Page 10 - Telecom Sector

DGCA rejects telcos' proposal to provide 5G services on airport premises

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated that the frequency can interfere with aircraft altimetre and cause disruptions

Airtel explores $1bn fundraising to prepay majority of 2015 spectrum dues

Bharti Airtel bought a spectrum worth Rs 29,130.20 ($3.54 billion) during an auction in March 2015 out of which Rs 10,000-12,000 crore remains in dues

Clear signals for Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio: Dial into a future of growth

India leads as the highest data consumption market globally, with a per-capita consumption of 25 gigabytes per month

Stock of this SME telecom infrastructure company nearly doubles in 5 weeks

Shares of Bondada Engineering were locked in 10-per cent upper circuit after the company received five-year operations and maintenance (O&M) contract worth of Rs 381 crore from BSNL

India emerging as telecom technology developer, exporter & leader: Vaishnaw

India is emerging as a telecom technology developer, exporter and leader, and the world today is looking at the country with hope, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday. Speaking at the inauguration of India Mobile Congress, Vaishnaw said that driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clear vision and leadership, the telecom sector has achieved several milestones on connectivity, affordability and standards, and has moved out of the shadow of litigation and 2G scam of the past. Telecom is the gateway of digital, Vaishnaw said, citing the speedy roll-out of 5G services in India and the nation's clear 6G vision.

What is India Mobile Congress? Everything you need to know about IMC event

Asia's largest technology event, the India Mobile Congress (IMC), will take place on October 27, 2023. PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the event, which is being held in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

OTTs vs telcos: Who will steal a march in 'Walled Garden' season 2?

As telecom companies and OTTs tussle over revenue-sharing for data usage, the jury is still out on who will prevail

India 6G vision gets global play with acceptance by ITU Study Group

India's vision to have ubiquitous coverage under 6G technology has been accepted by UN body ITU's Study Group in its meeting held at Geneva-- a move that is expected to reduce the cost of deployment of the next generation technology. ITU is responsible for developing international mobile telecommunication standards. "In the current meeting, despite resistance and attempts to reverse our progress by few member states, the Department of Telecommunications was able to successfully include 'Ubiquitous Connectivity' and ratify the framework document," an official statement said on Wednesday. The proposal was accepted by ITU Study group (SG-5) meeting in Geneva held on September 25-26, 2023. IMT 2030, also known as 6G, is being developed by Working Party 5D of ITU-R Study Group 5. India in its 6G vision document, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has proposed 6G technology implementation should be affordable, sustainable and ubiquitous. In the previous meeting of Study group In

Fresh spectrum allocation plan in the works, may open up more bands

May provide clear direction on satellite spectrum

Trai recommends entry fee cut for mobile, other telecom service licences

Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday recommended a cut in the entry fee for mobile and other telecom service licences, and favoured merging of bank guarantees, in a bid to facilitate entry of new players and promote ease of business for existing ones. In a sweeping set of recommendations, the sector regulator has mooted that the entry fee for Unified Licence (UL) in case of access service be halved, which along with suggestions of merging bank guarantees and other measures will "facilitate the orderly growth of the sector". The measures will spur investment and growth, and in effect improve the quality of service and enhance consumer welfare, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). "Entry fee for following UL authorisations should be rationalised...Access service from Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh for each telecom circle/ metro area; from 0.5 crore to 25 lakh for J&K and North east each," TRAI release said. For National and International Long Distance, TRAI has ...

TRAI reduces audit compliance for LSAs, to cover max tariff offerings

Telecom regulator Trai has reduced audit compliance of licensed service areas to once in year from four times earlier but it will cover maximum tariff offerings, including related to international roaming, according to the new regulations on quality of service. The new regulations on Quality of Service (Code of Practice for Metering and Billing Accuracy) Regulations, 2023, dated September 11, 2023, will result in reduction of audit burden by almost 75 per cent and enhance Ease of Doing Business (EODB), Trai said in a release on Wednesday. "Each LSA shall be audited only once in a financial year unlike four times as per old regulations, thereby reducing the audit burden by almost 75 per cent," Trai said. However, while simplifying the audit process, it is also ensured to cover maximum tariff offerings under audit unlike in previous regulation which has the provision for audit of 15 most popular tariff offerings only leaving aside a good number of tariff offerings with less number of

SC junks PIL seeking to scrap Centre's relief to stressed telecom sector

The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking cancellation of Centre's decision of September 15, 2021 to grant relief to the stressed telecom sector from paying statutory dues, saying these are all matters of policy and decision-making is on the basis of experts' opinion. In a breather to telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues, the top court on September 1, 2020 gave them a 10-year period to clear their outstanding amount to the government. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that no doubt, the apex court by its judgment had issued certain directions with regard to the telecom sector but in the backdrop of the COVID-19 challenges, with huge surge in data consumption, online education, work from home, etc., reform measures were found necessary to boost the proliferation and penetration of broadband and telecom connectivity. "In our view, these are all matters of policy and decision-making which is

Telecom Bill likely to stipulate authorisation regime for OTT apps

The proposed licensing regime had unsettled several tech firms which had warned that multiple regulations will stall the growth of the OTT communications industry

With 'Choice' initiative Vi allows postpaid users to modify plans

'Choice' initiative allows users to opt for lifestyle benefits across entertainment, food, travel and mobile security

Trai issues discussion paper to review norms of PMRTS, CMRTS licenses

Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday initiated consultation for review of terms and conditions of public and captive mobile radio trunking services (PMRTS and CMRTS). In the consultation paper, TRAI has sought stakeholder views on various issues, among them, the manner in which the conditions can be amended including scope of the PMRTS license, roll out obligation, technical conditions, network interconnection and security conditions. In all, the discussion paper dwells on more than 30 questions ranging from whether there is a need to review the provisions relating to service area for PMRTS authorisation under Unified License, to whether providers should be permitted internet connectivity with static IP addresses. Earlier, Telecom Department (DoT), through its reference in 2022, approached TRAI to provide recommendations on the terms and conditions for issue of fresh licenses for CMRTS and PMRTS Services especially with respect to technical conditions.. These include aspects like ...

ARPU of Indian telcos to rise 8-10% to Rs 190 this year, says CRISIL

CRISIL added that the operating profits of these companies could record a 15 to 17 per cent rise to Rs 1.2 trillion this year from Rs 1.04 trillion in 2021-22

Vodafone Idea plans to clear about Rs 2,400 crore dues by September

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea plans to clear about Rs 2,400 crore of dues to the government by September, sources privy to the development said. The company recently cleared pending dues of licence fees and spectrum usage charges of about Rs 450 crore for the March quarter of 2022-23, a source told PTI. "Vodafone Idea will clear dues for the June 2023 quarter and spectrum instalment with applicable interest by September, " the source said. Vodafone Idea had to pay a licence fee of around Rs 770 crore by July and Rs 1,680 crore as the first instalment for the spectrum it purchased in auctions that were held last year. While the company has sought 30 days to clear the spectrum payment, the company is also gearing up to clear the licence fee payment by September. "Due on late payment of spectrum instalment will attract 15 per cent interest rate on annual basis. The company will have to pay around Rs 1,700 crore for spectrum instalment and around Rs 710 crore for licence

Hiring activities rise in Apr-Aug period in sectors like retail, telecom

Hiring activities increased 23 per cent in the April-August period compared to the year-ago period in various sectors, including retail and telecom, a report said on Tuesday. In its staffing report, business services provider Quess Corp said that as many as 32,000 jobs were posted in the April-August period, considering that various sectors, including BFSI, retail and telecom, improved their hiring efforts in line with the surge in demand for the festive season in the country. Job roles such as production trainee, branch relationship executive, collection officer, business development executive, broadband sales executive, sales executive, warehouse associate, and customer relationship officer have seen an increase in demand this season. "As India Inc. prepares for the festive season, it is encouraging to see a positive trajectory (23 per cent) of demand for hiring today. Despite inflation and profitability pressures, segments such as manufacturing, BFSI and retail have reflected ..

Telecom sector AGR rises 2.5% sequentially to Rs 64,494 cr in Q4 FY23

The sector's Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for the mobile business rose to 142.3

Jio rolls out 5G service in 26 Ghz band, claims top speed of 2 gbps

Reliance Jio Infocomm on Monday said it has rolled out 5G services in 26 gigahertz millimetres across India and has claimed a record top speed of up to 2 gigabits per second. The millimetre wave is a short-length radio wave that almost works like a dedicated spectrum pipe for each user and has the potential to deliver wired broadband-level speed. "Jio customers now using 26 GHz mmWave-based business-connectivity across all 22 telecom circles," Reliance Jio said in a statement. The telecom major said it has completed its minimum roll-out obligations in each of the 22 telecom circles, across each of the spectrum bands, ahead of time under the terms of the spectrum allocated to it on August 17, 2022. "On July 19, 2023, RJIL had completed submission of the prescribed details towards completion of the Phase 1 minimum roll-out obligation with the Department of Telecommunications Units and by August 11 2023, necessary DoT testing was completed in all circles," the statement said. Jio sai