Reliance Jio corners 91% of data card market; could hit BSNL broadband

The shipments data cards or dongles in India jumped 15% in Apr-June period compared to the previous three months, thanks to aggressive sales of Reliance Jio Mifi devices. The Ambani company had a 91% share of the dongle market in the country during the period, said CyberMedia Research. The company has been offering value back […]

BSNL to “shortly” launch 4G with VoLTE, Reliance Jio to face competition

Players like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone are heaving a sigh of relief that Reliance Jio has not unveiled any ‘monsoon surprise’ offer. However, state-owned BSNL may be about to increase the competition in the market with the launch of its 4G services shortly. Anupam Shrivastava, the chairman and managing director of the state-owned […]

End of freebies? Vodafone prices 1GB/day for 28 days at Rs 392

With Reliance Jio not showing any signs of unveiling yet another ‘surprise’ offer, telecom tariffs in India seems set to rise, particularly for data. Vodafone today announced an new tariff pack that offers 1 GB of 3G or 4G data and free calls for Rs 392. However, unlike similar priced offerings by the company in […]

JioPhone booking starts at 5:30 PM today at Reliance Jio stores

The Mukesh Ambani-led telecom operator is likely to start prebooking for its JioPhone device at 5:30 PM today, according to sources. Booking can done in four ways — using the company’s website Jio.com, using the MyJio app and by going to a either a Jio Store or any multi-brand store that sells the device. Customers […]

BSNL STVs now valid on roaming as well

BSNL, the state-owned telecommunications company, said it has decided to extent the benefits of all special recharges to its subscribers even when they’re roaming. So far, these special tariffs were available only in the home location. For example, STV 349 which offers unlimited voice call to any network only in home LSA, now the benefit […]

Reliance Jio starts turning off free services, urges users to recharge

Reliance Jio, the telecom firm that has caught the country by storm, has started turning off the connections of those subscribers who have not recharged their mobile phones since the beginning of April. In April, it had introduced the Summer Surprise offer, and gave around four months of validity for each recharge. The validity of […]

TRAI to hear the public on net neutrality in open house this month

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started registrations for an open house discussion on its upcoming recommendations on net neutrality. The open house discussion will be held on Wednesday, August 30 at 9:30 AM in New Delhi. The venue has not been finalized yet, and is likely to be fixed after the regulator gets […]

Vodafone Play adds 12 channels from Discovery including DSPORT

Vodafone India said it tied up with Discovery Communications to offer 12 of its channels on its ‘Play’ app. These channels include Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery HD World, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Kids, Investigation Discovery (ID), Animal Planet HD World, TLC HD World, Discovery Tamil and sports channel DSPORT. “Vodafone Play is […]

Idea Cellular likely to expand 4G offers this year

Idea Cellular, India’s third biggest telecom player by revenue, is likely to see its 4G data capacity rise to three times the current level over the next nine months, which is likely to push the price of data down further. This could impact Reliance Jio’s ability to stop its discounts and move to ‘full pricing’ […]

Vodafone slashes 4G offer prices after Airtel, Idea reveal explosion of data

Vodafone India renewed efforts to promote its cut-price voice and data offerings in recent days as the latest quarterly numbers from rivals Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel suggested they had given out bigger discounts in the April-June period than anyone had expected. Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel reported that the total consumption of wireless data […]

No plans to launch JioPhone rival – Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom provider by revenue, said it has no intention of launching a rival phone similar to the super-cheap semi-smartphone launched by rival Reliance Jio. Asked if the company needed to come out with a similar, affordable handset to compete with Jio, Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel said his company did […]

Is the JioPhone really free?

The latest entrant to India’s telecom market, Reliance Jio, has announced an unprecedented offer — a 4G enabled phone with support for apps and videocalling for free. According to Mukesh Ambani, customers do not have to pay anything for the phone as the cost of the phone will be returned to the buyer when he […]

Reliance Jio offers phone for ‘free’, unlimited voice, data at Rs 153

Reliance Jio chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the JioPhone, which aims to bring smartphone features to the candybar form factor. The phone will be given to anyone if they deposit Rs 1500 with the company. The user will get the Rs 1500 back when the device is returned after 36 months. “Net net, you pay nothing […]

WATCH HERE: Mukesh Ambani speech on Reliance Jio at AGM today

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio will make a ‘significant announcement’ about the 4G wireless service provider’s offerings at 11 AM on Friday while delivering his annual speech at its parent’s annual general meeting. A live webcast of Mukesh Ambani’s speech at the AGM, at which he is expected to announce the launch of ultra-cheap […]

BSNL halves 2Mbps unlimited plan to Rs 599 from 1,199

Faced with a slowdown due to the emergence of the pan-India competitor Reliance Jio, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has halved the price of its unlimited 2 Mbps DSL broadband plan to 599 per month. The player was earlier offering unlimited 2 Mbps for Rs 1,199. Though cheap by the company’s standards, the earlier offer […]

Spectranet overtakes Airtel Broadband on Netflix speed ranking for India

Netflix, the world’s biggest distributor of movies, ranked Mumbai-based 7 Star cable network and Spectranet, which offers fiber broadband in several cities, as the fastest networks for prime time usage. The average speed available to Netflix was 2.77 Mbps on 7 Star cable and 2.69 Mbps on Spectranet in June, the movie streaming company’s ratings […]

With tariff change, Idea Cellular 4G data now cheaper than Reliance Jio

With Reliance Jio raising the price of its 1GB-per-day pack from Rs 309 to Rs 399, Idea Cellular has managed to beat the new operator in this segment, though not by much. Idea Cellular offers 1GB/day for 84 days at Rs 397, making it cheaper by 2 rupees. Though Idea’s scheme is not listed on […]