Vodafone offers ALL local and STD calls at 1paise/sec for prepaid customers

Vodafone Essar, one of India's leading cellular service providers, today enhanced its 1p per sec tariff offering in Karnataka. Customers can now make calls to any phone, any network in India at just 1p/sec. Priced at Rs 66/-, this recharge is bundled with a free SIM card with lifelong validity and comes with a tariff validity of one year from the date of recharge.

 
Vodafone Essar, one of India's leading cellular service providers, today enhanced its 1p per sec tariff offering in Karnataka. Customers can now make calls to any phone, any network in India at just 1p/sec.

44 years after Satyajit Ray's Ang, India gets the Zoozoo

Forty-four years after legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray created the iconic dwarf Ang, which was adapted by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg as the E.T., a crew of 25 admen has given India a new cult of queer beings - the Zoozoos.

The dwarf egg-heads who are almost everywhere - on television, billboards, at the Indian Premier League venues and in the minds of millions of viewers - are Vodafone's new brand ambassadors with one of the highest TV viewership ratings during this poll and IPL season.

Thanks to the aliens created by an Ogilvy and Mathers (O&M) crew, Vodafone with a share of 12 percent is leading the top five commercial brands that have contributed to 26 percent of the overall commercial advertising share, according to television audience measurement (TAM) figures.

The Zoozoos also have one of the largest fan bases on the social-networking circuit Facebook with two sites, one official and one unofficial, featuring more than 100,000 Zoozoo buffs.

But the Zoozoos, who resemble aliens, are not Ray's ET from the planet Cranius who befriended the Bengali school teacher Banku Babu.

For one, the Zoozoos are real beings in body suits who shot the commercials over 10 days in Cape Town, South Africa. And they are up to something new each day. Vodafone will release 30 Zoozoo commercials thoughout the IPL season.

"The Zoozoos are not animated characters. They are human beings in body suits made of foam so that they stay in shape. We used young women of slight build, mostly ballet and theatre dancers," Rajiv Rao, the executive creative director of O&M, told IANS from Mumbai.

Ad-filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films, who directed the commercials for O&M, says Zoozoos were a big challenge to create. "The practical aspect of how they would talk, gesticulate and emote were very important. It took me three weeks of pre-production work to understand how it would work."

There were two fabrics that were considered for the body suits. One had too many wrinkles and was shiny.

"The wrinkles would have shown when the characters moved. So, we chose the more practical thicker fabric," Varma said. The production team divided the fabric into two parts - the body and the head. The body parts of the outfit were stuffed with foam, while the head was attached separately.

"To make it look bigger than the human head, we used a material called Perspex. We wanted to keep the hands and the legs thin, which was why we cast women," the filmmaker explained.

The objective of the campaign was to refresh the consumer's memory every day during the IPL season with one commercial a day. "We wanted to make one film a day and create a common character, which would come and go every day but have a steady recall. The verdict was that a cartoon character would be the most inspiring," Rao said.

The makers of Zoozoo might return with a fresh lot of ads - if the ratings climb. "But we have not given it any specific thought," Rao said.

Vodafone's chief executive Arun Sarin to quit

Arun Sarin stunned the world of business Tuesday by announcing he is stepping down as chief executive of Vodafone after leading the world's largest mobile phone company to record profits during his five years at the helm.

Vodafone said the Indian-born Sarin, 53, who organised the single largest deal in the Indian telecom industry by helping his group acquire majority stake in the erswthile Hutch-Essar, will quit in July after five years at the helm.

Sarin, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, is to be succeeded by Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's 46-year-old Deputy Chief Executive and head of European operations.

The announcement came as Vodafone unveiled a 5.7 percent rise in operating profits.

Full-year figures revealed adjusted operating profits of 10.1 billion pounds for the 12 months to March 31. Underlying pre-tax profits rose 2 percent to 8.93 billion pounds, according to the group.

Although rumours of an impending departure are said to have been circulating for at least a year, some analysts said the timing of his announcement shocked the City.

Although Vodafone gave no reason for the move, institutional investors voted against Sarin's re-election to the Vodafone board in 2006, opposing his strategy of overseas acquisitions.

However, with the latest figures to back him, Sarin indicated in a brief statement Tuesday that his strategy had succeeded.

"I feel that I have accomplished what I set out to achieve, particularly in developing and implementing a new strategy," he said.

"I am very proud of what Vodafone and its 71,000 people have achieved and the good momentum we have in the marketplace. I know that the business is in capable hands with Vittorio Colao. Having worked with him for many years I know that he has the experience and vision to take Vodafone on to future success," he added

Vodafone said Sarin will be "retiring" at the end of the company's annual general meeting July 29.

Vodafone Chairman Sir John Bond praised Sarin for having done "a tremendous job", particularly mentioning his spectacular acquisition of majority stake from Hutchison in its India telecom venture for an estimated $10.9 billion.

"He has led the company with distinction and navigated Vodafone through a period of rapid change. He has developed a new strategy for the business and significantly expanded our footprint in emerging markets. The acquisition in India was very well timed and executed. The Board has a great deal to thank him for," Bond said.

Sarin became chief executive in July 2003 and over the last five years led the company through a period of significant change, both strategic and organisational.

Under his leadership Vodafone developed and implemented a new strategy to become a "total communications company", which is already delivering results, Vodafone said.

As part of its strategy Vodafone also expanded into emerging markets including Romania, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and most recently, India.

In portfolio management, during this time the company disposed of its businesses in Japan and Sweden, together with interests in Switzerland and Belgium. In Europe the new strategy has delivered innovative products, improved revenue and significant cost reduction.

Sarin's tenure also saw Vodafone's global customer base more than double from 120 million to more than 260 million.

Returns to shareholders over this period were "very positive," with dividends increasing more than 400 percent, the company said.

Vodafone to bring Apple's iPhone to India

India's mobile phone users will be able to switch to Apple's eagerly awaited iPhone later this year, courtesy telecom operator Vodafone.

The British telecom giant Tuesday announced its partnership with Apple to offer iPhone in 10 global telecom markets.

“Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network,” the company said in a statement.

India is the world's second largest mobile phone market with 261 million users, second only to China. Indian mobile firms added a record 10.2 million subscribers in March. With the expansion of the market, the call tariffs have gone down as low as two cents a minute, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Indo-Asian News Service

Vodafone Renews Syniverse Clearing Services Contract

Syniverse Technologies (NYSE:SVR), a leading provider of technology and business solutions for the global telecommunications industry, today announced a new global, four-year contract extension until 2011 to provide voice and data clearing services to all 18 Vodafone operating companies on five continents.

Syniverse operates one of the largest mobile clearinghouses in the industry, ensuring that financial settlement for worldwide roaming services is cleared accurately, rapidly and in continued compliance with evolving industry standards.

"Vodafone serves approximately 230 million customers on five continents and that requires we continuously reduce network complexities and costs while assuring a high quality customer experience," said David Smithwhite, Director of Roaming, Vodafone Group Services. "This contract extension is an indication of our confidence in Syniverse to provide unmatched voice and data clearing services."

Eugene Bergen Henegouwen, Executive Vice President, EMEA, Syniverse, said Vodafone is recognized as having among the highest performance standards in the global mobile industry.

"The fact that Vodafone entrusts Syniverse with handling millions of roaming transactions is a validation of our efforts to differentiate ourselves from the competition through excellent, reliable and cost-effective solutions and first-rate customer service," he said.

Vodafone will use Syniverse ACCESS S&E(R) GSM Clearinghouse Services as a single point of contact for the exchange of roaming billing records between all Vodafone operating companies and all other mobile partners and operators. Vodafone will benefit from more comprehensive network usage reports, as well as accurate invoicing and settlement of global mobile roaming voice and data calls, and Wi-Fi sessions where relevant.

Syniverse ACCESS S&E GSM Clearinghouse Services customers benefit from improved time-to-market for new roaming services; revenue assurance; compliance with industry standards regardless of roaming partner; simplified exchange of billing records via a single point of contact; and in-region multilingual customer service, 24 hours, 7 days a week. Enhanced by Analyzer, Syniverse's feature-rich reporting and data mining tool, ACCESS S&E also will provide Vodafone with critical information the company can use to understand customer behavior and be better able to develop appropriate marketing strategies for its high-value customers who travel abroad.

About Syniverse

Syniverse Technologies (NYSE:SVR) solutions allow more than 350 communications companies in over 50 countries to provide seamless mobile services by making it possible for disparate technologies and standards to interoperate. Syniverse's flexibility and customer focus permit its customers to quickly react to market changes and demands, enabling the delivery of everything from voice calls to sophisticated data and video services wherever and whenever subscribers need them. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007, Syniverse is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, U.S.A., and has offices in major cities around the globe. Syniverse is ISO 9001:2000 certified and TL 9000 approved, adhering to the principles of customer focus and quality improvement practices. More information is available at www.syniverse.com.