If Aircel is redefining how telecom operators approach value added services and GPRS in India, Tata Docomo is doing its bit to change billing practices. The joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Japanese telecom major NTT Docomo officially began rollouts (pdf) on June 24th, with a plan to invest $2 billion for its pan-India GSM services. Tata Docomo has so far launched services in Chennai and Tamil Nadu (pdf), Orissa (pdf), Karnataka (pdf), and planned to complete a South India rollout within a week; a 22 circle rollout, except in Jammu & Kashmir and North East is expected to be completed by October 2009, reports Business Standard. Pricing Differentiation...It's Been Tried Before Tata Docomo appears to be banking heavily on its tariff plans - the company is offering a 1 second pulse instead of the usual 1 minute pulse that other telecom operators are offering. This means that consumers are charged on a per second basis, instead of a per minute basis, and end up saving money on unused seconds. A nifty little application "How much can you really save" on Docomo's website explains how this works. Rs. 0.01/second is a marked change from the Re 1/min and Rs. 0.49/min charges that usually apply. Now while this plan might sound unique, it isn't that it hasn't been tried before: back in 2004, Tata Indicom had launched 1 second pulse plans, which going by their current plans, appears to have been shelved. Services: I-mode, LBS, m-Commerce To Be Launched At the launch…
