Operators say 10-paisa, 25-paisa calls not possible.
One reason why mobile subscribers haven't shifted companies is that the service is uniformly bad. But now, with new players coming in, the picture could be different, says Sunil Jain.
Tower Tube is a self-contained fully-encapsulated site with a five-metre diameter room at the base to house all equipment. Ericsson claims that Tower Tube consumes 40 per cent less electricity and produces 30 per cent less carbon emission when compared with traditional towers.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows in India declined 24 per cent to $20.48 billion in April-September 2023, dragged by lower inflows in computer hardware and software, telecom, auto and pharma, according to government data. FDI inflows stood at $26.91 billion during the first six months of the last fiscal. Inflows during January-March 2023 also contracted 40.55 per cent to $9.28 billion.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday announced a substantial cut in levy accrued to state-owned BSNL at Rs 3,200 crore (Rs 32 billion) from over Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) and shifted to revenue share regime from per call basis.
The industry expects faster finalisation of 2G spectrum bidding process, more clarity on the spectrum prices and related issues.
The policy was earlier expected to be unveiled by December this year, but delays in receiving recommendations have pushed the date to next year.
This will be the first time BJP's prime ministerial candidate holds a discussion with IT, telecom czars.
Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G services in high-frequency bands in and around airports following restrictions imposed by the Department of Telecom at the request of the civil aviation ministry, according to sources. Based on buffer and safety zone details provided by the aviation ministry, the DoT has asked telecom operators to not install 5G base stations in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band in the area of 2.1 kilometres from both ends of the runway and 910 meters from the centre line of the runway of Indian airports with immediate effect. "Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G service in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band only in and around airports based on the order.
The country's telecom sector went into an overdrive witnessing among other things a uniform call rate, huge foreign investments as intense competition in the arena led to a drop in tariffs to benefit the consumer.
Google on Tuesday began reinstating about 250 Indian apps it had delisted from its Play Store over a billing dispute as it caved in to government criticism, but the squabble may not yet be over.
The department is planning a complete overhaul of the archaic Indian Telegraph Act.
The government has lost Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in just over a month after 1,300 group A officers, who constitute the top management and technical cadre in telecom giants BSNL and MTNL, rejected the ''inferior'' absorption offer.
Department of telecommunication and intelligence agencies have long been demanding access to data on Blackberry phones, which is available only to the owners of the handset. RIM executives had met senior DoT officials recently.
The Israel-Hamas conflict is expected to impact the trade of gems and jewellery between India and Israel, exporters said on Monday. Colin Shah, MD, Kama Jewelry, said the war can "adversely" impact Indian exports to Israel. Total gems and jewellery trade between India and Israel stood at $2.04 billion in 2022-23 as against $2.8 billion in 2021-22.
The broader Nifty of National Stock Exchange scaled the 10,200 mark intra day before closing at 10,184.85, showing a sizeable gain of 38.30 points, or 0.38 per cent.
Despite its run-in with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Mumbai-based GSM telecom service provider Loop Telecom will launch its services in the Tamil Nadu and Orissa circles by next week.
State-owned BSNL will start 5G services in 2024, Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. BSNL has shortlisted a TCS and C-DOT led consortium for rolling out 4G network, which will be upgraded to 5G in about a year of placing the order under the contract. "BSNL will start 5G services in 2024," Vaishnaw said while speaking to reporters in New Delhi.
The much-awaited guidelines on foreign direct investment in telecom are expected to be notified this month with companies likely to be given a maximum of four months
Former Telecom Minister Sukhram has been held guilty by a Delhi court of misusing his official position when he was in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet and giving undue favour to a cable supply company in a 15-year-old case.
Among the businesses that need consolidation are retail and defence
The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to place before it the "files and notings" which purportedly suggest that its Director Ranjit Sinha wants stopping of whole trial against Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and three top executives of the Reliance ADAG, who are accused in the 2G spectrum scam case.
A day before he is to surrender to undergo a three-year jail term in a 1993 telecom scam, former Union minister Sukhram on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on the Delhi high court order which had upheld his conviction in the case.
Airtel already offers services in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 African countries apart from India.
India may be 15th among the top 25 Artificial Intelligence nations, but it has the 'the greatest upward potential' according to research by Tufts University's business school, the Fletcher School. At the top is the US, followed by China, fighting for global leadership in AI followed by the UK, Japan, and Germany. In the 15th spot, India is ahead of Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia and Thailand.
The chairman and group managing director of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, was chosen the best Asian Telecom CEO
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.
Telecom sector has seen phenomenal growth over the past decade or so, says the prime minister.
Telecom Italia is targeting to reduce the debt significantly over the period 2009-2011. It plans to reduce net debt to earnings before by interest, tax and depreciation and amortisation ratio to 2.3 at the end of 2011 from over 3 at present.
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.
After targeting employees in the sectors of insurance, banking and hospitality, militants in Manipur have now targeted mobile operators in the state to continue their activities of extortion and abduction.The militants had earlier burned down mobile towers after employees of telecom companies refused to fulfill their demands. In February, militants of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Nongdrenkhomba faction) outfit burnt down a mobile tower and gunned down a security personnel.
India can build new technology in the telecom sector that leapfrogs the legacy systems in the West and leverage these systems to serve the global market, Satyam Computer Services director T R Anand said on Monday.
Israel's Tadiran Telecom on Wednesday entered into a strategic alliance with BPL Telecom to sell its enterprise products including advanced digital PBX systems in India and said it would set up a joint venture with the Indian company for local manufa
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has significantly tightened the noose on mergers among telecom operators within a circle by imposing a three-year lock-in period, besides making it mandatory for them to take prior permission from the ministry.