Intel's new processors reach India

NEW DELHI: Intel has announced that laptops and desktop PCs powered by its 4th generation Core processor based on Haswell architecture are now available in India.

Haswell, which is successor to Ivy Bridge processors currently found in mainstream laptops and desktops, doesn't offer much advantage in terms of performance over its predecessors.

However, it is more power efficient and offers significantly better battery life, something that should help Intel take on the popularity of tablets in the market. Intel said that Haswell processor in laptops deliver up to 50 per cent increase in battery life in active workloads over the previous generation

The company added that due to its power efficiency Haswell will enable manufacturersAcer, Lenovo, Dell and HP to create thinner and lighter devices that could also serve as tablets.

Intel South Asia managing director Debjani Ghosh said that Haswell processor are one of the most power-efficient chips the company had created. "The 4th Generation Intel Core processors offer the most significant gain in battery life ever achieved by Intel, up to double the graphics and significant CPU performance improvements that will deliver an exciting user experience," she said.

Leighton Phillips, director of product management & pricing at Intel Asia-Pacific, added, "today's announcement accelerates a new category of 2-in-1 computing devices delivering the best of a notebook and a tablet in amazing new form factors."

Intel said that premium ultrabooks and a few all-in-one systems powered by Haswell chips would be available in India in coming weeks. Mainstream laptops that sell for around Rs 30,000 would get the new chips in couple of months.

Other than the battery life, Intel is promising significantly better graphics performance with Haswell processor. The top end chips, which come with GT3 graphics configuration, can even match dedicated mobile graphics cards. However, most of the mainstream laptops are likely to end up with HD 4600 and HD 5000, which will offer big improvements over HD 4000 but are not likely to match the dedicated AMD or Nvidia graphics cards in a laptop.

For consumers who assemble their own systems, Intel will sell boxed Haswell processor. The top end chips, dubbed Core i7 4770 and Core i7 4770K, are already available in the Indian market with a price of around Rs 20,000. Core i5 4430, which is a mainstream processor, is more affordable with a price of around Rs 12,500.

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Microsoft set to launch Windows 8.1 preview

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is giving people a peek into Windows 8.1, a free update that promises to address some of the gripes people have with the latest version of the company's flagship operating system. 

Although the preview version of Windows 8.1 is meant for Microsoft's partners and other technology developers, anyone will be able to download it for free, exactly eight months since desktops, laptops and tablets with Windows 8 went on sale. The version of the Windows 8.1 update meant for the general public will come out later in the year, though a specific date hasn't been announced. 

Many of the new features have been shown off already. A three-day Build conference, which in San Francisco, will give Microsoft developers a chance to learn more about the new system and try it out. It also will give the company a chance to explain some of the reasoning behind the update and sell developers on Microsoft's ambitions to regain relevance lost to Apple's iPad and various devices running Google's Android software. 

There's also speculation that Microsoft could show off a new, smaller version of its Surface tablet computers. One of the new features in Windows 8.1 is the ability to work well on smaller-screen devices. 

Windows 8, which was released October 26, was meant to be Microsoft's answer to changing customer behaviors and the rise of tablet computers. The operating system emphasizes touch controls over the mouse and the keyboard, which had been the main way people have interacted with their personal computers since the 1980s. 

But some people have been put off by the radical makeover. 

Although Microsoft has said it has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses so far, some analysts have blamed the lackluster response to the operating system for a steep drop in PC sales in the first three months of the year, the worst drop since tracking by outside research firms began in 1994. 

Among the complaints: the lack of a Start button on the lower left corner of the screen. In previous versions of Windows, that button gave people quick access to programs, settings and other tasks. Microsoft replaced that with a tablet-style, full-screen start page, but that covered up whatever programs people were working on, and it had only favorite programs. Extra steps were needed to access less-used programs. Settings, a search box and other functions were hidden away in a menu that had to be pulled out the right. How to do that changed depending on whether a mouse or touch was used. 

And while Microsoft has encouraged people to use the new tablet-style layout, many programs - including Microsoft's latest Office software package - are designed for the older, desktop mode. People were forced into the tablet layout when they start up the machine and had to manually switch the desktop mode each time. 

Windows 8.1 will allow people to start in the desktop mode automatically. In that mode, it is restoring a button that resembles the old Start button. Although the Start button will now take people back to the new tablet-style start screen, rather than the old Start menu, the re-introduction of the familiar button may make it easier for longtime Windows users to get accustomed to the changes. 

Other new features of Windows 8.1 include more options to use multiple apps. People will get more options to determine how much of the screen each app takes while showing up to four different programs, rather than just two. The update will also offer more integrated search results, showing users previews of websites, apps and documents that are on the device,at once. 

Although Microsoft is addressing much of the criticisms with Windows, it is positioning the update as more than just a fix-up job. its perspective, the tuneup underscores Microsoft's evolution into a more nimble company capable of moving quickly to respond to customer feedback while also rolling out more innovations for a myriad of Windows devices - smartphones, tablets or PCs. 

It's crucial that Microsoft sets things right with Windows 8.1 because the outlook for the PC market keeps getting gloomier. IDC now expects PC shipments to fall by nearly 8 percent this year, worse than its previous forecast of a 1 percent dip. IDC also anticipates tablets will outsell laptop computers for the first time this year. 

The growing popularity of tablets is now being driven largely by less expensive devices with display screens measuring 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally. Microsoft built Windows 8 primarily to run on tablets with 10-inch to 12-inch screens, an oversight that Microsoft is also trying to fix with Windows 8.1. 

Microsoft has said the company was working with other manufacturers to make smaller tablets, but it has yet to confirm reports that it is making its own. A smaller Surface with an 8-inch screen would be significantly smaller than its current, 10.6-inch models and would put the Surface in closer competition with Apple's iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. 

Such a device would coincide with Intel Corp.'s recent release of a new chip line called Haswell. The company says Haswell chips offer a 50 percent improvement in battery life over the previous generation when playing back high-definition video. 

In an indication that Microsoft Corp. is clearing out inventory of a Surface tablet running the lightweight Windows RT operating system, the company is effectively cutting the price of that by including a keyboard cover for free. The cover sells for $120 or $130 on its own. 

Microsoft also said this month that it would give buyers of the RT version of Surface the Outlook email and calendar program at no extrage - joining other Office freebies Excel, Word and Power Point - and sweetening the offer for the device that is priced starting at $499. That will come as part of the Windows 8.1 update.

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Microsoft launches ad-free Bing search for schools

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said it would offer an advertising-free version of its Bing search engine for schools, which also includes extra privacy and filtering of adult content.

"Bing For Schools will offer schools in the US the option to tailor the Bing experience for (elementary and secondary) students by removingadvertisements search results, enhancing privacy protections and the filtering of adult content, and adding specialized learning features to enhance digital literacy," Microsoft's Matt Wallaert said in a blog post. 

"The programme is completely voluntary: schools have the choice of participating or keeping the normal Bing experience. For those that opt in, Bing will enable the experience acrosssearches within the school's network on Bing.com, without any need for special software." 

Wallaert said Bing already offers the ability to filter out adult content but the new services "will automatically default to the strict setting and remove kids ability to change it."

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Tata Docomo cuts 2G, 3G data rates by 90%

NEW DELHI: Following in the footsteps of other telecom service providers, Tata Docomo has decided to cut its 2G and 3G data rates by 90 per cent effective July 1, the company said.

"This will increase data penetration across segments and a 90 per cent discount will serve as a customer friendly yet clear differentiator for our customers," Gurinder Singh Sandhu, head of marketing, Tata Docomo, said in a statement.

This will be applicable in19 circlesit provides services.

The revised tariffs will be applicable on 2G mobile internet packs offered by the company on recharging value of Rs 126 (2GB for 30 days), Rs 149 (2.5GB for 30 days) and Rs 249 (3GB for 60 days) and 3G data pack - Rs 255 (2GB for 30 days), the statement said.

Earlier, Vodafone, Airtel and Idea Cellular had slashed their datages.

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Google's internet balloons may come to India

HYDERABAD: Internet search giant Google may implement 'Project Loon', which is a balloon-mounted internet access service, in various countries including India. 

"We are doing a pilot project in New Zealand and going to see how it works. Once we get satisfactory results, we will be in a position to implement it in other countries as well," Google's managing director, Global Channel Sales, Todd Towe told reporters. 

"Interestingly, while we are still in the pilot phase, we have been getting multiple queries different countries including India, which are interested in implementing the project," Towe said. 

However, he said, there is no time-frame to launch the project in India.

'Project Loon' balloons, which carry internet signal antennas float in the stratosphere, at a height twice as high as air planes. 

They are carried around the earth by winds and can be steered by rising or lowering them to a particular altitude, with winds moving in the desired direction. 

Customers may connect to Google's balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their building. The signal bounces balloon to balloon, onto the internet and back to the earth. 

A 'Project Loon' pilot project began on June 15 at the 40th parallel South, which is a circle of latitude, that is 40 degrees south of the earth's equatorial plane, when 30 balloons launched New Zealand's South Island beamed internet signals to a small group of pilot testers. 

The experience of these pilot testers will be used to refine the technology and shape the next phase of 'Project Loon', Google had said earlier. 

Speaking about the company's Premier Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Partner Programme, Rowe said within 10 months of its launch, the model has gained significant momentum in India. 

"We have partnered with 16 medium sized companies, with over 3,000 sales people who have been trained to help SMEs gain digital advertising. In the next one year, we are looking to significantly increase our presence in South India by doubling our partners and add another 3,000 sales force though these partners," Rowe said. 

Jaspreet Bindra, CEO, Getit Infomedia, one of the largest Premier SME Partners of Google India said that it had entered into a strategic alliance with Google India, though its SME programme to increase Getit's presence in the country.

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India becomes happy hunting ground for SAP

BANGALORE: For German business software maker SAP, its India unit has become a fertile poaching ground for talent, with the Walldorf-based company elevating at least five Indian executives to global leadership roles during the last year. 

The latest such is the choice for India human resources head Bhuvaneswar Naik for a global role in the HR team, based in Singapore. Anil Warrier, a director of talent acquisition at SAP, India has been elevated as global head for early-talent acquisition, based in the UK, in January this year. In December, VR Ferose, managing director of SAP Labs India, was named the head of the Globalization Services Organization.

"Companies understand the criticality of India as a fast-growing market and a source of large-scale talent and they often involve Indian executives in decision-making," said CK Guruprasad, a principal at global technology and services division of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. "Moreover, there's a shortage of leadership talent at the global level."

Anirban Dey, who took over as managing director of SAP Labs India Ferose, said that globally, SAP is welcoming an increasing number of Indians to its senior management team as the country transitions a back-office location to a fast-growing market.

India's is the third-largest market for SAP after Germany and the United States, with sales of around Rs 7,000 crore and an employee base of over 6,000. "SAP looks at India as a ground of talent and it's now a trend within the company," Dey said.

Other leaders who were recently chosen for global roles include Dilipkumar Khandelwal, a senior vice-president at SAP India who now heads global development teams in human capital and supplier relationship management, and Pravin Agarwala, who heads its cloud product Bydesign.

According to experts, success and experience in a complex market such as India makes senior executives here well-suited for challenging global roles. "India is a difficult markets to crack, so people who do well in this market are often given bigger opportunities," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, head of the staffing business at human resources services firm Randstad India.

Unlike markets such as Latin America and China,local culture is dominant, Indian employees are exposed to an international language and work-culture an early stage in their careers.

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Hon Hai plans to hire 10,000 engineers

TAIPEI: Hon Hai Precision Industry, looking to reduce its reliance on making products for Apple, said it would focus on developing new technologies, intellectual property rights and e-commerce. 

Hon Hai, the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer, earned more than $100 billion in revenue last year - with Apple estimated to account for up to 60 percent. 

As Apple's growth slows in the face of fierce competition Samsung Electronics, Hon Hai has been keen to diversify into higher-margin businesses, but its slew of initiatives has opened it up to criticism that it lacks focus. 

To help it develop those businesses it is planning to hire between 5,000 and 10,000 engineers across Taiwan, adding to the 6,000 currently on the island, Chairman Terry Gou told the company's annual shareholder meeting. 

Focal points will be research and development, software and patent rights, he said, adding that Hon Hai ranks No.8 globally among companies in terms of the amount of patents it holds. 

On the e-commerce front, it is planning to shift its China retailing focus to online sales, after a joint venture with German retailer Metro AG in China failed because of fierce competition. 

Gou's speech came at a time when sales are comparatively weak, down 12.6 per cent for the year through to end-May against the same period last year. 

He said the company's target of achieving 15 percent revenue growth this year was challenging because of slowing global growth and changes in consumer tastes in electronics products. But he said he expected revenue and earnings per share to beat last year's record highs. 

However analysts are mostly forecasting flat profits. "Hon Hai's earnings momentum in the first half seems soft, due to lack of new product launches by Apple," said Rex Chen, chief investment officer of BNP Paribas' asset management joint venture in Taiwan. 

Hon Hai also hopes to drive revenue growth with plans to split off its connector business into a separate unit as a prelude to a public share offer (IPO) three years later, Gou said. Making it an independent company would help increase the unit's sales by 20 per cent in the first year, he said. 

The company has more than 20 other business divisions which could be split off into separate units, he added. 

Hon Hai, the flagship firm of the Foxconn Technology Group, also plans large investments in Indonesia,it hopes to sign an agreement soon on making and selling cellphones for local brands, and it will also expand further in the United States at some point, he said.

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Mobile download speed hits 150Mbps in South Korea

SEOUL: South Korea's largest mobile operator is this week launching what it says is the world's fastest wireless network. 

SK Telecom on Wednesday said that the LTE-Advanced network can download data at speeds twice as fast as LTE networks and 10 times faster than third generation services. 

With a transfer rate of 150MB per second, the network can download an 800MB movie in just 43 seconds. 

The service will be initially available in Seoul and its suburbs. 

South Korea has witnessed rapid growth of the fourth-generation LTE, or Long Term Evolution, service as the country's mobile phone users are quick to adopt faster wireless technologies 

More than 60% of South Korea's 33 million smartphone users have subscribed to the LTE service. 

GSA, an association of network suppliers, projects that LTE networks will be available in 87 countries by the end of 2013. 

With the launch of the new mobile technology, SK Telecom has begun selling the Galaxy S4 LTE-A smartphone made by Samsung that can run on the fastest network. 

The LTE-Advanced technology, however, has room for improvement. While it boasts the fastest download speed, its upload speed is same as LTE networks at 37.5Mbps.

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Google to publish data on malware, phishing scams

WASHINGTON: Google is set to regularly publish data on internet security, malware and phishing scams that infect computers and steal consumer information. 

The effort by the search engine is intended to throw light on the number of viruses that are infecting internet users' computers, and in helping keep sites that host them accountable. 

According to the Washington Post, malware, or malicious software, can retrieve sensitive, private information.

The weekly reports will include the number of malware and phishing sites Google is detecting as its search-engine crawlers scan the web. 

Google said it will give maps ofthe viruses are created to show the global scale of the problem. 

The data will be included in Google's Transparency Report, in which the company also discloses government and law enforcement requests for user data, the report said. 

Niels Provos, an engineer at Google, said the effort is to make the internet a safer environment. 

Google already sends notifications to Web masters and warns consumers against visiting affected sites in its search results and through its Chrome browser. 

He said that the report was intended to warn sites that host viruses to respond quickly and clean them up.

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Toshiba considers raising NAND chip capacity

TOKYO: Toshiba may expand its NAND flash memory chip capacity just one year after oversupply and a slump in prices prompted Japan's leading chipmaker to slash production by 30%. 

With Toshiba's existing chip facilities now running at full capacity, the company may spend some of a 38% hike in its capex budget this year on extending a factory, the company's incoming president, Hisao Tanaka, said in a recent interview. 

Raising capacity would mean Toshiba is confident that demand for the chips, which are used in smartphonesApple's iPhone, will remain strong enough for the company to avoid the inventory glut it suffered in 2012. 

"Regarding new investments, we are looking into Fab-5, though we have not made any official decisions yet," Tanaka said, referring to Toshiba's fifth NAND facility in Yokkaichi in western Japan. 

"Whether we increase capacityat once or do so gradually depends on the direction of the market. We're looking into how we can respond quickly when it's necessary." 

Global prices for NAND chips, which are used in smartphones and memory cards, have picked up in 2013, while a weaker yen has given Toshiba a further advantage over rivals such as Samsung Electronics. 

Toshiba may also be looking to buy new equipment after increasing its budget this year for investment in its electronics segment by 81% to 170 billion yen ($1.74 billion), the highest since 2010 and almost half of its overall capex budget. 

The company, which makes a range of products medical equipment to elevators, is hoping that NAND chips will power a 34% jump in operating profit forecast for fiscal 2013. The chips make up the lion's share of its memory division, which contributed roughly a tenth of Toshiba's 5.8 trillion yen ($59.44 billion) revenue last year. 

Tanaka also suggested that Toshiba is hoping to expand its nuclear business, saying that it would prefer to sell a portion of its stake in US nuclear power unit Westinghouse to an engineering company with expertise in building nuclear plants. 

"A company which could offer us synergy with nuclear plant orders would likely be a very important partner for us," he said. 

Toshiba had previously stated that it wanted to sell 36% of its 87% stake in Westinghouse, although it was in no hurry to do so.

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Barnes & Noble stops manufacturing Nook tablets

Barnes & Noble will stop manufacturing its own Nook tablets, marking the end of its expensive attempt to compete alone with deep-pocketed rivals Amazon, Apple and Google in the tablet wars. 

The top US bookstore chain reported another quarter of dismal results on Tuesday, led by a 34% drop in sales of Nook devices and e-books business, and said it expects sales to continue to decline this fiscal year at its bookstores. 

Shares were down 17.5% to $15.53 in afternoon trading. 

Barnes & Noble will still make and design black-and-white readersthe Nook Simple Touch, which it says are more geared to serious readers, who are its customers, than to tablets. 

But it is looking for a partner to make its Nooks, acknowledging that competition is too fierce to fight alone. 

"We want to move away taking onthat risk ourselves," Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch told investors on a call. "It was very capital intensive to build our own tablets." 

In the fiscal year ended April 27, Barnes & Noble lost $475 million on the Nook business and it repeatedly had to slash prices on the Nook tablets and accept returns retailers unable to sell the devices. 

The retreat raised fresh questions about Barnes & Noble's ability to sell its Nook Media subsidiary, created in early 2012 and made up of Nook and its college bookstore chain. The bookseller's ability to look at strategic alternatives and its position in the e-books market were also matters of concern. 

Barclays Capital analyst Alan Rifkin said in a research note the losses "reduce the likelihood" Barnes & Noble will find a buyer for its digital business. 

Last year, Microsoft took a 17.6% stake in Nook Media, and British publisher Pearson bought 5%. Barnes & Noble owns the rest. 

Barnes & Noble shares shot up in May on unconfirmed reports that Microsoft wanted to buy Nook. 

Barnes & Noble, the largest US bookstore chain, launched the first version of the Nook e-reader in 2009 to take on Amazon's market-leading Kindle and secure a place in the fast growing e-books market. 

E-books now account for about 20% of book sales, according to the Association of American Publishers. By Barnes & Noble's estimates, it has a 27% share of the US e-books market. 

Bookstore chain struggles

The picture was also bleak for Barnes & Noble's retail business, consisting of its 675 bookstores and accounting for two-thirds of sales. 

Sales at stores open at least 15 months fell 8.8% last quarter and Barnes & Noble expects retail sales to be down by a high single digit percentage in its new fiscal year. 

Earlier this year, Leonard Riggio, the company's chairman, founder and largest shareholder with a nearly 30% stake, said he wanted to buy Barnes & Noble's bookstore chain. 

Lynch declined on the call to provide an update on the status of the talks. 

The retailer plans to close as many as 20 stores this year. 

Mitchell Klipper, who heads Barnes & Noble's retail business, told Reuters the results and forecasts would have no impact on the pace of store closings. He also said Barnes & Noble had no plans to invest in large renovations to the stores. 

He also said there was no need to reduce the size of the stores. 

"That is not even an option," Klipper said. 

Barnes & Noble executives said that success last year of bestsellersThe Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey played a large part in its forecast for a comparable sales decline. 

Companywide revenue was down 7.4% to $1.28 billion in the fourth quarter, below the $1.33 billion Wall Street analysts were looking for, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 

One bright spot was its college bookstore chain,same-store sales rose 7.5%. Still, Barnes & Noble forecast a low-single digit percentage decline for fiscal 2014 after a full year decline last year. 

The retailer reported a net loss of $118.6 million, or $2.11 per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended April 27, more than twice the loss of $56.9 million, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier.

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HP's strategy for IT sector

BEIJING: Technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) said the company will continue to build IT infrastructure of the future focusing on a healthy mix of hardware, software and services.

The California-based firm with revenues of over $120 billion has witnessed tough times as turnover its traditional businesses such as printers and PCs have declined due to consumers shifting to other devicestablet PCs and smartphones.

"We've strengthened our financial performance, our balance sheet is healthy, cash flow looks strong and we have stabilised our business," HP CEO Meg Whitman said at the HP World Tour here.

She added that the company is investing more in research and development as customers are demanding more innovation.

"Every 10 or 15 years there is a new shift in IT and the next major inflexion point has arrived, driven by cloud, security, big data and mobility," Whitman said adding that HP has differentiated itself its competitors by being able to serviceaspects of the latest IT revolution.

With technology shifting towards mobile, cloud computing and analytics, Whitman said the way consumers use IT today is very different compared to the past. Companies need to embrace this challenge.

HP's strategy is to provide solutions for the shift in IT, she said.

"There is no resting on past successes and it has led us to a new style of IT, which opens up opportunities but comes with its own set of challenges," she said.

As an example, she said businesses that generate millions of e-mails, tweets, videos and other forms of messages will have to figure out what information the digital footprint left behind, means for the company.

This information is processed on server computers in buildings, which, in the past required large dedicated rooms and also consumed vast amounts of electricity, Whitman added.

HP has announced launch of Android-based tablets, new printers (that are compatible with mobile devices and other wireless technologies) as well as services for enterprises and customers. These products will hit global markets in the next few months.

Whitman's appointment as the head of one of the world's biggest technology company has come at a time when HP is facing declining sales in PCs and printer segments. Its server business is also facing tough competition.

Whitman became HP's chief executive in September 2011.

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Facebook working on news reader app: Report

WASHINGTON: Social media giant Facebook is reportedly working on news service application that will collectthe news shared on the website and make it easier to browse through the various applications for the iPhones and iPads. 

The app called, Reader, is said to be similar to a popular app Flipboard that allows users to create their own custom magazines by logging in through their social media accounts, ABC News reports. 

Facebook recently launched 'clickable hashtags', a feature through which users can click on the hashtags and are taken to a feed related to the tagged topic and see what others are talking about. 

According to the report, although Facebook said that the new app, which has been worked upon for more than a year, will not be released anytime soon but the company has said that it will announce more hashtag features in the coming weeks, which will include a list of trending tags. 

With Google planning to shutdown its Google Reader RSS service in March, other software giants are coming up to provide users with creative alternatives. Digg, AOL and Feedly have already launched their alternatives to Google reader. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he plans to transform the News Feed feature of the website into 'the most personalized newspaper' adding that it should have a first page but also allow the user to drill down to any topic they want, the report added.

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GSM players inflated refarming cost: Auspi

NEW DELHI: GSM mobile phone companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have inflated and exaggerated the cost of refarming to Rs 125,000 crore, which is far higher than estimates of Rs 73,000 crore, the industry body representing dual-technology companies has said. 

Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi) has written to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) tasked with mapping out the details of spectrum auction to proceed with refarming the 900 MHz band and renewal of GSM operators' licences in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. 

"We also urge the government not to be swayed by COAI's deliberate and disingenuous campaign of disinformation on the costs associate with the refarming process. The true costs are substantially lower," Auspi said in a communication to the EGoM seen by ET. 

EGoM headed by finance minister P Chidambaram is set to meet on June 26, to discuss several issues surrounding the next round of auctions including reduction in reserve price, seeking fresh recommendations sector regulator Trai and mandatory migration to the unified licencing regime. 

Incumbent operators have opposed refarming of the 900 MHz band as they will need to vacate the more efficient band and replace it with less efficient airwaves the 1800 MHz band while paying the market price for acquiring these airwaves. Auspi has argued that cost of refarming the 900 MHz spectrum claimed by incumbents — Rs 125,000 crore in incremental capex and Rs 25,000 crore in equipment write-off — is higher than the actual cost. 

"Using Trai's recommended multiplication factor and reserve price in the recent auction as a, it is reckoned that incremental spectrum fees payable (at reserve price) for retaining the 900 Mhz spectrum for the incumbent operators (as against acquiring 1,800 Mhz spectrum) would amount to approx Rs 73,000 crore," the lobby group said. 

The large cost differential only reinforced the need for refarming to correct the unfair competitive advantage older operators have over newer players, by virtue of their 900 Mhz holdings. 

Further, Auspi has said that urban areas would not require additional cell sites and telcos would have had to make incremental investments into upgrading existing equipment, which was not related to refarming alone. Incumbents may have to install about 10% fresh tower infrastructure due to refarming in rural areas or meet coverage requirements which will cost about $150 million (Rs 896 crore).

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Samsung shares hit nine-month low

SEOUL: Shares in Samsung Electronics slumped 3% to nine-month lows on Wednesday, as investors braced for weaker-than-expected earnings the smartphone maker for the April-to-June period. 

Shinhan Investment joined a number of brokerages in cutting its target price for the South Korean technology giant, forecasting smartphone shipments and earnings would be less than it had previously expected. 

Samsung Electronics shares were set to fall for a sixth consecutive session. They were down 3.1% to 1,257,000 Korean won ($1,100) as of 0343 GMT, underperforming the wider market's 0.2% drop. This was their lowest level since September 11 last year.

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