Telecom

India has started to lay the groundwork for the 5G spectrum auctions which is scheduled for later this year. The 5G mobile services, which will reportedly be rolled out within 2022-23, is expected to contribute at least $450 billion to the Indian economy. It is also expected to create various job opportunities across the country. According to union minister Vaishnaw, the 5G will be rolled out in August or September.

Media agency Zenith has extrapolated that India's telecom advertising market growth will experience 11% annual growth during 2020-2023. Reportedly, the growth is higher than the sector’s average growth rate of 4.5% per year as it recovers itself from an 8.7% decline in 2020. Citing the rise due to increased demand for data and smartphones, the report highlighted that Telecom operator brands will gradually reduce their ads on conventional… read-more

Amid security concerns and in a bid to boost local manufacturing of telecom equipment, the Centre might disallow telecom carriers from using gears produced by Chinese company Huawei. Owing to the new procurement laws, the Union has mandated telecom operators to purchase equipment from government-authorised sources. Besides, the government may issue a "no procurement" blacklist, featuring Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE Corp, accused of… read-more

As per a Department of Telecommunications's (DoT) release, landline users will have to prefix a zero for all calls directed to mobile phones from January 15. All major Indian telecom giants like Airtel and Jio have started notifying their customers about the new landline to mobile rule. Reportedly, the directive, which was issued in November 2020, has been implemented to secure adequate numbering resources for fixed-line and mobile users.

Reliance Jio has announced to offer free voice calls to any network in India starting January 1, 2021. Reportedly, telecom giant scrapped Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) to make all domestic calls over other networks free. Jio said that it has shown its commitment to not charge for off-net voice call-charges as the IUC provisions have been abolished by the telecom regulator TRAI. Moreover, it stated it cares about its customers.