GIFT OF ORANGE: Mumbaiites get Internet at their fingertips 

The celltel company, Orange is launching a mobile portal to reveal the magic of internet on the mobile phone. Inspired by NTT Dococmo of Japan , Mumbai cellular operator Orange has decided to do a 'Docomo in India' to transform Mumbaites to frequent WAP enabled mobile user with the internet at their fingertips. The software will impart information on trigger application. The mobile will have a navigator for those lost in Mumbai, as well as a guide to the city's unending traffic jams.

The cellular wars in Mumbai are getting keener by the day. After BPL Mobile went to town with its "one-second billing", USP Orange was forced to acknowledge the importance of cost savings in the cellphone user's perception of service. But Orange is now attempting to adopt altogether a different strategy. Not only has it accepted one-second billing as the norm, but it has also worked out a new package, aimed specifically to wean all its non-subsribers .

Hutchison Max Mobile Telephone (MAXTOUCH), as it was previously called, before going ORANGE all throughout India, in a joint project with SAS® India and Data Warehouse Solutions has constructed the first SAS Data Warehouse in India. ORANGE, a new and expanding mobile telephone company, after an extensive search, elected the services of SAS® India and Data Warehouse Solutions as their primary developers for their new data warehouse. The new warehouse was targeted to replace over a hundred corporate reports and support legacy systems used to collect data. The new warehouse provides Orange with on-line data analysis, data mining and new corporate reporting capabilities. Orange is now offering SIM cards "free" to any cellphone subscriber. The free bit, of course, is hedged. The cost of the SIM card and processing fee (Rs 1,800) is to be covered through free airtime of 60 minutes per month for three months at Rs 9 a minute. Plus free answerphone facility of Rs 450 for three months. That takes care of the entire amount to be paid to Orange , excluding the deposit of Rs 3,000, which is refundable. Free or not, it is Advantage, Orange .

Orange is the first mover in mobile portals . The mobile portal will provide 150 choices of content services from news to entertainment in association with 29 portals across the country, free services will be provided for the next six months .The company has tied up with Ericsson , Siemens and Motorola to launch WAP-enabled mobile phones at a cheaper rate, between Rs.9,000 and Rs.15,000 .

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