Industry group questions Virgin’s mobile foray into India

By IANS

New Delhi : The Cellular Operators Association of India, a group representing GSM technology of mobile service providers, Tuesday sought the government’s intervention yet again over Britain’s Virgin Mobile’s foray into the Indian telecom market.


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In a letter to Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) Secretary Siddhartha Behura, COAI has cited the presentation that was shown by Virgin Mobile during the launch.

“On going through the presentation, it may be noted that there is absolutely no mention of Tata Teleservices or the Tata Indicom brand in the entire presentation nor is there any information as to in what capacity Virgin Mobile is entering the Indian mobile market,” T.V. Ramachandran, director general of the COAI, said in the letter.

“It may be appreciated that in the event that the company is acting/operating as a franchisee of Tata Teleservices, then its services can be retailed only under the Tata Indicom brand. It is evident from the launch presentation that this is not the case,” Ramachandran said.

Richard Branson-promoted Virgin Mobile March 2 announced its partnership with Indian Tata Teleservices to provide value-added services for its handsets.

This is COAI’s second letter to DoT on the issue. It questioned the partnership before it was announced officially.

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