Page 19 - Telecom Services

Aim to power 250 million smart meters in India: Airtel Business CEO

Airtel is leveraging NB-IoT tech and a suite of offerings, he says

4G launch in next 3-4 months once tower count hits 20,000: BSNL CMD

The company has mapped out large parts of these states for tower installation. This includes more than 4,200 4G sites in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

5G subscribers in India at 159 million: Bank of America global research

The report says this figure could grow to more than 490 million subscribers (42 per cent penetration) by 2028. 5G user growth has surpassed expectations over the past few months

Airtel gets notice from DoT for violation of subscriber verification norms

Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has received a notice from the telecom department for an alleged violation of subscriber verification norms, entailing a penalty of Rs 3.57 lakh. In a BSE filing, the telecom operator informed that the notice pertains to Bihar LSA and was received on January 8, 2024. "We submit the details of notice received by the company from the Department of Telecommunications," Airtel said, informing about the "notice imposing a penalty of Rs 3,57,000 for alleged violation of subscriber verification norms". Citing details, the company said it pertained to an alleged violation of terms and conditions with respect to subscriber verification norms under the Licence Agreement, pursuant to a sample customer application form (CAF) audit conducted by the Department of Telecom for September 2023.

USOF may be enlarged and used to boost telecom equipment manufacturing

Live since October 2022, the TTDF aims to fund R&D in rural-specific communications technology applications and develop the telecom ecosystem

Reliance Jio gained 3.15 mn users in October; Vi lost 2.04 mn: Trai

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest player in the market, saw its subscriber count increase by 0.35 million, much lower than the 1.32 million users the company added in September

Elon Musk announces launch of 'Starlink Direct-to-Phone' satellites

Starlink Direct-to-Phone satellites will provide mobile phone access anywhere on Earth and also a solution for areas without cellular coverage

Parliament winter session: Rajya Sabha passes Telecommunications Bill 2023

Parliament on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to allow the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security, and provide a non-auction route for the allocation of satellite spectrum. The Telecommunications Bill, 2023, was approved by the Rajya Sabha through a voice vote. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday after a short debate. The Bill seeks to allow the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security, and provide a non-auction route for the allocation of satellite spectrum. It also allows the Centre to take possession of a telecom network in case of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety. Besides, it provides for stopping transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence. According to the bill, the press messages of correspondents accredited to the Centre or state .

Space World plans $500 mn telecom infra investment, eyes to raise $300 mn

Telecom infrastructure firm Space World is planning to invest USD 500 million in building an optical fibre cable-based network across 13 cities in the next four years, senior officials of the company said on Wednesday. Space World Group Founder and Chairman Ankit Goel said the company is in advanced stages of discussion with global infrastructure funds to raise USD 300 million and expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2024. "We aspire to be the largest neutral digital bandwidth provider in the country. It will take us 6-12 months to lay the optical fibre network before we start selling them. We provide our infrastructure to internet service providers and mobile network operators for providing services," Goel said. He said the existing fibre network has been largely put in place in the country to connect mobile towers, but there is demand to handle data centre bandwidth as well with growth in data and advent of 5G services, generative AI, among others. "We are in the proc

Law for a new era

Telecommunications Bill addresses several gaps

Telcos' satellite spectrum wait may end in 5 months; Trai to fix price

The Bill is expected to be fully debated and passed in Parliament only by the Budget session in February

Telecom Bill drops OTT reference, retains regulator Trai's powers

Seeks space spectrum allocation; keeps Trai powers intact

Telecom infrastructure providers flag permission issues in Uttar Pradesh

Industry body Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) has flagged "critical issues" faced by telecom infrastructure players in securing permissions for deploying infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Noida and Ghaziabad. DIPA has urged the Uttar Pradesh Government to clear all the pending applications at the earliest for faster rollout of 5G services in the state. Raising the issue, DIPA's Director-General T R Dua said that telecom infrastructure providers are unable to get permissions for deploying infrastructure in the state, especially in Noida and Ghaziabad. This, despite applying over the online portal 'Nivesh Mitra', the single window system, providing all the necessary documents and depositing the application fee, the association said. DIPA members include ATC Telecom, Indus Towers, Ascend Telecom, Summit Digitel, Sterlite Technologies, Crest Digitel, Suyog Telematics, Signotox Towers, iBus Infrastructure, Applied Solar Technologies (AST), CloudExtel a

ITU reaches global agreement to open new 6 GHz spectrum band for 5G, 6G

Telecom operators will be able to use 6 GHz band radiowaves for 5G and 6G services, with majority of the member countries of the International Telecommunication Union(ITU) agreeing to a global accord in this regard. The agreement was reached at the ongoing ITU spectrum meet WRC 2023 in Dubai. According to ITU-recognised body IAFI, spectrum in 6 Ghz band has last set of radio frequencies available that can be used for 5G and 6G services at affordable costs while other set of frequencies marked for them are in higher frequency bands. The wavelength of spectrum frequencies reduces in higher frequency bands, thereby reducing coverage of signals transmitted in high frequency bands. Therefore, telecom operators are required to install more transmitters or towers in higher frequency bands compared to lower frequency band and the cost of deployment network in respective bands also varies. "The World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23), ITU's premier event, which is held every four

Indian delegation at spectrum meet deviating from agreed position: COAI

Telecom industry body COAI has alleged that the Indian delegation at an ongoing global spectrum meet is deviating from the stance agreed upon with the industry on the 6 Ghz band spectrum without any consultation. In a letter to union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on December 13, Cellular Operators Association of India said that failure to designate spectrum in the 6 gigahertz band for mobile services will harm India's 5G interest. It will also impact the progress towards the development of a worldwide ecosystem for mobile telephony in this band, the lobby group said. ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 is going on in Dubai where a decision will be taken on technology for which 6 Ghz band spectrum should be used across the globe. The conference started on November 20 and will end on December 15. COAI, whose members include Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea etc, said through its earlier correspondence to the minister, it had attempted to put forward the correct picture about the

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

As many as 65 illegal telecom setups unearthed during FY24: Govt

As many as 65 illegal telecom setups, that allowed international calls with spoofed Indian numbers, were busted during FY2023-24, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed the International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs) to drop incoming calls with no Calling Line Identification (CLI), or improper CLI or having certain prefixes. Moreover, DoT is blocking the apps allowing the origination of spoofed calls. Such apps are also blocked at Google Play Store and iOS App Store, Minister of State for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. DoT in coordination with Law Enforcement Agencies and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) is unearthing illegal telecom setups that allow international calls with spoofed Indian numbers. Such illegal setups are used to bypass the ILDOs for anti-national activities, cyber-crimes and financial frauds, Chauhan said. "So far, 65 such illegal setups during FY 2023-24, 62 in FY .

BSNL planning to allocate more employees towards enterprise business

The decision to increase human resources in the enterprise business comes at a time when BSNL has registered a dip in revenue in the segment in the last two quarters

Vodafone Idea likely to miss December deadline to raise funds: Report

The delay in plans to raise fresh funds is crippling the telco's plan to launch its 5G services

Trai won't cancel Apple phone registration over DND application row

Talks with the iPhone maker are going on and the issue may be resolved in a few months, say senior officials