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• Airtel Africa Partners With Avaya to Grow in B2B Segment
• Tata Play Fiber vs Airtel: Who Offers Exceptional 200 Mbps Broadband Plan
• PUBG Makers Must be Pretty Happy With the Indian Government
• BSNL 5G SA, Can It Happen
• Vodafone Idea 4GB Daily Data Plans Were Too Good!
• iPhone 14 Pro: Apple Starts Trial Production
• Bharti Airtel Planning to Solidify Balance Sheet With Rs 5000 Crore Fund Raise
• Jio, Airtel, BSNL and More Introductory Broadband Plans

Airtel Africa Partners With Avaya to Grow in B2B Segment Posted: 22 Feb 2022 01:06 AM PST Airtel Africa, a leading telecom operator across the fourteen countries in Africa has announced that its B2B unit, Airtel Business Africa has partnered with Avaya Holdings Corporation. Both the companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer better services to enterprises across the continent. Enterprise Customers of Airtel Business Africa to Get Access to Avaya OneCloud From now on, enterprise customers of Airtel Business Africa will get access to Avaya OneCloud, an AI-powered experience platform. The platform will be offered to Airtel enterprise customers bundled with Airtel Africa voice services which include contact center, workstream collaboration, unified communications, and communications platform as a service solution with the Avaya OneCloud UCaaS, OneCloud CCaaS, and OneCloud CPaaS. This MoU between both the companies will build upon the existing partnership between Airtel Africa and Avaya. Luc Serviant, Group Enterprise Director, Airtel Business at Airtel Africa, said, the telco is committed to exploring possibilities and opportunities which will enhance enterprise operations and empower entrepreneurs to build successful organisations. Serviant added that this MoU with Avaya takes the existing partnership between both companies to the next level. Both the companies stand to benefit from this MoU as Airtel Africa customers will get access to the next-gen cloud and communications services of Avaya and Avaya will get access to deeper reach in the enterprise space.

Tata Play Fiber vs Airtel: Who Offers Exceptional 200 Mbps Broadband Plan Posted: 22 Feb 2022 12:24 AM PST Tata Play Fiber and Airtel Xstream Fiber are two of the top internet service providers in the country. Both these companies are known for offering great value to customers for a very affordable price. Tata Play Fiber is the rebranded Tata Sky Fiber and offers the same plans. Both Tata Play Fiber and Airtel Xstream Fiber offer customers a 200 Mbps broadband plan; let's check who offers a better one. Tata Play Fiber 200 Mbps Broadband Plan Tata Play Fiber offers its 200 Mbps broadband plan for Rs 1150. With this plan, users get 3.3TB of monthly fair-usage-policy (FUP) data along with a free router from the company. There's no installation cost either if the users go for three months plan or more. The 200 Mbps plan from Tata Play Fiber is available for one month, three months, six months, and twelve months. Users can save up to Rs 10,200 if they are going for the long-term option. There's also a free fixed-line voice calling connection included at no extra cost. The speed would be reduced to 3 Mbps after the FUP data has been consumed. Airtel Xstream Fiber 200 Mbps Broadband Plan Airtel Xstream Fiber offers its 200 Mbps broadband plan for Rs 999. This is cheaper than what users get with Airtel Xstream Fiber, and also, there are over-the-top (OTT) benefits bundled. Airtel Xstream Fiber users get a free subscription to Amazon Prime, Wynk Music, Shaw Academy, and more. There's also a free fixed-line voice calling connection offered with this plan. This plan also offers 3.3TB of monthly FUP data. Airtel also offers its broadband plans for the long term with discounts bundled. Verdict So clearly, out of these two plans, if you were to choose one, the plan offered by Airtel Xstream Fiber is a better option. JioFiber sadly doesn't offer any 200 Mbps plan to the users. Airtel's plan offers OTT benefits and is cheaper than what users get with the 200 Mbps offering from Tata Play Fiber.

PUBG Makers Must be Pretty Happy With the Indian Government Posted: 21 Feb 2022 11:27 PM PST Krafton, Battleground Mobile India (BGMI) and PUBG: New State owner must be pretty happy with the Indian government right now. Back in 2020, when PUBG Mobile got banned in India, at that time, games such as Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty Mobile saw a surge in downloads. But now, the opposite has happened. The Indian government has decided to ban Garena Free Fire from India, citing it is not a safe application for the Indians to interact with. While Free Fire wasn't as popular as PUBG Mobile, it still had a lot of loyal following, and millions of Indian users played the game every day. Thus, the only good and strong alternative left for the Free Fire users right now is PUBG: New State or Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). Will Free Fire Make a Comeback Like PUBG Mobile? PUBG Mobile was very carefully rebranded as Battlegrounds Mobile India, and a lot of tweaks were made to the game to satisfy the Indian government. Will something like this happen with Free Fire as well? It could happen, and it might not happen. It all depends on multiple factors, all of which are crucial for the comeback of the game. What if the government decides not to allow the comeback of the game, or what if the developer itself does not want to indulge in making a comeback in the Indian market. However, the latter part is unlikely to happen as India is too big a market for a game such as Free Fire to ignore or miss out on. Regardless, only the coming months will clear up what is going to happen. Even if the game were to make a comeback in the Indian market, it would take a few months as it will require a lot of tweaks and then approval from the government. At the time when PUBG Mobile was being rebranded to make a comeback in the country, a lot of government officials were unhappy and didn't want the game to be a regular part of the life of Indians.

BSNL 5G SA, Can It Happen Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:17 PM PST Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is right now trying to roll out homegrown 4G networks in the country. The state-run telco isn't going to be rolling out 5G networks anytime soon. However, once the telco has built a strong 4G presence around the country, it can utilise the 4G core and go with 5G non-standalone architecture (NSA) networks to deliver a homegrown 5G as well. Many people are of the view that BSNL should have gone with 5G SA (standalone architecture) and skipped 4G completely. Here's what these people don't understand. 5G SA is Costlier and Doesn't Offer Major Improvements Over 5G NSA Anyway It is not that 5G SA isn't better. It is better and it can help the communication service providers (CSPs) in coming out with better enterprise services and do more with their 5G networks. With 5G SA, the latency and power consumption of the radios also go down. However, it is way costlier to deploy for the CSPs as compared to the cost involved in 5G NSA. Thus, BSNL would have had to spend more money (which it doesn't have enough for 4G, to begin with) for deploying 5G SA as 5G NSA is out of the question if the telco were to skip 4G rollout. Further, until all this happened, the telco would have to keep offering legacy network services to the users. 4G Isn't Dead Yet, BSNL is Right in Its Strategy BSNL isn't at all wrong to go for 4G networks rollout in India. There's still a big market of 4G users and it is only going to grow from here. Supposedly, if BSNL went for 5G SA by skipping 4G rollout, users would have soon started migrating to the 4G networks of Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi). It is worth noting that 5G as a network technology is more likely to be demanded by the enterprises in the country. This is because average consumers don't need super-high-speed internet access all the time. 4G networks are enough for normal consumers for average data services. Thus, it is right for BSNL to go with 4G as it will still have a pretty high demand in India for the coming years. If the state-run telco had gone for the 5G NSA, it would have taken a lot more time, more money (from taxpayers of course) and all of that would have gone to waste as the private telcos would have already captured a big market share with 5G NSA as they did with 4G.

Vodafone Idea 4GB Daily Data Plans Were Too Good! Posted: 21 Feb 2022 09:01 PM PST Until a few months back, Vodafone Idea (Vi) was offering users a 'Double Data Offer' with its select prepaid plans. The telco had prepaid plans in its portfolio, offering up to 4GB of daily data. None of the other telcos was offering such a plan to their users. This had marked Vodafone Idea as a unique player amongst all the operators. Not that it is not unique now with the Vi Hero Unlimited benefits in its portfolio, but the 4GB daily data plans were really good and an attractive offer from the company. Vodafone Idea 4GB Daily Data Plans Were Removed, Users Want It Back TelecomTalk ran a Twitter poll. Only 222 votes came in, which is not a big number, but it still gives an insight into what people want from the telco. Users voted that they missed the double data prepaid plans from the company. However, Vi had to remove the offer from its plans because it was seriously affecting its revenues. People who had 4GB daily data plans from the company weren't going for the 4G data vouchers as they had enough data in the first place. Further, these plans weren't even top of the line expensive, which meant the telco was offering very much to the users by charging them very little, which affected the average revenue per user (ARPU) figure. The sole point of the prepaid tariff hikes announced and implemented a few months back was to increase the overall ARPU for all the telcos. Thus, it wouldn't have made sense for Vi to continue with the double data offer. Regardless, under the Vi Hero Unlimited benefits, users get industry-unique offers from the company. Things such as Data Delights, Weekend Data Rollover, and Binge All Night offer make the prepaid plans from Vodafone Idea a very good option. All the plans from Vi starting from Rs 299 and above come bundled with Vi Hero Unlimited benefits.

iPhone 14 Pro: Apple Starts Trial Production Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:27 PM PST Apple has already started its iPhone 14 Pro trial production. This is the stage where the company basically tests everything related to the capabilities of suppliers and then decides when to start mass production before it can be availed for the market. The supplier also gets an idea about how viable it is to procure the necessary material for assembling the devices and ensuring quality checks on the same. Since the trial production has kicked off, it is very likely that Apple has finalised the design of the iPhone 14 Pro. It is highly unlikely that users or any of the leaksters will be able to put their hands on the official design of the smartphone, but because of the previous leaks and rumours, the market has a fair understanding of the design that the iPhone 14 series devices will don. Changes in Design We Might See in the iPhone 14 Series The iPhone 14 series is expected to have some major changes in the design as compared to the iPhone 13 series. First of all, the iPhone 14 series is likely to drop the infamous ugly notch and introduce a punch-hole cutout that will house the selfie camera. There should be another punch-hole cut out as per the leaks, which might house the TrueDepth camera system that is important for Face ID to function well. Even the camera bump is expected to go through certain changes, and it might look like what's there in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The iPhone 14 series is expected to launch in September 2022. Reports say that there will be no iPhone 14 mini this time. Instead, there will be iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Apple wasn't making a fortune on the mini-sized iPhones; a majority of the market wants to go for the larger sized devices. It will be interesting to see how the iPhone 14 series devices actually look.

Bharti Airtel Planning to Solidify Balance Sheet With Rs 5000 Crore Fund Raise Posted: 21 Feb 2022 06:58 PM PST Bharti Airtel is planning to solidify its balance sheet with a Rs 5000 crore fundraise in the near future through rupee-denominated bonds from the local market. This will help the telco during the 5G spectrum auctions, which are not very far from now. Further, it will enable the telco in refinancing the high-cost debt right away, reports ET Telecom. The publication's report highlights that this Rs 5000 crore will be a part of the Rs 7500 crore raise approved by the company's board. However, this is not the only way that the telco is considering raising money. Airtel Might Go for Offshore Bond Issue or a Rupee Loan from Banks There are two more ways Airtel is considering it can go about the money-raising exercise. The telco could either go for an offshore bond issue or/and a rupee loan from the local banks in the market. A senior executive involved in local bond sales told ET Telecom that the rupee linked corporate bonds with multiple maturities may come with multiple tenors in the range of three to ten years. A ten-year paper may come with an 8-8.25% interest rate. If the telco decides to go with the option of the offshore bond issue, then it is most likely going to take place in the April-June quarter only. This is because of the geopolitical uncertainties in the market right now, which have sent the global benchmark gauges higher, making such borrowings costlier. If the telco is successful in raising this money, it will help a lot with the coming 5G spectrum auctions. It is worth noting that Bharti Airtel had also got a commitment from Google in January for a $1 billion overall investment, out of which $700 million will go towards 1.28% of the telco and the remaining $300 million for forming multi-year deals to work on different things. The telco is yet to announce anything formally about this.

Jio, Airtel, BSNL and More Introductory Broadband Plans Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:34 PM PST Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India offer a ton of broadband plans for their subscribers with different connectivity speeds and price tags. However, if you're new in the market and looking for a first-time connection, every ISP has a base plan to offer that comes with a reasonable price mark and offers ample data speed as well. These broadband plans are fitting for those who either want to test out a broadband connection or just want a cheaper connection. Mentioned below are the introductory broadband plans offered by Jio, Airtel, BSNL and other ISPs along with the pack details that you must know about. JioFiber Base Plan JioFiber provides a 30 Mbps internet speed data plan at the price of Rs 399 per month. The FUP limit set on this plan is 3300Gb or 3.3TB. Using the 30 Mbps plan from JioFiber, customers can get access to smooth and seamless internet across multiple devices. It is to be noted that the price of the plan is exclusive of GST. Airtel Broadband Airtel with its Xstream Fiber connection offers one of the fastest broadband connections and users can get access to the 'Basic' pack which provides 40 Mbps of internet speed at a monthly cost of Rs 499 exclusive of taxes. Users get 3.3TB or 3300GB of monthly fair-usage-policy (FUP) data with this plan. Airtel also provides 'Airtel Thanks Benefits' with its broadband plans which in this case includes a subscription to Wynk Music and Shaw Academy. BSNL’s New Base Plan The most affordable option from the state-owned operator BSNL used to be the 'Fibre Basic' plan which offers an internet speed of 30 Mbps at a cost of Rs 449. The mentioned price is exclusive of GST and the plan comes with a FUP limit of 3300GB or 3.3TB. However, the telco has recently introduced a new broadband plan called "Fiber Entry". Using its Bharat Fiber connection, the telco offers a Fiber Entry plan which provides 20 Mbps speed at a cost of Rs 329 per month. The data limit on the plan is 1000GB beyond which the speed is reduced to 2 Mbps. Tata Play Fiber Quarterly Plan Tata Play Fiber is formerly known as Tata Sky Broadband also provides an affordable plan that offers 50 Mbps of speed at a three-month price of Rs 2,097. This plan unlike other broadband plans offered by the provider doesn't come for a monthly cycle. However, users looking to get the plan for a longer period can get access to the plan for six months at Rs 3,300 and for a year at Rs 6,000. The FUP limit on this plan is 3300GB or 3.3TB. Excitel Broadband Excitel provides broadband connectivity only with 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps or 300 Mbps of internet speed. Therefore, the 100 Mbps plan offered by the telco is its most affordable plan. The Fiber First from Excitel provides users with a 100 Mbps plan for a month at Rs 699. Users can also get the plan for 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months for Rs 565, Rs 508, Rs 490, Rs 424 and Rs 399 per month respectively. However, the 9-month plan is available for only new subscribers to the service. Moreover, the plans from Excitel are truly unlimited and no FUP data limit is levied upon. ACT's Affordable Offer The Internet Service Provider based in Bengaluru provides a 40 Mbps unlimited data plan called 'ACT Basic.' The plan usually costs Rs 549 for a month, but the ISP is providing a unique offer for its customers, wherein the 'ACT Basic' plan is available for a price of Rs 470 per month for a duration of 6 months. In addition to this, the FUP data limit levied on the broadband plans is 500GB post which the internet works at speed of 512 Kbps.

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