${latestitem Title}

---

• BSNL 4G Prepaid Plans That Give Tough Competition to Airtel, Vi, and Jio
• Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Perfect for Budget Users
• Spacecom Policy Might Receive Approval from Union Cabinet by April
• Tata Play Cutting Price of Channel Packs to Attract Customers
• Jio, Airtel and More Cheapest OTT Broadband Plans
• Realme Working on a Smartphone With Alert Slider
• Apple “Mac Studio” – A New Computer From Apple is Coming
• Airtel My WiFi Plan That Offers Up to 100GB of 4G Data and Free Dongle
• Telecom Industry on Track to Witness Stable Revenue Growth in FY23

BSNL 4G Prepaid Plans That Give Tough Competition to Airtel, Vi, and Jio Posted: 06 Mar 2022 08:14 AM PST The telecom market in India is hugely dominated by the three private telcos – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. These telcos offer a massive range of prepaid plans curated according to the need of their users. The state-owned telco BSNL, on the other hand also offers prepaid plans with amazing benefits but mostly gets overshadowed in front of the private giants. BSNL offers prepaid plans that not only provide unlimited calling benefits but also offer amazing data benefits as well as in some cases comes bundled up with OTT platforms. Mentioned are a few prepaid plans offered by BSNL that can give tough competition to Airtel, Vi and Jio. Prepaid Plans from BSNL The first plan on the list is a budget plan called STV_298 from BSNL. The plan comes with a validity period of 56 days and offers unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS a day at a cost of Rs 298. This prepaid plan offers 1GB data per day beyond which the speed reduces to 40 Kbps. With the STV_298 prepaid plan, users also get access to Eros Now entertainment services for 56 days. The next prepaid plan on the list is the STV_429 plan offered by BSNL which also comes with access to the OTT platform. This plan comes with a validity of 81 calendar days and offers unlimited voice calling at Rs 429. Moreover, users also get 2GB data per day and unlimited data at 40 Kbps after the set daily limit. Users also get access to 100 SMS every day and users also get access to Zing and BSNL Tunes. The plan can be purchased from 'Voice Voucher' on the website. Last on the list is the long-term as well as high data prepaid plan offered by BSNL. The prepaid plan called STV_WFH_599 from BSNL comes at a price of Rs 599 and offers 5GB data per day. Post the usage of a set data limit, users can enjoy the internet at 80 Kbps. Moreover, the validity period of this plan is 84 days. Users also get truly unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day along with a subscription to the Zing streaming platform which allows users access to thousands of songs, movies and other entertainment content. Another benefit this plan includes is that users can get unlimited free night data from 00:00 hours to 05:00 hours.

Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Perfect for Budget Users Posted: 06 Mar 2022 05:19 AM PST The Poco M4 Pro 4G launched on February 28 in India. It is a budget smartphone meant for users looking for something powerful without burning a hole in their pocket. With the Poco M4 Pro 4G, Poco has attempted to stand out by delivering a powerful AMOLED display with support for 90Hz refresh rate. I have used the device for a very short period, and here's my overall experience with it. Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Body and Design The Poco M4 Pro 4G has a plastic build at the rear with a huge camera bump. The camera bump also has Poco branding in bold, along with a triple-camera setup. I got the Cool Blue colour variant from Poco, but it is also available in two other colours — Poco Yellow and Power Black. It is quite light in weight but might be a little too hard for many people to use from a single hand. But there's a solution for that in MIUI 13, which allows users to switch to a single-hand mode. At the front, you will see a punch-hole cutout at the top centre with a slightly thick chin but very thin side bezels. The rear part of the body isn't something I like a lot because while it has a cool colour, the plastic back just takes away from the feel of the smartphone. The power button and the volume rockers are on the right side of the smartphone. Note that the power button acts as the fingerprint sensor as well. The SIM tray is located on the left side of the body. You get dual speakers with the smartphone — one at the top and the other at the bottom. The Poco M4 Pro 4G is pretty stylish, but I would prefer it to keep in inside a case at all times because of the plastic back. There’s also a 3.5mm audio-jack at the top. The Type-C port is at the bottom and can support 33W fast charging. Overall, for being a budget phone, the Poco M4 Pro 4G comes with a decent body and design. There's nothing too bad or too good about it. Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Display and Sound The sound output is decent because of the dual-speakers. At the maximum sound level, some users might not find the speakers to be satisfactory, but for me, at this price range, I don't think I can ask for anything more than this. There's a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display that can support up to 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch-sampling rate. To be very honest, I think Poco has done a good job to differentiate the M4 Pro 4G from other budget smartphones by packing an FHD+ AMOLED display that can support 90Hz refresh rate. The colours are really good and vibrant on display. Even under sunlight, with maximum brightness level, I could comfortably read text on the screen and view anything I wanted to. Poco said that the maximum brightness level that Poco M4 Pro 4G can support is 1000nits, which is very bright for a smartphone in the budget category. I am seriously satisfied with the display experience of this device. Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Performance and Battery The Poco M4 Pro 4G is powered by the MediaTek Helio G96 SoC. It is a decent chip for budget devices. Poco is offering this smartphone with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Using the 8GB RAM variant, I opened multiple applications at the same time to check whether the device overheats or not, and the result was; it didn't. There were no lags either. Everything was smooth and satisfying. I didn't do much heavy gaming on this device. However, it isn't hard for me to guess that the device will overheat if I load heavy games and play for an hour or so. The light games were a decent experience, and even they slightly heated the smartphone. The Poco M4 Pro 4G packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 33W fast-charting with MMT technology. You should not get battery drainage issues if you are using the device at 60Hz refresh rate. However, running the device with 90Hz refresh rate and using multiple apps at the same time will contribute to the battery running out a little faster than you would like. I want to specifically talk about the MIUI 13 right now. Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: MIUI 13 The Poco M4 Pro 4G comes running on MIUI 13 based on Android 11 out of the box. The MIUI 13 is something I can wrap my head around. It offers a very stock Android feel while retaining all of the best qualities of the MIUI skin from Xiaomi. There were a lot of applications that came pre-loaded on the device, such as Facebook, Netflix, and more. The good thing is, you can uninstall almost all of them except for the ones that are owned by Xiaomi. But that's not an issue for me. With MIUI 13, Xiaomi has focused on making the experience of the smartphone cleaner and faster for the users. MIUI 13 is the first time I have slightly liked the custom Android skin from Xiaomi. I can't wait to personally experience what Xiaomi has done with the Android 12 skin. Poco M4 Pro 4G Review: Camera The camera experience of the Poco M4 Pro 4G was again satisfactory for me. It isn't the best camera in the world, but it is a camera that might be the best in the budget segment. The Poco M4 Pro comes with a 64MP triple AI sensor setup at the back and a 16MP sensor at the front for selfies. The Poco M4 Pro 4G's portrait selfie mode and the normal portrait mode impressed me a lot. Even the pictures on the normal photo mode came out to be decent. I would, in fact, say that the Xiaomi 11i 5G didn't impress me in the camera department as much as the Poco M4 Pro 4G did. I am attaching the camera samples for you to see below (note because of compressions, the image quality that you see here drops a little). Normal Camera Mode 2X Mode Ultra-Wide-Angle Portrait Mode Portrait Selfie Mode Selfie Mode Poco M4 Pro 4G Price and Overall Verdict The Poco M4 Pro 4G is available in India starting at Rs 14,999 (6GB+64GB). There are two more variants available for Rs 16,499 (6GB+128GB) and Rs 17,999 (8GB+128GB). The company is also offering cashback of up to Rs 1,000 to HDFC Bank customers. If you are wondering whether you should buy this device or not, my recommendation would be that you can. Under Rs 15,000, the Poco M4 Pro 4G is arguably the best smartphone available in India. Its display is excellent, the camera is decent, and the overall performance is also satisfactory. The only thing that I didn't like about the smartphone is its plastic back, but that's understandable as Poco wanted to reduce cost. If you want this smartphone but with 5G support, there's also the Poco M4 Pro 5G available in India. It can also make for a good option in the budget 5G segment.

Spacecom Policy Might Receive Approval from Union Cabinet by April Posted: 06 Mar 2022 12:55 AM PST In the latest unfolding of events, the Union cabinet is potentially going to approve India's much-awaited Spacecom policy by April 2022. Satellite companies launch broadband from space service via low-earth orbit (LEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations and the new Spacecom policy will create a framework for the licenses, permissions and authorisations required by both global and local satellite companies. Let's find out more. Spacecom Policy Required for Fair Operations The report comes in from ET Telecom according to which, the director-general of Indian Space Association (ISpA), Lt. Gen. Anil Bhatt informed that the draft policy is expected to be submitted to the Space Commission shortly and when approved, it could be placed before the Cabinet by end-March or early-April for final clearance. It is to be noted that ISpA is a grouping of space and satellite companies. He further informed that the policy is likely to specify the "licences, permissions and authorisations" that Satcom firms require from the Department of Space, the Department of Telecommunications and the Indian National Space Promotion & Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). These authorisations are necessary to operate satellite internet services in the LEO/MEO domains and also set up earth stations (gateways) in the country. The Indian government had recently decided to exclude Elon Musk's Starlink from accepting pre-orders for its satellite broadband services in India, however, Bhatt believes that it will not put off other global satellite players from investing in India. He stated that the Starlink issue should not affect any FDI inflows in the country as the government treats all satellite operators equally and fairly. He further said that Starlink will also be able to overcome its issues around licences/permissions and launch services in India. As far as broadband from space services are considered, ISpA is counting on the government to support the budding industry by offering subsidies so that services can become affordable for the common man. It has been warned by the industry association that any move to auction 28 GHz spectrum for 5G services would make satellite broadband unaffordable and discourage global operators from investing in India. The industry association includes members such as Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, US-based Hughes and Tata group company Nelco.

Tata Play Cutting Price of Channel Packs to Attract Customers Posted: 05 Mar 2022 09:04 PM PST At a time when the service providers across industries are looking to increase their average revenue per user (ARPU), Tata Play (formerly known as Tata Sky) is reducing it. The company is reducing the cost of channel bouquets and packs for its users in order to retain them in an over-the-top (OTT) content dominated era. But this is not going to happen for everyone. Only select customers will see a drop in the price of the channel packs. So what's really happening, and how Tata Play will execute it? Let's find out. Tata Play Reducing Price of Channel Packs, to Result in Savings of Up to Rs 100 To make the services more affordable, Tata Play is cutting the price of channel packs for users starting previous Saturday. This move will supposedly save between Rs 30 to Rs 100 for customers on a monthly basis. Because of the state the pay-TV industry is in due to the high churn rate, NTO 2.0, and the bad state of the economy, Tata Play believes that it would be best if the price of channel bouquets went down. Tata Play has over 19 million active subscribers right now. Harit Nagpal, Managing Director, Tata Play, told ET that more people are downsizing their plans today instead of upsizing. Thus, the company will be strategically dropping the price of the bouquets, packs, and channels for select users, which might compel these users to recharge more. Nagpal said that this wouldn't happen randomly. The change in pricing for the users will be done based on their usage history, and the only channels/packs from their bouquet that they don't consume will be dropped. This will give these users peace of mind for only paying for services they really want to watch, resulting in savings. This is a good move from Tata Play at a time when the churn rate of the pay-TV industry is only rising every month that goes by.

Jio, Airtel and More Cheapest OTT Broadband Plans Posted: 05 Mar 2022 05:36 PM PST It is quite common for internet service providers (ISPs) to bundle up OTT subscriptions with their broadband plans as a majority of the subscribers have shifted online when it comes to entertainment. ISPs offer OTT add-ons with multiple plans as the popularity of the platforms in India has been sky-rocketing. However, the plans can get very costly and might not be affordable for a lot of users, hence, it is important to know the budget options available. Mentioned below are the cheapest broadband plans offered by Jio, Airtel and more that is bundled up with OTT subscriptions. Jio's Base OTT Broadband Plan The cheapest OTT broadband plan availed by Jio is a 150 Mbps plan. One of the most reliable service providers in India, JioFiber offers a 150 Mbps internet speed data plan at the price of Rs 999 for a validity period of 30 days. The FUP limit set on this plan is 3300Gb or 3.3TB. Users get access to symmetrical upload and download speeds of 150 Mbps with this plan. The plan is listed as a popular plan on the website and offers subscriptions to 15 OTT platforms including yearlong access to Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Eros Now and more. Entertainment Pack from Airtel Airtel has been one of the most prominent players in the market when it comes to providing broadband services. Airtel via its Xstream Fiber connection also offers plans with OTT access starting from the 'Entertainment' pack which provides 200 Mbps of internet speed at a monthly cost of Rs 999 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 subscriptions to OTT platforms including Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar along with Wynk Music. This is also Airtel's bestselling plan. 100 Mbps Plan from BSNL The public telecommunications company BSNL with its Bharat Fiber connection offers access to a few OTT platforms with a 100 Mbps broadband plan. SuperStar Premium-1 plan from BSNL offers 100 Mbps of internet speed at the cost of Rs 749 per month. FUP data limit set on the SuperStar Premium-1 plan is 1000GB and the mentioned price is excluding GST. The plan offers 5 Mbps of internet speed post the consumption of 1000GB of data and comes with access to a few OTT platforms such as Sony LIV Premium, Zee5 Premium and more. Netplus Broadband Netplus is another ISP that offers its services in seven Indian states in the North. Netplus can provide connectivity with up to 1 Gbps of internet speed. However, the company also provides truly unlimited plans that offer access to the OTT platform. The starting broadband plan with OTT availed by Netplus offers 200 Mbps of internet speed at a price tag of Rs 999 per month which is exclusive of taxes. Users get unlimited data and calling benefits with this plan. The plan offers a choice for the users to go for either an Amazon Prime Video subscription or a bundled pack of Zee5 Premium, Voot Select and EROS Now. Moreover, the data offered by Netplus is truly unlimited and no FUP data is levied.

Realme Working on a Smartphone With Alert Slider Posted: 05 Mar 2022 08:35 AM PST The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme is the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world right now, all thanks to its portfolio of feature-packed devices and aggressive prices. And apparently, the brand is looking to expand even further as it is reportedly working on a smartphone with a OnePlus like alert slider. Apple has been providing alert sliders with its iPhone for a while and OnePlus is the only major Android smartphone manufacturer that currently features a physical alert slider on its smartphones. But Realme is now looking to change things up. The Alert Slider Feature The report comes in from MySmartPrice according to which known tipster Yogesh Brar has informed on Realme testing a device with an alert slider on it. The said smartphone is expected to arrive in April 2022. Just like on iPhones from Apple, the alert slider allows users to physically switch to the vibrate mode and back. OnePlus is responsible for making this feature popular in Android devices as it offers an alert slider with the majority of its smartphones. Although, it’s not that surprising that Realme is coming up with this feature on its devices as both Oppo and Realme are part of the same BBK Electronics group from China. It will not be the first time when brands under BBK Electronics share the same feature. Currently, Oppo and OnePlus have the same codebase and Hasselblad camera tuning in their flagship devices. OnePlus has been bringing alert sliders with its Nord series of smartphones. The button has been made available on OnePlus Nord 2 and other premium smartphones from the brand above Rs 30,000. However, OnePlus chose to leave out the alert slider with its latest OnePlus Nord CE 2 device which is a mid-range smartphone. With Realme launching mid-range smartphones with an alert slider, the feature will be more accessible to consumers. Even though not much is known about the device or the exact launch date but speculations suggest a launch date in the near future. As of now, Realme has announced the official launch of Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 SE 5G for the next week. The official microsite confirms the launch of two new devices Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 SE 5G in India on March 10th at 12:30 pm IST. The same launch event will also witness the launch of the Realme C35 smartphone.

Apple “Mac Studio” – A New Computer From Apple is Coming Posted: 05 Mar 2022 08:12 AM PST The Cupertino-based tech giant is getting nearer to its deadline of transitioning from Intel Macs to Apple Silicon and apparently the company will be introducing even more computers with its in-house built chips. There already have been rumours of a new Mac Mini and Mac Pro that Apple might bring with its Apple Silicon chips and now a new report suggests that the company has been working on a completely new "Mac Studio" computer. Let's find out more. Details on Mac Studio The report comes in from the known publication 9to5Mac which informs that the new Mac Studio from Apple will be primarily based on the Mac Mini but will have comparatively stronger hardware. The report suggests that Apple is working on two versions of its Mac Studio as one will arrive with an M1 Max chip which is the same as the 2021 MacBook Pro and the other a variant of the Apple Silicon chip that is even more powerful than the current M1 Max. The report suggests that the new Mac Studio internally goes by the codename J375. However, it is not confirmed whether the company will stick with the "Mac Studio" name as it just represents a new category between Mac mini and Mac Pro aimed at professional users. Although the company has been reportedly working on Apple Studio Display and since the name matches with "Mac Studio", it is highly possible that Apple may widely advertise both products as a perfect combo for professional work. It was previously pointed out by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman that Apple is currently working on a smaller version of the Mac Pro that will arrive with an Apple Silicon chip equipped with 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores. The report from 9to5Mac suggests that the said device could actually be the Mac Studio from the company. As a matter of fact, Mac Studio could be launched as a replacement for the high-end Intel-powered version of the Mac mini which is still available in the market.

Airtel My WiFi Plan That Offers Up to 100GB of 4G Data and Free Dongle Posted: 05 Mar 2022 07:15 AM PST Bharti Airtel is offering a My WiFi plan that comes with up to 100GB of 4G internet data along with a free dongle. If you don't know what My WiFi service from Airtel is, don't worry, it is a simple hotspot device/product service that is offered to customers by Airtel Business, the B2B arm of Bharti Airtel. To sweeten the deal for customers, Airtel is also offering the dongle or the hotspot device free to the users. Let's check out how much this plan will cost and what Airtel customers will have to keep in mind. Bharti Airtel My WiFi Plan that Comes With Up to 100GB of Monthly Data Bharti Airtel offers users up to 100GB of monthly data for a rental of Rs 499 per month with the My WiFi plan. Along with this, 100 SMS and a free dongle are also bundled by the company. The interesting thing to note here is that the dongle will only be free with a lock-in period of 18 months. Since it is offered by Airtel Business, customers also get G-Suite benefits. 100GB of data is suitable for a person who relies on 4G networks for work from home or is in the move every day working from different places altogether. But this is not the only plan that users get under the Airtel My WiFi. The plans start at a very low monthly cost of Rs 299. Then there are also the Rs 349 and Rs 399 plans. With the Rs 299 plan, users get 30GB of data and 100 SMS, but there is no G-Suite included. Even with the Rs 349 plan, Airtel doesn't offer G-Suite, and users get 40GB of monthly data with 100 SMS. Lastly, with the Rs 399 plan, customers get up to 60GB of data and 100 SMS along with G-Suite benefits. To get access to these plans as an enterprise, you can contact Airtel's customer care team.

Telecom Industry on Track to Witness Stable Revenue Growth in FY23 Posted: 05 Mar 2022 06:39 AM PST The telecom industry in India is expected to witness strong revenue growth in the financial year 2023. The industry will witness revenue growth on the back of increased tariff charges as well as a sturdy rise in data usage in the country. The sector has been quite adversely affected by the debt due to factors such as the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) case verdict which created massive liabilities for the telcos. Growth of Telecom Sector According to a report from IANS, a Brickwork Ratings report states that while the pandemic had a bad influence on the other sectors, surprisingly, it turned out to be a boon for the telecom sector as corporates were dependent on telecom operators for the smooth running of their operations. This resulted in an increase in the sector's key growth factors such as ARPU and MOU. The report further states that the tariff hikes and increased data usage may further ease the difficulties in front of the telecom industry as it has already increased the revenues from 6% to 8% in FY22. In addition to this, a larger subscriber shift towards the 4G network is impending as the world has turned online for work as well as learning. This will further increase the revenues for the telcos in the country. It is to be noted that there was a 37% increase YoY in average wireless data usage in the second quarter of the financial year 2022. Telcos also imposed tariff hikes recently of about 20% to 25% which is further going to aid the industry. The report suggests that price hikes are quite uncommon in India as it is mainly dominated by three telcos and has a highly competitive scenario. However, the recent tariff hikes will help in improving the ARPU for the telcos helping them with their financial troubles and allowing them to invest better in the upcoming 5G network. Although, price hikes may prevent more subscribers from moving to 4G from 2G. Around 44% of the subscribers in India belong to rural areas and hence, the price hikes may not be that encouraging.

You are subscribed to email updates from TelecomTalk. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States