India faces steep odds in its race to meet its solar power addition targets for the current year. Last year, the country had added only 5.53 GW of incremental solar power capacity against a target of 6 GW. This year, the target is 10 GW. However, as of November end, it has added only 3.46 […]
Telecom minister Manoj Sinha today said the government is committed to the “the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality” and is studying the recommendations of the telecom regulator in this regard. The government is keen to ensure “non-discriminatory access to internet,” Sinha added. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had, a month ago, sent […]
Anil Ambani, who warned about the possibility of the emergence of a ‘monopoly’ in Indian telecom three months ago, today said he was hanging up on his consumer telecom business. Ambani, younger brother to Mukesh Ambani — the chairman of Reliance Industries — said the mobile telephony business had changed into a new beast, and […]
With Reliance Jio unveiling its first monthly tariff plans, all eyes are now on the incumbents — Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone — to see how they will respond. Industry sources believe that the three operators will unveil a new 199 plan which gives 1 GB of data per day for 28 days to […]
As expected, Reliance Jio has launched its first monthly plans — Rs 199 for 1.2 GB per day and Rs 299 for 2 GB per day. The plans were anticipated after the newcomer unveiled its permanent plans on Diwali — more than a month ago. The plans price data at roughly the same levels as […]
Ortel Communications, which provides broadband services in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, has announced new plans in line with the cheapest 4G plans offered by rivals like Reliance Jio. It has also cut prices for its high-volume plans. The Rs.99 plan will give 500 MB data per day @ 2Mbps, […]
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is currently testing an intra-circle roaming agreement with Reliance Jio in Karnataka circle, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said. However, he did not clarify whether the agreement was to allow BSNL users to tap into Reliance Jio’s 4G service or to allow Jio users to access BSNL’s 2G service. However, the […]
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the government-controlled telecom company, is likely to start its 4G services with a modest 10,000 towers. In comparison, players like Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Bharti Airtel have between 50,000-100,000 4G towers, while Reliance Jio has around 200,000 LTE base stations. BSNL has planned for only 10,000 4G node B or base […]
Vodafone India announced a cash back deal on itel’s A20 4G smartphone. Under the scheme, anyone who buys the mobile phone for Rs 3,690 will get a cashback of Rs 900 after 1.5 years and Rs 1,200 after another 1.5 years. However, the person has to use the specified Vodafone number on the device and […]
JioTV, the IPTV service from Reliance Jio is now available on the open Internet as well. Live TV channels can be watched by anyone on their PC using a Jio ID and an Internet connection. The Jio ID, however, can be set only by using a Jio phone number and a one-time password. The service, […]
After regulating Internet and broadband services for years, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seems to have decided to enter the broadband era by using technology to stream its ‘open house’ discussions to the public. The regulator is streaming its latest open house discussion on spam calls and SMSes to the public via its twitter […]
Hit by a loss of subscribers, Idea Cellular seems to be having second thoughts about its strategy of always pricing its packs above those of Reliance Jio. The mobile operator has now slashed the price of its 70-day unlimited pack to Rs 398 from Rs 448 earlier for many of its 4G customers. This makes […]
Tata Motors today announced that the Company would be increasing prices of its entire passenger vehicles range by up to Rs 25,000, starting January 2018. The company attributed the increase in price is to “rising input costs.” “The changing market conditions, rising input costs and various external economic factors have compelled us to consider the […]
The lenders of Reliance Communications have got initial bids for the company’s assets from the three big telecom companies in India, CNBC TV18 reported, quoting banking sources. The Anil Ambani Group company is under the control of its lenders after it ran aground due to high debt load and the emergence of 4G services. Three […]
DD Free Dish has become the second free DTH service to offer a free HD channel on its platform after ABS Free Dish. ABS has been transmitting an HD channel — Trace Sports — for over a year. The channel can be viewed by anyone with an MPEG4 Ku band satellite receiver. Now, Doordarshan’s DTH […]
Bharti Airtel has unveiled two new publicly available 4G plans with 2 GB and 3 GB of data allocation per day, along with free voice and SMS benefits. These plans are unique as currently no other operator offers 2GB or 3G per day at these price levels. Airtel has priced its 3 GB per day […]
Continuing with its tie-ups with hardware brands, Bharti Airtel announced three more ‘cash back’ models from Intex, including one with 2GB of RAM. The cheapest will be the Intex Aqua LIONS N1, priced at Rs 3,149 and eligible for for a cash back of Rs 1,500 over a period of three years. The effective price […]
TVS Motor Company has, for the first time, entered the premium motorcycle category with its Apache RR 310 motorcycle, but pricing details are not yet revealed. “The motorcycle marks TVS Motor Company’s entry into the super-premium segment, both in domestic and international markets,” the company said. The premium motorcycle category is currently dominated by Royal […]
Vodafone has unveiled five pan-India plans, the highlight of which is the new Rs 509 plan that gives 1 GB per day and unlimited calls for 84 days (12 weeks). The pack is priced only Rs 50 higher than the equivalent plan by Reliance Jio, which is priced at Rs 459. Before this, the longest […]
Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, said telecom was the first of his big bet, and he will now use his resources to solve problems in three other difficult areas — agriculture, education and healthcare. Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, Ambani said his primary motivation was not to make money. “Money has never meant much […]
