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Bharti Airtel Expected to Beat Jio in Q2 FY22
Bharti Airtel Prepaid Plans for Watching Mens T20 World Cup
Starlink Might Face Legal Troubles in India Soon
Supreme Court Adjourns OTSC Case, Airtel and Vi Can Relax
OnePlus 9RT Launch Teased By Pete Lau
PM To Attend Indian Space Association Launch Ceremony
BSNL Offering Up to 30 Days of Extra Validity on These Plans
Telecom Operators Get Another Good News from DoT
RailWire Rs 699 Broadband Plan Offers Unlimited Data, High-Speed Internet
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Supports Wi-Fi 6
5G Needs Strong Tariffs Backing in India
Reliance Jio Is Offering Two Days of Free Service to Users Affected from Network Outage
Airtel, Vi Prepaid Plans That Are Perfect for All Users

Bharti Airtel Expected to Beat Jio in Q2 FY22

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 01:04 PM PDT

The telecom operators ended the second quarter of FY22 on a positive note because of the relief package announced by the government. But there was also another positive for the telcos in the same quarter. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) discontinued their base plans of Rs 49, which meant an indirect price hike for the users on that particular discontinued plan as they would now have to recharge with the Rs 79 plan instead. As per analysts, Bharti Airtel is expected to beat Reliance Jio in reporting a stronger sequential growth in mobile revenue as well as better average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q2 FY22.

Airtel Might See 7.1% Sequential Growth Against Jio's 4.7% Growth

As per Jefferies, Bharti Airtel might see 7.1% sequential growth as compared to Jio's 4.7% in the July-September, 2021 period. Further, Jefferies believes that Bharti Airtel's ARPU might jump by 7.3% QoQ to Rs 157. At the same time, Jio's ARPU is expected to jump by 1.3% to Rs 140. However, Reliance Jio is expected to report a strong subscriber addition during the quarter – around 14 million users. The reason behind the growth is expected to be the JioPhone 2021 offer, and the telco's total subscriber base may touch 454 million during the second quarter of FY22.

Vodafone Idea Expected to Perform Decently

Vodafone Idea is expected to perform quite dim against its rivals. The telco's subscriber base is expected to dip by 10 million during the quarter. This is fair because of the price hike and bad performance of the telco in the rural areas of the country. However, because of the tariff hike, Jefferies expect that the churn rate for Airtel will be higher during the quarter. Thus the telco's subscriber base might decline by 4 million. All the operators will soon start coming out with their quarterly reports, and it should be similar to what Jefferies has said.

Bharti Airtel Prepaid Plans for Watching Mens T20 World Cup

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 07:57 AM PDT

Bharti Airtel introduced three new prepaid plans for cricket enthusiasts. These plans are priced at Rs 499, Rs 699, and Rs 2,798 and offer a free subscription to the Disney+ Hotstar Mobile plan. Besides the Disney+ Hotstar Mobile subscription, these new plans from Airtel also provide Apollo 24/7 Circle membership for three months, unlimited voice calling to any network in the country and free courses from Shaw Academy.

Airtel Plans With Disney+ Hotstar Mobile Subscription

These new Airtel plans come with unlimited and free access to the Disney+ Hotstar library that has over 100,000 hours of engaging content and LIVE coverage of global sports events such as IPL and T20 World Cup. Besides the live streaming of sports events, these new Airtel plans also bring new Hotstar Special series in eight local languages, films that are released under Hotstar Multiplex banner, an extensive collection of Disney's library titles, Disney+ originals and STAR India network's TV shows before their TV premiere. Detailing about the Airtel Rs 499 plan, it provides users with 3GB of data per day, 100 SMS per day, unlimited voice calls to any network, free Disney+ Hotstar Mobile subscription for a year, free access to Shaw Academy courses and 3 months of Apollo 24/7 Circle subscription. It has a validity of 28 days. The Airtel Rs 699 recharge plan comes with benefits including 2GB of data per day, 100 SMS per day, unlimited voice calls, one year of free Disney+ Hotstar Mobile subscription, three months of membership to Apollo 24/7 Circle, and free access to Shaw Academy courses. Notably, the Airtel Rs 699 plan has a validity of 56 days. Lastly, the Airtel Rs 2,798 plan comes with 2GB of data per day, 100 SMS per day, free Disney+ Hotstar Mobile membership for a year, Apollo 24/7 Circle membership for three days and free courses from Shaw Academy. This is a long-term plan valid for 365 days, and it is just an extension to the Rs 699 plan that offers similar benefits for a period of 56 days. These are the Airtel plans that let subscribers watch the T20 World Cup without paying for any additional subscription.

Starlink Might Face Legal Troubles in India Soon

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

A non-profit organisation, Telecom Watchdog, has sought the sector regulator's (TRAI) intervention in order to file a criminal case against SpaceX. It stated that Elon Musk’s company is cheating prospective users prompting users in India to pre-book space broadband plans. In a letter to the secretary of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), V Raghunandan on September 29, the non-profit organisation stated that it requests them to take immediate action to stop Starlink's illegal activity. It seeks the regulator to file a criminal case under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code+ against the company for cheating.

Complaint Against Starlink

Furthermore, the organisation also asked the segment regulatory to take necessary steps to make sure users who have pre-booked are refunded with interest. Also, it requests the sector to reprimand the DoT officials for inaction on the issue. Notably, this is one of the two letters that the organisation sent to the telecom authorities as it seeks to take action against Starlink owned by SpaceX. A few days back, it sent a similar letter to DoT secretary, in which the organisation said that Starlink is cheating consumers by taking pre-orders with a deposit of $99 (nearly Rs 7,500) for the service that is yet to be launched. As per ET Telecom, in the letter, it stated that they want to highlight the serious event wherein customers are being duped by Starlink Internet Services Limited, which is registered in Ireland. As per Telecom Watchdog, Starlink has not obtained any license to provide satellite communication or satcom services in the country. Furthermore, it is believed that the company owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX had been involved in unethical business practices as it will let interested customers take a look at the terms and conditions only when they pay the deposit. After making the payment for the service, consumers are told that there is no guarantee regarding when the service will be launched in the country. Also, the tariff will be informed later, it adds. For those who are unaware, Starlink started accepting pre-books in India in March and stated that its services are to be available by 2022 in the country.

Supreme Court Adjourns OTSC Case, Airtel and Vi Can Relax

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 05:59 AM PDT

The Supreme Court of India (SC) has adjourned the one-time spectrum charge (OTSC) case for the telcos. A two-judge bench has said that the hearing for the OTSC case has been adjourned until November 17, 2021. The SC has adjourned the case "without expressing anything", reports ET Telecom. This is because the government had backed off a little by saying that it wants to reconsider its appeal against a telecom tribunal ruling. The order from the SC came on Tuesday; however, the order was only uploaded a little later on the website of the apex court.

Tuesday's Move from Government Shows Intent to Help the Sector

The government's move of reconsidering the appeal shows its intent to help the telecom operators and the telecom sector. It is a healthy decision for the sector and one which will help in reducing the litigation. As per several reports online, the government is planning to help the telecom sector by reducing litigation. This is because litigation and court cases not only wastes the time of everyone involved but also keeps making the lawyers rich without having any positive impact on the concerned parties. The reduced litigation will become a part of the upcoming reforms. The telecom sector has received huge help from the government in the last month. Firstly, the relief measures were announced. Now the government has said that it will be reducing the bank guarantees (BGs) for the telcos by 80%, which will help in improving the cash flow. The government has also opened foreign direct investment (FDI) routes for the sector. All of this will help India become a richer economy since the telecom sector is the backbone of digital India. The telecom operators are surely going to have a ball with 5G since they will have much better cashflows to invest money into the 5G spectrum, new technologies, research & development (R&D), and more.

OnePlus 9RT Launch Teased By Pete Lau

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 05:08 AM PDT

The much-awaited OnePlus 9RT is tipped to be the next smartphone to be launched by OnePlus. This smartphone is surfacing in rumour mills for the past couple of months and almost all details regarding the device have already been revealed. Now, the company's co-founder Pete Lau has teased the launch of the OnePlus 9RT. Lau, the co-founder and Cheif Product Officer of OnePlus, took to his Weibo account to tease the arrival of the next smartphone.

OnePlus 9RT Teaser

The teaser by the company co-founder details the OnePlus T series smartphones released to date. In the end, it reads that the upcoming device will not follow the usual naming convention and notes that further details will be revealed on October 8. However, the Weibo post does not reveal the actual name of the device though it is the OnePlus 9RT. What's interesting to note is that the executive shared this post from the unannounced smartphone. A few days back, it was confirmed by OnePlus that they will not launch the OnePlus 9T and OnePlus 9T Pro smartphones this year. While it did not disclose the details of the OnePlus 9RT, this will be the only smartphone to be launched by the company. Moreover, we have been coming across a lot of reports regarding the tweaked variant of the OnePlus 9R, the affordable variant in the flagship trio launched earlier this year.

OnePlus 9RT Rumored Specs

As per the existing reports, the OnePlus 9RT is speculated to make use of an octa-core Snapdragon 888 processor, which will make it more powerful than the OnePlus 9R that is equipped with a Snapdragon 870 processor. The other aspects that have been tipped include a 50MP primary Sony IMX766 sensor, Android 11 topped with ColorOS 12, a 6.55-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of additional storage space. The OnePlus 9RT is speculated to be launched in three colour options – Black, Silver, and Blue. To summarize, the existing reports hint that the OnePlus 9RT will be an upgraded variant of the OnePlus 9R with some notable differences. We can expect the company to reveal the launch date of the upcoming smartphone in China tomorrow.

PM To Attend Indian Space Association Launch Ceremony

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 04:24 AM PDT

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi alongside other distinguished luminaries will take part in the Indian Space Association's (ISpA) digital launch ceremony. The launch ceremony of the premier industry association of space and satellite companies is slated for October 11, 2021. ISpA is represented by best-in-class domestic and global corporations that possess advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies. Indian Space Association's founders include Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mapmyindia, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Ananth Technology Limited, and Walchandnagar Industries. Apart from them, the association involves core members including Godrej, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited, Hughes India, BEL, Maxar India and Centum Electronics.

ISpA Launch Live Stream

The launch ceremony of Indian Space Association will be conducted virtually. It will be streamed live across the digital channels of ISpA. The live stream can be viewed from the official social media handles of ISpA such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Koo. Indian Space Association echoes the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. It intends to be the collective voice of the space industry of the country. It will undertake Policy Advocacy and will engage with stakeholders in the Indian Space domain such as the Government itself and its Agencies. This way, the association intends India to be technologically advanced, self-reliant, and a leading player in the segment. Senior Executive Vice President – Defence, L&T-NxT, Mr. Jayant Patil, is the first Chairman of ISpA. Also, Chief Regulatory Officer, Bharti Airtel, Rahul Vatts has been appointed as its Vice Chairman. Lt Gen. A.K. Bhatt (Retd.) is the Director General of the Indian Space Association. Regarding this, Lt Gen. AK Bhatt, ISpA's Director General stated that they are truly honoured to have the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi grace the digital launch ceremony of Indian Space Association. Also, he is expected to outline his vision that will contribute to the growth of the space industry in the country. They intend to make India a leader in the global space arena. They also welcome members from media, space, satellite and allied technology industries and the public to witness the launch event.

BSNL Offering Up to 30 Days of Extra Validity on These Plans

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 02:29 AM PDT

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is offering extra validity of up to 30 days on three of its prepaid plans. These plans have been brought under a 'Festival Offer' scheme of the company. The three plans that are now coming with extra validity are – PV 1999, STV 247, and STV 398. All of these prepaid plans are already available in the market for a long time. The PV 1999 plan now comes with extra validity of 30 days, while both STV 247 and STV 398 comes with extra validity of 5 days. The offer for extra validity on all these plans will be applicable for recharges done between October 7 and November 6, 2021. Let's take a complete look at the benefits offered with these plans.

BSNL PV 1999

BSNL offers PV 1999 for Rs 1,999. This plan ships with 2GB of daily data, unlimited voice calling, and 100 SMS/day. The validity offered with this plan under normal circumstances is 365 days. But with the extra validity of 30 days, this plan will ship with a total of 395 days of validity.

BSNL STV 247

The STV 247 costs Rs 247. This plan is also coming with an extra validity of 5 days. This plan usually ships with 30 days of validity (now 35 days under the offer) and will offer users a total of 50GB of data with 100 SMS/day, unlimited voice calling, Eros Now and BSNL Tune subscription.

BSNL STV 398

One of the most famous sub-Rs 400 prepaid plans in the market, the STV 398 from BSNL, will ship with five days of extra validity. This means that this plan will now also come with a total validity of 35 days. The speciality of the STV 398 is that it offers users truly unlimited data without any fairy-usage-policy (FUP) limits. Further, users get unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day with the plan. These are the three plans from BSNL that come with extra validity and they are pretty sweet deals in terms of the benefits they offer.

Telecom Operators Get Another Good News from DoT

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given the telecom operators yet another good news. Much recently, the government had announced the relief package for the sector. Now, according to a PTI report, the DoT is reducing the performance and financial bank guarantees (BGs) for the telecom operators by over 80%. According to the earlier mandated rule, the telecom operators had to provide up to Rs 220 crores as a performance bank guarantee for each service of the telecom sector. However, that amount has now been trimmed down to Rs 44 crores. On top of this, the telecom operators earlier used to provide Rs 44 crores as a financial bank guarantee for each circle; but now, that amount has been trimmed down to Rs 8.8 crore as well. However, it is worth noting that this rule will now be applicable in cases where the BGs are subject to litigation or have been furnished due to any court order.

New Bank Guarantee Rules Won't Apply to These Telecom Operators

According to the amendment note, the rule will not be applicable to any of the telecom operator who is under the liquidation process. Regardless, this is very good news for the existing operators in the market, especially for companies such as Vodafone Idea (Vi). Vi will now be able to invest its cash more freely into the networks of the company and also in developing new technologies for 5G. The relief measures announced a couple of weeks back, along with the new bank guarantee rules, will certainly help in uplifting the telecom sector in India. This will help the operators in freeing up loads of cash so that they can clear dues as well as innovate more comfortably. A tariff hike on top of all the relief measures announced recently will set things straight for the sector and the telecom operators, which will help India's economy in a significant manner.

RailWire Rs 699 Broadband Plan Offers Unlimited Data, High-Speed Internet

Posted: 07 Oct 2021 12:31 AM PDT

RailWire Broadband is an internet services initiative from the Railtel Corporation. The company gets very strong competition from other internet service providers (ISPs) such as JioFiber and Excitel broadband. All of these companies focus on offering the most value to their users for as little money as possible. Much recently, RailWire Broadband announced a new internet plan worth Rs 699 for the users. This broadband plan is very similar to that of what JioFiber and Excitel offer to their users. Let's see what the plan comes with and whether it is worth it or not.

RailWire Rs 699 Broadband Plan Details

The RailWire Broadband plan of Rs 699 offers users 100 Mbps of internet speed. The speed offered to the users is uniform in both downloading and uploading. This plan has been made available for users living in Odisha. Further, the plan offers users 3TB or 3000GB of internet data for the month. After consuming the fair-usage-policy (FUP) data for the month, the internet speed for the users will drop to 10 Mbps. Looking at the benefits of this plan, it can't be considered too far from what JioFiber and Excitel users get from the company. Both JioFiber and Excitel also offer their users 100 Mbps of uniform downloading and uploading speed with their Rs 699 broadband plans. Neither of the above companies offers any complimentary benefits with their 100 Mbps plans which is understandable. The data offered by JioFiber's Rs 699 broadband plan is 3.3TB or 3300GB, which is not much different from the plan of RailWire. It is good to see RailWire trying to heat up the competition in the Indian markets with its broadband plans. The company has over 4 lakh retail broadband customers, across India. With plans such as this, the numbers are surely going to rise.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Supports Wi-Fi 6

Posted: 06 Oct 2021 11:54 PM PDT

Amazon has just launched the 'Fire TV Stick 4K Max' in India. The company has termed it as the most powerful streaming stick yet. According to Amazon, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with a new streaming media player that's even better than the previous generation one. But mind that it is not very affordable as compared to other Android TV Sticks out in the market. In fact, it is one of the most expensive models ever launched by Amazon in India. The expensive price will make more sense as we discover the specifications of the product.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Specifications

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is 40% more powerful than the previous generation Fire TV Stick 4K. The apps will start even faster and the navigation will become smoother. For smoother 4K streaming, the product even supports Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. For enhancing the viewing experience for the users, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with support for 4K Ultra HD (UHD) with further support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10+ and immersive Dolby Atmos audio. Users can stream content from popular over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, and more with the help of a single click of a button. Anyone who is aware of the Fire TV Stick knows that it is a one-stop solution to thousands of hours of entertaining content. Users can even stream millions of songs available on the internet. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with an Alexa enabled remote which will help you navigate through the content library and applications simply with voice commands. The remote will help the users control the volume of the TV as well.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Price

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max has been launched for a price of Rs 6,499 in India. It is available on the official website of Amazon India starting now.

5G Needs Strong Tariffs Backing in India

Posted: 06 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

5G networks are going to be the next revolution in the tech and telecom industry of India and around the world. Although the 5G tech hasn't completely matured yet and is still in the phase where relevant use cases for India are being discovered/developed, there's no doubt that it will change how people and machines communicate. But 5G requires a lot more backend support than 4G. The infrastructure needs to be very strong, and the telcos will have to invest a lot more into installing new towers so that even mmWave 5G can be successful. For all this to happen, the sector needs the backing of strong tariffs.

Tariff Hike Imminent for the Industry

While 5G is still almost a year away in India, tariff hikes are imminent. Tariff hikes will change things massively for the operators. All the operators have already started hiking tariffs in a passive manner. But it won't be long before they get aggressive with it. Telecom operators in the country have been suffering because of the low average revenue per user (ARPU). Low ARPU restricts their ability to invest more into research and development (R&D) for developing new technologies and services. Further, without tariff hikes, the operators can't even have enough profits in the bank to comfortably pay statutory dues and invest in their networks at the same time. At such a price-sensitive market like India, the concept of premium services is merely a hoax. The operators can't really go out of their way to offer premium services for such low tariffs. If they do, they will be emptying their profits at an alarming rate. The relief package has already come from the government. Now the only thing the sector needs is tariff hikes. Floor pricing is not important, but tariff hikes, even by 20%, will put the operators in a much better place and allow them to improve services along with investing in the 5G technology.

Reliance Jio Is Offering Two Days of Free Service to Users Affected from Network Outage

Posted: 06 Oct 2021 08:04 PM PDT

Reliance Jio is offering two days of free unlimited plan to users across India. This service has been extended to the users who have been affected by the network outage that happened yesterday. This way, people can get back the lost time on the network of the company. Reliance Jio, in a message, said that its top priority is to provide a seamless service experience to the users. The message received by one of the TelecomTalk users said that some users in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh faced some network issues. But this is actually not true since users in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and more places have complained about such issues.

2 Days of Complimentary Service Added by Jio for Users

Jio users will not get two days of complimentary service. This is Jio's way of compensating for the loss of network services for users yesterday. The two days of complimentary service has been added to the unlimited plans of the users automatically. Users don't need to go to the My Jio app manually and do it. So now the new expiry date of your unlimited plan from Jio will be extended by two days. It will offer the same benefits as your current plan. There's still no reason available from Jio about what was the reason behind the network outage. The network services came back around after almost 10 or 11 hours later for most of the users. If you were affected by the network outage as well, you will receive two days of complimentary service from the company. Reliance Jio should ideally also issue a statement about what went wrong with the networks. There's one thing for sure, a lot of people will be agitated about what had happened yesterday. That might be a good thing for Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Airtel, Vi Prepaid Plans That Are Perfect for All Users

Posted: 06 Oct 2021 06:30 PM PDT

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are the two private telecom operators in India after Reliance Jio. Both the telecom operators will enjoy extra attention after the network outage of Jio. Jio customers will be bummed about the fact that their plan's validity is wasted on a network outage. While the networks of Jio are back for some people, there will be so many agitated customers. So if you are considering changing your primary SIM card from Jio to Vi or Airtel, then here are the unlimited plans from both the telcos that you can subscribe to.

Vodafone Idea Prepaid Plans You Can Subscribe to

Vodafone Idea prepaid plans you can subscribe to for testing the telco's networks are – Rs 249 plan, Rs 449 plan, and Rs 599 plan. The Rs 249 and Rs 599 plans offer users 1.5GB daily data with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. The Rs 449 plan offers 4GB of daily data since it comes with the double data offer along with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. The Rs 249, Rs 599, and Rs 449 plans come with 28 days, 84 days, and 56 days of validity. All three plans come with the weekend data rollover and binge all night offer. There is also an over-the-top (OTT) benefit of Vi Movies & TV.

Bharti Airtel Prepaid Plans You Can Subscribe to

Bharti Airtel offers prepaid plans you can subscribe to if you are not feeling all love towards Jio's networks. The Rs 249, Rs 449 and Rs 598 plans from the telco are worth looking at. All three plans come with unlimited voice calling, 100 SMS/day, and Airtel Thanks benefits. The Rs 249 plan carries a validity of 28 days and offers users 1.5GB of daily data while the Rs 449 and Rs 598 plans offer 2GB daily data and 1.5GB daily data for 56 days and 84 days, respectively. The Airtel Thanks benefits include OTT benefits such as Airtel Xstream Premium, Wynk Music, a free one month trial of Amazon Prime Video Mobile Edition, and more. There are Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) prepaid plans as well that you can look into. But these plans are not going to benefit you a lot since they are not backed by PAN-India 4G networks. But Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea prepaid plans are backed by 4G networks and thus they are a far better choice for consumers who are looking to shift from Jio to another network.

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