Page 28 - Telecom Sector

DoT releases guidelines for 5G trials across all available spectrum bands

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued guidelines for 5G trials across all available spectrum bands and is likely to allocate up to 400 MHz of radio waves for the purpose. The DoT has fixed a uniform fee of Rs 5,000 for the trial licence. However, its validity will range between 3 month and 2 years, depending on the purpose for which the trial is being conducted. For 5G service trials, "quantum of spectrum as may be necessary and/or can be justified to demonstrate technological capabilities. For example, typical values may be up to 100 megahertz in 3.5 Ghz (gigahertz) band, 400 Mhz in 26 Ghz band and other potential millimetre bands," the guidelines dated July 23 said. The government has plans to conduct spectrum auction for 5G services by the end of this year to enable the roll-out of commercial services using the technology in 2020. Indian entities involved in research and development (R&D), manufacturing, telecom operators and academia for the purpose of R&D .

Telecom needs to be put back on its feet

Hyper-competition, leading to significantly squeezed margins, rising debt and falling revenues, is the reason behind telecom sector's acute financial distress

As penalties loom, how true is telecom's financial distress narrative?

According to sources, the DCC asked the Trai to consider reducing recommended penalties on the violators of licence conditions "in view of the health of the sector"

Q1 telco preview: ARPUs to rise; subscriber churn to hit revenues

Analysts also expect the impact of debt reduction and the subsequent decline in finance charges of the operators to start reflecting from Q1 of 2019-20

Telecom sector: Next six months crucial

The industry is showing early signs of a turnaround, but it needs policy support

Telecom sector: Reviving BSNL and MTNL on top of the new govt's agenda

The government may also look at the monetisation of BSNL's real estate assets

Deploying 5G network will be critical for operators, says Sweden's Ericsson

Announces selection by VIL to deploy its Cloud Packet Core to enhance its existing core network.

Tata Teleservices in talks with ATC to sell tower business for Rs 2,500 cr

ATC TIPL is the second-largest private telecom tower firm in India with a portfolio of around 78,000 mobile towers

Taxes on telecom similar to non-essential items like liquor: Voda Idea CEO

Vodafone Idea has debt of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Spectrum related payments account for 80 per cent of the current net debt of the company

Telecom dept sets up insolvency panel to tackle issues faced by telcos

The six-member committee under the chairmanship of member (technical) in the Telecom Commission will look into three key issues

Telecom Q4 preview: Revenue stabilisation, ARPU uptick on cards

Revenue growth for incumbents maybe flat at 1.5 per cent, while Jio is expected to drive up to 11 per cent sequential growth

COAI seeks implementation of new telecom policy from the next govt

The National Digital Communications Policy 2018 proposes to rationalise levies such as spectrum charges to rejuvenate debt-ridden telecom sector

Goodbye freebies

For companies in the telecom and aviation sectors, revenue is a top concern now and will remain so for some time

New war front for telcos: Falling revenues from rising voice calls

According to India Ratings, the outlook for the sector will continue to remain damp in FY20

Consolidation in line with global practice, says Trai chief RS Sharma

Sharma's comments come at a time when the Union government is preparing for the next round of airwave auctions, expected in the latter half of 2019

Telcos added 22.80 million subscribers in July-September quarter: Report

Though the sector is stabilising after a series of exits and mergers, experts feel incumbents may see another round of decline sooner than later as multi-users become single users

26 firms show interest in conducting audit of telcos for FY12-18: Report

The audits will be carried out to check for any under reporting of revenue by telecom companies, an exercise that the DoT expects will be wrapped up by middle of next year

Indian telcos' love for China's Huawei, ZTE continues amid security threats

The global controversy over the security threat posed by Huawei and other Chinese firms has spilled over to India in the form of a battle between service providers and domestic equipment manufacturers

DoT expects to complete process for 5G spectrum auction by August 2019

India's largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea has urged the telecom department not to hold spectrum auction till 2020

Rural focus to drive telecom industry's tower business, says CRISIL

Addition of towers across rural India will also limit the decline in revenues, according to a report by rating agency CRISIL