Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications and the Finnish mobile handset maker Nokia announced their alliance on Friday, aimed at adding value to mobile services of RCom consumers. This includes Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools covering a range of innovative and personalized services in agriculture, education and entertainment. The services will be made available to RCom consumers in two variants, subscription and pay-per-use.

The subscription charges for education and entertainment services are fixed at Rs 30 per month, while that for agriculture service is Rs 60 per month. The pay-per-use rate is set at Rs 3 per request. Reliance Communications is also planning to offer mobile data bundle of 1.2 GB on Nokia GPRS-enabled phones. This is in addition to the offer of up to 1,800 free on-net minutes with Nokia 1800 that comes with six-month validity.

“We have seen sales of smartphones on our network increase manifold. With the rollout of 3G, we see a huge opportunity in fostering a mutually beneficial business relationship to offer customers unique voice, data as well as VAS innovations with Nokia,” said Vrajesh Shelat, RCom Head (Wireless Data Services and Alliances).

“To take mobility to the next level, Nokia is moving beyond products to add services like Ovi Life Tools and Ovi Music Unlimited on its devices. These services have the potential to positively impact livelihoods on the one hand and provide entertainment platforms to our consumers on the other. Our association with Reliance Communications is an important step in the direction of creating a strong ecosystem that will take these services to a larger consumer base,” said V Ramnath, Nokia India Director (Operator Channels).

This partnership also brings to consumers attractive offers on Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) for specific Nokia models. This will enable faster download of music up to 12 GB. Also available to RCom consumers is the exclusive offer of Reliance broadband data card for Rs 1,999 when purchased along with Nokia’s OMU-enabled handsets.

The telecom regulator, Trai, has extended the mobile number portability (MNP) implementation deadline for the fourth time to October 31, citing the complexity and enormity of testing work involved. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman J S Sharma announced that there will be no further delay in the MNP implementation.

MNP or mobile number portability is a technology that allows users to retain their phone numbers while changing service providers within the country. This facility is possible irrespective of the technology available to the subscriber. A subscriber with a CDMA mobile phone can switch over to a GSM network without any hassle. The best part of MNP implementation is that it comes at a reasonable price. Trai has fixed the charge for changing service providers at Rs 19.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has set a deadline of September 1 for completion of inter-operator tests to check the portability of numbers between service providers. DoT has announced that it will bar defaulting service providers from launching new services after the deadline. “It has been decided that permission to launch commercial service in any area with effect from September 1, 2010 shall be given to only those licensee(s) who are MNP-compliant.”

This announcement gains importance as the country’s telecom operators – Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone Essar, Tata Tele, Idea, STel and Aircel – are getting ready to launch hi-speed 3G services in September.

Both telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL have made it clear that they are all set for mobile number portability.

The deadline for MNP implementation was first set for December 31, 2009, which was later deferred to March 31, 2010 and further to June 30, 2010. In the initial phase, MNP will be implemented in all four metros and select states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The insistence by Intelligence Bureau (IB) to monitor, intercept and block 3G services before their rollout has placed a big question mark over the launch date. IB has asked all 3G service providers, who won the recently concluded auction, to exhibit their capability in this area. The service providers were planning for a launch early next year and the government had agreed to handover airwaves by September to enable this. However, with IB playing spoilsport, it remains to be seen whether this deadline will be met or not.

Indian security agencies have been voicing their concern about telecommunication services that cannot be monitored by them for the past couple of years. Internet telephony such as Skype, chat facility in Google Talk and video calls offered through 3G services, when availed on mobile phones are untraceable for the agencies. Similar services offered through 2G services are within the ambit of the Indian intelligence agencies, as they possess technology to monitor the data transferred.

As a part of the security tightening measures, the agencies are engaged in a tussle with the BlackBerry maker, Research In Motion (RIM) over providing access to their encryption keys. This is heading towards a complete or partial ban of its services in the country. While the interim solution offered by RIM is still being tested by the IB, the home ministry has called for a meeting with all telecom operators providing BlackBerry services.

Telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL are already offering 3G services, which is now being targeted by the security agencies. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent directions to both to install lawful interception mechanisms for all its 3G services within 15 days. The home ministry’s directive to DoT says, “Till a solution is arrived in this regard, all telecom service providers may kindly be directed not to provide 3G services, particularly in J&K.”

3G or Third Generation mobile phone services include wireless voice telephone, video conferencing, high-speed internet and interactive gaming.

There is good news for mobile phone owners; they will be provided with enough information to recognize those irritating telemarketing calls that they want to avoid.

The single nuisance that mars the otherwise useful contraption is telemarketing. The telecom regulator’s efforts to put an end to the misery of mobile owners had earlier come to a naught with the telemarketers finding some loophole or the other in the revised rules.

Now, Trai, instead of blocking telemarketing calls, is providing subscribers advance information about the calls so that they will have the power to take it or kill it. Trai is considering a proposal to prefix such calls with a symbol to let the subscribers know that the call is ‘unsolicited’. Telecom service providers will be asked to include this provision. “If it is not possible to ban such calls, the subscriber must have information that it is a telemarketing call and the option to disconnect such a call,” an official clarified the Trai stance.

Trai had been trying to regulate ‘unsolicited commercial communications’ and had issued a consultation paper during last May on the topic. After last Monday’s incident, when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee got one such call during an important meeting with the Opposition leaders, which managed to annoy him, Telecom Minister A Raja decided to speed up the proposal.

The ‘Do Not Call’ registry set up as per Trai regulations did not succeed, as most subscribers found it irksome and tedious to list them in the DNC registry. Again, the telemarketers are bound to remove DNC registrants from the list before sending bulk SMSs, but there is no way to ensure compliance.

Trai is conducting an open house on ‘Do Call’ registry on August 18. With this facility in place, those subscribers who want to get telemarketing calls can list themselves in the registry for a pre-specified period.

Meanwhile, Trai has asked the leaders in bulk SMSs, Tata Tele-Services Ltd and Aircel, to stop selling bulk SMSs to telemarketers. In the Rs 300 crore SMS market, bulk SMS constitute only a miniscule portion.