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Five MSOs in West Bengal Slapped With Directions from Trai The five MSOs which have been directed by Trai to adhere to the rules include Multi Reach Media, Digicablecomm Services, GTPL Kolkata Cable & Broadband Pariseva, Barasat Cable TV Network, and Bhorer Alo Cable & Broadband to comply with the new regulatory framework. The regulator has also asked these MSOs to report compliance within five days. The regulator said that when it received compliance report from the representatives of these MSOs during a meeting in the regional office of Trai in Kolkata, it found many inconsistencies and issues in the said reports and also on the operators’ websites....

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be helping the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in coming up with the norms that need to come into place to regulate the satellite broadband companies. The telecom department has asked the sector regulator to unveil a comprehensive discussion paper that will focus on creating a new licensing framework for the low earth orbit (LEO) operators. As per an ET Telecom report, TRAI will also be seeking to provide recommendations of which spectrum bands should be provided to the satellite broadband companies for offering services....

The recently announced reforms for the telecom sector will have a huge impact on the ecosystem. It will ease the operational burden on the TSP’s creating space for growth into new avenues like 5G, says Mr Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC). Pandemic is on a downturn in India; what has been the biggest learning of the telecom sector and especially from a talent perspective? One thing that has emerged as a clear need of the hour is the up-skilling of workers for tele-enabled services....

India might require a whopping 22 million or 2.2 crore skilled manpower within 2025 as the country is taking a giant leap into the next-generation 5G-led technologies including AI, IoT, cloud computing and robotics, noted the telecom skills body. As per ET Telecom citing the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC)’s chief executive, Arvind Bali, there is a huge workforce in the need to upskill themselves to match the huge demand in the industry....

Just a couple of days ago, we reported that Xiaomi is planning to launch three new models under the Redmi Note 9 series in China this month. And now, details regarding a Redmi Note 9 variant have surfaced online. Similar to the recently launched Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro flagship smartphone, one of the three models will feature a 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate screen. This news is coming from China’s microblogging site Weibo....

The world’s first 5G mobile gaming device is being developed and released by Verizon with computer equipment maker Razer. The two did confirm that the Android will contain Qualcomm’s gaming-specific Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 system-on-chip (SoC), which supports 5G mmWave and sub-6, along with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Details were limited when the Android gadget was introduced last week at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas. A Portable Gaming Gadget Concept Was Created by Qualcomm and Razer In December 2021, Qualcomm and Razer developed a prototype for a portable gaming gadget, which can now be viewed as a sign of things to come....

Vestaspace Technology has said that it will be shooting 35 satellites into space so that 5G services in India can initiate. Aim of the company is to create a next-gen network for customers ready by the year 2021. Arun Kumar Sureban, CEO of Vestaspace Technology commented that the company is planning to launch a beta version of the satellites in September this year to test its functionality. Then the company has plans to launch all the satellites into low-Earth-orbit by early 2021 without any delay....

Previously, we were aware that Vodafone Idea (Vi) would clear its dues within this week, but now the D-day is announced to be April 15. Not only will Vi clear outstanding dues of Q4 of the previous FY21 by April 15, but it will also present an appropriate cause to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) show-cause notice. What Caused DoT to Show-Cause Vi And Vi’s Take From It? According to an ET’s report, The DoT show-caused Vi for the non-payment of license fees for Q4 of FY21 for seven circles, including- Bihar, Gujrat, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, UP-East and Odisha, along with the long-distance licenses....

Vietnam is preparing for the launch of commercial 5G services and will reportedly issue 5G licenses in the coming year as well. Due to the pandemic delays, the telcos in Vietnam have been unable to secure 5G licenses resulting in the late launch of next-generation connectivity services. According to a NikkeiAsia report, the 5G coverage in the country will start from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to other urban areas....

License Fee Reduction Still Not Enough Relief The information comes from two senior government official who have remarked that a meeting is scheduled on the highest level of the government to discuss the lowering of license fees. If the analysts are to be believed, then the three telecom operators would be saving Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 crore annually. But, even then, the cut in license fees would not be sufficient enough to bring relief to the troubled balance sheets of telecom companies, especially Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel....

Reliance Jio ready for Early 5G Spectrum Sale It is noteworthy that according to the previous reports, Reliance Jio is the only telecom operator in the sector which is in favour of an early 5G spectrum auction and is also supporting the recommended prices. This is unlike Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea who have opposed the early sale of the 5G spectrum. Airtel has also demanded to lower the cost of some sub-GHz band, and Vodafone Idea has asked the DoT to push the auction sale back to next year....

Vodafone Idea’s (Vi) average revenue per user (ARPU) has jumped to Rs 109 in Q2 FY22 from Rs 104 in Q1 FY22. This is not surprising though as the telco had removed the base Rs 49 plan which meant users had to shift to the Rs 79 plan. However, the increase in APRU didn’t result in a higher subscriber churn rate. The subscriber churn rate for the telco during Q2 FY22 was 2....

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released its monthly report for February 2021, highlighting the performance of the telecom service providers (TSPs). In a surprising turn of events, Vodafone Idea (Vi) finally added net subscribers at the end of the month, and hopefully, this time, it is not an error in the numbers provided by the telco. Further, Bharti Airtel lost its rally of adding more subscribers than Reliance Jio continuously since Jio added the most number of subscribers during the month, amongst all the operators....

Vodafone Idea Combo Vouchers Start at Rs 49 Firstly, let’s begin with the Combo Vouchers unveiled by Vodafone Idea today. The company seems to have removed the All Rounder packs and introduced two Combo Vouchers of Rs 49 and Rs 79. These two vouchers serve the same All Rounder prepaid plans purpose. The Rs 49 Combo Voucher ships with Rs 38 talk time, 100MB data and the voice calls will be charged at 2....

All the telecom operators are launching prepaid plans with a complete month’s validity. We reported that Vodafone Idea had launched a new Rs 337 prepaid plan for the users earlier with 31 days of validity. But for people who think it is expensive and can’t be used to keep the SIM active for a month, they can go with the new validity vouchers from Vodafone Idea that cost Rs 107 and Rs 111....

Vodafone Idea (VI) might raise something around Rs 7,540 crore through equity in the next two to three months. The debt-laden telco is currently in advanced stage talks with the global private equity investors including Carlyle and Apollo Global Management. The development comes from ET Telecom which further suggests that the telco might follow this up with the follow-on public offer (FPO) to raise another $1 billion around June 2022....

The government and the industry must look beyond the relief package. Five years down the line, this relief package would not make a lot of difference since it is only a short-term measure for the companies. The only major operator that’s in need of a relief package is Vodafone Idea (Vi). As we have mentioned in the past, while Bharti Airtel can benefit from the relief package, it doesn’t desperately need it....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has partnered with Aditya Birla Health Insurance (ABHI) to provide its prepaid users with health insurance coverage. Vi users can now get free insurance coverage from ABHI on the purchase of select prepaid plans. The telco has termed this offer as ‘Vi Hospicare’. It is a first-of-its-kind product for prepaid users in India. Under the offer, only two prepaid plans - Rs 51 and Rs 301 will come with the benefit of health insurance....

Vodafone Idea is trying hard to survive in the market. It has rolled out some attractive offers in the past as well to lure customers in. One such offer was the ‘Double-Data Offer’ under which the customers would receive an exact double amount of data with the plan than they were originally supposed to get. Some of the customers of the telco really loved this offer. Now, Vodafone Idea has come out with yet another amazing offer....

Telecom operators introduced the minimum recharge scheme a couple of years ago as part of which every prepaid user will have to recharge every month to keep their account active. This minimum recharge facility is currently applicable to all the prepaid users of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi). The unlimited combo prepaid plans of the telcos start at above Rs 100, however, not every user will be interested in shelling out more than Rs 100 every month....