Never before has an open and innovative platform like Airtel Zero been on offer that will help drive internet adoption through free usage (and companies and app developers being an equal partner in the process), says Srini Gopalan.
Is the Airtel Zero plan really a big blow for net neutrality? Will it end the 'free' internet as we know it? Amidst the hullaballoo over the issue, Sudhir Bisht provides a contrarian view.
Flipkart may walk away from ongoing discussions with telecom service provider Airtel for their platform 'Airtel Zero'.
Trai has invited comments till January 7 on its paper on differential data pricing.
The DoT report is expected by the end of the month.
India's third-largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has secured a 10-year breather on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This is expected to ease pressure on its balance sheet and enable the company to raise bank debt for capital expenditure.
Company has already reached out to its customers and employees
The debate on net neutrality has turned into another fight between ordinary folks and a large corporation.
The sale proceeds will be fully utilised to repay debt at Bharti Telecom and will make the promoter holding firm a 'debt free company'.
Airtel CEO said, the 5G ecosystem is yet to develop in India and the prices are very high. Telecom companies including Vodafone Idea (VI) and Reliance Jio have also said that the current prices are exorbitant.
Trai chairman Rahul Khullar says concept not practised strictly even in countries like the US and the UK.
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal on Friday took pot shots at Snapdeal saying India should not be blamed for the latter's failure to hire "great engineers".
AirTel on Friday announced a new post-paid plan, where the monthly rental is nil with a minimum usage of Rs 500, and the outgoing local call charge is pegged at Rs 2.40 per minute.
As the TRAI imposed deadline ends on April 24, Rediff Chat will host a series of net activists and experts to explain the issues involved, what is at stake here, and why net neutrality needs to be an article of faith if the dream of Digital India is to be realised.
Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services on Monday announced new tariff packages including zero monthly rental and free night usage plans for its customers in Delhi, Haryana and UP.
Market concentration in the country's telecom sector continues to scale new heights despite government bailouts of public-sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), and private-sector Vodafone Idea. The combined revenue (or net sales) share of the country's top two telecom operators - Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio - in the sector's total reached an all-time high of nearly 72 per cent in FY23 from 70.4 per cent in FY22 and around 60 per cent in FY20. The net sales of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel India were Rs 1.67 trillion in FY23, up 18.6 per cent from the Rs 1.4 trillion a year earlier.
Internet.org is a Facebook-led initiative
AirTel on Wednesday offered 10 options to its pre-paid subscribers including zero calling value but 45 days of validity for a recharge card of Rs 324 and in another option offering a calling value of as high as Rs 250 but with zero validity period.
The submission was made before additional sessions judge Hardeep Kaur, who extended the judicial custody of all the six accused till March 1.
Telecom services providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation (USOF) till the existing corpus is exhausted. In their Budget recommendations, they have also pressed for an exemption from the service tax on "assignment of right to use natural resources" and the slashing of Customs duty on telecom equipment to zero. The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), which represents private sector telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, called for abolishment of USOF levy.
There has been a huge controversy over the Net neutrality issue.
CEO Shashi Arora discusses his roadmap for Airtel Payments Bank with Karan Choudhury.
Mittal said he discussed a plethora of issues with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and sought the government's support for faster clearances to streamline the group's investment plans.
'Where will the next 200 million users that will come online in India prefer to go? Will they buy a data pack, or will they use the free Internet?' 'What will happen when most of the Internet in India is inside a walled garden?'
Average data usage on Airtel India network grew about three fold to 2611 megabyte (about 2.5 GB) per customer from 904 MB on YoY basis. But the average revenue from the data services per customer declined by 22.7 per cent during the period.
Trai's move is seen as a relief for the debt ridden sector and the industry body COAI expects that continuing with six paise mobile call termination charge will not have any impact on consumers as operators have already absorbed this charge in their recently increased mobile call and data rates.
A DoT panel has backed net neutrality and made some recommendations to push the cause
This puts an end to Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel's zero rating plans in India.
A government panel on Net neutrality has proposed to regulate domestic calls made using Internet-based calling applications such as Skype, WhatsApp and Viber at par with phone call services offered by telecom operators.
Nasscom recommended that there should be 'no double dipping'.
DoT will have wider consultations with all stakeholders.
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Operators have invested billions of dollars in licence and spectrum.
Bharti'suarterly revenue run rate continues to be hover around the $1.2 billion mar
The company roped in Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador in March.
Issuing its recommendations on Net neutrality, Trai has also suggested a multi-stakeholder body comprising telecom and Internet service providers, content providers, civil society organisation and consumer representatives for monitoring and investigation of violations.
Zuckerberg says internet.org can co-exist with net neutrality
However, in the last few sessions, the stock of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), hit its 52-week low level of Rs 2269.75, and has been one of the worst performers among the Sensex pack thus far in calendar year 2023 (CY23). Thus far in CY23, RIL has tanked nearly 11 per cent as compared to a fall of around 5 per cent in the S&P BSE Sensex. The fall in the stock, according to Gaurang Shah, senior vice-president at Geojit Financial Services is mostly due to the overall dip in the market sentiment, which in turn has impacted large-caps, including RIL.
An open and free internet is a key contributing factor to innovation in the digital economy.
Of late, net neutrality has generated much debate.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, bottom, left, says he is fond of Bill Gates' famous quote: "Success is a lousy teacher." Back from a long foreign business trip, the founder-chairman of Bharti Enterprises talks to Malini Bhupta and Kiran Rathee about the challenges posed by Reliance Jio and how he is determined to come out on top once again. Mittal says , today, Airtel is as ready as Jio in pure-play 4G operations.
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