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Telecom Sector In India
Telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday intensified its crackdown on pesky calls and messages with new rules that prescribe fines ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for recurring and repeated instances of violation, in cases where telcos misreport the count of such spams. The regulator has mandated all telecom operators to analyze call and SMS patterns based on parameters such as unusually high call volumes, short call durations, and low incoming-to-outgoing call ratios to flag potential spammers in real-time. The amendment in the regulation in Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations come with graded penalty that will be imposed on telecom operators in case they fail to implement the provisions of the rule. For instance, a financial disincentive (FD) of Rs 2 lakh for the first violation, Rs 5 lakh for the second instance of violation and Rs 10 lakh per instance for subsequent violations will be imposed on access providers in case of misreporting of the count
The loss-making private telecom firm Vodafone Idea has rolled out annual recharge plans for mobile phones, offering users unlimited data from midnight till noon, in an attempt to catch up with competition. The company in a statement shared that it has rolled out pre-paid plans priced at Rs 3,599, Rs 3,699 and Rs 3,799 that will offer unlimited data usage from 12 AM till 12 PM every day throughout the year and it will be in addition to the daily data usage limit at high speed. "Vi's annual recharge plans offer half day unlimited data from 12 AM to 12 PM in addition to a 2GB daily data quota for the remaining 12 hours of the day. Not just that, Vi SuperHero packs also offer weekend data rollover, which allows users to carry forward unused weekday data and use it during the weekend," Vi said. The new recharge plans, Vi SuperHero prepaid packs, are currently available in Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana. Vi's rival Jio and Bharti Airtel h
Reduction in levies and tariff hikes are required for telecom operators in the country to reap the benefit of investments they have made in digital infrastructure, according to experts in the sector. Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services in 2024 for the sector. However, the challenge is to keep 180 million 2G customers connected and encourage them to move to 4G for inclusive growth. "Telecom sector levies need to be rationalised, India is the highest on levies and still one of the lowest on tariffs. Innovation in tariff structure may come in with high usage customers paying more and entry level data users still at similar rates," EY India Markets and Telecom leader Prashant Singhal said. He said that India still had over 18 crore 2G customers who need to move to the 4G bandwagon in 2025 may see that happening. "The investments made by telecom companies
The country's private telecom operators face twin challenges on investment recovery in the New Year customers leaving their network after tariff hikes and satellite players mainly Elon Musk's Starlink eyeing a chunk of their bread and butter data business. Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services which is one of the main highlights of 2024 for the sector. To recover investments and protect margins, private telcos resorted to tariff hikes in mid-year but that move backfired. Around 2 crore subscribers dropped their connections. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea jointly lost 2.6 crore customers due to a 10-26 per cent price hike. Around 68 customers switched to state-run player BSNL which refrained from price hike. The loss-making PSU still offers generation-old 3G service and is on the path of rolling out 4G network across the country. Despite ..
Debt-ridden telecom firm Vodafone Idea on Thursday said its board will consider a proposal to raise Rs 2,000 crore from entities belonging to promoter Vodafone Group. The development follows Vodafone Group's announcement to sell a 3 per cent stake in Indus Towers to clear its debt of USD 101 million or about Rs 856 crore and use the residual amount to pay outstanding dues of its Indian venture Vodafone Idea. " a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled to be held on Monday, 9 December 2024, inter-alia, to consider proposal for raising of funds not exceeding Rs 2,000 crore, by way of issuance of equity shares and / or convertible securities on a preferential basis to one or more entities belonging to Vodafone Group," the company said in a filing. British telecom firm Vodafone's 3 per cent stake in Indus Towers is valued at around Rs 2,800 crore. The company had announced that after settling the debt, it intends to contribute the residual proceeds from the placi
The Centre has blocked 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1.32 lakh International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers reported by police authorities to check cyber crimes in the country, Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday. In a written reply to a question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the central government and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers appearing to be originating within India. "Such international spoofed calls have been made by cyber criminals in recent cases of fake digital arrests, fedex scams and impersonation as government and police officials," the minister said. Directions have been issued to the TSPs for blocking of such incoming international spoofed calls, he said. "Till November 15, 2024, more than 6.69 lakh fake SIM cards and 1.32 lakh IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by the government of India," he ...
Insolvency tribunal NCLAT has said that the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) would prevail over the provision of the Telecom Service Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, as it dismissed two petitions filed by the sectoral regulator in the RCom matter. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) dismissed the plea by the telecom regulator TRAI against the classification of the balances of the customers of RCom as operational debt by the resolution professional in the insolvency proceedings of the defunct service provider. NCLAT also dismissed the second petition filed by TRAI, where it sought direction to the resolution professional of RCom for payments of statutory dues amounting to Rs 85.10 lakh. "The submission of the appellant (TRAI) that Act being a special law, would prevail over the provisions of IBC cannot be accepted." "The Supreme Court has already held that Section 238 of the IBC has overriding effect over any other law. Hence, IBC shall prevail over the ..