ITV

Category: Telecom

  • India gives “poor” video streaming experience on smartphones

    India gives “poor” video streaming experience on smartphones

    MUMBAI: Despite India gaining momentum for video streaming on smartphones, the country still lags far behind on global standards — falling in the poor territory characterised by frequent stalling during video playback and long loading times even for low-resolution video, an OpenSignal report revealed on Tuesday according to ET Telecom.
    OpenSignal’s video experience metric, a first-of-its-kind measurement in the mobile industry, was derived from an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based approach for measuring video quality.
    For the analysis, OpenSignal examined 69 countries spread throughout the globe to see how they stacked up in video experience.
    “Our tests sample video at multiple resolutions accessed from multiple content providers, and they weigh three main criteria: the load time before the video begins playing, the stalling rate characterised by stops and stutters in the video playback, and the level of picture resolution,” OpenSignal said in a statement.

    When it comes to overall mobile video experience, India joins Iran and the Philippines below the “Fair” threshold into “Poor” territory (0-40), according to the report.
    The best video experience was recorded in the Czech Republic.
    According to the report, countries with extremely powerful LTE networks in terms of download and upload speeds, availability and coverage, aren’t always providing the best video experience.
    In general, European countries tended to rank higher than their counterparts in the Americas, while Asian and Middle Eastern countries are scattered throughout the rankings, the report pointed.
    “Eleven of the 69 countries we analysed earned a very good rating on OpenSignal’s video experience scale, meaning mobile video loaded quickly and rarely stalled even at higher resolutions,” the report added.
    A score that falls within 75-100 is Excellent, 65-75 is Very Good, 55-65 is Good, 40-55 is Fair and 0-40 is poor.
    While no country fell into the Excellent (75-100) category for average video quality, South Korea (with top download speed of 45.58 Mbps) was the fastest of the 69 countries analysed in the report.

    The vast majority of the 69 countries fell into a relatively narrow range of scores between 40 and 65, earning them either fair or good ratings.
    “It means for much of the world, the typical mobile video experience leaves something to be desired. Video load times are sluggish; stops and stutters mid-stream is common to varying degrees; and connections often have trouble coping with higher-resolution formats,” the report noted.
    Judged by the user experience rather than rote measurements, the mobile industry still has work to do when it comes to video.

  • BSNL ties up with Softbank, NTT for 5G, IoT deal

    BSNL ties up with Softbank, NTT for 5G, IoT deal

    MUMBAI: BSNL, a mobile service provider, has tied up with two top telecom operators of Japan, Softbank and NTT Communications, to roll out 5G and internet of things (IoT) technology in India, according to a report by the Press Trust of India.
    The service provider will partner with Softbank for its satellite constellation which will have around 900 satellites to provide high speed internet services across the globe.
    BSNL chairman and MD Anupam Shrivastava said, “We have signed agreement with Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and IoT products and services in India. Under the agreement, we will look at solutions specifically for smart cities.”
    Indian telecom operators are aiming to launch 5G in 2020. Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone launched 3G seven years after the technology was available in other foreign markets and 4G services after a four-year lag.
    BSNL has signed an agreement with Finland-based telecom equipment maker Nokia and US-based enterprise networking company Cisco Systems for developing 5G ecosystem and working to finalise test cases for using 5G in India.
    BSNL is in advance stages of starting 5G field trials. The government is in agreement to provide 5G spectrum for trials.

    Earlier media reports said that the Indian government will not auction 5G spectrum in 2018 or 2019 due to weak financial conditions in the Indian telecom market.
    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended auction of about 8,644 MHz of telecom frequencies at an estimated base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore. The government is yet to finalise details of allocation of spectrum for 5G services.

  • DoT moves Supreme Court to secure dues worth Rs 33,000 cr

    DoT moves Supreme Court to secure dues worth Rs 33,000 cr

    MUMBAI: A recent move from the Department of telecommunications (DoT) may push telecom players in the country deeper into trouble. According to a report from Economic Times, DoT has moved the Supreme Court for approval to secure dues worth almost Rs 33,000 crore from all operators. The department in favour of the move has argued that existing bank guarantees aren’t enough to cover the “huge public money” at stake.
    According to the report, DoT(http://www.indiantelevision.com/regulators/trai/trai-stands-up-to-dot-on-use-of-foreign-satellites-for-comms-services-on-aircrafts-180605) filed two petitions pleading the court to ensure that the “government’s interests are secured”. In the separate but identical petitions, they claimed that fresh bank guarantees for Rs 28.70 crore and Rs 32,655.58 crore are needed from the operators.
    DoT(http://www.indiantelevision.com/regulators/ib-ministry/dot-seeks-views-on-blocking-mobile-apps-like-fb-whatsapp-180807 )said in the petitions that it is “not adequate security towards its outstanding assessed annual license fee and SUC dues” even with existing financial bank guarantees and withholding the performance bank guarantee of the licensee companies.
    Telcos think it will increase the financial burden on them if the court speaks in favour of the petition.
    Shares of telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) plunged up to 6 per cent in morning trade following the move of DoT.
    Reliance Communications would be in deep trouble as it is already debt burdened. Any decision favouring DoT could add to its financial liabilities which could lead to delay of the sale of its spectrum to Reliance Jio.

  • 5G to have 400 mn connections worldwide by 2022: report

    5G to have 400 mn connections worldwide by 2022: report

    MUMBAI: A report by 5G Americas states that 5G is expected to accumulate connections starting in late 2018 and by 2022, it is forecast to have almost 400 million connections worldwide. 4G LTE is expected to reach over 5.6 billion connections globally in 2022 at which time LTE market share will stand at 60 per cent, according to a report by ET Telecom.
    5G America, in a statement citing Ovum data, said that the global LTE connections grew by more than one billion connections from June 2017 to June 2018 with a growth rate of 43 per cent. With all subscription data provided by Ovum, the LTE market share compared to all other mobile wireless technologies achieved 42.3 per cent at the end of the second quarter of 2018 with a global total of 3.6 billion LTE connections.
    Ovum senior analyst Kristin Paulin said, “Globally, total mobile connections grew by 6 per cent in the year to the second quarter of 2018, while LTE connections grew a stronger 43 per cent during this time. This substantial LTE foundation leads to the anticipation that soon we will start to see 5G make inroads.”
    Latin America and the Caribbean added 82 million new LTE subscriptions with 52 per cent growth year over year from June 2017. At the end of the second quarter, there were nearly 241 million LTE connections in the Latin America region on commercial LTE networks across all countries.
    5G Americas president Chris Pearson said, “These are exciting days for North America as the early commercial realisation of 5G technology is just around the corner. At the same time, the US and Canadian service providers are heavily invested in the innovation roadmap of LTE to deliver tremendous throughput speeds and coverage as the foundation for future 5G networks.”
    Compared to the population of 365 million in North America, LTE achieved a penetration rate over 103 per cent with 376 million connections. North America holds the largest market share for LTE at 77 per cent and 376 million LTE connections. This penetration rate compares to the next two highest regions, Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia at 88 per cent and Western Europe at 66 per cent.

  • Airtel, Jio have bid for assets of Aircel

    Airtel, Jio have bid for assets of Aircel

    MUMBAI: Leading telecom players Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio both have bid to separately purchase assets of bankrupt telecom operator Aircel. According to a Mint report, lenders to Aircel are keener on a lump sum sale to a single party which could get better value of the assets.
    The telecom operator Aircel Cellular Ltd and Dishnet Wireless Ltd, together known as Aircel, owe about Rs 50,000 crore to creditors which includes Rs15,545 crore debt to financial creditors and about Rs 35,000 crore to operational creditors.
    Several factors worked as the catalyst to the telecom operator’s downfall. At a time when it was already trying to take a breath in the highly competitive sector after entry of Reliance Jio, the latter called off its plan to merge its wireless business with Aircel, citing legal and regulatory uncertainties. The move made the situation worse.
    According to the report, Airtel is the sole bidder for Aircel’s spectrum assets and Jio is the sole bidder for the telecom towers. Jio is also in the race for Aircel’s fibre assets, along with Sterlite Industries, private equity firm I Squared Capital, and distressed asset fund Aion Capital.
    Deloitte is reportedly happy with the outcome. Four weeks will be taken to know the final result while bids for the asset closed on Monday.

  • Anil Ambani to exit telecom business; focus on real estate

    Anil Ambani to exit telecom business; focus on real estate

    MUMBAI: The 14th AGM of Reliance Communications, promoted by Anil Ambani, saw confirmed talks of Anil Ambani’s exit from the telecom business. He said that Reliance Communications will concentrate majorly on real estate in the future.

    Founded 15 years ago on 27 December 2002, Reliance Communications was referred to as the vision of Dhirubhai Ambani, the father of Anil and Mukesh Ambani.

    At the 14th annual general meeting, Anil said that the first priority for RCom, credited for democratising telecom services through cheaper offers in the early 2000s, was to resolve its debt worth over Rs 40,000 crore.

    Pointing to the 133-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC), the headquarters of Reliance Communications, on the outskirts of Navi Mumbai, Ambani said that there was a huge realty play opportunity that erstwhile corporate headquarters possesses.

    He pegged the potential value creation from such sites at Rs 25,000 crores.

    According to the reports, Ambani said, “We have decided that we will not proceed in this sector. And many other companies have taken a similar call. This is very much writing on the wall. As we have moved out of the mobile sector, we will monetise at an appropriate stage our enterprise business. Reliance Realty will be the engine of growth for the future of this company.”

    Looking at the telecom sector, he said that there has been a “creative destruction” of the telecom sector that has resulted in creation of oligopoly, which is going towards a duopoly and maybe even a “monopoly in the future”. Banks are saddled with over Rs 7.7 lakh crore in debt and the financial troubles of operators have resulted in over 20 lakh job losses, he said.

    Post discontinuation of the telecom business, Ambani said the residual business would be the enterprise, data centres, undersea cables and international voice calling verticals etc that are expected to serve some 35,000 businesses. He said half of the revenues from this line of activity will be from overseas. But Ambani said that his company was “committed” to exit even those verticals, to pay-off banks. A decision in this regard will be taken “at an appropriate time,” Ambani said.

  • Vodafone Idea board approves merger of Aditya Birla Telecom

    Vodafone Idea board approves merger of Aditya Birla Telecom

    MUMBAI: The board of Vodafone Idea Ltd has approved the merger of Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd (ABTL) with itself while the latter holds an 11.15 per cent stake in telecom tower firm Indus Towers.

    This amalgamation will help Vodafone Idea to have direct shareholding in Indus Towers. The approval has pushed the company one step closer towards monetizing the company’s 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers to pare debt.

    “The board of directors of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) … Has considered and approved a scheme of amalgamation of Aditya Birla Telecom Limited (ABTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, with the company,” Vodafone Idea said in a BSE filing.

    Now, the scheme is subject to approval of the National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad, besides other approvals. However, there will be no change in the shareholding pattern of VIL after completion of the amalgamation.

    Airtel through Bharti Infratel and British telecom firm Vodafone holds around 42 per cent stake each in Indus Towers and ABTL holds 11.15 per cent.

  • BSNL sees speed spike in latest Netflix ISP ranking

    BSNL sees speed spike in latest Netflix ISP ranking

    MUMBAI: The streaming giant Netflix has released its monthly ISP Speed index data where India’s BSNL saw a noteworthy speed jump. The state-owned telco company’s average speed rose to 2 Mbps, up from 1.66 Mbps in July. Along with the speed spike, it also rose one spot according to the ranking. Other than BSNL, rankings of Hathway and D-Vois have also improved but the speed spike is not much notable. In overall country rankings, India fell one spot to 54th place. The Netflix ISP Speed Index is a measure of primetime Netflix performance on a particular ISP.

    According to ISP index, 7 Star Digital, Spectranet, Airtel have acquired top three positions. Another government owned entity MTNL fell one spot due to the spike in BSNL’s average speed.

    Globally, largest speed gain on the index was experienced by Flow in Jamaica. Speeds at the Jamaican operator increased by 0.74 Mbps, bringing its average monthly speed to 2.37 Mbps. Indosat-Fibre in Indonesia also saw notable spike reaching a 4.14 Mbps average for August up from 3.76 Mbps in July.

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    In the losses category, KBro in Taiwan and SK Broadband’s speed in South Korea decreased notably. KBro experienced speeds decline to a monthly average of 2.80 Mbps from 3.06 Mbps last month and SK Broadband’s speeds slowed to 2.71 Mbps on average down from 2.97 Mbps last month. As per country rankings, Jamaica dropped five spots to 51st and Singapore dropped four spots to 12th.

    The country reckoned to have the overall top speed is Switzerland at 4.19 Mbps, followed by Netherland’s 4.07 Mbps and Romania’s 4.01 Mbps. Netflix’s home country, the US, stood at eighth position with average 3.98 Mbps speed.

  • New telecom policy may go to Cabinet in 2 weeks: DoT’s Sundararajan

    New telecom policy may go to Cabinet in 2 weeks: DoT’s Sundararajan

    NEW DELHI: The new telecom policy — branded as the National Digital Communications Policy (http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/comment-indias-ntp-2018-gets-digital-makeover-but-needs-complimentary-policies-180508) — is expected to be placed before the Indian Cabinet for approval in two weeks, a top official said on Tuesday.
    “It is likely to be placed in two weeks,” Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) on the sidelines of an event.
    The government has recently issued the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), which once approved will set the road map for attracting investment of around $ 100 million in the sector and create four million new job opportunities over a period of time.
    Promising rationalisation of levies such as spectrum charges to rejuvenate debt-ridden telecom sector, the proposed new telecom policy seeks to provide broadband access to all with 50 mbps speed and 5G services too amongst a host of other benefits by 2022.
    It proposes to adopt “Optimal Pricing of Spectrum” to ensure sustainable and affordable access to digital communications. High spectrum price and related charges have been the main concern of telecom services segment, which is reeling under a debt of around Rs 7.8 lakh crore.
    Sundararajan said that the Department of Telecom has completed inter-ministerial consultation on the new policy and is now working on some of the processes required to be fulfilled before the draft is submitted to cabinet for the approval. Earlier, the Telecom Commission(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/ndcp-2018-net-neutrality-rules-cleared-by-telecom-commission-180712) had cleared draft policies related to the NDCP and net neutrality

  • Vodafone Idea officially starts operation as largest Indian telco

    Vodafone Idea officially starts operation as largest Indian telco

    MUMBAI: The mega Vodafone-Idea merger in the Indian telecom sector finally comes to closure creating India’s largest telecom operator with the most subscribers and revenue share. The new entity stands with a subscriber base of over 408 million and 32.2 per cent pan India revenue market share. However, both the brands will continue to operate independently. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger yesterday.

    The merger has displaced Bharti Airtel from the top spot which has held the spot for the last 15 years. As of July 2018, the company has a user base of 344 million. Now the Indian telecom sector stands with three large players – Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. Mukesh Ambani-led  Reliance Jio is the third largest telecom operator in the country with 215 million subscribers.

    “Today, we have created India’s leading telecom operator. It is truly a historic moment. And this is much more than just about creating a large business. It is about our vision of empowering and enabling a new India and meeting the aspirations of the youth of our country. The ‘Digital India’, as our Prime Minister describes it, is a monumental nation building opportunity. As Vodafone Idea, we are partnering in this initiative by building a formidable company of international repute, scale and standards,” Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea Ltd chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla commented.

    Kumar Mangalam Birla has been named as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd and Balesh Sharma as the CEO of the combined entity. The new board of directors include six independent directors.

    The merger is expected to generate Rs 140 billion annual synergy, including opex synergies of Rs 84 billion, equivalent to a net present value of approximately Rs 700 billion. The Department of Telecom (DoT) had given a conditional nod for the merger of these companies on 9 July.

    “As India’s leading telecom operator with two popular and loved brands, the company has the scale and resources to ensure sustainable customer choice and introduce new technologies. We are committed to offer both our retail and enterprise customers an excellent experience while fulfilling their evolving digital and connectivity needs via new products, services and solutions. We will offer them more network coverage, more value and more excitement. My team and I look forward to your continuing support and invite you to enjoy the Vodafone Idea experience,” Sharma said.