NEW DELHI: Virgin Mobile India, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Tata Teleservices, today announced its foray into the data segment with the launch of its USB modem 'vLink' priced at Rs 2,100.

The device, vLink, is a CDMA USB modem offering one GB data storage priced at Rs 2,100, Virgin Mobile India said in a statement.

"vLink comes with a starter kit... which includes free unlimited promo data usage time of 30 days. We have launched two tariff plans-- Rs 801 per month (for unlimited data usage) and Rs 349 per month (with a facility of balance roll over to next month)," Virgin Mobile India Chief Officer (Handset, VAS and Procurement) Deval Parikh said.

The second plan has a rate of 25 paise per minute (between 8 am-10 pm) and 13 paise per minute (between 10 pm-8 am), he added.

"vLink will offer instant connectivity on the move to the style conscious youth, be it students, professionals, SMBs or SOHOs...It is a carry-along device that will allow users to access internet anywhere as well as store their music, photos, videos etc," Virgin Mobile India Chief Executive Officer M A Madhusudan said.

The statement added that India has a total internet user base of 49.40 million, of which net users 'under 25' years of age account for 52 per cent.

ABUJA/NIGERIA: Tata Motors, India's largest auto maker, will introduce its small car Nano--considered the world's cheapest--in Nigeria within next 18 months, ahead of its planned launch in Europe.

The car would be available for about NGN 360 for the base model, same as the price in the Indian markets. The car carries a price tag of Rs 1.23 lakh to Rs 1.72 lakh (ex-showroom) in the Indian capital for three variants.

"Tata Motors will make the Nano available in Nigeria in the next one year to one and a half years," a senior official of Tata Africa Nigeria, Sudeep Ray, said.

"The launching of the Nano was branded everyman behind the wheel and will benefit Nigerians much as public transport systems like metro are not available here.

"The car (Nano) will cost NGN 357,480 (about Rs 1.16 lakh) in Nigeria, which is much less than the price of most second hand saloon cars sold here," Ray said. The cost of an used car usually starts at NGN 500,000 in the country.

Ray, however, declined to give details whether the 'cheapest' car of the world be assembled in Nigeria or it would be sold as a completely-built-unit.

MUMBAI: English entertainment channel Zee Café will launch its new reality show Café Mic Testing on 4 July in a bid to commemorate American Independence Day.

The show that will hunt for Zee Café's next voice-over artiste, will run into five one-hour episodes and will be telecast at 8 pm.

While Café Mic Testing will be hosted by VJ and former Miss India Sarah Jane Dias, the judges for the show include international stand-up comedian and voice-over artiste Jonathan Atherton, Indian voice-over artiste Mona Ghosh and Association of Voice Artistes president Ankur Zaveri.

Said Zee Café business head Sujay Kutty, "Café Mic Testing is the first show to marry the format of a reality series to that of a game show. It is essentially a hunt for a fresh voice that reflects the youthfulness of the channel. The winner will lend his voice to the promos of Zee Café."

MUMBAI: MTV, the youth channel from the Viacom18 stable, is set to launch a new reality show Kurkure Desi Beats Rock On in a bid to look out for a desi rock band.

Auditions for the show will be held across Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai from 9 July till 19 July and will be judged by Kailash Kher, Ram Sampath and MTV VJ Nikhil Chinapa.

Winner of the show will be awarded with an album deal with T-series, a music video produced by MTV, a mega concert and a state-of-the-art instrument set.

MTV India GM and SVP - creative and content Ashish Patil said, "MTV's ability to predict the next big thing along with its reality programming will lead to the launch and showcasing of a band that will redefine music and show you that rock is not niche."

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani's Reliance Big TV is evaluating proposals from multiple investors to dilute stake even as it plans to pump in around Rs 6 billion in the current fiscal for ramping up its subscriber base to three million.

"We have been approached by several investors and are evaluating these proposals. But I have nothing to state beyond this," says Reliance Communications president Mahesh Prasad.

The 11-month-old DTH service provider has mopped up 1.8 million subscribers and the target is to touch three million, adds Prasad. Big TV's ARPU currently stands at Rs 200.

Reliance plans to invest between Rs 5 billion and Rs 6 billion in the current fiscal but this would depend on the subscriber growth numbers, avers Prasad.

Reliance Big TV also announced the launch of a new interactive feature, iStock, India’s first portfolio tracking application through their DTH platform, in association with Reliance Money.

Reliance Money has created an iStock zone on Big TV’s DTH platform. This zone will not only provide information about Indian and international indices, currencies, commodity, stock and market news, but also provide the DTH customers with value added services including a personal portfolio management tracker.

Says Prasad, “The iStock launch is an excellent illustration of the Reliance ADA Group's successful effort to draw synergies of its domain expertise across various sectors. The iStock application is part of our endeavour to offer customers unique and differentiated content and enhance their overall interaction with the Reliance Big TV brand.”

The Portfolio Manager will allow users to add up to 16 stocks in the portfolio and monitor them independently with an option to edit/ delete/ replace the target stocks anytime. Reliance Big TV will also present all the information in graphic charts to display the trends.

"This is part of Big TV’s increasing focus to build its DTH Vas portfolio. Currently over 10 per cent of the subscriber base uses its various interactive features such as iGames, iCooking, iNews, iAstro and iSports. Though currently offered as a “free of cost service”, as part of its long term strategy, Big TV may decide to monetize its interactive applications through targeted revenue modules," says Prasad.

Big TV sees big appeal for iStock application from cities and smaller towns alike, especially among the trading community who have invested in markets and would like to keep a close watch on their stocks.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices has announced the launch of services in Bihar, under the MTS brand that provides mobile services in six other countries with a subscriber base of about 100 million.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices, a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and Shyam Group of India, has an existing subscriber base of about a million. The launch marks the Sixth circle of operation after the launch of services in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and recently Kolkata and West Bengal.

As part of its inaugural scheme, the company intends to make its initial subscribers, minute millionaires, by offering one million minutes of talk time free through its 'MCard' for Rs. 499. Additionally, MTS will provide an offer to its customers to be able to call all Local Mobiles and Local Landlines at 49 paisa/minute. This offer will be at a one time cost of Rs. 49 and is a limited period offer.

Big TV, the Anil Ambani group's direct-to-home services provider, is in final stages of negotiations with Carlyle Group, the global private equity major, to raise around $50-100 million (Rs 240-Rs 480 crore).

This is part of the company's plan to raise $200 million (Rs 960 crore) mainly through equity, for which it has appointed Deutsche Bank as the lead arranger. The DTH service provider intends to use the proceeds for corporate purposes, including expansion of services.

"The companies (Big TV and Carlyle) have already agreed upon the board contours of the deal. However, finalisation of the exact amount of investment and stake to be exchanged have, among others, to be finalised," according to a source.

Big TV is also in talks with other private equity majors, though these are at preliminary stages, to raise funds. The exact quantum of funding to be raised from Carlyle would depend on the "promises" by players, he said. The company is also in discussions with major players like The Blackstone Group, Providence and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) for raising funds.

When asked, a Big TV spokesperson declined to comment. Calls to Carlyle's India head, Shankar Narayanan, on this deal went unanswered.

At present, Big TV is a second-rung player in the Indian DTH sector, with over 1.5 million subscribers (compared with Dish TV's 5.1 million users).

At present, regulations permit Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) of upto 49 per cent in DTH, with a rider that the FDI cannot exceed 20 per cent within the overall foreign investment cap.

Earlier, Tata Sky had sold off a 10 per cent stake to the Singapore government-owned Temasek for $56 million in 2007. Tata Sky has around 3.5 million subscribers.

© 2009 Business Standard

Prithviraj will be doing the lead role in 'Puthiya Mugham', the second film to be directed by Deepan. The director, who was earlier an assistant to hit-maker Shaji Kailas, had made his directorial debut with 'Leader'.

'Puthiya Mugham', to be produced by Anil Mathew and S. Murugan under the banner of Bethesda Productions, will also have Bala in a key role. Priyamani and Meera Nandan have reportedly been decided for the female lead roles. The film will be scripted by M. Sindhuraj and will be completed in two schedules. It will be released by Time Ad Release.