Originally intended as a simple authentication device to enable basic communication functions, the SIM card has evolved into a sophisticated security tool, facilitating numerous modern applications, including mobile banking and connected vehicles.
From January 1, 2025 the core operational assets of MTNL such as telephone exchanges, power plant, batteries, various types of cables, software and hardware were merged with BSNL.
Indus Towers is set to acquire a 26% stake in Amplus Tungabhadra Pvt Ltd for Rs 27 crore to own and operate a 50 MW solar PV captive power plant.
Lately, Airtel’s Africa unit has been seeing strong business resurgence and is expected to pull ahead of rival telcos operating in the African continent, including MTN, Vodacom and Orange, by recording the highest revenue growth in 2025, say analysts and industry experts.
Telecom firms were not responsible for the delay in implementation of the regulations, including the DCA, the tribunal observed, adding: "Thus, it is unfair and arbitrary on the part of the respondent to impose financial disincentives on the appellants (telcos) for something which was beyond their control."
“Our focus on speed and quality execution is enabling us to unlock substantial opportunities for growth across our markets and business segments, where demand remains significant, resulting in a further acceleration of constant currency revenue growth in the most recent quarter,” Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar said in an official statement.
Telcos say if 6GHz was delicensed in India-like it has been in the US-tech companies can offer ultra-high-speed internet to potentially over a billion people, without any licence liabilities and costs that operators have to bear, thus upsetting a level playing field and hurting their business model.
Only a few countries in the world have really attempted it,” Robert J Ravi, Chairman, BSNL told ET, adding that such a move by the Centre was essential to ensure robust protection against emerging threats, aligning with the vision of self-reliance and technological sovereignty.
New Delhi: Leading telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued their active subscriber losing streak in November, impacted by tariff hikes in July last year and churn in low-paying users, according to brokerages.
Telecom operators, including Jio and Airtel, have introduced voice and SMS-only tariff packs following a directive from Trai.
Direct-to-cell communications via satellites — being pioneered by Elon Musk’s Starlink — is unlikely to disrupt Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel’s mobile broadband business anytime soon as the satcoms technology is still at a nascent stage and will also be hugely dependent on telcos to access the latter’s compatible 4G airwaves for connecting with smartphones, say analysts at JM Financial.
They had reached an agreement with Singapore-based Manipura Digital Infrastructure OPCO Pte Ltd for a combined value of Rs 12.1 crore in November 2023.
TRAI will start, this month, a pilot to onboard paper-based and past permissions given by customers for receiving commercial communications onto its digital distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, a process that in the long-run would include scrubbing and verifying their current validity and offering opt-outs to those keen on it, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said, adding that tighter regulations on curbing spam as well as new consultation examining an authorisation framework for telemarketers can also be expected in coming weeks.
Top telcos and legal experts have flagged concerns over the draft data protection rules, saying clauses around transferring personal data outside India may affect international long distance (ILD) calls and sending text messages overseas or even sending WhatsApp messages to international numbers.
"Smartphone penetration and growing data usage have been the largest contributors to accelerating revenue growth for telecom companies even though subscriber addition has been relatively modest," said Balaji Subramanian, vice president at equity research firm IIFL Securities.
TRAI’s report on the telecom industry’s fiscal second quarter performance also indicated that monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) from wireless services rose 9.60% on-quarter to Rs 172.57.
In 2022, the Centre approved a second revival package for BSNL and MTNL amounting to â‚ą1.64 lakh crore, that included financial support for de-stressing the balance sheet, capital expenses, settlement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, and viability gap funding (VGF) for rural landline connections.
