VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Recent tariff changes to benefit Vi, Airtel, Jio:  The three private telecom operators of the nation,   Vodafone Idea ,   Bharti Airtel , and   Reliance Jio   will certainly benefit from the recent changes in tariffs and offers provided to the customers. In the September quarter, multiple things took place, such as telcos removed their base plans to earn more out of low average revenue per user (ARPU) customers. Then the telcos introduced bulk data plans with new validities, which were slightly on the more expensive end. Telcos even withdrew the offers and benefits (talktime and data) that they were providing to their customers.   Due to this consumer spending is going to increase substantially, which will help the operators in increasing their ARPU. With their ARPU slightly increased, the operators are expected to continue exploring ways to expand their subscriber market share until 5G comes, but that is a topic of discussion for some other day.   The...

According to a news report,  Bharti Airtel  will rely heavily on an upward revision in mobile tariffs in the medium term to sustain a whopping $8 billion (Rs 56,000 crore) of incremental investments it is estimated to make over the next three years in greenfield 5G roll-outs and in expanding existing 4G networks.   It is estimated that Bharti Airtel will need to invest an incremental $5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) over the first three years even for a selective 5G roll-out, and an additional $3 billion (Rs 21,000 crore) for 4G expansion, for which mobile pricing will need to be revised upwards, primarily to support upcoming investments in 5G spectrum and networks.   Studies show that there is a challenge as Bharti doesn’t see mobile tariffs rising anytime soon, and it is believed any meaningful increase in mobile pricing is at least 2-3 quarters away. Airtel's recent mega fund raise via rights issue, bond sales and an upcoming Africa IPO is expected to ad...

Bharti Airtel and Ericsson said that they have successfully conducted India’s first trial of Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology over a LIVE LTE network . LAA is a key technology as operators evolve their networks to achieve Gigabit LTE by opening up previously untapped resources of unlicensed spectrum delivering speeds once thought only possible over fiber. LAA enables the use of unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band in combination with the licensed spectrum. With this, the subscribers get a massively enhanced mobile broadband experience and ultra-fast speeds, while operators make efficient use of unlicensed spectrum resources. Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, states, “Airtel has always led the introduction of cutting-edge network technologies to serve its customers. We are pleased to partner Ericsson to conduct India’s first LAA trial, which is also a big step towards 5G and Gigabit networks. LAA is an important technology evolution that c...

Due to the rapid growth of smartphones in the market, fixed line connections declined steadily down to 22.81 million connections. Though state-run firm BSNL dominated the market with highest share of 12.26 million customers, it lost 5,304 customers. RCom lost 169,052 fixed line connections and MTNL 10,157 connections. Airtel topped the chart in terms of market share with 304.19 million subscribers, followed by Vodafone 222.69 million and Idea with 211.2 million customers. Indian telecom industry in a stage of consolidation. Vodafone led new subscriber addition by adding 12,280 fixed line connections, taking its total subscriber base to 220,981. With this the number of broadband subscribers increased to 412.6 million in March from from 392.06 million in February. The mobile segment accounted for over 95 per cent of the total broadband connections.... Read More

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) and Gulf Bridge International (“GBI”) announced a strategic agreement to unlock the capacity on GBI’s India-Middle East-Europe submarine cable system. Under the agreement, Airtel will acquire the ownership of the India leg of GBI’s India-Middle East-Europe submarine cable. Airtel will also pick up a significant capacity on Middle East-Europe leg of GBI’s cable system. Airtel and GBI have also agreed to formulate joint Go to Market strategies and leverage the footprint of their respective global networks to serve global customers. Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO for Global Voice and Data Business, Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to announce this agreement with GBI. With this, we are adding a large capacity to meet the growing data, content demand in markets like India as well as serve the connectivity needs of global carriers and enterprise customers. The agreement offers great synergies to Airtel and GBI as both partners will able to build...

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has written to Airtel and sought a reversal of subsidy amounts that have been wrongfully credited to the Airtel Payment bank accounts. A company statement said: “HPCL has requested that the subsidy amounts of consumers whose LPG subsidies have been wrongfully credited to Airtel Payment bank accounts be immediately transferred back to the customer’s earlier bank account or to the respective oil marketing companies.” According to reports, ₹167 crore have been wrongfully credited to the Airtel Payment Bank interface through 31 lakh transactions. The oil marketing companies and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas have been getting a large number of complaints from consumers regarding non-credit of the LPG subsidy amounts into their earlier bank accounts for the past few weeks, the HPCL statement added.... For more information, visit   :  http://www.varindia.com/news/hpcl-writes-to-airtel-payments-banks-for-r...

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of Project Next - its digital innovation program aimed at transforming customer experience across all of its services and touch points. The company plans to invest up to Rs. 2,000 crores over the next 3 years under Project Next to launch several exciting digital innovations to step change the simplicity and interactivity of the Airtel customer experience. Project Next complements Airtel’s massive investments towards building a future ready network under Project Leap. Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, everything that we do starts with our customers and we are obsessed about delivering a great experience to them. We look at the customer journey holistically and have identified 17 moments of truth. At each of these moments, our aspiration is to eliminate customer frustration and make the experience better via digital innovation." Read More

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telco today announced free data for 12 months, worth up to Rs 9,000, to customers who switch to Airtel 4G.  The 12 months offer is available to any customer with a 4G mobile handset that is currently not on the Airtel network. Any customer, including existing Airtel customers, upgrading to a new 4G handset can also avail this offer. This offer will be available to customer across India starting tomorrow and will close on February 28, 2017.   Customers will get free 3 GB data every month till December 31, 2017 with select prepaid and postpaid packs under this offer. This free data benefit will be over and above the pack/plan benefits.... Read More  

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone SuperNet has started rolling out Aadhaar based e-KYC solution following the notification by the department of telecom, government of India. Airtel e-KYC solution is live in company operated stores across Delhi NCR and the company plans to roll out solution across the country over the next few days. The solution will enable instant activation of Airtel mobile connection and thereby enhance customer convenience and experience. The digital verification, which is fully secure, will also eliminate paperwork and benefit the environment... Read More

Bharti Airtel , India’s largest telecommunications services provider, today announced that customers purchasing Samsung Galaxy J series mobile device, can enjoy 10 GB Airtel 4G data at the price of 1 GB 4G data. Available with most of the Samsung Galaxy J series devices , under the offer, new and existing Airtel prepaid users can avail 10 GB of 4G data at a nominal cost of Rs 250. To claim the offer, customers will simply have log on to www.offers.airtel.com from their new Samsung J series devices using Airtel mobile internet (not Wi-fi) and follow instructions. Users can also visit their nearest Airtel Retail outlets to upgrade to Airtel 4G and activate the offer... Read More

To increase Airtel’s reach to multiple new countries in the Middle East and provide better connectivity, GBI and Airtel Business have announced a strategic partnership. GBI is a global service provider that owns and operates a multilayer carrier neutral network connecting the world to the Middle East Ajay Chitkara, Director & CEO – Global Voice and Data Business, Bharti Airtel Ltd , said, “We are committed to providing the best-in-class service experience to our customers in the region and globally. This new partnership with GBI is a significant step in that direction. GBI being a key network asset for the region will not only improve our customers’ experience and reach but would also enable GBI’s customers to experience a seamless extension on the Airtel Global network spanning across 50 countries across five continents.” Read more

Bharti Airtel has declared that it will move all its prepaid mobile customers to the more affordable per second bill plan nationally. “Pay For What You Use” initiative as part of the company’s “Customer First” commitment, this will help ensure that customers pay only for the time they use the Airtel network. Ajai Puri, director – Market Operations, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) said “Our customers are the reason for us to be in business, we therefore constantly introduce innovative initiatives with a commitment to deliver a world class experience to them. While we continue to invest aggressively in our network quality and deploy new sites to further enhance our robust and wide network presence, as yet another token measure of our commitment we are today taking the lead to move our customers to the affordable per second plans ensuring that they pay only for what they use.” Read more

Of late, around 20 management-level executives of Tata Teleservices’ Kerala operation have joined Reliance Jio Infocomm with a 20-30-per cent hike in salary. With the Reliance Industries unit in the job market shopping staff for its yet-to-be-launched service, and ecommerce majors fattened by foreign funding always on the lookout for the best talent, telecom companies such as Tata Teleservices are seeing a flight of executives in the marketing, customer service and technology functions. Meanwhile, the heightened activity in the human resources market has also boosted the pay that top performers get in the telecom sector... Read more

Bharti Airtel Limited has announced the commercial launch of its high-speed 4G services (also called LTE) in Agartala (Tripura). Now customers from that state can experience high- speed wireless broadband on Airtel 4G and get on to the digital superhighway to enjoy uninterrupted HD video streaming, superfast uploading and downloading of movies, music and images. Airtel 4G is available to customers across a range of smart devices, including mobile phones, dongles, 4G hotspots and Wi-Fi dongles. Commenting on the launch of Airtel 4G in the city, Saurabh Goel, CEO – Assam and North East, Bharti Airtel, said, “As customers in India show an increasing propensity for consuming data services, we, at Airtel, are excited to take the lead in introducing the market to the power of blazing 4G speeds. Today, as we launch Airtel 4G for our customers in Agartala, they will be uniquely positioned for a superlative 4G experience.” Read more

Bharti Airtel has launched 4G trials exclusively for its customers in Delhi NCR. Airtel’s 4G services in the National Capital Region are the first in India to leverage an integrated FD and TD network which will deliver the fastest 4G experience and superior network coverage. It enables superfast internet speeds and allows customers to enjoy capabilities like high- definition video streaming with zero buffering, downloading 10 movies in less than 30 minutes, uploading entire photo albums in less than five minutes (i.e. uploading two high resolution photos per second), connecting multiple devices without compromising on the experience, etc. airtel 4g 300x300 Airtel launches its 4G trials in Delhi NCRAs part of the trial offer, Airtel customers across Delhi NCR can now avail a complimentary upgrade to Airtel 4G at 3G prices and experience blazing Airtel 4G speeds. The company will assimilate valuable customer feedback from these early adopters and leverage the initial market respon...

Bharti Airtel Limited (“Bharti Airtel”) has launched 4G trials exclusively for its existing customers in Mumbai. As part of this, Airtel customers across the city can now avail a complimentary upgrade to Airtel 4G at 3G prices. The company will use this trial phase as an opportunity to gather valuable customer feedback around the quality of its 4G services and assimilate these market insights into Airtel’s wider agenda of building a world-class 4G network infrastructure for the city. Ashok Ganapathy, Hub CEO – Mumbai. Maharashtra, Goa & Gujarat, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said, “As an increasing number of Indians show a preference for consuming data and content over their mobile devices, we, at Airtel, are excited to bring the power of 4G to our customers in Mumbai. While launching Platinum 3G, we significantly augmented our network and now have made further investments in building a robust 4G network here. For us, delivering a compelling service experience to our customers is our utmos...

Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”) has announced that starting from 27th April its broadband customers can enjoy free voice calls to any network in the country 24X7. The company has launched two voice calling packs for its broadband customers offering unlimited free voice calls at unbeatable prices to any number in India on any network, both fixed line and mobile, round the clock.  Customers can enjoy unlimited free local calls with the pack priced at just Rs.49/- per month and unlimited free STD+local calls at just Rs.99/- per month to any network, anywhere in the country to both landlines and mobile phones round the clock. Launched exclusively for broadband users, the offers are available exclusively for non-commercial use.  Existing customers can opt for the packs by sending an SMS to 53636 for Rs.49/- pack or to 53636 for the Rs.99/- pack from their registered mobile number. New customers can book a new broadband connection to avail these offers by sending an SMS t...

With the launch of Airtel Zero, telecom giant Bharti Airtel has faced unrelated debate on net neutrality with regard to the product. Airtel Zero is an innovative and open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications “free of cost”. “First and most important point, Airtel Zero is ‘free’ for all our consumers and open to all marketers. Yes, open to all – big orSrini Gopalan Director airtel Airtel clears the air surrounding Airtel Zero small. There is also a high level of misinformation surrounding the product, which is not surprising since the very concept of Net Neutrality is a bit misunderstood,” said Srini Gopalan, Director – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel. “While opinions from critics of the product are very welcome, it is pertinent that we set the record straight and look at some key facts relating to Airtel Zero and the benefits it brings to customers and the industry alike,” he added... See more

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its managed Room Telepresence service for Enterprise segment. With zero CAPEX and at no additional cost, enterprises in the country especially the small and mid-sized organizations will now be able to upgrade to High-Definition Telepresence video exchange sessions from the existing standard definition video experience at an affordable cost of just Rs. 799/- per day per room.  Airtel has launched this service with CISCO. The VAAS (video-as-a-service) offering from Airtel will bundle all the essential components of Telepresence video calling including end point, network and VNOC . Manish Prakash, President – Airtel Business said, “At Airtel we are committed towards developing innovative & cost effective platforms for our customers and the Room Telepresence service is a step in this direction. This new solution has the potential to transform the segment as it empowers customers with a highly scalable integrated video solution at a ...

VARINDIA- INDIA'S FRONTLINE IT MAGAZINE For the next five years,  Bharti Airtel  and  IBM  have signed a new agreement to manage Airtel’s infrastructure and application services in India. This agreement builds on the 10-year-old relationship between the two organizations which has driven the co-creation of industry-leading telco solutions and customer-centric services. The agreement is based on Airtel’s new IT vision that defines the next generation of services for its ever-growing customer base and to offer best-in-class services to its customers through solutions leveraging cutting-edge technology. As part of the new vision, Airtel is also building in-house capabilities and a strong partner ecosystem, and has selected IBM to manage the IT infrastructure and applications for its operations in India. Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) , said, “As we embark on the next phase of Airtel’s growth journey, I am confident that the ag...