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The best way to access high-speed internet while sitting at your home is to get a broadband connection. Fibre broadband connections provide much higher speed than any 4G network can. As more and more people are sitting in their homes and working, watching videos to entertain themselves, the demand for data has increased. High-speed internet has become a necessity to carry out Zoom Call meetings smoothly and stream entertaining content without any interruptions....

During the event, the platform announced new Facebook app-inspired “Stories” option, in-house built multi-players games and more Augmented Reality (AR) filters which are not just restricted to faces. Snapchat, in a statement, said: “‘Stories’ feature allows people to share videos, photos shot from Snapchat’s in-app camera on dating app Tinder and social networking app Houseparty as ‘Story’”. A new filter called “Landmarks” also made its place on Snapchat, bringing AR filters for iconic landmarks from around the world, like the Eiffel Tower, the report said....

“We expect that at the recommended prices, the participation in auctions could be adversely impacted. It will not be a big success, and it will impact Digital India objectives…It will adversely affect 5G,” T V Ramachandran, president of BIF, told PTI. Trai on Monday had stuck to its recommendation on base price and valuation of the spectrum, including for 5G radiowaves, making it clear to the telecom department that it has considered “all relevant factors” while giving views on prices....

Starlink is currently figuring out the regulatory approvals required for providing satellite broadband services in India. The SpaceX backed company has expressed its intention of providing services in India by mid-2022 and it had also started selling pre-booking of the connections. Elon Musk said on Twitter that Starlink is figuring out the regulatory approval process. One of the biggest things that lacks in India in the satcom industry is the lack of guidelines and the policy framework....

Tariff Hike Needed for ARPU of Telcos to Grow As per an ET Telecom report, SP Kochhar, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said, “The order came as a sort of a conclusion and closure for an issue that was long pending, so the industry is relieved from the perspective of its legal closure. However, it can be termed as a partial relief only.” Kochhar expressed that for the long-term growth of the industry, a tariff hike is necessary....

Over-the-top (OTT) content consumption has skyrocketed post the pandemic. Several factors including low data costs and affordable subscriptions has led to the growth of OTT platforms in India. But the rise of OTT content has hurt the business of Direct-to-Home (DTH) companies. All the DTH players have faced the heat. However, the DTH companies aren’t backing off so easily. Businesses need to pivot and adapt to the market conditions to stay alive for long....

Tata Play, one of the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers, onboarded Lionsgate Play on the Tata Play Binge service. For the unaware, Tata Play Binge service is an OTT aggregation platform. Consumers who have a subscription to the Tata Play Binge can watch OTT content from several applications/platforms such as Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Voot and more. Lionsgate Play is the latest platform added by Tata Play to the Binge service....

It hasn’t been long since the telecom industry in India witnessed an overall tariff hike. Indian mobile service operators resorted to 20%-25% tariff hikes for all the prepaid plans offered by them. Now it is expected that telcos might opt for another price hike in the foreseeable future with the introduction of 5G services in the country which is the world’s second-largest market. As per ET Telecom, even though the initiation of 5G services will ensure the generation of additional revenue for the telcos particularly from the enterprise and digital services segment, it is going to come at a high cost....

The Italian telecommunications giant Telecom Italia is planning to slash the equipment contract with the Chinese vendor Huawei. The contract was supposed to allow Huawei to supply the equipment to build part of the telco’s 5G network in Italy. The telecom giant shared an official letter informing Huawei about the contract dismissal. The information of the letter was first reported by renowned Italian newspaper II Sole 24 Ore. Both Telecom Italia and Huawei have not released any official statement regarding the matter....

Airtel and Vodafone Idea Lost Major Chunk of Subscribers Telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost a major chunk of subscribers in the lockdown period. Bharti Airtel lost around 1.3 million subscribers whereas Vodafone Idea lost a whopping 6.4 million subscribers. The lost in subscriber could affect both the telcos drastically. Recently, the telecom regulator also blocked the premium plans of Airtel and Vodafone Idea that were a part of their expansion plans....

Realme had recently started hinting that it could launch the Realme Book, its first laptop in India and across certain other markets. Since then, certain sites have gone on to leak images of the laptop and showcase the key design, with the company itself having tweeted hints about the device and, in recent times, shown interest in Windows 11, further laying claim to the upcoming laptop from the popular Chinese manufacturer....

Trai Sets a Rs 12 Price Cap on A-la-Carte Channels Included in Bouquets When it announced the amendments to National Tariff Order 1.0 on January 1, 2020, the regulator has given a deadline of 15 days to the broadcasters for coming up with new bouquets. And DTH/Cable TV operators were supposed to implement the same by February 1, 2020. Trai has made some major changes to the tariff regime, but the major one is the cap on a-la-carte channels....

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday in an advisory asked the citizens to exercise caution while joining online conferences through audio calls. In its advisory, Trai said that “few consumers” have disclosed to the authority that they received “bill shocks” while joining online conference platforms “inadvertently dialing international” numbers. Trai highlighted that several citizens have switched to online conferencing platforms due to extended COVID-19 lockdowns and it was crucial for them to ask the citizens to verify the applicable charges for such platforms....

The Act makes it clear that once a recommendation is referred back to Trai by DoT, the regulator has to within 15 days, forward to the central government its suggestions after considering the reference made by the government. After receipt of the further recommendation, if any, the Centre shall take a final decision, the Act says. The official, who did not wish to be named, said pursuant to the October 2016 suggestions of Trai on the penalty to be imposed on the three operators, the recommendations were referred back by DoT on April 5, 2017, for reconsideration, to which Trai sent its views to the government on May 24, 2017....

The Scandinavian caller identification provider Truecaller unveiled Open Doors, a new real-time audio conversation app, on Wednesday, July 13. Teams from Truecaller in India and Stockholm created the new app. Open Doors will be freely accessible worldwide via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, according to the company. Also, it integrates perfectly with iOS and Android. More information regarding the new app Open Doors can be downloaded by Truecaller users, who can then sign in with a simple tap to begin utilising the app....

ZEE5, one of India’s top video streaming platform, which is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) on Monday said that it had entered into a partnership for more content with TVF or The Viral Fever, in order to bring in more youth-focused content to the platform that has been the host to some much-anticipated movies and shows. This move comes just after the platform premiered Salman Khan’s Radhe on a pay-per-view model and aired the much awaited ‘Friends: The Reunion’ to its customers in India....

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and other digital payment systems have totally changed how we do transactions. UPI has become widely used in India by everyone, from street vendors to large retail chains. They have eliminated the need to use cash in most cases by enabling a user to instantly scan a QR code and transfer the right amount immediately to a bank account. Even though UPI is a secure payment method, you could occasionally lose money due to unintentional errors on your part....

The recent tariff hikes by private telecom operators are elevating the financial position of the Indian telecom industry. The tariff hike for prepaid and postpaid services by Bharti Airtel is aimed to increase ARPU from Rs 200 to Rs 300. Gopal Vittal, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel, recently marked that the ARPUs in India are significantly low, and the return on capital for companies is in the low single-digit. As reported by ET Telecom, the tariff hikes have already started showing positive results in terms of revenue for the industry....

Vodafone Idea’s B2B arm, Vi Business, has just announced that it partnered with Trilliant to offer integrated IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for smart metering projects in India. Both companies can pull in their domain expertise to create and implement integrated IoT solutions for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) projects in the country. This partnership will also lay focus on converting the targetted 250 million electricity meters into Smart Meters and contribute to the government’s Digital India vision....

Vodafone Idea (Vi), the third-largest telecom company in India, is offering users something known as MiFi. It is a product with a service. This is a product that you probably have heard of. If you haven’t, well, it is a simple hotspot device that you can carry with you anywhere as it can easily fit into your pocket, bags, etc. A few important details that you should know about this gadget is that it only works with Vi SIM....