ITV

Category: Telecom

  • AT&T – DirecTV’s $48.5 billion merger gets FCC nod

    AT&T – DirecTV’s $48.5 billion merger gets FCC nod

    MUMBAI: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the approval of the transfer of control of licenses and authorizations from DirecTV to AT&T Inc. 

     

    The approval will allow AT&T to acquire DirecTV for a sum of $48.5 billion and merge the two companies into one combined entity. 

     

    FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said that he had approved the deal with certain conditions, which are applicable for the next four years. 

     

    The newly combined company – the largest pay TV provider in the United States and the world – will offer millions of people more choices for video entertainment on any screen from almost anywhere, any time. 

     

    “Combining DirecTV with AT&T is all about giving customers more choices for great video entertainment integrated with mobile and high-speed Internet service. We’ll now be able to meet consumers’ future entertainment preferences, whether they want traditional TV service with premier programming, their favorite content on a mobile device, or video streamed over the Internet to any screen. This transaction allows us to significantly expand our high-speed Internet service to reach millions more households, which is a perfect complement to our coast-to-coast TV and mobile coverage,” Stephenson said. “We’re now a fundamentally different company with a diversified set of capabilities and businesses that set us apart from the competition,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. 

     

    AT&T now is the largest pay TV provider in the US and the world, providing service to more than 26 million customers in the US and more than 191 million customers in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean. Additionally, AT&T has more than 132 million wireless subscribers and connections in the US and Mexico; offers 4G LTE mobile coverage to nearly 310 million people in the US; covers 57 million US customer locations with high-speed Internet; and has nearly 16 million subscribers to its high-speed Internet service. 

     

    Current customers of AT&T and DirecTV do not need to do anything as a result of the merger. They’ll continue to receive their same services, channel lineups, and customer care. The integration of AT&T and DirecTV will occur over the coming months. In the coming weeks, AT&T will launch new integrated TV, mobile and high-speed Internet offers that give customers greater value and convenience. 

     

    With the completion of its DirecTV acquisition, AT&T will continue to deploy its all-fiber GigaPower Internet access service – the company’s highest-speed Internet service, which allows you to download a TV show in as little as three seconds. When the expansion is complete, AT&T’s all-fiber broadband footprint will reach more than 14 million customer locations. 

     

    AT&T also announced that John Stankey will be CEO of AT&T Entertainment & Internet Services, responsible for leading its combined DirecTV and AT&T Home Solutions operations. Stankey will report to Stephenson. DirecTV president, chairman and CEO Mike White will now retire. 

     

    “Mike is one of the world’s top CEOs and a great leader who built DirecTV into a premier TV and video entertainment company spanning the US and Latin America. He has been a terrific partner and friend, and his legacy will be an important part of our combined company,” Stephenson said. 

     

    AT&T is also developing unique video offerings for consumers through, among other initiatives, its Otter Media joint venture with The Chernin Group. The joint venture was established to invest in, acquire and launch over-the-top (OTT) video services. This includes its purchase of a majority stake in Fullscreen, a global online media company that works with more than 50,000 content creators who engage 450 million subscribers and generate 4 billion monthly views. 

     

    Under the terms of the merger, DirecTV shareholders received 1.892 shares of AT&T common stock, in addition to $28.50 in cash, per share of DirecTV. 

     

    The DirecTV acquisition significantly diversifies AT&T’s revenue mix, products, geographies and customer bases. As a result of this acquisition, as well as AT&T’s acquisition of Iusacell and Nextel Mexico, AT&T expects that, by the end of 2015, its largest revenue streams will be, in descending order: Business Solutions (both wireless and wireline); Entertainment & Internet; Consumer Mobility; and International Mobility and Video. 

     

    As part of FCC’s approval of the transaction, AT&T has agreed to the following conditions for the next four years: 

     

    1) Within four years, AT&T will offer its all-fiber Internet access service to at least 12.5 million customer locations, such as residences, home offices and very small businesses. Combined with AT&T’s existing high-speed broadband network, at least 25.7 million customer locations will have access to broadband speeds of 45Mbps or higher. 

     

    2) Within its wireline footprint, the company will offer 1Gbps service to any eligible school or library requesting E-rate services, pursuant to applicable rules, within the company’s all-fiber footprint. 

     

    3) Within AT&T’s 21-state wireline footprint, it will offer discounted fixed broadband service to low-income households that qualify for the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In locations where it’s available, service with speeds of at least 10Mbps will be offered for $10 per month. Elsewhere, 5Mbps service will be offered for $10 per month or, in some locations, 3Mbps service will be offered for $5 per month. 

     

    4) AT&T’s retail terms and conditions for its fixed broadband Internet services will not favor its own online video programming services. AT&T can and will, however, continue to offer discounted integrated bundles of its video and high-speed Internet services. 

     

    5) AT&T must submit to the FCC new interconnection agreements it enters into with peering networks and on-net customers for the exchange of Internet traffic. The company will develop, in conjunction with an independent expert, a methodology for measuring the performance of its Internet traffic exchange and regularly report these metrics to the FCC. 

     

    6) AT&T will appoint a Company Compliance Officer to develop and implement a plan to ensure compliance with these merger conditions. Also, the company will engage an independent, third-party compliance officer to evaluate the plan and its implementation, and submit periodic reports to the FCC.

  • Vodafone revenue down 0.9%; India revenue up 6.9%, leads growth

    Vodafone revenue down 0.9%; India revenue up 6.9%, leads growth

    BENGALURU: The Vodafone Group reported resurgence in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region (AMAP), with Turkey showing a 15 per cent y-o-y organic growth followed by India with 6.9 per cent organic growth. The Group’s reported service revenue declined 2.9 per cent y-o-y to €9169 million, while growing organically by 2.9 per cent.

     

    Note: Organic growth presents performance on a comparable basis, both in terms of merger and acquisition activity and movements in foreign exchange rates.

     

    The Group’s India reported service revenue grew by 10.6 per cent to €1133 million in Q1-2016 as compared to the €1024 million in Q1-2015 on with continued customer base growth and acceleration in the take-up of 3G offsetting continued pressure on voice pricing.

     

    Also, data revenue in India grew 65 per cent supported by the addition of 3.1 million new data customers, taking the total to 66.8 million. Vodafone says that smartphone penetration in India is now 26 per cent across the country and 47 per cent in the four metro circles and now has 22 million 3G customers compared to 10 million a year ago.

     

    The Group says that while total voice traffic continues to grow, the outgoing rate per minute has continued to decline, reflecting increased competition. The average minutes of use per customer is lower than a year ago but has increased slightly compared to the previous quarter. Total mobile customers increased 1.6 million giving a closing customer base of 185.4 million.

     

    Further, the Group informs that the progress on Project Spring in India remains strong with 1,000 2G sites and 1,100 3G sites added in the quarter (14,000 2G and 21,000 3G since the build commenced), taking Vodafone India’s 3G outdoor population coverage in targeted urban areas to 91 per cent. Vodafone India is now trialing 4G services across selected areas and continues to expand its M-Pesa service and now has 501,000 active customers supported by 94,000 agents.

     

    Q-o-q, Vodafone India led subscriber base growth with an increase of 0.86 per cent to 185.384 million with net post-paid (contract) additions of 449,000 and net prepaid additions of 1.132 million as compared to the 183.803 million in Q4-2015.

     

    Overall, Vodafone Group’s subscriber base grew 0.75 per cent to 449.193 million with 1.296 million post-paid and 2.111 million prepaid customers as compared to the 445.836 million in Q4-2015.

     

    Vodafone Group’s AMAP region continues to grow strongly, with organic service revenue increasing 6.1 per cent (Q4: 5.8 per cent) with growth in all major markets. Excluding the impact of MTR (Mobile Termination rates are the charges which one telecommunications operator charges to another for terminating calls on its network) cuts, organic service revenue increased 7.7 per cent (Q4: 7.3 per cent). The region continues to see strong customer growth, with 4.3 million added in the quarter, and an increasing number of the Group’s customers are now using data, with 6.6 million active data users added in the quarter. Customer usage continues to grow throughout the region, with voice and data usage up 7 per cent and 97 per cent respectively. Total AMP revenue increased 5.5 per cent, including a 2.5 percentage point adverse impact from foreign exchange movements.

     

    Europe reported and organic revenues declined y-o-y by 6.2 and 1.5 per cent respectively. The Vodafone Group reported revenue declined 0.9 per cent in Q1-2016 (Quarter ended 30 June, 2015) to €10113 million, while organic revenue grew 3.3 per cent.

     

    Vodafone’s Europe reported revenue declined 3.1 per cent to €6501 million, but grew organically by 1.1 per cent as compared to the €6768 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. As mentioned above, Europe’s reported and organic service revenue declined by 6.2 and 1.5 per cent respectively to €5793 million in Q1-2016 as compared to the €6367 million in Q1-2015.

     

    Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said, “We have made a good start to the year. Our emerging markets have maintained their strong momentum and more of our European businesses are returning to growth, as customer demand for 4G and data takes off. We continue to hit our Project Spring build milestones and customers are beginning to value the improvement in service that is resulting: contract churn in Europe is now falling and mobile ARPU trends are stabilising in a number of key markets. Our other key growth areas – unified communications and enterprise – are performing strongly, benefiting from the increased capabilities and footprint that our higher levels of investment are delivering. However, our markets are, as always, highly competitive and we therefore have to remain very focused on efficiency, cost control, and excellent value and service to customers, while continuing to deliver a good return for shareholders.”

  • Nokia gets EU nod for Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

    Nokia gets EU nod for Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

    MUMBAI: Nokia has received approval from the European Commission (EU) for its pending acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The proposed transaction was notified to the European Commission on 19 June, 2015 and was cleared today (24 July) without conditions following a Phase 1 review. 

     

    Approval by the European Commission follows previously disclosed antitrust clearances in Brazil and Serbia and the expiration of the antitrust review period in the United States. In addition, the parties confirmed that they have received further antitrust clearances from Albania, Canada, Colombia and Russia. Both companies will continue to cooperate with the remaining authorities to close their reviews as quickly as possible. 

     

    The transaction remains subject to approval by Nokia shareholders, Nokia holding over 50 per cent of the share capital of Alcatel-Lucent on a fully diluted basis upon completion of the public exchange offer, receipt of other regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016.

     

    As was previously reported by Indiantelevision.com, Nokia had acquired Alcatel-Lucent in April this year for a sum of $16.6 billion. The new company will be known as Nokia Corporation.

  • Enforcing Net Neutrality: A continuous monitoring challenge

    Enforcing Net Neutrality: A continuous monitoring challenge

    NEW DELHI: Participants at a discussion on net neutrality feel that the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) recommendations on the subject are ‘soft approaches’ for bigger violations that impact principles of Net Neutrality.

     

    Furthermore, it was felt that there seem to be no recommendations on quantum of penalty or punishments in case of deliberate violations on Net Neutrality.   

     

    The Indian Legal Foundation (TILF) – a New Delhi based Think Tank organization – in association with Grandmasters India conducted the Brainstorming and Forum Discussion focusing on the various aspects of Net Neutrality with participants from corporates, government, politics, NGOs and startups.

     

    Even as the DoT panel lead by A K Bhargava released its report on Net Neutrality, there still remained concerns among the free Internet proponents about the enforcement of principles of Net Neutrality.

     

    The DoT panel suggestions on enforcing Net Neutrality included enacting a law, amending licensing conditions, creating a DoT monitoring cell and also creating training institutions to monitor Net Neutrality violations.

     

     “While we appreciate the overall intent of DoT report, but where does it talk about penalties, like we saw in the recent AT&T case in United States,” asked TILF chairperson, government affairs Renu Jha.

     

    Jha further said, “We need to create a regulatory body with powers to impose fine and punishments. It is a necessary step towards creating and regulating Net Neutrality in India.”

     

    While welcoming DoT recommendations, Samsung general counsel Rajendra Sharma said, “There still needs to be a lot of work in creating an appropriate legislation around the governance of Internet in India. We need to incorporate best practices from EU and United States to ensure freedom of Internet in India.”

     

    The Think Tank Event was presided over by Member of Parliament and mediaperson Tarun Vijay, who is among the most vocal proponents of free Internet in India and has equated net neutrality to Human Rights of Digital Age. 

     

    “Net Neutrality is core and essential to the government programme on skill development, Digital India and Make In India. Government and Indian parliament is committed to Net Neutrality. Any apprehension on recent DoT recommendation will be debated and government will fight for democracy of Internet,” said Vijay.

     

    The event was also marked by a number of startups concerned about their growth in case telcos are allowed to disseminate discriminatory tariffs or bandwidth to users.

     

    “Will it not be a classic case of crony capitalism if startup applications are discriminated as they are unable to cuff up extra bug for telcos,” asked Yogesh Kochar, a social media start up for school students in India. Agreeing with young startup entrepreneurs, Jha stated, “India is hub of startups for quality software and mobile applications. Any pricing or accessibility discrimination against newer applications by Telcos will certainly kill their growth and stifle innovation.”

     

    The Government’s hypothesis needs to be supported – “Good” regulations are better than “No” regulations at all. We do not want Indian Government or DoT to be silent on this important subject. If they remain silent and do not positively support Net Neutrality, ISPs on a later date can disrupt access to websites that do not pay them or compete with their interests. Indeed, the survival of Internet depends on DoT and Government of India and it’s implementation and enforcement of principles of Net Neutrality.

  • Net Neutrality: DoT Committee suggests plan of action, roots for expansion of OTT services

    Net Neutrality: DoT Committee suggests plan of action, roots for expansion of OTT services

    NEW DELHI: User rights on the Internet need to be ensured so that Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do not restrict the ability of the user to send, receive, display, use, post any legal content, application or service on the Internet, or restrict any kind of lawful Internet activity.

     

    However only the Government can decide what constitutes legality in relation to the content, application or service, with scope for judicial adjudication in case of any dispute.

     

    This has been stated by a Committee constituted by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and headed by member (Technology) A K Bhargava on 19 January this year to study Net Neutrality and its implications. 

     

    Other members were A K Mittal who is senior DDG TEC; Shashi Ranjan Kumar joint secretary (A); V Umashankar joint secretary (T); Narendra Nath – DDG (Security); and R M Agarwal – DDG (NT) who was also convenor of the committee.

     

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper in March this year titled “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-Top (OTT) Services” where the issue of Net Neutrality in the backdrop of OTT services came to the fore.

     

    The TRAI consultation paper sharply intensified the debate on Net Neutrality with broadcasters and telecom operators giving radically opposite views.

     

    At the outset, the DOT Committee said India has 997 million telecom subscribers and 99.20 million broadband subscribers with an access to internet at speeds higher than 512 kbps. Out of about 300 million subscribers accessing the internet, around 93 per cent subscribers are on wireless media, whereas seven per cent are on fixed wire line media. Currently, both broadband and internet penetration in India is comparatively low in the global context.

     

    In India, Internet traffic is likely to increase manifold in the next few years. There is a constant pressure for investment in network infrastructure and to expand capacities and increase penetration. Telecom infrastructure, being a capital intensive industry, will require significant investments by operators to meet the network capacity demands brought about by increasing broadband penetration, increasing speeds and increasing data usage.

     

    Telecom service providers have also started facing competition from unlicensed application platforms, termed Over-the-Top (OTT) players, in their traditional voice communication field.

     

    With an objective of enhancing revenue streams and to face competition from OTT players, telecom service providers have been exploring new opportunities for generating revenues from users and the content providers. Some of the models attempted by TSPs, such as charging higher.

     

    The Committee said content and application providers cannot be permitted to act as gatekeepers and use network operations to extract value in violation of core principles of Net Neutrality, even if it is for an ostensible public purpose.

     

    The Committee refrained from making any specific recommendation on search-neutrality, however, flags this issue as a concern for public policy. 

     

    In the report that runs into more than 100 pages, the Committee unhesitatingly recommends that “the core principles of Net Neutrality must be adhered to.”

     

    The Committee suggested an enforcement process where the core principles of Net Neutrality may be made part of license conditions and the licensor may issue guidelines from time to time as learning process matures. Since Net Neutrality related cases would require specialized expertise, a cell in the DoT HQ may be set up to deal with such cases. In case of violations, the existing prescribed procedure may be followed. This would involve two stage process of review and appeal to ensure that decisions are objective, transparent and just. 

     

    The tariff shall be regulated by TRAI as at present. Whenever a new tariff is introduced it should be tested against the principles of Net Neutrality. Post implementation, complaint regarding a tariff violating principle of Net Neutrality may be dealt with by DoT. Net Neutrality issues arising out of traffic management would have reporting and auditing requirements, which may be performed and enforced by DoT. QoS issues fall within the jurisdiction of TRAI. Similarly reporting related to transparency requirements will need to be dealt with by TRAI. TRAI may take steps as deemed fit.

     

    National security is paramount, regardless of treatment of Net Neutrality. The measures to ensure compliance of security related requirements from OTT service providers need to be worked out through inter-ministerial consultations.

     

    India should take a rational approach and initiate action in making an objective policy, specific to the needs of our country. It says both innovation and infrastructure have to be promoted simultaneously and neither can spread without the other. 

     

    The primary goals of public policy in the context of Net Neutrality should be directed towards achievement of developmental aims of the country by facilitating “Affordable Broadband”, “Quality Broadband” and “Universal Broadband” for its citizens.

     

    OTT application services have been traditionally available in the market for some time and such services enhance consumer welfare and increase productivity. Therefore, such services should be actively encouraged and any impediments in expansion and growth of OTT application services should be removed.

     

    There should be a separation of “application layer” from “network layer” as application services are delivered over a licensed network. 

     

    Specific OTT communication services dealing with messaging should not be interfered with through regulatory instruments.

     

    In case of VoIP OTT communication services, there exists a regulatory arbitrage wherein such services also bypass the existing licensing and regulatory regime creating a non-level playing field between TSPs and OTT providers both competing for the same service provision. Public policy response requires that regulatory arbitrage does not dictate winners and losers in a competitive market for service provision. 

     

    The existence of a pricing arbitrage in VoIP OTT communication services requires a graduated and calibrated public policy response. 

     

    In case of OTT VoIP international calling services, a liberal approach may be adopted. However, in case of domestic calls (local and national), communication services by TSPs and OTT communication services may be treated similarly from a regulatory angle for the present. The nature of regulatory similarity, the calibration of regulatory response and its phasing can be appropriately determined after public consultations and TRAI’s recommendations to this effect.

     

    For OTT application services, there is no case for prescribing regulatory oversight similar to conventional communication services.

     

    Legitimate traffic management practices may be allowed but should be “tested” against the core principles of Net Neutrality. General criteria against which these practices can be tested are as follows:

     

    1.       TSPs/ISPs should make adequate disclosures to the users about their traffic management policies, tools and intervention practices to maintain transparency and allow users to make informed choices.

    2.       Unreasonable traffic management, exploitative or anti-competitive in nature may not be permitted.

    3.      Tariff plans offered by TSPs/ISPs must conform to the principles of Net Neutrality set forth in guidelines issued by the Government as Licensor and TRAI may examine the tariff filings made by TSPs/ISPs to determine whether the tariff plan conforms to the principles of Net Neutrality.

     

    New legislation, whenever planned for replacing the existing legal framework, must incorporate principles of Net Neutrality. Till such time as an appropriate legal framework is enacted, interim provisions enforceable through licensing conditions as suggested by the Committee may be the way forward.

     

    Since enforcing Net Neutrality principle is a new idea and may throw up many questions and problems in the days ahead, an oversight process may be set up by the government to advise on policies and processes, review guidelines, reporting and auditing procedures and enforcement of rules.

     

    Capacity building through training, institution building and active engagement with stakeholders is essential. In order to deal with the complexities of the new digital world, a think-tank with best talent may also be set up.

     

    Click here to read IAMAI welcomes DoT recommendations on Net Neutrality

  • IAMAI welcomes DoT recommendations on Net Neutrality

    IAMAI welcomes DoT recommendations on Net Neutrality

    MUMBAI: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has welcomed the DoT Committee recommendations on Net Neutrality and agrees with the report that the primary goal of public policy should be directed towards facilitating affordable and universal connectivity.

     

    This actually is in line with IAMAI’s submission on Net Neutrality to the DoT. 

     

    IAMAI has always advocated a principle that guarantees consumers equal and non-discriminatory access to all data, apps and services on internet, with no discrimination on the basis of tariffs or speed, and is happy that the DoT paper also conforms to the view of IAMAI.

     

    The industry body has also welcomed the DoT recommendation that OTT services should be actively encouraged and any impediments in expansion and growth of OTT application services should be removed. This is also in line with the suggestions put forward by IAMAI that bringing in more regulation would be counterproductive to innovation and investments in this sector.

     

    According to IAMAI, Zero rating and other pro-access programs have the potential to dramatically expand internet access in India and bring more people online, but the report fails to fully recognize the value and potential of such programs. Not all Zero Ratings are violating the Net Neutrality principles and especially in countries like India where the Internet penetration is very low, such services can actually help in faster proliferation of broadband. So, the Net Neutrality laws should keep the plan of zero-rated services open and implement along the lines that is not anti-competitive and in lines with the principles of Net Neutrality. 

     

    In light of the observations made in the DoT Committee Report on Net Neutrality, IAMAI states that there are already enough regulations on the Internet Telephony in India [Calls from Skype to mobile numbers and land line consume reasonably less, but this is not yet permitted in India] and there is no need to further bring a licensing or revenue share arrangement between the OTTs and TSPs. This will disrupt VOIP and will also skew any further innovation in the same field, which is need of the hour.

  • Reliance says allegations against Jio Chat ‘unfounded and malicious’

    Reliance says allegations against Jio Chat ‘unfounded and malicious’

    MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm has said that statements against its Jio Chat application, which alleged that it sends user information to China based servers, are “unfounded and malicious” and that it fanatically respects and adheres to the privacy, security, and confidentiality of its users’ information.

     

    The Jio Chat app has seen over a million downloads since its launch earlier this year. Reliance Jio Infocomm believes that the analysis published was a deliberate attempt to sensationalize the issue by conveniently highlighting irrelevant portions of the APK script and malign this app.

     

    “We have seen various comments online by anonymous users and other aliases that question the integrity and security of the Jio Chat app. As a rule, we prefer not to respond to gossip and innuendo; however, we want to assure our users that Jio Chat takes privacy and security very seriously,” Reliance Jio Infocomm said in a statement.

     

    The company said that all Jio Chat data and associated servers are hosted physically in Reliance Jio data centers in India and no data travels outside of India from Jio Chat servers.

     

    “As part of standard development practices, the code base has reference to a number of servers, in the comment area. This is not executable code, meaning these references are not used by the application while running. Proper and complete examination of the code would show that the app does not transfer data to any servers outside of India. Within the developer community, it is well understood that decompiled snippets of code is not indicative of how the application actually functions with respect to end users and associated data transfer. “Anonymous” posters often raise false alarms by quoting items such as this out of context,” the statement added.

     

    Concern was also raised regarding references to Chinese map APIs. To counter this, the company said, “Jio Chat is a global application. It is well known that China does not support Google Maps (or for that matter, any Google applications). Thus, for location-based services within China, a Chinese-based mapping service is required. This is a common practice for any app wishing to provide location-based services within China. However, when used Globally, JioChat (outside of China) always uses Google Maps. (This can be checked by anyone by using Jio Chat Location Sharing function).”

     

    The company further clarified that Jio Chat was developed by developers across the world, including India. “Occasionally these developers use their native language while writing comments within the APK to better understand the problem. We are committed to having the best talent working on our products, regardless of race, nationality, gender, or native tongue. India embraces diversity, and, as a company, we do too,” the company said.    

  • Exhibitions India takes annual Convergence exposition to Africa

    Exhibitions India takes annual Convergence exposition to Africa

    NEW DELHI: Over 120 participants and top executives from over 300 companies are taking part in the first-ever Convergence Africa World 2015, which opened in Nairobi, Kenya, today.

     

    The exposition has been organised by the Exhibitions India Group, which organised the internationally recognised Convergence India expositions annually in the capital in recognition of Africa as the next global economic growth engine.

     

    The exhibition is being organised at Oshwal Centre in Nairobi from 17 to 19 June. Exhibitions India Group has partnered with local Nairobi-based organisation AfriExpos for the show.

     

    A first of its kind in Africa, the three-day exhibition and conference will showcase the convergence of telecoms, digital media, broadcast and IT industries. The inaugural expo is intended to facilitate B2B contacts, joint ventures, technology transfers, and financial investments, thereby presenting the most comprehensive one-stop shop in Africa.

    Some of the companies exhibiting at Convergence Africa World 2015 include Airtel, MediaGuru, RiverSilica Technologies, Matrix Comsec, Conax AS, Horizon Broadcast Electronics, ABOX42 GmbH, and Birla Ericsson Optical Limited. 

     

    The use of ICT in Africa is growing rapidly. African countries are harmonizing policy and regulatory frameworks for smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. As digitization spreads, internet on mobile phones will increase 20-fold in the next five years. This is double the rate of growth in the rest of the world.

     

    The Convergence Africa World 2015 will provide a platform for anyone who wants to break into or confirm their positions in the telecoms, media & ICT industry in Africa.

  • Wipro bags five-year contract from T-Mobile Poland

    Wipro bags five-year contract from T-Mobile Poland

    MUMBAI: Wipro has bagged a five-year contract from T-Mobile Poland to provide integrated applications and infrastructure services.

     

    Wipro has committed to T-Mobile a significant improvement of its legacy applications consolidation and rationalization, transforming its operating model from application-focus to domain-focus leading to better customer service.

     

    Over the next five years, Wipro will help T-Mobile systemize and standardize the IT architecture and operations of their Polish entity. A significant portion of the services will be provided from Wipro’s Delivery Centre in Warsaw as a part of their development strategy for Poland.

     

    Wipro SVP and business head – global communications and media Anil Jain said, “We are delighted to have been chosen by T-Mobile in Poland. This is a large transformational deal and a significant win for us. We look forward to supporting T-Mobile enhance their business performance through increased operational efficiency.”

     

    T-Mobile Polska board member, chief technology and innovation Milan Zika added, “We are very pleased to have brought a business partner aboard that understands where we want to be as a company and has the expertise to help us achieve our goals.”

  • BSNL begins offering free nationwide roaming services on mobile

    BSNL begins offering free nationwide roaming services on mobile

    NEW DELHI: Free roaming services commenced on the largest public sector mobile operator in the country, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), allowing all its mobile customers to receive incoming calls at no cost from 15 June, 2015.

     

    As BSNL has the largest base in rural and semi-urban areas, this concession will go a long way in promoting the growth of mobile usage.

     

    “Now BSNL mobile customers will not need to carry multiple SIMs and handsets during roaming. They are free to talk as long as they want without worrying about any charges during incoming calls. In fact, it is like a dream of ‘One Nation One Number’ coming true,” said BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava.

     

    On 2 June, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced that the telco would be launching free roaming scheme from 15 June.

     

    However, BSNL had then said that it had not received any communication from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding the roaming scheme.

     

    BSNL had a mobile subscriber base of 7.72 crore as of March-end.