The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday launched a channel selector application which will facilitate consumers to view their TV subscription and choose the channels of their interest while removing the unwanted ones.
The Sunil Mittal led firm accused the regulator of "wrongly" holding Jio's promotional offer as compliant with the regulatory guidelines
62% of residents in north India look at the change favourably after the implementation of a new tariff order by Trai, finds research report on the migration on consumer TV viewing behaviour.
The government plans to remove the definition of broadcasting services altogether from the bill to help reduce confusion among stakeholders.
The Trai order is expected to change how consumers pay for cable or DTH services. This will result in disruption within the TV viewing market.
TRAI had asked the operators who had offered such schemes on what would happen if there was a change in traffic patterns and Interconnect Usage Charge regime and how the consumers would be protected against a hike in tariff.
The move by these broadcasters comes close on the heels of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India announcing a review of its earlier tariff order, announced six months ago, which among others capped the prices for la carte channels.
In its consultation paper Trai addressed three key points including the bundling of channels under bouquets, rampant discounting within bouquets, and the lack of consumer choice.
The government must also look at rationalising the levies on the sector and close long standing legal disputes that are a big drag on performance of operators, he said.
Shares of telecom services providers - Reliance Industries (parent of Reliance Jio), Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - have shed up to 23 per cent so far in the current calendar year as growth in the wireless subscriber segment begins to plateau amid higher tariffs and rising costs of smartphones. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, and sectoral index BSE Telecom have dipped 1.8 per cent, and 12.6 per cent, respectively, ACE Equity data shows. However, analysts expect the trend to reverse soon as telecom services providers focus on the next leg of growth -- fixed broadband (FBB) segment.
The Cellular Operators Association of India on Wednesday telecom regulator TRAI's order for slashing roaming charges by up to 56 per cent and said the move could lead to increase in basic tariffs.
Customers may lose freebies or have to pay a little more for mobile services in the days ahead as operators try to make up for Rs 61,100 crore they have committed to government in the latest spectrum auction.
The Trai's move comes in the wake of sector tribunal Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal rejecting last month a plea by some private mobile firms.
TRAI said that Internet service providers would not be allowed to discriminate on pricing of data access for different web services.
Attempts are being made to balance the need for health of the sector, consumer interest while complying with the Supreme Court order on statutory dues.
The market could see a fresh round of tariff war, similar to what happened in the voice market a few years ago.
India's telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday slashed mobile roaming tariffs by up to 56 per cent and also scrapped rental for roaming services.
Call rates to be reduced by 35%, text charges by 80%.
Trai has mandated service providers to give hard copies of post-paid mobile bills to all mobile users.
Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) CEO Ravinder Takkar did some plain speaking. In an analyst call after its quarterly results recently, Takkar said that the main stumbling block to raising fresh capital from investors is "pricing" - telecom tariffs, in other words. Nine months ago, the telecom company's board had cleared a proposal for raising Rs 25,000 crore from investors, after the promoters made it clear that they were not ready to pump in more money. But potential investors are concerned that without clarity on tariff hikes (there have been none for more than 18 months) they might just lose their money. The lack of visibility on raising tariffs has also impelled VIL to request the Department of Telecom (DoT) for a fresh reprieve by extending the two-year moratorium on paying its spectrum instalment of Rs 8,200 crore for another year till FY23.
MSOs are major cable operators who give feed to local cable operators.
Jio's revenue increase was phenomenal in many circles: In Haryana, the RMS gain was 13 percentage points; in Bihar, 20 percentage points; in Odisha, 15 percentage points; and in Assam, 11 percentage points. However, incumbent telcos said this increase was only in three quarters, and it happened because of an order by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which tweaked the definition of significant market player (SMP) for predatory pricing.
VSNL on Wednesday got a temporary relief after telecom regulator TRAI decided to keep its earlier order of announcing up to 64 per cent reduction in international bandwidth prices in abeyance till October 3.
Nripendra Misra's three-year stint as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will be remembered for a host of recommendations and a number of controversies. Controversial issues like the conditional access system, non-CAS pricing kept Misra, who retires as Trai chairman on March 22, 2009, in the news.
In its tariff order for 2010, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India also included provisions to protect the consumers from rise in rates, like no increase in subscription charges in the first six months of enrolling.
According to the recent directives, subscribers are entitled to get full talk time on recharges and will have to pay administrative fee not exceeding Rs 2 per recharge and other applicable taxes. The new measures will be effective from September 15, and are applicable for both new as well as existing subscribers. Customers will also be insulated from any increase in tariff for a period of 12 months from the existing six month regime, according to Trai.
Mittal said that overall, he expected that by March 2018, the "dust will settle down" for the entire industry.
Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Tuesday approved the allotment of equity shares worth Rs 16,133 crore to the government, which post-allocation has become the largest shareholder with a 33.44 per cent stake in the company. The shares have been allocated to the government in lieu of conversion of interest dues arising from deferment of adjusted gross revenue and spectrum auction payments, the company said in a regulatory filing. "...it is hereby informed that the board of directors of the company has, at its meeting held today approved the allotment of 16,133,198,899 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 10 per equity share aggregating to Rs 161,331,848,990 to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Government of India," the filing said.
Given the escalating cost of doing business, the revenue opportunity is decreasing and consolidation is an inevitable part of the industry.
Sibal said that Trai had compared India with China.
Sector regulator Trai on Tuesday directed telecom operators to "immediately" enable port out SMS facility for all mobile users requiring it, irrespective of value of their tariff offer, vouchers, or plans they have opted for. Trai's stern missive on smooth network portability, assumes significance as Reliance Jio had recently written to the regulator complaining that the new tariff structure of Vodafone Idea (VIL) allegedly restricts entry-level customers to port out their mobile number from its network. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken a strong note of telecom service companies not providing outgoing SMS facility in certain prepaid vouchers.
The Mukesh Ambani-owned company had complained to Trai about incumbents offering segmented offers to different customers
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will issue a fresh order on the Interconnect User Charge regime in July, replacing the existing order that came into effect from May, its chairman Pradeep Baijal said on Monday.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will announce the Interconnection Usage Charges as applicable to operators on August one.
The question mark over Vodafone Idea's survival is gone after the government's telecom package, managing director and chief executive officer Ravinder Takkar said in an interaction recently. The extended moratorium for spectrum payments and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues has indeed ensured that Vodafone Idea survives, at least for the time being, but questions remain. Answers to those questions may determine the future of Vodafone Idea and its power to stay in a difficult telecom market in the coming years.
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
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