Tata Docomo is looking at further strengthening its dongle business, in which it is a market leader, to make up for falling numbers from the voice and 3G segments. The company was the first private operator to launch 3G services in November 2010, but the business did not pick up. The voice segment too has shown a consistent fall in subscriber base.  The company has firmed up a three-pronged strategy for it including pitching dongles it claims are faster than 3G. Aditya Gupta, mobility business unit – head, Mumbai, Rest of Maharashtra & Goa for Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd said, “Firstly, we have launched Tata Docomo Photon Max in Delhi and Mumbai with phase 1 Rev-B technology that offers speeds of up to 6.2 Mbps- 50% faster than 3G. Secondly, we are planning to launch a battery-operated Wi-Fi dongle or ‘wingle’ next month that will connect to multiple devices simultaneously -with a single operator. Thirdly, we have partnered with HTC One and will be partnering with other dual-SIM handset vendors to merge our GSM and CDMA capabilities to offer superior quality, high-speed data.”   “We believe these three strategies will help us more than make up for lack of 3G in key circles, by using our CDMA play to offer something much better than 3G -- in terms of better in-building coverage and pan-India roaming ability -- which no 3G operator in the country offers at present.Two months down the line, TTSL will move from Rev-B Phase I to Rev-B Phase II, which can offer speeds of up to 9.3 Mbps. However, for the time being, Photon Max will be launched in all TTSL’s non-3G circles to begin with - Chennai and Kolkata are next on the radar, after Mumbai, after which the plan is to simultaneously launch in 10 more towns - some of which will have 3G. The pricing will be competitive - but not lower than industry standard, starting at Rs 1,699. With mobile data still growing faster than dongle data, TTSL is also upping its capacity in its existing 3G circles. “While we are rolling out 225 new CDMA sites in Mumbai and Maharashtra within the next 200 days, we are also setting up 160 new 3G sites in the same circle, and increasing our 3G offerings here from existing 7.2 Mbps to 21 Mbps. This should be completed within 90-100 days,” said Gupta. While CDMA is the leading technology worldwide, with international data revenues having crossed voice revenues, this is still not the case in India. To make up for this, TTSL is urging customers to use GSM for voice and CDMA for data. Bidding in the 800 MHz auctions to gain more CDMA spectrum, will depend on riders attached to licences, however, said Gupta.

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