Telecom Company

BSNL's market share gain from lower tariffs unlikely to impact Airtel, Jio

Analysts believe market share gains by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel will continue

Company agrees to pay $1 mn fine for making calls mimicking Biden to voters

A company that sent deceptive calls to New Hampshire voters using artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden's voice agreed Wednesday to pay a $1 million fine, federal regulators said. Lingo Telecom, the voice service provider that transmitted the robocalls, agreed to the settlement to resolve enforcement action taken by the Federal Communications Commission, which had initially sought a USD 2 million fine. The case is seen by many as an unsettling early example of how AI might be used to influence groups of voters and democracy as a whole. Meanwhile Steve Kramer, a political consultant who orchestrated the calls, still faces a proposed USD 6 million FCC fine as well as state criminal charges. The phone messages were sent to thousands of New Hampshire voters on January 21. They featured a voice similar to Biden's falsely suggesting that voting in the state's presidential primary would preclude them from casting ballots in the November general election. Kramer, who paid a

Trai asks service providers, telemarketers to effectively curb pesky calls

Amid consumer complaints about pesky calls, TRAI on Tuesday held a meeting and conveyed a strong message to service providers and their telemarketers to take effective measures to curb bulk communications using voice calls. As part of the crackdown, the regulator has sought proactive action from all the stakeholders specially access service providers (telcos) and their delivery telemarketers. The immediate action sought includes implementing technical solutions for traceability and preventing bulk calling by enterprise customers using 10-digit numbers. "The regulator has conveyed a strong message to the service providers and their telemarketers to come forward and take effective measures to curb bulk communications using voice calls," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a release. In view of the consumer complaints about unsolicited commercial calls, TRAI held a meeting on Tuesday with access service providers and their delivery telemarketers to deliberate the .

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus indicted on embezzlement charges

A Dhaka court on Wednesday indicted Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and 13 others for embezzling more than USD two million from the dividends of the employees of a telecom company. Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of Dhaka Special Judge Court 4 rejected a plea for the dismissal of charges by the accused and ordered the indictment. Judge Hossain read out the charges as Dr Yunus and the co-accused were on the dock and fixed the date for starting the trial hearing on July 15, a prosecution lawyer said. Counsels for Yunus, 83, and the 13 others accused all currently on bail pleaded not guilty and demanded exemption of the clients but the court rejected the plea saying the charges brought against the accused were primarily proved and thus, charges were framed against them. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering microcredit to help impoverished people, especially women, while the Grameen Bank, which he had founded, also secured the prize on the same occasion.

Telecom Bill 2023: Here are 10 important changes that will impact you

Telecommunications Bill: If any mobile user has more than nine SIM cards issued on one Aadhaar card, they will be penalised up to Rs 50,000 for the first time and Rs 2 lakh for subsequent offences

Trai directs Jio, Airtel to clarify terms on unlimited 5G data offerings

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have both clarified that unlimited does not equate to infinity as data usage is restricted by speed and network

Telecom operators projected to lose Rs 250 cr in SMS revenue to OTTs

OTT business messaging traffic in India is predicted to reach 24.2 billion messages in 2028

Delhi HC directs govt to refund Rs 7.12 crore IGST to Vodafone-Idea

On the issue of limitation, the court said the controversy whether the petitioner had made the claims within the period of limitation is no longer a contentious issue

High MNP demand, 5G competition to drive up telcos' marketing expenses

A total of 10.95 million MNP requests were submitted in April, bringing the cumulative number of MNP requests to 830.65 million from 819.70 million at the end of March

Indus Towers' net profit declines 23% to Rs 1,399 cr in March quarter

Telecom infrastructure company Indus Towers on Wednesday reported a 23 per cent drop in consolidated net profit of Rs 1,399 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2023. The net profit was Rs 1,829 crore in the year-ago period. Seen on a full-year basis, the net profit tanked 68 per cent for FY23, with the company stating that the "financial performance reflects collection challenges from a major customer". Meanwhile, Indus Towers' revenue for the March quarter (Q4FY23) stood at Rs 6,753 crore, a decline of five per cent over Q4 FY22. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation or EBITDA was pegged at Rs 3,447 crore, down 15 per cent year-on-year and representing an operating margin of 51 per cent. "The financials of Q4 2021-22 included a one-time positive impact of Rs 547 crore on account of deferred recognition of revenue from past settlements. In 2022-23, the company adhered to prudent accounting practices and reflected the stress on its ...

Centre freeing up more 5G spectrum, auction likely next year: Report

5G spectrum: Centre is looking for ways to shift some broadcasting and satellite players from 3.8 GHz to higher frequency

Tighter quality of service norms for telecom service providers on the cards

It intends to improve telecom services at a time when the country is quickly adopting 5G technology

12 big telcos enquired about telecom stack, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

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

Airtel World Pass international plans for prepaid, postpaid users announced

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

SoftBank Vision Fund loses $7.2 billion on back of tech writedowns

The Vision Fund segment lost 1.02 trillion yen in July-September, following a 2.33 trillion yen loss in the June quarter. Overall, the Japanese conglomerate logged net income of 3.03 trn in last qtr

About 4,000 jobs posted every day during festival season: Apna.co report

200,000 job opportunities created between Sep 1 and Oct 27; business development, telemarketing and sales among categories with highest number of vacancies

5G networks: The next big battle in India's telecom space is about to begin

Now that the bidding for spectrum is over, the next big battle lies in standalone versus non-standalone networks

MTNL Q1 loss narrows to Rs 653 cr, revenue falls by 17% to Rs 250.72 cr

The company had posted a loss of Rs 688.69 crore in the same period a year ago.

With $208 bn in fortunes, Mukesh Ambani, and Gautam Adani start to face off

Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. is the top player in India's mobile market, while the Adani Group doesn't even have a license to offer wireless telecommunications services

Rs 1.64-trn revival package for BSNL comes too late in the day: Analysts

The government should have merged BSNL and MTNL, and then looked at such a move, says an analyst