“Moment of triumph for the people of Gujarat”: Ratan Tata
- From today, subscribers can call anywhere in the World on a per-second pulse
- Best coverage by any operator at the time of launch—487 towns covered
- Country-wide GSM service rollout to be completed in this financial year itself
- TATA DOCOMO unveils special calling and SMS packages for Gujarat market
TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, today announced the commercial launch of its operations in the Gujarat telecom circle, hot on the heels of its launch and runaway success in the Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Rest of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Jharkhand-Bihar, Punjab, UP (East) and UP (West) telecom Circles. The company’s Next-Gen GSM service started on a heady note in Gandhinagar city, with Tata Teleservices Limited Managing Director Anil Sardana lighting the ceremonial lamp in the presence of TATA DOCOMO President Deepak Gulati.
TATA DOCOMO also announced its industry-changing “Pay-for-what-you-use” model in Gujarat, which includes the game-changing per-second pulse and a plethora of innovative applications and services. The company’s pan-India service rollout, which was kicked off in end-June 2009 and has seen tremendous response from subscribers in all the 15 Circles that TATA DOCOMO has gone live in prior to Gujarat, will be completed this year itself.
Since the launch of TATA DOCOMO services in end-June 2009, Tata Teleservices Limited has led in monthly subscriber additions for six consecutive months—starting from August 2009.
In a message at the launch conference, Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, said: “The value proposition offered by TATA-DOCOMO is a unique and revolutionary idea which symbolizes the spirit of innovation and inventive genius. This launch is truly a moment of triumph for the consumer. The launch of the pay-per-use concept by TATA-DOCOMO will create a paradigm shift in the overall telecom experience for the customer and provide a service that is refreshingly different.”
Introducing the One-Second Pulse—Local. STD. ISD.
TATA DOCOMO also unleashed a wide array of products and services, riding on the back of path-breaking innovative products and services, & never-before tariff options. “We had made a promise that we would bring to the country products and services that would redefine the telecom experience,” Mr Anil Sardana said. “It is a privilege to be fulfilling that promise in Gujarat—where subscribers are discerning and seek transparency, innovation and differentiation. Our partnership with NTT DOCOMO will help us provide subscribers with tremendous technological and service differentiation. Keeping in view the century of trust associated with the House of Tata, we are launching the concept of fare being fair. From today, TATA DOCOMO subscribers in Gujarat will be able to enjoy the benefits of pay-as-you-use,” he added.
NTT DOCOMO is acknowledged as the global leader in 3G technology and respected worldwide for its futuristic product innovations—the Japanese telecom market leader is also on the verge of launching 4G services.
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“In a market that is cluttered with many operators and throws up confusing options, we offer simplicity to consumers by being the country’s most transparent, innovative and liberating telecom brand,” Mr Deepak Gulati said. “The first move on this front is to cut through the clutter and redefine the entire pricing paradigm—from Day One of our launch, we will not only offer our game-changing ‘Pay for Exactly What You Use’ proposition, our customers in Gujarat will also enjoy a special calling rate of 3 paise per second on international calls to the US and Canada (and to UK land-lines), without any pack. This is to ensure that our customers in Gujarat can stay in regular touch with their near and dear ones who live overseas. We will also offer our per-second pricing model for everything, be it voice calls, VAS services or IVR interactions. Above all, we promise to always listen to our subscribers,” he added.
TATA DOCOMO is also launching India’s first mobile community in Gujarat—Buddynet—wherein members will enjoy never-before calling rates within the community—1 paisa for 6 seconds for local calls, and 1 paisa for 2 seconds for STD calls. Buddynet members will also get free access to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Linked-In and Nimbus. Furthermore, TATA DOCOMO subscribers in Gujarat will also benefit from special SMS tariffs, wherein the first SMS of the day will be charged at 60 paisa—the next 200 SMS in that day, local or national, will be free.
“We are focusing strongly on network superiority, coverage and service offerings. Our network footprint is the largest among all telecom operators in the Gujarat telecom circle, at the time of launch. We have made large investments in Gujarat, and further expansion is on the anvil this year itself,” Mr Nipun Sharma, TATA DOCOMO’s Chief Operating Officer in Gujarat, said. “We will unveil a portfolio of Value-Added Services that will reinvent mobile telephony in India, with products and services like diet-sms, Free Voicemail, Timed SMS Service, Free Missed Call Alerts, Call-me Tunes, etc—all of them customized to liberate and refresh our subscribers,” he added.
In a video-address, Mr Toshinari Kunieda, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, Global Business Division, NTT DOCOMO, said: “NTT DOCOMO has provided technical inputs to make the TATA DOCOMO GSM network world-class. Progressively, NTT DOCOMO shall bring to India the various products and services that we offer in Japan and many other countries—such as i-modeTM, Location-based Services (LBS) and mobile payment—and give TATA DOCOMO customers a flavor of tomorrow. TTSL and NTT DOCOMO are closely engaged in integrating technology, value-added services, products and applications through the mechanism of Business and Technology Cooperation Committee (BTCC). This should see TATA DOCOMO change the way India communicates.”
The company has earmarked an investment of $2 billion on its pan-India GSM network rollout.
Superior Technology and Network
From the day of the launch, the reach and coverage of the TATA DOCOMO network is greater in Gujarat than that of any other operator at the launch stage. The TATA DOCOMO GSM mobile service will have extensive coverage in 487 towns and cities and 770 villages in Gujarat, along 1,969 km of the state’s highways, at airports, along 1,700 km of rail routes and at places of tourist interest. Coverage in the districts of Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Jamnagar will be provided soon after the receipt of spectrum from the Government of India.
NTT DOCOMO has played a major role in the evolution of mobile telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge technologies and services. Over the years, technologists at NTT DOCOMO have defined industry benchmarks for 3G technology, as also products and services such as i-mode and a plethora of lifestyle-enhancing applications. Today, while most global telecom players are only beginning to talk of 4G technology and its possible applications, NTT DOCOMO has already recorded a downlink transmission rate of 250 Mbps over a high-speed wireless network in an outdoor test of an experimental system for Super 3G, also known as LTE, and is targeting to complete the commercial development by the end of 2009. This will hold TATA DOCOMO in good stead as it gets close to completing the pan-India rollout of its GSM services.
About TATA DOCOMO
TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited’s telecom service on the GSM platform—arising out of the Tata Group’s strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata Teleservices Limited has received a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has also been allotted spectrum in 18 of these Circles. It has rolled out its GSM services in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orrisa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Haryana-Punjab, Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP East, UP West and Gujarat, while Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited has launched GSM services under the TATA DOCOMO brand in the Mumbai and Rest of Maharashtra Circles. TATA DOCOMO marks a significant milestone in the Indian telecom landscape, as it stands to redefine the very face of telecoms in India. Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile operators—in the Japanese market, the company is the clear market leader, used by over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users. NTT DOCOMO, the world’s leading mobile operator, will work closely with the Tata Teleservices Limited management and provide know-how to help the company develop its GSM business.