BSNL could launch 5G within one year

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd could end up launching 5G services as early as the first half of 2019, going by comments made by a senior official at an industry forum today. Speaking at the Mobile Device Summit 2018 organized by ‘The Mobile Association’, Anil Jain, the company’s Chief General Manager in charge of New Generation Networks promised […]

CMR calls OnePlus 6 “finest Android smartphone out there”

Market research firm CyberMedia Research has called the OnePlus 6, the latest smartphone from the eponymous Chinese start-up, the ‘finest Android smartphone out there today’. In a note trying to explain the success of the Chinese company in markets like India, Prabhu Ram, head of Industry Intelligence Group at the firm also called it the […]

Bharti Airtel’s 4G capacity to see massive increase this year in Mumbai

Bharti Airtel has announced a massive expansion program for its Mumbai 4G network that could increase the data carrying capacity by several times in one year. The expansion comprises four areas — increasing the number of cell sites by about 30%, increasing the 4G spectrum by about 25%, expanding fiber capacity by about 18% and […]

Ahead of Reliance Jio Fiber launch, Spectra offers unlimited 1 Gbps at Rs 1,249

Spectra, formerly known as Spectranet, said it is now offering what is arguably India’s cheapest high-speed broadband service, even as rumors of an impending launch of Reliance Jio’s JioFiber start gaining momentum. Under the plan, Spectra said customers will get a download and upload speed of 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) with unlimited data usage for […]

Idea Cellular completes sale of 9,900 towers to ATC for Rs 4,000 cr

Idea Cellular said its had completed the sale of its 9,900 towers to American Tower Corp’s India unit at an ‘enterprise valuation’ of Rs 4,000 cr. The exact amount that ATC will pay to the telecom operator for the towers is not clear. Enterprise valuation includes the money payable to creditors as well as shareholders. […]

Reliance Digital, Jio Stores to sell all Motorola devices

India’s largest technology retail chain Reliance Digital said it signed an agreement to sell all Motorola products at its outlets. At present, Motorola is largely an online-focused brand. Motorola, which used to be a big brand in the country in the 1990s and 2000s, lost out to Korean players like Samsung and LG about 10-12 […]

ABS Free Dish shuts down; Will Reliance Big TV benefit?

ABS Free Dish, the free DTH service run by a Bermuda-based company of the same name, has shut down its signals over India. The service used to quite popular in the southern and eastern parts of India as the only other free DTH service — DD Free Dish — was almost entirely focused on the […]

Amazon offers Rs 2,600 cashback on smartphones for Airtel users

Bharti Airtel and Amazon will offer Rs 2,600 cash back over a period of three years for anyone who purchases any of the 65 smartphones exclusively available on Amazon. However, they must make Airtel recharges of Rs 7,000 over a period three years, or about Rs 200 per month. Customers have to buy any of […]

Reliance Jio offers ‘play along’ features for TV broadcasters in India

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd said it has tied up with Israel-based Screenz to offer interactivity and ‘play along’ features for television programs in India. With the help of the offering, television channels can keep their viewers engaged on a realtime basis using smartphone apps. Jio has already deployed the concept for the quiz show Kaun […]

Idea cuts employee costs by 40% in 3 months, improves margin in Jan-Mar

Idea Cellular slashed its employee costs by nearly 40% in the three months from January to March this year, and also reduced several other items of expenditure in a successful attempt to protect its margins from the impact of falling revenue. As a result of the heavy cost cutting ahead of its merger with Vodafone, […]

Soaring Jiophone sales could start hurting incumbents – Credit Suisse

Jiophone sales are rising fast and could start affecting the growth rates of rival telecom companies once the churn effect of fleeing Aircel subscribers gets over, analysts from financial services firm Credit Suisse said. Analysts Sunil Tirumala and Viral Shah said trends indicated that the Jiophone is contributing about 7 mln out of the 8-9 […]

Bharti Infratel loses 22,134 tenancies in FY18, but Q4 revenue rises 4%

Bharti Infratel, the telecom tower company from the Bharti group, reported a modest 4% growth in sales and 2% improvement in net profit due to a loss of tenancies as well as increasing fuel costs. The company’s revenue rose 4.2% on year to Rs 1,673 cr in the fourth quarter, which, however represented a decline […]

RIL says tax tribunal satisfied with Biometrix deal

Reliance Industries said it was not aware of any inquiry into the funds received by entities connected with it or its promoters from Singapore-based Biometrix Marketing. It also said, as far as it was aware, that the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal “was satisfied with the source of funds”. The clarifications came after report by the […]

Bharti Airtel launches Fiber-to-the-Home services at Rs 2,199 per month

With the launch of Reliance Jio’s home broadband services drawing nearer, competitor Bharti Airtel has introduced new fiber-based broadband plans with speeds of up to 300 Mbps. The FTIH (Fiber-To-the-Home) based plan comes at a monthly rental of Rs. 2199 and offers 1200GB of ultra-high speed data along with unlimited STD and local calling benefits. […]