ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Airtel acquires Tikona’s 4G biz , adds 2300 MHz spectrum in five circles

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest telecommunications services provider, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Tikona Digital Networks to acquire Tikona’s 4G Business including the Broadband Wireless Access spectrum and 350 sites, in five telecom circles. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

    Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles. Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction.

    As per the agreement, the acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in the Rajasthan circle, it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Limited. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the Government.

    The proposed acquisition will enable Airtel to fill BWA spectrum gaps in the 2300 MHz band in Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West), thereby securing a pan India footprint in the band. The deal will significantly bolster Airtel’s spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand.

    Bharti Airtel MD & CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said, “Airtel’s continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience.”

  • Sky picks TiVo to search entertainment across linear TV & VoD using voice

    MUMBAI: TiVo Corporation, a global leader in entertainment technology and audience insights, ha sannounced that TiVo and Sky, Europe’s leading entertainment company have joined forces to deliver voice search for Sky’s next-generation box, Sky Q. TiVo is providing Sky Q with a natural language, voice-based search solution, making it quicker and easier for Sky Q customers to find the content they are looking for.

    The solution delivered by TiVo lets consumers use their voice to search for digital entertainment across linear TV and video on demand (VOD). By implementing Conversation Services on Sky Q, Sky is making it easier for customers to discover entertainment, sport and movies by providing a conversational experience through language recognition and naturally spoken responses.

    “With Sky Q, we continue to innovate and bring fantastic new features to our customers, who we know are watching more TV than ever before. We want to make it even faster and easier for them to search, discover and watch TV,” said Sky’s brand director of TV and content products Luke Bradley-Jones.

    “That’s why we’ve introduced voice search. With the technology delivered by TiVo, we are enabling our customers to use natural, voice-based queries to find new and favourite TV to enjoy.”

    The solution is built on TiVo’s knowledge graph engine, a dynamic knowledge base of entertainment metadata, capable of understanding trends and conversations. Updated continuously via data ingestion and news crawlers, the knowledge graph includes information produced and curated by hundreds of content editors, predictive search results, and behavioral indicators from social networks.

    “With more and more content choices and a great range of entertainment available across TV, TiVo is helping partners like Sky provide the best user experience whilst driving content consumption,” said TiVo senior vice president and general manager, advanced search and recommendations, Matt Berry.

    “This implementation further reinforces the value of TiVo’s product portfolio in bringing the latest capabilities to pay-TV homes across Europe.”

  • Photographs with social media become powerful tools for Information: Naidu

    Photographs along with Social Media had been a potent combination in today’s digital world as influential mediums to spread awareness and ensure Good Governance, Information and Broadcasting Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu has said.

    The ‘Selfie with Daughters’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came out to be a powerful instrument of social change. This way of posting photos created a powerful impact on societal behaviour and ingrained cultural traditions.
    The Minister was speaking at the 6th National Photography Awards ceremony here, in the presence of Minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore and Ministry secretary Ajay Mittal.

    On the role of fast changing technology in communication domain, Naidu said the Internet had brought out the resurgence of visual image into our everyday communication. Digital cameras and cell phones with integrated cameras have generated an explosion of images into everyone’s lives. Social Media has provided a new platform to people to Share, Communicate and inform through photographs.

    Naidu conferred the Life Time Achievement Award to eminent photographer Raghu Rai, Professional Photographer of the year award to K K Mustafah and Amateur Photographer of the year award to Ravinder Kumar.

    The theme for this year’s awards for Professional category was “Skilled India”, while in the Amateur category the topic was “Swatch Bharat”.

  • Jio says Ookla has admitted to flaws in speed measurement system

    NEW DELHI: This is one ad war that refuses to die. Even after Jio on the one hand and Airtel and Ookla on the other have had their say, the argument goes on.

    In yet another statement by Reliance Jio, it has been stated that Ookla has now admitted to ‘limitations in its application and that it “does not always indicate the actual data provider in devices with multiple SIMs.” 

    Jio has already filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council of India about the ad by Airtel claiming on the basis of Ookla to be the fastest network.

    Both Bharti Airtel and Ookla had issued statements seeking to defend the claim. 

    Jio said: “Jio had been repeatedly pointing out this flaw in Ookla’s Speedtest methodology.” 

    It added: “This admission by Ookla reinforces Jio’s submission that there is a clear contamination in primary data collected by Ookla in India, where nearly 90 percent of smartphones are dual SIM devices.” 

    “Any results that are based on incorrect and contaminated primary data cannot be definitive, only probabilistic. It is a travesty that such results are being passed off as “official” results by a market-leading operator. We will continue to expose such misleading practices and raise it at suitable forums”, Jio added.

    Ookla had said, “The carrier displayed in the Speedtest Android application is based on the “Active Carrier” value returned by the device. Due to limitations of the Android platform, the “Active Carrier” does not always indicate the actual data provider in devices with multiple SIMs. In these situations, Ookla applies additional data sources and mechanisms during post-processing to help determine the actual data carrier being tested. 

    Jio in a statement yesterday had said: “The core issue is that the speedtest results are attributed to the primary sim even though the sim for which the data speedtest is conducted is the secondary sim in the case of dual-sim phones. In India, more than 90% of 4G phones are dual-sim. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the speed which is attributed to Airtel is of the Airtel data network. We are surprised that Ookla in its press release has not talked about this issue even though they had acknowledged the blunder to us earlier. Ookla has baldly stated that they stand by their results and has skirted the main issue. We will initiate actions as we deem fit at appropriate forums. The public should not be misled by these false claims based on the Ookla results.”

    Earlier yesterday morning, Speedtest (Ookla’s app) COO Jamie Steven said in a statement: “When analysing markets like India, we take many factors into consideration, including dual SIM devices, network technology, device types, and more. In addition to what the user sees on their mobile application as they take a test in real-time, we apply a rigorous methodology when aggregating the data which uses a variety of internal data sources that control for potential variability in the market.”  

    Also Read:

    Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, Ookla stands by its findings

  • Star India exVP Vivek Bhutyani launches ‘Lattu Kids’, partners Thought Cloud to co-produce ‘Trigo’

    MUMBAI: India has many successful animation IPs but most of them haven’t travelled to international markets. The country is known for its animation services but there’s no big success story of India in the animation industry. Keeping that in mind, there’s a new studio in town which is set to fill this gap and have a development in the international markets.

    This studio is formed by none other than the ex-Star India vice-president and head of content syndication, Vivek Bhutyani. He had mentioned in November that he planned to venture into the OTT sector and seems like his vision is still in place. For the past few months, the man has been in the process of launching India’s first learning and development focused content streaming platform for kids – Lattu Kids.

    Lattu Kids is a fully integrated kid’s entertainment firm which is based out of Singapore and India. It aims to produce and showcase the best International content in India and Southeast Asia. Lattu Kids, founder and CEO, Vivek Bhutyani says, “I have been passionate about kids’ content as I have a five-year-old son and while watching the various content available for kids these days, it made me realise that there’s hardly any content which impart values to kids. Seeing this gap, I decided to venture into the kids segment as this space has a lot of things which can be explored.”

    Read the full story here:

  • Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, Ookla stands by its findings

    NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel today accused Reliance Jio of making a deliberate attempt to “malign the brand” and “misguide customers.”

    A day after Reliance Jio wrote to the Advertising Standards Council of India against Airtel’s advertisement claiming it was officially the fastest network based on a finding by Ookla, Bharti Airtel chief brand officer Rajiv Mathrani said the company is “rather amused” by the allegations being made against its campaign.

    Meanwhile, Ookla has stood by its earlier finding about mobile internet speed. “Ookla fully stands behind Airtel being named ‘India’s Fastest Mobile Network’,” Speedtest (Ookla’s app) COO Jamie Steven said in a statement. Ookla has named Airtel as the “Fastest Mobile Network” in India based on data from Q3 and Q4 of 2016 which has been challenged by Reliance Jio.

    Jio had alleged that the advertisement was “misleading”, and done in “mala fide manner in collusion with” Ookla.

    Jio also alleged that Ookla, the owner of Speedtest app, charges money for giving such awards and the company has also approached Jio for the same for the very quarter it issued certificate of fastest mobile network to Bharti Airtel.

    But, Steven said: “When analysing markets like India, we take many factors into consideration, including dual SIM devices, network technology, device types, and more. In addition to what the user sees on their mobile application as they take a test in real-time, we apply a rigorous methodology when aggregating the data which uses a variety of internal data sources that control for potential variability in the market.”

    He alleged that “this is a deliberate attempt to malign our brand and misguide customers through a campaign of misinformation, which is something we now come across on a regular basis, in particular, on social media platforms.”

  • Germany threatens to penalise Facebook, Twitter for hate speech and fake news

    NEW DELHI: Germany has threatened to impose fines of up to €50 million (Euro Five crore) on social media networks including Facebook and Twitter if they fail to get their houses in order over the spread of hate speech online.

    The proposals would see firms hit in their pockets for failing to remove blatantly illegal content such as hate speech and fake news within 24 hours, according to a report in ‘Guardian’ yesterday.

    For other, lesser, law breaking content a more lenient deadline of seven days has been set.

    A draft law is currently being formulated by the German Parliament prompted by exacerbated politicians concerned that American social media firms are not taking the problem seriously enough, although it is likely to be met with howls of anger from free speech activists.

    Federal minister for justice and consumer protection Heiko Maas said, “Facebook and Twitter missed the chance to improve their takedown practices. For companies to take on their responsibility in question of deleting criminal content, we need legal regulations.”

    Internet giants have long striven to paint themselves as conduits of information rather than publishers in their own right, a semantic quirk which enables them to shed much of the responsibility shouldered by traditional publishers.

    The German government’s move follows concerns raised by chancellor Angela Merkel that fake news and bots could influence upcoming elections.

  • Kerala becomes first Indian state to declare access to Internet a human right

    NEW DELHI: With internet access being declared as a human right, the Kerala government feels nobody in a country rapidly heading towards hassle-free governance and a cashless economy should be at pains to acquire internet connectivity.

    In the state budget presented recently, the CPI(M)-led government earmarked a special fund aimed at providing Internet connections to two million families either at subsidised rates or completely free of cost.

    The state plans to install a new high-speed optical fibre network called K-Fon which will run parallel to the existing electricity board network. “If everything goes well, almost all governmental transactions will be available online by 2018. So, we have to equip all the citizens to meet this standard,” Finance Minister Thomas Issac said.

    High-speed internet connectivity is a basic right in most developed nations. In 2010, Sweden became the first country to make broadband Internet a legal right for every citizen. Canada followed suit last year, ensuring that every resident was entitled to Internet access at a minimum speed of 50 Mbps.

    Kerala plans to launch a big campaign on the lines of its ambitious e-literacy programme – Akshaya – to empower those deprived of Internet connectivity.

    Launching a literacy campaign in the early 2000s, Kerala quickly rose to become India’s most e-literate state by 2016-end.

    Isaac said the new firm will be floated with the help of the state electricity board to oversee the revolutionary scheme. “First we have to ensure that adequate infrastructure is put in place. We will take a Rs 10 billion loan from the Kerala Infrastructure Development Fund Board for the purpose. After that, we will speak to telecom providers in this regard,” he said.

    The government plans to provide free Internet connections to people from economically backward sections, and at subsidised rates to others. “We hope to achieve 100% connectivity in a year’s time. At least one person of a family will be given access initially,” the finance minister claimed.

    A tribal settlement in Malappuram was declared as the country’s first digital tribal colony last December. The district administration achieved this by training 100-odd families in carrying out cashless transactions.

    In 2016, the United Nations said depriving people of Internet connectivity was a human rights violation running contrary to international law.

    Internet connectivity is a human right in Sweden, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, Estonia and Canada.

    According to a study conducted by Committee to Protect Journalists, the worst violator of this ‘right’ is North Korea (where only 4 per cent of the population have Internet access) – followed by Myanmar, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Syria, China and Pakistan. India ranks at 47.

  • Idea-Vodafone India merger creates leader with 42% market share

    MUMBAI: Britain’s Vodafone Group’s Indian subsidiary and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular, after eight months of discussion, have merged to create a new market leader better able to contest a brutal price war. The merger, expected to be completed in 2018, was necessitated due to the launch of Jio Infocomm that shook the Indian wireless telephony market with its low rates.

    Idea Cellular on Monday approved the merger with Vodafone Mobile Services Limited and Vodafone. According to a statement, promoters of Idea and Vodafone will have the right to nominate three directors each.

    The combined company would have almost 400 million customers, 35 per cent customer market share and 42 per cent revenue market share.

    According to reports, Idea Cellular will hold 25% stake in the merged company. Vodafone will hold 45.1 per cent stake, and will transfer 4.9 per cent stake to Idea founders. The merger will require regulatory approval.

    The equity value of the companies was estimated at Rs 40,000 crore each while the combined entity would have debt of around Rs 89,000 crore.

    In a BSE filing, Idea Celluar announced its approval of amalgamation of Vodafone India Ltd (VIL) and its wholly owned subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Services Limited (VMSL) with the company subject to receipt of necessary approvals of shareholders, creditors, SEBI, RBI and other governmental authorities.

    Idea release stated the proposed amalgamation may result in: Creation of the largest Indian telecom operator with widest mobile network in the country and pan India 3G/4G footprint. Sufficient spectrum to complete with major operators in the market while offering innovative priced mobile services to customers and acceleration of expansion of wireless broadband networks.

    “The combination of Vodafone India and Idea will create a new champion of Digital India founded with a long-term commitment and vision to bring world-class 4G networks to villages, towns and cities across India,” said Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao.

  • Ambani advocates ‘Keep in India’ agenda for PM

    NEW DELHI: Industrialist and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, has made a strong pitch for “Keep In India” – an addition to the to-do list of the Modi government after Make in India, and Digital India

    Speaking at the India Today conclave in Mumbai over the weekend, Ambani spelt out a vision for how technology can provide solutions to the most challenging problems that India is facing –from education, financial inclusion, healthcare to job creation and entrepreneurship.

    But, he said, there was need to protect Indian data as India emerges as one of the leaders in steering the fourth industrial revolution. “As we enter the digital age, we must remember data and information is power. If the benefits of the Indian technology revolution are to be fully captured –we need to ensure that data remains in India…like Digital India, Make in India, we need Keep in India initiative to ensure data remains within India.”

    He said: “We cannot be arrogant about technology, it has to always serve the common man and we have to learn from the common man.” Apart from connecting 99 per cent Indians digitally, Ambani will be focusing on the education sector, along with his wife Nita Ambani in 2017.

    In his wish list for the prime minister Narendra Modi, Ambani said the challenge is now for execution. He said that India’s lack of existing physical, digital infrastructure is a boon. It takes away the burden of replacing or upgrading existing technology. The most challenging problems facing humanity in India will be solved using technology.

    He felt that India could be a leader in the fourth industrial revolution but the time was now to seize the opportunity to make India a prosperous nation.

    The real impoverishment he said is the denial of opportunity. “We should not allow any Indian to suffer from that poverty.”