As a part of the nationwide roll out of its GSM services, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications has finally launched its GSM Services in Mumbai.

With the latest move, Reliance Communications has became the first private CDMA service provider in India to provide GSM services.

It may be noted that few days earlier, the company had announced the launch of its GSM services across 11,000 towns in the country.

Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (QTIL), a SREI Group subsidiary, has finally acquired a 49 percent stake in Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure (WTTL), Tata Teleservices' tower arm.

Under the deal, QTIL will pay Rs 2400 crore to Tatas, and transfer its 5000 towers into WTTI. In addition, QTIL will have management control in the firm.

A new service dubbed as Vodafone Friends Circle has been announced by major Indian mobile service provider Vodafone for its customers. The advantage of this service would be that a group of people would be able to call each other at cheap rates.

The service that works for a group of five people with Vodafone connections is available to both pre paid and post paid customers. The customers, who will take up the service, will be able to call each other at 20 paisa per minute.

It was informed by the company that the interested customers of Vodafone can activate this service through an SMS sent across as FRIENDS to a toll free number 144.

On Friday, a low-cost home computing device was launched by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Chennai-based IT solutions company Novatium, which could help the former achieve a target of 9 million broadband connections across the country in the next couple of years.

Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL Kuldeep Goyal informed at a press conference after the launch of “Nova netPC” on the BSNL’s network, “Affordability issues over buying a desktop PC or laptop would no longer stand in the way of broadband penetration, especially in rural areas.”

The Union Finance Ministry has asked the telecom department to double the floor price for 3G and wireless broadband spectrum. The move can further delay the 3G auction process scheduled for January 16.

The finance ministry has asked to submit fresh proposal to the Cabinet with the desired changes. Two anonymous executives of the telecom companies said that the move would make 3G services more expensive for the consumers. Telecom companies expressed reservations on the fresh move of 3G prices issue.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has made announcement about the launching of its ‘Interactive Personalised Television and Video Services’ (IPTV) services in Haryana.

In order to fulfill this initiative, State-run telecom operator (BSNL) has joined hands with Smart Digivision.

IPTV is a system delivering digital content services to subscribers using the Internet protocol over a broadband connection using closed network infrastructure.