'The additional Rafales will be from a vastly improved version compared to the 36 acquired for the IAF under the 2016 deal.'
Amateur Ham Radio operators have picked up suspicious late-night radio signals in coded Bengali, Urdu and Arabic along the Indo-Bangladesh border in South Bengal over the last two months, raising concerns about possible extremist activities. The signals, which have been detected between 1 AM and 3 AM, are unusual in their pattern and language usage, according to Ham radio operators, who have reported the matter to authorities. The development comes amidst ongoing unrest in Bangladesh and growing anti-India rhetoric in the neighbouring country. Security agencies are investigating the matter, and the Border Security Force (BSF) has acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
India emerged from the war militarily bruised and strategically altered. The United States, under the guise of friendship, had succeeded in achieving what open alignment never could: The psychological and political repositioning of India within the Cold War order, points out Dr Kumar.
Bharti Airtel and Tata Group on Monday announced a strategic partnership for implementing 5G network solutions for India. Tata Group has developed "O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) based Radio and NSA/SA (Non-Standalone/standalone) Core and has integrated a totally indigenous telecom stack, leveraging the Group capabilities and that of its partners", according to a joint statement. This will be available for commercial development starting January 2022.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have joined hands to build a 5G-based remote working technology using robotics, according to a joint statement. TCS during the trials has successfully tested two use cases of its Neural Manufacturing solutions on Airtel's 5G testbed in Manesar - remote robotics operations, and vision-based quality inspection, the statement claimed. "The 5G ecosystem will open limitless possibilities for enterprises to enhance productivity and serve their customers even better with digitally enabled applications.
Vaikhari Sonawane tells us how she went from writing blogs about her therapy sessions to creating a nationwide student-led mental health network.
According to software company Mavernir, the new virtualised networks would lead to a saving of 40 per cent in capex and 34 per cent in terms of lower operations cost for operators.
Elon Musk's Starlink has got licence for satcom services in India, according to sources.
TCS has been Three UK's partner for 15 years, working with a variety of business units and has been instrumental in supporting the company's ambition of becoming the world's first telco to host all its applications entirely on the public cloud.
Idea Cellular, the GSM service provider of the Aditya Birla group, has roped in global telecom major Ericsson as equipment supplier for its GSM network in the Mumbai circle.
Will open radio access network technology (O-RAN) disrupt the way 5G networks roll out in the country? After all, it promises to offer a substantially lower capital cost, enables the choice of an array of vendors, and provides more network flexibility - all very important for telcos who expect to invest over Rs 60,000 crore to roll out a pan-India 5G network and that's without spectrum costs. But more importantly, it counters the stranglehold of global telecom gear makers such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung over telcos to whom they sell propriety technology and bundled hardware and software.
Social media giant Meta Platforms and Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a collaboration to jointly invest in telecom infrastructure to cater to the rising demand of high speed data and digital services in India. The announcement comes on the back of telecom operators' demand to share revenue with service providers to build networks. "Airtel and Meta will jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS (communications platform as a service) based new-age digital solutions to support the emerging requirements of customers and enterprises in India," the statement said.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced new postpaid plans and discontinued some previous ones. "In the post-pandemic world, an abundance of high-speed data is increasingly becoming a key need for customers as work from home and online education is the new normal. "In this context, Airtel has further simplified its postpaid plans to offer industry-leading data benefits backed by a 5G-ready network and superior digital-first customer care. "The plans also come with a range of exclusive benefits such as bundled content and business productivity tools," Airtel said in a press release.
The papers noted that the 5G network is built on easily accessible and open Internet protocols and it inherits all the vulnerabilities of previous generations which make it vulnerable to cyber-attacks and compromising the security of the entire system.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to secure a $2 billion deal from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to roll out its 4G and 5G services across the country. However, the final approvals from the publicly-owned telco may take a couple of months, sources in the know said. As part of the deal, TCS will develop 4G core and Radio Access Network (RAN) technology for BSNL's telecom services.
As many as 2,000 chips are annually designed in India by semi-conductor and fabless companies, Intel India managing director Prakash Mallya said in a conversation with Business Standard. Mallya was reiterating the importance of India in the semi-conductor sweepstakes. "As much as 90 per cent of the semi-conductor companies have a design footprint in India.
With Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE excluded from participating in the 5G roll out, their absence leaves a vacuum in the market which will have to be filled by three vendors: Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.
Adani Data Networks said it plans to create a private 5G network for its operations. However, it acquired the spectrum in the last 5G auction alongside three telecom companies. Subsequently, it was granted a unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide telecom services in the country.
"On space, we will be able to announce that India is signing the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision for space exploration for the benefit of all humankind," a senior administration official said hours before the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
After subdued earnings in the first half amid global headwinds, India Inc is taking a cautious approach on their capital expenditure (capex) for the second half of the financial year ending March 2025, according to management commentary. Minutes from the October monetary policy meeting show the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) optimism about private investments picking up.
The government believes firms which are subject to China's laws could be forced to hand over information to Beijing's security services.
From the seas to the stars, this partnership will now be deepened by the defining role of technology, the statement said.
The auction of radio waves used for mobile services saw a muted opening on Tuesday, with five rounds attracting bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore from telecom companies. The government has put over 10,500 Mhz spectrum in eight frequency bands -- 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz, valued at Rs 96,238 crore at base price, for auction.
The Tata group's tryst with mobile services, with either CDMA or GSM technology, did not really fly, forcing it to close operations and write off losses. Now the group is back in the big game, this time straddling the telecom equipment, network and technology space in India as well as the global market. To this end, it is leveraging the opportunities that flow from 5G technology through open radio access network, or O-RAN. Recently, the Tata Sons' subsidiary Panatone Finvest acquired 43.3 per cent in Bengaluru-based telecom equipment manufacturer Tejas Network for Rs 1,850 crore and announced it would buy another 26 per cent of the voting capital through an open offer.
Based on industry estimates, telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and BSNL, are expected to invest over $10 billion on buying 5G telecom equipment in the next five years as they transition from non-standalone networks to standalone 5G networks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the much-awaited 5G services in India on October 1, 2022, an official release said on Friday. According to the release, 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities, will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years. The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated to reach $450 billion by 2035. Capable of supporting ultra-high-speed internet services, the fifth generation or 5G is expected to unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, serving as a transformational force for Indian society.
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.
Surajeet Das Gupta explains why Mukesh Ambani's target is by no means impossible.
The entire lot of 1,84,000 multi-access radio relay phones connecting rural areas in the country would be replaced within the next 18 months as they have been found to be "faulty", Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Mobile users can expect a sharp fall in tariffs and access to a range of sophisticated services if the government accepts recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to permit mobile virtual network operators.
Reliance is leveraging the technological change of building a virtualised 5G network which would see the current hardware-dependent networks shift to software-centric platforms.
Just a few weeks ago, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw did some tough talking with the senior managers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the ailing state-owned telecom service provider. The message was clear: They had to perform, quit by taking the voluntary retirement package or be compulsorily retired from service. The terse message from an otherwise polite and soft-spoken minister came just days after he announced a second and bigger package of Rs 1.64 trillion as part of a four-year turnaround plan for BSNL.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
'There is definitely a skill war, or a talent war going on.'
India must change approach and have better access to networks to fulfil its digitisation dream.
We need transformative policies and incentives with purpose, especially in solar power and digital infrastructure.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel will start rolling out 5G services this month and cover all towns and key rural areas of the country by March 2024, a senior company official said on Tuesday. Bharti Airtel managing director and CEO Gopal Vittal also said that the price of mobile services in India is very low and needs to go up. "We intend to launch 5G starting August and extend to a Pan India roll out very soon.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
The country's two top telcos, Reliance Jio and Airtel, are working overnight to undertake one of the fastest global roll-outs of 5G services in any country just a month down the line. India might be late in the game (already 70 countries have some kind of 5G and there are 698 million 5G subscribers across the world), but it's moving at breakneck speed. In his speech at the Reliance Industries AGM, Mukesh Ambani unveiled his plan to roll out the fastest 5G network in the world, starting from four metros in October but hitting every town taluka and tehsil - there are some 5,600 of them - in the country in 18 months.
The users of 5G-enabled Apple iPhones will be able to try 5G telecom services - wherever available publicly in the country - from next week, both on standalone (Reliance Jio) and non-standalone networks (Bharti Airtel). Airtel and Jio customers who download the iOS 16 Beta software update as part of its 'Apple Beta Software Program' can try the service and send their feedback to the company. The final updated software will become available sometime in December.