Page 4 - Telecom Industry

Bharti dials up UK telecom play with $4 billion stake in BT Group

With 24.5% stake, it'll be biggest shareholder in Britain's 2nd-largest telco

Trai's service quality rules will raise compliance and costs, says telcos

Telecom companies said the new rules will impose additional costs on them, and the benefits to consumers will be minimal

Trai mandates telcos to compensate users for outages, raise penal amount

Telecom operators will have to compensate subscribers in case of service outages for more than 24 hours at a district level under the new quality of service rules issued by the sector regulator Trai on Friday. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also increased the penal amount to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000 for failing to meet each quality benchmark under the new rules. The regulator has introduced a graded penalty system of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for different scales of rule violations under revised regulations --"The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024". The new norms supersede three different regulations -- Quality of Service (QoS) for basic and cellular mobile services, broadband services, and broadband wireless services. In case of a network outage in a district, telecom operators will need to provide a rebate on rent for postpaid customers and .

Telcos eye 6G rollout with AI-driven network amid ongoing 5G deployment

6G is expected to heavily depend on artificial intelligence, with experts predicting that artificial intelligence algorithms will play a central role in driving the 6G networks autonomously

BSNL income up at Rs 21,302 cr in FY24; records lowest debt among telcos

State-owned BSNL's total income increased by about 3 per cent to Rs 21,302 crore in the financial year 2023-24, Parliament was informed on Thursday. Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, shared that BSNL's total income was Rs 20,699 crore in 2022-23. The financial data shared by Sekhar shows that BSNL has received Rs 1.16 lakh crore from the revival package approved by the government between financial year (FY) 2020 and FY24. The state-owned firm received Rs 60,203 crore in FY24. The government has approved three revival packages for BSNL and MTNL, comprising Rs 69,000 crore support in 2019, Rs 1.64 lakh crore in 2022 and Rs 89,000 crore in 2023 for allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum. In a separate reply, Sekhar shared a comparative chart of BSNL's debt position as of March 31, 2024, with other telecom operators. According to the chart, BSNL's debt reduced to Rs 23,297 crore in FY24 from Rs 28,092 crore in FY23 and Rs

BSNL losses narrow to Rs 5,371 crore in FY24, Ebitda at Rs 2,164 crore

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has reported on-year rise in its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation or EBITDA to Rs 2,164 crore for FY24, while losses narrowed to Rs 5,371 crore, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. As a result of packages and measures by the government, BSNL/MTNL have started earning operating profits from FY 2020-21, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. In line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, BSNL has placed a purchase order for 1 lakh 4G sites for deployment of indigenous 4G technology, Sekhar said, adding that the equipment is upgradable to 5G. According to the details of last five years' performance of BSNL shared by the Minister, EBITDA stood at Rs 2,164 crore in FY24, 38.8 per cent more than a year ago. The loss narrowed to Rs 5,371 crore in FY24, from Rs 8,161 crore in FY23. To another question on data breach in BSNL, the Minister said Indian .

Union Budget 2024: Govt retains Rs 1.2 trn telecom revenue in FY25

Non-tax telecom revenue higher by 28.5% despite muted spectrum auctions

Budget 2024 retains Rs 1.2 trillion telecom revenue goal for FY25

Despite muted spectrum auctions, non-tax telecom revenue for FY25 higher by 28.5%

Telecom technology needs capital, govt to allocate 5% of USOF for R&D

The government has decided to allocate 5 per cent of Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) for research and development of telecommunications technology, said the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. At present, the government has a corpus of around Rs 80,000 crore collected under USOF which has now been renamed as Digital Bharat Nidhi. "Telecommunication technology development requires significantly large and patient capital for R&D and commercialisation. To address this, the government has decided that an allocation of 5 per cent of annual collections from Universal Services Obligation Fund would be made available for funding R&D in the telecom sector," the survey said. According to the survey, the Telecom Technology Development Fund formulated in 2022 has seen significant participation from startups, MSMEs, academia and industry. The survey said the government dedicated '5G Test Bed' to the nation in 2022, providing an end-to-end testing facility, ...

Telecom tariffs likely to see more hikes in long road to Rs 300 Arpu

With 5G yet to be monetised, expect many more increases in telecom tariffs

DoT will be creating performance monitoring units for BSNL: Scindia

Testing and reimbursement scheme for startups & MSEs announced

Tariff hikes to push telcos' Arpu to decadal high of Rs 225 in FY26: CRISIL

The near-simultaneous tariff hikes by all major private operators will push up telcos' average revenue per user (ARPU) to a decadal high of over Rs 225 in FY26, domestic ratings agency Crisil said on Tuesday. Credit profiles of telcos will also improve on the higher profitability and the lower capital expenditure, the agency said. The ARPU -- one of the most keenly tracked metric influencing the financial health of an entity -- will increase 25 per cent in FY26 when compared to FY24, it said. "The industry ARPU should dial up to a decadal high of Rs 225-230 by end of next fiscal compared with Rs 182 last fiscal," its deputy chief ratings officer Manish Gupta said. It can be noted that after the formation of the new government following the general elections, the top three private sector telcos hiked their tariff rates by up to 20 per cent. Gupta said the increased data usage following the introduction of the 5G services will also help the ARPUs. He said customers have also been .

Space regulator nod must for using non-Indian satellites from April 2025

The government has issued an advisory to satellite television broadcasters to seek authorisation from India's space regulator IN-SPACe for using non-Indian satellites from April 1 next year. In May, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) issued Norms, Guidelines and Procedures (NGP) for the implementation of the Indian Space Policy-2023 which states that only IN-SPACe authorised non-Indian satellites will be allowed to provide services in the country. "With effect from April 1, 2025, only IN-SPACe authorised non-Indian satellites/constellations in any of the frequency bands shall be permitted to enable provisioning of their capacity in India, the advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said, quoting the relevant section of the NGP document. The existing arrangements/mechanisms/processes for provisioning of capacity in any of the frequency bands (C, Ku or Ka) from the Non-Indian Satellite operators can be extended till March 31

Statsguru: Jio, Airtel, and Vi hike mobile tariffs to boost 5G investments

Subscriber churn is expected, though companies have varied the hikes to minimise the impact at the lower end. Reliance Jio is expected to widen its lead over others in terms of total subscribers

Spectrum auction: Govt to issue demand note to telcos this week for payment

The telecom department is expected to issue a demand note to telcos this week for payment of spectrum they bought in the just-concluded auction, according to a source. The auction -- lasted for two days spanning seven rounds this time around - witnessed the sale of 141.4 MHz of radio waves for Rs 11,340.78 crore. In all, 10,500 MHz of radiowaves used for mobile services worth over Rs 96,238 crore were placed on the block during the auction started on June 25. Sunil Mittal's Airtel emerged as the biggest bidder for radio waves, cornering about 60 per cent of the Rs 11,341 crore worth of spectrum sold in this auction. Airtel bid and won airwaves worth Rs 6,856.76 crore, and rival Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio - the market leader - got Rs 973.62 crore worth of spectrum - the least in the three-way contest. Vodafone Idea's (VIL) bid for spectrum was valued at about Rs 3510.4 crore. As per sources, the demand note would outline both options - upfront payment or payment via instalments

Morgan Stanley, Citi, Jefferies: Brokerages decode RJio, Airtel tariff hike

In the last two rounds of tariff hikes, Vodafone Idea (Vi) in December 2019 and Bharti (Dec 2021) took the lead, while R-Jio was the last one to raise tariffs

Spectrum auction ends on Day 2 with total Rs 11,340 cr bids, officials say

Volume limited as large part of spectrum already auctioned, says Scindia

Vi buys spectrum worth Rs 3,510 cr to improve 4G network coverage, services

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea bought spectrum worth Rs 3,510 crore to improve 4G network coverage and service, the company said on Wednesday. Besides renewing 900 megahertz spectrum in UP West and West Bengal, the company enhanced its 900 MHz spectrum holding in seven circles, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP East and Kolkata. "VIL has strategically acquired spectrum in the select markets to enhance and strengthen its overall spectrum portfolio. This acquisition will enable us to effectively use dedicated sub GHz spectrum towards advanced technologies to enhance the experience we offer to our customers," VIL CEO Akshaya Moondra said in a statement. VIL has plans to invest up to Rs 55,000 crore over the next three years with focus on expanding and strengthening 4G coverage. During the calendar year 2024, the company has raised around Rs 24,000 crore through equity issue (including proposed preferential issue of Rs 2,458 crore to Nokia

Bharti Airtel acquires 97 MHz of spectrum worth Rs 6,857 crore for 20 years

The spectrum auction saw the government receive Rs 11,300 crore in bids over seven rounds, with Airtel emerging as the largest overall bidder

Telecom Act gets partially notified, govt can now intercept, stop messages

This can be done for public safety or during public emergencies