ITV

Category: Telecom

  • Airtel acquires strategic stake in blockchain company Aqilliz

    Airtel acquires strategic stake in blockchain company Aqilliz

    Mumbai: Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it has acquired a strategic stake in blockchain-as-a-service company Aqilliz under the Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme. The deal is subject to applicable statutory approvals.

    Singapore-based Aqilliz has developed a patented hybrid blockchain platform Atom, that integrates differential privacy and federated learning on a distributed digital ledger. This allows brands to create secure and consent-based solutions to engage with customers in a rapidly evolving digital economy that’s becoming increasingly decentralised.

    Airtel aims to deploy Aqilliz’s advanced blockchain technologies at scale across its fast-growing ad-tech (Airtel Ads), digital entertainment (Wynk Music and Airtel Xstream) and digital marketplace (Airtel Thanks App) offerings.

    “We, at Airtel, are deeply researching new technologies that drive the future of a digitally connected India,” said Airtel Digital CEO Adarsh Nair. “This relentless focus on innovation is also enabling us to unlock new growth engines within Airtel. Blockchain technology is maturing and we see its application across areas such as adtech, creator economy, and loyalty programs. We are thrilled to have Aqilliz join our Startup Accelerator Program and be part of Airtel’s digital innovation factory.”

    “We are extremely excited to be a part of Airtel’s digital innovation play and bring this first of its kind blockchain technology to India,” said Aqilliz founding CEO Gowthaman Ragothaman. “Legacy customer engagement, ad tech and marketing technologies are built for centralised databases. The future of the digital economy is already pivoting to managing value exchanges between brands, platforms and the consumer. Aqilliz’s patented technology will enable Airtel to capture and carry this value exchange in the form of consent and provenance across the digital supply chain. We look forward to working closely with the team at Airtel.”

    Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme invests in early-stage start-ups working on technologies that have adjacencies to Airtel’s business offerings.

  • Airtel joins undersea cable consortium SEA-ME-WE-6

    Airtel joins undersea cable consortium SEA-ME-WE-6

    Mumbai: Bharti Airtel has announced that it has joined the SEA-ME-WE-6 undersea cable consortium to scale up its high-speed global network capacity to serve India’s fast-growing digital economy.

    The 19,200 Rkm SEA-ME-WE-6 will connect Singapore and France and will be amongst the largest undersea cable systems globally. Airtel is participating as a major investor in the SEA-ME-WE-6 and is anchoring 20 per cent of the overall investment in the cable system, which will go live in 2025. The 12 other consortium members of SEA-ME-WE-6 include Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Dhiraagu (Maldives), Djibouti Telecom, Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Orange (France), Singtel (Singapore), Sri Lanka Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Malaysia, Telin (Indonesia).

    Through SEA-ME-WE-6 Airtel will add a significant amount of 100 TBps capacity to its global network. Airtel has acquired one Fiber Pair on the main SEA-ME-WE-6 system and will co-build four Fiber Pairs between Singapore–Chennai–Mumbai as part of the cable system. Airtel will land the SEA-ME-WE- 6 cable system in India at new landing stations in Mumbai and Chennai.

    SEA-ME-WE-6 will be fully integrated with Nxtra by Airtel’s large data centers in Mumbai and Chennai to enable global hyperscalers and businesses to access seamless integrated solutions and strengthen India’s position as an emerging data center hub in the region.

    “Undersea cable systems along with data centers are vital infrastructure for supporting 5G and the digital economy,” said Airtel Business director and CEO Ajay Chitkara. “Airtel has been ahead of the curve on this front and already operates the largest undersea cable network out of India in addition to the biggest network of data centers. Our investment in SEA-ME-WE-6 is another step in our journey to future-proof our network and build large integrated capacities to enable India’s digital ecosystem.”

    Airtel global network spans over 365,000 Rkms and reaches 50 countries across five continents. Nxtra by Airtel, the data center unit of Airtel, operates the largest network of data centers in India with 11 large and 120 edge data centers.

    Airtel Business serves over one million businesses through its integrated portfolio of – connectivity, conferencing, cloud and data centers, cyber security, IoT, Ad-tech, CPaaS (Airtel IQ), and more. It is the market leader in India’s enterprise connectivity segment.

  • Reliance Jio’s IAX project to land in the Maldives

    Reliance Jio’s IAX project to land in the Maldives

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio Infocomm has announced that it will land the next generation multi-terabit India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) undersea cable system in Hulhumale, Maldives.

    The high capacity and high-speed IAX system will connect Hulhumale’ directly with the world’s major internet hubs in India and Singapore.

    “This is the first stride towards enhancing our connectivity infrastructure and opening vast opportunities for our people through providing secure, affordable and high-quality services,” said minister of economic development Uz Fayyaz Ismail. “We also aim to diversify our economy and establish ourselves as a key communications hub in South Asia. Aside from economic development, this will accelerate social development through high-speed internet access throughout the Maldives allowing us to attain the equitable development we seek.”

    “Today’s global economy is driven by low-latency broadband, connecting people, businesses, content, and services. IAX will not only connect Maldives to the world’s content hubs, but it will also support the explosive growth in data demand expected from the new initiatives being launched by the government of Maldives,” said Reliance Jio president Mathew Oommen. “Jio is very pleased to be working with the government of the Maldives to help realize this ambition by providing high-quality, terabit capacity supporting Web 3.0-capable internet services.”

    The IAX system originates in Mumbai in the west and connects directly to Singapore, with branches including additional landings in India, Malaysia, and Thailand. The India- Europe-Xpress (IEX) system connects Mumbai to Milan, landing in Savona, Italy, and includes additional landings in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. IAX is expected to be ready for service by the end-2023, while IEX will be ready for service in mid-2024.

    These high capacity and high-speed systems will provide more than 200Tb/s of capacity at speeds of 100Gb/s, over 16,000 kilometers. Employing open system technology and the latest wavelength switched RoADM/branching units ensures rapid upgrade deployment and the ultimate flexibility to add/drop waves across multiple locations.

    “IEX and IAX together will be one of the most important developments in telecommunications infrastructure in this decade, linking India, Europe to Southeast Asia, and now the Maldives,” said the statement.

  • Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

    Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio lost as many as 12.9 million wireless subscribers in December 2021, according to subscription data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Vodafone Idea also lost 1.6 million subscribers.

    However, Bharti Airtel emerged as a clear winner in December, as it went on to add 0.47 million subscribers during the same period, along with BSNL, which also saw wireless subscriber additions of 1.16 million.

    The total number of wireless subscribers decreased from 1167.50 million to 1154.62 million. Wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 638.46 million to 633.34 million while in rural areas it also decreased from 529.04 million to 521.28 million.

    As per Trai data, Reliance Jio had 364.34 million active wireless subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel at 348.69 million and Vodafone Idea with 229.45.  

    In December, Trai received information from 616 broadband operators compared to 592 operators in the previous month. The total broadband subscribers decreased from 801.60 million to 792.08 million.

    In the broadband segment, wired subscribers increased from 24.42 million to 26.43 million, mobile device users decreased from 775.93 million to 764.52 million and fixed wireless subscribers decreased from 1.26 million to 1.13 million. The top five broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 420.28 million followed by Bharti Airtel at 210.07 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.62 million, BSNL at 25.54 million and Atria Convergence at 2.01 million.

    The top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 4.57 million, Bharti Airtel at 4.20 million, BSNL at 4.07 million, Atria Convergence at 2.01 million and Hathway Cable and Datacom at 1.08 million. The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 415.72 million, Bharti Airtel at 205.87 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.14 million, BSNL at 21.47 million and Intech Online at 0.20 million.

    The number of telephone subscribers decreased from 1191.05 million to 1178.41 million. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 660.08 million to 655.20 million and rural subscription also decreased from 530.96 million to 523.21 million during the same period.

    During the period, wireline subscribers increased from 23.55 million to 23.79 million.

  • Jio Platforms to invest $200 million in AI-powered Glance

    Jio Platforms to invest $200 million in AI-powered Glance

    Mumbai: AI-driven lock-screen platform Glance has announced that it has agreed to raise $200 million from Jio Platforms (“Jio”) in its Series D round of funding. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

    The proposed investment by Jio is aimed at accelerating Glance’s launch in several key international markets outside of Asia such as the USA, Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The company is aiming to create the world’s largest live content and commerce ecosystem on the lock screen and will use the funds raised to expand globally. In addition to Jio Platforms, Glance is also backed by technology giant Google and Silicon Valley-based venture fund Mithril Capital.

    Concurrent with the proposed investment, Glance has also entered into a business partnership arrangement with Reliance Retail Ventures (“Reliance Retail”), providing for Glance’s ‘lock screen platform’ to be integrated into the JioPhone Next smartphones to transform the internet experience for millions of Jio users. This is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships between Glance and global players in the mobile ecosystem. The deal is also expected to lead to further strategic collaborations between Glance, Reliance Retail, and Jio across devices, commerce, content and gaming ecosystem.

    Glance will be integrated into the Pragati OS, which has been co-developed by Jio Platforms and Google, to bring LIVE content on Lock Screen for millions of Jio users. Its entertainment-led commerce platform Roposo will bring the power of live creator commerce to Jio users on their lock screen.

    Jio Platforms director Akash Ambani said, “Glance has grown at a phenomenal pace over the past two years and has given users a truly unique solution by unlocking the power of the lock screen for experiencing the internet, live content, creator-driven entertainment commerce, and gaming. With the help of this investment, Glance expects to launch in several key markets globally as well as to extend the experience to millions of Jio users, further reinforcing our commitment to provide the most advanced and next-level tech and digital ecosystem for consumers in India and beyond.”

    InMobi Group founder and CEO Naveen Tewari added, “Jio’s investment in Glance brings a deep synergy of vision and philosophy. Jio is a truly disruptive company. It made the internet accessible for millions of users, making India one of the largest internet markets in the world. Reliance is now disrupting the smartphone market with the launch of its JioPhone Next smartphones. Jio’s investment in Glance and Glance’s presence on the lock screen of JioPhone Next smartphones will lead to a paradigm shift in how its users experience the internet.”

    “Glance has created a disruptive lock screen-first discovery platform for live content, commerce and gaming in Asia, and we intend to scale it globally going forward,” shared InMobi Group co-founder and Glance president and COO Piyush Shah. “Jio’s investment is a huge validation of this vision and gives us the firepower to take the innovative experience of Glance to surfaces across the world. We look forward to working with Jio to build the content, creator and commerce ecosystem of the future together.”

    Morgan Stanley acted as the exclusive financial advisor and Khaitan & Co. acted as the legal counsel to Glance. White & Case and K Law acted as the legal counsels and Ernst & Young provided accounting and tax due to diligence services to Jio Platforms.

  • Airtel launches Xstream Premium aggregator service, onboards 15 OTT brands

    Airtel launches Xstream Premium aggregator service, onboards 15 OTT brands

    Mumbai: Further democratising the growing digital entertainment ecosystem in India, Bharti Airtel (Airtel), on Thursday announced the launch of its new video streaming aggregator service – Airtel Xstream Premium. The company is targeting 20 million subscriptions through the new offering.

    Aggregating content from 15 Indian and global OTT platforms in one app, Airtel Xstream Premium will give customers access to Live channels and a catalogue of over 10,500 films and shows from SonyLIV, ErosNow, Lionsgate Play, Hoichoi, ManoramaMax, Shemaroo, Ultra, HungamaPlay, EPICon, Docubay, DivoTV, Klikk, Nammaflix, Dollywood, and Shorts TV. More OTT players will be onboarded going ahead, said the statement.

    Airtel Xstream Premium offers its service with a single app, single subscription, single sign-in, unified content search and AI-driven personalised curation for each user. It can be accessed across mobile devices through the web, and on TV through the Xstream set-top-box. The service will be available exclusively to Airtel customers at Rs 149 per month.

    “Airtel Xstream Premium is a game-changing innovation to democratise OTT content in India by solving the key challenges of content discovery, affordability and distribution,” said Airtel digital CEO Adarsh Nair. “As a unified digital platform, it’s a win-win proposition for customers and OTT players alike as we begin an exciting journey to make digital entertainment mainstream in India.” 

    SonyLIV’s growth and monetisation head Manish Aggarwal added, “Our partnership with Airtel Xstream will bring premium content – from originals, movies, sports and Sony India network content in all the leading languages, along with top shows from Hollywood to over 340 million Airtel customers. SonyLIV’s rich content library coupled with Airtel Xstream’s deep distribution reach and massive scale capabilities make it for a perfect partnership for both sides and we look forward to a long and successful association.”

    “Hoichoi has always been committed to making its content available to a wider audience base. Airtel, being one of the most widely used network, with a similar aim of serving people from all corners of the country, makes this partnership a truly dynamic one. This will enable Hoichoi to penetrate deeper into the Tier – II and Tier – III cities by providing Airtel users with a Hoichoi subscription bundled with an attractive Airtel recharge pack,” remarked Hoichoi CEO Soumya Mukherjee.

    “Eros Now is a mass-market consumer proposition with thousands of movies, original series, music videos, short-form content and more in multiple languages,” stated Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein. “This symbiotic partnership with Airtel Xstream will further accelerate Eros Now’s adoption in India and allow an even larger number of video users to access our popular and engaging content. I am confident that consumers will enjoy the experience of accessing the best of entertainment and internet on a single platform.”

  • Trai asks sparring telcos, satcom players to provide submission on 5G auction by 15 Feb

    Trai asks sparring telcos, satcom players to provide submission on 5G auction by 15 Feb

    Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), which is expected to submit its final recommendations on various aspects of 5G spectrum auctions in March, has asked telecom companies and stakeholders to provide their additional submissions before 15 February, especially with details around methods for valuation of the spectrum.

    The submissions were invited during an open house discussion held by Trai, where telecom operators and satellite players remained sharply divided.

    According to the PTI release, the telecom regulator had earlier recommended the base price of the proposed 5G spectrum in 3,300-3,600 MHz band at about Rs 492 crore per MHz unpaired spectrum on a pan-India basis. Telecom operators interested in buying radiowaves for 5G will have to shell out a minimum of Rs 9,840 crore on a pan-India basis to buy spectrum in the 3,300-3,600 Mhz band. If the telecom operators’ demands are met then the medium band spectrum should cost them only Rs 492 crore at the base price.

    Major telecom players suggested that Trai should fix the base price of the 5G spectrum in mid-band and high-frequency bands using international benchmarks. They recommended the regulator to map international pricing benchmarks at the telecom circle level by using a matrix of average revenue per user, GDP of the country, etc.

    Meanwhile, satellite players opposed telecom operators’ demand to auction a high-frequency range of 27.5- 28.5 GHz.

    Satcom players are of the opinion that as per global practice, 27.5-28.5 GHz have never been auctioned, and hence should be allocated administratively in India as well. Providing in-flight services and maritime connectivity to 500 vessels in the 28 GHz and allocation of this frequency will adversely impact the company’s operation, they said.

  • Airtel Q3 FY22: 5.4% revenue growth QoQ led by ARPU increase

    Airtel Q3 FY22: 5.4% revenue growth QoQ led by ARPU increase

    Mumbai: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced its third quarter FY 2022 results. The company has posted quarterly revenues of Rs 29,867 crore, up 18.3 per cent year-on-year backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio. It reported net income (after exceptional items) of Rs 830 crore.

    The telecom company’s India business saw quarterly revenues of Rs 20,913 crore which was up by 17.9 per cent YoY. Its India customer base stands at ~356 million.

    Its mobile services revenues were up by 19.1 per cent YoY led by an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU). Its mobile ARPUs increased to Rs 163 during the quarter versus Rs 146 in the same quarter previous year. Mobile data consumption increased by 33.8 per cent YoY at a rate of 18.3 Gb per month.

    Additionally, Airtel’s 4G customers increased by three million on a quarter-on-quarter basis to reach 195.5 million and account for 61 per cent of its total base.

    The company’s home business saw 40.4 per cent YoY growth led by strong customer additions. Home business witnessed 341,000 customer net additions in the quarter to reach a total base of 4.16 million. Its Digital TV customer base stood at 18.1 million during the same period. “Digital TV continues to improve its market position with steady revenue and customer base,” said the statement.

    Airtel Business revenues were up by 13.4 per cent YoY backed by strong demand for data portfolio and emerging businesses.

    During the quarter, Google announced that it would invest $1 billion in Airtel as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund. Airtel also announced a joint venture with Hughes Communications to become the largest satellite service operator in India.  

    “We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments,” said Bharti Airtel India and South Asia MD and CEO Gopal Vittal. “Overall sequential revenue growth was at 5.4 per cent and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9 per cent. The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163. The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter. Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden.”

    He further stated, “Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution. Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital marketplace, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.”

  • Airtel acquires 25 per cent stake in Lavelle Networks

    Airtel acquires 25 per cent stake in Lavelle Networks

    Mumbai: Telecom major Bharti Airtel has acquired about a 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup Lavelle Networks. The agreement is subject to statutory approvals.

    Lavelle Networks specialises in software-defined wide area network solutions and it serves a range of industry segments. “As more enterprises move to cloud-based applications to serve their customers in a digital-first ecosystem, they require on-demand and reliable network connectivity. As a result, there is a surge in demand for software-defined solutions that have the agility to serve a cloud-based hybrid IT environment,” said the statement.

    “SD-WAN is the necessary arsenal for enterprises to transform and future-proof their network infrastructure in this digital age,” said Frost & Sullivan South Asia associate director and head ICT Apalak Ghosh. “Its market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55 per cent in 2022-2026. As per F&S End-User Survey 2021, about 62 per cent of enterprises plan to deploy SD-WAN across their organization in the next 1-2 years. Some of the major drivers which would contribute to this phenomenal run include the need for seamless management of hybrid networks, faster deployment of new sites, and network cost-efficiency.”

    Airtel Business’ network-as-a-service (NaaS) is a digital platform that is built to address the emerging connectivity requirements of enterprises as they go through the cloud and digital adoption and acceleration journey. As part of its NaaS portfolio, Airtel will offer software-defined connectivity solutions from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform. This also aims to bring ‘made in India’ products and solutions for enterprises by offering cutting-edge technology and cost efficiencies.

    “We are pleased to support Lavelle’s growth journey and excited to collaborate with them to take their world-class solutions to enterprise customers in the fast-growing Indian NaaS market,” said Airtel Business director and CEO Ajay Chitkara. “With our end-to-end solutions play and brand trust, we are uniquely positioned to serve the needs of India’s fast-growing digital economy.”

    “Digital India’s businesses are racing away to applications, cloud and software,” said Lavelle Networks co-founder and CEO Shyamal Kumar. “Connecting all of this together are our enterprise data networks. We are extremely excited that our product and early market success will now be massively accelerated by this transformational partnership with Airtel.”

  • Budget ’22: India to roll out 5G services in FY23, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

    Budget ’22: India to roll out 5G services in FY23, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

    Mumbai: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced that the 5G telecom services will be introduced within the financial year 2022-2023. The minister in her union budget 2022 speech said that the auctions will be held in the next fiscal year (FY2022-23), after which private companies are expected to roll out the service.

    The contracts for laying optical fibres will be done through public-private partnerships, Sitharaman further said.

    The minister added that five per cent of the annual collections Universal Service Obligation Fund will be allocated to enable affordable broadband and mobile penetration in rural and remote areas.

    Sitharaman also announced the inclusion of design-led initiatives for 5G and other technologies in the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.