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RailTel Corp, C-DoT to Help India With Telecom Expansion

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 12:09 PM PDT

RailTel RailTel Corporation has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT). The two parties have signed the MoU so that they work together in several areas to help expand telecom in the country. Both RailTel and C-DoT will focus on modernising the tech and equipment so that India can progress faster. For the unaware, RailTel works under the Ministry of Railways while the C-DoT is a research centre that operates under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Affordable Broadband Not Far Away in India

One of the biggest challenges that the Indian government and the telecom sector has to address is making the services pocket friendly for the masses. While 4G data is already very affordable in the country, a majority of the population can't afford to pay for even the entry-level fixed broadband plans. According to a PTI report, Puneet Chawla, CMD of RailTel said that the partnership between the two parties will certainly help with bringing affordable broadband services to the masses in the rural areas. Chawla explained that this will be done by reducing the cost of the equipment for the internet service providers (ISPs). The partnership between RailTel and C-DoT supports the 'Make in India' initiative of the government. For the unaware, RailTel, one of the concerned parties in the MoU is known for providing competitive broadband plans to users across the country through its FTTH arm called RailWire. As said above, the partnership will focus on making the technology more modern and also reduce its cost. This will help the ISPs save a lot of money when they invest in infrastructure which in turn will mean affordable services for the end consumer. RailWire broadband plans are available to customers living in multiple regions/telecom circles of the country. The company is slowly expanding to every part of India.

OneWeb Now Has 358 Satellites in the Orbit

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 08:13 AM PDT

OneWeb Bharti backed satellite broadband company, OneWeb is aggressively working on its plan to provide global coverage by launching as many as 648 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites into space. The company has come a long way and has already launched over 358 LEO satellites into space. Out of the 358 satellites, 36 were launched today from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. According to an ET Telecom report, the company has started demonstrating live service to communicate how the satellite network's hardware works and what its capabilities are across several applications.

OneWeb Has Demo Centre in London

For the unaware, OneWeb has a demo centre in its headquarters based in London. There's another one in the Westcott Venture Park Innovation Centre in Buckinghamshire and a few more in Maryland, Alaska and Germantown, and Talkeetna in the United States (U.S.). In a recent announcement, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises said that OneWeb will become the first Satcom company in the nation to launch LEO satellites from India. OneWeb will take the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in it. OneWeb looks to be on track for completing the goal of providing global coverage by 2022. It is the same year we can expect the company to mark its territory in India. As per old statements from Mittal, OneWeb won't be keen on providing direct services to commercial customers. Instead, the satcom company is planning to partner with a telecom operator and then help the operator in expanding the network coverage. This can be a huge boost to Bharti Airtel since right now the only major area where Airtel is behind Jio in terms of network performance is in coverage. This strategy of the company won't just be exclusive to India but also to other nations. The biggest challenge for all the satcom players including Bharti Airtel will be of getting regulatory approvals for providing services in different countries.

Poco M4 Pro 5G FCC Listing Discloses Storage Options

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:44 AM PDT

Poco M4 Pro 5G One of the upcoming smartphones that has been making the rounds on the internet is the Poco M4 Pro 5G. While there is no clarity regarding when this smartphone will see the light of the day, it has been spotted passing through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of US hinting that it is nearing its launch date. The certification site reveals some key details of this smartphone that could be launched soon.

Poco M4 Pro 5G FCC Listing

As its name implies, the Poco M4 Pro 5G is believed to arrive with support for 5G NR connectivity apart from other aspects including GSM, LTE, WCDMA, 5 GHz Wi-Fi, NFC, GNSS, FM and Bluetooth. The presence of FM has been hinted by a tipster and it is specified that the earphones will be used as an antenna. Eventually, this confirms the presence of a headphone jack on the Poco M4 Pro 5G. This is not surprising though some budget smartphones are planningto give up on this aspect. Given that the FCC listing confirms that there will be two 5G bands – N77 and N78, this raises concern for many. However, these two bands should suffice for users in India as the country has earmarked 3300-3600 MHz bands for 5G. Notably, the N77 and N78 5G bands operate within the frequency range of 3200 to 4200 MHz. Besides connectivity, the FCC certification database also reveals the possible storage options of the Poco M4 Pro 5G. Going by the same, the upcoming smartphone's base variant could feature 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space. On the other hand, the high-end variant could arrive with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. Unfortunately, the FCC listing does not provide any further details regarding the upcoming Poco smartphone. Already, we know that the specifications of the Poco M4 Pro 5G could include a battery with support for 33W fast charging and a MediaTek chipset. It is believed that this smartphone in question could be a rebranded variant just like its prequel – the Poco M3 Pro 5G. For now, reports hint that the upcoming smartphone could see the light of the day by early November.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G In India Gets New Paint Job

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 05:51 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G Samsung has been launching many new smartphones in the Galaxy A series of late. Most of these are mid-range 5G smartphones. Back in September, the South Korean tech giant took the wraps off the Galaxy A52s 5G. Unlike in the other global markets, the Indian market received three colour options for this smartphone. Now, after a month of its debut, it looks like the company has released the fourth colour of the device in the country. There are two different smartphones – the Galaxy A52 5G and Galaxy A52s 5G. These smartphones are different in terms of colour and chipset. Notably, the latest offering makes use of an octa-core Snapdragon 778G chipset instead of the Snapdragon 750G chipset. Also, it has been launched in Awesome Mint colour version and not Awesome Blue.

Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G New Colour Option

Notably, the Indian market did not get the Galaxy A52 5G smartphone. To add on to that, the Galaxy A52s 5G arrived in the country last month without the exclusive paint job. For those who are uninitiated, this new colour option is the only option to identify the difference between the Galaxy A52s and both the 4G and 5G variants of the Galaxy A52. However, this scenario is all set to be changed as it has been officially confirmed by Samsung that the Galaxy A52s 5G could be launched soon in the Awesome Mint color variant in India. Unfortunately, this colour variant is yet to be listed on the official Samsung website in the country. Given that the announcement has been officially confirmed by the South Korean tech giant, the latest colour variant of the Galaxy A52s 5G could be rolled out soon in the country. We can expect it to be available soon for buyers who are interested in getting their hands on it. When it comes to availability, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is available for sale via both offline and online retailers in the country. Detailing on its pricing, the Samsung smartphone in question is available in two storage configurations with 6GB + 128GB priced at Rs 35,999 and 8GB + 128GB priced at Rs 37,499.

RailWire 60 Mbps Broadband Plan Launched

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 04:51 AM PDT

RailWire RailWire, a fiber internet initiative from the RailTel Corporation, has today launched a new broadband plan for the Gujarat circle. It is an affordable offering from the company geared to help India increase the adoption rate of fixed-line broadband connections. The more broadband connections there will be, the faster India will move in its path of Digital India. The 60 Mbps plan from the company is priced at Rs 499. For the same price, Airtel Xstream Fiber only offers 40 Mbps speed. Not just this, the 60 Mbps RailWire broadband plan also offers unlimited data to the users. Here's everything you should know about this plan from RailWire.

RailWire 60 Mbps Broadband Plan Details

The 60 Mbps broadband plan from RailWire costs Rs 499 per month. With this plan, users will be delivered uniform downloading and uploading speeds. The fair-usage-policy (FUP) data offered with the plan is 3.5TB. Note that the price mentioned here doesn't include tax. With tax included, the customer will have to shell out Rs 588.82 from his/her end. After consuming the FUP data, the internet speed for the user will drop to 2 Mbps. It is a new plan from the company that's been launched for the Gujarat circle. In comparison, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) offers its 60 Mbps plan for Rs 599, which is Rs 100 more than what users will get with the RailWire plan. There are no over-the-top (OTT) or additional benefits included with the plan, which is totally understandable since it is only an entry-level broadband offering. To recollect, RailWire recently launched a Rs 699 broadband plan for the Odisha circle and is offering 100 Mbps speed with the plan. There are more plans from the company available for people living in different parts of the country. If you want to check out the company's broadband offerings, you can go to its website.

Indian Government Has Accepted 31 Proposals Under PLI for Telecom Sector

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 04:19 AM PDT

Indian Telecom PLI Scheme The Department of Telecommunications just approved the investment proposals of as many as 31 companies that account for Rs 3,345 crore in four years under the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme for telecom. The investment of Rs 3,345 crore in the coming 4.5 years is the beginning. The government is eyeing to help the players in the telecom industry as a catalyst. This was announced by Devusinh Chauhan, the Minister of State for Communications, noted a PTI report. The 31 companies that will get the investment comprise 16 MSMEs and 15 non-MSMEs. Of the latter, there will be 7 global companies and 8 domestic companies.

DoT's PLI Scheme for Telcos

DoT has announced the PLI scheme for telecom operators and it is worth Rs 12,195 crore. This scheme was announced on February 24, 2021. The same will be spread over five years ranging from the fiscal year 2021-22 to 2025-26. The scheme will encourage the local manufacturing of telecom equipment in the country. This PLI scheme is expected to enable the production of almost 1.82 lakh crore and invest nearly Rs 3,354 crore. This is envisaged to e used for over four years and create additional employment of over 40,000 staff. This was announced in an official statement by the telecom department. Furthermore, this scheme announced for the telecom sector includes manufacturing of next-generation 4G and 5G radio access network, wireless equipment, transmission equipment, and customer premise equipment, routers, access devices, and switches. Rajesh Tuli, the MD of Coral Telecom stated that the company would be handicapped sans the PLI scheme. Besides DoT, the homegrown telecom gear makers' body TEMA (Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India) said that the scheme will boost the R&D and innovations and encourage the local manufacturing of both 4G and 5G that will enable the country to progress into a global supplier. As per TEMA, this move is expected to create both direct and indirect employment opportunities for nearly 1 lakh individuals in the coming five years. Terming it to be a landmark decision, NK Goyal, Chairman Emeritus TEMA stated that there has been no bias between the global and local companies as both are chosen for this scheme.

ACT Broadband vs Airtel 1 Gbps Broadband Plan Details

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 02:44 AM PDT

1 Gbps Broadband Plan Of late, broadband internet has become an integral part of many households as there is an increase in the use of the internet. Some popular broadband service providers in India are ACT Broadband and Airtel Xstream Fiber. These companies provide high-speed internet at affordable rates. Here, we will compare the 1 Gbps internet plan offered by these service providers to know how these plans are different. Check out the comparison from here.

ACT Broadband 1 Gbps Plan

ACT Broadband provides one internet plan that offers high-speed data at 1 Gbps. This plan is available at a monthly rental of Rs 5,999 and offers 5500GB of data. Dubbed ACT GIGA, this broadband plan comes with other benefits such as one month trial of ZEE5, Hungama subscription for a month, Sony LIV for a month, aha subscription for a year, one month trial of Epic ON, cult fit one month trial and ACT Shield for a month. Notably, this plan is available in the Bengaluru circle.

Airtel 1 Gbps Broadband Plan

On the other hand, talking about the 1 Gbps plan from Airtel, the internet service provider offers the Airtel Infinity plan. It provides up to 1 Gbps data speed and unlimited data benefits. There is also unlimited voice calling for both local and STD with this plan. It comes with other benefits such as Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar Super, and Wynk Music subscriptions. Also, there are Airtel Thanks benefits bundled with the plan. With all these goodies, this Airtel broadband plan is priced at Rs 3,999 per month. Interested users can also opt to get the Xstream DTH box with one month HD pack along with this broadband plan.

Which Plan Should You Choose?

In terms of pricing, the Airtel 1 Gbps broadband plan seems to be available at a relatively lesser cost and comes with unlimited data benefits as well. However, the ACT Broadband plan offers more benefits in papers and the high-speed data limit is also 5500GB, but Airtel Thanks benefits are much better.

Airtel Business Rs 499 Postpaid Plan Is Perfect for Corporates

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 01:38 AM PDT

Airtel Business Bharti Airtel is one of the top choices for customers who are looking to purchase business communication services in India. It offers a range of services to its business customers and the best thing about the business services from Airtel is that they are affordable. Airtel Business offers multiple corporate postpaid plans to its customers. One of the top postpaid plans provided by the telco to its corporate clients is the Rs 499 plan. Let's take a look at why this plan is one of the best corporate postpaid plans in India at the moment.

Airtel Business Rs 499 Corporate Postpaid Plan Benefits

Bharti Airtel offers a ton of benefits with its Rs 499 corporate postpaid plan. Users are entitled to get up to 100GB of mobile data with this plan for the month. Along with this, Airtel offers the benefit of 100 SMS and truly unlimited voice calling to the users. But these are just the basic benefits of the plan. The reason why Airtel Business Rs 499 postpaid plan is one of the best in the market today is because of the additional benefits it offers. There are over-the-top (OTT) and Airtel Thanks benefits included with the plan. The OTT benefits include Disney+ Hotstar VIP, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Wynk Music, Airtel Hellotunes, Airtel Xstream, Apollo 24/7 Circle, cashback on FASTag transactions, and Shaw Academy. But these are not even the corporate benefits. The corporate benefits include a free subscription to the Google Workspace Basic with 30GB of cloud storage. It also supports Airtel Wi-Fi calling without any additional charges. Customers can also avail Airtel's cost-effective international roaming plans so that the employees travelling abroad for work should never have to worry about being disconnected. There are more Airtel Business Corporate postpaid plans that you can choose from, but the Rs 499 plan is one of the best offered by the telco.

5G in India Will Require More Towers, Denser Infrastructure

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 11:33 PM PDT

5G in India 5G in India and around the world will work on higher frequency airwaves/spectrum. The telecom operators will need to create a denser infrastructure if they want to be successful with 5G. Especially for millimetre wavelength (mmWave) bands which can be disturbed even with trees will require more cells to be distributed around localities for the 5G to work well. We are talking about cells on lamp-posts, traffic lights, public buildings, and more. This will require so many approvals from the state government, central government, local authorities, and more. It won't be an easy task for the operators to achieve. Thus, initially, instead of going for the mmWave, the telecom operators might go with sub-6 GHz bands to introduce India to 5G. Even the sub-6 GHz bands will require an infrastructure boost to deliver a seamless 5G experience to the consumers in India. The telecom operators will have to invest more in installing more mobile towers. This will support the connectivity and deliver data at rapid speeds to consumers everywhere. The existing 4G towers can simply be upgraded to support 5G non-standalone architecture (NSA) and more towers can be installed in certain areas to show India the power of 5G.

5G Spectrum Pricing to Play Key Role in Development of India

Going forward, it is the digital vision of the government that is going to keep India in the competition to become one of the most powerful democracies in the world. 5G will play a vital role in that because it has business use cases that 4G simply can't deliver. But this will be only possible if the telecom operators are able to get the 5G spectrum from the government at a viable price. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the sector regulator to recommend new prices for the 5G bands and further asked which bands should be made available for the auctions. If everything happens in a timely manner, India will see 5G around the second half of 2022. Any delays in the auction will just increase the network rollout time in India.

Apple AirPods 3 Might Look Just Like the AirPods Pro

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 10:30 PM PDT

Apple AirPods 3 Apple has announced that it will be holding a new 'Unleashed' event on October 18, 2021. The event is largely expected to bring the new MacBook Pro laptops with the M1X processor. However, the event might bring a few more products for Apple fans. There are speculations that Apple will also come out with the new AirPods 3 during the same event. According to some reports and rumours out there, the AirPods 3 are expected to look just like the Apple AirPods Pro. However, the features of the two audio products won't be the same.

Apple AirPods 3, All We Know

For a long-time now, Apple hasn't launched a truly wireless stereo (TWS) earphone. The timing looks perfect and during the event, the Cupertino tech giant may go ahead with launch the AirPods 3. According to a report from 52audio, the AirPods 3 are expected to look a lot like the AirPods Pro. In a picture shared by the publication, the AirPods 3 are expected to come with a shorter stem, the speaker placement and the outer design very much looks like the AirPods Pro. Even the case is not much different. However, there's one big difference between the AirPods Pro and the AirPods 3 that is clearly visible on the image shared by the publication. The AirPods 3 doesn't have a silicone ear tip. Instead, the whole body is made of plastic and this is something that a lot of users don't want from their earphones today. Hopefully, Apple has this in mind and the actual product that might be revealed on October 18 comes with a silicone ear tip. The AirPods 3 might lack the support of the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature. This might only be reserved for the Pro series TWS earphones from Apple. The company is also expected to be coming out with the AirPods Pro 2 soon.

Vodafone Idea Might Raise Rs 7540 Crore Within Three Months

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 09:03 PM PDT

Vodafone Idea Vodafone Idea (VI) might raise something around Rs 7,540 crore through equity in the next two to three months. The debt-laden telco is currently in advanced stage talks with the global private equity investors including Carlyle and Apollo Global Management. The development comes from ET Telecom which further suggests that the telco might follow this up with the follow-on public offer (FPO) to raise another $1 billion around June 2022. This is going to change the outlook for the telco to positive in the near to medium-term for the retail investors.

Vodafone Idea Might Also Get $400 Million from Promoters

Another report from Livemint suggests that Vodafone Idea might get around $400 million from its promoters including the Vodafone Group Plc and the Aditya Birla Group. Both the promoters should ideally infuse much as capital as they can to show the world that they believe in the company. This is what is going to make a difference for the telecom operator in the long run. One thing that's great here is that Vi is looking to raise capital through equity here. There's no mention of debt anywhere. This is a good thing because the telco doesn't have any room to pile on more debt. The third-largest telco has another way through which it can raise another $1 billion instantly. That way is through the sale of its FTTH business (You Broadband) and data centre assets. However, post the announcement of the relief package, the company has laid down its plans of selling the assets for raising capital. With all the additional capital and the moratorium from the debt payments, Vi's cash flow situation is bound to improve aggressively. This in turn will allow the telco to make investments in its networks for delivering better connectivity to its customers. It might help with reducing subscriber churn rate and see profits in the books.

Vodafone Idea Rs 249 Plan a Better Option than Jio’s Offering

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 06:27 PM PDT

Vodafone Idea Reliance Jio Both Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Reliance Jio offer a Rs 249 plan to the users. The same plan from both the operators offer entirely different benefits. If you are looking for some plan that's going to serve you the best in 28 days, the Rs 249 plan from Vodafone Idea can be an ideal option. There are plenty of reasons why Vodafone Idea’s plan is a better option, even though Reliance Jio's same plan offers much more data. Here's everything you should know about the two plans.

Vodafone Idea Rs 249 Plan

The Rs 249 prepaid plan from Vodafone Idea comes with a validity of 28 days. This plan offers 1.5GB of daily data along with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day to the users. The users get a total of 42GB of data with this plan. With this plan, users also get a 'Binge All Night' and a 'Weekend Data Rollover' offer from the company. The Binge All Night offer allows users to consume as much high-speed data as they want between 12 AM and 6 AM every day. This doesn't affect the fair-usage-policy (FUP) data that the user has for a particular day. Further, to make the plan even sweeter, with the 'Weekend Data Rollover' offer, the telco allows users to consume all the leftover FUP data from the weekdays (Monday to Friday) at the weekends (Saturday to Sunday). Vodafone Idea is also offering a Rs 20 discount coupon with this plan that the users can utilise in their next recharge with the company. There is also an over-the-top (OTT) benefit of Vi Movies & TV Classic offered by the company. Now let's take a look at what Reliance Jio has to offer with its plan.

Reliance Jio Rs 249 Plan

While Reliance Jio offers 2GB daily data with its Rs 249 plan, it still can't match the Weekend Data Rollover and Binge All Night offer from Vodafone Idea. This plan also comes with a validity of 28 days. There is unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day offered to the users with a subscription to a suite of Jio applications which includes JioNews, JioCinema, JioTV, JioSecurity, and JioCloud. There's one thing you should note. With Reliance Jio's Rs 249 voucher, users get a 20% cashback on their recharge. This cashback is not for future recharges, though. It will go to the JioMart account of the user. So it doesn't really create any big difference for users only looking to consume data services. At the same time, even the Rs 20 discount voucher offered by Vi isn’t that big an offering.

Tata Sky Broadband Two Affordable Plans for Average Users

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 12:34 PM PDT

Tata Sky Broadband Tata Sky is one of the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers in the country. The company has also been working to get its FTTH business namely "Tata Sky Broadband" up to speed. The two affordable Tata Sky Broadband plans that you can buy today cost less than Rs 1,000. These plans come with up to 100 Mbps speed. Surely there are companies that might provide the same plan for an even cheaper rate, but you might not get the same kind of quality service that you get from Tata Sky Broadband. Let's take a look at the two plans that we are talking about.

Tata Sky 100 Mbps Broadband Plan

The 100 Mbps broadband plan from Tata Sky costs Rs 950 for one month, Rs 2700 for three months, Rs 4500 for six months, and Rs 8400 for 12 months. With the 3 months plan, users are effectively saving Rs 150, with the 6 months plan, they save Rs 1200 and with the 12 months plan, users are able to save 8400.

Tata Sky 50 Mbps Broadband Plan

Talking about another affordable broadband plan from the company, users can go for the 50 Mbps broadband plan. It is available only in three validity configurations – 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. The 3 months plan will be available for Rs 2097, the 6 months plan will be available for Rs 3300, and the 12 months plan will be available for Rs 6000. Few things that you should know about Tata Sky Broadband is that the company provides completely free expert installation along with a free dual-band router. Further, the company promises a network uptime of 99.9% and both the plans come with a fair-usage-policy (FUP) limit of 3.3TB data per month. Customers have to pay a Rs 1,000 security deposit for all the one-month plans and all of the 50 Mbps plans. Tata Sky Broadband is not present everywhere in the country yet. But the company has been planning to expand aggressively in the coming months.

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