Tag: Reliance Jio

TRAI questions Jio tariff; GSMA seeks 700 MHz band price recalibration

MUMBAI: There has been palpable unrest among the Indian telcos since Reliance Jio disrupted the telecom ecosystem by bringing in lucrative data and voice offers for the price-conscious Indian consumer a few weeks ago. Telecos instantly put together their counter-offers and also made some quick tie-ups to face the newest competition from the late entrant. Blocking inter-connectivity to calls to and from Jio seemed to a part of strategy of some telcos while the regulator TRAI watched from close quarters.

After several meetings with the competing telcos, TRAI has now sought an explanation from Reliance Jio Infocomm over its offer of free-calling as it differed from the Rs 1.20-per-minute voice tariff plan reported to the regulator. Jio officials reportedly may soon make changes in their tariffs, which would be conveyed to TRAI.

TRAI officials discussed with Reliance Jio executives seeking details of the tariff plan, TOI reported. Jio had printed two paise-per-second call plan on its SIM card brochures.

Jio may have to tackle an issue related to an amendment to the 2004 telecom tariff order. Telecom companies cannot have tariffs below the interconnect user charge (IUC), or the charge that a mobile operator pays to another for terminating its calls. The IUC rate is currently 14 paise per minute, while Jio has made calls free.

Telcos had alleged that Jio was engaging in predatory practices by offering free voice calls. However, TRAI did not find any merit in this accusation.

Meantime, GSMA wants the government to revisit 700 MHz spectrum band pricing. Global mobile industry body GSMA has called upon the government to reconsider pricing of 700 MHz band that failed to find takers in the just-concluded auction due to its “unrealistically” high price.

GSMA chief regulatory officer John Giusti, urged the government to reassess the approach to spectrum auction reserve prices after India “failed” to sell any of the critical 700 MHz band last week. The reserve prices for this highly sought-after band were set at an unrealistically high level of more than USD 60 billion (over Rs 4 lakh crore), Glusti said.

GSMA added that high reserve prices inhibit investment or delay deployment in next-generation networks at a time when demand for mobile data is growing mani-fold.

“Regulators should consider the conditions of the local market while setting reserve prices for spectrum auctions. In India, mobile operators have been asked to pay some of the highest rates for spectrum compared to other markets even though it has a low average revenue per user, PTI quoted Glusti’s statement.

Urging the Indian government to work with the regulator to recalibrate spectrum pricing, GSMA said that timely deployment of this spectrum will expand the reach of mobile broadband services and deliver positive social and economic benefits to the country’s citizens, creating a truly digital India.

October 14, 2016
Airtel partners Ditto TV; launches new super app

MUMBAI: Competition makes for strange bedfellows. Airtel is partnering with the OTT platform of Zee Digital Convergence Limited’ dittoTV app as it seeks to battle the onslaught of Reliance Jio. Airtel has relaunched its MyAirtel App as a super app housing many other apps amongst which figures DittoTV. The telco said that Ditto TV with over 100 live TV channels and popular TV shows will be available without any subscription charges to its customers.

Other apps which feature in the new MyAirtel app include Hike Messenger, Wynk Music, Wynk Movies, Wynk Games, Airtel Money, Airtel Dialer and Juggernaut. All of them are apparently being made available free to subscribers.

The MyAirtel app also features Airtel Cloud and Airtel Dialer. Airtel Cloud provides 2GB of free cloud storage and back-up. The company said that there are no data upload charges for the scheduled overnight backups for prepaid customers currently, and this benefit will be made available to postpaid customers soon.

Airtel Dialer, on the other hand, offers 50 minutes of free Airtel-to-Airtel calling benefits, in addition to its call management feature.

With the launch of its new app suite, it’s quite clear that it’s going to be a corporate war in the mobile 4G space. First, Airtel, and Vodafone, Idea blocked calls from free call provider Reliance Jio until they were forced to open up to its services. Hence, the other players including Idea and Airtel are gearing up to attack Jio in the app space too. Idea too is currently putting together an app suite which will be unveiled by Q4-2017 and Q1-2018.

Said Bharati Airtel global CIO & director Harmeen Mehta: “As part of our Digital Airtel initiative, we are excited to bring you the new avatar of the MyAirtel App, which now offers a unified interface to the entire suite of our popular mobile apps and several new ones. All these apps have been curated to ensure customers are offered the best of the web, with more exciting apps and partnerships coming in the near future.

Customers who already have MyAirtel App on their smartphone can update to receive the new features, while new users can download the new MyAirtel App from Google Playstore and iOS App Store. The telco said that normal plan or pack data charges will apply on all the mobile applications on MyAirtel app.

Airtel is also working overnight to put together interesting data plans for potential customer. A couple of weeks earlier, the super telco had launched a special 4G data plan which offered data free for 90 days. Now, it is offering 15 GB of 3G–4G data at the price of 1 GB. The offer is valid for its pre-paid customers using Samsung J series of smart phones. Among the models which can opt for this offer include: Samsung J2 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J7 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J5 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J Max and Samsung J2 Pro.

The 3G–4G data is available to customers in 4G circles only. In non-4G circles, viewers can enjoy 1 GB of data any time of the day, but 4 GB can only be utilized between midnight and 6 AM.

October 13, 2016
Airtel partners Ditto TV; launches new super app

MUMBAI: Competition makes for strange bedfellows. Airtel is partnering with the OTT platform of Zee Digital Convergence Limited’ dittoTV app as it seeks to battle the onslaught of Reliance Jio. Airtel has relaunched its MyAirtel App as a super app housing many other apps amongst which figures DittoTV. The telco said that Ditto TV with over 100 live TV channels and popular TV shows will be available without any subscription charges to its customers.

Other apps which feature in the new MyAirtel app include Hike Messenger, Wynk Music, Wynk Movies, Wynk Games, Airtel Money, Airtel Dialer and Juggernaut. All of them are apparently being made available free to subscribers.

The MyAirtel app also features Airtel Cloud and Airtel Dialer. Airtel Cloud provides 2GB of free cloud storage and back-up. The company said that there are no data upload charges for the scheduled overnight backups for prepaid customers currently, and this benefit will be made available to postpaid customers soon.

Airtel Dialer, on the other hand, offers 50 minutes of free Airtel-to-Airtel calling benefits, in addition to its call management feature.

With the launch of its new app suite, it’s quite clear that it’s going to be a corporate war in the mobile 4G space. First, Airtel, and Vodafone, Idea blocked calls from free call provider Reliance Jio until they were forced to open up to its services. Hence, the other players including Idea and Airtel are gearing up to attack Jio in the app space too. Idea too is currently putting together an app suite which will be unveiled by Q4-2017 and Q1-2018.

Said Bharati Airtel global CIO & director Harmeen Mehta: “As part of our Digital Airtel initiative, we are excited to bring you the new avatar of the MyAirtel App, which now offers a unified interface to the entire suite of our popular mobile apps and several new ones. All these apps have been curated to ensure customers are offered the best of the web, with more exciting apps and partnerships coming in the near future.

Customers who already have MyAirtel App on their smartphone can update to receive the new features, while new users can download the new MyAirtel App from Google Playstore and iOS App Store. The telco said that normal plan or pack data charges will apply on all the mobile applications on MyAirtel app.

Airtel is also working overnight to put together interesting data plans for potential customer. A couple of weeks earlier, the super telco had launched a special 4G data plan which offered data free for 90 days. Now, it is offering 15 GB of 3G–4G data at the price of 1 GB. The offer is valid for its pre-paid customers using Samsung J series of smart phones. Among the models which can opt for this offer include: Samsung J2 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J7 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J5 (2015 and 2016 models), Samsung J Max and Samsung J2 Pro.

The 3G–4G data is available to customers in 4G circles only. In non-4G circles, viewers can enjoy 1 GB of data any time of the day, but 4 GB can only be utilized between midnight and 6 AM.

October 13, 2016
Jio signs up 16 million 4G subs; target, 100 million

MUMBAI: Think Big. Think Global. That’s been the motto of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. And, now the world’s biggest start-up Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (Jio) — which he has been incubating for more than half a decade — has announced that it has achieved a global first.

The number of registered sign-ups Jio has achieved in the first month of its 4G commercial launch – September 2016 — has crossed 16 million. That’s a faster adoption rate than that achieved by any telco or any start-up like Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype.

And, of course, Ambani is pleased as punch by the consumer response. Said he in a press release: “We are delighted and humbled by the overwhelming response across India to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio is built to empower every Indian with the power of data. We are delighted that people have recognized this and are utilizing our services to the fullest. We are customer-obsessed and committed to improve every day to exceed expectations of our customers.”

Observers say Jio’s subscriber number could have been higher had Ambani and Jio managed to not run into a wall with older competitors like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea. Jio – which has made calls free – reported humungous amount of call failures because its rivals disallowed call connections by the newbie’s users.

Jio is looking to disrupt the entire Indian telecom ecosystem. While all Indian telcos charge for calls, Jio announced that it would not be charging for calls made using its network. And it announced cheaper data plans than rivals. It has been running its Jio Welcome Offer wherein all its services – including data and apps – are free for customers until 31 December 2016. Last week, it announced an offer for iPhone users wherein buyers of the 7, the 7 Plus, the 6, the 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, and the 5SE would not be charged for data and services for 12 months.

To top it all, Jio has introduced Aadhaar-based paper-less Jio SIM activation across 3,100 cities and towns. This enables the customer to complete the SIM activation process in a matter of minutes, with only his/her Aadhaar number.

The press release states that the “this process will be extended across the country and fully stabilized for satisfactory on-boarding experience in the next few weeks.”

Ambani announced at the company’s AGM at the beginning of this month that Jio had set its ambitions high. His goal was to have 100 million subscribers to its services within a year.

Rivals have been scrambling to ward off the Jio onslaught, dropping prices for data and bandwidth, as well as offering value added services at promotional rates.

The overall Indian telecom sector has been seeing shifts too. According to the latest telecom data up to 31 July 2016, the wireless telecom subscriber base shrank to 1034.2 million as against 1035.1 million in end June. Amongst the big losers in the month were Reliance Communications which shed 32.4 lakh customers, and Tata Teleservices and Sistema lost 6,96,325 and 2,28,626 subscribers.

Bharti Airtel led in the gainers table, adding a net 10.7 lakh new customers, taking its total sub base to 256.8 million, whereas Vodafone added 326,248 to take its tally to 199.7 million. Idea signed up 256,170 users taking its final number to 176.4 million.

With Jio expected to spread out its availability further in the coming months, observers are expecting the battles to continue.

October 10, 2016
Jio signs up 16 million 4G subs; target, 100 million

MUMBAI: Think Big. Think Global. That’s been the motto of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. And, now the world’s biggest start-up Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (Jio) — which he has been incubating for more than half a decade — has announced that it has achieved a global first.

The number of registered sign-ups Jio has achieved in the first month of its 4G commercial launch – September 2016 — has crossed 16 million. That’s a faster adoption rate than that achieved by any telco or any start-up like Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype.

And, of course, Ambani is pleased as punch by the consumer response. Said he in a press release: “We are delighted and humbled by the overwhelming response across India to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio is built to empower every Indian with the power of data. We are delighted that people have recognized this and are utilizing our services to the fullest. We are customer-obsessed and committed to improve every day to exceed expectations of our customers.”

Observers say Jio’s subscriber number could have been higher had Ambani and Jio managed to not run into a wall with older competitors like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea. Jio – which has made calls free – reported humungous amount of call failures because its rivals disallowed call connections by the newbie’s users.

Jio is looking to disrupt the entire Indian telecom ecosystem. While all Indian telcos charge for calls, Jio announced that it would not be charging for calls made using its network. And it announced cheaper data plans than rivals. It has been running its Jio Welcome Offer wherein all its services – including data and apps – are free for customers until 31 December 2016. Last week, it announced an offer for iPhone users wherein buyers of the 7, the 7 Plus, the 6, the 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, and the 5SE would not be charged for data and services for 12 months.

To top it all, Jio has introduced Aadhaar-based paper-less Jio SIM activation across 3,100 cities and towns. This enables the customer to complete the SIM activation process in a matter of minutes, with only his/her Aadhaar number.

The press release states that the “this process will be extended across the country and fully stabilized for satisfactory on-boarding experience in the next few weeks.”

Ambani announced at the company’s AGM at the beginning of this month that Jio had set its ambitions high. His goal was to have 100 million subscribers to its services within a year.

Rivals have been scrambling to ward off the Jio onslaught, dropping prices for data and bandwidth, as well as offering value added services at promotional rates.

The overall Indian telecom sector has been seeing shifts too. According to the latest telecom data up to 31 July 2016, the wireless telecom subscriber base shrank to 1034.2 million as against 1035.1 million in end June. Amongst the big losers in the month were Reliance Communications which shed 32.4 lakh customers, and Tata Teleservices and Sistema lost 6,96,325 and 2,28,626 subscribers.

Bharti Airtel led in the gainers table, adding a net 10.7 lakh new customers, taking its total sub base to 256.8 million, whereas Vodafone added 326,248 to take its tally to 199.7 million. Idea signed up 256,170 users taking its final number to 176.4 million.

With Jio expected to spread out its availability further in the coming months, observers are expecting the battles to continue.

October 10, 2016
‘Love Cinema Live Cinema’ with Tata Sky’s new service

MUMBAI: If you are a passionate movie-lover but miss screenings or are closely related to some aspect of filmmaking which only few are privy to, you need not worry at all as Tata Sky has brought in a solution. After brainstorming for a year, the DTH player has launched a first-of-its-kind service in cooperation with the Jio MAMI Festival with Star. Purpose: To retain and make their existing subscribers happy. This comes after a successful run of its kids showcase which will now be replaced with this new initiative.

An ad-free service, Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival will not just cheer up the movie buffs but will also highlight the efforts that are invested during the film festival.

With no additional cost, this service is available to all the subscribers irrespective of their package, set top box, demography and geography. Despite having a very good story line, made in high quality, movies sometimes do not find their way to the public. The idea with this initiative is to give niche movies a boost by screening them on TV.

Starting from 7 October, the service will be available on channel no 302 &302 in both SD and HD. The temporary service will complement the new edition of the film festival and will also be a catch-up for all the movies that were premiered in the previous editions. It will run three films on a daily basis and already has 20+ movies to air from renowned Indian and international directors in multiple languages.

Silent films, movies made in Hindi, English, Assamese, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Arabic, Russian, French, etc will be featured on this service for the subscribers. They can also enjoy works of directors like Hansal Mehta, Anup Singh, Ravi Jadav, Bikas Mishra, Pan Nalin, Nitin Kakkar, Lea Hjort Mathiesen.

“We are not selling this service. We care enough to curate and create a mix of some popular and some hidden gems from the field of film-making for our viewers from the last few editions of the Mumbai Film Festival. We have several people who pay us on a monthly basis. We are in the business of acquiring subscribers but we also have to retain them. Sometimes you do things because you want to make them happy. The monetizing cannot always be direct and immediate. The ambition and aspiration with this is that people will be more loyal to us after this,” asserts Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Agostinelli.

Agostinelli further adds, “We have talked to the producers and have bought rights for selective titles. We did not want them exclusively with us. A person can still put it on his/her digital platform, we are just giving them one extra opportunity. Technology is only going to make good stories available to people who deserve and want to watch them.”

Through this unsponsored yet innovative initiative, subscribers can look forward to an exciting mix of award winning and nominated features, short films, documentaries, animations covering varied genres of comedy, drama, thriller, mystery, crime and adventure. The promising star casts include names such as Sanjay Suri, Irfan Khan, Seema Biswas, Atul Kulkarni, Tisca Chopra, Soham Maitra, Manoj Bajpai, Rajkummar Rao, etc.

MAMI Festival director Anupama Chopra added, “We were delighted when Tata Sky extended their support and suggested taking these curated films from both Indian and international to viewers living across the country. This unique and unconventional approach just goes to prove that the entertainment and media industry needs to come together for the benefit of the extraordinary passion and talent of movie makers and lovers in India.”

Research was done to make good movies available for people at a different level. This service will bring a selection of movies from the film festival on TV giving them exposure at a different level.

“The fact that this MAMI Festival needs to be promoted and needs awareness is what we are working for. India is the most prolific and probably the most receptive movie country in the world. The number of people who are passionate about movies and the number of people working in the film industry are enormous. So, people care about movies here.”

Several DTH players have expanded their services to rural India which is only expanding. Agostinelli is of the opinion that the people living in rural areas were sometimes more educated about movies than urban. He said, “Rural market is definitely a huge market and is expanding enormously. People there are equally passionate and love entertainment as in cities. So, we aim to serve also this potential subscribers.”

The initiative will be promoted through direct marketing via its various other channel. They will also leverage social media. All the normal modes through which their subscriber is in touch will be used. Agostinelli is also of the opinion that the DTH industry has place for more players. “There is enough space for many players to serve this industry.”

Tata Sky will continue to explore new ideas and take up various initiatives to make a difference in this competitive industry. They might look at other festivals depending on the success with this one.

With such initiatives in its kitty and presence in 1.5 lakh towns, it only plans to expand in the future. It currently has 418 SD, 77 HD channels, 15 interactive service, 6 SD, 6 HD movie showcase platforms and several interactive services.

October 5, 2016
‘Love Cinema Live Cinema’ with Tata Sky’s new service

MUMBAI: If you are a passionate movie-lover but miss screenings or are closely related to some aspect of filmmaking which only few are privy to, you need not worry at all as Tata Sky has brought in a solution. After brainstorming for a year, the DTH player has launched a first-of-its-kind service in cooperation with the Jio MAMI Festival with Star. Purpose: To retain and make their existing subscribers happy. This comes after a successful run of its kids showcase which will now be replaced with this new initiative.

An ad-free service, Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival will not just cheer up the movie buffs but will also highlight the efforts that are invested during the film festival.

With no additional cost, this service is available to all the subscribers irrespective of their package, set top box, demography and geography. Despite having a very good story line, made in high quality, movies sometimes do not find their way to the public. The idea with this initiative is to give niche movies a boost by screening them on TV.

Starting from 7 October, the service will be available on channel no 302 &302 in both SD and HD. The temporary service will complement the new edition of the film festival and will also be a catch-up for all the movies that were premiered in the previous editions. It will run three films on a daily basis and already has 20+ movies to air from renowned Indian and international directors in multiple languages.

Silent films, movies made in Hindi, English, Assamese, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Arabic, Russian, French, etc will be featured on this service for the subscribers. They can also enjoy works of directors like Hansal Mehta, Anup Singh, Ravi Jadav, Bikas Mishra, Pan Nalin, Nitin Kakkar, Lea Hjort Mathiesen.

“We are not selling this service. We care enough to curate and create a mix of some popular and some hidden gems from the field of film-making for our viewers from the last few editions of the Mumbai Film Festival. We have several people who pay us on a monthly basis. We are in the business of acquiring subscribers but we also have to retain them. Sometimes you do things because you want to make them happy. The monetizing cannot always be direct and immediate. The ambition and aspiration with this is that people will be more loyal to us after this,” asserts Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Agostinelli.

Agostinelli further adds, “We have talked to the producers and have bought rights for selective titles. We did not want them exclusively with us. A person can still put it on his/her digital platform, we are just giving them one extra opportunity. Technology is only going to make good stories available to people who deserve and want to watch them.”

Through this unsponsored yet innovative initiative, subscribers can look forward to an exciting mix of award winning and nominated features, short films, documentaries, animations covering varied genres of comedy, drama, thriller, mystery, crime and adventure. The promising star casts include names such as Sanjay Suri, Irfan Khan, Seema Biswas, Atul Kulkarni, Tisca Chopra, Soham Maitra, Manoj Bajpai, Rajkummar Rao, etc.

MAMI Festival director Anupama Chopra added, “We were delighted when Tata Sky extended their support and suggested taking these curated films from both Indian and international to viewers living across the country. This unique and unconventional approach just goes to prove that the entertainment and media industry needs to come together for the benefit of the extraordinary passion and talent of movie makers and lovers in India.”

Research was done to make good movies available for people at a different level. This service will bring a selection of movies from the film festival on TV giving them exposure at a different level.

“The fact that this MAMI Festival needs to be promoted and needs awareness is what we are working for. India is the most prolific and probably the most receptive movie country in the world. The number of people who are passionate about movies and the number of people working in the film industry are enormous. So, people care about movies here.”

Several DTH players have expanded their services to rural India which is only expanding. Agostinelli is of the opinion that the people living in rural areas were sometimes more educated about movies than urban. He said, “Rural market is definitely a huge market and is expanding enormously. People there are equally passionate and love entertainment as in cities. So, we aim to serve also this potential subscribers.”

The initiative will be promoted through direct marketing via its various other channel. They will also leverage social media. All the normal modes through which their subscriber is in touch will be used. Agostinelli is also of the opinion that the DTH industry has place for more players. “There is enough space for many players to serve this industry.”

Tata Sky will continue to explore new ideas and take up various initiatives to make a difference in this competitive industry. They might look at other festivals depending on the success with this one.

With such initiatives in its kitty and presence in 1.5 lakh towns, it only plans to expand in the future. It currently has 418 SD, 77 HD channels, 15 interactive service, 6 SD, 6 HD movie showcase platforms and several interactive services.

October 5, 2016
TRAI to play peacemaker on telecoms interconnect issues

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R S Sharma yesterday said it will facilitate a meeting of telecoms companies soon with an aim to resolve the raging debate regarding interconnection issues between operators.

Addressing an inter-active meeting of the FICCI-ICT and Digital Economy Committee here on Tuesday, Sharma said that issues can be resolved through an across-the-table discussion with the CEOs of telecom companies.

It is learnt that the meeting was held in the backdrop of recent changes in different telecom plans after Reliance Jio unveiled a slew of disruptive marketing initiatives. The new entrant has also been claiming its subscribers were experiencing massive call-drops as incumbents were not providing adequate points of interconnect.

As to why the industry finds itself in this position, and whether it was due to lack of proper regulation and certain licensing issues, the chief regulator refused to comment. However, he added regulations do not leave scope for ambiguity.

Sharma spoke on a range of issues, including the 20 consultation papers released in the last 18 months, and that were in various stages of study. These, according to Sharma, were necessary for removing ambiguity in the telecoms sector, and allowing stakeholders to function in harmony.

TRAI felt the need for consultation papers in order to bring about a comprehensive regulatory framework that will plug gaps in the system and facilitate the industry to grow seamlessly.

Sharma told the members that, with the advent of technology such as cloud computing and internet of things (IOT), ICT was transforming every sector and telecoms players should leverage the opportunities. Earlier, technology was on the periphery, but, in the last decade, with disruptive technologies coming in, it had become a central tool, Sharma said, adding that ICT also brough with it efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Speaking on competition issues in general in the telecoms sector, Sharma said TRAI promoted healthy competition while safeguarding interest of the consumers as it was “paramount”.

India, he said, already had a world-class telecom network, and with new technologies coming in, services too should become world class. India should strive for next-generation network by employing new technologies such as Loons, Solar Planes and White Spaces, he said emphasising that there was a need to harmonize issues of business interest with disruptive technologies.

To achieve this, it was necessary to put down licensing rules, norms and quality aspects through regulation, Sharma asserted.

Responding to queries raised by industry regarding restrictions on experimentation, innovations and use of new technologies, Sharma said TRAI was in favour of new technologies with appropriate permissions. However, he added that these technologies should be interoperable without being in silos.

September 28, 2016
TRAI to play peacemaker on telecoms interconnect issues

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R S Sharma yesterday said it will facilitate a meeting of telecoms companies soon with an aim to resolve the raging debate regarding interconnection issues between operators.

Addressing an inter-active meeting of the FICCI-ICT and Digital Economy Committee here on Tuesday, Sharma said that issues can be resolved through an across-the-table discussion with the CEOs of telecom companies.

It is learnt that the meeting was held in the backdrop of recent changes in different telecom plans after Reliance Jio unveiled a slew of disruptive marketing initiatives. The new entrant has also been claiming its subscribers were experiencing massive call-drops as incumbents were not providing adequate points of interconnect.

As to why the industry finds itself in this position, and whether it was due to lack of proper regulation and certain licensing issues, the chief regulator refused to comment. However, he added regulations do not leave scope for ambiguity.

Sharma spoke on a range of issues, including the 20 consultation papers released in the last 18 months, and that were in various stages of study. These, according to Sharma, were necessary for removing ambiguity in the telecoms sector, and allowing stakeholders to function in harmony.

TRAI felt the need for consultation papers in order to bring about a comprehensive regulatory framework that will plug gaps in the system and facilitate the industry to grow seamlessly.

Sharma told the members that, with the advent of technology such as cloud computing and internet of things (IOT), ICT was transforming every sector and telecoms players should leverage the opportunities. Earlier, technology was on the periphery, but, in the last decade, with disruptive technologies coming in, it had become a central tool, Sharma said, adding that ICT also brough with it efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Speaking on competition issues in general in the telecoms sector, Sharma said TRAI promoted healthy competition while safeguarding interest of the consumers as it was “paramount”.

India, he said, already had a world-class telecom network, and with new technologies coming in, services too should become world class. India should strive for next-generation network by employing new technologies such as Loons, Solar Planes and White Spaces, he said emphasising that there was a need to harmonize issues of business interest with disruptive technologies.

To achieve this, it was necessary to put down licensing rules, norms and quality aspects through regulation, Sharma asserted.

Responding to queries raised by industry regarding restrictions on experimentation, innovations and use of new technologies, Sharma said TRAI was in favour of new technologies with appropriate permissions. However, he added that these technologies should be interoperable without being in silos.

September 28, 2016
Jio battles incumbents as Airtel launches Rs 1495 free data plan

MUMBAI: The fisticuffs continue in the 4G telecom marketplace. Even as Reliance Jio has been waging a war of press releases, highlighting how many of its subscribers’ calls are being refused by Idea, Airtel and Vodafone, the Sunil Mittal-led telco today too issued a press release through which it is taking a jab at the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco’s free call and data offer.

Airtel says it has started offering a free data package for Rs 1495 only, and for prepaid customers only. If you are paying for it, then how is it free? Airtel explains that consumers can surf at wild speeds up to the 30GB data and 90-day limit, after which the accelerator needle will drop to 64kbps. And that’s when the free part of surfing will come in – but at super slow speed.

At the price of Rs 1495 for 30 GB means the data is coming your way cheaper than the Reliance Jio offer of Rs 50 for a GB. The only difference is you are plonking down the money upfront.

Will Reliance Jio react to this outrageous offer from a rival telco? No one knows, but it definitely has reacted to rival telco Idea on another front: that of call drops. It says that the Aditya Birla group-owned Idea is blocking out calls from Jio customers, refusing them connectivity. Says the Jio press release: “Adequate interconnection capacity so that call failure rate is less than 5 per 1,000 is a license obligation of all telecom operators. As against this, over 750 calls per 1,000 are failing per day between Idea and Jio networks, which translates to four crore calls failing per day. Over 12 crore calls fail daily between Jio and the networks of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. This is a breach of licence conditions by the incumbent operators and severely impacts customer interests. This is against zero call failures on the Jio network.”

September 24, 2016