MAM
Spice launches Spice Caller Songs
MUMBAI: Spice Telecom launched its Spice Caller Songs service. This caller ring back tone (CRBT) service is a personalised mobile music service where the caller hears songs instead of the traditional switchboard ‘ring-ring’ tone. The service was launched by popular VJ Ramona and Spice Telecom, Punjab COO Navin Kaul.
Spice Caller Songs can be accessed by both pre paid and post paid subscribers by simply dialing 678. Subscribers can choose songs from popular categories like Punjabi, Chartbusters, Bollywood, English, Remix and Devotional.
Announcing the launch of Spice Caller Songs, Kaul said, “Traditionally, ring back tones were fixed by the service provider and consisted of uninteresting ringing or beeping sounds. Now, with Spice Caller Songs we present our subscribers the newest trend in cell phone personalisation. Through this service we hope to redefine a customer’s mobile experience by clubbing his communication as well as entertainment need, thereby making the mobile phone a true representative of its user’s personality.”
To get the caller tunes, subscriber can dial 678 and follow the voice prompts. Subscribers can listen to available categories of songs or listen to his/her existing settings.
Spice Caller Songs Charges will be available for a monthly rental of
Rs 30.
Kaul added, “Value-added services have provided immense choice to the customer to explore different avenues from sports and finance news to ring tone, wallpaper and sound clip downloads. Cellular service providers are aiming to offer maximum value to their customers through VAS. In cellular services revenue-generation module is shifting from voice to data, and it is this need for varied and innovative value added services, which will be emphasised upon by Spice Telecom.”
A multi-media campaign spanning TV, press, radio and outdoors will be rolled out with the theme ‘Ghantee gone, gaane on!’
To further add buzz to the new service Spice has announced an exclusive initiative for its subscribers called the ‘Rocking offer’. Through this initiative lucky subscribers stand to win a three nights and four days all expense paid holiday to Singapore.
Spice subscriber who activates Spice Caller Song service between 8 July 2005 to 15 August 2005, and chooses the most popular song as decided by the choice of songs by subscribers of Spice Caller Songs service, will win a holiday to Singapore.
Brands
Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
