Snehal khanna Blog

Industry shows signs of stabilisation, as incumbent operators manage to expand their wireless broadband user base LATEST NEWS :  Reliance Jio is witnessing continued momentum in subscriber additions even after the company raised tariffs in July. The company added 5.9 million customers, the highest among all telecom operators, in September to take its user base to 138.61 million. The Mukesh Ambani-owned company had added 4.1 million subscribers in August. According to a report by UBS, Reliance Jio’s active subscriber base grew by 7.3 million in September after slowing down to 2.2 million in August. Reliance Jio’s market share increased to 11.7 per cent at the end of September. The incumbent operators have also been able to expand their wireless broadband user base, indicating the industry is stabilising. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has put out data that shows Airtel gained one million subscribers in September and its market share increas...

The 'Celkon Smart 4G' comes with a four inch touch screen, dual SIM slots and access to all popular apps like YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook LATEST NEWS  : India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel on October 30 in partnership with Celkon launched a 4G Android smartphone for Rs 1,349. The phone comes bundled with Airtel's Rs 169 offer plan, which provides unlimited calls, and 500 MB data per day for 28 days. The partnership is part of Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative, under which Airtel plans to collaborate with device manufacturers to launch smartphones at the price of a feature phone. In terms of specifications, the Celkon Smart 4G smartphone sports a 4-inch screen, dual-SIM slots and FM radio. The Android powered 4G smartphone offers access to several apps on Google Play Store, including YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp. The device will also come preloaded with apps from Airtel -- MyAirtel app, Wynk music and Airtel TV. The phone comes ...

Jio mapped out plan to address 100 mn TV households in 30 cities by ensuring dense fibre presence for last-mile connectivity to homes LATEST NEWS :  After its success in mobile telephony, Reliance Jio is preparing to disrupt the market once again. This time in the fixed broadband and television (TV) space. The Mukesh Ambani-led company will launch high-speed fibre to the home (FTTH) broadband in more than 30 cities early next year, to offer TV as well as internet to subscribers, it is learnt. Jio has mapped out a plan to address over 100 million TV households across these cities, including Tier II and III, by ensuring dense fibre presence for last-mile connectivity to homes. In the first phase itself, at least 50 million households will be offered the service, according to sources in the know. Jio has already spread out over 300,000 kilometres of optic fibre (half of which is through a long-term contract with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications). In fac...

Charges to be zero in two years; incumbents set to move court LATEST NEWS : In a fresh blow to incumbent mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has cut the interconnect usage charges (IUC, also known as terminating charges) by 57 per cent to 6 paise per minute effective October 1, from 14 paise currently. In two years, the charges would come down to zero, meaning there won’t be any payment for calls landing on other telcos’ networks. The new charges are being seen as a relief for the latest entrant, Reliance Jio . It is estimated to save about Rs 3,800 crore annually from this move. However, the reduction is likely to hit the profitability and revenues of the incumbents further. Analysts at HSBC said in a recent note that a significantly lower IUC would be a boost for Jio and there may be some more pricing disruption after downward revision of IUC rates. Jio has, since its launch last year, paid about Rs ...

The terms for the scheme could be announced in next few days. LATSET NEWS :   Reliance Jio may soon announce a scheme offering buyers of its 4G phone the choice to return the handset before the specified time period of three years and in return get a partly refund. The terms for the scheme could be announced in next few days, according to a Economic Times report. The pre-bookings for the phone will start on August 24. The phone was introduced as "India ka Smartphone" and launched at an "effective price" of Rs 0. The catch was that buyers would have to shell out a refundable, upfront deposit of Rs. 1,500 for the device (which is refundable after three years). However, the phone may fail to match up to Jio's expectation, if some reports are to be believed. JP Morgan, in a report, said that in India where there is the prevalence of multi-SIM phones and the pre-paid monthly churn stands at around 5 per cent, it may be unrealistic to expect...

Prebooking starts from August 24 onwards, phone will go on sale starting September LATEST NEWS :  Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Industries has launched the JioPhone for free during the 40th annual general meet that was held in Mumbai on July 21. The feature phone with smartphone alike features will go on testing beta phase starting August 15 and the preorder will begin starting August 24. The phone will go on sale in September to users who prebook the device. ( The details on how to pre-book with device have yet not been shared by RIL). Even though the phone is effectively free, there is a catch in the form of one-time security deposit fee of Rs 1,500, which is refundable only after 36-months, that the user need to pay. In a bid to bring the 50 crore feature phone customers of India on to  Reliance Jio network, the company launched the phone with cost-effective tariff plans. Reliance Jio is offering free voice, data, Jio apps and SMS to its users at a mont...

Jio is offering 1 GB of 4G data per day and unlimited voice calls under Rs 303, Rs 309 schemes Latest news  : Around 90 per cent of Reliance Jio users are estimated to have subscribed to its promotional Prime membership plan, according to the report by Bank of America Merill Lynch. Around 76 per cent are ready to continue using Jio's service once the promotional period ends, it added. "80 per cent of users have only one Jio SIM...90 per cent are Prime members, 84 per cent claim to have paid Jio the monthly top-up as well," the report said. It said 84 per cent of these Jio users have paid monthly top-up with majority of them choosing Rs 303 or Rs 309 pack. Jio is offering 1 GB of 4G data per day and unlimited voice calls under Rs 303 and Rs 309 schemes. "Interestingly, we note that only five per cent of surveyed users are using LYF phones with 40 per cent and seven per cent using Samsung and iPhone respectively," the report said. ...

Lowering of these levies can generate Rs 20,000-25,000 cr additional EBITDA for industry Latest news : Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio on Monday said telcos not investing in new technology and instead leveraging their balance sheet are themselves to blame for financial difficulties. Newcomer Reliance Jio, which met the Interministerial Group (IMG) on Monday said operators need to raise funds by selling stake or invest in new technology through internal accruals. "Operators (excluding Jio) need to invest Rs 1,25,000 crore, payback debt and they need to invest in technology, as growth is happening in data...They can do this by selling stake," said a senior Jio official who did not want to be named. Stating that the financial stress being faced by operators was "their own creation", the official said the only policy intervention required is in form of reduction in GST rates, licence fee and USO levies. Raed this: No duplicate beneficiaries: For ...

Reliance Industries plans to spend a further Rs 18,000 crore additional investment in Jio Reliance Jio stormed into the telecom industry with the launch of ultra-affordable high speed 4G internet services combined with free voice calls, SMS and Jio apps. To keep the momentum going, Reliance Jio Infocomm is reportedly gearing up to expand the company’s product portfolio by venturing into diverse areas such as broadband services and Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services. ALSO READ: No end to data wars: Reliance Jio free offers to continue for 12-18 months  Things to expect from Reliance Jio in 2017  Reliance Jio FTTH broadband services  Reliance Industries plans to spend a further Rs 18,000 crore additional investment required for its fibre network as it expands Jio's 4G reach, reports Business Standard. The Reliance Jio fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services has already been offering trials at a few locations and the services will expand to more cities soon...

All customers who have already subscribed to the offer would continue to be eligible for it Complying with the   Telecom  Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) advice, Reliance Jio on Thursday withdrew its Summer Surprise offer. Announced last week, the scheme promised to provide complimentary services to every Jio Prime member for three months starting April 1. The company confirmed complying with Trai’s advice. Under the scheme, all Prime members making their first recharge payment of Rs 303 (or higher) would have got three months’ complimentary services in addition to the benefits of their purchased plan. All customers who have already subscribed to the offer would continue to be eligible for it, the company said. Jio  started billing customers from April 1. The company claimed about 72 million users had subscribed to its Jio Prime service. ALSO READ : Reliance Jio stops Summer Surprise scheme: 5 things to know The complimentary offers by Jio in the...