Indian Telecom Sector

Ericsson anticipates growth in India driven by network densification

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson expects its next phase of growth in India will be driven by network densification due to the rising data consumption appetite of end users in the country, a senior company official has said. Ericsson's managing director for India and head of networks for market area South East Asia, Oceania and India, Nitin Bansal told PTI that there is significant potential for growth in fixed wireless access in India, and it will soon surpass the number of deployments in the US. "The next phase of growth is focused on meeting increasing traffic requirements, primarily through network densification to enhance network utilisation. Network densification will occur due to increased network utilisation," he said. Ericsson estimates that the data traffic in India will grow from 29 GB per smartphone user per month to 68 GB per smartphone user per month by 2029. "If the trend continues, then service providers will densify the network to enhance the experience of users,

Telcom firms, Scindia discuss AGR, OTP apps exclusion from licensing rules

Telecom operators in a meeting with Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed concerns over regulator Trai excluding messaging and calling apps like WhatsApp and Telegram in its recommendation on new licensing rules, sources aware of the development said. Operators also discussed issues concerning adjusted gross revenue payments, they added. The meeting was attended by Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani, Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra, Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal and BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Robert J Ravi. "All telecom operators expressed concern over the exclusion of over-the-top apps by Trai in its recommendation on Service Authorisation. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel raised the issue of adjusted gross revenue," a source said. Telecom operators have been demanding for a long time to bring calling and messaging apps, called as OTTs, under the ambit of telecom licences as they provide calling and messaging services like any telecom operator. The Telec

DoT plans to update trade codes for telco gear for better tracking

Trai wants HSN codes updated to better identify products & trade

Nomura raises Bharti Airtel target price post tariff hike, sees 14% upside

In the post-paid segment, tariff adjustments range from 10-20 per cent, with popular plans seeing increases of 10-13 per cent

5G subscribers in India at 159 million: Bank of America global research

The report says this figure could grow to more than 490 million subscribers (42 per cent penetration) by 2028. 5G user growth has surpassed expectations over the past few months

TMS Ep591: Telecom Bill 2023, end of WFH, airline stocks, Covid-19 JN.1

Telecom Bill 2023: Is allocation better than auction? Was 2023 the year work from home ended? Will IndiGo and SpiceJet stocks face turbulence? What is JN.1, the latest Covid-19 variant? Answers here

Telecom Bill consumer-centric, pro-investor; clarifies on key issues: BIF

Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Wednesday said the new telecom bill brings clarity on a slew of important issues facing the sector, including the regulator's power and functions, protection and duties of telecom users, and exclusion of OTTs from the purview of telecom regulations. In a statement, the industry body said its executive council, at its recent meeting, praised the bill, and termed it a historic milestone and extremely progressive. The bill, BIF said, is consumer-centric and investor-friendly, and will propel the growth of the sector. BIF said the bill brings in clarity on a plethora of key issues, including Trai's power and functions, protection and duties of telecom users and clarity in definition of telecommunication services. There is also clarity on issues such as exclusion of OTTs from the purview of telecom regulations, administrative allocation of satellite spectrum and certain other types of spectrum, right of way issues, spurring of Universal Service and ...

Telecom bill attempts spectrum, licensing, dispute resolution reforms

In a key move, it has also allowed telcos to surrender spectrum if they are unutilized. However, the government will not return the amount already paid by the company, people in the know said.

Govt likely to table Telecommunications Bill 2023 in Lok Sabha on Monday

The government is likely to table the Telecommunications Bill 2023 in Lok Sabha on Monday, according to sources. The Telecommunications Bill 2023 aims to replace the 138 years old Indian Telegraph Act that governs the telecom sector. "The President has been informed about the Telecommunications Bill 2023. It is likely to be introduced in Lok Sabha on Monday, December 18," a source told PTI. The Cabinet had cleared the bill in August. The draft Telecommunications Bill released in 2023 had proposed to bring over-the-top or the internet based calling and messaging apps under the definition of telecommunications to enhance users' safety. The bill had also proposed to curb the power of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on which industry players had raised concern. According to government officials, the issues around over-the-top players and Trai were resolved before it was cleared by the Cabinet. The draft had proposed to ease some of the rules like refund of fees for

Govt considers revising PLI scheme for telecom to spur 5G adoption

Rs 1,500 crore sits unutilised as only 20 of the 42 companies met their targets at the end of the financial year in March 2023

Telcos need to adopt segmented use cases to monetise 5G: Ericsson official

The ConsumerLab has more than 20 years' experience of studying people's behaviors and values, including the way they act and think about ICT products and services

Trai moots 'concurrent PLI scheme' to boost telecom gear manufacturing

TRAI has mooted 'concurrent PLI scheme' focussing on components and sub-assembly manufacturing to facilitate collaborated production activities, as it released an extensive set of recommendations to promote manufacturing of networking and telecom gear in India through tax benefit, dedicated master fund and other sweeteners. With a sharp gaze on goals of scaling domestic production and local value addition in global value chains, TRAI in its recommendations favoured additional two per cent benefit under the design-led PLI scheme for product lines meeting a certain criteria, while also talking of a dedicated 'Networking and Telecommunications Equipment Development' fund. In order to spur innovation and encourage industry's drive towards beneficially owned resident Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), lower corporate income tax has also been recommended. This would apply if the enterprise is continuously engaged in R&D driven manufacturing and attains half of its turnover based on ...

Reliance, Vodafone, Airtel may increase their headcount by 25% in FY24

Reliance Jio's total headcount at FY23 end was 95,326; Airtel's headcount was 64,407; and Vodafone Idea's was 15,604

Indus Towers' macro tower installations grow by 6.3% to reach 200,000 units

Telecom infrastructure major Indus Towers on Friday said its macro tower installations grew by 6.3 per cent year-on-year to achieve the milestone of 2 lakh units across all 22 telecom circles in India as of date. The company had reported an installed tower base of 1,98,284 at the end of the June 2023 quarter. "Indus Towers Limited, India's largest telecom tower company and one of the largest in the world, announces reaching a milestone of 200,000 macro towers spread across all 22 telecom circles in India as on date," the company said in a statement. Macro towers are used for providing mobile phone coverage to large areas. "As operators accelerate their 5G rollouts and drive network expansion, Indus Towers is actively matching their pace to seize the burgeoning growth opportunities and establish enduring value for the long term with sustainability at its core," Indus Towers MD and CEO Prachur Sah said. The company shared that macro towers installation grew at the rate of 6.3 per ce

Trai and C-DoT sign MoU for cooperation in telecommunications sector

The MoU has brought the two parties, Trai CSR and C-DoT together to reach the common goal of establishing a mechanism of technical and institutional cooperation in the field of telecommunications

Trai seeks public views on banning of internet-based calls, messaging apps

Regulator Trai on Friday floated a consultation paper to explore a framework for internet-based calls and messaging apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Apple's FaceTime etc. and selectively ban their services in special situations. The consultation paper on "Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services" follows a suggestion of a parliamentary panel to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to "explore option of banning selective services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram etc. instead of banning the internet as a whole" in an emergency situation. The panel has recommended the DoT to examine the recommendation of Trai and come out with a policy which will enable the selective banning of OTT services such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram during unrest and crisis as these apps are prone to be used by terrorists or anti-national elements in specified regions. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has sought views o

Customers should ideally pay more for higher usage: Airtel MD Gopal Vittal

Says pricing however remains a challenge with India having the lowest rates for data packs on per GB basis in the world

Share of postpaid subscribers may increase by 12% for Indian telcos in FY23

According to the report, the sector's postpaid ARPU is estimated to have declined to about Rs 245 in fiscal 2023 from about Rs 275 in fiscal 2021

In a bid to counter rival Jio, Airtel introduces new 'postpaid family plan'

Airtel is offering its "exclusive" Airtel Black postpaid service, which brings DTH, broadband, landline, and cellular services under one umbrella

Bharti Airtel sees limited scope of 5G monetisation currently: Executive

Fewer people upgrading to 5G handsets, says top executive