VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

5G is far more than just another mobile generation to expect in 2021:  5G   is one of the biggest, most complex technological challenges of the past decade. This is the world's next great tipping point - when   mobile technologies   will become as inseperable from our lives as electricity, and as fundamental as the automobile. 5G is a complete paradigm shift.The global standard for 5G (fi h generation) mobile network, developed by   3GPP . First-generation wireless allowed voice communication, followed by 2G which added text and 3G which enabled basic computing. 4G unleashed higher data speeds which allowed for greater mobile web access, gaming, high-definition video streaming, and more. 5G is even more powerful, with average download speeds of more than one gigabyte per second. That’s about 20 times faster than 4G. 5G is not widely available in U.S. just yet, and there aren’t very many people who even own devices capable of connecting to the ultra-fast network....

IUC Regime For Domestic Voice Calls Comes To An End:  As per directions of the Hon’ble   Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”) , Bill and Keep regime is being implemented in the country from 1st January 2021, thereby ending   interconnect usage charges (IUC)   for all domestic voice calls. Honouring its commitment to revert off-net domestic voice-call charges to zero, as soon as IUC charges are abolished, Jio will once again make all off-net domestic voice calls free, starting 1st January 2021. On-net domestic voice calls have always been free on the   Jio network .   For context, in September 2019, when TRAI extended the timeline for implementation of the Bill & Keep regime beyond 1st January 2020, Jio was left with no option but to start charging its customers for offnet voice calls, at a rate exactly equivalent to the applicable IUC charge. While doing so, Jio had assured its users that this charge would continue only till the time TRAI abol...

In 2020 Cyber crime has costs $49 Billion to Russian citizens and companies: Sberbank:  As per   Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender , cyber attacks have cost up to 3.6 trillion roubles ($49 billion) to the citizens and companies of the country.   In an effort to crack down the shadow economy, Russia has encouraged its citizens to switch to bank cards and limit cash use but crimes related to bank cards have shot up by 500% this year, as estimated by the interior ministry.   As per the news source,  Stanislav Kuznetsov, Sberbank’s Deputy Chairman , who oversees security and services said that private business and ordinary Russians were the main targets of cyber attacks, as the state security services are better protected.   “The private sector is the most vulnerable: everything from the clients’ accounts to financial data and tender documents are targeted: there are 2.3 million darknet accounts operating in Russian and offering the stolen data,” he said. ...

Zuoyebang bags $1.6 billion from investors like Alibaba:  Zuoyebang   has announced raising a $1.6 billion Series E+ from investors including   Alibaba Group . Other participants included returning investors   Tiger Global Management ,   SoftBank Vision Fund ,   Sequoia Capital China   and   FountainVest Partners .   Zuoyebang’s latest announcement comes just six months after it announced a $750 million Series E led by Tiger Global and FountainVest. The latest financing brings Zuoyebang’s total raised so far to $2.93 billion. The company did not disclose its latest worth, but Reuters reported in September that it was raising at a $10 billion valuation.   One of Zuoyebang’s main competitors is Yuanfudao, which announced in October that it had reached a $15.5 billion valuation after closing a $2.2 billion round led by Tencent. This pushed Yuanfudao ahead of Byju as the world’s most valuable edtech company. Another popular online learning a...

Akamai observes internet traffic growth to ease to pre-pandemic levels in 2021:  As per   Akamai Technologies Inc. , the global internet traffic growth is likely to ease to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 which was fuelled by the lockdown in 2020.   As per news source,  Tom Leighton, Chief Executive at the Global Content Delivery Network  said that while a lot of changes-preference for e-commerce and remote working-could become permanent, overall internet traffic growth would stabilise. “Our business was geared to supporting this, and we have accelerated our efforts,” he said.   Though things start to normalise next year, Leighton expects new areas to drive growth in internet traffic. According to him, remote learning will get more popular, as will online collaboration.   “Things we are seeing now will become much more permanent. For instance, It will be a long time before you have 1,000 people packed into a room for a marketing event,” said Leig...

Caviar brings Apple AirPods Max in ‘pure gold’ variant at Rs 79.25 lakh:  Early this month,   Apple   has come up with the   AirPods Max headphones   for $549 or Rs 59,900 in India.   The  Russian company Caviar  known for making luxury variants of popular gadgets has declared its 2021 lineup which includes gold variants of the Nike AirJordan shoes, Sony PS5 and the Apple AirPods Max headphones. The gold variation of Apple AirPods Max headphones is priced at $108,000.   As per the details listed on Caviar’s global website, Apple AirPods Max headphones are available in Gold White and Gold Black variants on the platform. Both these variants are priced at $108,000, which roughly translate to Rs 79,25,245.   The company said that both the headphone variants are made of 750 gold and white crocodile leather for the Gold White variant and Black crocodile leather for the Gold Black variant. These headphones will be available for purchase on the ...

Jio and Mediatek to begin 2021 with the biggest online-gaming tournament:  Jio   and   MediaTek   have come together to launch ‘ Gaming Masters ’, an esports event targeted at new and existing online gaming enthusiasts in India. This 70-day esports tournament comes just days after the successful completion of JioGames’ first online gaming event -  ‘India ka Gaming Champion’ . ABOUT GAMING MASTERS:  Gaming Masters is a grassroot undertaking by MediaTek and Jio, that is meant to revolutionize online gaming  The tournament is set to test gamer’s skill, teamwork and endurance in a virtual gaming arena, while vying for a prize pool of INR 12,50,000  The entire tournament will be broadcast LIVE on JioTV HD Esports Channel and YouTube  Gaming Masters will feature Garena’s self-developed hit battle royale title, Free Fire, which is being made available to both Jio and non-Jio users through the JioGames platform

PM Cares Fund is not a so-called “public authority”:  The   Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs   has said in the Lok Sabha that the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund), though set up by the Central Government, is not a 'public authority' under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.   Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Thakur , said this as a reply to an unstarred question raised by Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Member of Parliament from Maharashtra, belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).   The MP had asked: "Whether it is a fact that according to the Ministry the Fund was set up on March 27, 2020 by the Central Government thus making it a public authority under the ambit of Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act, 2005 and if so, the details thereof?"   To this, the MoS answered: 'No sir'.   The NCP MP further asked the "reasons for amending the Companies Act re...

Centre Launches Serum Institute’s Pneumococcal Vaccine Pneumosil:  Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan   launched the country's first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 'Pneumosil' developed by Serum Institute of India in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.   On the occasion, Vardhan remarked that the vaccines are used in 170 countries and every third child in the world is immunised with the manufacturer's shots, the health ministry said in a statement. The minister further said that SIIPL developed and got license of the first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) from the government during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat', it said. Serum Institute's first indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine will be available in the market under the brand name 'Pneumosil' at an affordable price in single dose (vial and pre-filled syringe) and multidos...

Aye Finance raises Rs 77 cr in debt from Catalyst Trusteeship:  Aye Finance , a financial service startup, has bagged Rs 77 cr ($10 Mn) in debt from Catalyst Trusteeship through its AAV Sarl and Masala Investment Sarl.   As per the filings of the  Ministry of Corporate Affairs , Aye Finance has assigned 3,85,875 debentures each worth Rs 38.58 Cr to AAV Sarl and Masala Investment Sarl, leading up to Rs 17.17 Cr.   Before this round, in July 2020 the company had also raised Rs 125 Cr in debt from Germany-based impact investor Invest in Vision.   Founded by  Sanjay Sharma  and Vikram Jetley in 2014, Aye Finance caters to unbanked micro-enterprises of India by offering B2B loans. The company is currently offering its services in 14 states and plans to expand into Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the coming years. The company has over 173 branches and 2,900 employees.   Till date the company has provided two lakh loans which amounts to Rs 2...

Over Facebook-Apple privacy dispute, FB employees side with iPhone maker:  Facebook   was upset at   Apple   due to the latter’s new privacy guidelines that give iOS customers the chance to opt-out of getting their information tracked by apps (like Facebook) for the needs of getting personalised adverts delivered on their iPhones or iPads.   Apple CEO Tim Cook  fired again on Twitter the following day tweeting that Apple believes that its clients ought to have the selection to find out how their information must be used. Cook added that Facebook can nonetheless proceed to trace iOS customers throughout web sites and apps identical to earlier than. The sole distinction is that with the App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14, Facebook might want to ask for consumer’s permission first.   Apple is permitting iPhone customers to decide out of advert monitoring which Facebook says will destroy small companies   Not all Facebook employees are on the side of...

Serum waits for India’s green signal for COVID-19 vaccine use:  Serum Institute of India , which is also manufacturing the   Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in India , said that it expected the government to approve the shot for emergency use in a few days.   The company has already made 40 million to 50 million doses of the vaccine and will be able to ramp up capacity to around 100 million a month by March when a new facility comes online.   "We have 40-50 million doses of Covishield stockpiled. Once we get regulatory approvals in a few days, it'll be down to the government to decide how much they can take and how fast,"  Serum Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla  said.   "All data on Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine submitted in India and UK. There are no concerns, regulators are closely reviewing documents and data," informed Serum CEO. Poonawalla also told the reporters that India is a part of 'COVAX' and hence, the company will keep giving 50...

Individual users not to get penalty or punishment for using banned mobile apps:  On 24 September, 2020 118 more apps were banned (including PubG)   under section 69A of the Information Technology Act . Last month, the Ministry blocked 43 more apps citing security concerns. But there is no penalty prescribed for individual users of mobile apps such as TikTok, PUBG, CamScanner, UC Browser etc which were blocked by the   Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology   citing security concerns. However, there is a penalty prescribed for intermediaries under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act who fail to comply with blocking orders.   This was told by the Ministry in reply to an RTI application made by a law student named Prasoon Shekhar. The Ministry said in its reply, “MeitY does not ban any App. However, blocking of specified Apps was done under the provisions of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its Rules namely Information T...

Fundraising jumps 116% to Rs 1.78 lakh cr in 2020 via equity issues :  According to a report, the devastating pandemic failed to dampen the primary and secondary capital market issues with the year closing with the highest ever fund raising from the equity markets, that grew at 116 per cent to Rs 1.78 lakh crore in IPOs, OFS and other market issuances. This was 116 per cent higher than Rs 82,241 crore was raised in 2019, according to   Pranav Haldea, managing director at Prime Database.   The previous highest amount raised in a calendar year was Rs 1, 60,032 crore in 2017. Strong retail participation in IPOs, huge listing gains and highest-ever amount raised through QIPs and InvITs/REITs were the key highlights of the year, he said. While IPOs fetched Rs 26,770 crore, which was 40 per cent higher than collected in 2019, FPOs netted Rs 15,024 crore, followed by OFS (offer for sale) at Rs 21,458 crore and REITs/InvITs/QIPs at Rs 84,501 crore, shows the report. Of the last c...