Page 4 - Telecom Industry

Revenue milestone: Airtel is leading the way with record-high Arpu

As Arpu is a key yardstick of a telecom company's financial health, telcos must work on effective monetisation strategies

TCS, Now Corporation partner to boost Philippine digital infrastructure

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday said it has partnered with NOW Corporation's telecom arm to boost digital infrastructure and enable financial inclusivity in the Philippines. Now Telecom is a public sector telecommunications company in the Philippines offering services across mobile networks and fixed wireless. "Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has partnered with NOW Corporation's telecom arm Now Telecom, a public sector telecommunications company, to bolster national digital sovereignty, enable financial inclusivity, and build a clean network for the Philippines," according to a release. With this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in place, the release said, TCS will support the company with capabilities to expand trusted networks, provide sovereign cloud technology and a cyber-defence suite, alongside creating citizen-centric services in areas such as healthcare and digital banking, promoting financial .

Airtel in talks with govt on AGR dues-to-equity conversion: Gopal Vittal

Bharti Airtel MD Gopal Vittal says telco in talks with govt on converting Rs 40,000 crore AGR dues into equity, seeks parity with peers, and will abide by final decision

Draft telecom policy needs to be substantive, not just a mission statement

The draft talks about doubling annual investment in the telecom sector to ₹1 trillion, creating 1 million jobs in this industry, along with reskilling another 1 million, achieving 90% 5G population

Mobile subscribers grow modestly in June to 1.16 bn, rural subscribers dip

India's mobile subscriber base increased 0.17% in June, led by urban growth; rural users declined slightly while Jio and Airtel gained market share

Jyotiraditya Scindia pushes BSNL to lift Arpu by 50% over next year

Union minister emphasises ARPU and enterprise growth at BSNL review, says capex and strategic focus will yield positive operating cash flow in coming quarters

In a first, Bharti Airtel ties up with Perplexity to offer AI to users

'Pro' version of LLM to be available free of cost

DoT may stick to Trai's satellite spectrum pricing recommendations

The department issued a letter of intent to Starlink on May 7, days before the pricing recommendations were announced, but trial spectrum for testing services has not yet been allocated

Telcos complete rollout of SMS headers to identify messages, reduce spam

Domestic telecom operators implement SMS header system to categorise messages and enhance transparency, reducing spam and increasing consumer trust, says COAI

Starlink gets key govt nod, prepares for broadband service rollout: Report

Starlink clears final regulatory hurdle as India's space body IN-SPACe gives nod; firm still needs spectrum allocation, infra setup, and trials before launching satellite internet services

Premiumisation to drive Arpu growth for all telecom operators in Q1

Analysts expect a sequential increase in Arpu for all telecom operators in Q1 FY26, driven by the ongoing shift from 4G to 5G and higher service usage

The ideological abyss: Vodafone rescue requires solutions, not ideology

To rescue or not to rescue Vodafone goes beyond one's views on privatisation or nationalisation - it depends on what will work in a given context

AGR dues: Vodafone Idea unlikely to get further relief or payment extension

"There may be some payment terms being proposed (by the company), but the question remains whether they'll be able to honour those payments," the official added

Ananth Tech set to launch India's first private satellite broadband service

Ananth Tech gets IN-SPACe nod to launch ₹3,000-crore satellite broadband service by 2028, marking India's first private satcom rollout to rival Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper

India should have 10% of 6G patents by 2030, says Chandra Pemmasani

Minister Pemmasani says India must lead global 6G innovation with 10% patents by 2030 as Bharat 6G Vision, 5G labs and open-source platforms drive R&D push

Reliance Jio on path to become dominant FWA player globally: Analysts

Indian telecom major Reliance Jio is on track to become the world's largest Fixed Wireless Access provider by subscriber base, eclipsing US-based telecom giant T-Mobile, an analyst report said on Sunday. According to recent data released by telecom regulator Trai, Reliance Jio total 5G FWA subscriber base (including unlicensed band radio) reached 6.88 million in May, while T-Mobile had 6.85 million subscribers in March. Reliance Jio reclassified around 1 million Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) unlicensed band radio (UBR) subscribers into FTTx category, following which its net FWA subscriber base stood at 5.9 million in May, with a monthly addition of 0.74 million customers. ICICI Securities report by analysts Sanjesh Jain, Mohit Mishra and Aparajita Chakraborty based on Trai data said that industry FWA (excluding UBR) stood at 7.4 million with RJio's FWA subs stood at 5.9 million after UBR reclassification. The report said that net addition was 0.74 million subscribers in May. "RJio's

50% eligible cos got telecom manufacturing PLI incentives till March 31

Under the telecom production-linked incentive scheme, only 21 out of the 42 eligible manufacturers have been able to get incentives till March 31, 2025, as per data shared by the Department of Telecom. The Department of Telecom has disbursed Rs 1,162 crore for the telecom product-linked incentive scheme till March 31, this year. The telecom product-linked incentive scheme came into effect from April 1, 2021 and is scheduled to end this fiscal year. "Total incentive disbursed under the Scheme till March 31, 2025 is Rs 1,162.03 crore," DoT said in response to information sought under Right to Information. Only 21 out of the 42 shortlisted companies have received the incentive, while two companies were rejected for failing to achieve the target as per the scheme guidelines. The claim applications of two beneficiaries -- Coral Telecom Ltd for FY 2021-22 and -- Alphion India Pvt Ltd for FY 2022-23 have been rejected due to non-achievement of eligibility threshold criteria," the DoT ...

Airtel lags Jio in May net additions even as overall subscriber base rises

Jio added 2.7 million mobile and FWA users in May to reach 472.4 million, while Airtel gained just 275,000 subscribers, Trai data show

Starlink set to receive final regulatory approval for India market launch

Starlink awaits final authorisation from space regulator IN-SPACe; ground infra and security clearance still pending for India launch

Cosmic connection: D2D technology may redefine telecom rules in India

Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity would allow users to access satellite connectivity on existing 4G or 5G smartphones - no special satellite phone would be needed