The world’s leading mobile phone supplier, Nokia, has reached a five-year managed services agreement to run Hutchison Essar’s network operations in nine circles in India.The company will assume the operation of Hutchison Essar’s networks in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Rajasthan, Haryana and West Bengal.

"This would allow us to focus better on our customers and core activities," said Nokia’s official communication. The documentation for the agreement is being finalised, it said. According to the agreement, Nokia will provide an array of solutions from its extensive services portfolio, including network planning, project management, configuration and optimisation, network operations and maintenance and the administration of third party vendor contract management.

The operator will welcome over 600 Hutchison Essar staff into its Services business unit. "Nokia’s Managed Service know-how, plus its proven track record when it comes to operating and enhancing networks world-wide, were key drivers in helping us make this decision," said Asim Ghosh, managing director, Hutchison Essar Limited."The services business has become increasingly important for Nokia. Our managed services will improve Hutchison Essar’s cost structure and further enhance their service offerings," said Rajeev Suri, senior vice-president, Networks, Nokia.

Not long ago, it was mobile phones of all ranges and brands that dominated the grey market. Now Chinese versions of the iPOD, better-known as the mPODs can be bought in the grey market for less than half the price.

The Chinese version of the iPod mini has got a USB 2.0 connector, plays MP3s and WMA files, and contains a built-in FM tuner. "It costs half the price, but one can make out that it is fake. Rumours are that almost 14 million mPODs were sold in the US in December," says a grey market dealer. Apart from this original versions of iPODs are also available and many prefer to buy fakes. The reason for this is not just the cost, but also the quality. Sheikh, a technology enthusiast says, "The quality of the electronics that we buy from the grey market are sometimes much better than what is sold in showrooms. The Finnish versions of Nokia phones are better than the Chinese and Asia Pacific versions, because quality differs according to the country."

Other products that are flooding the grey market are N series of Nokia phones, Multi Media Card (MMC), memory cards that fit in phones, PDAs, digicams, notebook and mobile phone software for smart phones.