Kerala Cable TV Operators’ Association, the biggest organization of local cable operators in Kerala, will inaugurate its much-awaited voice calling service on Thursday, March 25. This will make it possibly the first cable TV operators’ association in the entire country to diversify into voice services. It was one of the first to branch out into […]
Indian Railways converted 5,601 railway coaches into emergency COVID-19 isolation wards to deal with an expected surge in critical COVID-19 cases, but only 135 of these were ever put to use, data from the ministry of railways reveals. Indian Railways spent a total of 38.30 cr — or about 68,380 per coach — to equip […]
Contrary to expectations, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the growth of digital payments in India. Against a growth of 46% in the value of digital payments last year, this year, digital payments growth is on track to be around 11.5%. In terms of actual numbers, with 20 days remaining in the year, the total […]
Government of India has canceled or suspended the eligibility of thousands of non-government organizations to receive foreign aid in recent years, according to data from the ministry of home affairs, Government of India. The biggest cull came in 2019, when it removed 2,171 NGOs from the list of organizations eligible to receive funds from abroad. […]
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is all set to report its first improvement in finances after the entry of Reliance Jio into the market, and is on track to reduce its operating expenses by around half this year. For the first nine months of the current financial year, BSNL’s total losses plunged to just Rs 3,607 […]
The new rules for messaging apps announced as part of today’s digital/online media regulatory framework will make it impossible for WhatsApp to continue to operate in India in its present form. One of the key demands placed by the government in front of WhatsApp has always been that it should attach an origin-ID to all […]
Prestige Estates Projects, which operates some of India’s top malls such as Bangalore’s Forum Mall, said retail spending has recovered to around 70-80% of normal levels, though it may take several months for it to fully normalize. “The malls should be back in the next six months, they should stabilize fully. Hospitality should take a […]
Government of India seems to have had a change of heart as far as its digitization strategy for radio is concerned, particularly on the choice of technology for the future. The first phase of India’s radio digitization — which has the potential to deliver CD-quality sound on radio receivers — was started around 11 years […]
India-based Dixon Technologies, one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers, said it is in the final stages of operationalizing a deal with Chinese electronics maker Lenovo that will enable it to start export smartphones in coming months. This will mark the quickest move to exports for any category for Dixon Electronics. At present, the […]
Signal, the open source messaging platform, has become extremely slow and even unresponsive in several parts of India after a sudden rush of new users looking for a more secure alternative to WhatsApp. Global interest in Signal app has jumped by around 50 times since WhatsApp announced changes to its terms of use last week. […]
In a move that can potentially derail Reliance Jio’s plans to launch 5G services in the second half of this year, Government of India has come up with a plan to auction only 4G spectrum in March this year. The move to exclude 5G airwaves from the auction is likely to further delay the growth […]
Five months after first losing its crown as India’s No.1 operator to upstart Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel has again taken the top spot, aided by three back-to-back months of strong subscriber additions and slowing expansion on Jio’s side. As of October 2020, Bharti Airtel once again recorded the highest number of active mobile users in […]
A move away from traditional equipment vendors such as Ericsson and Huawei by telecom operators could open up a multi-billion dollar market for the likes of Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Technologies, TCS and Infosys. Traditionally, telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have almost completely outsourced the construction and management of their networks to […]
Vodafone Idea, the country’s third largest mobile operator, has started deploying a revolutionary new approach to creating its cellular network, but has also encountered several challenges in doing so. The company is experimenting with the so-called ‘open radio access network’ or Open RAN technology, which is a break from the traditional one-box technology promoted by […]
The management of Chennai-based Sun TV Network seems to have abandoned the earlier ‘hybrid strategy’ for its digital platform and come to the conclusion that an advertising-led model will likely not work in the video-on-demand universe in the longer term. The company’s Sun NXT app has been by far the most aggressive player as far […]
Mahindra & Mahindra, the second-biggest Indian auto brand, is hoping that the valuable lessons that it has learnt from a series of less-than-spectacular product launches — reflected in the design and success of the new Thar 2020 — will be a harbinger of better luck in store for the company in 2021. Over the last […]
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has withdrawn the controversial Sec 118A of the Kerala Police Act, also known as the anti Fake News law, pending fine-tuning and further consultations. “Whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming a person or […]
V-Mart, India’s largest chain of smaller-sized fashion stores, said it has started purchasing fresh stock from its suppliers after nearly six months of freeze on garment procurement. The company was hit hard when a nationwide lockdown was imposed by the central government in late March to control the spread of COVID-19, particularly as it had […]
The numbers released by India’s three telecom operators on their July-September performance show a remarkable trend reversal: For the first time ever, Reliance Jio was no longer the fastest growing data operator in India, losing the crown to Bharti Airtel. While Jio’s mobile data traffic went up by 220 million GBs in July-September compared to […]
Bharti Airtel, the former No.1 telecom provider of India, has doubled the pace of its 4G roll-out by adding nearly 333 new 4G base stations every day during the July-September period. That works to over 10,000 base stations per month, or almost 14 new 4G base stations per hour — including at night. In comparison, […]
