Search results for: “Idea Cellular”

Idea Cellular Announces a 550 Crore Rupee Investment in UP

Idea Cellular has announced an investment of Rs. 550 crores in Uttar Pradesh over the next two years. Hoping for support from Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, the third biggest telecom company has decided to increase its investment from the current Rs.4,400 rupees.

Idea Cellular’s Managing Director Himanshu Kapania says, “Out of the total investment of Rs. 42,000 crores that Idea has made across the country, 11 percent of the investment has come to UP”. Stats further show that the telecom operator is present in about 82% cities of the state. It now plans to increase its consumers to 95%.

Kapania further comments, “”If you want to reach Internet to every nook and corner of UP, we have to put up fibre and we are requesting the UP government to issue a forward-looking RoW policy, which is currently pending across most states. We are hoping this state would be on the forefront in supporting us”.

Image Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news/idea-cellular-to-invest-rs-550-crores-in-up-over-next-2-years-738607″]NDTV Gadgets[/tw-button]

September 11, 2015
Vodafone India And Idea Merger: New Leadership Team Announced

Vodafone India Plc and Idea Cellular India have announced the completion of the merger. Post the merger, the top-level management will see a shakeup and the two telcos will join hands to take on the rising popularity of Reliance Jio. Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the Non-Executive Chairman of the merged Company. The new CEO will be Balesh Sharma, the current Vodafone COO.

Vodafone Group Chief Executive, Vittorio Colao, and Aditya Birla Group Chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla have said:

We are pleased to announce the proposed management team for the new company to be created through the merger of Vodafone India and Idea. The team has extensive operational experience and is an excellent blend of expertise from both companies.

We look forward to the completion of the merger and competing as one company in the marketplace.

My Vodafone App

According to a report, Vodafone and Idea will together invest about Rs. 60,000 crore in the next three years to upgrade its infrastructure. Both the companies will invest up to Rs 14,000 crore on capital expenditure. Bharti Airtel is miles ahead of the two companies when it comes to investment this year. Bharti Airtel is already spending around Rs 22,000 crore on capex for its India wireless business. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s spend on infrastructure has been higher this year.

A recent relief for the Indian telecom industry announced by the Government will also help this merger. The two companies will be able to retain spectrum in key markets and then significantly boost cashflows. More details about the merger will follow.

March 22, 2018
TRAI Received Only 21 Counter-Comments On Net Neutrality

Last year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) raised the issue of net neutrality and, needless to say, it sparked off a major debate. This eventually led TRAI to invite public comments on the differential pricing of net services and the last date to submit counter-comments was 14th January.

Of the total 24 million applications submitted over TRAI’s paper on the differential pricing of data, a significant aspect of net neutrality, there were only 21 counter-comments submitted by individuals or organisations.

List of telecom operators that countered the proposal of keeping net services neutral of discriminatory pricing include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications, through industry bodies, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service of India (AUSPI). COAI and AUSPI said in their joint counter-comment,

“Price differentiation will allow TSPs to cater to specific consumer requirements, including facilitation of access to those segments that are currently unconnected or poorly connected. Price differentiation is a widely adopted business practice used in many industries.”

While talking about the net-neutrality debate in India, how can we not talk about Facebook and its Free Basics? While openly opposing differential pricing of internet services, Facebook continued to defend Free Basics and claimed one more time that it’s not a threat to net neutrality.The company defended itself in an official statement,

“This is not true and evidence refutes it. In addition, this need not be a material concern since the programme is open to all operators on the same terms in a non-exclusive manner.”

While the future of net neutrality still seems uncertain, we can only hope to wait and watch the events unfold. In the meantime, find more information here Facebook’s Free Basics.

January 16, 2016
Companies May Start Manufacturing 5G Smartphones From Next Year

With 4G gaining speed slowly here in India, we’re already looking at the possibility of 5G coming sooner than expected. There is no doubt that the next step to fast, wireless network is 5G. The question is how quickly that may happen. Though it is highly unlikely that 5G would be introduced by next year, it will not, however, it has not stopped smartphone makers to prepare for it.

The whole idea behind 5G comes as a ‘what can we add’ when looking at 4G. 4G connections tend to drain battery life in a flash and 5G would look to solve this by making it more energy efficient.

So far Bharati Airtel is the only operator to have launched 4G in a broad scale since it initially launched it on 10 April 2012 in Kolkata. Since then, Airtel’s 4G services have spread across the entire country.

Bharati Airtel revealed it has faced problems in Delhi due to the spectrum cap. The problem currently is the need for more spectrum. The operators in India need more spectrum to improve quality of not only internet services but to also reduce ‘call drops’. This is a deficiency which can only be fixed by the Indian Government and TRAI.

The recent spectrum auction held in March saw Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Reliance Jio Infocomm as the big winners, with Bharati Airtel and Reliance Jio already planning big launches of LTE using 1800 MHz as the primary band. However, limited spectrum is slowing the growth of 4G. This will also delay 5G services in India, whenever it does begin to roll out.

September 21, 2015
Airtel Users Experience Maximum Call Drops

We have all been recently experiencing something that has been termed as ‘call drops’, and as of June 30th 2015 Airtel has received the the most number of complaints (31) followed by Vodafone, Idea Cellular and BSNL as written by telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has also received complaints from Reliance, Aircel, MTS and Tata users too.

The Airtel CEO had written an open letter to its customers asking for their help. He mentioned that the two most important things necessary for a good service or network were sites and spectrum. He also requests customers to identify nearby mobile sites to reduce call drops in a particular locality.

But what is the government doing about this, since customers are still paying for inefficient services?

“TRAI has been monitoring the performance for service providers against the quality of service benchmarks for the various parameters through quarterly performance monitoring reports.” – Ravi Shankar Prasad

Ideally, the call drop rate should be less than 2%. Although, service providers have cited various reasons such as equipment faults, frequent load shedding in some circles, difficulty in site acquisition, shutting of existing mobile towers due to radiation concerns and restrictions near international borders. These don’t seem to be excuses but facts of this situation.

The government promises to meet telecom service providers in April as well as the second week of July, 2015 regarding the call drop issue, wherein, they have been asked to take immediate measures to address issues of call drops by radio frequency optimization, installation of new sites and in-building solutions.

However, the results of these measures are yet to be experienced.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Airtel-subscribers-suffer-maximum-call-drops-TRAI/articleshow/48184843.cms?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TOITech”]Times Of India [/tw-button]

July 24, 2015
BlackBerry Will Not Manufacture Sub-$200 Phones: Company’s India Head

Lately, BlackBerry has been witnessing a revenue dip in its smartphone segment. It recently released Leap and Classic, to catch up with the present smartphone market, but the Canadian firm’s future success is uncertain. Hence, BlackBerry has chosen to restrict the yearly rollout of its models and focus on enterprise business for maximum profits.

BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani said they will roll out the company’s key handsets, but for a niche segment. “The focus going ahead is the enterprise business, which today contributes a significant portion to the company’s revenues,” commented Lalvani. He further stated that they will not manufacture sub-$200 phones in future like other smartphone manufacturers are doing these days.

BlackBerry’s market share in the Q4 last year explains the actual position of the company. According to research firm IDC, the market share of BlackBerry was 0.4% in last quarter 2014 (October-December), which was 8.1% during the same period in 2011.

Lalvani comments on the firm’s goal for the coming years were –

Going ahead the focus will be on increasing the bottom line and not the top line. So, in aligning ourselves to this view, we will not sell a huge number of handsets and hardware to boost our revenue figures but concentrate our effort on our high-margin enterprise and software services, which will drive profits.

A couple of days back, an innovative idea was introduced by the smartphone maker that will sort the problem of managing multiple SIM cards. BlackBerry proposed a Virtual SIM card for the Indian users which gives the benefit of nine SIM cards in one. Talks are on with regulatory authorities and telecom operators to launch the Virtual SIM in India, and it has also partnered with Idea Cellular for its services. The same is expected to arrive by year-end.

May 9, 2015
BlackBerry’s Virtual SIM Allows Users Operate Multiple Mobile Numbers via Single SIM

Once a reputed brand name, BlackBerry has lost a major chunk of market share to budding and established smartphone makers. The instant messaging pioneer is pushing itself to handset and software domain to reclaim its lost status. Recently, the company launched a software in India that allows customers to use nine different mobile numbers through a single SIM card.

Termed as WorkLife, the software offers customers to differentiate personal, professional data usage and segregates the usage details as per categories. Customers can use one number for personal use, other for foreign travels, third for business contacts and so on. It will be extremely useful for those on roaming or foreign trips as the virtual SIM will get you connected to a local virtual operator. Users can pay for the bills in the local tariff rate rather than paying for international roaming.

The Managing Director of BlackBerry India Sunil Lalvani said about the same –

The software precisely distinguishes between work use and personal use of an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry smartphone by introducing separate lines managed by the company.

The Canadian tech giant has tied-up with Idea Cellular as its first partner and is looking to join hands with more operators in India. The primary goal of the partnership would be to help manage telecom expenses, protect employee privacy and control company assets.

Lalvani further added to its statement that it will allow enterprises to interact with 25 people in one go through video and audio. Certainly, it’s a major move to lure business sector with advanced messenger service. As per Economic Times, the virtual SIM will arrive in India by year end.

BlackBerry’s share has been seen a tremendous decline in the first quarter of 2015. It is planning to establish itself once again in the Indian market and has launched the latest device BlackBerry Leap in India. It will go on sale starting next week.

May 8, 2015
All Major Indian Telecom Players Slash Down Roaming Rates by Up to 75%

After Vodafone slashed down their roaming rates, leading telecom operators followed suit, including Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication. All of the operators lowered their roaming rates up to 75% after TRAI cut off the maximum ceiling tariff. Roaming call rates will be cheaper by 40% and SMS by 75%. The above is effective immediately.

For Airtel, incoming rates have been reduced by 40% and outgoing inter-circle calls will be lowered by 23%. Outgoing local call rates will be decreased by 20%, and it reduced local SMS rate by 75%. Outgoing inter-circle SMS rate has been cut by up to 74%.

As for Idea Cellular and Reliance, similarly, these two companies have slashed their roaming call rates by 40%. Idea will now charge incoming calls at 45paise/minute and outgoing is reduced by 20%. Local SMS on Idea will cost 25% lesser, and STD will be charged 38 paise while on roaming.

In the words of Morgan Stanley, American multinational financial service:

Reduction in national roaming ceiling tariff would imply a 2% revenue impact and 4% Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) impact for operators, which could be partly offset by an increase in roaming minutes and any positive differential gains.

Earlier this month, TRAI had cut the maximum rate for STD calls on roaming to Rs 1.15 from Rs 1.50. To read about Vodafone’s new tariff plans, click here.

May 1, 2015
After Spending Heavily On Spectrum Auction, Telecom Companies Might Increase Tariffs

The spectrum auctions have come to a close, and the government has received total payment of Rs. 1,09,874.91 crores this time around. But what might be a good amount of revenue for the government, might not be good news for the mobile subscribers in India says Moody, the global financial credit rating agency. It means that the telecom companies might soon hike their tariff’s to make up for lost resources.

Moody said that the high rates of spectrum will tremendously increase debts and is negative for the credit of the telecom companies, and they would increase their tariffs to address the issue. It said that the hike will be gradual so as to keep their market.

Moody also mentioned that the companies would be able to recover a good amount of their departed fortunes with the increase in demand for 3G data plans. Telecom Minister of India, Ravi Shanker Prasad said that as per expert analysis, the annual load on the companies will be Rs. 5300 crore.

The latest telecom auctions saw significant spending on the parts of the network providers. Idea Cellular made a commitment to pay Rs. 30,306.98 crore followed by Airtel at Rs. 29,130.20 crore and Vodafone with Rs. 29,959.74 crores. Other telecom companies too pitched thousands of crores to secure spectrum and stay in business.

It is also being said that due to the massive investment in spectrum acquirement, the companies might slow the expansion of their 3G and 4G services. They might hold off major investments for the next phases of upgrades. So this would also be a disappointment for the users who have been waiting to use their new LTE enabled smartphones to their maximum potential. So dear Indians, brace up, the hike is coming.

March 31, 2015
Government of India Schedules Spectrum Auctions

The Government of India (GOI) is going to auction 184MHz of spectrum in 900MHz band through the Department of Telecom(DOT). The auction will be done as 29 licences will be up for renewal in 18 telecom zones in 2015-16.

The spectrum GOI intends to auction is mostly used for 3G services. The auction will be for the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz. Based on the memorandum of understanding between DOT and the Defense Ministry, the Defense Ministry will vacate about 25 MHz in the 2100MHz spectrum. Out of the agreed upon 25 MHz, the Defense ministry has already vacated 20 MHz.

DoT is also planning to sell spectrum in the 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands to be used for LTE (4G) services. In 2010, the government had auctioned 2300 MHz spectrum to the operators such as Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Tikona for long-term evolution (LTE) services. But now they are at freedom to use the spectrum to their discretion as they are not bound to the technology.

The government has 104 MHz of spectrum on it for auctioning. This will include the 26 MHz of spectrum freed after license renewals from Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India. Along with these the 78 MHz of spectrum which was left unsold in February will be up for auction.

The spectrum base prices will be set by TRAI for the 900 and 1800 MHZ spectrum. In the previous auction, the Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata circles were sold for double the base price, earning the government 610 billion Rupees.

This auction will give the companies a chance to expand their spectrum thereby expanding services like better 3G and 4G connection. But the heavy cost of the auction will definitely percolate down to the consumers. We have to wait and see if more spectrums mean better services from the companies or just higher phone bills.

July 7, 2014
India’s GSM subscriber base drops by 7.1 million in August says COAI

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), India’s GSM subscriber base is now at 671.95 million, after major players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular, lost roughly 5.1 million subscribers in the month of August, 2012. It is estimated that the total GSM subscriber base in India declined by 7.1 million in the same period.

Bharti Airtel, which currently holds a 27.82 percent market share, lost 1.90 million subscribers in August, bringing its total subscriber base to 186.9 million. Idea Cellular lost 1.64 million subscribers in the same period, placing its subscriber base at 115.97 million. Vodafone on the other hand, lost 1.55 million subscribers in the same period, giving it a total subscriber base of 153.35 million.

The other GSM operator to lose subscribers in the month of August was Uninor, which lost a significant 2.38 million subscribers. This brings its total subscriber base to 42.11 million. Airceland Loop Mobile were the only two GSM operators to have added subscribers in the same period, with Aircel adding 793,717 subscribers, and Loop Mobile adding 79,842 subscribers.

The COAI report does not include detailed data for BSNL and MTNL, but stated that the former held a subscriber base of 94.67 million subscribers in August, while MTNL held a 5.12 million subscriber base.

September 17, 2012
Vodafone follows in Footsteps Reduces 3G Tariffs by Upto 80% – New Tariffs

Vodafone has been slow to react, but have reacted none the less. Following suit after Idea and Airtel dropped 3G tariff prices. Vodafone has been quick to jump onto the bandwagon, announcing new 3G tariff plans that are almost 80% lower than previous plans in some cases, and even lower than Idea cellular and Airtel Tariffs.

With reduction in tariffs, Vodafone also announced there will be no additional charges for roaming on data usage. “Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India without any additional charge,” a company statement said.

The 3G tariff war is happening at a time when most of the operators are up in arms against the high reserve price of spectrum proposed by sectoral regulators Trai. The government is likely to take a decision on spectrum price in the Empowered group of Ministers meeting on July 21.

The operators have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted. According to industry experts, the price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.

June 21, 2012
MNP to increase due to 2G Scam licensing issues

If you have not already read the report, its high time you know that, the Supreme Court of India and revoked and cancelled licenses of 122 telecom operators such as Idea Cellular, Uninor, Tata Teleservices, Loop Telecom and Videocon due to the 2G scam. This will give a huge rise to the use of Mobile number Portability by users who are on these networks.

Though in India people are not very committed to MNP as in West, it will still be used as an option by those for whom retaining their numbers is very important. MNP would certainly act as a useful aid

– Com First India – Mahesh Uppal

TRAI also had a say on the subject claiming the total number of users affected is 5 % of the total subscribers.

The move is likely to affect less than 5 percent of users as the current operators other than the ones whose licences have been cancelled control almost the rest of the market, Customers can always go to the operators of their choice (through MNP)”

–Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman J.S. Sarma

Even if the affected audience is only 5%, it actually amounts to a very large number if you consider the active subscriber list. Mobile number portability takes upto 14 days, in such a scenario users may find themselves without a way out.

February 3, 2012
Useful Smartphone Accessories You Might Not Know Exist

The internet and e-commerce sites are filled with boatloads of mobile accessories which range from selfie sticks to tripods to power banks. However, we have scoured the web to find those accessories which are actually useful and you might not even know that they exist.

Neck Smartphone Holder

As the name suggests, this accessory allows the user to hang a smartphone around their neck. It features an extendable mobile holder that can stretch upto 7.5 inch. The legs aka the stand of the accessory are made out of flexible tubing, therefore, the users can adjust them according to their comfort and viewing angle.

Funnily enough, the key purpose of this smartphone holder is to replace human hands which would feel tired when staying steady in a given position for an extended period. Besides being used around the neck, users can also encompass it around their back and consume digital content in a leaned back position.

In additon to the two previously mentioned formats, it can also be used as a dock or a selfie stick.

Wall Mounted Phone Holder

A large majority of people charge their smartphones overnight and chuck it under their pillow which is bad both for the human body and the smartphone. Due to improper heat dissipation, the device may get hot and has a possibility of catching flames which clearly is hazardous.

Besides, reports have proven that keeping a mobile as less as 10 cm away from the body can eliminate 98% of the radiation emitted by them. Therefore, the next product on the list, which is a wall-mounted phone holder is a really good option that one must consider.

In addition, it also has a cable management system with whose help the user can hide the extra cable. This allows maintaining a tidy and nice aesthetic in a living or workspace. An alternative to this is the ‘flybase’ that hangs on the charger and allows a smartphone to rest on its lap while charging. However, this is ideal for situation when the charging cable is not long enough to reach the ground or a flat surface.

Waterproof Pouch For Mobile

The next accessory in the list is the waterproof mobile pouch. It is made out of leather and has a see-through TPU layer on the front and back. The top of the pouch has a triple seal which ensures water cannot come in contact with the smartphone that is placed inside.

Due to this feature, it can also be used for underwater photography. However, we recommend checking seals on the unit you receive before submerging your smartphone entirely underwater. Besides it also has a built-in lanyard which allows for easily carrying the smartphone while you are enjoying your beach holiday.

Although there are several choices online that start for as cheap as Rs 100, we suggest buying a quality product whether the one listed below or any other.

Mobile Cleaning Kit

Smartphones have become an integral part of a modern man’s life and they accompany us wherever we go. Throughout our day we come across several surfaces, out of which, many have a possibility of being contaminated with microbes or pathogens which are invisible to the human eye. Consequently, we can easily pass on these unicellular organisms to our smartphones as well.

Besides, smartphones have a high possibility of catching dust and lint from the pocket which can accumulate in grooves or slits like the earpiece grill or the charging port. After we take a bath or wash our hands we are able to get rid of most of the dirt or unicellular organisms but that never happens with our mobile phones.

The next product on the list is an anti-microbial cleaning gel kit. Not only does it remove any surface dirt, but it can also kill the microbes from the surface of a mobile phone which can spread communicable diseases.

Travel Organiser Bag

If you are somebody like us who owns a lot of gadgets and their accompanying accessories. This organiser bag can be a nifty addition to your setup. It has several zip secured pouches which can be used to store different miscellaneous items that can range from a sim ejector pin to chargers and whatnot.

It also has a dedicated section with elastic straps which can be used to neatly store different cords and cables. For easily carrying it around, the whole pouch wraps into a compact form factor which can be secured with a push buckle.

Hi-Speed USB C Pendrive

Although there are plenty of applications available for mobile devices that allow to wirelessly transfer or share data, they might not be the best option for moving large size files. A USB C Pendrive could prove beneficial if you often transfer files larger than 5 GB like us too and from your smartphone.

Besides sharing data from mobile to mobile, it can also be used to transfer data from smartphone to computer as it also has a conventional USB A port. Although the company claims a transfer speed of 150 Mbps, users can get speeds of upto 50 Mbps which is much faster than wireless sharing.

Also, mobile devices like the iPad Pro and OnePlus smartphones, don’t support memory expandability via a microSD card, the Dual USB Drive 3.0 could be used to boost the internal memory. Interested users can buy Pendrive of upto 256 GB which will be more than sufficient for most scenarios.

Also Read: Xiaomi Plans To Disrupt The Budget Segment With This Smartphone

Which accessory do you think is the best on this list? Let us know in the comments below.

August 19, 2019
Huawei Foldable 5G Phone To Launch on February 24

Huawei promised to release a foldable smartphone in early 2019. It also promised to release a 5G device in the same time frame. Looks like Huawei is going to fulfil both those promises at once as it has announced a foldable, 5G smartphone on Twitter. The Huawei Foldable 5G smartphone will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 24.

Come with us to explore #ConnectingTheFuture LIVE from #MWC @GSMA. Are you ready to reveal the unprecedented? #HuaweiMWC #MWC2019 pic.twitter.com/ErPD7eKMh1
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 1, 2019

This will be Huawei’s first foldable phone. This will also be the company’s first 5G phone. From the teaser, we can’t make out much details, but it seems like the foldable phone will fold inwards, much like the Royole FlexPai. The phone may also very well be the first 5G compatible phone.

Flexible Smartphones And 5G

Flexible smartphones seem to be the rage these days. Companies like Samsung, Oppo and Xiaomi putting all their resources to get the formula right. We have seen the demo of a foldable phone by Samsung at its developer’s conference November last year. It is speculated to be unveiled at the Unpacked event that is supposed to happen on February 20.

The concept of 5G on the other hand, is in a very nascent stage. Every cellular provider has promised the idea of 5G, but the timeline on when we will see a an actual 5G connection is vague. But it is expected that after many smartphone makers move to 5G modems in their products; we would soon see these providers switching gears and making it readily available.

Read more: Less-Feature Rich Galaxy S10 Variant Wont Be Called ‘Lite

The very idea of a foldable phone seems cool and exciting, but the question that still remains is, who is it for? The use case for a foldable phone hasn’t yet been defined. 5G on the other hand, could have many possible use cases and that makes it one of the trends to look out for in 2019.

February 1, 2019

More posts