Hutch heats up the telecom battle

MUMBAI: Hutchinson Essar affiliated companies in India have launched the GPRS

services ‘HutchWorld’ including MMS simultaneously across all Hutch networks

covering Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The service would be available from February 8, 2003 coinciding with the

inaugural event of the world cup cricket. The company has also launched the

cricket world cup video service exclusively on Hutch GPRS phones. The service

was launched in the presence of Rahul Dravid.

Announcing the launch, Asim Ghosh, said, “This adds a new dimension to

communication. We have moved things to a new plane by bringing action to the

user’s fingertips. This is absolutely world class and all of this is being

made available at the same time across the country.”

Hutch brings cricket video replays to its subscribers in its capacity as one

of the official sponsors and the only one with exclusive rights to the content
of the ICC World Cup Cricket 2003 for mobile telephony. Now the subscribers

would be able to receive ten second video clips of the best moments of all

matches of the world cup as each match progresses.

The company has also launched MMS. Subscribers with camera phones would be

able to take pictures and send them to any MMS enabled phone on Hutch national
network or to any e-mail ID anywhere in the world. Subscribers can also add a

text or voice clip to the photo messages. Hutch has exclusive tie-ups with MSN

Hotmail to offer e-mail services on the phone. Subscribers can also access yahoo

mail on the phone.



Also high-end Java games would be available to subscribers on the mobile phones.
Other services include portal cover news, astrology and entertainment including

a wide range of polyphonic ring tones. These services would be available at a

basic subscription of Rs 249 per month, which is being offered at a special

introductory price of Rs 99 till March 31, 2003. The World Cup video clips and

progressive stills can be received for Rs 99 right till the end of the

tournament.