Spotify is extensively adding new features to attract more listeners in the Indian market. Yesterday Spotify launched the real-time lyrics support in India as well as 25 other countries. Now the company is expanding the availability of Spotify Premium Duo in India as well as 54 other markets. For those who are not aware, Spotify Premium Duo offers a subscription for two people, usually couples. Not only this, but the most intriguing feature of the Spotify Premium Duo is also the access to exclusive ‘Duo Mix’ which is compiled by Spotify as per the music taste of both the users....

With a community of over 433 million Monthly Active Users and 188 million Premium Subscribers, Spotify is the most widely used audio streaming subscription service in the world. With 183 markets served and more than 80 million tracks, including more than 4 million podcast titles, it has completely changed how people access and enjoy music and podcasts. On Wednesday, Spotify released second-quarter earnings ahead of analysts’ expectations, buoyed by a 14% increase in paying subscribers as more people listened to its podcasts....

Spotify is offering more than four crore songs and 300 crore playlists for music fans in the country. It had briefly hit a hurdle when the music label, WMG, filed for an injunction in the Bombay High Court over licensing rights. The Spotify app – now available on mobile, desktop and tablet – is free to download and users need to spend Rs 119 a month to upgrade to Spotify Premium....

Starlink, a satellite communications (satcom) company trying to provide global satellite broadband coverage plans to enter Indian territory with commercial services in 2022. The company has shared expected equipment and service cost for the Indian market. Sanjay Bhargava, India Head, Starlink, shared the cost/benefit analysis via a link in a LinkedIn post. The expected cost of the connection for the first year might go up to Rs 1,58,000 for the users in India....

AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) dues have become a major pain for the telecom industry of India. It has affected not only the operators that are actively providing telecom services, but also the operators which have gone insolvent. Back on October 24, 2019, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and held its definition of AGR dues above what telcos were demanding. Telecom companies in India did not feel liable to pay AGR on the revenue they earned from non-telecom services....

Tata Play (earlier Tata Sky) has time and again showed the Direct-to-Home (DTH) industry how its offers and services can stand out better than the competitors. Tata Play is the only major DTH service provider in the country which is bundling Netflix subscriptions along with a ton of other over-the-top (OTT) platforms access with its monthly and yearly channel packs. The company is calling these plans ‘Tata Play Binge Combos’....

Shaktimaan, Mahabharat, Chankya Among Those Telecasted on DD Retro Doordarshan on Tuesday in a blog post highlighted that DD Retro was set-up following the rebroadcast of Ramayana and Mahabharat that helped Doordarshan to surpass its own viewership records. Further, it was noted that Doordarshan has maintained its top spot in India for two consecutive weeks. “To relive the nostalgia of your favourite memorable serials of Doordarshan, watch DD Retro Channel,” the broadcaster said in its note....

Tata Sky Adds Eurosport HD, Zee Biskope and 1Sports Tata Sky users can access Eurosport HD on channel 495 while 1Sports can be accessed on channel 498. The Bhojpuri channel, Zee Biskope can be accessed on channel 1120. While the channels remain free in the first 10 days, Tata Sky users can subscribe to Eurosport at Rs 6 per month while 1Sports can be accessed for Rs 4 per month....

Tata Sky Broadband is a rapidly growing internet service provider (ISP). The company has made a lot of changes to its offerings in the last year. The speciality of Tata Sky Broadband is the kind of service the company promises to its customers. You can get internet plans with speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 1 Gbps. So the company has something to offer to everyone. But today, we are going to talk about one of the plans from Tata Sky Broadband that is worth looking out for....

Tata Sky is the number one Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator in India. The company has been providing satellite TV services for more than a decade now. Changes in services and the cost of the channel packs are quite normal to see. Several Tata Sky Channel packs are now getting expensive. The company will be discontinuing the old channel packs starting June 25, 2021, and will move the users to the nearest fit pack....

The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues have been the hot topic of the entire telecom industry in India for the last few years. The telcos had waged and lost a battle against the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for redefining the AGR. The government, though listened carefully to the sector’s wishes and changed the definition of the AGR dues as part of the relief measures announced recently. The DoT will not include non-telecom revenues in the AGR, so the dues for the telcos would be lower....

The debt levels of the Indian telecom industry are expected to go up with the upcoming spectrum auction. While the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested a price cut for multiple spectrum bands, participation in the auction would mean an elevated debt level for the telecom industry. Ankit Jain, Assistant Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA said even modest participation in this auction would mean the debt levels of the industry are likely to elevate further to Rs 4....

The mega spectrum auction is all set to take place later this year and the regulatory body of the telecom sector held an open house discussion (OHD) on Tuesday. The telecom service providers and satellite operators, however, had a clash of views regarding the allocation of airwaves for the fifth-generation or 5G broadband services, and in particular the mmWave band. Both the parties asked for effective interference redressal. The Issue of Allocating 5G Spectrum According to a report from ET Telecom, the Vice President – Policy at Vodafone Idea, Ajay Mehta said in a statement that the reference provided by the Department of Telecommunications (D0T) clearly states that the spectrum from 3300 to 3670 should be allocated to the telecom service providers for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)....

Messaging services have become increasingly useful in these times, with users opting to connect with their loved ones via these platforms rather than meet offline, due to the pandemic. Due to this, Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp, the top three messaging platforms have gained multiple users since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. To cater to the demand, all of them have been adding new features, be it privacy related, design-related or just in relation to functionality....

In a remarkable development, Titan Eye+ has launched its first set of smart glasses in India. The new smart glasses Titan EyeX were launched earlier this week and come with exciting features such as open-ear speakers, touch controls as well as fitness tracking systems. The wearable offers connectivity via Bluetooth v5 and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. Additionally, the gadget also features an inbuilt tracker and is rated IP54 build for dust and water resistance....

OPPO has released the ColorOS 13 based on Android 13 to many smartphones now. While some devices have got the beta version of the update, some have got the stable version. Today, we will be listing the top five smartphones from OPPO, which are running on Android 13 based ColorOS 13 now. ColorOS 13 is based on a brand-new Aquamorphic design which enables a user-friendly UI for seamless viewing. Take a look at the top five devices which you can get with ColorOS 13 now....

India will commemorate its 75th Independence Day on August 15 of this year. Our nation has had numerous highs and lows, heroes and fighters, hardships and victories over this time. Even if you’ve heard the stories before, there’s no better way to relive them than with the help of movies and OTT services. Given the extended weekend, you can do it without a doubt. The Indian film industry has produced some significant films by diligently depicting war conflicts, top-secret missions, and socio-political movements....

Prasar Bharti Asks Trai to Suggest Changes to MIB As per Prasar Bharti, the provision of Doordarshan channels should be delinked with the network capacity, the tariff charges and technology of the platform. This means that regardless of the NCF (Network Capacity Fee) which the subscribers pay and the technology they use, these customers should be able to access the DD channels. The public broadcaster said in its comments to Trai, “In the context of the consultation issues, Prasar Bharati is of the view that, in the larger public interest, the channels notified by the Central Government shall be made available to subscribers over and above the network capacity subscribed by the subscriber without any additional monetary burden on the subscriber....

Top Five Telcos Dominating 98.67% of Broadband Market The total broadband subscribers have increased by 2.37% to 563.31 million from 550.24 million, including both wired and wireless verticals. A total of 98.67% of the entire broadband market share was dominated by the top five service providers at the end of March. These companies included Reliance Jio Infocomm with 306.72 million subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 114.62 million subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 110....

Telecom operators have urged Trai to fasten up the process of fixing floor price as it will revive the telecom sector from financial burden and attract investments in future. Telecom operators are already under huge burden due to the AGR crisis and lockdown period. Due to multiple reasons, the ARPU of the telecom operators has taken a hit. As reported by ET Telecom, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has also sought an open house regarding the matter as soon as possible....