${latestitem Title}

---

• NCSC Finalizes the Criteria for Identifying Trusted Vendors: Details
• BSNL Gets a Major Relief, to Roll Out Hybrid 4G Pan-India Soon
• Airtel, Jio and Vi Pay DoT Rs 5,000 Crore: Report
• PS5 Might Restock in April, Indians Unhappy With Sony
• Vodafone Idea Has to Push for Tariff Hikes Earlier Than Jio, Airtel: Analysts
• Realme 8 5G and Realme 8 Pro 5G Set to Launch in India, Company Confirms
• Excitel Broadband Plans that Jio, Airtel and BSNL Don’t Offer
• Jio, Airtel and Vi Postpaid Plans Are Overrated
• Will Bharti Airtel Ever be Able to Overcome Reliance Jio
• Vodafone Idea Offering Up to Rs 60 Cashback on Unlimited Prepaid Recharges

NCSC Finalizes the Criteria for Identifying Trusted Vendors: Details Posted: 29 Mar 2021 09:26 AM PDT The criteria for determining the list of trusted vendors for supplying equipment to India for future network rollouts has been provided by the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC). According to an ET Telecom report, the information regarding the criteria has been communicated to the telcos and other concerned stakeholders via a meeting attended by all the concerned authorities including the telcos and foreign gear vendors. China’s Huawei and ZTE were however excluded from this meeting. Citings As Per the Attendees According to an executive close to the matter, the gear and procurement process will be a lengthy one; wherein the vendors will have to provide information to telcos, who are then expected to inform the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC). The designated authority i.e. NCSC will then inform the telcos if they are allowed to procure the gear, depending upon if the vendor is listed as “trusted” under the trusted vendor list. India’s highest cybersecurity office (NCSC) has provided a list of products and templates to the stakeholders that contain the data that will be necessarily required. But no information has been shared on the criteria that will determine whether the source of a product is trusted. Further, the companies were assured that every bit of information will be kept in strict confidence. The challenges and delays that are expected by the telcos were also discussed in the meeting; once the list comes into force. A lot of issues might come to life as the portal for providing information goes up. A lot of concerns were raised by some vendors regarding the enormity of information being sought in such strict time limits. April 15 is marked as the date for the launch of the beta portal by the NCSC, however, the procurement rules will come into force from June 16. The details were discussed in the virtual meeting called by the NCSC which was attended by telcos, domestic and multinational vendors, and various other chipmakers. The NCSC shared the flow of procurement rules through the means of a presentation to all concerned parties. NCSC has also asked for tons of details and has solicited feedback from all attendees in case they have issues. The authority is willing to make changes before the portal goes live as per another executive. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) amendment on mandating the use of network equipment only from “trusted sources” is believed to be aimed at keeping the Chinese players out of key elements of the telecom network. The government is wary of the privacy concerns that might arise if any Chinese vendor or untrusted vendor is allowed to supply core network equipment to the telcos. The meeting was attended by many renowned companies including Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco, Samsung, Qualcomm, Ciena, AMD, Tejas, Nivetti systems, C-DoT, and VNL, besides the telcos. Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) is to face the threat as they have contracts with Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, besides Nokia and Ericsson. Jio is still on the safer side as it is supplied by South Korean Tech Giant Samsung.

BSNL Gets a Major Relief, to Roll Out Hybrid 4G Pan-India Soon Posted: 29 Mar 2021 04:30 AM PDT Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will finally be able to roll-out 4G pan-India very soon. The state-run telco has received the nod from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to go ahead with its hybrid 4G rollout plan. For the unaware, under the proposed hybrid 4G rollout plan, BSNL had recommended splitting its tender into two parts. The first part contained 50,000 sites reserved exclusively for the Indian vendors, and the second part contained the rest of 50,000 sites reserved for global vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, and more. BSNL has received the nod from DoT to go ahead with this tender plan which comes as a major relief for the telco. BSNL 4G Will Roll Out Soon in India According to a Financial Express report, DoT has approved BSNL's proposal because the telco had shared concerns about its survival if the 4G rollout didn't happen soon. The state-run telco was forced by the government to stick with Indian vendors for rolling out its 4G network. However, none of the Indian vendors had any experience in the field and did not have any proven technology to help BSNL rollout 4G fast. If the telco had relied on the Indian vendors, it would have taken a lot of time to first generate a Proof of Concept (PoC) and then scale up production of equipment to help with network rollout. But the sad part is, telcos in India are already moving to 5G, and BSNL doesn't have a lot of high paying customers to sustain long in its current condition. Looking at this, DoT's approval is a blessing for BSNL. Now, the state-run telco can go into the aggressive mode and implement its hybrid 4G plan to ensure a timely roll out of 4G services in India. Indian companies can also participate in the sites reserved for foreign vendors if they can complete the trial of their technology successfully in time.

Airtel, Jio and Vi Pay DoT Rs 5,000 Crore: Report Posted: 29 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT India’s private operators, namely Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), have all paid their dues amounting to Rs. 5000 crores towards the spectrum usage charges (SuC) and license fee (LF) for the quarter ending March 2021. The telcos should pay the dues for the January-March quarter by March 25, and if there is a small balance due, it should be paid by the end of March since it is the end of the financial year. According to an ET Telecom report, an industry executive aware of the development said that the three major telcos had made the payments without causing any delay, terming it as a good sign. Vi has delayed payments in the earlier quarters due to liquidity issues but has paid timely on this occasion. In each circle, the payment is generally made looking at the revenues for the three months. It is worth noting that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) hasn't come out with the final amount of dues yet; however, the figure paid by the operators is similar to what they paid in the previous quarters. Payments During Last Quarter According to payments made in the previous quarter ending December 31, Airtel had paid around Rs 1,600 crore, Jio around Rs 2,000 crore, and Vi had paid Rs 2,000 crore. Do note that the LF and SuC that the telcos pay is about 8% and 3%-5% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The payments from the telcos come at a time when they are already burdened with the AGR dues payments that they have to make in the next 10 years. Airtel's total AGR dues were amassed at Rs 26,000 crores, and Vi's total dues were assessed at Rs 50,400 crores. Both the operators have filed a case for the same at the Supreme Court (SC), arguing that DoT had made major errors while calculating the dues. The SC is yet to hear on the case. Airtel and Vi have asked for a recalculation of the AGR dues with their own inputs.

PS5 Might Restock in April, Indians Unhappy With Sony Posted: 29 Mar 2021 01:30 AM PDT Sony's flagship gaming console, the PlayStation 5 (PS), might soon be restocked in India. The availability of PS5 has been a mystery for many in India. The Japanese tech giant has expressed indirectly that it doesn't see India as its biggest PS5 market at the moment. Instead, the company is focused on delivering as many PS4 consoles as possible in India. According to a report from IGN India, Prepaidgamercard, a Bangalore based store, has said that PS5 will come in stock again in April. Earlier, Prepaidgamercard informed about the availability of the Xbox X Series by March in India. Since that happened, it can be assumed that the news related to PS5 restock is correct as well. Sony Centers Taking Cash from Customers The report further details that several Sony Centers in India are already taking cash from customers and preparing for a restock of PS5 from the first week of April 2021. However, Sony's claims about restocking the PS5 cannot be taken with surety since the company has made such claims before and then not delivered on them. Looking at Sony’s ignorant behaviour in regards to PS5 towards the Indian market, many users took to Twitter for sharing their disappointment about the same. Indian users feel 'taken for granted' by Sony. Many said that if Microsoft can restock Xbox Series X and S in India, why can't Sony restock PS5 anytime soon! Earlier, the PS5 restock in India was slated by the end of March, but that hasn't happened. However, this behaviour is not surprising from Sony. Prosenjit Ghosh, PS Head of India, said that the company saw a surprising demand for PS4s in India during 2020. It was the seventh year of the console in India, and it should have been the worst one for it. Despite the low expectations, it was the best year for PS4 in India. Looking at this demand, Sony will be looking to restock PS4 first in India rather than PS5 since that is where the bigger market for the company is. With time, the demand for PS5 should increase, and Sony should also be able to increase its supply in India. At the moment, the April restock of the console is just a probability and not a surety. You can purchase the PS5 from the online portals of Reliance Digital, Croma, Amazon, and more in India. Further, you can also get it from a Sony Center or any offline retail partners of the company in India once it is in stock again.

Vodafone Idea Has to Push for Tariff Hikes Earlier Than Jio, Airtel: Analysts Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:30 PM PDT The much-anticipated tariff hikes have been delayed by the telecom sector owing to multiple reasons. According to the analysts, the possibility of a higher subscriber churn rate, indirect inflation, and the amount of money spent on the 4G spectrum auctions are key reasons for the industry to not go for the tariff hikes right away. Tariff hikes will directly impact the market share growth of the telcos. While Jio and Airtel are wary of that, Vodafone Idea (Vi) is tough because of its financials. Vi recently increased the tariffs of its two entry-level postpaid plans earlier priced at Rs 598 and Rs 749 to Rs 649 and Rs 799. Even though it isn't a major move by the telco, it is a sign that Vi will go for tariff hikes much earlier than Jio and Airtel because it desperately needs to improve its average revenue per user (ARPU). Vi's Declining Subscriber Base and Financial is the Reason for Early Tariff Hikes With an increase in the tariffs, Vi will be able to increase its ARPU and, in turn, overall revenues. However, the increased prices will directly impact the market share of the telco. Vi's subscriber base has been declining for consecutive months now. With the prices moved to an even expensive zone, most of the Vi users who are on the edge of porting out will surely make their move to either Jio or Airtel. But there is nothing Vi can do about it at the moment. The telco severely needs higher revenues to stay afloat and compete with the other two private operators. When the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) report came in for January 2021, the industry took a sigh of relief, looking at Vi's positive gross subscribers’ addition. However, later, the telco reported to the regulator that it had made an 'inadvertent error' in analysing and sharing the numbers. According to the report, Airtel held 29.6% of the market share, with 336 million total active subscribers, while Jio had the highest market share of 35.5%, with 410.73 million active subscribers. Even though the tariff hikes are delayed by the industry, the analysts are positive about its overall growth in the medium-term. APRU remains a key trigger for Vi to increase its growth rate, so the investors of the company need to stay put. At the same time, according to the analysts, Airtel remains a good company to put money in because of its recent corrections.

Realme 8 5G and Realme 8 Pro 5G Set to Launch in India, Company Confirms Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:53 PM PDT Realme is adding 5G variants soon to the Realme 8 series in India, CEO Madhav Sheth has confirmed. The Realme 8 series was launched a week ago, on March 24. And now, the company has confirmed that they are working on 5G variants for the same. The 5G models are expected to come with an upgraded list of specifications. Apart from the company's confirmation, the Realme 8 5G has also surfaced on Thailand's NTBC website, hinting at an imminent launch. The phone is listed with model number RMX3241, which is different from the 4G-enabled Realme 8 that has an RMX3085 model number And so, the news can definitely be taken with a pinch of salt. Realme India and Europe CEO confirmed that the company is in the final stage of testing the 5G variants of the Realme 8 series and will launch them soon. Although the details regarding the devices, as to which processor they will sport, or the exact date of launch is still unknown to us, but a phone with the similar model number RMX3242 has reportedly received certification in India’s BIS as well, suggesting the new model could soon make its debut in the country. Realme 8 4G: Specifications and Features The Realme 8 debuted with a 6.4-inch Full HD+ (1080*2400 pixels) AMOLED display and has an octa-core MediaTek Helio G95 SoC paired with the Mali-G76 MC4 GPU, along with up to 8GB of RAM and standard 128GB of storage with expandable storage via a microSD card. It also features a quad rear camera setup that houses a 64MP primary sensor with an f/1.79 lens, an 8MP monochrome sensor with an ultra-wide-angle f/2.4 aperture. On the front, it features a 16MP sensor for capturing selfies. It runs on Google's Android 11 operating system with the company's own Realme UI 2.0 skin on top. All of this is backed by a 5000mAh battery, with support for 30W Dart Charge technology. All of these specifications are packed in Realme 8 at a price of Rs 14,999. The Realme 8 Pro sports similar specs, but has Snapdragon 720G SoC, 4500mAh battery with 50W fast charge support and also rocks a 108MP primary sensor on the back.

Excitel Broadband Plans that Jio, Airtel and BSNL Don’t Offer Posted: 28 Mar 2021 06:32 PM PDT Excitel is truly a unique broadband company. This is because the internet service provider (ISP) is offering broadband plans to users with unique benefits and at unique prices. The company is focusing on reaching as many cities of India as possible at a rapid pace to avail affordable broadband plans to the citizens of India. If you are not an Excitel broadband customer yet, or are already one but don't know about its unique offers, you should know that the company offers plans with a plethora of validity options. This includes plans with 4 months validity. It is worth noting that three of the biggest ISPs in India; JioFiber, Airtel Xstream Fiber, and BSNL do not offer a broadband plan with 4 months validity. This helps Excitel create a unique space for itself in the market. Let's take a look at what each of the four months broadband plans from Excitel brings for the customers. Excitel Broadband 100, 200, and 300 Mbps Broadband Plans With 4 Months Validity Excitel offers its fiber broadband plans in three different speed options – 100, 200, and 300 Mbps. Each of these plans is available for the users in four months validity periods. Do note that all the prices in this article are exclusive of taxes. The 100 Mbps broadband plan from Excitel with a validity of four months will cost users Rs 508 per month (Rs 2,032 total cost). The same plan would cost Rs 699 per month if the users purchase it for only one month. So with the four months plan, users are approximately saving Rs 200 per month equating to total savings of Rs 800 in four months. Coming to the 200 Mbps plan, it will cost users Rs 572 per month if they purchase it for 4 months (one-time payment of Rs 2,288). The monthly cost of the same plan is Rs 799 meaning users here save approximately Rs 230 per month equating to total savings of Rs 920 in four months. Lastly, the 300 Mbps plan with 4 months validity from Excitel is available for a cost of Rs 636 per month (one-time payment of Rs 2,544). Its monthly cost is Rs 899 meaning, users are approximately saving Rs 260 per month (Rs 1,040 in total) by going for a four months plan. Users get truly unlimited data with the plans meaning there is no odd fair usage policy (FUP) limit to restrict the experience of a seamless internet connection for you. On top of this, Excitel provides users with ONU devices for their connections but after charging them a refundable security deposit of Rs 2,000.

Jio, Airtel and Vi Postpaid Plans Are Overrated Posted: 28 Mar 2021 04:30 AM PDT Postpaid plans are overrated because prepaid plans can fulfil the demands of an average user very comfortably. If you are subscribing to a postpaid plan, you are shelling out more money than you need to. The entry-level postpaid plans from Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) all come for Rs 399 per month. Now that's a staggering amount to pay for a mobile subscription every month to get unlimited calling, fair-usage-policy (FUP) data, and 100 SMS/day. I consider it to be a staggering amount because you could get all of these benefits for much less with a prepaid plan. Sure, with the prepaid plans, you don't get all the over-the-top (OTT) benefits that you do with the postpaid plans; still, they are not worth it for a majority of the subscribers. More than 90% of Subscribers in India are Prepaid Users According to an earlier report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), 95.35% of mobile users in India were prepaid subscribers at the end of March 31, 2020. So I guess a lot of people already understand what they need. This is for the small percentage of people who don't. Airtel is targeting businesses and institutions largely to provide its postpaid offerings. The telco's aim is not the normal users because it understands, they don't need a postpaid plan. This is the same reason why Jio's postpaid plans couldn't make a huge impact on the market because not a lot of consumers care about it or need it. Mobile users want cheap data with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day for as long as possible. That is why the 84 days and 56 days prepaid plans are very popular in India. Whereas postpaid plans are suitable for companies to provide their employees with a cellular connection. That way, the companies don't have to pay upfront to the telcos and don't have to worry about data or any of the benefits expiring for their employees. So there's really no big argument here; postpaid plans are very over-rated, especially the ones that cost more than Rs 500 per month. No basic mobile user would ever need them. A lot of consumers nowadays have Wi-Fi connections in their homes; thus they only need a handful of 4G or mobile data when they step outside. For that need, they definitely don't want a postpaid connection.

Will Bharti Airtel Ever be Able to Overcome Reliance Jio Posted: 28 Mar 2021 12:30 AM PDT A strong competition between Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel is evident for the telecom industry of India. Both the telcos are very aggressive with their offers and look to provide something 'unique' to their customers. But Jio is miles ahead of Bharti Airtel when it comes to having the most subscribers and market share, respectively. However, in the past few months, Airtel has been consistently adding more subscribers than Jio. Airtel's consistent growth at a rapid pace might be making Jio nervous. But is there any way Airtel will be able to beat Jio at its market share? I think there might be; let me share it with you. Airtel's Enterprise Business Differentiates it from Jio I see both the telcos as two different market players. While Jio plays entirely on the normal mobile users/subscribers market, Airtel plays both in the mobile and enterprise business markets. A lot of Airtel's digital solutions and offerings are targeted at enterprises and not at normal consumers. Even its postpaid plans are targeted at businesses and institutions. Note that this doesn’t mean that normal users can't purchase these services or plans; it just means that the telco's primary target for these services are enterprises. Jio is aggressive towards providing services to normal mobile users. But lately, Jio has been trying to do what Airtel has done, and that is why it launched low-cost connectivity plans for businesses. That said, the two telcos are worlds apart in operations and goals. Jio wants more number of subscribers; Airtel wants more quality, high-paying subscribers. Thus, if the trend of Airtel gaining more subscribers keeps on going, it will reach close to Jio's market share if not totally beat it anytime soon. One area where Airtel can surely beat Jio is in the revenues. Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU) is much higher than that of Jio, and the upcoming tariff hikes will differentiate it even more. Jio won't be focusing too much on increasing tariffs because it wants to grow its market share even further in the short-term. But if the question is, will Bharti Airtel ever be able to overcome Reliance Jio? The answer is yes, it can. If Airtel keeps on providing a better network experience to its users for effectively the same cost as Jio, it will soon catch up to Jio's fortunes.

Vodafone Idea Offering Up to Rs 60 Cashback on Unlimited Prepaid Recharges Posted: 27 Mar 2021 08:46 PM PDT Vodafone Idea (Vi) has come up with yet another offer to retain the prepaid subscribers. After rolling out the double data, weekend data rollover and night unlimited data offers, Vi is now offering assured cashback on all the unlimited recharges over Rs 199. The assured cashback amount offered by Vi varies with the price of the unlimited pack. For example, Vi prepaid recharges below Rs 400 offer just Rs 20 cashback, whereas the plans between Rs 400 and Rs 558 offer Rs 40 cashback. The rest of Vi’s prepaid plans up to Rs 2,595 provide Rs 60 cashback. The cashback comes with validity and there’s a minimum recharge requirement as well in order for the cashback amount to work. Continue reading to know more about the Vi Assured Cashback offer in detail. How to Get Assured Cashback on Vodafone Idea Unlimited Recharge Plan To be eligible for the offer, a Vodafone prepaid subscriber will have to perform a recharge of the unlimited pack by March 31. The telco is also calling this offer ‘March Flash Sale.’ Here’s how the offer is classified: If you recharge an unlimited combo plan between Rs 199 and Rs 405 (Rs 199, Rs 219, Rs 249, Rs 299, Rs 301, Rs 398, Rs 401, Rs 405), the telco will provide a cashback coupon of Rs 20. If your recharge value is between Rs 399 and Rs 558 (Rs 399, Rs 449, Rs 499, Rs 555, Rs 558, Rs 595 and Rs 601), then Vi will provide a Rs 40 cashback coupon. Lastly, if the recharge value goes up to Rs 2,595,t then the cashback value offered is Rs 60. In other words, Vodafone Idea is offering Rs 20 cashback with all the 28-day validity plans, Rs 40 cashback with plans of 56 days validity and the plans with at least 84 days validity will come with Rs 60 cashback. The official terms and conditions page says the cashback coupon will be credited before April 10, 2021, in the case of successful recharge. The Rs 20 cashback coupon will be valid for 30 days from the date of credit; The Rs 40 and Rs 60 coupons will be valid for 60 and 90 days, respectively. The cashback coupons can be redeemed via the Vi app. Lastly, the Rs 20 cashback coupons can be used for recharges of at least Rs 249. In the case of Rs 40 cashback coupon usage, the recharge value should be at least Rs 399, followed by the Rs 60 coupon that requires a minimum recharge of Rs 599.

You are subscribed to email updates from TelecomTalk. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States