PTI.

“The money was moved illegally from Pakistan to Dubai as license and subscription fees by the agents/operators in the country who illegally market and sell Indian DTH services like Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance, Videocon, Dish TV etc,” PEMRA’s Director General Licensing Wakeel Khan said. ”According to a rough estimate there are around one million to 2.5 million users of illegal Indian DTH services in Pakistan most of them concentrated in the big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad,” Wakeel said.

The penetration of Indian DTH services is said to be more since cable operators also rely on DTH’s to show channels like Star Sports, Star Movies and National Geographic, which have not yet received the nod from PEMRA. Wakeel said Pakistani dealers, working on behalf of Indian DTH companies smuggle DTH dish and set-top box from Dubai, which involves a one-time cost of around Rs 10,000 to 15,000 which the customer pays.

Monthly subscription fees for the DTH services range from Rs 1200 to Rs 1800 per month. The illegal Direct-to-Home service has become popular in Pakistan according to analysts since they show high quality digital content and normally have a range of 300 to 400 channels to choose most of them in Hindi-language content. Wakeel said that PEMRA had also requested the help of Customs Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other agencies to curb this illegal business as it was difficult to trace down the equipment to private homes.

“We can target cable operators and the agents but it is difficult to go to every home. That’s where (Pakistan) Customs intelligence, FIA and other agencies have a role to play,” Mugal said.

He said none of the dealers smuggling in DTH dishes and set boxes and offering services had registered offices and they used websites to market their products or welcomed walk in customers. PEMRA is scheduled to auction three DTH licenses on December 7 for which 10 investors have submitted their documents. It presently has given landing rights to only 19 foreign channels while they are around 86 Pakistani satellite channels operating in the country

Resource :-http://www.bgr.in/news/pakistan-starts-crackdown-on-illegal-indian-dth-services/

OYO Rooms partners Airtel for Wi-Fi, DTH services

OYO Rooms today announced a tie-up with Bharti Airtel, under which the telecom major will provide its Wi-Fi and DTH services in OYO branded hotels, initially covering 3,000 rooms within the next three months.

“OYO being the largest branded network of hotels in India, is very keen to have Airtel on board to provide DTH and seamless Wi-Fi experience for our guests across more than 3,500 properties we have on our platform,” OYO Rooms Chief Operating Officer Abhinav Sinha told PTI. He said this is an exclusive long-term strategic pact with Airtel.


OYO Rooms today announced a tie-up with Bharti Airtel, under which the telecom major will provide its Wi-Fi and DTH services in OYO branded hotels, initially covering 3,000 rooms within the next three months.

“OYO being the largest branded network of hotels in India, is very keen to have Airtel on board to provide DTH and seamless Wi-Fi experience for our guests across more than 3,500 properties we have on our platform,” OYO Rooms Chief Operating Officer Abhinav Sinha told PTI. He said this is an exclusive long-term strategic pact with Airtel.

“We have about 30,000 rooms already on our platform. The first phase which is already in the launch phase is going to cover 3,000 rooms,”

Sinha said. OYO Rooms network hotels provide TV and Wi-Fi experience, but the experience is broken because they have not used larger players, especially Airtel being one of the best, Sinha said. Talking about capital expenditure for deploying Wi-Fi and DTH services, Sinha said Wi-Fi premise equipment are already a part of the hotel.

“If they need to be enhanced our estimate is 10-15 percent of the hotels that OYO is working closely with them to get it done. The hotel owners are more than happy to invest to improve customer experience. For the DTH connections, just like several other plans Airtel already has prepared a custom plan for us,” Sinha said.

Bharti Airtel CEO for Corporate Business, Ashish Arora said: “We are looking at rolling out services within a quarter across 3,000 rooms as the first phase and once the model is settled it will look at connecting all the properties under the OYO Rooms umbrella.


Resource :- http://www.bgr.in/news/oyo-rooms-partners-airtel-for-wi-fi-dth-services/

I-T raids at Karti Chidambaram's firms in Chennai

NEW DELHI: Officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax on Monday conducted searches at premises in Tamil Nadu said to be linked to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti, drawing a sharp retort from the UPA-era cabinet heavyweight who accused the government of launching a "malicious onslaught" on his family.

The raids, purportedly in connection with the agencies' investigations into the Aircel-Maxis deal that is part of of their overall probe into the 2G scam case, were conducted at premises in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli. The income tax department said these were based on "credible information of tax evasion and large scale financial irregularities". A ED spokesperson also confirmed the raids. Both agencies did not officially identify the people or the companies raided.

The Economic Times had on August 31 this year flagged off the impending ED action in an article that said the directorate had written to the RBI and NSDL on foreign exchange transactions by firms said to be linked to Karti Chidambaram.

Reacting to the raids, Chidambaram accused the government of harassing friends of his son.

"If the government wishes to target me, they should do so directly, not harass friends of my son who carry on their own businesses and have nothing to do with politics," he said in a statement.

The former finance minister also accused the government of firing from the shoulders of a senior official in the ED, who he said was known to be inimical to him. While his statement did not name the official, the former finance minister is known in Delhi's political and bureaucratic circles to be at daggers drawn against a senior ED official in Delhi. However, Monday's raids were conducted by the Chennai offices of the ED and the Income Tax department.

Chidambaram's statement said when he was finance minister the officer had asked him to intervene in a dispute with the revenue department, but he had declined to do so."The change of government has given him an opportunity to misuse his powers to harass my son and his friends," he said, adding that he and his family were prepared to face the "malicious onslaught launched by the government".

The Congress party also came to his defence and accused the NDA regime of trying to "persecute" the former finance minister "on account of political vendetta" and that it was the latest in a series of deliberate targeting of many senior Congress leaders in order "to settle political scores".

The government sought to reject the charge that the actions of its agencies were politically motivated. In an unusual statement, the Income Department said the searches and surveys were in accordance with the the provisions of the Income-tax Act and were consequential to ongoing investigations. "There is no collateral purpose behind such actions and no political person or his family member are today shareholders or directors of the companies searched or surveyed by the Income Tax Department."

ED officials said that they were probing Karti's role on the directions of the court. The agency is probing whether firms linked to the former finance minister's son were also illegal beneficiaries of a controversial deal involving the sale of mobile firm Aircel by Chennai-based entrepreneur to Malaysian group Maxis in 2006.

The CBI and ED have alleged that Sivasankaran was forced to sell because Dayanidhi Maran, the then telecom minister, held back clearance for spectrum. In return, Maxis, as per the theory of the agencies, bribed the Marans by investing in Sun DTH, part of the Sun Group. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has often levelled allegations that Karti Chidambaram also benefited from the deal.

Resource :-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/i-t-raids-at-karti-chidambarams-firms-in-chennai/articleshow/49995264.cms

ISRO's Diwali Gift: GSAT-15 Communications Satellite Successfully Launched

New Delhi:  The Indian Space Research Organisation has given the nation the most appropriate Diwali gift - An indigeneously made communications satellite GSAT-15. It was successfully launched at 03:04 am (IST) today, using one of the world's largest rockets - the Ariane-5. The launch took place from Kourou in French Guyana in South America.

The GSAT-15 satellite weighs 3164 kilograms and has been made at a cost of Rs. 278 crores. It carries a suite of 24 transponders which will help in Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting. It also carries a GPS-Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 and L5 bands, which will help in aircraft navigation.

The Ariane-5 rocket has been hired at a cost of approximately Rs. 581 crores. An Arabsat communications satellite also accompanied the GSAT-15 on the same launch.

The GSAT-15 was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) after its co-passenger Arabsat-6B (BADR-7) was injected into space.

India currently has a shortage of transponders in space, with the Indian satellite system being able to handle just a third of the required capacity; The rest being leased from foreign satellite owners.

If India wants to benefit from the economic reforms announced yesterday, which allows foreign direct investment in non-news channels through auto route, Teleports, DTH and Cable Networks, ISRO needs have many more transponders in space.

Resource :-http://www.ndtv.com/

FDI in cable, DTH raised to 100%

Direct-to-home companies and cable firms can now have 100 per cent foreign direct investment, according to the latest FDI reforms announced by the commerce and industry ministry. Earlier, the FDI limit for the cable and DTH sector was 74 per cent, 49 per cent through the direct route and beyond that companies had to seek the government approval.

The ministry has relaxed FDI rules in non-news media as well. While 100 per cent FDI was allowed in the sector earlier, it will now be allowed through the automated route. News media and FM radio are now allowed up to 49 per cent FDI under the government route.

Sudhanshu Vats, group CEO, Viacom18, and chairman, CII national committee, media and entertainment, said, "This seems to be an excellent way to flag off Diwali celebrations in the country. Tuesday's announcement emphasises the need to align more industries to the automatic route of FDI, over the government-regulated route, to enhance ease of raising capital. The industry will witness accelerated investor interest."

Currently, companies like Fox (through Star and Sky) have interests in cable and DTH companies. While Sky owns 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky, Star has a joint venture cable distribution company with Sameer Manchanda's Den Networks called Star Den.

"The crux of these reforms is to further ease, rationalise and simplify the process of foreign investments in the country and to put more and more FDI proposals on automatic route instead of the government route where time and energy of the investors is wasted," said the ministry advisory.

Resource :-http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/fdi-in-cable-dth-raised-to-100-115111100037_1.html

IHC seeks govt response on DTH licence bidding against SC orders

Pemra plans to hold licence bidding on Dec 7 for three DTH licences with duration of 15 years each. The petitioner contends that Direct to Home (DTH) is latest technology to deliver high quality TV channels to homes and since there are only 100 DTH projects globally, its bidding process should be undertaken without any legal controversy and undue haste. The petitioner demands that the proceedings of Pemra meeting under the acting chairman on August 11, 2015, to initiate bidding process should be declared void ab initio. It further added that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court under the Chief Justice of Pakistan on August 19, 2015 had directed federal government to appoint Pemra chairman within 30 days. However, the acting chairman continues with long-term policy matter like DTH bidding process despite the limitation set by the Supreme Court to his appointment and scope of work in different orders of the apex court and the fact that a full-time chairman has been notified by the federal government.



The Supreme Court has already dismissed an acting chairman in December 2012 on the grounds that no such post exists in Pemra ordinance and the Authority should have a permanent chairman.



The SC further ruled in 2013 in PLD SC 244 against functioning of an acting chairman Pemra stating that no such post exists in Pemra ordinance and had struck off the Pemra Content Regulations 2013 processed and notified under then acting chairman Pemra for this very reason. The Supreme Court, in the same judgment, stated that an acting chairman could only attend day-to-day mattes and was/ is not authorised to make policy decision having effect on long-term policies. The petitioner has quoted Khawaja Asif case in the Supreme Court 2013 SCMR 1205 which also lays down the same principle.

Resource :- http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-352190-IHC-seeks-govt-response-on-DTH-licence-bidding-against-SC-orders

Apps that pierce ballooning utility bills

our years ago, when Jigar Doshi returned from the US, he realised his monthly phone bill was around Rs 3,000 — more than what he paid in US, where rates are significantly higher.

Perturbed by the disparity, Doshi started planning an android app which could track voice calls and messages from a phone and use the data to suggest the best available plan in the market and save you money. He joined hands with Ankit Chhajer to develop Planhound.

The app today has over a million monthly users and plans are to reach 10 million users.

This is one example of how a few Indian startups have created apps to help users choose the right plan and reduce their phone and utility bills.

Automatic detection

The inspiration for Planhound came from the US website Billshrink.com, which helps users find the best wireless plans, television services and credit cards rates, reveals co-founder Ankit Chhajer.

The app detects all connections a user owns — across mobile, Internet (wired and wireless), landline and DTH — even if they are not recharged through its app or website.

“It does this automatically without any user input,” Chhajer says. “It gives a user live balances of each connection. It can also unify all connections owned by a family in the cloud if Planhound is installed on their respective devices.”

Planhound alerts users at the right time to renew their mobile packs, buy top-ups, recharge DTH connection or pay post-paid bill.

The firm now plans to extend their services to utility services such as electricity.

Chhajer says the app puts a disclaimer that if there are deviations in data usage, the users have to check with the operator for accuracy.

Planhound is not the only player in this segment.

Mubble, backed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, helps smartphone users track and control their telecom spends and mobile data usage.

The app was developed in 2013 by IITians Ashwin Ramaswamy, Pranav Jha and Raghvendra Varma.

“Mubble brings unprecedented transparency and empowerment to the smartphone user by democratizing technology and solving key problems of smartphone adopters across India,” says Mr Nilekani.

The Mubble app has clocked a million downloads in less than six months. It is designed to work offline, thereby conserving precious mobile data. It is available in multiple Indian languages and almost half the users access it in their mothertongue, the company said. “Mubble is not only made in India, it is truly made for India,” says Mr Ramaswamy.

Mr Nilekani says providing support and funding to this initiative was a part of his ethos and inherent belief about the power of a digital India.

Another app, Simply, allows users to monitor their spending on prepaid mobile connections, call patterns and frauds.

The app was developed by Shabaz Ahmed, a graduate from the M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, during a hackathon this year. He is working to commercialise the app. Ahmed has the backing from Michael Jones, a former chief executive of MySpace, one of the earliest social networking sites, through his venture capital fund called ‘Science India Fund’.

The Fund supports early start-ups focused on building mobile phone applications.

More services

Earlier this month, FreeCharge launched gas bill payment service on its Android app and website. FreeCharge is associated with five major gas pipeline providers including Mahanagar Gas, Indraprasth Gas, Gujarat Gas Company, GSPC Gas Company and Adani Gas. The service is available in Delhi, Mumbai and Gujarat.

“We aim is to convert all the mundane transactions that customers have to do into a rewarding experience,” says Kunal Shah, chief executive officer at FreeCharge. He says the aim is to bring about a behavioural change by organizing the bill payments market in India.

The company has further strengthened its online utility bill payment category by adding electricity and landline bill payment services.

The facility is available across major cities and regions including Jodhpur, Jaipur, Assam, Tripura and Chhattisgarh.

Resource :- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-mumbai/apps-that-pierce-ballooning-utility-bills/article7935748.ece

Why Use Mobile Payment Apps?

Most people who buy online in India use either cash on delivery, or credit cards. But some are
making the move to mobile payment apps.

Sometimes, it’s forced by other factors. For instance, when Uber stopped accepting credit cards in India because of the RBI mandate for two-factor authentication, many started using Paytm for Uber.

But some are hooked on the convenience. They’re quick, friendly, give instant updates on transactions, and have features that are usually not available with card payment.

Others are hooked on them for their safety and built-in limit. Even after Uber reintroduced cards for Indian users, many continue with Paytm, because you can keep tabs on your spend more easily, recharging, say, Rs 2,000 weekly.

Mobile wallets offer a better way to manage payment tools, from debit and credit cards to discount vouchers and loyalty vouchers. You can safely store your credit card information in the wallet app to be used later in the event that you need to make an instant transaction, and don’t have access to your card at that moment. It is also more secure than carrying a wallet full of cards all the time.

A mobile wallet app also gives you better control: you get a single place to track your purchases, experts say.

Here are five popular mobile payment apps:
Resource :- http://www.techtree.com/content/features/10161/why-use-mobile-payment-apps.html

Free recharge, the new mantra by apps

It’s not just Facebook which is offering free access to select mobile apps without paying for data usage.

A number of applications have come up with a proposition that is letting crores of users in India to not only access any website or app for free but even make calls or recharge their DTH account without spending anything.

The idea has been so successful that these data and call sponsoring apps are all self-funded, profitable and are not even looking for a venture capitalist to raise more money.

After downloading, the users can browse through offers from other mobile apps that are willing pay users to start using their product. The advertiser pays the company if the user downloads their app and more money if the app is used for more than a week.

The user gets paid anywhere between ₹5-50 for installing and using the promoted apps. The advertiser gets to promote his app, while the user gets to access more apps for free.
Earn Talktime

For example, New Delhi-based start-up RationalHeads Technologies, has given out ₹50 crore worth of vouchers to users of its app Earn Talktime, for just installing and accessing some mobile apps such as those from Flipkart, Amazon and Infibeam.

The company’s Chief Executive, Sandeep Mirakhur, an ex-Airtel executive, says the biggest roadblock towards app usage in India is the cost of mobile Internet.

“We thought if we could eliminate this roadblock by offering people free data; adoption will happen,” Mirakhur said.

The strategy has worked brilliantly so far. The company has earned ₹100 crore in the last 18 months of kick-starting with 40 per cent profitability. It already has 13 million users on its platform and expects to grow at about 60 per cent year-on-year for the next few years. And all this, without raising any external funds.

A similar story is echoed by Chennai-based app called Ladooo. The funny-sounding app has nine million users and given out more than ₹12 crore as refunds to its users. The company had only 1.3 million users in January. “Free data is like free petrol,” said Raja Hussain, CEO, AirLoyal, the company that owns Ladooo.

“The more fuel you give them, the more they'll drive around and need more. This keeps users using more apps and coming back to our platform,” he said.
Alternative to ads

Ladooo has partnered with over 450 companies since January 2014 to act as an alternative to advertising. Hussain decided to start the app as a means to promote some of his other apps but it turned into a large business opportunity in itself. Mavin, a Bengaluru--based start-up, began when executives from Google and Microsoft decided to leave their lucrative jobs and solve the app usage problem in India and launch an app called Gigato.

It’s co-founder, Shailesh Nalawadi, who worked as a product manager at Google Maps, “We believe there is a $2.5 billion opportunity to provide connectivity to smartphones that currently have data disabled.”

Resource :- http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/free-recharge-the-new-mantra-by-apps/article7916378.ece

Ola enters mobile payments space with Ola Money

New Delhi: India’s largest cab hailing service Ola on Friday announced its entry into the mobile payments business with the launch of a dedicated mobile app—a move that will put it in direct competition with Alibaba Group-backed Paytm and Snapdeal-owned FreeCharge.

The app, Ola Money, will allow users to recharge their mobile phones and send money to friends and family, said the company, which plans to expand services to payment of utility bills and add more partners on the platform, including e-commerce firms and food-ordering sites.

Ola, owned by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, is the latest in a string of Internet companies that have launched mobile payment apps, seeking to grab a share of the nascent but fast-growing payments market. Increasing penetration of smartphones has spurred the rapid expansion of online transactions and payment solutions.

Snapdeal, run by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, acquired mobile recharge and wallet firm FreeCharge in a $450 million deal in April, pushing its own valuation to about $5 billion. Snapdeal was valued at roughly $2 billion when it raised $627 million from Japan’s SoftBank in November 2014.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, the market leader in digital payments, in August won in-principle approval from the central bank to set up a payments bank which would offer basic saving, deposit, payment and remittance services, significantly increasing the value of owning a digital wallet.

India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart Ltd bought payments services start-up FX Mart Pvt. Ltd in August to add payment services on its platform; and during the past six months, Ola, together with co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, acquired a minority stake in ZipCash Card Services Pvt. Ltd, a company with a wallet licence from the Reserve Bank of India. Ola is offering its new app in association with ZipCash.

In June, Ola invested close to Rs.3.2 crore for a 3.4% stake in Zipcash and Aggarwal bought a 2.56% stake by investing Rs.1.2 crore in March, Mint reported on 10 October. Ola, which is looking to apply for its own wallet licence, has held talks with ZipCash for a potential acquisition.

Founded in 2007, ZipCash offers mobile vouchers, bill payments, mobile top-ups and direct-to-home (DTH) television recharge services and has partnerships with the likes of eBay and BookMyShow, among others. Mumbai-based ZipCash has been struggling to expand.

“The launch of the Ola Money app is a big step towards simplifying payments for users across a wide range of products and services they use everyday,” said Aggarwal, who is also CEO of Ola, which he founded in January 2011 with fellow Indian Institute of Technology Bombay alumnus Ankit Bhati.

“Ola Money has seen tremendous acceptance over the last three months, since the time we opened it up for third-party merchants.” He added: “We continue to add more merchants and build many more use cases with Ola Money, making it a seamless experience for users. With the app enabling users to do a lot more, including mobile recharges and money transfers, we are excited about the possibilities that Ola Money brings for the millions who are beginning to prefer an easy-to-use mobile payment solution.”

Ola’s move to venture into the mobile payments space comes at a time when US-based rival Uber Technologies Inc. is catching up with the local cab aggregator. Ola bought smaller rival TaxiForSure in a $200 million deal in March to increase its lead over Uber, and now claims to have an 80% market share.

“Uber is disrupting Ola in India and the company is diversifying in order to justify its current valuation and secure future valuations,” said an industry analyst on condition of anonymity.

Over the past year, Ola has ventured into a food delivery service—Ola Café—and launched an independent grocery-ordering app called Ola Store, seeking to match the strategy Uber is adopting elsewhere in the world. Uber is already delivering groceries, food and e-commerce products in the US.

Experts see Ola’s diversification as both a distraction and a strategy to remain relevant. The company seems to be losing focus on its core business, but the diversification is also a tactic to gain larger marketshare and retain the loyalty of its customers, analysts say.

“A wallet that is acceptable at multiple places helps in securing the customers. Also with the whole story about digital India, 4G and smartphone penetration there is a big opportunity in the payments space which is yet to see clear leaders,” said Sanjeev Krishan, transaction services and private equity practice leader at consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers India.

How much a cab aggregator can succeed in payments is a “wait and watch game”, he said.

“Uber is doing what they are good at and have let a specialist like Paytm handle payments,” he said.

Ola’s Aggarwal seems to have his sights set on the entire mobile commerce ecosystem in India. “We are a mobile-first company and we are focused on building and nurturing the mobile ecosystem of the future, where a billion people are going to be online, through their phones,” said Aggarwal.

The mobile payments app is not a customer-acquisition strategy alone, said Rushil Goel, head of Ola Money, which currently has a 50-strong team that Ola plans to expand aggressively.

“We are going after the entire payments segment,” Goel said.

About half of Ola users are already paying for their rides using Ola Money, according to the company. In August, the company opened Ola Money for payments to third-party merchants including budget hotel aggregators OYO Rooms and Zo Rooms, music streaming portal Saavn, online eyewear retailer Lenskart and food ordering app TinyOwl, among others.

Over the past year, Ola has become one of India’s fastest-growing start-ups. Poor transport infrastructure and a shift in consumer habits towards convenience and on-demand services have fuelled a boom in demand for cab services such as Ola and Uber. Ola is in advanced talks to raise $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion from existing investors which include SoftBank, Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, Mint reported on 21 May

Resource :-http://www.livemint.com/Companies/P4REfJgDkjHWkIi6q9shBP/Ola-enters-mobile-payments-space-with-Ola-Money.html

Paytm to hive off original wallet biz into separate app

BENGALURU: In a bold move, the country's largest mobile wallet Paytm will hive off its bread-and-butter payments business as a separate app, with the current app focusing on shopping. This will put the Alibaba-backed Paytm in direct confrontation with the deep-pocketed dedicated e-commerce players including Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal.

Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the payments market (Paytm has more than 100 million registered customers) has reached the long-tail of Indian consumers, where the app requirements are different from that which urban English speaking customers needed.

The main app, which will morph into an e-commerce app, will continue to offer the wallet option for some time, but will prompt users to download the independent app for wallet use cases. The company is running pilots now and will launch the second app in January.

Facebook did a similar thing with its Messenger app, and while there was resistance, the move was successful with most users downloading Messenger. But can Paytm do it successfully? The risk is higher because unlike Facebook Messenger, which is only a small part of FB, the wallets business of Paytm is huge.

Sharma is confident. "Paytm is the default payments app for many and its use case needs to be simplified even as we as a company expand our horizon by adding commerce. By this method, we can make both users happy," he said.

Paytm's increasing commerce business that includes goods, bus tickets, hotel bookings and more, have made the app heavy and the co-existence with payments has complicated the payments use case, Sharma added. He felt that many rural customers will be put off by a heavier app and it makes sense to give them a simple light app for payments.

There are others in India who now have multiple apps, but the newer apps have invariably been for newer nascent businesses. Flipkart just launched a separate app for grocery purchases called Flipkart Nearby. Ola has a different app for food delivery. Zomato's food delivery app is called Zomato Order. Following the acquisition of Freecharge, Snapdeal has a separate wallet app.

Ashish Jhalani of Etailing India, an e-commerce consultancy, said that it is a prudent decision. "The apps are getting heavier and slower. What if consumers don't want most of the new features. Downloading a new app is not a big deal now. This is customization according to customer requirements," he added. At the time of downloading, most apps are light, but the cache data keeps on adding to the size, unless the user periodically deletes the data manually.

Paytm has entered e-commerce as the payments business based on commission is a low margin business. The commerce business, started a little over a year ago, now contributes 40% of the company's revenue. The company expects commerce to be 60% in another 12 months.

Alibaba, which has pumped in more than $600 million into Paytm in less than a year, follows a similar model - its Alipay app takes care of payments, while the Tmall app does the commerce business.

However, BigBasket co-founder Hari Menon thinks a multiple-app strategy may backfire. BigBasket gave up the idea of going that way for their business of showcasing recipes and associated product offerings. "People want to make things easier in life and multiple apps and notifications from more apps will create resistance," he said

Resource :- http://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and-applications/paytm-to-hive-off-original-wallet-biz-into-separate-app/49655142