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• BSNL Had a Solid Last Month, FTTH Business Grew
• Airtel Black Service to Make Life of Users Very Easy
• Birla Furukawa Moving Ahead With High Density Fiber Installation to Keep Up With Demand
• BSNL Giving Away Free 4G SIM on First Recharge of Rs 100 and Above
• TV Prices in India Are Going Up, What You Should Know?
• Qualcomm Is Working on Laptop Chipsets to Take the Fight to Apple
• Vodafone Idea Wants Another Year to Pay Spectrum Dues
• BSNL 4G Plan That Leaves Behind Jio and Airtel’s Offerings
• TRAI Tariff Order Update: Why You Might Have to Pay More for Your DTH
• Microsoft Is Finally Acquiring AT&T’s Network Cloud Business
• Telcos Instructed to Stop Selling Pre-Activated SIMs Post Bhubaneswar Case
• Oppo A-Series of Devices Oversee Price Revision in Indian Market
• Realme Dizo Products Push Limits of Budget Audio Products
• India One of the Select Nations to Lose Users Consuming More Than 1GB Daily Data Post Pandemic
• JioFiber Now Present in Over 12 Million Homes Despite Hurdles of Last Year
• New 5G IoT Chipset Developed by IIT Hyderabad to Be an Indigenous Game Changer
• 5G Slicing Test by Ericsson and Samsung Promises Great Experience Even on Congested Network
• iPhone 12 Series Saw Better Sales Because People Didn’t Opt for the iPhone 11 During Pandemic
• BharatNet Project Gets Additional Rs 19 Crore to Boost Rural Connectivity Under Viability Gap Funding
• Bharti Airtel Strengthens Services in Bengal, Says Network 5G Ready

BSNL Had a Solid Last Month, FTTH Business Grew Posted: 02 Jul 2021 02:02 AM PDT Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had a solid last month. The state-run telco saw strong demand for fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services and fulfilled more than 1 lakh new orders. Due to the pandemic and the second wave, more people adopted a fiber broadband connection for fulfilling their internet needs to work and learn from home. Bharat Fibre is BSNL's fiber broadband business that caters to customers living across the nation. According to KeralaTelecom, BSNL successfully provided 1.1 lakh new FTTH connections to customers living across India. BSNL Did Best Business in the South Indian States The most number of new connections provided by the telco in June 2021 was in Kerala, followed by Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, the company installed 27,332 new FTTH connections, while in Tamil Nadu, 16,413 new connections. The state-run telco did the least business in Kolkata. This is a good and positive stat for BSNL who wants to increase its revenues. The state-run telco can earn good revenues from fiber broadband internet services if it is struggling in the mobile network department. One of the biggest advantages of BSNL is that it provides broadband services in all the telecom circles of India. Because of this, it has the upper hand over the regional internet providers who aren't available in every part of India and thus aren't as popular. Further, BSNL's broadband plans are as good as the offerings from Reliance Jio (JioFiber) and Bharti Airtel (Airtel Xstream Fiber). As more time goes by, the demand for broadband internet will keep on increasing. One way through which BSNL can step up its game in the broadband market is by offering more over-the-top (OTT) benefits with its plans. Currently, the state-run telco only offers OTT benefits with two of its broadband plans that cost Rs 999 per month and Rs 1,499 per month. The OTT benefit offered by the company is of Disney+ Hotstar Premium. BSNL can partner up with emerging OTT platforms and attract new customers to its offerings. The telco offers an entry-level broadband plan of Rs 449 per month, which is good for customers who can't spend more.

Airtel Black Service to Make Life of Users Very Easy Posted: 02 Jul 2021 01:06 AM PDT Bharti Airtel, one of the leading telecom operators in the country, wants users to have the convenience of paying one bill for different services. There are multiple customers of the telco who purchase all broadband, DTH, and mobile services but have to pay separately for everything. To solve this issue for the users, the company has announced Airtel Back plan of Rs 2,099 that will offer customers everything from a broadband, DTH, and mobile services. There are more plans and benefits that Bharti Airtel will be offering to the customers with these plans. Airtel Black Plans Listed The Rs 2,099 plan will allow users to get a maximum of 3 postpaid connections, 1 fiber connection and 1 DTH connection. The Rs 1,598 plan will offer users a maximum of 2 postpaid connections and 1 fiber connection. With the Rs 1,349 plan, users will get a maximum of 3 postpaid connections and 1 DTH connection. Lastly, the Rs 998 plan will offer users a maximum of 2 mobile connections and 1 DTH connection. Customers Who Can Avail Airtel Black Plans Note that not every customer of the telco can avail the Airtel Black plan. If the user is on Airtel's prepaid service, he/she isn't eligible for the service from Bharti Airtel. A postpaid connection is mandatory for being a part of this plan. Airtel customers who already use one of the above-mentioned services can opt for adding one or two more services to be a part of the Airtel Black plan. For signing up for one of the Airtel Black plans', users can go to the company's website or the mobile app. The one bill for all the services generated will come to the user's account in the Airtel Thanks application. The Airtel Xstream Box under this offer can be availed by the users for refundable security of Rs 1,500. The security will only be refunded if the user doesn't return the box within one year. Another thing that you should note is that Airtel is allowing users to unbundle the benefits and opt for Airtel Black plan. The company has said that under the plan, for any new service availed by the user, he/she will get the first 30 days worth of free service from the company for that particular connection. For DTH, the users get the Rs 465 channel pack from the company for free. What are the Benefits of Airtel Black Plans? The prime benefit of the Airtel Black plan is that users will get one bill for all of the services mentioned above. Further, there will be a dedicated relationship team and a call center available for the users. All the queries or problems of customers on the Airtel Black plans will be solved on priority by the company. The company promises to pick up the call of the customers in 60 seconds or less. Further, customers won't have to pay anything for switching or installation costs under this service. For all the service visits, the company won't charge anything. There is also a 'Buy Now and Pay Later' service on the Airtel Shop provided by the company to the users under this service. Airtel Black Custom Plan Bharti Airtel is also offering the users an option to create a custom Airtel Black plan. Users can take any of the plans of the company available in the market and create their custom plans. This will allow customers in getting exactly what they want from the company and still be able to pay for all the services under one bill.

Birla Furukawa Moving Ahead With High Density Fiber Installation to Keep Up With Demand Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:48 PM PDT Birla Furukawa Fibre Optics Private Limited is a newly formed joint venture company between Universal Cables Limited India and Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. A fiber-optic connection is not only something that has grown in demand for FTTH connections, but the most heavy-duty fiber cable application is in data-centre to a data-center connection which requires high data uplink and downlink capacity. To accomplish that, in an industry-first move, this joint venture company has installed a high-density 6912 fiber optic cable into a 1.25-inch diameter conduit for existing data-center needs. High-Density Fiber Installation in Conduits This, of course, is connected to the global rise in data demand. All across the globe, the data demand and specially wired broadband connections have increased, which has led to these companies, along with data centers, to increase their fiber capacity. The company statement highlighted that the high bandwidth demand had necessitated this move to avoid expensive installations, which are not only uneconomic but also time-consuming. The joint venture company between Universal Cables and Furukawa Electric does not only offer 400G connectivity services but also has a host of other offerings for businesses and data centers like a blueprint, installation support, inspection tracking, training, streamlined logistics, and an extended 25-year warranty. Nitin Nayak, Data Center-Business Head at Birla Furukawa, remarked that the demand for cables with ultra-high fiber count such as 3,000 fibers and above has shot up in recent times. This has necessitated the installation of as many fibers as possible in the existing conduits. AccuTube+Rollable Ribbon Fiber Technology The fiber maker highlighted that its installation makes use of AccuTube+Rollable Ribbon Fiber which allows for maximum duct utilisation, which is important in high fiber count conduits. It also offers solutions in 6912F, 3456F, 1728F, including 30mm outer diameter cables to fit into 1.5-inch conduits. The company is also involved in offering OCEF for Mass Fusion Splicing, High-Density Trunk Cables, High-Density Fiber termination Shelf, HD Patch panels, Break out Cables, MPO Cassettes, Ultra Low Loss Patch cords, among others, in addition to splice closures. It goes without saying that with the rising data demand, the requirement for such high-density fiber installations in the conduit will only increase.

BSNL Giving Away Free 4G SIM on First Recharge of Rs 100 and Above Posted: 01 Jul 2021 11:20 PM PDT Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is the only telecom operator in the country which lags in the 4G network department. However, it is also true that BSNL's 4G network is still very sought after because of the reasons of quality assurance the speeds being offered by the public telecom operator. Even in the places where people are enjoying the 3G network of BSNL, they have reported having decent speeds which are even comparable to 4G speeds. One area where BSNL has been doing exceptionally well is the Kerala circle. In a new update, BSNL Kerala has brought up a new incentive for the people wishing to port to BSNL SIM. BSNL MNP Port-In Offer Extended Under this new offer, customers wishing to port to BSNL 4G SIM will be able to do so completely free of cost. Previously for the same job, the customers had to pay the 4G SIM cost which was Rs 20. The SIM port-in can be done at BSNL customer service centres or many retail outlets across Kerala. It is worth noting that this offer is only for the Kerala circle presently. It just so happens that Kerala is one of the strongest circles when it comes to BSNL 4G, offering great upload and download speeds to consumers. There are some things to keep in mind before consumers go after this SIM port-in offering. They have to make a FRC (First Recharge Coupon) of Rs 100 or more, then only the free SIM offer would be available to the consumers. The good thing about this new announcement from BSNL Kerala is that the offer was first supposed to be valid only until 30th June 2021, but BSNL Kerala has extended this offering to last until the end of September 2021. Things to Keep in Mind Transitioning to a BSNL 4G SIM is a very lucrative offer for the customers thinking of changing their telecom operator especially if they are in Kerala. It is also true that BSNL keeps on running multiple offers and it has some very attractive plans in its portfolio which will make the transition worth your while. For example 4% discount on recharge through My BSNL app.

TV Prices in India Are Going Up, What You Should Know? Posted: 01 Jul 2021 10:06 PM PDT One of the best sources of entertainment for anyone around the world is their TV. Nowadays, televisions have become smarter and run on custom operating systems (OS), allowing users to access their favourite applications directly on the TV. If you are thinking about purchasing a new TV, you should know that the pricing of TVs from Chinese companies is going up. Both Xiaomi and Redmi are going to increase the prices of their TVs. Both the companies are known for fluctuating the price of their products in the Indian market depending on external factors. Why Xiaomi and Redmi Are Increasing the Price? The price of the new TVs from Xiaomi and Redmi are going up from July 1, 2021. The reason behind this move is issues in the global supply chain. Due to restrictions because of the pandemic in several countries, the companies are finding it hard to get the desired supply of equipment and components to assemble their TVs. This is not just for TVs, but even smartphones and other products are facing equipment shortages severely. Chipset manufacturers have a very huge demand but aren't able to fulfil the orders at a rapid pace because of supply chain issues. Xiaomi has confirmed to India Today Tech that it is going to increase the price of its TVs between 3% to 6%. The price hike would affect several TV models that have already been launched in the country. The company said that it is facing issues in getting components such as display panels, display drivers, chipsets, back panels, battery and more. Redmi recently increased the price of the Redmi Note 10, which was the second price revision for the smartphone in a very short span in India. It is not just the supply chain issues of components, but the companies now even have to pay a larger shipping cost as compared to before. This move doesn't surprise us since it is not just Xiaomi or Redmi but many other brands that are facing equipment and component shortages. The supply chain issues have been there since last year and are expected to continue until next year.

Qualcomm Is Working on Laptop Chipsets to Take the Fight to Apple Posted: 01 Jul 2021 09:25 PM PDT Qualcomm is one of the leading companies in terms of SoC or chipset manufacturing for smartphones, especially considering how most, if not all flagships make use of a Snapdragon chipset, with the only exception being Apple’s products, which make use of the company’s proprietary A-series of Bionic chip. It seems, however, that the company is working on expanding its foothold to the laptop segment, one that is ruled by Intel and AMD, and at times some of Qualcomm’s ARM-based chipsets. Now, however, the company’s new chief, Mr Cristiano Amon, has stated that starting next year, Qualcomm will have a new chip for laptop makers. He added that the popular suppliers like Intel and AMD did not have products that are quite as energy-efficient as Apple Silicon-based chips, and the Qualcomm CEO believes that the company can offer the ideal chip in the market via help from a team of chip architects who had previously worked on the Apple chip but now are employed at Qualcomm. What Do We Know About Qualcomm’s Plans The company is also adding on revenue growth from China so as to power its core smartphone chip business amidst political tensions. The U.S. sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd have given Qualcomm an opportunity to generate a hefty load of revenue. The chip giant is further looking to move 5G connectivity into laptops by pairing modems with a powerful central processor unit. Instead of making use of regular computing core blueprints from the company’s partner ARM, Qualcomm thinks that it needed custom-designed chips if its customers were to rival new laptops on offer from Apple. For additional information, earlier this year, Qualcomm had acquired Nuvia for a deal of $1.4 billion, with the company having been founded by Apple employees who helped design laptop chips for Apple prior to leaving so as to form the startup. Amon added that Qualcomm would start selling Nuvia-based laptop chips next year. He stated that Qualcomm needed to have the leading performance for a battery-powered device. If Arm, with whom we (Qualcomm) had a relationship for years, eventually develops a CPU that's better than what the company can build itself, then we always have the option to license from Arm. ARM is also being acquired by Nvidia for a deal worth  $40 billion, but it is currently under scrutiny over national security grounds and competition within the industry, with Qualcomm objecting to the merger itself.

Vodafone Idea Wants Another Year to Pay Spectrum Dues Posted: 01 Jul 2021 08:00 PM PDT Vodafone Idea (Vi), India's third-largest telecom operator, has asked for more time to pay spectrum dues from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Everyone aware of the industry knows how difficult situation Vi is in financially. But after the earnings release from the telco two days back, it has become clearer that Vi isn't close to making profits and has a mountain of debt on its shoulders. Vodafone Idea has asked the telecom department for another year to pay the spectrum dues that the telco has to pay by April 9, 2022. Vodafone Idea Can't Pay Spectrum Dues Because of Other Debts Vodafone Idea's cash flow is not good. The telco needs to pay several dues to the government, including adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and spectrum dues. As per the Supreme Court order, Vi had to pay Rs 7,854 crore upfront in relation to AGR dues and is scheduled to pay the first instalment in March 2022. As per an ET Telecom report, Vodafone Idea wrote to the telecom secretary of India, Anshu Prakash, requesting for another year to pay the spectrum dues. The telco wants to pay the spectrum dues in April 2023 instead of 2022. Vi said in the letter that it is making the request this early because it would take time for the DoT to process this request internally. Vi will also need to make a payment of about Rs 9,000 crore in March 2022 for AGR dues. The telco has further asked the telecom department to make corrections to the AGR amount calculated. Upon its independent calculation, Vi said that the actual amount it owes is about half of what the government has calculated. Vodafone Idea Can't Get Investors Because of Industry Health Vodafone Idea further said that the health of the Indian telecom industry is the reason it can't get investors. Before investing, the institutions want to see the tariffs rising, and that needs to happen soon. For the unaware, Vi has been trying to raise Rs 25,000 crore since the time board of the company approved the plan. The tariffs aren't expected to rise soon anytime until Jio and Airtel push for it as well. Thus it might be some time until Vi can get investors if this is the actual reason.

BSNL 4G Plan That Leaves Behind Jio and Airtel’s Offerings Posted: 01 Jul 2021 06:30 PM PDT Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), despite its struggles, offers some really great 4G plans to its customers. While there are very few 4G sites of the state-run telco in India, users can still recharge with these plans and keep consuming data and other benefits at 3G speeds. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the two top operators of our country. Both the telecom companies compete heavily on providing the best offers to their users. However, BSNL offers a prepaid plan to the users which neither of the companies can compete with. Let's take a look at that plan. BSNL 4G Plan That's Better than Offerings of Jio and Airtel BSNL offers a Rs 599 plan. This plan comes with 5GB daily data along with truly unlimited voice calling benefits and 100 SMS/day. After consumption of 5GB daily data, the speed of the plan drops to 80 Kbps. There's also a free subscription of Zing offered to the users with the plan. This plan carries a validity of 84 days. Now, both Jio and Airtel offer users prepaid plans that are in the same price range but offer way fewer benefits. Jio offers a Rs 599 plan as well. But Jio caps the daily data limit at 2GB for the users and offers unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. There are no special OTT benefits but a free subscription to a suite of Jio applications. This plan carries a validity of 84 days. Coming to Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator, offers a Rs 598 plan to the users. This plan comes with even lesser daily data, which is 1.5GB, and offers users unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. Apart from these benefits, there is a free subscription to the Airtel Xstream Premium and other Airtel Thanks benefits. This plan also comes for 84 days. It is remarkable that for essentially the same price, Bharti Airtel offers the least benefits followed by Jio, and the best plan is offered by BSNL. The only problem that BSNL is facing right now is that it doesn't offer users PAN-India 4G coverage. Compared to that, both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel offers users PAN-India 4G coverage along with a robust network experience with high downloading and uploading speeds. BSNL's 4G plans are in place, and the telco is currently looking to select vendors who can help it in upgrading mobile sites across the nation. BSNL's 4G networks should come to India by late 2022, which is very far from here.

TRAI Tariff Order Update: Why You Might Have to Pay More for Your DTH Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:30 PM PDT The National Tariff Order, which arrived on the subscribers' doorstep at the start of last year, brought a barrage of mixed reactions. If there was something after the beginning of the Set-Top-Box revolution, it was the NTO from TRAI which absolutely changed the way people were using DTH connections. The tariff order from TRAI changed the pricing of the channels, the base packs, and everything else. However, the TRAI order was challenged by many petitioners, mainly the broadcasting houses who were working hard to bring out content and barely trying to make their channels survive in the competition. The verdict by the High Court is now out on this one about who has stood the test of law. HC Favours TRAI Order and its Legality To cut a long story short, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) order stands the test of time and has been upheld by the High Court. This means that TRAI will not have to change anything about its second iteration of the National Tariff Order. Last time, after heavy criticism, TRAI had upped the limit of "slots" provided for the channels in the NCF of Rs 153 (tax included) from 100 to 200 channels. However, there is one caveat which the people should keep in mind. Just like it is the case with any major ruling, even this order by the HC is not a blanket statement. While the judge has upheld the tariff order as a whole, a single clause of the NTO has been struck down, which was considered to be arbitrary. This clause has to do with the a-la-carte pricing of the channels as compared to their price in the bouquet. Why Prices Might Shift a Little To put a clear picture in the minds of the consumers, previously, as per the tariff order of TRAI, the price of an a-la-carte channel was not supposed to exceed three times the price of the channel in a bouquet. This clause was considered as a rope that was holding together the price of the bouquet and a-la-carte channels in a relative consistency. This meant that people getting the same channel in a bouquet and separately were not hit by much of a price difference, and even in a lot of cases, no difference at all. But, now that this point has been struck down by the High Court on the grounds of being arbitrary, the broadcasters are free to hike the prices of the a-la-carte channels as compared to the prices in the bouquet. As a result, people selecting channels separately and not opting for bouquets might be paying more for the same channel soon. There are some ifs and buts to this as well. Looking at the industry right now and how broadcasters are pricing their channels. It's also true that a lot of channels are reducing their prices to be included in bouquets. This way, they are able to optimise for viewership and ad revenue rather than subscription revenue. It remains to be seen how Telecom Regulatory Authority of India responds to this order and how the broadcasters respond. For now, the subscribers should use the TRAI tool to simplify their channel choices, avoid overlaps in channel selections and reduce their costs by adding only those channels which they regularly watch, preferably in a bouquet.

Microsoft Is Finally Acquiring AT&T’s Network Cloud Business Posted: 01 Jul 2021 08:30 AM PDT It was revealed on Thursday that Microsoft would be acquiring AT&T’s Network Cloud business under a new deal that will see Azure handle the complete traffic of AT&T’s 5G traffic. In 2019, Microsoft and AT&T had announced that a $2 billion partnership was taking place that would focus on AI, 5G, as well as the varying network operations in the cloud, in what, at the time, AT&T dubbed its 'public cloud first' strategy of operation. Two years later, however, AT&T has announced that it would be moving its 5G network to the Microsoft cloud, which would result in all of its traffic being managed via Microsoft Azure technologies. AT&T's 5G core would be the first to be shifted to the cloud, after which the rest of  AT&T'sexisting network cloud would be ported to Azure over a span of the next three years. What Do We Know About the Deal As part of this deal, Microsoft will also be acquiring AT&T's carrier-grade Network Cloud platform technology, with the company stating that the move would result in a reduction of its operating costs as well as allow them to leverage a wider ecosystem of software developers creating more and newer 5G solutions. In terms of Microsoft, the move will result in the enhancement of Azure for operators offering that the company hopes to expand to telcos on a global level. Jason Zander, the EVP of Azure at Microsoft stated that with Azure, operators will now be able to provide a more flexible and scalable service model, save infrastructure cost, and use AI to automate operations and differentiate customer offerings. Via the company’s collaboration with AT&T, Microsoft will be able to expand its telecom portfolio to support operators with a carrier-grade cloud that provides seamless experiences across Microsoft's cloud and the operator's network. Though, the financial terms of the deal were not revealed to the public. This is not the first and definitely not the last of such moves, with Dish having formed a  strategic 5G partnership with Amazon Web Services or AWS in April, whilst other operators like Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon and Telefonica all engaging in discussions with the public cloud providers in different forms. For the different kinds of large telcos, it seems but a matter of time prior to which the public cloud and outsourcing of network operations becoming too attractive.

Telcos Instructed to Stop Selling Pre-Activated SIMs Post Bhubaneswar Case Posted: 01 Jul 2021 07:08 AM PDT The Bhubaneswar commiserate police after having been alarmed by the seizure of around 16,000 illegally activated SIM cars beforehand by a criminal gang on Tuesday, wrote to the telecom operators to strengthen their subscriber verification systems to avoid such kinds of happenings which make it hard to trace these criminals. In relation to this, seven people, including two employees of a private telecom company were arrested on Thursday for allegedly selling these pre-activated SIM cards to cyber-criminals located in different states. As per an order issued by the DoT or Department of Telecommunications on August 9, 2012, the sale of pre-activated SIM cards was deemed illegal, with any entity promoting such things instructed to have been penalized Rs 50,000. However, the police did mention that they are alert as the illegal sale and purchase of pre-activated SIM cards continues in Odisha despite crackdowns from time to time. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Uma Shankar Dash stated that We have asked the telecom service providers to stop perfunctory verification of subscribers. What Does the Police Have to Say Since the final activation is done at the telecom operators' end, the onus lies on them. It is not possible to issue pre-activated SIM cards if telecom operators do a proper verification. The Police also mentioned that the SIM cards cannot be activated until and unless the details of customers are on offer in the central database of the specific service providers. According to the pre-existing DoT norms, the person at the PoS or point of sale should get the CAF form or customer acquisition form duty filled and signed by the specific subscriber. The authorised person at the PoS is required to record the CAF that the consumer has seen the subscriber and has matched the photograph attached on the CAF. The mobile connection will be activated post fulfilment of all requirements, both from the customer’s side and the operator’s side and after the details have been updated by the subscriber database. The commissionerate police also warned of legal action against such telecom firms if the employees are found to be selling pre-activated SIM cards to achieve their set sales targets. Dash added that we would be taking some of the accused on remand to identify their other gang members. We may write to WhatsApp to know if any of the pre-activated SIM cards were used by anyone.

Oppo A-Series of Devices Oversee Price Revision in Indian Market Posted: 01 Jul 2021 05:43 AM PDT Oppo, the popular Chinese smartphone brand that has a good foothold in the Indian market, especially in the offline market in the country on Thursday announced price revision for certain models of devices sold in the country. This revision is in relation to the A-series of devices, which are budget to mid-range handsets offered by the company. The change in prices is being taken live, starting today, July 1, 2021. This news was first shared by Twitter users @AbhishekYadav and since then, the price revisions have been reflected by the company on online listings and popular retail sites. On Twitter, Abhishek shared a list of a small number of models with their revised prices. This list included the Oppo A11K, which is now on offer for just Rs 8,990, with this price being the original launch price for the handset that was launched back in June of 2020, with the price having been hiked since then. What Are The Price Revisions? Much like this, the Oppo A15 series of devices have also seen a price revision, with the 2GB+32GB variant now on offer for just Rs 9,490 with the 3+32GB variant on offer for Rs 10,490. This is not a rise from the original offer price, but since then the price hikes made a bit of a change in the cost of the handset. Finally, the Oppo A15s is now on offer for Rs 12,490, a Rs 1000 hike from the Rs 11,490 selling price, whilst the Oppo A53’s 8+128GB variant now on offer for Rs 17,990, post a similar Rs 1000 hike from the original Rs 16,990 selling price. This shift is in line with the price hikes that have taken place for multiple brands, including Xiaomi, which had raised the prices for the company’s Mi TVs. Similarly, the Redmi Note 10 too saw its third price hike in India earlier this month. This comes due to a shortage of semiconductors, with various firms also struggling to maintain a proper and consistent supply for multiple of their products. The automobiles and the consumer electronics market are two additional industries affected by the same. With no end to COVID-19 in sight for the near future, despite the constant vaccine developments, this issue of semiconductors and the residual effects of the price increase seem to be set to happen for the near future, at least until the production of these valuable chips and components achieve a bit of balance.

Realme Dizo Products Push Limits of Budget Audio Products Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:20 AM PDT Realme took the Indian market by storm back in 2018, at a time when the company that used to lead the market was one that it regularly competes with, and trades blows with, namely Xiaomi and its Redmi subsidiary. The company announced plans for a new subsidiary, Dizo, earlier this year, but post this announcement; we heard nothing about the products that were intended to launch. Today, Realme’s Dizo sub-brand debuted it’s first truly wireless earbuds dubbed the GoPods D, which are a pair of affordable truly wireless earbuds priced under Rs 2,000 or $26. To add to this, it also unveiled its first neckband under the name of Dizo Wireless. Both products claim to offer excellent sound for a reasonable price and offer long battery life and IPX4 ratings for additional protection. What Do We Know About Dizo’s Latest Offerings The first of the two offerings and one that will no doubt attract a lot of attention in a price-conscious market like India is the GoPods D, which is an affordable TWS that brings with it value for money features. Each earbud comes with an in-ear design rather than the stalk-like approach which most brands take, with silicon ear-tips for proper grip. There are two colour options on offer, namely Black and White, with the price set at Rs 1,599 or approximately $21.45. The earbuds will be on sale starting July 14 via Flipkart, and, during the first sale, users will be able to buy them for just Rs 1,399 or $19 (converted price). According to Realme, the Dizo earbuds are quite lightweight and easy to wear, with the charging case, with the buds inside weighing just 39 grams, with every single bud weighing a measly 4.1 grams. The buds come with 10mm drivers for booming bass and a great audio experience, at least in the words of Realme. This is accompanied by a Peak+ TPU Polymer composite diaphragm capable of offering a rich sound experience. The company has also used the Bass Boost+ algorithm for better tuning and overall clarity. In terms of battery life, a single charge of the case and buds should last for 20 hours, with a continuous listening time of 5hrs for the buds, meaning that approximately 4 charges should be squeezed out by the case. This charging comes with quick charge support so as to offer 120 minutes of playback via just 10 mins of charging. A gaming mode lowers the latency to 110ms, and the buds also offer ENC, an IPX4 rating and Bluetooth 5.0. Touch controls are also present, with the ability to pair the buds to Realme’s standalone audio/wearable app, Realme Link. In contrast, the neckband earphones come in four different colours, with black, blue, green and orange hues on offer. The neckband weighs 23.1 grams and comes with a metallic frame, giving the body a premium feel. The neckband also offers Magnetic Fast Pair tech, which plays music when the buds are detached. For audio, the neckband makes use of 11.2 mm drivers with the Bass Boost+ algorithm. The neckband also offers 17 hours of constant battery life via a 150 mAh battery. For charging, the buds can be fully charged in 2hrs via a USB-C cable. Much like the TWS, the neckband offers quick charge functionality, offering 120 mins of playback on the basis of a 10 min charge. Additional features include a Game Mode so as to reduce the latency to 88ms, and ENC, IPX4 rating and Bluetooth 5.0. For pricing, the neckband is priced at Rs 1,499 or $20 (approx), with sales starting July 7 via Flipkart. First sale users can get the neckband for just Rs 1,299 or $17.42 approx.

India One of the Select Nations to Lose Users Consuming More Than 1GB Daily Data Post Pandemic Posted: 01 Jul 2021 03:04 AM PDT Indian telecom operators are very proud of the fact that they provide 4G data at one of the cheapest rates in the entire world. The number of 4G subscribers have also increased in India due to the same reason. However, it is interesting to note that even though the data is very cheap in India, the number of users who consume more than 1GB daily data have fallen. Of course, this isn't directly related to the price of the data, but many things including data spending habits and basic use cases of the internet. India Lost Heavy Internet Users in Q1 2021 As Compared to Q1 2020 According to an Opensignal report – 'Quantifying The Impact of 5G and COVID-19 On Mobile Data Consumption', every country is divided in two types of customers. The first kind of customer is one who is a light internet user and consumes less than 50MB daily data and the second is the heavy internet user who consumes more than 1GB daily data. The telecom companies earn a majority of their revenue from the heavy users. The Opensignal report focused on the increase and decrease of heavy and light internet users pre-COVID-19 pandemic and post that. Through the report, it was found that India was one of the select nations which lost heavy internet users post the pandemic. This is strange given the fact that pandemic boosted the role of internet in the country as people migrated and worked from their homes. But there was a positive mentioned in the report as well. India saw a decline in the number of light internet users. This is a positive because now more and more people are using more than 50MB data in a day. With the arrival of better 4G networks in rural areas of the country, more heavy users should be added in India and as the role of internet and its use cases increase, the number of light users will keep on reducing too. The number of heavy internet users should also proliferate once more users upgrade to 4G network services and 4G smartphones in the country.

JioFiber Now Present in Over 12 Million Homes Despite Hurdles of Last Year Posted: 01 Jul 2021 02:00 AM PDT One of the strongest players and perhaps the most triumphant one in the wired broadband industry is Reliance Jio. If the prepaid data network revolution was not enough, Reliance Jio did the same thing with the wired broadband industry. Last year has been particularly good for the wired broadband companies because of the massive surge in data courtesy of work from home and online classes. Even the masses who did not rely on much data shifted to a permanent, home-based broadband connection to have some stability and Reliance Jio definitely led this wave. Last 15 Months, a Tough Ride for Reliance Jio As per the 44th Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries' announcement, Mukesh Ambani clarified that Reliance Jio added 2 million new premises to its platform. One of the most successful strategies of JioFiber has been to rope in apartments, colonies, and societies, thus getting subscribers in mass numbers. The attractiveness of the plans added with OTT subscriptions and other things have only added to the fire of increasing JioFiber connections. The network service provider is also one of the only few ones providing a gigabit connection to the users. Mukesh Ambani also said that due to the pandemic, the rollout of the JioFiber connection in the newly planned areas was difficult. There were hurdles in laying down new fiber lines, wired home connections, and gigabit lines. Because of the pandemic and safety concerns, the door-to-door sales team of Reliance Jio was also the one to take a hit. He also added that JioFiber has grown three and a half times as compared to a year ago. Speaking of numbers, the AGM found the mention of JioFiber in over 12 million homes. New Postpaid Plans of Reliance Jio It is worth noting that Reliance Jio has also launched new postpaid plans which come with long-term options of 6 months and 12 months. The postpaid plan is worth Rs 399 per month. However, the response to these plans has been a little lukewarm considering the comparative attractiveness of the prepaid plans of Reliance Jio. Not only this, but in the AGM, the billionaire also declared about making India "2G-mukt" and "5G-yukt" hinting that Reliance Jio is working towards developing a 5G network with an aggressive speed.

New 5G IoT Chipset Developed by IIT Hyderabad to Be an Indigenous Game Changer Posted: 01 Jul 2021 01:17 AM PDT With the spectrum auctions in March and the race to 5G intensifying between the telecom operators, the infrastructure environment in India and across the world is changing rapidly. Infra companies like Ericsson are beginning testing of the 5G network devices and the same goes for companies like Samsung and Huawei. However, in a new interesting development, IIT Hyderabad has developed a narrowband Internet-of-Things chipset, whose designing has been done by Cyient. This 5G massive machine type technology will enable long battery life device up to 10 years and will work well with low bit-rate IoT applications. Narrowband 5G Chipset Technology IIT Hyderabad has been the epicentre of 5G research and standards development. As per an ET Telecom report, professor Kiran Kuchi of the electrical engineering department said that cell phone technology has helped people in connecting with the internet. This chipset allows machines to connect to the internet. It is a game-changing technology with applications spanning several industries such as utility (water, gas, electricity), asset tracking that is location tracking for movement of goods, digital healthcare applications and much more. As per the professor, the narrowband 5G network technology and chipset will enable smart meters, machine-to-machine connectivity, and a lot of other sensor-based devices. WiSig Networks is another startup, which has its roots in IIT Hyderabad and is leading the commercial aspects of this project. The chipset comes with support for 3GPP Rel-13/14 and is compliant with the NB-IoT modem with integrated baseband and radio. It is also embedded with an application processor and GPS functionality which will help it in tracking location among other things. Boost Under Atmanirbhar Bharat It is worth noting that the 5G technology being developed in IIT-H is indigenous in terms of both hardware and software. Like we previously noted, the institute is also involved in the development of 5G standards. The new NB-IoT is known as Koala. The director of the institute, Prof B S Murty chimed in saying that this development fulfils the promise of Atmanirbhar Bharat with these technologies being developed in India. Also, Cyient's contribution is noteworthy in developing this chipset. The DoT sponsored project to give a boost to 5G network technology is finding cadence in the campus of IIT Hyderabad and as a result, a lot of startups have found heat in the niche.

5G Slicing Test by Ericsson and Samsung Promises Great Experience Even on Congested Network Posted: 01 Jul 2021 12:26 AM PDT On Monday, Ericsson, Deutsche Telekom, and Samsung culminated the world's first 5G end-to-end network slicing trials. The network test, which was the first of its kind, was done at the Bonn lab on a Samsung S21 commercial device tethered to a VR headset. The advantages of 5G over other network generations are many, and network slicing is one of the ways those advantages can be transmitted to the users. Among the many use cases which can be exploited through the 5G network, they need to happen in isolation. One way to accomplish this is to "slice" the network into multiple layers. This is what the experiment was about in simple terms. Isolated Network as a Means to Better Experience As per Ericsson’s 5G E2E network slicing, different service characteristics and quality parameters can be provided to the customers depending on the need of each slice and network isolate. One single physical network is divided into many isolated chambers, and for each chamber, a different service model can be catered to. For example, the VR headset connected to the S21 experimental device was optimised for gaming with higher throughput and stable low latency while also providing resource isolation between the two slices. The experiment is important for the testing of another important feature as well, which is the 5G UE slicing policy feature. This basically means that simply slicing the network is not enough, but the device that the users have should be able to select the right slice and serve the right applications on the slice for the best experience. Partnership Between Ericsson and Samsung Major Catalyst Claudia Nemat, Board Member, Technology & Innovation, Deutsche Telekom, lauded the accomplishment which happened because of the joint effort of Samsung and Ericsson. Erik Ekudden, Group CTO at Ericsson, also added that 5G slicing and the 5G UE slicing policy feature is one of the foundational monetisation features for the 5G network. He further said that to bring these technologies to the customers, the companies should test the infrastructure within themselves. As an advantage, the right network slice will be able to provide a great experience to the users even during congested network times.

iPhone 12 Series Saw Better Sales Because People Didn’t Opt for the iPhone 11 During Pandemic Posted: 30 Jun 2021 11:51 PM PDT The iPhone 12 series has become a great success story for Apple. The latest flagship series has done exceptionally well, even better than what people predicted it would do. Note that behind every successful product, there are plenty of factors. One of the major contributing factors for Apple's iPhone 12 series success is the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 around the world. Every major market where iPhone 11 series was available at that time was in lockdown. Further, people were unsure about flushing their funds on the luxury items and goods which directly impacted the sales of the iPhone 11 series (which wasn't too bad, to be honest!). People Bought iPhone 12 Instead of Upgrading to the iPhone 11 Plenty of people who might have thought about upgrading to the iPhone 11 would have stopped themselves from doing so. Instead, after the lockdowns were eased and the iPhone 12 launch was nearby, many would have thought of upgrading to the iPhone 12 series as a better option. According to a recent report from Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 12 series sales had crossed 100 million units in April 2021 (the first seven months from the launch of the smartphone). The 100 million unit sales mark this fast has been achieved by Apple only once before when it released the iPhone 6 series. In comparison, the iPhone 11 series took two months extra to achieve the 100 million units sales milestone. What Caused the Surge in iPhone 12 Sales? If you think about it, the iPhone 6 series was a major upgrade from the iPhone 5 series because it could support 4G and also came with a bigger screen. It is the same with the iPhone 12 series. It is also a significant upgrade from the iPhone 11 series as it can support 5G while none of the iPhone 11 series devices come with 5G support. Further, the full OLED screen offered by Apple with the iPhone 12 series attracted customers a lot. As per Counterpoint Research, the most successful device in the first 7 months from the latest flagship series by Apple is the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Even though Apple charged more for basically everything with the iPhone 12 series, people didn't mind spending extra and get the iPhone 12 devices.

BharatNet Project Gets Additional Rs 19 Crore to Boost Rural Connectivity Under Viability Gap Funding Posted: 30 Jun 2021 11:28 PM PDT When it comes to flagship schemes by the government to boost connectivity and create a robust Wi-Fi broadband environment in the deepest parts of the country, BharatNet comes to mind. In the latest turn of events, the government has been ideating upon the viability gap funding (VGF) for the BharatNet programme to give it a further stimulus in the rural regions. The VGF will amount to Rs 29,430 crore and will cover 3,60,000 villages in 16 states. Leveraging Public-Private Partnership The government has decided to leverage the public-private partnership model for the rollout of BharatNet in these 16 states. This means the launch, maintenance, operation, utilisation will be able to happen efficiently and faster. This will also allow the centre to bring these e-services to the grassroots population in a more accelerated manner. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) had criticised the DoT for not being able to prepare Cabinet Note on the PPP modelling for the rollout of the rural broadband service. It's worthy to note that BharatNet would help in bridging the rural-urban divide, and it will bring much-needed services to the rural untapped population. Additionally, this service will have multiple use cases like education, health, e-governance, skill development, telemedicine, among many. When it comes to revenue, BharatNet would be able to depend on the proliferation of broadband connections to individuals & institutions, sale of dark fibre, Fiberization of mobile towers, e-commerce etc., to rake in some revenue. Allocation by Government Shoots to Rs 61,109 Crore After the announcement made on Monday, the additional allocation for the BharatNet project comes out to be Rs 19.041 crore, which is the amount going towards the upgradation and expansion of the project. With this addition, the total outlay for the BharatNet project has now reached Rs 61,109 crore. The 16 states being talked about for this project include Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The BharatNet project would be a big catalyst in bringing another digital revolution in rural India. It will go a further step beyond the Community Service Centres which exist right now. The population in the deepest parts of India and under 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats would be able to use high-speed fibre connectivity under the BharatNet rollout.

Bharti Airtel Strengthens Services in Bengal, Says Network 5G Ready Posted: 30 Jun 2021 10:53 PM PDT Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest communications solutions provider, today said that it had upgraded its mobile network in Bengal to deliver the best network experience for its customers. Airtel has deployed an additional 21.6 MHz spectrum, in addition to advance network software tools across its 4G network in the state to significantly bolster network coverage and ensure a seamless high-speed data experience. Bharti Airtel Deployed Additional Spectrum in 2300/2100/1800/900 MHz Band In the release, Bharti Airtel said that it added 10 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band, 5 MHz in the 2100 MHz band, 3.8 MHz in the 1800 MHz band and 2.8 MHz in the 900 MHz band. The move will improve an already superior network for Airtel customers across Bengal. It will provide improved network availability and data speeds in addition to better coverage inside homes and buildings in urban areas. The move also allows Bharti Airtel to provide wider network coverage in highways and trains as well as an improved footprint in rural areas as more people access high-speed data services. After deploying the fresh spectrum, Airtel has the largest spectrum bank of 65 MHz in Bengal. Leveraging its impressive spectrum portfolio across 2300/2100/1800/900 bands, the company is in a good position to serve the growing demand for high-speed data services, and its network is fully ready for 5G. Airtel has also deployed advanced network technologies and tools such as pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation to step up high-speed network capacity and coverage. For the unaware, Bharti Airtel's has over 20 million customers in Bengal, and its network further covers more than 98% population of the state. With the addition of the additional spectrum, Bharti Airtel customers living in Bengal won't need to worry a lot about not getting good coverage indoors. As mentioned above, even if customers are travelling through rail routes and highways, they will be able to enjoy superior coverage. One of the biggest announcements by Airtel in the release is that its networks are now 5G ready. This is a good thing for the future of network services of the telco in Bengal.

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