World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone - China's Xun Chi 138

The race for the World's Smallest GSM Mobile phone with entrants from Motorola, Samsung, Haier and NEC though the war still wages on, Now One Chinese Mobile Manufacturer also Join the race. Now as on the available data's World's Smallest GSM Mobile Phone is from China's Xun Chi 138.

The Xun Chi 138 is a GSM with bar form factor it measures only 67 mm (2.64 inches) in length a bit longer than the AA battery and weighs only 55 grams.

If you thought this was impressive & sure you will be blown away when you check out what this baby packs inside. As with the tiny size it is impossible for a keypad so the Xun Chi 138 has touchscreen with handwriting recognition and support for 260k colors.

The manufacturer has still found space to squeeze in a 1.3 Megapixel camera (actually VGA but interpolated to 1.3 Megapixel), USB port, WAP, GPRS, MP3 player and 138 MB of onboard memory. Maybe the next model will have a Mini SD card slot and Bluetooth.

The Xun Chi 138 is more like a chic phone as it comes in pink color. The stylus neatly fits at the back of the phone. Dont expect the phone to hit the West anytime soon as the Xun Chi 138 supports only Chinese character recognition for now. But it will work in many countries accross the globe.

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Modu - World's Lightest Mobile Phone

Modu Mobiles - Israeli modular mobile manufacturer has announced that they are the proud producer of the world's lightest mobile phone.

Mobile Phone with the weight of 1.41 ounces ( 40.1grams ) and dimensions are 72.1 mm (2.8 inches) x 37.6 mm (1.4 inches) x 7.8 mm (0.3 inches).

Modu launched its quirky and 'modular' mobile at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, Spain in February 2008.

A Offical Press Release stated that, Modu was awarded this prestigious honour after careful consideration by the Guinness World Record judges, who declared that: 'The lightest mobile phone is the Modu, which weighs 40.1grams (1.41oz).

"Throughout the design process of Modu, the emphasis has been on keeping the phone small, light and compact in order that Modu's innovative approach could be realized. The result is a phone that is not only miniature, but also superbly designed and minimalist, whilst offering all the functions and capabilities of a normal-sized handset," the release continues.

Modu's partners includes Bee-Line (VimpelCom), Cellcom, Telecom Italia, Blaupunkt, Magellan Navigation Inc, SanDisk, Card Guard, Tele Atlas, Universal Music Group, WorldMate, Amphenol, ChiMei, In4Tel, Texas Instruments, Renesas, RiTdisplay, SKY MobileMedia and Varta.
More On Modu

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Videocon Plans to Acquire Motorola's Mobile Handset Business

This time After Tatas, the Acquisition turn to Videocon Industries, Now Motorola's Mobile Handset Business is in its radar. The world’s third-largest handset maker had announced on March 26 its intention to hive off the mobile devices business into a separate company in the wake of sustained pressure from Its Key investor Carl Icahn, who wants the company to sell the business.

For Videocon, an attempt to shore up its planned Mobile services business in India through its telecom arm Datacom, one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets. Datacom has already received licences to offer mobile services throughout India ( All 23 Circles ) and is awaiting allotment of spectrum to launch commercial operations.

Videocon has already announced an initial investment of Rs 6,000 crore for its telecom operations and eyeing 25 million customers in the next three years. Videocom expect handset business will be an added advantage as the company can bundle attractive offers with mobiles.

As per the estimates, Motorola’s handset business at $3.8 billion. Motorola’s market share in India at 14% in December 2006 which has now slipped to 6.5%. Its worldwide market share has also dropped from 22% to 12%. Last Year it sold over 159 million mobile phones globally.

The failure to replace the popular Razr model has been the main cause of decline. Motorola’s Indian market share is not available, even though industry experts say it is behind Nokia and Samsung.

Motorola also has a handset manufacturing facility in India ( Chennai ) that makes both CDMA and GSM Mobile Phones.

“We have hired one of the world’s top three investment bankers who will convey our interest to buy out the mobile handset business of the US company,” Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told to Media. “The Indian market for mobile phones is around 120 million units a year and we have our own retail chain stories that we can leverage. Also, we can transfer the manufacturing plant to India to leverage cheap labour in the country,” added Dhoot.

India is adding over 8 million subscribers every month. With a tele-density of 25% in a country of 113 crore people, there remains immense room for growth. The acquisition, if it comes through, will give a boost to Videocon’s plans to become a pan-India player.

More:

» Videocon's Global acquisitions are Thomson SA’s television glass tube business and Electrolux’s Indian operations. It recently failed to acquire Daewoo Electronics, for which it bid $711 million.

» In domestic through its retail chain, NEXT has acquired Planet M, the music and entertainment retail arm of media house Bennett, Coleman & Co. (owner of The Times of India, The Economic Times), for Rs 200 crore. Planet M has 150 stores across 42 cities in India and is mainly into organised music retail and home entertainment business.

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Google Dream - HTC names Google phone

High Tech Computer (HTC) has been developing a mobile phone to run on the Android software from Google will be called " Dream ", and it will have a large touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad.

HTC may become the first handset maker in the world to put out a mobile phone developed around Android, but it faces stiff competition from Samsung, a separate source said. Samsung has stepped up its effort to put out a Google phone.

HTC's Google handset is just over 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, with a keypad underneath the screen that either slides out or swivels out. The aim of the keypad is for easy e-mail, note-taking, and writing Web addresses. Internet navigational controls are situated below the screen on the handset.

The handset will likely hit the market near the end of this year, but the company officially remained mum on the handset.

Last November, HTC became the first company to admit to developing a mobile phone based on Android, although Samsung, Motorola, and other handset developers are part of the group dedicated to furthering the software, the Open Handset Alliance.

Android, an open source software platform that includes an OS, is designed to take advantage of Internet services for mobility. The software could become a potent new rival to Windows Mobile and other handset operating systems. At the launch ceremony, Google announced that over 30 companies had joined the Open Handset Alliance.

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Get Blood Donors Information via SMS

Now One Indian Organisation Named Indianblooddonors has mobile enabled their helpline with SMS functionality to search for blood donors as well as to register yourself as donor.

Through IndianBlooddonor.com an SMS will be sent to the donor with your details. Please contact him/her for the Blood donation. The patient will get a donor’s name with his contacts details via SMS. Simultaneously an SMS will be triggered by the system and an alert will be sent to the donor with details of the patient for co-ordination.

If you need another donor, send the SMS again. The service of the helpline is free of cost.

When a patient or immediate relatives needs blood, he has to send an SMS to 5676775.

» Format :

» Blood <.space> STDCode <.space> BloodGroup <.space> Name of the Needer

» Example: Blood 080 B positive Shivani

Donors can register by sending an SMS to 5676775 .

» Format: Donor City STD Code Blood Group Name

This service will be open only between 8.00 am and 7.00 pm. The SMS is charged at Premium SMS rates, though indianblooddonors.com does not get any revenue out of these SMSs. The website now has contact information of over 45,000 blood donors from across the country.

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Power Your Mobile with Fuel Cell

Japanese mobile giant KDDI displays a prototype of a Hitachi mobile powered by a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC).

The technology — which draws energy from the chemical reaction when hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water — is more commonly seen in futuristic cars with tanks of hydrogen instead of gasoline, whose combustion is a key culprit in pollution and global warming.

Developers say fuel cells for homes produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.

The oxygen that the fuel cell uses comes from the air. The hydrogen is extracted from natural gas by a device called a reformer in the same box as the fuel cell.

But a byproduct of that process is poisonous carbon monoxide. So another machine in the grey box adds oxygen to the carbon monoxide to create carbon dioxide, which — though it contributes to global warming — is not poisonous.

Developments:

East Japan Railway Company has researched and developed a fuel cell system for railcars as an independent type motive power system that reduces the burden on the global environment and can also overcome the problem of exhaustion of fossil fuels. The company is developing of the world’s first fuel cell hybrid railcar. Development of railcar system technology that uses fuel cells is also being promoted to utilize future breakthroughs in fuel cell technology.

How Fuel Cell Works:
Hydrogen stored in a tank aboard the train is supplied to the fuel cells, where it reacts with oxygen to produce electricity. Unused electricity and electricity generated during braking is stored in a secondary battery, which is used as an auxiliary power source. In addition to being energy-efficient, hydrogen fuel cells emit no carbon dioxide, only water.

From BBC

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Virgin Mobile Enters India

The British communication group Virgin Mobile launched its Indian operation in India in collaboration with telecom operator Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL), heralding a new era in mobile telephony. Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, launched the Virgin Mobile brand by flying down the façade of popular hotel in south Mumbai and unveiled its logo in mid flight.

“The deal brings a tie-up between two of world’s leading business leaders - Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin conglomerate” quotes. Virgin Mobile will be launched in 50 cities initially and will subsequently be launched in more than 1,000 cities by the end of 2008.

Virgin Mobile is the largest MVNO in UK.

Virgin Mobile’s business strategy is to act as a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) and sell competitively priced pre-paid handsets through retail stores while ‘piggybacking’ onto an existing operator’s mobile network.

The company expects to get five million subscribers over the first three years with special value-added services and handsets priced between $50-$125, i.e. from Rs 2000-6000. The handsets will be 100 percent colour and will have a variety of value added services such as, the customers will get 10 paise credit for every incoming minute they receive from any network and can have unlimited access to various portals for a daily charge of Rs. 5.

“Our aim is not to get as many subscribers as possible but we want to deliver this brand to a more distinct segment,” said Branson. After success in this network, Virgin plans to extend its services in GSM network.

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Touch Screen Phones - Increasing Growth

Touch screen phones have been around for the last five to six years, but the market got a major boost last year with the launch of Apple's iPhone, whose popularity has rubbed off on lesser-known brands, such as Taiwan's HTC. Big phone makers, such as South Korea's LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, have also jumped on the bandwagon. Industry leader Nokia is due to launch a touchpad phone this year.

"Although touch screens have been used in PDAs for quite some time, it was really the arrival of the iPhone that spurred the wave of interest," said Carolina Milanesi, a mobile device analyst at research company Gartner. As their popularity grows, sales of touch screen devices are expected to jump to over 80 million in 2010 from under 20 million in 2007, according to Gartner.

HTC sold 2 million touchpad phones in just seven months last year, equalling Apple's iPhones sales. LG plans to launch 10 new touchpad phones this year at around the $300 price range after seeing strong sales from its stylish Prada phone.Even Research in Motion has said it might make a touchpad BlackBerry if enough customers ask.

Touch Screen Phones - Ditch traditional keypad phones in favour of smooth, sleek touch screen models, which allow users to call phone numbers or surf the Internet by touching items on a liquid crystal display (LCD).

Surging demand for touch panel phones will lift earnings of Taiwan component makers and assemblers, such as Innolux Display Corp, Wintek Corp, and Hon Hai, which supply the likes of Apple, LG and Sony Ericsson. "It's a very fast growing business, and could soon affect keypad suppliers," said Morgan Stanley analyst Frank Wang. Companies that develop the interface, such as Synaptics Inc will also benefit. "2008 will be a pivotal year as handset designers will be competing to further enhance user's experience beyond what is offered today, and that will continue to fuel demand for touch screen handsets in the upcoming years," said Synaptics product marketing manager Andrew Hsu.

But for the market to really gain traction the price of screens has to come down, analysts say. "Touch screens are certainly a trend," said Kim Woon-ho, an analyst at Prudential Investment and Securities in Seoul. "Their biggest merit is the larger screen size, but they are for now limited to high-end phones. For them to become even more mainstream...prices need to come down." Industry watchers say touch panel prices will come down rapidly as more products enter the market and component prices continue to fall.

Global touch-panel sales are set to more than triple to about 312 million units in 2010 from around 94 million units in 2006, said CLSA analyst Samantha Chu in a research report. That surge will help drive down the average price for high-end touch-screen panels to $15 each by 2010 from $25 now. Don't count out traditional keypad phones just yet, said Chris Hazelton, an analyst at research firm IDC. He said the technology still faces some technical issues, such as the lack of raised buttons that allow users to type on their keypads by feel. "For now, the touch screen will still live in a parallel world with keypads," he said.

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Now mPay follows mChek

mPay - Mobile Credit Card for Reliance Mobile Users
Reliance Communications and HDFC Bank have come together to offer India’s first virtual credit card to Reliance users possessing HDFC Bank credit cards. The Reliance mPay credit card allows users to make postpaid bill payments, get pre-paid top-up, and pay Reliance Energy monthly electricity bills. Users can also book movie tickets, travel tickets, make payments at shops and restaurants, and shop on the Internet.
To make payments, customers need to use the PIN issued for using the virtual credit card. All transactions are initiated using the registered mobile number to which the mPay service has been issued. The mPay credit card can be used with HDFC Bank at any merchant establishment that accepts payment via Reliance mPay.
Users don’t need to enter a crecit card number or card verification value (CVV) or expiry date to use the mPay service. HDFC Bank would authenticate all the information with RCom, which would then be used to initiate and authorize all payments using customers’ mobile handsets.
http://www.m-pay.com/

India's mChek Wins GSMA Award

mChek, an Indian company focused on mobile security and payments services, has announced that its mChek on Airtel postpaid bill payment service has won the GSMA Global Mobile Award 2008 for Best Billing and Customer Care Solution with Airtel at the 13 th Annual GSM Association Global Mobile Awards 2008 at Barcelona.
mChek on Airtel was chosen as the winner by a global panel of eminent jurors from leading market research and consultancy firms, including Accenture, Forrester Research, the Yankee Group and Ovum which said " For all those who thought mobile commerce was a pipe dream, mChek on Airtel, has just shown the way to do it. The cashless society is here and it's gone mobile ."
“The GSMA Global Mobile Awards is one of the most prestigious international awards and the fact that mChek has won underscores the uniqueness and innovation in our service.” said Sanjay Swamy, CEO, mChek. “We are delighted by the success and consumer response to the service and look forward to expanding the footprint of mChek services in the coming months.”
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners. The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve more than 2.5 billion customers - 85% of the world's mobile phone users.
The mChek on Airtel mobile payments service today has more than 60,000 transacting customers with an impressive 90% repeat usage pattern, and has processed more than 100 Million Rupees of mobile payments since its launch in September 2007. mChek has also at present entered into strategic partnerships with VISA, Citi India, ICICI Bank, Corporation Bank and e-commerce merchants like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Indiatimes, FutureBazaar and SifyMall to enable safe, smart and simple mobile payments. In Sri Lanka, mChek has tied up with Dialog Telekom and NDB Bank enabling secure payments ranging from utility bills/pre-paid top-ups, over-the-counter and remote commerce, and mobile banking.
In the near future, mChek plans to further simplify payment processes for consumers by introducing utility bill payments, movie ticketing and various other innovative services.

The mChek service is currently available to customers on AIRTEL in India and Dialog Telekom in Sri Lanka. http://www.mchek.com/

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Open the Doors With SMS

Now SMS opens doors to toilets in some rest areas along Highway 1 in Western Finland

Novel method seen as a means of combating vandalism. As a result of continued and endemic vandalism, the Finnish Road Administration has developed a system which allows travellers to open the doors to roadside toilets only by sending a SMS message to the number given by the Road Administration.

The new system was introduced in January in the rest areas along Highway 1 in Paimio and Salo near Turku, following numerous breakages, arson attempts, and thefts in the buildings housing public conveniences for motorists.

In the rest areas of Pitkäporras (Paimio) and Haukkala (Salo), the toilets are located in neat blueish-grey maintenance buildings on both sides of the motorway. In addition to toilets, the buildings also provide showers and a place for disposing garbage.

The idea for the SMS lock system was created in the Turku Region of the Finnish Road Administration. According to road maintenance expert Juha Mäki, this kind of system is not available anywhere else in Finland, nor in any other country across the world, as far anybody knows. In order to prevent further damage to the facilities, a number of ideas were discussed, including the closing down of the toilets entirely or bringing in camera surveillance.

There are instructions on the doors to toilets and shower rooms, advising prospective users to send a text message "OPEN" to the number given on the door. The call is directed to a modem, which then sounds a buzzer and opens the door. The opening of the door costs just the normal SMS rate without any additional charges. The traffic centre will save the numbers of the callers for a while, but not permanently. This should somewhat raise the threshold for vandalism and reduce the damages to public property, as people will know that their phone number is down on record if they wish to trash the place.

In Paimio’s Pitkäporras rest area there is also a café. Nina Backman, who serves in the café, reported that last summer the number of visitors to the toilets provided by the Finnish Road Administration was some 500 during one day alone. The travellers on long-distance coaches also find the free toilets useful.

Source : HS.FI

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zzzPhone - Build Your Own Mobile

zzzPhone.com the claims to be the web’s first fully customized cellphone service providing top rated cell phones and mobile phones to customers worldwide. hey manufacture factory-direct unlocked cell phones that feature large touchscreens and the most features of any major brand’s top mobile phones, such as the Nokia n95, Palm Treo, and Apple iPhone.
Just as Dell Computers revolutionized the PC industry in the 1990’s with customized, factory-direct computers, zzzPhone.com is the world’s first customized cell phone manufacturer. Their factory-direct prices are cheaper than the leading competitors.

The customers can choose a base model and a custom pattern or color for the cell phone case; standard features such as a beautiful extra-large touchscreen panel and dual SIM card slots are immediate standouts. Next, customers may add various features such as GPS navigation, a second front-facing camera, and even a flashlight. Various upgrades are available as well, such as; 4GB memory, stereo quality speakers, and even a 5 or 7 mpxl camera with a high quality processor. Customers can also select from a range of accessories such as Bluetooth headsets and hands fee car kits, and can even have their favorite music and movies pre-installed at the factory so their cell phone is ready to use when it arrives at the door.

The phone is powered by Windows Mobile 6 Operating System. The base model, costs $149 and has the many built-in features.

The zzzPhone Web site says phones use “Windows Mobile or equivalent” operating systems. All zzzPhones work anywhere in the world except for Europe, according to the site. The two SIM card slots enable you to use two accounts from two different carriers on the same phone. zzzPhone is targeting individual cell phone users and small companies. In addition to GPS, an up to 7-megapixel camera and processor upgrade, other add-ons inclue 4 gigabytes of memory, “stereo-quality” speakers and even music and movies pre-installed at the factory.

The American owned factory in Shenzhen, China operates alongside the largest cell phone manufacturers in the world using high quality components from many of the same suppliers used by leading brands such as Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Palm. zzzPhone.com produce the highest quality cell phones in the world at factory direct prices.

zzzPhones are unlocked cell phones with tri-band technology, and works worldwide (except some carriers in Europe).

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Now Spicy People's Phone

After Tata's people's car, HCL, Zenith’s people's laptop, the Indian telecom giant, Spice has come up with the people's phone. Spice has planned to announce its Sub INR Rs.1000 or USD $20 (roughly £10) phone tomorrow at Barcelona’s Mobile world congress, the world's biggest telecoms conference.

Indian conglomerate Spice has unveiled a new cellphone model priced below $20 to target surging demand for cheap phones in emerging markets in Asia.

Spice will start selling its "People's Phone", which comes without a screen, in Asian markets from Iraq to Indonesia from March, and plans to introduce more phone models in the $10 to $20 price range in the near future, Spice's chairman Bhupendra Kumar Modi told Reuters. All cellphone vendors are eyeing entry to the lowest end of the market, as growth in the rest of the spectrum is expected to slow this year.

So far the sub-30 euro ($43.5) market, which represents 20 per cent of all phones sold globally, has been dominated by the world's largest cellphone maker Nokia. Nokia's cheapest mass market product, Nokia 1110, retails on average for 23 euros on Western European markets, data from research firm CCS Insight showed.

Spice chairman Modi said the company had been able to keep the costs down on its new model as it has not added a screen and other non-essential features. "It is just a phone," Modi told Reuters in an interview. "If things go well we are talking about 10 million phones in the first 12 months. That's our target," he said. A couple of vendors tried in the 1990s to sell phones without screens but they found no mass appeal. Motorola also tried to tackle Nokia's stronghold of the market in the past few years. "Only half of the people in the world use mobile phones at the moment. The problem is the cost of the phone," Modi said, adding a global manufacturing firm would make the first phones in China, but Spice had started to build its own factory.

More News:
According to the Company, it will launch a Braille version of the phone in India. It is also set to reveal the world's first phone to play films on a disc. The People's Phone will be just one of several launches at this week's Barcelona conference. Next-generation handsets and wireless technology are once again set to dominate the conference.

Last month the telecom company unveiled its plans to launch a pilot scheme in India that will let mobile users to make free phone calls as long as they are prepared to listen to a short advertising jingle. The plan is intended to break the monopoly on the market enjoyed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar.

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Chhattisgarh Poors To Get SMS Food Alerts!

The Chhattisgarh government plans to send SMS alerts about availability and supply of food to beneficiaries of the subsidized public distribution system (PDS). The government will provide 35 kg of rice in a month to each family at the rate of Rs 3 per kg under the scheme.

To get the alerts, the poor families will have to register details of their mobile phones at the website of the food and civil supplies department at http://cg.nic.in/khadya/. When the food is available at the local distribution center, SMS alerts will be sent out to families registered.

The alerts would also be given out through the Internet at the PDS website. The government is also planning to set up toll-free call centers across the state to take up supply related complaints of PDS beneficiaries immediately and deliver reply to them in time-bound banner on their telephones. The SMS facility, Internet updates and call center will start functioning from Jan 26, the Indian Republic Day.

Chhattisgarh is the first state of the country to have such high-tech system. We feel glad that the poor people of Chhattisgarh has cell phones even though they do not have enough money to buy their meals.

The government officials are unclear how many of such families actually own mobile phones.
But all they want is to roll out the functionality and be the first, sounds good!
Source: Yahoo!

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Airtel - SMS 2.0 - World's First

Bharti Airtel is now the first Indian mobile provider to offer SMS 2.0 innovative service to its 55 million customers. SMS 2.0 enables Airtel users to discover a host of relevant content services along with enhanced messaging features.

SMS 2.0 has converged messaging, content, and contextual advertising into one seamless application, which resides as the default SMS application on the customer’s mobile handset.The UK-based Affle is the inventor of this technology. Airtel has been piloting this SMS2.0 technology in Delhi and NCR since June 2007 and seen positive resonpose from users.Airtel says that the youth and young professionals are more active users of messaging. SMS2.0 service will enrich the messaging and communication experience and also add more value to the customers.
It offers message personalization options like composing & sending messages with a variety of text & background colours and interesting emoticons. It delivers user relevant content (like News, Jokes, Movie updates, Cricket, Astrology etc.) which is seamlessly integrated into messaging platform.

The SMS2.0 application is a free upgrade to the regular SMS application. To download SMS2.0, the Airtel customer simply sends SMS2 to 543210. There is no charge for downloading and for subsequent content delivery on this platform; the SMS charges remain unchanged and according to the existing mobile plan.
Source: Moneycontrol

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