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October 22nd, 2017 5:22 PM 127 COMMENTS

Is it the Right Time for Airtel to Launch VoLTE?

It is the year Voice over LTE (VoLTE) finally picked up in India and is further likely to gather momentum as the year comes to an end. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio launched VoLTE-powered 4G services last year. It was on the back of VoLTE capability that Jio was able to offer free voice calling for life to its subscribers. VoLTE allows voice calling at a fraction of the cost when... Read More

March 24th, 2017 4:42 PM 113 COMMENTS

Why Has Reliance Jio Come Up Another Round Of Freebies?

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio is spoiling the habits of Indian customers by offering them one lucrative deal after another. While the consumers stand to gain, it is also a reflection of Jio’s desperation to convert as many of its 100 mn subscribers to paid subscribers. The majority of Jio’s customers joined the network to avail free services offered by the company at the time of its launch in September 2016.... Read More

November 5th, 2016 9:00 AM 163 COMMENTS

Why Is VoLTE Crucial For Airtel ?

India’s largest service provider, Bharti Airtel has recently awarded a $60 million pan-India deal to Nokia to deploy Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology across the country, according to a recent report by ETTelecom. While Airtel is already believed to be piloting VoLTE, other incumbents, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, are also planning to deploy VoLTE. Greenfield operator Reliance Jio, which has recently launched commercial services in the country has been marketing VoLTE... Read More

September 17th, 2016 6:07 AM 42 COMMENTS

Why This Spectrum Auction Is Different From The Previous Ones

The forthcoming spectrum auction in October this year is going to be different in more ways than one. To begin with this is the first time that 700Mhz spectrum will be auctioned. Secondly, this is possibly the biggest supply of spectrum to be auctioned in India. A total of 2354.55Mhz of spectrum would be auctioned in frequency bands of 700Mhz, 800Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz, 2100Mhz, 2300Mhz and 2500Mhz. Out of these... Read More

September 8th, 2016 3:16 PM 72 COMMENTS

This Is How Airtel Can Turn The RJio Challenge To Its Advantage

A new chapter begins in the story of Indian telecommunications industry with the launch of Reliance Jio’s 4G services earlier this month. In a highly disruptive move, Jio launched services by announcing one of the cheapest data plan in the world and free-voice-for-life service to its subscribers. As if this wasn’t enough the company would be offering free voice, data and messaging service till the end of the current calendar... Read More

August 10th, 2016 10:20 AM 38 COMMENTS

Why RJio And Other Telcos Are Focusing On Apps…No, Its Not Just About Customer Acquisition!

The launch of RJio’s 4G services seems to be much closer to reality now ever. The company hopes to differentiate on the basis of quality of services and content. While the incumbents have been working towards upgrading and modernizing their networks to face the RJio challenge, the same cannot be said about their content strategy. In anticipation of RJio’s 4G launch the incumbents have been modernizing and upgrading their networks.... Read More

July 26th, 2016 11:11 AM 7 COMMENTS

Changing Voice Dynamics Will Drive VoLTE Deployment In India

The changing voice dynamics and soon to be launched Reliance Jio’s 4G services is providing momentum to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in the country. The incumbents, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are likely to focus on VoLTE in the coming few years. In fact, Airtel and Vodafone have already awarded IP Multimedia System (IMS) solution deal to Nokia. Incidentally Nokia has also bagged $100 Million IMS contract from... Read More

July 9th, 2016 12:35 PM 28 COMMENTS

Who Is Going To Bid And For What In The Forthcoming Spectrum Auction

The Indian Government is at it again and this time at a much bigger scale. We are obviously referring to the recently announced mega spectrum auction of nearly 2300Mhz of spectrum across various frequency bands. Claimed to be one of the largest spectrum auctions in the country, it will witness the sale of spectrum in 700Mhz, 800Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz, 2100Mhz, 2300Mhz and 2500Mhz frequency bands. This is also the first time... Read More

July 7th, 2016 3:21 PM 14 COMMENTS

WhatsApp With Voice Revenue In India

There is a continuous pressure on Indian service provider’s voice business today. Though voice continues to be the mainstay of the Indian telcos, the voice margins are under pressure for most of the telcos. For Bharti Airtel, revenue from non-voice operations is 28.9%, as per the company’s quarterly results at the end of March 2016. Both Airtel and Idea Cellular have recorded a drop in voice revenue per minute by 2.4%... Read More

May 14th, 2016 2:16 PM 5 COMMENTS

Mixed MVNO Bag For Indian Telcos

In a significant move, Telecom Commission recently approved a new category of mobile phone services, called Virtual Network Operators (VNOs). A key difference between the two is that while a traditional service provider would invest in building a network, VNO can just pay and partner with an existing operators and sell their services under their own brand. They can partner with multiple operators as well. A number of global players,... Read More

April 11th, 2016 12:23 PM 62 COMMENTS

RJio Vs Incumbents: What Worked Earlier Might Not Work Now!

There is an unmistakable buzz in the Indian telecom industry nowadays. The whiff of much-anticipated commercial launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G services is getting stronger with each passing day. While the details of the final tariff are not yet in the public domain, it is safe to assume that the launch will be disruptive in nature for the entire telecom industry but especially so for the established players. It... Read More

Recent Comments

shivraj roy :

Vi's network is really good in Mumbai as of 16th March 2024

Airtel Offering 10GB of Bonus Data on Recharges Above Rs…

Faraz :

They don't play Fair game.. Vi is better in offering more data ( though their network not so good in…

Airtel Offering 10GB of Bonus Data on Recharges Above Rs…

Rupesh :

Only 3500? These 5 states combined have 51744 towers. Means less than 5% per state. BSNL will never get level…

BSNL Installs 3,500 4G Towers Across 5 North Indian States:…

Faraz :

"BSNL plans to quickly upgrade 4G services to 5G by June 2024 " Is this a typo or a quote…

BSNL Installs 3,500 4G Towers Across 5 North Indian States:…

Faraz :

Population growth and growth of mobile users are more than that. And I was wondering Vi started gaining 4G customers…

Vodafone Idea Only Added 4 Million 4G Users in Four…

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