Two days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India re-opened the vexed issue of ‘termination charges,’ new operator Uninor (a joint venture of Unitech and Telenor) has struck back at bigger operators accusing them of “restrictive trade practice” against newer ones. TRAI had, two days ago, asked for suggestions on whether to increase or decrease […]
Kaspersky Lab, the Russia-based anti-virus provider with a substantial marketshare in India, has announced a ‘privacy guard’ cum anti-virus software for smartphones. The software will not only protect phones from viruses, but also enable users to create white lists and black lists of contacts. No call records or contact details will be visible if persons […]
The government has extended the deadline for electronics manufacturers and importers to get safety certifications for their products due to delays at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The original deadline was July 3, after which products that did not meet the safety norms were not to be sold. “Department of Electronics and IT shall […]
CRISIL has cut its estimate for India’s GDP growth rate to a decade-low of 4.8% for the current financial year ending March 2014, but it has pointed to a strong performance by agriculture. It warned that the infrastructure, capital goods, automobiles and real estate sectors are in for a tough time this year. “Agriculture is […]
A new GreenPeace study has targeted India’s diesel-addicted telecom industry, estimating that it contributes around 2% of India’s green house gas emissions. The telecom towers and networks consume around 2 billion litres of diesel a year, release 5,600,000,000 kg of Carbon Dioxide or equivalent heat-trapping gas per year. “We expect the ICT sector to play […]
India is the world number 1 in mobile advertising and gaming on BuzzCity, a Singapore-based mobile ad network. The country has beaten bigger rivals like the US and China in both mobile web advertising as well as in downloads of games. The number reflects BuzzCity’s own focus on the APAC market and may not true […]
Important recommendations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday. Reduce VAT on mobile handsets, increase duty on imported handsets Service providers to declare their carbon footprint half yearly, cap placed on power consumption of mobile towers Operators should reduce Carbon emissions by 8% by 2012-2013, 12% by 2014-2015, and 25% by 2018-2019 […]
Gartner, one of the world’s top two IT forecasters, warned of a slowdown in computer sales this year after disappointing data for the March quarter. Against an expected 3% growth (compared to March quarter of 2010,) it found a decline of 1.1% in the preliminary numbers this year. “Although the first quarter is traditionally a […]
Intel led the world semiconductor (or chip) market in 2010, though its share fell from 14.6% to 14% as competition from former cell-phone chip makers intensified. According to Gartner numbers, the chip industry grew by a whopping 30% in 2010 to almost $300 billion — making it not only one of the world’s largest industries, […]
An important new recommendation made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) may unleash the era of the “small scale” or “boutique” telecom brands in the country. It will also offer a way for the new telecom operators — who don’t have the appetite or funds to start operations in India’s hyper-competitive mobile market […]
Canadian smartphone maker Research in Motion, which makes the blackberry mobile phones, seems to have succeeded in convincing the Indian government that it has been “singled out” in India’s quest for statutory monitoring. Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar said the government does not want to “single out” any one company and that he believes the issue […]
Telenor Group has requested Sanjay Chandra, the MD of the Unitech group, to step down as chairman of its joint venture mobile company, Unitech Wireless, the Norwegian company said in a statement. It had earlier this month sent a letter to Unitech Ltd., requesting Sanjay Chandra to step down as Chairman of the Board of […]
A quiet digital revolution is on in the countrysides and bylanes of India. Despite having one of the world’s lowest PC penetration (at just 1%), hundreds of millions of Indians are logging on to the Internet through their humble, tiny mobile phone. The latest ‘state of the mobile web’ report from Opera, whose browser accounts […]
Concerned over India’s galloping electronics import bill, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will recommend a phased introduction of ‘local sourcing’ rules of telecom operators in a week. The TRAI chairman JS Sarma said most of the final details on the recommendations, has been arrived at and the recommendations will be put out next week. […]
Shopyourworld.com, a website that sells imported items in India, has become the first to launch Google’s Motorola Moto G smartphone in India, marking the return of the brand after a long hiatus. Motorola was once the number two mobile brand in India, ahead of Samsung and LG, and behind Nokia. However, the company, which was […]
Idea Cellular has copied the post-pay plans of Bharti Airtel to announce a new flexible billing scheme for its customers. India, where over 95% of mobile subscribers are on prepaid schemes, has not found many takers for billing schemes, largely on account of a mutual distrust on the part of customers and operators about the […]
With a view to counter the attractiveness of Reliance Communications’ emi scheme for Apple iPhone and clear out existing stocks, Samsung has also tied up with credit card companies and Ingram Micro to offer a unique buy-back guarantee scheme for its mobiles. Under the scheme, which also enables the user to buy Samsung mobiles on […]
Vodafone Essar continues to hold on to its lead in the Mobile Number Portability statistics, according to the latest data shared by the Cellular Operators’ Association (COAI), the GSM interest group. Vodafone, which has been leading the list of ‘net gainers’ — operators who have seen more people join them than leave them — continued […]
Loop Mobile has chosen the unexpected option of not participating in the upcoming spectrum auction, even though its spectrum and license will expire in November. That means the company is taking a big risk as the mobile operations were valued at about $0.8-1.0 billion in 2005 when it changed hands from long-time promoter BPL’s TPG […]
Cornering over one-fourth share of the total number of new jobs advertised on portals and newspapers, Delhi-NCR has emerged on top with over 1.39 lakh new jobs created during the calendar year 2013, industry body Assocham said, quoting an in-house study. The survey analysed the vacancies posted by about 4,500 companies via job portals like […]
