One of the questions that a lot of people have in their mind today is, how much more will they have to pay for data once the private telecom operators are done with multiple tariff hikes. In late 2021, Airtel was the first to announce that it will be going with tariff hikes. Vodafone Idea followed it with a similar announcement but implemented tariff hikes a day earlier than Airtel. A few days later, even Jio hiked tariffs of prepaid plans.
Airtel is eyeing for an average revenue per user (ARPU) figure of Rs 300 from its India mobile business. But the telco won’t be able to do it with a single tariff hike and won’t even wait for too long to reach there. This means that in the span of next two to three years, the prepaid tariffs from Airtel are going to go up by at least 50% to 70% (rough estimation) if multiple tariff hikes are factored. Naturally, Vodafone Idea is going to do the same followed by Reliance Jio.
So, this begs the question, are we going back to the pre-Jio era where Indians used to pay a very steep amount for a single gigabyte of 4G data? 5G is going to arrive in the country very soon. It will be interesting to see how it affects the amount of data normal users consume. Because with 4G, the more expensive it gets, the lesser people are going to consume it.
Aviation Sector across the world was worried looking at what was happening in the United States (U.S.). But it shouldn't worry the Indian airlines or the Indian aviation sector because the 5G problems that affect the U.S. airlines is very different from that of what is happening in India. It all depends on how a country is deploying 5G. In India, the 5G deployment will happen in such a manner that it won't interfere with the sensitive aircraft equipment.
India might require a whopping 22 million or 2.2 crore skilled manpower within 2025 as the country is taking a giant leap into the next-generation 5G-led technologies including AI, IoT, cloud computing and robotics, noted the telecom skills body.
There is a huge workforce in the need to upskill themselves to match the huge demand in the industry. India is poised to become a global supplier of human resources and electronics. To achieve this, there is a need to create an extended skill network with both academia and industry participation.
Airtel Payments Bank (APB), an online banking subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in the country, had a great performance in 2021. APB benefitted a lot from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision of increasing the day-end savings limit to Rs 2 lakh last year. Earlier, the limit was Rs 1 lakh. As customers or users could save more money in their APB online savings account, the customer deposits went up to Rs 1,000 crore in 2021.
Google is going to invest over $1 billion in Bharti Airtel as part of its Google for India Digitisation Fund. It is a long-term and multi-year deal where Airtel and Google will work together to explore and co-create India specific use-cases of 5G along with other standards and also work towards the acceleration of cloud ecosystem for businesses across India. Bharti Airtel is also going to give an equity stake to Google against the investment.
It hasn’t been long since the private telecom operators introduced prepaid tariff hikes for customers across the nation. Vodafone Idea (Vi) is planning to go for another round of prepaid tariff hikes in 2022 or 2023, Ravinder Takkar, CEO of Vodafone Idea, said during the earnings call. The Rs 99 prepaid plan from the company is not an expensive option for 4G users believes the company. Depending on the market reaction and how well the current new prices are embedding, the telco will take a call on whether another prepaid tariff hike for 4G plans will come in 2022 or 2023.
There are many consumers who are unhappy with the fact that their 5G smartphone supports less than five or, on certain occasions, a single 5G band. For the unaware, 5G services would be rolled out using a dynamic range of the spectrum, which would for the first time include mobile services rollout with C-band spectrum (3.3-3.6 GHz) and mmWave (26 GHz and 28 GHz) spectrum band. 5G speeds and use cases would differ with respect to the particular spectrum band that is being used by the operator to provide services.
For example, the mmWave band 5G would be able to deliver download speeds of up to 4.2 Gbps (proven by Vodafone Idea 5G trials) while using the C-band spectrum, download speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps can be delivered.
Choosing the right telecom service provider (TSP) for yourself today is a very important thing. Be it connecting with your loved ones or be it just working from your home, you need the presence of a good network to ensure that there is nothing disrupting your mobile experience. In this episode, we talk about how you can choose the idea telecom operator for yourself.
5G or the fifth-generation network technology is soon going to be a part of India. Upon the dawn of 2022, it is important that everyone who is inclined towards a digital way of living life understand what 5G is. While many know that 5G is a network technology and it will be an upgrade over 4G, it is also important to know why and how is it an upgrade.
We are almost at the verge of 2022. The Indian telecom sector is looking forward to 2022 in a major way because there are things such as 5G, satcom, BSNL 4G, Spectrum auctions, new telecom reforms, enterprise revenue, and more coming. Here us talk about what's coming in 2022!
BSNL didn't go ahead with the prepaid tariff hikes. Many thought that it wasn't the right thing to do as it was a chance for the telco to attract some ARPU gains. Here's what we think.
Airtel Black was launched by Bharti Airtel a couple of months back after successful pilot project with One Airtel plans which were available only for select cities in India. However, Airtel Black is a finished product and it is available for customers across India.
The prime benefit of the Airtel Black plan is that users will get one bill for all of the services mentioned above. Further, there will be a dedicated relationship team and a call centre available for the users. All the queries or problems of customers on the Airtel Black plans will be solved on priority by the company. The company promises to pick up the call of the customers in 60 seconds or less.
5G in India is going to be working its way towards consumers around the country in the next few years. The telecom operators are currently in the testing phase of the 5G equipment and networks in different parts of the country.
The Indian government is of the opinion that the telecom operators in the country should go ahead with the 5Gi standard developed by the TSDSI. However, the telcos have vocally opposed the opinion of the government in the past.
OTT platforms are getting popular. Multiple things took place in the last few days such as Netflix decreased the price of its plans while Amazon increased the price of all Prime plans. The DTH space is also actively growing in the country with the government trying to bring digital access in every part of the country including remote and rural areas. In this episode of TelecomTalkShow, we talk about how the OTT space in growing in the country and whether it would replace DTH.
Tariff hikes got kicked in a few weeks back and because of that some people are confused whether they should go with prepaid plans or postpaid plans as both are expensive. Telcos needed the prepaid tariff hike and even postpaid tariff hikes are not far right now. Check out our video to understand who needs postpaid plans and when will the postpaid tariff hikes kick in.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNL) didn't launch its 4G networks in India even in 2021 and the wait continues. The state-run telco is still struggling to get past the PoC process with its Indian partner Tata Telecommunications Services (TCS). BSNL said that it would launch 4G networks by September 2022 or even later if there are more delays.
After prepaid tariffs went up, the broadband tariffs might go up as well! In the inaugural episode of TelecomTalkShow, we talk about the broadband tariffs that might go up soon and whether or not is it needed in the first place.
