Heena Sharma Blog

  Airtel is now a 5G-ready network and the telecom operator is waiting for adequate spectrum allocation to rollout 5G services in the country, said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel on Thursday. Recently, the company demonstrated live 5G over a commercial network in Hyderabad city and said that its network is 5G ready. Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the Non Stand Alone network technology. Using the dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block. “I am very proud of our engineers who have worked tirelessly to showcase this incredible capability in Tech City, Hyderabad today. Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhe...

  India is poised to derive full benefit of global investments on 5G standards and ecosystems in the coming two-three years, as equipment prices come down and devices become available, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal said on Tuesday. Terming space as the "next frontier of communications", Mittal said India's proactive lead in the space industry and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Department of Space's call to private sector, would ensure that advantages move in the country's favour in space communication industry, as well. Speaking at India Mobile Congress 2020, a virtual event this year, Mittal said that onset of pandemic has accelerated digital adoption of various products and services. The force multiplier of pandemic has pushed digitalisation of the country, he added. The next-generation 5G would start to become the norm in the mobile broadband space in next two-three years. Read More

The Bharti Airtel stock was up 9 per cent and hit a fresh all-time high after the company reported a better than expected performance in the March quarter, led by India's wireless segment. The price hikes that came into effect in December resulted in a 14 per cent jump in average revenues per user (ARPU) on a sequential basis. The metric at Rs 154 is the highest in 12 quarters. This helped the company report a 10 per cent uptick in India business and an 8 per cent increase at the consolidated level. India accounts for three-fourths of Bharti’s consolidated revenues. With wireless subscribers almost at the same level as in Q3FY20, revenue growth for the India mobile business on a sequential basis was driven entirely by the increase in ARPUs. Most brokerages had expected a 7-10 per cent sequential growth in ARPUs. Bharti’s wireless segment operational performance was better than Reliance Jio according to analysts at IIFL. Read More

After Supreme Court rap and the government's stringent deadline, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the telecom department towards statutory dues. The company said it will make payment of the balance amount after self assessment exercise. "The...total amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor. "We are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise expeditiously and will duly make the balance payment upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in the SC," Bharti Airtel said. The company said it will also submit supporting details at the time of making balance payment. The telecom department on February 14 began issuing orders asking firms such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to clear past dues immediately. Read More

India's telecom majors have decided to hike their tariffs by around 40%. While the new tariffs announced by Airtel and Vodafone Idea will take effect from midnight of December 3, 2019, Reliance Jio has decided to raise its tariffs from the midnight of December 6, 2019. State-owned BSNL has also announced plans to increase tariffs, but is yet to announce the date for the same. The move comes after the recent Supreme Court judgment on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) which has left the telecom majors saddled with government dues of more than Rs 92,000 crore. Airtel and Vodafone Idea have ended their Rs 169 and 199 plans that offer 1GB and 1.5GB data per day, respectively, for 28 days. Airtel will provide access to its premium content on Airtel Xtream. Jio will be introducing All-in-One plans which will cost 40% higher, but will offer 300% more benefits to customers, the company said. Vodafone Idea and Airtel customers have time until midnight of December 3, 2019 to recharge ...

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced a tariff hike in the range of 15 per cent and 40 per cent across different plans. The tariff hike by both companies will be applicable from December 3, 2019. Vodafone Idea on Sunday said its new plans for its prepaid products and services would be available across India, starting 00:00 hours of December 3, 2019. Airtel’s new plans represent tariff increases in the range of a mere 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day and offer generous data and calling benefits. “ Our new mobile plans offer tremendous value to our customers and are backed by a superior network experience on Airtel’s nationwide 4G Shashwat Sharma, chief marketing officer, Bharti Airtel, said in the statement. Reliance Jio also said it would be introducing new plans with unlimited voice and data. These plans will have a fair usage policy for calls to other mobile networks. The new plans will be effective from December 6, 2019. “ Although the new all-in-o...

Strongly opposing a bailout of telecom companies at taxpayers' expense, Reliance Jio on Thursday wrote to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying firms that have been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay past statutory dues have "sufficient" financial capacity to clear their liabilities. It also slammed the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for writing ex-parte to the government on the financial distress in the sector, saying the body was "blackmailing" to "extract relief from the government" after all legal recourse had expired. "We submit that the so-called affected service providers have sufficient financial capacity to pay the government dues by monetising their existing assets/investments and by issuing fresh equity in their companies," it wrote to Prasad. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched its broadband offering, Airtel Xstream Fibre promising 1Gbps speed for Rs 3,999 a month, raising the competitive heat in a market that has recently seen commercial roll-out of Jio's fibre based services. "Starting today (on Wednesday), Airtel Xstream Fibre is available to Homes, SOHO (Small Office Home Office) and small commercial establishments in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Indore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad," Bharti Airtel said in a statement. In the coming months Airtel Xstream Fibre will be rolled out in more markets, the statement added. "Airtel Xstream Fibre offers unlimited broadband at 1Gbps for just Rs 3,999/month. It also offers unlimited landline calls to any network in India along with exclusive 'AirtelThanks' benefits...," it said. The benefits include three months Netflix subscription gift, one year Amazon Prime me...

Days after the Supreme Court imposed curbs on the use of Aadhaar, biometric-issuing authority UIDAI Monday asked telecom companies to submit, within the next 15 days, a plan to stop using the 12-digit unique ID number for customer authentication. A circular to this effect has already been issued to the telecom service providers (TSPs), including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and others. The communication, seen by PTI, says: "...all TSPs are called upon to immediately take actions in order to comply with the judgement dated 26.09.2018. In this regard, TSPs are hereby directed to submit by 15th October, 2018 an action plan/exit plan to the authority for closure of use of Aadhaar based authentication systems..." The Supreme Court, last week, struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which allowed private companies to use the 12-digit biometric ID-based eKYC. Following this, private companies like telecom operators will not be able to use this ins...

This is the second content partnership Airtel has announced in the country in as many weeks. Last week, it announced a long-term content and distribution partnership with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Companies News : Airtel and Netflix have announced an expansion of their partnership in India through which subscribers of select Airtel Postpaid and V-Fiber home broadband plans will receive a three-month free Netflix subscription. After this, these subscribers will be able to pay for Netflix subscription using their Airtel postpaid or home broadband bill. Existing Netflix subscribers will also be eligible for this gift. Subscribers not eligible for the gift will be able to sign up to Netflix through Airtel’s applications and pay for their subscription using their Airtel bill. The telecom operator will announce details of eligible postpaid mobile and home broadband plans over the coming weeks. Netflix and Airtel have also partnered to promote Netflix content through a de...