India: Mobile nos to start with ‘8′, 11 Digit next year

July 2nd, 2009

With a total of 415 million cellphone connections India is the fastest growing mobile market globally. Just a year back this number was at 277 million. Such growth comes with its own side effects. Having exhausted the 9 series, mobile operators in India are all set to issue mobile connections beginning with ‘8′. Janta would surely find this weird, having being accustomed to mobile nos starting with no 9 for over 10 years now. But this would still be better than 11 digit mobile nos that will might slip in 2010.

Department of Telecom and TRAI are burdened with many things. From the upcoming implementation of number portability to 3G auctions, banning of Chinese phones to ensuring privacy (Do Not Call etc), the mobile markets exponential growth keeps the regulators busy.

Via @danishk

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Nokia E63 launched in India, 5800 coming this week!

January 4th, 2009

The much awaited (atleast for me) Nokia E63 (scaled down version of E71) is now available in India. Retailing for less than Rs 15000 this seems to be a good buy. But compared to the expectations of USD 250, I feel the pricing is still a little steep. Courtesy Fine Connections, we managed to have a quick look at the handset and It is pretty impressive. Though a little bigger than the E71, it would be good upgrade from an E61i.

Also confirmed that the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic shall hit the Indian stores by this weekend. The pricing is Approx Rs 19400 which is really impressive. The first batch of Nokia’s in 2009 is looking good. The 5800 faces competition from LG Cookie which is aggressively priced @ Rs 13000 and highly promoted in India. The LG Cookie went on sale last week.

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