Bharti Airtel gets 3G licence in Kenya

Zain Kenya, now owned by Bharti Airtel, is set to roll out 3G services in Kenya after it was granted a vlicence by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK).
According to ITP.net, Charles Njoroge, director general of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), said that he was optimistic that the introduction of a second 3G network would help lower the cost of mobile broadband and also lead to the development of new services.
Telkom Kenya also announced plans last week to set up a 3G network in the country, after the regulator reduced the cost of 3G licenses by 60% in a bid to encourage competition.
Zain Kenya, which is the country’s second biggest mobile operator after Safaricom, also competes with Orange Kenya and Essar Telecom Kenya.

No division in ICC over Howard: Pawar

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who took over as International Cricket Council (ICC) president on Thursday, has insisted that the rejection of former Australian prime minister John Howard's nomination for the vice president's post will not create a divide in the sport's governing body.

Howard's rejection has left Australia (CA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC), which floated Howard's nomination seething in anger, as the strong Afro-Asian block, including the Indian cricket board, opposed the candidature at the ICC executive board meeting on Wednesday.

"No, I don't think so at all (that there will be a divide). We have discussed the matter individually and collectively with everybody including Australia, England and New Zealand also. We took a collective decision," Pawar, who took over from David Morgan on Thursday, said in an interview to a news channel.

"I'm not worried because it's a democratic organisation. According to the ICC constitution if any four members oppose to a proposal that cannot be passed. That's why we have requested Australia and New Zealand to give a second thought and come out with a new proposal."

Pawar, 69, said as ICC president, his job would be to introduce more countries to cricket, besides preserving all the three formats of the game.

"My efforts will be to expand the base of cricket to other countries. Today there are 105 countries who are the members of the ICC. But in the true sense, unless we expand the game to China, the USA, some parts of Eastern Europe and some parts of Africa, the game would not reach every corner of the world.

"There is also a lot of debate about the format. There are three formats and one person like me believes in Test matchs. There is also a sizable section who prefer One-Dayers and a section of the new fans feel for T20. I think all the formats have definite responses for different reasons. So we have to preserve all the forms."

On spreading T20 cricket across world, Pawar said: “It's not about T20. In the new area our efforts will be to encourage cricket. To set up cricket academies, to impart training and get the local people and fans involved in cricket."

Pawar assured he won't have any problem juggling his jobs as a minister minister and ICC president.

"Fortunately, the ICC HQ is in Dubai and Dubai works on Saturday and Sunday. So generally, I've to spend three to four days in a month on Sundays. So it's a matter of two-hour flight. So I think there won't be any difficulty.

"Secondly, I will discuss with the prime minister about my responsibilities and will take appropriate decisions so that my government work is not affected.

"I may suggest for more hands. I had asked for three ministers (of state) but they have given only one," Pawar said

Airtel to launch 3G services by year-end

Country's leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will launch the 3G services by the year-end.

"Our core network is 3G ready, billing, application and content ready. Once bids are through services will take six to eight months after that," Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor said while launching a HTC smartphone exclusively on Airtel network.

The auction for 3G spectrum is scheduled to take place on April 9, 2010. But as per the Department of Telecom (DoT) guidelines, operators can only start commercial launch post September 1, 2010. By this consideration, Bharti should be able to start services from October onwards.

Bharti Airtel had put in bids for both 3G and BWA spectrum. Besides, Bharti mostly all the major service providers have also put in their bids.

Vodafone, RCom, Tatas, Idea Cellular have also bid for both 3G as well as BWA spectrum. While Etisalat and Videocon have bid for 3G spectrum only, US-based chip maker Qualcomm, HFCL, Tikona and Spice are understood to have put in their applications for BWA.

The government has fixed Rs 3,500 crore as reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services.

However, the bid price may go quite high as the number of operators in the fray far outweighs the number of slots available in both the services.

The government will be selling spectrum to three players across the nation with exception of a few states where four slots will be on offer.

The 3G mobile services will allow high-speed content download and broadband services.

Airtel, which has a subscriber base of 124.6 million, has already have devices which are 3G ready.

The telco earlier this month had reached a deal with Apple Inc to sell the iPhone 3GS in India.

Besides, it has launched HTC Smart phone priced at Rs 9,990 in partnership with HTC

Zvonareva aims to upset Williams in Wimbledon final

Title holder Serena Williams and Russian Vera Zvonareva saw off challenges from youngsters on Thursday to meet in the Wimbledon women's final.

The top seed Williams will be bidding for a fourth trophy on the grass on Saturday after defeating 62nd-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova 7-6(5), 6-2.

Zvonareva posted a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, preventing an upset which would have seen the first unseeded finalist in history at the All England club.

Williams, who went down an early first-set break against Kvitova but got it back to take full control until the end of the one-hour, 23-minute win, claimed she never expected to reach the final.

"It wasn't easy, I worked hard," said the 12-time Grand Slam winner. "I didn't expect to get this far considering how I started at beginning of the tournament. I'm happy to still be here.

"Vera's a great player, really tough. I feel like I have nothing to lose going into the final and neither does she."

Zvonareva, who trails the series against Williams 2-5, is expecting to rise to the occasion on Saturday.

"Serena is great player, defending champion, and very tough to play against.

"But I always believe in myself. I'll just have to go out there and try to play my best, like I did in previous matches. We will see what's going to happen then."

Zvonareva's best previous result at a major was the Australian Open semi-finals two years ago. The number 21 has been unable to maintain a place in the top 10 due to a lack of consistent results.

"It's one of my dreams to be out there on the Centre Court, and playing in the finals of Wimbledon," said the 21st-ranked Russian who once stood as high as fifth on the WTA.

I'm thinking too much about my final, but I'm sure when the tournament finishes, finally I will realise that one of my dreams came true."

Pironkova, ranked 82nd, was bidding to become the first unseeded women's finalist at the All England Club as she rode the confidence of a quarter-final knockout of five-time champion Venus Williams.

Pironkova had never played in any tournament final but had exploded into form at Wimbledon.

I tried my best, I tried every point, every game," said an upbeat Pironkova. "But she was playing very aggressive and she was pushing me all the time, and I just couldn't do it."

"This is a huge experience for me," said the Bulgarian. "Reaching the semi-finals in Wimbledon, it's like a dream. Of course I wanted to go to the final, but I guess didn't happen this year.

"I learned a lot, I learned that you just have to play relaxed. You just have to go for every point, to fight, never give up."

Zvonareva was playing in her second semi-final at a major after Australia last year. The Williams win insure at least one of the two sisters placing in 10 of the last 11 Wimbledon finals. One or the other have won the trophy on eight of 10 occasions.

Amir Khan is promoting upcoming movie Peepli Live by poking fun at himself

Aamir Khan is a busy man these days. The actor is occupied with promotions for his upcoming flick Peepli Live. Aamir Khan has always been very innovative, be it in his movies, acting or even in his productions. Aamir Khan carries this distinctness even in his movie promotions. As expected, the actor has been using new unique techniques to promote his movie. This time he is seen poking fun at none other than his own self!

Aamir Khan’s promotional strategies for Peepli Live have been awe inspiring before as well. His shaven head for promotion of the movie Ghajini is still fresh in audiences’ minds. This time the actor has come up with a different concept. The promo will not have any mention of the movie! The promo was launched at promo at Intercontinental, The Lalit in Mumbai. However there are a series of 10 to 12 promos coming up and each of them

I Hate Luv Storys Review

Story: Jay Dhingra (Imran Khan) is an aaj ka chokra. He turns up his nose at anything that remotely resembles soppy sentimentality, even though he works as an assistant to a film maker (Samir Soni) who peddles the most improbable mush on screen.

Enter, the new art director, Simran Sharma (Sonam Kapoor) who eats, sleeps and is drunk heady on ishq-vishq and all that goes with it. A diehard romantic, she even has a perfect boyfriend called Raj (Samir Dattani) who gifts her a white chrysanthemum, each time he meets her. But will the pristine white flowers score over Jay's crazy red roses, and crazier ways? Keep guessing....

Movie Review: First things first. Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor make an interesting pair. After the Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif coupling, this seems to be the most refreshing jodi that's jaunting and jiving on screen. Nice chemistry. Nice tu-tu-main-main (sparring). Nice physical compatibility. And a well-balanced emotional quotient. Kudos to the two of them to carry forth a film which once again doesn't really have anything to boast about in the `storys' department.

Thematically, I Hate Luv Storys, is extremely simplistic, uni-layered and terribly predictable. Imran and Sonam do begin on the we-hate-each-other note, with Imran squirming at any and everything that's filmy while Sonam swears by it all: pink teddys, bunches of blooms, candle-light dinners, Karan Johar films, cuddly Cupid's bows, shooting stars, soppy dialogues and all that made-for-each-other mush. But we all know the way the wind blows, from the word go. Mush shall rule, and how! For all the digs that producer Karan Johar allows on himself (filmmaker Samir Soni is actually a spoof on KJo), we know the film's going to end up reiterating KJo -- and all he translates into onscreen -- as king.

So, Jay Dhingra, who likes girls, but hates girly stuff, is gonna end up crying like a girl very soon. Of course, first he must ridicule Simran for all her `stoopid' misconceptions about lurrrv, including her boyfriend Raj who besides being a frumpish bore, wears `fugly' shirts too. But it doesn't take long for the tables to be turned, twice over. On the one hand, Simran discovers her penchant for Mr Wrong (quirky, irreverent Imran), rather than Mr Right (politically correct Samir). And on the other hand, sceptic Imran succumbs to the love bug, red roses, rain-drenched songs, airport encounters, et all. Only, their turn-overs are mistimed. So that, when Simran says `haan', jokey Jay says `nah!' and when Jay wanna say `yes, yes, yes!', it's a punctilious let's-be-just-friends from the sobered Simran.

Kya khali-peeli confusion, all this babalog blah. But hey, blah can be timepass too. Specially when it has loads of icing on it. Debutant director Punit Malhotra layers his first film with oodles of sugar coating: great locales, mast music (Vishal-Shekhar), a yummy 'n yuppy lead pair, some laugh-out-loud moments and a lot of laugh-on-ourself sequences that ridicule the romcoms that roll out of the Bollywood factory (there are jibes on almost all of Karan Johar films), only to finally reiterate them as pills the public wants. On the performance front, watch out for Imran's endless emoticons (eyebrow lifts, smirks, smileys) and his pronounced pout. And for Sonam's svelte form and pleasant screen presence.
Candy floss floats. Popcorn rules. Go, chew on it.

A word about:
Performances: Cool. Nothing to boast about, but quite watchable, both Sonam and Imran. Together, they share a lively chemistry that keeps the fun rolling. Samir Soni's spoof on Karan Johar-Sanjay Leela Bhansali is cute. Samir Dattani is suitably stiff. He's supposed to be a bore, no.

Story: Punit Malhotra's story is ekdum simple and predictable. But then, when was romance supposed to be rocket science!

Dialogues: Very ordinary. Sometimes corny.

Cinematography: Ayananka Bose creates a visually pretty film.

Music: Vishal-Shekhar create a peppy score that goes well with the pop tenor of the film. Watch out for the title track, Bin Tere and Bahara.

Styling: Manish Malhotra's costumes are the high point: uber cool and urban chic. Lot's of `fugly' shirts juxtaposed against fundoo Tees, with crazy graffiti.

Inspiration: All of Karan Johar films!