Page 2 - Indian Telecom Sector

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

Need to quickly end call drops, improve quality: Govt tells telcos

Poor quality unacceptable at a time when India is adopting 5G technology: Companies are told

From industry icon to defaulter: How Venugopal Dhoot lost his empire

The top court's order and cash-for-loans scandal later, rocked the group across verticals; its fate now hinges on SC's ruling on bankruptcy even as the quid pro quo case involving Kocchars goes on

What does ARPU mean?

Your telecom operator and your favourite media platforms mention their average revenue per user, or ARPU, to analysing performance and flaunt their business health. Let's understand what ARPU is

Mobile user base dips first time in 7 months, shrinks by 3.6 mn in Sept

Rural India saw subscriptions fall by 3.7 million. Urban barely offset that with a rise of 540,000

No word from DoT on dues' conversion since April: Vodafone Idea CEO

In an analyst call following the release of Vi results, CEO Akshaya Moondra said the company is trying to quickly close funding talks with banks so that stuck vendor payments can be quickly addressed

Telecom gear maker HFCL Q2 profit flat at Rs 84 crore; revenue falls 4.5%

Domestic telecom gear maker HFCL's consolidated net profit remained flat at Rs 84.31 crore for the quarter ended on September 30, 2022, according to the company's statement. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 85.94 crore in the same period a year ago. The consolidated revenue from operations declined by about 4.5 per cent to Rs 1,173 crore compared to Rs 1,122 crore in the September 2021 quarter, it added. "On the backdrop of easing supply chain disruptions and improvement in input costs, we have been able to demonstrate healthy growth in our revenue and margins over last quarter," HFCL Managing Director, Mahendra Nahata said on Wednesday. He said that the company's share of exports to revenues has improved to 16.38 per cent during the reported quarter compared to 9.08 per cent in the September 2021 quarter. "We continue to see strong response in key global markets like Europe, Africa and Middle East, thereby making us optimistic about doubling our exports to Rs 750 crore b

Delhi International Airport becomes 5G network-compliant: GMR group

GMR group-run Delhi Airport on Thursday said it has made its facility compliant for 5G network, which the passengers can avail once these services are rolled out by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). Most airports at present provide wireless service primarily through Wi-Fi to passengers. Wi-Fi relies on the unlicensed spectrum which is free for anyone to use, as per the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL). With the rise in passenger footfall, the airports have witnessed a rise in demand for more bandwidth and faster speed for using gadgets like smartphones and laptops, among others. Airlines and other airport stakeholders are also seeking fast, seamless and secure connectivity for their essential technologies to meet the demand, DIAL said, adding with 5G network passengers will be able to enjoy a 20 times faster data speed over the available Wi-Fi system, it said. Such a network would allow them quicker downloads, zero buffering during streaming and seamless execution of ...

Extant rules choke growth, telecom bill needs review: Broadband India Forum

Forum also believes the bill also weakens role of telecom regulator, makes it subservient to govt

How disruptive will the draft telecommunication bill be?

The draft Indian Telecommunications 2022 bill, which seeks to address problems in the telecom sector, may have far reaching effects on OTT services, spectrum allocations and other fields. Find out how

DoT proposes fee, penalty waiver under new telecommunication bill

The government on Wednesday released the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, under which it has proposed a provision to waive off fees and penalty of telecom and internet service providers. The ministry has proposed provision for refund of fees in case a telecom or internet provider surrenders his license. "Seeking your views on the draft Indian Telecom Bill 2022," Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a post on a social media platform in which he also shared the link of the draft bill. The last date for public comment on the draft is October 20. According to the draft , the central government may, "waive in part or full any fee, including entry fees, license fees, registrations fees or any other fees or charges, interest, additional charges or penalty" for any licence holder or registered entity under the telecom rules. The bill proposes to exempt "press messages that are intended to be published in India" of correspondents accredited to the central or state governmen

89% consumers may upgrade to 5G, 48% to switch network providers: Report

India is likely to deploy indigenously developed and manufactured 5G telecom gears by end of this year

Vodafone Idea elevates Akshaya Moondra as CEO; to replace Ravinder Takkar

Vodafone Idea announced the elevation of present chief financial officer Akshay Moondra as its new chief executive officer with effect from August 19, the company said in a regulatory filing.