Page 10 - Telecom Services

Delhi HC sets aside CIC order asking Trai to demand service provider info

The Delhi High Court has set aside an order of the Central Information Commission directing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to demand information from the phone service provider and give it to a customer under the RTI Act. Justice Sanjeev Narula said TRAI requesting information from telecom service providers (TSP) was confined to fulfilling its regulatory functions and did not extend to addressing individual grievances or accessing customer-specific information solely for dissemination under the RTI framework. The high court, in its order, said the CIC's observation requiring a customer to seek redressal before the consumer disputes redressal forum was misplaced and beyond its statutory mandate. "TRAI is not a service provider or a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, and any grievance against TRAI's actions or inactions must be pursued before the TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal), as established under the TRAI Act. By making ...

Vi planning phased 5G rollout with new tariff plans this year: CEO

Telco expects thousands of new sites by March under partnership with global vendors

Vodafone Idea planning phased 5G rollout with new tariff plans: CEO Moondra

Vodafone Idea announces plans for phased 5G rollout in 75 cities, offering tariffs reportedly 15% lower than market rates to boost customer acquisition

Meity targets $500 bn electronics production by 2030 with detailed strategy

Meity is in the final stages of putting together a production linked incentives (PLI) scheme for electronic components

Subscriber loss, price war to make recovery tough for pvt telcos in 2025

Private telecom operators face twin challenges on investment recovery in the New Year customers leaving their network after tariff hikes and satellite players mainly Elon Musk's Starlink eyeing a chunk of their bread and butter data business. Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services which is one of the main highlights of 2024 for the sector. To recover investments and protect margins, private telcos resorted to tariff hikes in mid-year but that move backfired. Around 2 crore subscribers dropped their connections. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea jointly lost 2.6 crore customers due to a 10-26 per cent price hike. Around 68 customers switched to state-run player BSNL which refrained from price hike. The loss-making PSU still offers generation-old 3G service and is on the path of rolling out 4G network across the country. Despite subscriber loss,

May boost 4G, 5G investment: VIL calls DoT's bank guarantee waiver 'relief'

The telecom department has waived the requirement of bank guarantee to be submitted for spectrum auctions held prior to the reform package, telecom operator Vodafone Idea said on Saturday, adding that the latest "relief" will boost 4G and 5G investments in India. Prior to this reform, bank guarantees aggregating to about Rs 24,800 crore were required to be provided by VIL against each spectrum instalment, 13 months prior to the instalment falling due for the above auctions, the company said in a BSE filing. "As per our understanding of the terms and conditions, out of all the 5 auctions mentioned above, no BGs (bank guarantee) will be required to be provided by VIL for the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021 auctions," the telco said. There would, however, be a one-time partial shortfall, only for the 2015 auction, where the net present value or NPV of all payments made would be less than the pro-rated value of spectrum used, VIL said and informed that it is "in discussion with the DoT to ...

Telcos face twin challenges on tariffs, upcoming satellite services front

The country's private telecom operators face twin challenges on investment recovery in the New Year customers leaving their network after tariff hikes and satellite players mainly Elon Musk's Starlink eyeing a chunk of their bread and butter data business. Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services which is one of the main highlights of 2024 for the sector. To recover investments and protect margins, private telcos resorted to tariff hikes in mid-year but that move backfired. Around 2 crore subscribers dropped their connections. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea jointly lost 2.6 crore customers due to a 10-26 per cent price hike. Around 68 customers switched to state-run player BSNL which refrained from price hike. The loss-making PSU still offers generation-old 3G service and is on the path of rolling out 4G network across the country. Despite ..

Trai to come out with recommendation for satcom spectrum 'very soon'

Telecom regulator Trai will issue recommendations on rules for satellite spectrum allocation very soon, an official said on Monday. The government will evaluate recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and thereafter decide on allocating spectrum to satellite communication companies, which will pave the way for satellite-based broadband services in the country. In response to a question on the recommendation on satcom spectrum rules during an event on National Consumer Day, Trai Chairman A K Lahoti said it will be issued "very soon". Trai concluded an open-house discussion on the terms and conditions for the assigning spectrum for certain satellite-based commercial communication services in the second week of November. Telecom service providers like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel want spectrum for full mobility across the country should be allocated through auctions only. However, Elon Musk's Starlink and global peers like Amazon's Project Kuiper and othe

Govt to release guidelines on pesky calls next month: Consumer Affairs secy

The consumer affairs ministry will release guidelines next month to tackle unsolicited commercial communications or pesky calls, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said the department has prepared draft guidelines in consultation with stakeholders, which will be harmonized with upcoming regulations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). "We are ready with the draft guidelines on pesky calls. We will harmonise it with their (Trai) norms and issue it next month," Khare told reporters on the sidelines of a National Consumer Day event. Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti, who was also at the event, said the consumer affairs ministry is focusing on guidelines for business entities' roles, responsibilities and conduct, while the telecom regulator will separately introduce stricter norms in response to growing consumer complaints. The initiative stems from a joint committee of Indian regulators, led by Trai, which decided to strength

Trai recommends additional 5 Mhz spectrum to Railways in 700 Mhz band

Telecom regulator Trai on Friday recommended the allotment of the only chunk of 5 megahertz spectrum left in premium 700 Mhz band frequency range to Indian Railways for passenger safety applications. The price of per megahertz (Mhz) spectrum in 700 Mhz band frequency was priced at Rs 3,927 crore for commercial use. "In addition to the already assigned 5 MHz (paired) frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band, an additional 5 MHz (paired) frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band should be assigned to Indian Railways for its safety and security applications along the railway tracks for captive use," Trai said in its recommendation on "Assignment of Additional Spectrum to Indian Railways for its Safety and Security Applications". The DoT has already allocated 5 Mhz of spectrum in the 700 Mhz band to Indian Railways in 2021. Telecom signals transmitted in 700 Mhz band can cover an area in the range of 6-10 km. The vast coverage provided in these frequency bands reduces th

Govt releases Rs 331.8 cr under PLIs; Jabil Circuit, Nokia receive the most

The government has disbursed total incentive of Rs 331.86 crore to 18 of 42 beneficiaries under the telecom PLI scheme as on October 31, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Telecom Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said as on October 31, the PLI (production-linked incentives) beneficiaries have reported employment of 25,359 people and total sales of Rs 68,708 crore, including exports of Rs 13,007 crore. According to data shared by the minister, Jabil Circuit India leads the chart of beneficiary companies under the list with a total incentive of Rs 78.62 crore. It is followed by Nokia Solutions and Networks India Pvt Ltd that has received incentives of Rs 46.92 crore, Tejas Networks Rs 32.66 crore, Flextronics Technologies (India) Rs 30.6 crore, Commscope India Rs 25.95 crore, NeoLync Tele Communications Rs 21.79 crore, Rising Stars Hi-Tech Rs 20.33 crore. Sanmina-SCI India, which is majorly owned by RIL group firm, received an ...

Bharti Hexacom rallies 11%; hits new high in weak market on healthy outlook

The stock price of Bharti Hexacom has more-than-doubled, zooming 182 per cent against its issue price of Rs 570 per share

275K numbers disconnected, Rs 4000 cr fraud prevented: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Scindia emphasised the efforts of the Home Ministry in setting up a network to tackle cyber fraud which had helped to prevent fraud worth Rs 4,000 crore

US moves to boost crackdown on China Telecom's unit over data privacy

There is growing alarm in Washington about China's alleged efforts known as Salt Typhoon to infiltrate American telecommunications companies

US agencies to brief House on alleged Chinese Salt Typhoon telecom hacking

White House last week said at least eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States had been impacted and a large number of Americans' metadata has been stolen

Internet vital for life, shutdowns hurt banking, education: Telcos to govt

Telecom firms urge the govt to limit internet shutdowns, citing their impact on essential services like banking, education, and digital payments, and stress exploring alternatives for law-and-or

Tariff hikes, consolidation may lead to further gains for telecom players

Industry likely to benefit further as full gains from tariff hikes seen over next two quarters; consolidation may lead to further increases

Vi board to consider Rs 2K crore preferential issue to Vodafone Group

The debt-laden telco's board will consider the issue of equity shares and/or convertible securities, Vi said in an exchange filing on Thursday

Killer application for 5G is not single use cases but use places: Ericsson

Tracking global trends for over two decades, ConsumerLab sees GenAI driving the next wave of 5G adoption in India

AI, GenAI next major game changers; will remain impactful: NTT executive

Artificial Intelligence and GenAI are poised to be a major "game changer" for society, a senior official of Japan's NTT has said, adding that the technology, which is attracting big investments and global attention, will prove to be "ubiquitous and impactful" in the coming times. Sean Lawrence, Vice President and head of the IOWN Development Office at NTT, said AI is being used far more widely than what is perceived by many. "We're not even going to know always that we're interacting with AI, but I think it is going to be really the next really big game changer in terms of technology for society," he said. Lawrence said AI will be powerful and ubiquitous. "... AI really is going to be very impactful for society. I think we're already using it a lot more than we realise for many people, but with the kind of maturation of AI, generative AI over the past few years, and you can see where it's going with the amount of investment and focus on it, it is going to become quite ubiquitous,"