Page 18 - Telecom Services

'Telcos will pay GST along with instalments towards spectrum charges'

Telecom companies will have to pay GST along with the instalments paid towards spectrum charges, a senior official said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) will hold the next round of spectrum auction on June 6 for eight spectrum bands meant for mobile phone services. The base price for the auction has been set at Rs 96,317 crore. The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments in the coming mega auction. The official said Goods and Services Tax (GST) will have to be paid at 18 per cent by telecom companies along with each instalment. "The GST Council in its next meeting is likely to clarify the procedure for payment of GST by companies winning the bids during the spectrum auction," the official told PTI. The clarification will end confusion among field formations regarding the method for collection of GST in the auction process. All the available spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz,

Govt's telecom revenue for FY24 expected to miss target by Rs 10,000 cr

Under the 2022 revival package totalling Rs 1.64 trillion and the Rs 89,047 crore allocation in 2023, the government is set to provide spectrum and settle adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues for BSNL

Telcos collaborate with tech partners to curb unwanted calls, messages

The Centre has currently designated the 140 number series for promotional voice calls, and the 160 number series for transactional and service-related voice calls

Trai to announce stricter norms for call disruptions, video jitters on 5G

Currently, 5G service users encounter various challenges including poor call quality, call drops, inability to connect to 5G despite activating phone settings, and negligible disparity in speeds

Substantial rise in mobile tariffs needed in India: Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal

Hints at multiple tariff hikes, says free 5G data dragging down Arpu

Stars aligned for Vi? Rs 18K cr FPO has raised hopes of a daring turnaround

But tariff hikes are needed and dues need to be paid

'Govt needs Rs 4.2 trn to connect 240 mn households with broadband'

India will need an investment of Rs 4.2 lakh crore by 2030 for connecting 24 crore households in the country with broadband services, according to an industry expert. While speaking at the Broadband India Forum conference, Prashant Singhal, Telecom Sector Leader, Emerging Markets, Partner in a member firm of EY Global, said that at present 4 crore households are connected with broadband in India. "To connect 24 crore households in India with high-speed broadband service, India will need to invest Rs 4.2 lakh crore on digital connectivity infrastructure across all modes- fibre, mobile towers, satellite broadband, wifi, data centres etc," Singhal said. According to the break-up provided by him, fibre deployment will need investments in the range of Rs 2.7-3 lakh crore, passive infrastructure Rs 90,000-96,000 crore, WiFi and in-building solutions Rs 6,600-Rs 9,000 crore, data centres Rs 9,700-Rs 14,100 crore and satellite broadband services Rs 26,000-29,000 crore. "Besides, USOF ...

Jio bundles Netflix with 14 apps into broadband plan for Rs 888 monthly

Jio on Friday said it has bundled premium services of 15 apps, including basic subscription of Netflix, Amazon Prime Lite, Disney+ Hotstar, with its 30 mbps broadband plan for Rs 888 a month. Netflix access was earlier available for customers having JioFiber of Rs 1,499 plan, while there was no access of entertainment apps for customers with entry-level 30 megabit per second broadband plan. Similarly, access to Netflix for AirFiber customers was available only in plans priced at Rs 1499 per month or higher. "Designed to provide the ultimate streaming experience coupled with unlimited data benefits, the new postpaid plan, priced at Rs 888 per month, is available to JioFiber and Jio AirFiber customers...subscribers gain exclusive access to over 15 leading OTT apps, including popular platforms like Netflix's basic plan, Amazon Prime, and JioCinema Premium," Jio said in a statement. According to a company source, the plan will provide access to premium content of all over-the-top (OTT)

Amazon breaks Europe's 5G telecoms market through Telefonica cloud deal

The move by the subsidiary of Spanish group Telefonica is a global first where an existing mobile operator is switching its core network to a public cloud

Wi-Fi 6E: What is it and why does the COAI want a ban on these routers?

Indian telecom operators have urged the government to allocate the 6GHz band for 5G, but the broadband services providers want the entire 6GHz spectrum for improving Wi-Fi services

In talks with Vodafone Idea, hopeful of recovering dues soon: Indus Towers

Indus Towers is keen on servicing Vi's expected 4G expansion and 5G rollout

SC's ruling on spectrum allocation won't affect satellite regulations

The SC has refused to accept the plea seeking clarifications on administrative allocation of spectrum

SC refuses to accept govt application on 2012 2G spectrum allocation

Application 'misconceived' and there is no 'reasonable cause' for entertaining it, says court registrar

Motilal Oswal AMC's CIO bets on telecom stocks in tariff hike optimism

The likely tariff increase will help inject new life into a sector that has grappled with cut-throat competition and aggressive policy actions in recent years, said Niket Shah

Trai moots passive infrastructure sharing among telecom service licensees

Regulator Trai on Wednesday recommended that telecom service licensees be allowed to share passive infrastructure, including buildings, towers, electrical equipment and dark fibre, owned and operated by them with all types of telecommunication service licensees. The sector regulator further mooted that telecommunication service licensees should also be allowed to share all kinds of active infrastructure elements owned and operated by them with other telecommunication service licensees as per the scope of their services. The recommendations were part of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) views on 'Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing' released on Wednesday. Trai said the implementation of the recommendations will help telecom service providers with greater cost efficiencies and improved time to market. It would also enable telecom service providers to offer better quality of service and wider coverage. At present, only ..

'Auction route for spectrum to continue, admin allocation in limited cases'

The government will continue to auction telecom spectrum, and the administrative allocation route will be used sparingly, only in those cases where it is technically not feasible to do so or for areas that are strategic in nature, sources said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) is gearing up to hold the next round of spectrum auction on June 6 for eight spectrum bands (800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz, and 26 GHz) meant for mobile phone services at a base price of about Rs 96,317 crore. The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments in the coming mega auction. Sources asserted that the spectrum for mobile services will continue to be given through the auction process. As enacted in the Telecom Act, 2023, only a very limited and narrowly defined cases, including spectrum for walkie-talkie for police organisations, radar for weather forecasting, radar and communicat

Vi approves offer price of Rs 11 per equity share for Rs 18,000 cr FPO

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea's (VIL) board has fixed the FPO offer price at Rs 11 per equity share, according to a regulatory filing. The anchor investor offer price of Rs 11 per equity share has also been greenlit by the board. "... Following resolutions were also passed... determined and approved the offer price of Rs 11 per equity share... approved the anchor investor offer price of Rs 11 per equity share," VIL informed. Debt-laden telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd has raised Rs 18,000 crore pulling off India's largest-ever follow-on public offering (FPO) as the issue got subscribed nearly seven times after institutional investors poured in money, stock exchange data showed on Monday evening. The fundraise will arm VIL with an ammo to improve its competitive positioning in the Indian telecom market, where it trails Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, by a wide margin. "Further to our letter dated 17 April 2024, intimating you about the meeting of the board of directors of the ..

Reliance Jio Q4 results: Profit rises 13.2% to Rs 5,337 cr, revenue up 11%

Reliance Jio Q4FY24 revenue went up 11% to Rs 25,959 crore

Over 50% internet users dissatisfied with data speeds, connectivity: Survey

Despite India's low-cost and expanding internet accessibility, a recent survey found that over half of internet users are dissatisfied with data speeds and experience connection issues. An overwhelming 70 per cent of these users expressed the desire to switch service providers, the survey said. According to the annual broadband survey by LocalCircles, 86 per cent of users in India primarily connect to the internet at home via fiber, broadband, DSL, or fixed-line connection. However, more than half of these users -- 56 per cent -- reported connection disruption or lower speeds than what they were promised or paying for. The survey, which gathered insights from over 70,000 broadband and fiber consumers across 286 Indian districts, revealed that 39 per cent of respondents said the the "speed received is much lower than what we are paying for", while 47 per cent claimed that it took over 24 hours for their service provider to resolve their complaints. As per the survey, "70 per cent ..

Centre to decide on Vodafone Idea's debt conversion after moratorium

The decision to convert principal dues into equity, according to sources, cannot be done automatically