Broadband

Policy vacuum

Govt must frame rules for space communication

Jio launches plan at Rs 198 per month for fixed broadband services

Stepping up the fight in fixed broadband segment, Jio on Monday introduced its entry level broadband plan at a price as low as Rs 198 per month. The plan, named Broadband Back-up plan, will come with top internet speed of 10 megabit per second. Earlier, the minimum price for availing Jio Fiber connection was Rs 399 per month. The company has also provided an option to upgrade the internet speed to 30 mbps or 100 for 1 to 7 days by paying in the range of Rs 21 to Rs 152. "...we at Jio understand the customer's need to remain connected round the clock with dependable broadband connectivity at home. With JioFiber Backup, we want to offer alternate reliable broadband connectivity for homes. This new concept of a back-up connection allows homes to have an alternate broadband connectivity with an assured supply of data at an affordable price," Jio spokesperson said. Jio now leads the fixed line connection segment with 84 lakh customers accounting for 30.6 per cent market share. A new .

Nokia join hands with Netplus to deliver broadband services in India

Nokia on Monday announced that it has entered into a partnership with Netplus Broadband, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), to deliver future-proof and world-class broadband services in India

Jio's Radisys to buy Mimosa for $60 mn to bolster 5G, broadband services

The conglomerate via Jio, India's leading telecom service provider, is ramping up 5G and broadband services across the country after snapping up airwaves worth $11 bn in a 5G spectrum auction last yr

Nokia extends manufacturing of fibre broadband equipment to India

Telecom equipment maker Nokia on Thursday said it will extend manufacturing of PON optical line terminals (OLTs) to its factory in Sriperimbudur near Chennai to cater to rising demand from local customers in India and global markets. PON stands for Passive Optical Network. In a statement announcing the latest move, Nokia said shifts in consumer behaviour, from home working to data-rich entertainment services, are driving demand for broadband. "This demand is matched by strong institutional support with significant funding from governments and private equity funds around the world that are driving investments in broadband and fibre connectivity," according to the company. Nokia is currently a participant in the government's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and is extending its production capacity into Chennai in response to growing demand. Demand for fibre is also shifting to new regions with the Asia-Pacific region witnessing strong demand in markets like Japan, India and

Bharat Electronics partners Motorola in broadband, push-to-talk service

Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has signed an MoU with Motorola Solutions India Pvt Ltd for co-operation in the field of broadband, push-to-talk service. The MoU aims at leveraging the complementary strengths and capabilities of BEL and Motorola, the Bengaluru-headquartered company said in a statement. "It will enable BEL and Motorola to address the needs of professional mobile radio segment users to connect their teams with greater speed and efficiency using Motorola WAVE PTX, a push-to-talk (PTT) service," it said. WAVE PTX is a network independent multimedia communication service that instantly connects cross-functional teams at the push of a button without any boundaries, it was noted. BEL has also inked an MoU with INERY, Singapore, for co-operation in the field of Blockchain technology. The objective of the MoU is to take advantage of the combined strengths and capabilities of INERY and BEL in the field of Blockchain technology. "Integrating BEL's compleme

Isro scripts history with successful commercial launch of mission OneWeb

Indian Space Research Organisations' heaviest rocket LVM3-M2 on its maiden commercial mission on Sunday successfully placed 36 broadband communication satellites of a UK-based customer into the intended orbits, the space agency said, describing the mission as 'historic'. OneWeb Ltd is the UK-based customer of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), ISRO's commercial arm, and a global communication network powered from space, enabling internet connectivity for governments and businesses. Bharti Enterprises is one of the major investors in OneWeb. With Sunday's success, ISRO put behind the anomaly experienced in its August 7 Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission, that had then made the satellites unusable. Early on Sunday, a beaming ISRO Chairman S Somanath announced Deepavali had started early for the scientists at the space agency. "LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 mission is completed successfully. All the 36 satellites have been placed into intended orbits. @NSIL_India @OneWeb," ISRO said in a

Musk's SpaceX seeks DoT's nod for Starlink broadband-from-space services

Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio have already received DoT's approval for GMPCS licences

Extant rules choke growth, telecom bill needs review: Broadband India Forum

Forum also believes the bill also weakens role of telecom regulator, makes it subservient to govt

Decision on high-frequency bands for broadband likely in 4-5 mths: DoT Secy

Telecom and satellite operators should look at using the same spectrum bands in coordination with each other and the decision on use of high-frequency range for broadband is likely to be taken in 4-5 months, a senior government official said. Telecom secretary K Rajaraman, while speaking at ITU-APT Foundation of India event, said with more people in India joining the digital bandwagon, the data consumption will rise and in turn pressure on use of spectrum will also increase. He said that it's very important to discuss the possibility of convergence with terrestrial networks (mobile networks) and non-terrestrial networks. "I think there are options available, and therefore, we should be able to make some decisions over the next four or five months," Rajaraman said. The Department of Telecom has sought recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on high-frequency bands, including 27.5-28.5 Gigahertz, E (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) and V (57-64 Ghz) bands. Digi

Top Headlines: Unrealistic deadlines for EVs, Mistry's demise, and more

Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons and scion of the Shapoorji Pallonji group, died in a car accident near Mumbai on Sunday.

Top 10 in broadband? India needs to go from 1.95% to 40% adoption

Mukesh Ambani wants to achieve the target by deploying 5G fixed wireless access to homes

Captive 5G play: BIF refutes claims on backdoor entry of tech companies

Industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Friday said suggestions that captive networks should bid for spectrum in auctions is "extremely irrational". BIF refuted the "misinformation" being propagated to demand a level playing field between two completely different sets of services, public and private networks. The comments came a day after telcos' body COAI - which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - claimed that administrative allocation of spectrum for private 5G networks will be against tenets of fairness. The Celluar Operators' Association of India (COAI) had lauded use of open bidding and transparent auction route by companies seeking 5G airwaves. COAI had alleged that administrative allocation of spectrum for captive 5G networks is against principles of level playing field and effectively provides a "backdoor entry" to big technology players to provide 5G services and solutions to enterprises in India without equivalent regulatory compliance and

Govt must review private network guidelines: Broadband India Forum

Group says policy announcement gives no predictability to industry about 'way forward'

5G rollout unviable if captive private networks allowed, telcos tell govt

Telcos point to global trends and contend that 40 per cent of 5G revenues are expected from the enterprise segment and captive 5G networks will make 5G rollout unviable

Netplus Broadband keep Rs 300 crore capex for FY23; focus on rural coverage

Netplus has earmarked Rs 300 crore capital expenditure for current financial year, out of which most of investment will be made in expanding the network in rural areas, a senior company official said

Hope to start broadband internet service on SpiceJet aircraft soon: CMD

SpiceJet will induct more Boeing 737 Max aircraft over the next few months and it hopes to start broadband internet service on its planes soon, its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ajay Singh said

Govt cancels Rs 19,000-crore BBNL tender for connecting villages

The Centre had approved a viability gap fund of Rs 19,041 crore for the project that aimed to connect 3.61 lakh villages across 16 states

Govt cancels Rs 19,000-cr tender for connecting villages with broadband

Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd has cancelled a Rs 19,000-crore tender that was floated for connecting villages across 16 states with an optical fibre-based high-speed broadband network

Reliance's Jio Platforms, SES announce JV for satellite broadband services

Jio Platforms and SES will own 51 per cent and 49 per cent equity stake in the joint venture respectively.