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There have been a lot of developments this week, the biggest being Airtel’s plan to introduce extra charges for any incoming/outgoing VoIP calls regardless of Internet pack consumer might be subscribed to. As per the new terms and conditions listed below VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10KB for 3G service and 10p / 10KB for 2G service. Surprisingly, this move was just after screenshots leaked of Whatsapp’s calling feature. Looks like someone is intimidated!
Lets have a look at the important developments of the week.
India Quotient Announces #MobileIQ, A Platform For Early Stage Mobile Startups
Early stage investor, India Quotient, announced MobileIQ, a competition for early stage mobile startups. Winners will receive funding of INR 50 Lakh. Apart from funding, top 5 teams will get media coverage and mentorship by top industry experts. The competition will be held from 16th to 18th January and will be organised in IIT-M. The competition aims to judge the winner based on the aspects like venture description, market analysis, unique value proposition, competitive landscape, revenue model and social impact. However, ventures that have acquired more than $1Mn in funding cannot participate.
Misery Worth INR 23 Cr.: Maharashtra Govt. Freezes Naaptol.Com’s Accounts
Ecommerce websites are the new target of Government. These sites are allegedly avoid paying Value Added Tax(VAT). Following raid at ecommerce giant Flipkart’s Dasna based warehouse, now, Maharashtra Govt. froze Naaptol.com’s bank accounts on allegation of tax theft worth INR 23 Cr. This was not the first instance of such case. Earlier this year Amazon India was barred from selling products and more than 100 third-party merchants’ licenses were cancelled.
We Only Provide Infrastructure For Availing The Taxi Service : Ola To HC
Taxi Aggregator Ola Cabs challenged the ban imposed by the Delhi Government on 23rd December. The firm complained that the ban by the government is illegal, arbitrary and against principles of natural justice because it was never given an opportunity to give its stand. Justice Vibhu Bakru ruled in the favour of OlaCabs saying, “Since the petitioner has not been afforded any opportunity of being heard, I deem it appropriate to set aside the impugned order and direct that the petition be considered as a representation by the appropriate authority.”
Explara Launches ‘Community Solution’ On Its Platform
Ticketing & Registration platform Explara, launched in 2009, has launched a new product ‘community solution’ that allows customers to host local communities and to manage membership for events and activities. It can be used to manage membership joining & renewal automation, paid membership subscription and renewal payment processing.. It will now compete with 123Signup and Meetup which serves more than 18,000 communities. “Compared to existing competitors, Explara has always been focused on adding value added features that solves key pain points of its customers“ said Santosh Panda, CEO of Explara.com.
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