Tata Sky, the country’s largest distributor of television content, has taken decided to take on JioTV and other emerging content distributors with an online streaming website of its own. The DTH provider’s online video and TV service can be accessed at ‘watch.tatasky.com‘ and currently has around 250 live television channels, compared to over 550 on […]
Bharti Airtel said it will launch affordable 4G smartphones powered by Google’s Android Go platform next month, under a tie-up with handset makers Micromax and Lava. “Entry level 4G smartphones under Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ program will be shipped with Android Oreo (Go edition) as standard OS starting March 2018,” the telecom operator said. “Lava […]
Sterlite Tech, India’s biggest fiber cable maker, said it won a Rs 3500-crore order to design, build and manage a communications network for the Indian Navy. The advance purchase order requires Sterlite Tech to design, build and manage the communications network for over a decade. The project includes the creation of a high-capacity IP-MPLS (Internet […]
Indian operator Bharti Airtel, aircraft maker Airbus, US airline Delta and US operator Sprint were among the founding members of a new platform intended to pave the way for easier in-flight telecom connectivity. The alliance, which also includes satellite broadband operator OneWeb and in-flight connectivity specialist GoGo, plans to bring more companies onboard. The aim […]
Idea Cellular, one of India’s largest telecom operators, said the recently concluded sale of its shares to institutional investors, along with a recent fund infusion by the promoter, will reduce its net debt by Rs 6,750 cr. “This equity raise of Rs. 3,500 crore along with recent infusion of Rs. 3,250 crore by Idea’s Promoter […]
The pain for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular may be far from over as Reliance Jio is seen preparing a massive rollout of its low-cost smartphone that could deal yet another heavy blow to the incumbent telecom operators’ revenue. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Forum in Lucknow today, Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh […]
Idea Cellular said it has approved a price of Rs 82.50 for the shares to be sold as part of its Rs 3,500 cr qualified institutional placement. The price implies a discount of 2.6% to the opening price of Idea Cellular stock on the NSE today. It also said that it will close its QIP […]
After advising restraint in the fight with new operator Reliance Jio, it seems to be the turn of Idea Cellular and its partner Vodafone to slash prices. Both operators have cut the price of the cheapest unlimited voice and data pack to the Rs 150 range from Rs 200 range, bringing them into direct competition […]
Bharti Airtel said it has tied up with HMD, the maker of Nokia smartphones, to offer cash back of Rs 2,000 on the Nokia 2 and 3 smartphones. The initial price of Nokia 3 will be Rs 9,499 and that of Nokia 2 will be Rs 6,999. To get the cash back of Rs 2,000, […]
Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Communications said it is on track to complete the sale of its mobile network assets by the end of next month. Speaking in the context of gaining shareholder approval for the scheme, the company said: “RCOM’s asset monetization is proceeding on fast track to close by March 2018, subject to lenders’ […]
Google, the maker of the most popular web browser in the world, has decided to crack the whip on intrusive advertisements. Starting Thursday, said the company, all advertisements on websites that repeatedly bombard users with intrusive ads will be blocked by default. Before the blocking goes into effect, the intrusive ads will be ‘flagged’, presumably […]
Spectra, formerly known as Spectranet, said it has become India’s largest 1Gbps broadband network after carrying out a free network upgrade for all its customers in Bangalore. “Spectra’s Bengaluru customers have been upgraded to the 1 Gbps speed at no extra cost and with this, it is now the largest 1 Gbps broadband speed network […]
Star India’s digital business, Hotstar, will make content available via Bharti Airtel’s TV app. The companies did not clarify if all content on Hotstar will be available or not. Given that it costs Rs 199 per month to access all content on Hotstar, that is unlikely. This is the second tie-up that Hotstar, part of […]
Ortel Communications (Ortel), the Orissa-based cable and broadband services provider, reported a loss of Rs 6.6 cr for the third quarter as its broadband business was hit by 4G providers and cable business was under competitive pressure from DTH services. The loss of 6.6 cr compared with a loss of Rs 1.5 cr last year, […]
Rajyavardhan Rathore, junior minister for information and broadcasting today confirmed that Doordarshan has given permission to eleven companies to manufacture set top boxes with encryption for use on its DTH service DD Free Dish. The statement confirms that the much delayed encryption of the service is on track and will be implemented once the stock […]
Telecom minister Manoj Sinha today said that the government has ‘no plans’ to merge state-owned telecom service providers Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Sinha also said that BSNL is going ahead with the outsourcing of operations and maintenance activities of 26,287 towers across the country to third parties. “At present, there […]
Smaller operators Idea Cellular and Telenor handily beat bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in a 4G network quality field test conducted by the telecom regulator in the Gujarati city of Surat. In fact, the survey agency was not able to get a Youtube video playing over Jio’s network in all five locations where […]
UK’s Vodafone is looking to combine its stake in Indus Towers, India’s largest tower company, with Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of market leader Bharti Airtel, on the basis of $5 bln valuation for its asset, the Economic Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. The move would seem to indicate an upcoming merger of Indus Towers and […]
International credit rating agency Fitch said it revised its outlook on the Indian telecom sector to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ and sees the sector returning to revenue growth in 2018. “We expect gradual price discipline in India’s telecoms sector to drive a mid-single-digit revenue recovery in 2018, following 2017’s falls,” the firm said in the context […]
GTPL Hathway, Gujarat’s biggest cable provider, has unleashed a new set of tariffs that offer as much as 39 GB for just 1 rupee. The new tariff plans have been unveiled along with its new fiber to home service. “Currently, the services are launched in Ahmedabad only, but there are plans to progressively launch in […]
