Telecom Operators

Guidelines to come into effect on July 1 but companies seek one-year extension

The telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday directed telecom operators to start reporting about network outages that affect all consumers in a district. The direction has come into force with immediate effect. "..the access service providers have been directed to report...all incidents of major network outages affecting the telecom services to the entire consumers of a district continuously for a period of more than four hours, within 24 hours of their occurrence," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a statement. The development follows after the regulator learnt about major network outages in the country of prolonged duration especially in the border and hilly areas, which adversely affect the quality of services being provided. Trai has directed telecom operators to report the root cause of major network outages and corrective actions taken by the telecom operators within 72 hours of restoration of the service. The regulator said that the information will be colle

Trai on Monday asked telcos to take immediate action to curb pesky calls and messages by getting banks and FIs to clean up unused templates, as the regulator initiated a slew of steps to crackdown on the issue of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) that, at times, leads to instances of frauds and scams. Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indian (Trai) held a review meeting with telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea (VIL) on issue of UCC detect system. During the meeting, Vodafone Idea made a presentation on a AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) system that can analyse and detect patterns when it comes to fraudulent messages being sent from mobile numbers by scammers. Trai said permission will now be given to VIL for a pilot, and based on its success Trai will come out with principles/regulations for such solutions in the industry. The deadline for review of implementation of UCC detect system using AI/ML is May 1. "Today we have made it ver

Telecom operators disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during 2021 and 2022, respectively over violation of regulations, meant to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication or pesky marketing calls and messages, Parliament was informed on Friday. Till date, TRAI has imposed financial disincentives of Rs 34.9 crore on the access service providers for failing to curb unsolicited commercial communications in their networks from Registered Telemarketers, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation - 2018 to curb the Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). "The Access Service Providers have disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during the calendar year - 2021 and 2022, respectively for violating TCCCPR-2018," Vaishnaw said. To another question in Rajya Sabha on domestic production of telecom equipments, Minister of State for

Bharti Airtel has rolled out various family plans offering monthly data in the range of 105-320 GB as it looks to attract prepaid users to switch to postpaid connections. The new family plans uploaded on the company website are in the range of Rs 599 to Rs 1,499 per month, while Black family plans, that bundles DTH and fixed broadband service, are in the range of Rs 799 to Rs 2,299 per month. A company official told PTI that the new plans are aimed at attracting prepaid customers to switch to postpaid whereby family members will be able to optimally use the data limit, calls, SMS etc bundled in a plan. Out of the total mobile subscriber base of 332 million, the company had 5.4 per cent postpaid users on its network in the December 2022 quarter. The postpaid customer base of Bharti Airtel grew by about 8 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 18.9 million as of December 31, 2022. These new family plans allow bundling 2-5 mobile phone connections under one plan. Airtel has bundled Ama

To tackle the persistent menace of spam calls, mobile phone operators are considering using artificial intelligence (AI)-led interventions

Firing a fresh salvo in the revenue share debate, industry body COAI on Monday said the demand of telecom operators for a reasonable usage fee' from OTT communication service providers towards network use is "fair and rational", and would drive the digital infrastructure while contributing to the economy. Just days after Internet and Mobile Association of India's (IAMAI) assertions that demand for 'revenue share' was an underhanded attempt to violate net neutrality, COAI returned fire saying it is "misleading" to state that Net Neutrality principles will be violated. "Certain entities with vested interests are misdirecting the issue of the need for a regulatory framework for the communication OTTs and the need of usage charge to be paid by OTTs to the TSPs, by bringing in the aspect of Net Neutrality in a misleading manner, to make it a populist issue," SP Kochhar, Director General of COAI, said in a statement, without naming IAMAI. The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI

Telecom regulator Trai has asked telcos to report call drop and service quality data at state level, as the regulator instructed operators to immediately improve quality of service and connectivity across the country. Trai chief P D Vaghela met representatives of telecom companies, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, on Friday to review service quality, and asked operators to take necessary steps to reduce call drops. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has made it clear to operators that it will tighten service quality benchmarks, for which a consultation process will be initiated. Vaghela told reporters that Trai will make the service quality standards more stringent. To start with, Trai will monitor call drop data at the state level too, immediately. At present, the data is collected LSA (licensed service area)-wise and averaged quarterly. This makes it difficult to pin-point problems, and patchy networks in smaller states. The reporting of da

A majority of respondents in a survey claimed that they face call drop or call connection issues on any given day, online survey firm LocalCircles said on Thursday. According to the survey report, 28 per cent respondents said that they get uninterrupted access to 4G or 5G network while 32 per cent shared that they do not have access to 4G or 5G services most of the time despite paying for it. "Sixtynine per cent mobile service subscribers face call connection/call drop problems on any given day," the report said. The survey received over 42,000 responses from citizens located in 338 districts of India. However, the number of responses varied from question to question, LocalCircles said. A total of 10,927 people responded to questions on the frequency of call connection or call drop on any given day. "36 per cent or more than one third of respondents stating 'up to 25 per cent of the calls'; 13 per cent indicated the percentage was as much as 25-50 per cent; while 10 per cent indic

Industry body COAI has contended that implementation of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) should not be made mandatory but kept optional for telecom operators

Just like the Truecaller app displays the names of people calling, the Centre through Telecom bill 2022 is seeking to establish this feature as a part of the telecommunications network

The telecom sector says that over a third of their earnings is currently paid to the government as levies

Telecom operators are installing on an average 2,500 base stations per week for providing 5G services in the country, Union minister Devusinh Chauhan said on Friday. The Minister of State for Communications told Rajya Sabha that 20,980 mobile base stations were installed as of November 26. Out of them, Reliance Jio and Airtel have installed 17,687 and 3,293 base stations, respectively. "Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have started providing 5G services in the country from October 1, 2022 onwards. As on November 26... 20,980 base stations have been installed in 14 states and union territories. On an average, TSPs are installing approximately 2,500 base stations per week," Chauhan said in a written reply. He said telecom operators have reported that they are presently providing 5G services to their subscribers, having 5G enabled devices, at no extra cost. "Presently, separate counts of 5G users are not being maintained by TSPs". In response to a question on 5G services of BSNL and

He said the government's Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) would be slowly enlarged to Rs 3,000-4,000 crore over a number of years, from the current Rs 500 crore per year

The Airtel World Pass international roaming plans offer significantly higher value in terms of data and voice benefits, Airtel said in a statement

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has won a cellular IoT solution mandate with TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited to deploy IoT solutions for 2 lakh Smart Meters, the company said on Tuesday. The company said that 70,000 electric smart meters will be delivered in the first phase. Smart metering is one of the most rapidly advancing use case for cellular IoT in India with several power distribution companies looking forward to invest in this space to prevent revenue leakage. Smart metering is also one of the fastest growing service lines within IoT business portfolio for Airtel. Airtel said that it is working with multiple state utilities in Punjab, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. The centre has a big ambitious vision of replacing 30 crore conventional meters with Smart Meters in the next 5 years as part of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) initiative, the statement said. * * * * * DCX signs pact with Shree Shubham Logistics Mumbai: Global agri fintech play

What does ARPU mean?

Your telecom operator and your favourite media platforms mention their average revenue per user, or ARPU, to analysing performance and flaunt their business health. Let's understand what ARPU is

The list of companies that want to establish their own private network includes names like Infosys, Tejas Networks, Capgemini, and Larsen & Toubro

Number of towers may be increased to 10K per week by Jan

Telecom companies are expected to witness "steady" revenue growth in Q2FY23 with slight sequential uptick in average revenue per user albeit softer net additions, while SUC (spectrum usage charges) savings are seen lifting margins, say analysts. Amid mega 5G network deployments by telcos, market analysts will be keenly tuning in to management commentaries on pace of roll-out for next-generation services, capex outlook and markers on tariff hikes. "We expect Indian telcos to report a steady quarter with stable ARPUs and slowing net adds. Margins would be higher q-o-q as we get 45-50 days benefits of lower SUC," BofA Securities said in its Q2 earnings preview for the sector. India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio is expected to come out with its Q2 report card on October 21 (Friday), while Bharti Airtel is scheduled to announce its results on October 31. In the earnings' preview for the sector, ICICI Securities anticipated "steady revenue growth" and said margins may jump on .