Organizations Increase Remote Worker Productivity with Enhanced Riverbed Mobile WAN Optimization Solution

Steelhead Mobile 3.1 Introduces Performance Optimization for Citrix Virtual Desktops and Key Microsoft Enterprise Applications; Introduces First WAN Optimization Solution for Apple Macs

Bangalore, India – AUGUST 31, 2010 – Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD), the IT performance company, today announced the newest version of its mobile WAN optimization solution, Steelhead® Mobile 3.1. Steelhead Mobile 3.1 builds on the Riverbed® award-winning acceleration solution for workers on the go with a suite of enhancements that gives enterprises flexibility in deploying up-to-date technologies without sacrificing user productivity. With this release, enterprises and governments will be able to take advantage of performance optimizations for Citrix virtual desktops and key Microsoft enterprise applications and protocols for mobile workers.  In addition, Riverbed is introducing the first mobile WAN optimization solution for organizations deploying Apple Mac laptop computers across their mobile workforces.

 

As organizations adapt their infrastructure for the modern workforce, greater flexibility is required. Centralization of data continues to be a top priority to reduce IT infrastructure costs, but challenges such as remote locations, inconsistent links, and high-latency environments slow application performance and significantly impact the productivity of high-cost knowledge workers when they are working remotely.  In addition to centralization, organizations are incorporating new technologies across their global workforces, such as virtual desktops, and supporting new enterprise platforms, such as Apple Macs, which leave organizations struggling to provide a consistent user experience for mobile workers. Steelhead Mobile 3.1 provides organizations with enhanced performance optimizations to overcome the challenges presented by a modern infrastructure, resulting in a more productive mobile workforce.

 

“We’ve seen organizations getting great rewards from technologies such as virtual desktop deployments, but despite these new ways to work, enterprises and remote workers are realizing that access alone isn’t enough," said Jon Oltsik, principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.  “As users are increasingly separated from their data, performance issues in delivering data over the WAN can lead to a significant reduction in worker productivity.  Riverbed Steelhead Mobile can help large organizations address many of the network performance barriers and thus accelerate key applications and data to mobile workers over the WAN.”

 

Optimizing Performance for Citrix Virtual Desktop Deployments

Enterprises have discovered that virtual desktop performance across the WAN suffers due to bandwidth restrictions and the impact of latency, which in turn impacts end user productivity.  Steelhead Mobile 3.1 provides functionality to improve Citrix performance for mobile workers.  In addition, the enhanced functionality makes it easier for organizations to get the most from their Citrix deployments by simplifying configuration.  This combination of speed and simplicity allows organizations to enjoy all of the benefits of providing virtual desktops across the WAN without concern for performance.   With these enhancements to Steelhead Mobile, Riverbed provides a complete WAN optimization solution to accelerate Citrix traffic from data centers to branch offices to remote and small office users, making their virtual desktop performance faster than ever before.

 

In addition, with this release enterprises can deliver to their mobile workers the same acceleration capabilities for Citrix XenApp as employees at headquarters and branch offices that utilize Riverbed WAN optimization already enjoy.  This acceleration results in a faster, richer user experience as well as bandwidth savings of up to 50 to 80 percent over uncompressed desktop traffic. 

 

Introducing the Only WAN Optimization Solution for Apple Mac Users

With Steelhead Mobile 3.1, Riverbed introduces the industry’s only mobile WAN optimization solution for Apple Mac desktops and laptops. Built on the same powerful Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS®) that powers the Steelhead appliances and Virtual Steelhead^TM, the Steelhead Mobile Mac client software allows mobile workers using Apple Macs to enjoy improved access and increased performance.  With many mobile Mac users choosing to run Mac and PC applications simultaneously, Steelhead Mobile 3.1 provides the flexibility to accelerate whichever applications they need, independent of the underlying operating system.  Additionally, the Steelhead Mobile Mac client is the only mobile WAN optimization solution to optimize Windows applications running in VMware Fusion, enabling organizations to optimize applications in both a Windows and Mac operating system with a single client license.

 

“Steelhead Mobile is an integral part of our IT strategy to provide our mobile workers with access to the data they need to do their jobs,” said Eric Mayer, director of Information Technology at the Loomis Group.  “Additionally, as a creative services organization, we rely heavily on Apple Mac products to deliver value to our customers. Steelhead Mobile’s support of the Mac platform will provide us with another powerful tool to help our creative team work effectively wherever they are, whether they are working from home or a remote client site.”

 

Accelerated Microsoft Applications for Remote Users

Riverbed delivers acceleration for the broadest range of applications and platforms of any WAN optimization vendor. Continuing that effort, in Steelhead Mobile 3.1 Riverbed provides enhanced optimizations for key Microsoft applications including:

 

• Exchange 2010 Application Optimization: Steelhead Mobile 3.1 is the first mobile WAN optimization solution to officially support both network and application layer optimizations for Exchange 2010.  Remote workers can see data reductions of up to 97% and up to 30 times faster performance, giving administrators the freedom to upgrade their Exchange environments without concern for performance.  

 

• Secure Acceleration for Encrypted MAPI: With the release of Exchange 2007 and 2010, Microsoft enabled encryption by default, forcing administrators to choose between security and performance. Steelhead Mobile 3.1 optimizes encrypted MAPI for mobile workers, improving response times by up to 45 times.  Riverbed makes it easier to deliver consistent performance to branch office and mobile workers in environments where email encryption is used, providing organizations with a comprehensive solution for optimizing communication between client and host servers without impacting security.

 

• SharePoint and Microsoft Online: Steelhead Mobile 3.1 builds on the existing web application optimizations for SharePoint that improve document check-in and check-out times by up to 30 times.  These additional optimizations for SharePoint reduce latency effects and speed response times by up to 30 percent, providing users with LAN-like speeds across the WAN for navigation within the SharePoint Portal.  Steelhead Mobile 3.1 also optimizes Microsoft Online (BPOS-D) services such as encrypted and unencrypted Exchange Online and SharePoint Online environments.

 

“Organizations have struggled to deliver IT resources to an increasingly mobile workforce. The introduction of new technologies and platforms to the global IT infrastructure further complicates the ability of an IT organization to provide a consistent experience to end users no matter their location,” said Apurva Davé, vice president of product marketing at Riverbed.  “Steelhead Mobile 3.1 helps organizations of any size overcome the performance challenges involved in delivering business-critical applications and data to their remote workers.”

Extended workbench: ThyssenKrupp Nirosta consolidates stainless steel service center operations

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta is to concentrate all its stainless steel service center operations in a single unit in the future. In addition to the Nirosta Service Center (NSC) based in Wilnsdorf (near Siegen), it will include EBOR Edelstahl GmbH (Sachsenheim near Stuttgart) and smb Chromstahl GmbH (Langenhagen near Hannover). They will then also operate as service centers under the name of ThyssenKrupp Nirosta. A resolution on this has now been passed by the Supervisory Board. The new structure will come into effect at the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2010. "With this step we can make it clearer to our customers that the service centers are extended workbenches of our production plants," says Karsten Lork, Head of Sales at ThyssenKrupp Nirosta.

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta already provides a number of primary processing services. These include: Slitting of coils from surplus production and specifically ordered starting material, marketing of these products as premium quality slit strip, and sale of material from the Krefeld, Benrath and Dillenburg cold-rolling mills. With the measure now introduced, these services will be extended to include the production and marketing of unfinished sheet and finished sheet and strip (brushing, grinding, painting, high-gloss polishing) within a single NSC unit. ThyssenKrupp Nirosta will then supply its products and services along the value chain "from a single source". "In addition to this benefit for our customers, the established advantages of a service center will be retained in full - such as flexibility, delivery performance, batch sizes in line with requirements, and further increased involvement in the development work and product services of ThyssenKrupp Nirosta," says Lork.

Apart from these advantages on the operating side, the reorganization will permit cost savings in particular in the administrative area. The restructuring of the service center operations will not involve workforce reductions for the locations in Wilnsdorf (98 employees), EBOR in Sachsenheim (100) and smb in Langenhagen (33).

ThyssenKrupp Nirosta is one of the world's leading manufacturers of stainless flat products with a broad range of stainless steel grades, sizes and finishes. The company has several sites in Germany and employs around 4,200 people.

Blue Dart wins Award for Best Motivational Practice in Services

A Maiden award instituted by AIMA - Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

 

Kolkata, 30^th August 2010 - Blue Dart, South Asia’s premier number one express air and integrated transportation, distribution and logistics Company, has been honored with the “Award for Best Motivational Practice in Services” by All India Management Association (AIMA) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). The Award has been instituted to encourage employee motivational programs and practices in organizations in the manufacturing and services industries, leading to more effective management and leadership.

 

The Award was presented at the Inaugural Session of AIMA’s flagship HR event called National HRM Summit on 20^th August 2010 at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. The Summit was attended by over 300 delegates from the industry across the country. As the winning organization, Blue Dart made a case study presentation of its ‘Best Motivational Practice’ on the second day of the Summit.

 

Mercer, a renowned HR consulting firm was the knowledge partner for this prestigious Award. Based on the evaluation criteria, they conducted a Survey in which two questionnaires were administered on the participating companies to gather relevant information. One was administered on a random selection of employees to gather the voice of the employee and measure their level of satisfaction. The second questionnaire was administered on the HR personnel of the participating company to seek information on the HR processes, practices, manpower statistics, demographic data, etc. The companies short listed on the basis of the Survey were further evaluated by a distinguished Jury consisting of eminent personalities from HR and academia. They judged 57 participating organizations on critical parameters before reaching a final decision. The Award Jury unanimously chose Blue Dart Express Limited under the Services category and Marico Limited under the Manufacturing category as the winners.

 

Commenting on the occasion Barttanu Das, Sr. VP – Human Resources, Blue Dart Express Ltd said, “Blue Dart’s achievements can be attributed to its strong employee base. Blue Dart’s people strategy has been unique and reflects of the critical role played by its employees. While holding onto good talent, we appropriately develop them for greater future responsibilities. This is what has led to our ‘People First’ policy, which emphasizes on individual development, growth, care and nurturing of our employees within the framework of our day-to-day work and operations. Regular feedbacks, internal communication systems, employee support mechanisms, rewards and recognition are some of the basic tools that ensure employee’s loyalty towards the organisation for a longer period of time.”

“Blue Dart aims to be the ‘Employer of Choice’ providing an ideal environment for employees. We will always demonstrate respect without compromising on results. Blue Dart inculcates values and passion amongst employees that translate into impeccable service quality and greater commitment towards customers.” added Barttanu Das.

Over the years, Blue Dart has maintained credibility as a people focused organization with a strong and motivated people force of more than 6300 employees. It has been recently recognized as one of India’s Best Companies to Work For 2010 in a study conducted by Economic Times and Great Place to Work® Institute, India. Blue Dart also received the Award for Best HR Strategy in Line with Business and Award for Innovative Retention Strategy at the Asia’a Best Employer Awards 2010, Singapore.

 

About Blue Dart:

Blue Dart, South Asia's premier number one express air and integrated transportation, distribution and Logistics Company, offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 25,498 locations in India.

As part of the DHL Group (DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding & DHL Supply Chain), Blue Dart accesses the largest and most comprehensive express and logistics network worldwide, covering over 220 countries and offers an entire spectrum of distribution services including air express, freight forwarding supply chain solutions and customs clearance.

Blue Dart received the ‘Superbrand’ status 5 times in a row and the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brand Gold Award, 5 years in a row. It has been listed as one of the Forbes 'Best under a Billion' companies in Asia. Blue Dart received the Amity HR Excellence Awards 3 times consecutively and was listed 2 times in the Dun & Bradstreet top 500 companies of India. Blue Dart has been conferred the Asia Brand Congress – Brand Leadership Award in 2008, the World Brand Congress – Brand Leadership Award and the Best Service Provider of the Year in 2009. In 2010, amongst a host of awards, Blue Dart was conferred with the Organization with Innovative HR Practices 2009-10 and Best Employer Award on Employee Retention at the Global HR Excellence Awards, WHRDC Meet 2010. Recently, Blue Dart was honoured with the 22nd CFBP Jamnalal Bajaj Fair Business Practices Award – 2010 in the category of Service Enterprises (Medium). Blue Dart has also been recognized as one of India’s Best Companies to Work For 2010 in a study by Economic Times and Great Place to Work® Institute, India. Blue Dart also received the Brand Leadership Award at CMO Asia Awards 2010, Award for Best HR Strategy in Line with Business and Award for Innovative Retention Strategy at the Asia’a Best Employer Awards 2010, Singapore.

The Blue Dart team drives market leadership through its motivated people force, dedicated air and ground capacity, cutting-edge technology, wide range of innovative, vertical specific products and value-added services to deliver unmatched standards of service quality to its customers. Blue Dart’s market leadership is further validated by numerous awards and recognitions from customers for exhibiting reliability, superior brand experience and sustainability. Blue Dart accepts its social responsibility by supporting climate protection, disaster management and education. Apart from various other initiatives in Sustainability, in an effort to reducing its carbon footprint, Blue Dart registered an improvement on CO2 efficiency by 10% year-on-year.

Break the language barrier with an Idea!

 

IDEA Cellular launches a new brand campaign under the popular, What an Idea, Sirji! series, to demonstrate the power of telephony - “Kyunki Bolne ke liye Bhasha ki Zarurat Nahi Hoti”

 

Kolkata, August 30^th, 2010: Imagine getting a lucrative job offer from a far flung city in India; the offer excites you, but the thought of living in a place where a different language is spoken, makes you doubtful. Would you leave the offer only because you cannot speak the language, or overcome the hurdle by adopting a simple idea and give wings to a bright career ahead? The new advertisement from IDEA Cellular, which broke on TV this weekend, shows Sirji this time proposing a new idea to overcome the language barrier. And his message is “Bolne ke liye Bhasha ki Zarurat Nahi Hoti”

 

India is a land of a billion people talking in 22 recognized languages, 850 mother tongues, and 22,000 dialects; it is also a land of opportunities for the young Indians who are ambitious, go-getters, and have dreams in their eyes. However, this diversity and vastness, at times, poses a hurdle in the growth of the youth of this country. Taking note of this growing concern of the multi-lingual society, IDEA Cellular has set out to demonstrate how a simple solution can build bridges between people speaking different languages.

 

The new ad from leading mobile brand unravels an idea which will help millions of Indians - who move out of their homes for Career, Education, Travel and other prospects in life; or need to communicate with people talking different languages in their own surroundings - to easily adapt to the change in environment and communicate smoothly.

 

Idea Brand Ambassador, Abhishek Bachchan (aka Sirji), who has in the past been seen in various avatars such as the Sarpanch, Tourist Guide, School Principal, Politician’s aide, Doctor, and even a Tree, is now seen in a completely different role in the new ad. The Sirji character who has won millions of hearts with his smart ideas and witty comments is now giving a new idea to overcome the language barrier, without speaking a language!

 

Speaking about the upcoming campaign, Ms. Anupama Ahluwalia, Vice President – Marketing, IDEA Cellular, said “Almost every Indian has gone through a situation where one has struggled to communicate with another fellow Indian just because of language. India’s diversity lies in its languages, and rather than being intimidated by this barrier, we need to just find a simple solution to overcome it and easily adapt to different environments and people. The new Idea campaign offers a Champion idea to address this concern of our society, through the power of mobile telephony. We are confident that the new brand campaign will build a strong connect with the audience and further grow Idea’s over 70 million subscriber base.”  

Brand Idea’s new theme campaign is targeted at the youth and the creative has a young and modern look, portraying real-life situations faced by the Gen-Next. The ad has been designed to also demonstrate Idea’s pan-India network which offers seamless mobile connectivity across the length and breadth of the country, and affordability of its products and services. Idea will roll out a 360 degree campaign to reach out to the audience, utilizing all traditional and emerging media platforms.

 

The new ad is yet another innovation in the series of Idea’s campaigns with the popular tag line – What an Idea, Sirji!. The preceding campaigns - ‘Championing a world without caste’; ‘Championing a world in which no one suffers from the disability to communicate’; ‘Education for All’, ‘Participative Governance’, ‘Walk When You Talk’, and the recent ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign - all abide by the essential brand promise of providing a simple, fresh and imaginative solution to a complex problem of the society.

 

The ad has been designed by Idea’s creative agency, Lowe.

 

About IDEA Cellular Ltd

   
IDEA Cellular Ltd. is a leading GSM mobile services operator with over 70 million subscribers, under brand IDEA. It is a pan India integrated GSM operator covering the entire telephony landscape of India, and has NLD and ILD operations. IDEA is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

 

IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational corporation. The group operates in 25 countries, and is anchored by over 130,000 employees belonging to 30 nationalities.

Rio Tinto approves US$1.6 billion investment in Hope Downs 4 mine

Rio Tinto today announced an investment of US$1.6 billion to develop the Hope Downs 4 iron ore project in Western Australia and link with Rio Tinto’s existing rail, power and port infrastructure in the Pilbara.

Rio Tinto and its joint venture participant, Hope Downs Iron Ore Pty Ltd, will proceed with the development of the mine at an estimated capital cost of US$1.2 billion (Rio Tinto share US$607 million), to be shared equally by the JV partners.

The new open-cut mine will have an annual capacity of 15 million tonnes of high-quality iron ore, with first production anticipated in 2013.

The project is in the south eastern Pilbara, 30 kilometres north of Newman, and will include a permanent staff village for more than 600 personnel, mine dewatering, an open cut shovel and truck mining fleet and wet ore processing infrastructure. The project ore body has recoverable product Ore Reserves (at a Fe cut-off of 59.5 per cent) of:

• Proved Reserves of 73Mt @ 63.0% Fe
• Probable Reserves of 64Mt @ 63.2% Fe

Rio Tinto will also commit an additional US$425 million to fully cover the capital cost of the rail, rolling stock and power infrastructure owned by Rio Tinto required for this development. The 52-kilometre spur line connecting to the Lang Hancock Railway will link the mine to Rio Tinto’s existing rail and port infrastructure. 

Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Sam Walsh said: “Commencing the Hope Downs 4 project highlights the prospectivity of Rio Tinto’s excellent reserves portfolio, and our ability to offer customers a reliable long term source of high quality ore.

“This demonstrates the extensive high-grade resources Rio Tinto can bring on line to sustain our current output at 225 million tonnes a year – an equally important consideration as we seek to expand our Pilbara production rate to 330 million tonnes a year by 2015.” 
Construction is anticipated to commence in early 2011, subject to obtaining necessary regulatory and other approvals

Freight rate hits new high

The global scramble for grain imports together with resurgent demand from Chinese steelmakers pushed up the shipping freight to a two-month high last week. The Baltic Dry Index for iron ore, coal, grains and cement jumped 67 per cent in just over a month after it slid to its lowest since early 2009.

Will it sustain, ask many in the world of shipping. The BDI's rally is being viewed by many as a barometer for the revival of the world economy. Russia's ban on grain exports will force consumers in West Asia and North Africa to get supplies from elsewhere, thus, creating demand and putting pressure on freight.

At the same time, Capesize rates have doubled in less than a month after purchase of iron ore by Chinese steelmakers, the main driver of Capesize vessel rates, have picked up. As a cumulative effect of all this, traders expect a seasonal increase in demand for grain and iron or till the fourth quarter.

But some analysts have warned that the rally could be short-lived. The freight rate is determined by free interplay of market forces. As demand increases, supply will surge. According to one estimate, the global fleet of Capesize vessels is to rise by 20 per cent in 2010 and 2011, but the seaborne trade, and therefore, the freight is not expected to rise anywhere near this.

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Sold on Mobile-features

Mobile users, especially in the semi-urban/rural areas, are turning to feature-rich handsets..

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Customers also look for models with a clearly legible and dust-free keypad.

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To each, his own preference.

Do you think of mosquitoes and frequent power disruption when you plan to buy a mobile? Most probably, your answer would be ‘No'. Mosquitoes and power may appear rather extraneous criteria for choosing a mobile handset.

But for Amudala Ravi, a milk-vendor who lives in the suburbs of Hyderabad, these are  important aspects of a mobile phone besides, of course, the voice calls. “My neighbourhood is full of mosquitoes and due to frequent power disruption I am not able to charge my mobile phone satisfactorily. When I saw a phone with these features, with a student, I immediately bought it,” says Ravi, who doubles up as part-time sub-staff at the University of Hyderabad.

Discarding his standard multinational brand, which cost him Rs 1,600, he switched over to a “flat, big handset”,  manufactured by an upcoming Indian company that simply assembles the components imported from China. He paid Rs 2,300 for it.

“I am able to ward off mosquitoes by keeping the phone beside me while sleeping. With a three-day battery life, charging is also not a problem,” explains Ravi, flashing his ‘Blackberry-like' phone.

Ravi is just one example of a big chunk of customers who are increasingly switching over to relatively cheaper Indian mobile handset brands, attracted by feature-rich, extra-voice applications.

The new generation mobiles, especially recent Indian brands such as Micromax, Spice, Zen, Karbonn, Ray and Accord, to name a few, are bringing many advanced features closer to common users in urban/semi-urban and rural areas.

The advanced features include dual card-reader, GSM-CDMA compatibility, 3D mobile gaming, temperature convertor, fake currency reader, in-built mosquito repellent and, most importantly, a long battery life.

“Now, the mobile handset market trend is to upgrade current low-end basic handset users to a feature-loaded alternative,” says P K Mohta, Managing Director of Accord Mobile.

According to Mohta, the Indian mobile handset market is estimated at around eight million units per month and a big opportunity is undoubtedly the rural segment where customers are showing a clear preference for low-cost, feature-rich handsets.

What attracts the customer in a handset?

“The first is price, followed by a long-battery-life. Customers also look for flat models with a clearly legible and dust-free keypad. All additional features may not actually be used by a completely rural customer,” he adds. Agrees Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner Inc. “Price remains the main criterion while buying any consumer electronic device in India, including a mobile device. Carrier strategies, lower tariffs and/or third-generation (3G) data plans will continue to shape the mobile device market,” he says.

A look at the pricing of Indian brands may also convey a similar view. Most of the mobiles with very advanced features, such as a single-button face book, instant messaging and push mail, are now available for anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 whereas a handset with similar features from a multinational brand is generally priced at more than twice that price. While it is true to some extent that all these features may not be used by everybody, the industry sources agree that there has been a growing predilection towards feature-rich handsets.

“It should be kept in mind that a mobile will be with its user round-the clock and in the process is also becoming a chief source of entertainment,” says Manish Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, UTV Interactive, the digital arm of UTV.

Interactive voice blogs are also becoming popular on the mobile, along with interactive voice chats, web destinations and more. “All these are now growing because of the availability of feature-rich mobiles at reasonably low-rates. We have millions of a growing mobile customer-base which is subscribing to interactive platforms,” he says. According to Gartner data, the Indian cellular market is highly voice-centric with just 10 per cent of carriers' revenue coming from data services. Within that, 85 per cent of revenue comes from Short Message Service, leaving less than 2 per cent of overall carriers' revenue coming from data access on mobile devices. This only shows a lot of potential for non-voice applications in mobile telephony, feel experts.

Going forward, customers can look forward to better user experience in technology as well as more affordable prices. 3G technology is also expected to bring in more tech-driven facilities due to strong focus on application-driven innovation.

“Established global device manufacturers are losing ground due to fierce competition from local and Chinese manufacturers in the low-cost segment,” says Gupta.

Redrawing strategies

With the growing influence of local handset players in the low-end segment and increasing competition in mid to high-end market, even the global players are redrawing their strategies.

Global giant Nokia recently introduced Push Mail service for users in the low and mid-levels of the mobile market segment.

Push Mail allows users to directly access their mails and messages instantaneously without having to log in again and again, making it easier to communicate.

The service, being offered by mobile manufacturers for the premium customers, will be offered to buyers of S40 series phones from Nokia that start from Rs 2,700.

According to estimates, there were 2.3 million people who accessed e-mail on their phones. This could grow to 129 million by 2014.

“Rural youth today spend five to six hours a day on their mobile and a bulk of that time is spent on music. Nokia's internal research on social networking showed that the biggest need for social networking emerged actually amongst the rural and small-town youth.

In fact, our insights show that rural consumers are increasingly demanding services in the areas of health and finance,'' an official spokesperson of Nokia told eWorld.

Nokia has also moved beyond product and features and is adding Services on top to further improve livelihood, enhance lives and entertain the mass market consumers, he says.

“We are the only mobile phone company to launch a service such as Nokia Life Tools (NLT) that delivers  life-improving services to mass market and rural consumers,'' he adds.

According to a Gartner study published last month, mobile device sales in India are projected to reach 138.6 million in 2010, an increase of 18.5 per cent over 2009 sales of 117 million units.

The market is expected to show steady growth through 2014 when end-user sales surpass 206 million units.

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Railways’ New ‘R3i policy’ aims at attracting private sector participation in Rail connectivity

New R3i policy (Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative) which was recently formulated by the Ministry of Railways is aimed at attracting private sector participation in rail connectivity projects so that additional rail transport capacity can be created. The primary objective of this policy is to retain and increase rail share in freight traffic. It also aims at making rail option more competitive for prospective customers by sharing their burden in getting rail connectivity and allowing them to get a share in the freight revenues generated through freight traffic moving via new line. This policy shall not be applicable to lines intending to provide connectivity to coal mines and iron ore mines directly or indirectly.

Only those new line proposals which are 20 kms or more in length excluding the length of siding which may take off from this line) shall be eligible under this policy. The policy allows for four models viz., (a) Cost sharing-freight rebate model, (b) Full contribution- Apportioned earning Model, (c) the SPV model and, (d) the Private Line Model.

With the Indian economy growing at a rate of 8 per cent over the past few years, new areas are opening for investment many of which do not have any rail connectivity. These have significant potential for freight traffic and therefore Indian railways has to be proactive in seizing these opportunities in order that the high rate of growth of freight traffic in the last few years can be sustained. However, with too many competing demands, resources are a constraint and alternative sources of funding through private sector participation must be explored and encouraged. This policy explores such alternative sources.

This new policy document also includes the eligibility criteria and other relevant details which can be seen at Ministry of Railways’ website www.indianrailways.gov.in

Myth called Indian middle class

The myth of India's growing middle class has a hollow ring to it, given the reality of economic indicators.

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McKinsey has predicted that India's middle class would grow from 5 per cent of the population to around 40 per cent 20 years hence.

Three years ago when India's GDP growth was astonishing the world, a study by the McKinsey Global Institute predicted that in two decades its consumers would be a force to reckon with. This is how Eric Beinhocker, Diana Farrell and Adil S. Zainulbhai gushed in The McKinsey Quarterly of August 2007: “The same energy that has lifted hundreds of millions of Indians out of desperate poverty is creating a massive middle class centred in the cities.”

Really? The Mumbai Human Development Report 2009, prepared by the city's municipal corporation, the first ever by any city, finds more than half its citizens live in scabrous filth on just 6 per cent of the city's land; less than 3 per cent use cars or taxis to commute and 44 per cent walk to work — out of compulsion, not to make a statement or to lose weight.

NUMBERS' GAME

As India's urban spaces start to burst at the seams, the story of deprivation is being repeated ad nauseam. Yet the McKinsey authors, carried away by their rhetoric, further predict that India's middle class, mostly “centred in the cities” would grow from 5 per cent of the population to around 40 per cent, 20 years hence.

That same year, Forbes magazine, in its issue dated November 7, carried a story on the Indian middle class, which cited a survey by the brokerage firm CLSA, that estimated the middle class at around 300 million, or 30 per cent of the population.

The story went on to define the markers of middle-class prosperity thus: “An estimated 100 per cent of households have televisions, 91 per cent have mobile phones and 19 per cent own four-wheel vehicles. Half the households experienced growing incomes in the past 12 months, of which one-third enjoyed a rise in excess of 20 per cent. The statistics are a reflection of India's strong growth…”

In February this year, a Deutsche Bank report on the subject took a more balanced view of the numbers: Cautiously, it suggested the middle class to be somewhere between 30 million and 300 million, a range that renders meaningless any conclusion about its relative size and place in the demographic spectrum.

CREATING A MYTH

A part of the reason for the wide divergence is the use of different criteria to quantify the middle class. But the possibility of such a wide range within which one can literally choose and pick the size of the Indian middle class has a hidden advantage; it generates public dreams that, in turn, create myths, as Joseph Campbell once suggested. The breathless conclusions of the McKinsey-type research — pole-vaulting the Indian consumer to the fifth largest market in two decades — only add to the fantasies of an emergent economic power.

But no data on the size of the middle class encourages the “public dream” as much as sleight-of-hand comparisons with developed country consumers. When analysts point to the possibility of the discretionary Indian consumer outnumbering those in Germany, they create a myth of a shining India. Persistent and expanding belief in that myth turns it into a truth.

FALLACIOUS COMPARISON

That kind of myth-making would not ordinarily matter, except as a reality check for a shopper caught in a downturn. But it is particularly harmful for the policymaker because it can blind him to the hollowness of the country-comparison in the first instance. What does it matter if the Indian middle class is larger than Germany's if it remains just a fraction of the Indian population?

Look at the latest study on Asia's middle class in the Asian Development Bank's “Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2010” and you realise how an imperfect ‘reading' of data can imprison India's policymakers in the tangled web of the myth-turned-truth process.

In a special chapter devoted to the “rising middle class” in Asia, the ADB pays the usual obeisance to its power to revive consumption and trade, drive innovation and inspire enterprise. That sounds sweet to the policymakers' ears and not surprisingly, the media also loves such sweeping compliments.

But the ADB cannot deny its own caveats. It identifies the middle class in terms of a daily per capita consumption of $2 to $20 (in purchasing power parity terms), based on survey data in 2005. Unlike other analysts, the ADB has three sub-sections: The lower middle class with per capita consumption of $2-4 per day; the middle segment up to $4 and the upper between $10-20.

ON THE CUSP OF POVERTY

India's ranks of the middle class grew by 205 million in the 17 years to 2008. But, and here is the danger signal, more than 70 per cent of the middle class is in the lowest segment. Thus, out of 206 million, more than 150 million eke out a vulnerable existence on the border of an international poverty line of $1.25 per day.

Why? The ADB tells us that global economic vicissitudes make the bottom segment very vulnerable. But that is an omnibus caveat it issues for all Asian countries under review and would apply most to commodity-exporting countries.

The fragility of the vast majority of Indians on the other hand, is largely domestic in origin emerging from the cumulative lack of entitlements such as stable incomes medical insurance (just 3 per cent of India's population enjoys it), recourse to education and everything else that eases upward mobility.

Measured against these indicators instead of per capita consumption alone, the proportion of the poor would not just include those Below the Poverty Line segment, now recalculated at around 40 per cent of the population, but those above it and without the above entitlements. Together, the numbers of the poor and vulnerable, as an official committee called them, would constitute nearly 80 per cent of the population.

Using 2005 data, the McKinsey authors counted 50 million among the middle classes; the number coincides neatly with the estimate of the ADB's upper two middle-class segments. That number is more than Canada's population, but it is just 5 per cent of India's.

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Mechel OAO Announces Signing Cooperation Agreement With FGC UES and RusHydro

Moscow, Russia – August 27, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and steel companies, announces signing a cooperation agreement with JSC Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES) and JSC RusHydro (RusHydro), which regulates the parties’ cooperation while implementing investment projects on construction of Nizhne-Bureisk hydro power plant (HPP) and Elga coal mining complex. On August 27, 2010 Mechel, FGC UES and RusHydro signed the cooperation agreement which regulates the parties’ cooperation while implementing investment projects on construction of Nizhne-Bureisk HPP and Elga coal mining complex. Igor Zyuzin, Mechel’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Evgeny Dod, Chairman of the Management Board of RusHydro, and Oleg Budargin, Chairman of the Management Board of FGC UES, signed this document. According to this agreement RusHydro will construct Nizhne-Bureisk HPP as well as develop power generation schemes. Mechel OAO will commission power receivers for Elga coal mining complex. FGC UES in its turn will construct external power supply facilities of Elga coal mining complex as well as provide power schemes of Nizhne-Bureisk HPP. In January 2010 FGC UES, Mechel OAO and System Operator UES OAO approved the external power supply scheme for Elga coal complex. The construction of the external power supply facilities will start in 2011 and have two stages. Within the 1st stage, by 2013 FGC UES will reconstruct the 220kW Prizeiskaya substation, build three new 220kW substations and 270 km long 220kW power transmission line Prizeiskaya – Elgaugol in Amursk region. By 2015 the extension of the 220kW power distributing gear at Prizeiskaya substation will be completed. The 2nd 220kW power transmission line Prizeiskaya – Elgaugol and the 2nd 125 MVA autotransformer at 220kW Elgaugol substation will be constructed by that time as well. Construction of power facilities for Elga coal mining complex is included into the draft of FGC UES investment program for 2010-2014, which is submitted for approval to the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. Elga coal deposit is the largest coking coal deposit in Russia. It is located at the South-Eastern part of Yakutiya, 415 km to the East from Neryungri City and 300 km from Baikal-Amur railway. Estimated balance coal reserves amount to 2.2 billion tonnes.

Right pricing of water

With the growing scarcity of water, we need to invest in institutions for water allocation rather then work at interventions for augmenting its supplies, says M. Dinesh Kumar in Managing Water in River Basins: Hydrology, economics, and institutions ( www.oup.com). Citing studies, he adds that in situations such as what India faces, the opportunity cost of not investing in institutional reforms would be much higher than the transaction cost involved.

A section on ‘pricing of water' opens by stating the general principle that the price of water for competitive use sectors such as irrigation and water-intensive industries means that pricing of water should be fixed in such a way as to discourage economically inefficient uses.

Wasteful practices

The author traces how, after Independence, the Indian governments saw irrigation as welfare means and therefore were reluctant to raise irrigation fee charged to poor farmers. “Also, the charges are paid on acreage basis and are not reflective of the volume of water used. It is believed that the lack of linkages between volumetric water use and water charges, and lack of agency capability to recover water charges and penalise free riders create incentive for overuse or wasteful practices.”

Merely raising water tariff, however, without improving the quality and reliability of irrigation will not succeed, reminds Kumar. He adds that poor quality of irrigation increases farmers' resistance to pay for irrigation services they receive because returns from irrigated crops are more elastic to quality of irrigation than its price.

“Therefore, the ‘water diverted' by farmers in their fields does not reflect the actual demand for water in a true economic sense, so long as they do not pay for it. In other words, the impact of tariff changes on irrigation water demand can be analysed only when the water use is monitored and farmers are made to pay for the water on volumetric basis.”

Quality of irrigation

Interestingly, if positive marginal prices are followed by improved quality, the actual demand for irrigation water might actually go up depending on the availability of land and alternative crops that give higher return per unit of land, one learns. This is because the tendency of the farmers would be to increase the volume of water used to maintain or raise the net income, as studies show.

When the farmer is confronted with marginal cost of using water, the water application regime should ideally correspond to a point where the net return per unit of land is highest, the author argues.

Though this level of irrigation may not correspond to the point of maximum water productivity for that crop, he says it would result in higher water productivity in economic terms (Rs/cubic metre) as compared to a scenario of zero marginal cost of water. Also, increased efficiency may not lead to reduction in aggregate water use, as farmers might tend to increase the area under irrigation.

Power for agriculture

An allied area is power for agriculture, where researchers have come up with varied views, ranging from emphasis on ‘rational pricing of electricity as a potential fiscal tool for sustainable groundwater use,' to caution that ‘flat rate-based pricing structure of electricity in the farm sector creates incentive for farmers to over-extract water as the marginal cost of extraction is zero.'

The book cites Saleth (1997) for the caveat about the negative impacts of power tariff hike on the economic prospects of farming, unless farmers shift to high-valued crops. “The underlying argument is that the price levels at which power demand responds to tariff changes would be too high that the traditional irrigated crops would become economically unviable for the farmers.”

Another study is by Shah et al. (2004) postulating that given the millions of wells and pumps scattered over vast rural areas, metering is an almost impossible task, and that the cost of metering electricity consumption in farm sector would be so high that, if transferred to the consumers, it would have negative impact on the social welfare produced from the use of energy in agriculture.

Diesel command

Insightful, in this context, is a study reported in the book about the finding from the Mehsana district of north Gujarat and coastal Saurashtra on diesel and electric well commands: that control over watering will have greater bearing on the net returns from irrigation than the cost of irrigation.

“In spite of the higher direct cost of irrigation using diesel pump as compared to the implicit cost of irrigation using electric motors, the command areas with diesel pumps were found to receive more irrigation and give much higher yield levels as compared to those with electric motors.”

This means, as Kumar elaborates, that the desired impacts of changes in the pricing structure of electricity on economic efficiency of irrigated crops can be realised only if the quality of power supply is ensured.

Managing urban use

Urban areas are expected to become the second largest user of water by the end of the first quarter of this century. Promoting, therefore, efficient use in urban water sector will have a strong leverage in managing the overall demand of water to match the supplies, observes the author.

The first institutional factor, in this area, is subsidy, he identifies. “Domestic water supply is highly subsidised in many Indian cities… Though in many cities, the average water tariff is higher than the cost of production and supply of water, the high average is because of high tariff levied from industries and commercial connections.”

Water supply administration ranks as the second factor, where a worrying fact is that domestic water supply is not fully metered even in large cities.

Pollution tax

The book devotes attention to pollution control as a topic related to water management. It should be a matter of concern that although the existing pollution control norms are stringent, the legal powers to enforce them are lacking with the pollution control agencies.

“Industries and municipal authorities often get away with flouting the pollution control norms… The fact that the agency that monitors ‘pollution' is the same as the agency that enforces the ‘norms,' which is against the institutional design principle for sound water management further weakens the agency.”

Moreover, the polluting industries and municipal authorities are not confronted with the opportunity costs of pollution, rues Kumar, as the penalty paid for pollution is much lower than the investment in effluent treatment facilities to avoid or mitigate pollution.

Hence, he calls for the levy of pollution taxes that reflect the volume of effluent discharged and the level of toxicity of the effluents. "Incremental block rates can be introduced, along with creation of two separate institutions, one for monitoring pollution and the other for levying pollution taxes and carrying out corrective measures against pollution." The effectiveness of economic instruments in pollution control, as the author concedes, would depend on the water quality monitoring (WQM) systems.

Recommended addition to the `development' shelves.

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Ban on transport of iron ore from Karnataka to Goa lifted

Owners of six pig iron plants in Goa heaved a sigh of relief as the Karnataka Government on Thursday revoked the ban on transportation of high-grade iron ore to Goa.

Following the ban imposed on May 22, production in these steel manufacturing units was affected owing to depleting raw material stocks, said an official of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) here on Friday.

Nearly 5,000 tonnes of iorn ore was imported by these units from the neighbouring State.

The withdrawal of the ban is the result of a meeting between the Karnataka Chief Secretary and representatives of the steel-making units, represented by a GCCI official.

The Karnataka Chief Secretary has directed the Karwar District Collector to take appropriate steps in this matter.

The Karwar District Collector had appointed a four-member task force to visit Goa and confirm that the high-grade ore was being used by the steel units.

Accordingly, a report was submitted by Karnataka Geology and Mines at the Karwar District Collector's office, confirming the use of ore by domestic industry.

Responding to this report, the Karnataka Commissioner issued directions for commencing ore transportation from Thursday.

Documents essential,

However, it will be mandatory for every truck transporting the ore to carry the relevant documents along with the permit and an undertaking by the steel manufacturing companies that the material will be used only for industrial purposes.

The Commissioner's order was passed in the presence of the steel units' representatives, Karnataka RTO officials, police and Karnataka Geology and Mines officials.

The six Goan steel manufacturing units are Aparant Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd, Sesa Industries Ltd, Shradha Ispat Pvt Ltd, Ambey Metallic Ltd, Goa Sponge and Power Ltd and Shrithik Ispat Ltd

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Dewang Mehta Memorial Lecture 2010

 

GIL, NASSCOM & GESIA organized "Shri Dewang Mehta Memorial Lecture 2010" at H T Parekh Convention Centre at AMA, on 27th August 2010. Shri Ravi Saxena, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Dept of Science & Technology, Govt of Gujarat, graced the event as Guest of Honor. He in his address to the gathering was exponential in lauding Dewang Mehta's contribution towards the ICT sector of India, and do emphasize that Gujarat is on the path of continuous growth and houses potential of maximum innovation.

 

An overwhelming attendance of 350 plus delegates, showcased the strength of ICT sector industry of Gujarat. The attendees comprised from the Industry & academics.

 

The event was focused on 'How Technology can help you prosper", a lecture by Shri Vijay Mukhi, Tech Guru & one of the pioneers of the Indian IT industry. The lecture encompassed aspects on security & money driven businesses for new entrants, as well other players in the Indian IT sector, especially the Gujarat faction. He expanded his presentation on the subjects of grave concern to the sector and how the world economy leaders win or loose due to the impact of ICT, as such. He informed the Indian sector to look for the emerging technologies and not only focus, but also eye for the latest tech hows. He clearly showed the path to student & local business houses, a path, how to achieve. At the end of his presentation, he was happy to respond to questions of the delagates, which was very enthusiastic to all.  The lecture was well absorbed by the delegates.

 

Mr Gururaja Rao, CMD, Gujarat Informatics Ltd, welcomed the dignitaries & the delegates at the function, and remarked that the potential of Gujarat's ICT sector, especially amongst the youth, still is far from being thoroughly exploited for the benefit of the industry.

 

Mr Rajiv Vaishnav , VP, NASSCOM, expressed his gratitude to the attendees and did speak of his moments of association with Dewang Mehta, in the olden days.

 

Mr Nirav Shah, President GESIA, thanked the gathering for an overwhelming response to the core aim of the lecture, and being part of the event. Additionally he emphasized on the growth patterns of Gujarat's ICT sector and how Gujarat is moving towards the next  leap step.

 

The event was organized in memoriam of the legend of Indian IT Industry, Dewang Mehta, a proud Gujarati son of the Indian soil, who initiated the process which would later bring India on the Global map of ICT.

Thailand's Sahaviriya agrees to buy UK slab plant


Corus has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its Teesside Cast Products plant in the UK to Thai steel producer Sahaviriya Steel Industries. The proposed acquisition, valued at around $500m (£322m), will give SSI ownership of the plant which can produce 3.5m tonnes/year of slab.

SSI says the proposed move will create stability in its raw material supplies. The Thai company is currently finalising its due diligence and arranging financing.

The assets covered by the deal include the Redcar and South Bank coke ovens, sinter plant, the Redcar blast furnace and the Lackenby steelmaking facilities and slab caster.

The Thai company says the acquisition would further its “strategy of backward integration to upstream iron and steel production to support present production.” It also says it will increase its flexibility in production and marketing scenarios, providing “geographic and product diversification benefits.” One of the stumbling blocks in the talks, Steel Business Briefing understands, has been Corus’ insistence on inserting non-competition clauses into any agreement, meaning it would be difficult for SSI to establish a finishing mill at the site.

SSI has a production capacity for hot rolled coil of about 4m tonnes/year, and an affiliated company has 1m t/y of plate capacity. It is entirely reliant on outside sources of slab, and its current suppliers include Japanese and CIS companies.

A sale agreement would also result in Corus and SSI operating Redcar Wharf (TCP’s bulk terminal) as a joint venture, allowing Corus to use Teesside to serve its other steelmaking operations, while also meeting SSI’s requirements.

TCP has been mothballed since February 2010, and has been endangered since a consortium of offtakers withdrew from a long-term supply contract.

Milestone: Duisburg-Bruckhausen meltshop of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe produces 150 millionth ton of steel

The 864-strong workforce at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe's BOF meltshop in Duisburg-Bruckhausen had special cause to celebrate: On August 25 at 11.51 o'clock they produced the 150 millionth metric ton of crude steel - enough in theory to build 15,000 Eiffel Towers.

"We're proud that our plant and the team have reached this milestone," says Heinz Liebig, head of crude steel production at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe in Duisburg. "After all, our core meltshop equipment dates from 1969, making it 41 years old. But by continuously upgrading we have kept it state-of-the-art, in particular with regard to meeting environmental standards." Two 380 ton capacity converters form the basis for steelmaking at Bruckhausen. The meltshop was one of the first to be equipped with converter gas and dust recirculation systems. "Our facility in Bruckhausen is one of the few oxygen steelmaking shops able to produce high-silicon electrical steels as well as the usual carbon steels," adds Liebig. "Per year, more than three million tons of molten steel are cast into up to 2.6 meter wide slabs on the continuous caster and then cut to the lengths and widths required by customers." The meltshop has also been supplying crude steel to the company's casting/rolling line for the past 11 years.

The hot metal from the blast furnace is delivered to the Bruckhausen BOF meltshop in torpedo ladles and then processed in several steps to produce steel of the required quality. Here's a simplified version of what happens: Pig iron still contains impurities such as silicon, sulfur and phosphorus. These are removed by oxidation in the converter by top-blowing oxygen through a water-cooled lance. This process, which generates temperatures of 2,500 degrees Celsius, is known as "refining". To cool the boiling steel - a converter holds around 380 metric tons - steel scrap is added in quantities of ten to 30 percent of the overall heat weight. The actual blowing process lasts around 20 minutes. When it is tapped into a pouring ladle, the molten steel still has a temperature of 1,650 to 1,750 degrees Celsius. Alloying agents can also be added during tapping. Due to the high quality requirements for the properties of the steel, it has to undergo post-treatment, referred to as secondary metallurgy.

60 percent of the molten steel is cast into slabs on the continuous casters. These slabs are supplied to customers of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe for processing on their rolling mills. 40 percent of the molten steel is supplied to the casting/rolling line.

Siemens expands mining portfolio to include gearless drive system for 42-foot SAG mills

Siemens is now able to provide to mining companies a gearless drive system for SAG mills with a tube diameter of 42 feet. This enables throughput to be almost doubled in comparison with the 38-foot mills commonly used today. With this innovation, Siemens is responding to the rising demand for larger and more powerful drives in mining. The principal component of the new drive system, which was designed and constructed within just two years, is a ring motor with a width of 25 meters and a height of 20 meters.

Break the language barrier with an Idea!

 

IDEA Cellular set to launch a new brand campaign under the popular, What an Idea, Sirji! series, to demonstrate the power of telephony, in a country where 850 mother tongues and 22,000 dialects are spoken.

 

Kolkata, August 27^h, 2010: Imagine getting a lucrative job offer from a far flung city in India; the offer excites you, but the thought of living in a place where a different language is spoken, makes you doubtful. Would you leave the offer only because you cannot speak the language, or overcome the hurdle by adopting a simple idea and give wings to a bright career ahead? Watch the new advertisement from IDEA Cellular, breaking this weekend, to know what Sirji will propose this time to overcome the language barrier. 

 

India is a land of a billion people talking in 22 recognized languages, 850 mother tongues, and 22,000 dialects; it is also a land of opportunities for the young Indians who are ambitious, go-getters, and have dreams in their eyes. However, this diversity and vastness, at times, poses a hurdle in the growth of the youth of this country. Taking note of this growing concern of the society, IDEA Cellular has set out to demonstrate how a simple solution can build bridges between people speaking different languages.

 

The new ad from leading mobile brand will unravel an idea which will help millions of Indians - who move out of their homes for Career, Education, Travel and other prospects in life; or need to communicate with people talking different languages in their own surroundings - to easily adapt to the change in environment and communicate smoothly.

 

Idea Brand Ambassador, Abhishek Bachchan (aka Sirji), who has in the past been seen in various avatars such as the Sarpanch, Tourist Guide, School Principal, Politician’s aide, Doctor, and even a Tree, will now be seen in a completely different role in the new ad. The Sirji character who has won millions of hearts with his smart ideas and witty comments will give a new idea to overcome the language barrier, without speaking a language!

 

Speaking about the upcoming campaign, Ms. Anupama Ahluwalia, Vice President – Marketing, IDEA Cellular, said “Almost every Indian has gone through a situation where one has struggled to communicate with another fellow Indian just because of language. India’s diversity lies in its languages, and rather than being intimidated by this barrier, we need to just find a simple solution to overcome it and easily adapt to different environments and people. The new Idea campaign offers a Champion idea to address this concern of our society, through the power of mobile telephony. We are confident that the new brand campaign will build a strong connect with the audience and further grow Idea’s over 70 million subscriber base.”  

 

Brand Idea’s new theme campaign is targeted at the youth and the creative will have a young and modern look, portraying real-life situations faced by the Gen-Next. The ad has been designed to also demonstrate Idea’s pan-India network which offers seamless mobile connectivity across the length and breadth of the country, and affordability of its products and services. Idea will roll out a 360 degree campaign to reach out to the audience, utilizing all traditional and emerging media platforms.

 

The new ad is yet another innovation in the series of Idea’s campaigns with the popular tag line – What an Idea, Sirji!. The preceding campaigns - ‘Championing a world without caste’; ‘Championing a world in which no one suffers from the disability to communicate’; ‘Education for All’, ‘Participative Governance’, ‘Walk When You Talk’, and the recent ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign - all abide by the essential brand promise of providing a simple, fresh and imaginative solution to a complex problem of the society.

 

The upcoming ad has been designed by Idea’s creative agency, Lowe.

 

About IDEA Cellular Ltd

   
IDEA Cellular Ltd. is a leading GSM mobile services operator with over 70 million subscribers, under brand IDEA. It is a pan India integrated GSM operator covering the entire telephony landscape of India, and has NLD and ILD operations. IDEA is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

 

IDEA Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational corporation. The group operates in 25 countries, and is anchored by over 130,000 employees belonging to 30 nationalities.