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Best Prepaid Plans from Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL Under Rs 200
HD Set-Top Boxes Under Rs 1,500 from Airtel Digital, Dish TV and Others
Vodafone Idea and BSNL Could Use This Help From the Govt
Airtel Africa Signs New Deal With QIA for $200 Million
Gmail Seems to Be Receiving a Fresh Coat of Paint on the Android App
Oppo Could Soon Showcase Its Version of Apple’s MagDart Technology
Google Meet Finally Being Offered as a PWA, Month After Being Bested by Zoom
Reliance Jio Rs 75 Plan Trumps Its Competitors’ Offering
West Bengal Only State to See Net Positive in Wireless Subscribers

Best Prepaid Plans from Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL Under Rs 200

Posted: 31 Jul 2021 07:03 AM PDT

India's top telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, has developed extensive prepaid plans for their subscribers. The government-owned BSNL also comes under the shed because of its range of prepaid plans. Generally, subscribers, who opt for 24 or 28 days validity plans get affordable prepaid plans packed with various benefits. In this article, we will list the best-prepaid plans of Vodafone Idea, BSNL, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio that are priced under Rs 200 with 24 and 28 days service validity.

Reliance Jio Rs 199 Prepaid Plan

Being the top telco in India, Reliance Jio offers affordable and premium prepaid plans that provide high-speed internet data and other benefits. Under the Rs 199 prepaid plan, Jio users get 1.5GB of internet data which makes the total data count to 42GB. Once they have finished the data limit, the internet speed reduces to 64Kbps. Unlimited voice calling benefits and 100 SMSes per day for 28 days. Additional benefits of the prepaid plan include subscriptions to various Jio apps such as JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews, JioSecurity and more.

Bharti Airtel Rs 199 Prepaid Plan

The prepaid plans offered by Bharti Airtel directly competes with the prepaid plans of Reliance Jio. Airtel users who opt for Rs 199 prepaid plan gets 1GB of internet data per day. Truly unlimited calling benefits and 100 SMSes per day benefits are also included in the prepaid plan. Unlike Jio, the Rs 100 prepaid plan of Bharti Airtel comes with 24 days service validity. Additional benefits of the prepaid plan include Free Hellotunes, Wynk Music Free edition, Amazon Prime Mobile edition free trial and Airtel Xstream subscription.

Vodafone Idea Rs 199 Prepaid Plan

Vodafone Idea has also developed an extensive portfolio of prepaid plans. Vodafone Idea Rs 199 prepaid plan comes with 24 days service validity. Under the prepaid plan, Vodafone Idea offers 1GB of internet data along with 100 SMSes per day. Truly unlimited calling benefits are also included in the prepaid plan. Additionally, Vodafone Idea subscribers get access to Vi Movies and TV that offers live TV news, movies, originals on the app

BSNL Rs 187 Prepaid Plan

BSNL offers the highest data benefits as compared to prepaid plans of telecom operators with 28 days validity. Under the prepaid plan, BSNL users get 2GB of internet data for 28 days. Once the data limit is finished, the speed reduces to 80Kbps. Unlimited voice calls, including Mumbai and Delhi and 100 SMSes benefit is also included. BSNL users will also get a free personalised ring back tone facility for 28 days.

HD Set-Top Boxes Under Rs 1,500 from Airtel Digital, Dish TV and Others

Posted: 31 Jul 2021 04:40 AM PDT

When it comes to choosing Set-Top Boxes for your latest DTH connection, there are only a handful of options that the consumers resort to. There is quite a possibility that as we write this, a lot of the consumers are still hooked on SD Set-Top Boxes. Whether it is because of their older configurations, or simply because of lack of options, we would suggest that you upgrade to an HD Set-Top Box on priority. Besides, with the new payment regime for DTH connections, you can simply select the channels that you want to watch and abandon the rest. Hence, buying an HD connection is more affordable now than ever. Here is a list of all the available HD Set-Top Boxes along with the most attractive offers available to the consumers right now.

D2h and Airtel Digital TV Set-Top Box

First on the list is the D2h HD Set-Top Box, which is one of the most affordable options available to customers right now. The Set-Top Box is available for a price of Rs 1,355. In this, the subscribers also get 1 Month Subscription of Gold HD Combo channel bouquet by D2h.

Next in line is the Airtel Digital TV HD Set-Top Box, which is available for Rs 1,500. Before you are too quick to judge the pricing of this STB, we should tell you that Airtel Digital TV is also offering an additional 10% discount when you make an online payment on this STB from the Airtel website. This would bring down the price of the STB down to Rs 1,350. This STB is also offering you the record and play option.

Dish TV and Tata Sky Set-Top Box

The DishNXT HD Set-Top Box is available to the customers at Rs 1,590 in which they get one-month subscription-free, lifetime warranty and Coupons worth Rs 2000 from Coupon Duniya. Similarly, the Tata Sky HD Set-Top Box is available for Rs 1,499.

Vodafone Idea and BSNL Could Use This Help From the Govt

Posted: 31 Jul 2021 02:01 AM PDT

The telecom industry remains in a tough spot, and this is not just a story of a few days. Meticulously watching the industry for the last half-decade, we have seen the rise and fall of telecom companies. Truthfully, mostly fall. Many telecom operators which were big names in the country, like Tata Docomo, Reliance Communications, and several others saw their exit from the industry post-2015. However, even with the given players in the telecom industry, namely Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and the public telco, BSNL, the condition is in no way ideal. As we speak, Vodafone Idea and BSNL, are both scrambling to save faces and to avoid the aftermath of poor finances. In such a situation, an impetus from the government is something that can help both companies. Here is something that Vodafone Idea and BSNL could use.

Govt Help to Vodafone Idea

Being a private telecom operator, Vodafone Idea could only use some kind of regulatory help from the government. But as the centre has already said, if any help comes on this front, then it is more likely to be equal for all. Meaning that if a tariff hike is on the horizon, it only means that all telecom operators will hike tariffs, thus cancelling out the effect of the hike because of the competition at least in case of growth. It is possible that the tariff hike might be a help in absolute terms to the finances, but in the long term, they will only hurt the telco. Such a situation, in no way, would help the company which is losing subscribers rapidly. On the other hand, there is the issue of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), which is the most worrisome for Vodafone Idea given the quantum of dues it has to pay as compared to others. The other telco in a similar situation is Bharti Airtel, given its high AGR dues, but this is something that Airtel can tackle well because of its strong financials. However, for the sake of maintaining the balance in the industry and the three-player structure which the govt very promptly wants to maintain, perhaps an exception can be made for Vodafone Idea. It goes without saying that similar to circling vultures, the move would be met with much remorse from other telcos like Bharti Airtel, but this is something that the government can think upon again for the sake of the health of the industry.

Govt Help to BSNL

When it comes to the public telco, BSNL, there is surely the government can do a lot more as compared to Vodafone Idea. The merger of BSNL and MTNL was supposed to solve a lot of problems, but it has done the bare minimum. The revival proposal of the public telecom companies designed by IIM Ahmedabad should be put on a fast track mode. Given that telecommunications is a strategic sector and sees heavy FDI, the government can possibly think upon the idea of pumping more money into the public telecom company to get its house in order. There is also the issue of the 4G network, which needs to be made live as soon as possible since that will be the single most important revitalising element in breathing back life into BSNL.

Airtel Africa Signs New Deal With QIA for $200 Million

Posted: 31 Jul 2021 12:45 AM PDT

The African unit of Bharti Airtel has bagged a new deal with Qatar Holding LLC, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), to sell its 7.5% stake of the mobile unit for around $200 million. The development comes under the fundraising activities carried out by Bharti Airtel to reduce the financial burden and invest in the network. As reported by ET Telecom, the inclusion of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will happen through Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV), which is the primary holding entity for several mobile money operations of Airtel Africa. The Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) will eventually own and operate such mobile money entities across 14 operating countries of Airtel Africa once the inclusion process is finished.

Airtel Africa has Signed Deals With Mastercard and TPG

Airtel Africa has been signing new deals extensively. Some time back, the entity sold a nearly 3.75% stake in its mobile unit to renowned payment processor MasterCard Inc for $100 million. Not only this, but Airtel also bagged a deal of $200 million from the US private equity firm TPG by selling a 7.5% stake in the mobile money business. Airtel Africa commented on the new deal and stated that QIA would hold a minority stake in AMC BV once the transition is finished, with Airtel Africa as the majority stakeholder. Also, the transaction proceeds will be used to reduce the debt and help the telco invest in network and sales infrastructure.

Airtel Africa and QIA Deal Will Close in Two Stages

The deal between Airtel Africa and QIA will happen in two stages. The first $150 million will be invested once the transfer of sufficient mobile money operations and contracts into AMC BV will be finished. The second lot of $50 million will be invested upon further transfers. The entire investment will happen through a secondary purchase of shares available in the AMC BV from Airtel Africa. It is expected that the first phase of the deal will commence in August. Once the deal is completely finished, Airtel will be able to expand 4G operations and pay off Rs 43,980 crore in the AGR dues to the government.

Gmail Seems to Be Receiving a Fresh Coat of Paint on the Android App

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 10:11 PM PDT

Google announced Android 12 recently and with it, the company showcased how creative it could be. With Android 12, Material You has been added to the UI, with users having been given options to make multiple UI appearance changes, be it minor features or the main home, everything is now more customizable than ever. Now, the company seems to be in a mood to make some changes to its email service Gmail, as it is receiving a fresh paint job to its labels, coupled with added vibrancy for Updates and Promotions tabs. This is quite easily visible for the user, as, when they head to the Gmail app on Android, they might very well be welcomed by some new colours that look slightly different than before.

Gmail is Getting a Fresh Coat of Paint!

Do note that the basal tones are the same, as in green for Promotions, blue for Social and so on, but these are now getting more vibrant shades to offer a tad bit more vibrancy to the application or service. The most significant change is for the Updates label, which is switching from bright yellow to an orange finish, this seems to be closer to the web client, which could have been the intent for this sudden yet welcome change to the app. This, as mentioned earlier is quite subtle and should in no way or shape bother your mail service, with these changes being a personal touch to the app, one which might be met with good and bad responses depending on the users. We can currently see the feature make its way to users through a server update but it should be seeded out in the 2021.07.11 app release for Gmail. For those of you unaware, Android 12 will feature a redesigned user interface coupled with enhanced privacy settings. The user interface can now be personalised with a new colour palette and new widgets, which is based on a design language dubbed Material You. The widgets also come with better flexibility and resizing options. To add to this, a new feature by the name of colour extraction can now determine the dominant and complementary colour on your wallpaper and apply them accordingly across your interface. This would be showcased on your lock screen, volume control, notification shade in colours complementing your wallpaper. The lock screen animations have also been redesigned via the inclusion of fluid motion and animations.

Oppo Could Soon Showcase Its Version of Apple’s MagDart Technology

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 08:35 PM PDT

Apple has had a history of bringing a product to the market that gives rise to alternatives that are based on the same principle, as has been the case with the iPhone X and its notch, the AirPods and its endless clones and, in more recent times, the MagSafe charging technology, which the company debuted last year. Inspired by what Apple has done, Realme recently announced that it was testing its own wireless charger that can be attached to the back of the device, dubbed MagDart, which is set to be released officially on August 3. Now, it seems that Oppo is ready with its own take on MagSafe, which is not a big surprise as Realme and Oppo are owned by the same parent company, and, this move was just a matter of time.

Oppo MagSafe Alternative Renders Leaked

OyPrice recently revealed the renders of the new Oppo wireless charger that is soon set to be showcased. Looking at the same, it is obvious that Oppo’s take seems to be slim and resembles a conventional magnetic wireless charger, which could be similar to, if not slimmer than what Apple has to offer. This is quite different from what we have seen with sister company Realme, which seems to have taken a boxy approach for the MagDart charger. The detailed specifications and dimensions, such as the width are not yet known, but it is easy to tell that the charger will feature a Type-C port for connectivity at the bottom and an LED indicator. It does remain a mystery as to what speeds the Oppo wireless charging option might offer, but, given as to how Oppo has had a history of coming up with improved charging speeds, be it the 65W Air VOOC charger or the regular VOOC chargers, so it is expected that some decent speeds should be on offer. For those of you unaware as to what MagSafe exactly is, it is a series of magnets that is present within the iPhone 12’s internal charging coil, capable of sensing other kinds of MagSafe accessories and can connect easily to the same. It has been designed to connect with compatible accessories, so the fear of magnets sticking to the back is not one to think about. It will be interesting to see how Realme and Oppo price these options, since MagSafe accessories are quite premium so the companies will have to nail the pricing to make it appealing to the regular crowd.

Google Meet Finally Being Offered as a PWA, Month After Being Bested by Zoom

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 07:40 PM PDT

Messaging and video conferencing sites took off in the last two years, due to how the global pandemic has affected physical meetings and the subsequent rise of video conferencing sites that took the place of physical meetings to bridge the gap between people spread across continents and countries. Google’s Meet has always been well regarded, but it got beaten quite fairly by the likes of Microsoft Teams and, more important Zoom, the latter having taken the world by storm and becoming one of the most popular applications of its kind. Now, it seems that Google is ready to take the fight back to Zoom and try to claw back a bit of its lost ground by making Google Meet a Progressive Web App or PWA, according to Google’s latest post on its Workspace Blog.

Google Meet is Now A PWA on Chromebooks

For those of you wondering as to what a PWA is, it is basically a website that is made to look and behave like normal applications that you install. Users will be able to use them via a click of the list of applications, rather than having to open a website URL on your browser of choice. It is worth noting that Google Meet’s PWA version fails to add any new or revolutionary features, with Google stating that as a standalone application, it will now be easier to find and use, and it will also streamline the user’s workflow by eliminating the need to switch between tabs. Fret not though, as users accustomed to Google Meet have nothing to worry about, as they should be able to make use of the same set of features and functions, such as the new layout and the ability to set animated backgrounds on the conferencing application. When it comes to installation, to install the PWA on a Chromebook, one can navigate to meet.google.com and then click on the install icon that is present on the right-hand side of the URL bar. Google has mentioned that users will also be prompted to try out the PWA whilst visiting the site. Once the installation process is complete, the user should be able to find and access the same from their application list. This move comes a month after Google launched its own PWA for the top Chromebooks, touting more features and better performance over the previous version of the application.

Reliance Jio Rs 75 Plan Trumps Its Competitors’ Offering

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 06:35 PM PDT

Reliance Jio is the number one telecom operator in India for a good reason. The telco has been unbeatable because of offering value loaded plans and great network coverage to users throughout the country. Much recently, Bharti Airtel discontinued its Rs 49 plan throughout India. This means that now the Airtel users who want to keep their number active even for incoming calls will need to subscribe with the Rs 79 plan. In the same price range, Reliance Jio also offers a Rs 75 prepaid plan to the users. Let's see which plan is better and why.

Reliance Jio's Rs 75 Plan vs Bharti Airtel's Rs 79 Plan

Reliance Jio is offering users a Rs 75 plan. This plan is available to all the JioPhone users in India. With this plan, users get 28 days of validity along with truly unlimited voice calling. Further, users are eligible to get a total of 50 SMS along with 3GB of total data (0.1GB of daily data + 200MB data). The great thing is that users can purchase this plan right now and get double the benefits. This means that for the same price, users will get 28+28 days of validity and 6GB of data (0.1GB of data with 200MB data twice) along with 50+50 SMS. Since there is unlimited voice calling already included, users don't need to worry about getting a double voice calling benefit. Now let's take a look at what users get with the prepaid plan offered by Bharti Airtel. Bharti Airtel's Rs 79 prepaid plan comes with Rs 64 worth of talktime and 200MB of data. The voice calls are charged at 1 paise/sec or 60 paise/minute which translates to 106 minutes of voice calling benefit. In comparison to this, Reliance Jio is offering free 300 minutes of voice calling every month to the users without any cost. Further, if the user pays and purchases the Rs 75 plan, he/she is eligible to receive truly unlimited voice calling benefit which is much more beneficial than that of Airtel's plan. Overall, Airtel users on the Rs 49 will have to pay more just to keep their SIM cards active. While JioPhone's Rs 75 plan is cheaper than the Rs 79 plan from Airtel, it is much better and offers more benefits. It is again worth noting that the Rs 75 plan can't be recharged by users not owning a JioPhone. However, the Rs 79 plan of Airtel can be recharged by any customer of the telco regardless of the device he/she is running.

West Bengal Only State to See Net Positive in Wireless Subscribers

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 02:18 PM PDT

west-bengal-state-net-positive-wireless-subscribers

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its reports on the subscriber count and various happenings of the telecom industry. The report for the month of May 2021, points out a lot of noteworthy things like the number of active subscribers telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL have along with other metrics like total subscriber count, MNP, and more. This data is crucial for the understanding of what has been going on in the industry at large, and how things are going to take a turn for better or worse in the short term. Along with all this data, the TRAI report also gives us state-wise insight as to which state gained subscribers and which state lost. As such, we have looked at the report and found out that only one state out of all was the only one to gain subscribers in the month of May 2021.

West Bengal Only State to See Net Positive

The state that we are talking about is West Bengal. The state of West Bengal was the only one to see a net positive in the case of wireless subscribers. Out of all the states in the report, only West Bengal saw the addition of wireless subscribers to the tune of 0.001%. However, what's worth noting is that since Kolkata is considered a different circle altogether when it comes to telecom data when we mean West Bengal, we mean every other region apart from Kolkata. Quite ironically, out of all the states, Kolkata was a telecom circle was the one to lose the most percentage of wireless subscribers which amounted to 1.27% of the total wireless subscriber base. This suggests, that if we take both the figures together, then in the West Bengal and Kolkata region combined, the cumulative effect of subscriber addition and loss is quite hefty.

Reliance Jio Leads in Adding Wireless Subscribers

Also in the other telecom circles, most registered a loss in wireless subscribers ranging from anywhere 0.04% to 1.18% of the total wireless subscribers. The only telecom operator to add wireless subscribers was Reliance Jio, rest of the other telecom operators lost wireless subscribers.

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