With seven million new subscribers, India accounted for the highest net addition of mobile subscriptions globally in the second quarter of 2023, according to the August edition of Ericsson Mobility. Among national markets, India was followed by China with five million and the US with three million subscribers. The subscriber penetration in India, however, stood at 79 per cent, compared to 120 per cent in China, the report said.
Reliance Jio has sent a second legal opinion to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the subject of the potential allocation of satellite spectrum. The letter is written by retired Supreme Court Justice L Nageshwara Rao and argues in favour of auctions, stating that any other method for allocating spectrum apart from auctions could be constitutionally unsound. Business Standard has reviewed the letter.
This includes distancing themselves from the new and emerging super-critical technology.
India will soon meet Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to seek a definitive rate of discount on crude oil similar to what Russia has provided so far, sources said. Multiple officials and industry executives said Iraq, which is India's biggest oil supplier, wants to discuss the level of discounts expected by Indian refiners. India's focus on snapping up ever-increasing volumes of Russian crude oil has led to a corresponding decline in imports from the Middle East. Flows from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have suffered as a result.
Higher discounts on crude oil offered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to wean India away from Russian crude may soon see Indian refiners ramping up purchases from the Gulf nation, officials at multiple refiners said. They also pointed to the recent agreement on trade settlement in national currencies signed between India and the UAE as a reason for this. "While discussions are underway, the UAE has offered discounts on crude, which will be more than that of the current level of Russian discounts.
The Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) of the department of telecommunications (DoT) has traced 285,000 lost or stolen mobile phones and blocked 680,000 devices since being launched. However, recoveries remain relatively low at 20,771 devices. According to government estimates, around 50,000 mobile phones are stolen every month in the country. Launched nationwide on May 16, the CEIR is a part of the DoT's Sanchar Saathi portal. It is the primary government platform aimed at protecting mobile phone users from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices and banking frauds.
Lower crude oil costs and higher marketing margins are expected to raise the fortunes of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), while city gas distribution (CGD) companies could also benefit from lower spot prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, in a break from the past, growth trends are expected to diverge for various segments within the broad energy sector. Analysts expect the earnings from gas production to go down for upstream national oil and gas companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) due to the introduction of the new domestic gas pricing regime on April 1. After showing steep losses over the first half of 2022-23 (FY23), the marketing margins of OMCs have steadily recovered in four months.
Essel Mining & Industries Limited (EMIL), Adani Enterprises (AEL), and JSW Steel are looking to surrender their mines. Of these, AEL and EMIL have already notified the government.
State-level reports every quarter for service quality and artificial intelligence-based solutions may be officially mandated as part of a set of more stringent, updated quality-of-service (QoS) norms by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) soon. The new norms will also factor in user experience for 5G networks, officials informed Business Standard. In February, Trai asked telecommunication (telecom) service providers (TSPs) to submit updates on measures taken to reduce call drops and lags and raise the quality of connection.
From the seas to the stars, this partnership will now be deepened by the defining role of technology, the statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US is expected to see discussion on India's possible entry into a US-led global alliance on critical minerals, officials told Business Standard. In June last year, the US, the European Union, and other G7 partners launched the Minerals Security Partnership to ensure that China did not further strengthen its grip on supplies of critical minerals the world over. Various ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, have communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs to explore the possibility of India joining the partnership, officials said.
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
The government believes firms which are subject to China's laws could be forced to hand over information to Beijing's security services.
Released on Wednesday, the report shows that 81 per cent of men and 72 per cent of women in India owned a mobile phone as of 2022, translating to a gender gap of 11 per cent. The numbers drop steeply in terms of mobile internet adoption. While 52 per cent of Indian men use mobile internet, women are way behind, with only 31 per cent of them accessing mobile internet, the report pointed out.
At around 3 pm on Wednesday, India's daily peak power demand touched 220 gigawatts (Gw)-the highest daily peak ever in the history of the country. The ministry of power in its estimates had projected country's power demand to cross touch 220 Gw during the months of April-June. With a cooler April due to unseasonal rains, the peak shifted to May.
As Indian Railways looks to avert the crisis like last summer, preparations are under way to stock up coal at thermal power plants. Much like February and March, thermal coal movement in April was 5 per cent higher than the previous year, data from the Ministry of Railways shows. While India prepares for a hot summer this year, 48.23 million tonnes (mt) of coal for thermal power plants was ferried by Indian Railways in April. The national transporter also moved about 500,000 tonnes--18.4 per cent-- more imported coal for power plants this April than it had done last year.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry) may launch its review of the government's plan to potentially reserve the crucial C-band of radio frequencies for 5G and 6G telecommunication (telecom) use, said officials. While the incumbent broadcasting operators have warned that the plan will leave "precious little spectrum" for broadcasting services, telecom service providers (TSPs) have pressed hard for getting access to the C-band. In multiple letters to the I&B ministry over the past month, the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA) has said the industry would be left with precious little spectrum for broadcasting services if the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) further allocates the scant C-band for 5G.
Telecom service providers (TSPs) have begun to monitor and prevent spam calls since May 1, with the help of an artificial intelligence and machine language-based system acting on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) latest directive on the matter, its officials told Business Standard. Touted as the first big technological measure against the growing menace of unsolicited commercial communications, all TSPs have confirmed to Trai that they have rolled out the AI/ML tool. The filter system works on the distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform used by TSPs, and is set to go for incremental updates, rules for which will soon be released, they added.
While some states have kicked in their heat action plans, experts feel this is not enough to tackle the current extreme weather.
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) stating that a recent complaint against it by Bharti Airtel is a deliberate, malicious attempt at defaming RJIL's consumer-friendly tariff. RJIL has also asked the regulator to warn Airtel against 'making such frivolous complaints in the future'. The move is in response to Airtel recently requesting Trai to bring content aired through broadband under the regulatory fold and keep a check against discriminatory bundling tactics.
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