• Unique social networking platform provides effective framework to develop personalized applications and send advertisements to relevant user segments
• Created by Tata Tele and IIT Bombay Center for Excellence in Telecom (TICET), MSNP helps provide the right information to the right person at the right time

New Delhi, 29 August 2011: Tata Teleservices Limited and IIT Bombay Center for Excellence in Telecom (TICET) today announced the launch of the Mobile Social Network Platform, a unique and powerful social recommendation and networking platform to develop personalized applications and send targeted promotions to users within the network. These promotional advertisements will be based on the user’s demographic profile, call detail records, buddy list and other areas of interest. Instead of flooding the user with advertisements of every kind and nature, MSNP will direct only relevant and useful information to them.

How it works: An algorithm mines the call detail records available and searches for patterns in interactions between various users. These patterns, along with the information about the set of applications that a user is currently using—and what his/her friends like/dislike—are then analyzed to narrow the choice down to a specific set of users with similar interests. Anything that is popular in a user’s “cluster” has a high probability of being liked by users in that cluster, and thus, can be recommended to them.

“Social networking has seen strong and sustained growth over the last few years. With the advent of new technologies, it is now possible for people to share information at the click of a button. Also, its unexploited potential gives rise to exciting possibilities and opportunities for us. Keeping this in mind, we have developed the Mobile Social Networking Platform, aiming to revolutionize the way we perceive and use social media,” Mr Sushil Prakash, Country Head – Emerging Technology and Business Innovation Group, Tata Teleservices Limited, said. “With MSNP, we are focusing on bringing the social media experience to customers based on their location, activities and likings. With this launch, we’re making social media more social, in a network that moves with you and is always connected on the basis of where you are and what you’re doing—or even what you would like to do,” he added.

One of the key features of the MSNP platform is that it can host SMS-based applications and, therefore, there is no requirement to download additional software on mobile phones and no necessity to have a 3G-ready handset. Another highlight is that MSNP it is operator-agnostic—which implies that the applications on the MSNP platform can be used by subscribers of any service providers.

About Tata Teleservices Limited

Tata Teleservices Limited is one of India’s leading private telecom service providers, having a pan-India presence across all of India’s 22 telecom Circles. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the brands Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Tata Photon, Tata Walky and Virgin Mobile India, and operates its wireless networks on both the CDMA and GSM technology platforms. Tata Teleservices Limited, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, operates in more than 450,000 towns and villages across the country, serving over 92 million subscribers. After its collaboration with Japan’s NTT DOCOMO in November 2008, Tata Teleservices launched 2G GSM services under the Tata DOCOMO brand name in all the 18 telecom Circles where it received spectrum from the Government of India, completing the pan-India rollout in August 2010. Tata Teleservices Limited also became the first Indian private operator to launch 3G services in India under the brand Tata DOCOMO in November last year, with its launch in all the nine telecom Circles where it won the 3G license. In association with its partner NTT DOCOMO, the Company finds itself suitably positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. The company has also launched a new brand on the GSM platform—T24—in partnership with Indian retail giant Future Group. TTSL’s bouquet of telephony services includes mobile services, wireless desktop phones, public booth telephony and wireline services.

For details, visit www.tatateleservices.com.

About TICET

Tata Teleservices IITB Centre of Excellence in Telecommunications (TICET), at IIT Bombay, came into existence on 12th December 2007 with the signing of a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department of Telecommunication, Government of India, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai and Tata Teleservices Ltd., during the inauguration ceremony of India Telecom 2007, presided over by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. TICET and other TCOEs have been created to meet the broad objectives of capacity building, impetus to all round growth of Telecom industry including manufacturing through Application Research and to serve as think tank to the Government and Industry decision makers.

For further information, please contact:
Sonal Miglani
Tata Teleservices Limited
Handphone: +91 9212101254
E-mail: sonal.miglani@tatatel.co.in