Loop Mobile (Formerly BPL Mobile), usually referred to as LOOP is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage in Assam, Kolkata, North East, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan after receiving a license to operate across 21 telecom circles by DoT.^[2][3]

History[link]

BPL Mobile Communications was the country’s oldest mobile telecom service provider^[4] established in 1994. It began its operations in 1995. However, BPL Mobile was renamed to Loop Mobile in March 2009, following the expiry of its brand-use agreement with the TPG Nambiar-owned BPL Group.^[5] Having consistently met and exceeded TRAI benchmarks, is now ISO 9001:2008 certified.^[6] The Khaitan Holding Group took ownership control in 2005. Loop Mobile has completed over 16 years of service and today has over 3 million subscribers.^[7]

Technology[link]

Being the country's oldest telecom service provider, Loop Mobile is the first operator in the country to offer services like MMS, GPRS and Caller Ring Tunes.^[8] Other VAS include Reply-All, Roaming on Prepaid, Intelligent network, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Multimedia Messaging Service(MMS), Missed Call Alert, Caller Ring Tune, Mobile Tracker, Doctor-on-Call, "1 paise per sec‟ prepaid plan, Karaoke Messaging among others.^[9] Apart from Mumbai, it is among the new mobile services companies to be awarded licenses to operate across 21 circles by DoT.^[2] Loop Mobile uses the latest NGIP (Next Generation Internet Protocol) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology.^[10]

During the year 2010, Loop Mobile had invested about 200 crore (US$39.9 million) as a part of its Phase I capex plan for a major network upgrade.^[11] As a part of the expansion, 1,200 new cell sites were added in Mumbai, making its network one of the strongest in the city. The next generation Software-defined radio(SDR), were installed for the first-of-its-kind GSM deployment across any metro in India . The SDR-based next-generation IP (NGIP) network upgrade is environment-friendly which will considerably reduce carbon foothold. This up-gradation instantly added network quality, crystal clear voice clarity and high-speed data.^[12]

Subscriber base[link]

Loop Mobile's subscriber base as at the end of July 2011 is as follows:-

• Mumbai - 3,160,263
• Haryana - 95
• Kolkata - 1,344
• Madhya Pradesh - 100
• Orissa - 592
• Punjab - 125
• Rajasthan - 243
• Northeast India - 20
• Assam - 97

Totalling to 3,260,000 (Approx.) or 0.50% (Approx.) of the total ^[13] mobile connections in India.

Competitors[link]

Loop Mobile competes with several other mobile operators throughout their circles. They are Aircel, Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Tata DoCoMo, MTNL, MTS, Reliance Communications, Uninor, Videocon and Vodafone.

Controversy[link]

Loop Telecom was probed by CBI for being a beneficiary of the 2G scam allegedly perpetrated by former telecommunications minister A. Raja. The Enforcement Directorate fined a sum of 384 crore (US$76.61 million) on Loop Mobile and Loop Telecom for alleged foreign exchange violations. Loop Telecom is a subsidiary of Loop Mobile, owned by the Santa Group of Khaitans, having family ties with the Ruias of Essar Group.^[14] Firm for alleged violation of foreign exchange laws to the tune of about Rs 384 crore in connection with the 2G scam. Loop was issued notices for not intimating the RBI after receiving the money through FDI entities. The second violation committed by them was regarding not issuing shares within specified time period.^[15][16]

On 18 August 2011, Loop mobile along with Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Vodafone was issued notices by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) for violation of Mobile number portability(MNP) Regulations. According to TRAI, they had received complains from customers regarding wrong rejection of porting requests by telecom operators and also 10 been charged for a message for requesting porting code through number 1900.^[17] In April 2012 Loop Mobile announced its intention to shut down operations across India except Mumbai with effect from 15 May 2012.^[18] The move is expected to impact 6,100 customers, however, the figure is much less than 0.01% of the number of mobile phone users in India.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Loop Mobile website