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DTH and Cable TV Operators Have Six Months to Implement Interoperable STBs Trai has been talking about Set-Top Box portability for a while now and the regulator is finally bringing new standards to the industry. Trai stated that all Set-Top Boxes in India must support technical interoperability, meaning every commercial STB provided to a customer must be interoperable. Furthermore, DTH and Multi-System Operators (MSOs) have been provided with six months of time to adopt the new standards....

‘0’ as Prefix to be Mandated for Landline Calls Very soon you might see the rule for adding ‘0’ as a prefix before dialling in phone numbers from a fixed-line to make a call. Right now, you can make calls using landlines without adding in ‘0’ at the start of the number, but if the new recommendations were to come in place, this would be changed. At present, you dial ‘0’ before dialling in the phone number when you are making an inter-service call....

Popular Cable TV Operators Yet to Comply With Trai NTO 2.0 We are almost halfway through March and yet Cable TV service providers did not implement the new changes brought by Trai with NTO 2.0. As we have spotted, Hathway is still charging the old NCF prices of Rs 130 for the first 100 channels, then Rs 25 for every additional 20 channel being added. Same is the case with Den Networks and GTPL Hathway....

Multiplex Chains Are Not Subjected to Pricing Caps Nearly, eight broadcasters, cable operators, representatives of television producers along with Mumbai-based cable operators have appealed the supreme bench to provide interim stay or defer the NTO 2.0 implemented by Trai. However, the supreme court has denied the appeal of interim relief and considers the case fit for further discussions. On the context, counsel team of Star India argued with the supreme bench and noted that broadcasters will not be able to compete with multiplexes like Netflix, Prime and many other streaming platforms as these multiplexes are not subject to any pricing regulations whereas broadcasters’ ability to invest in good content is declining because of Trai’s new tariff order....

Trai Discussed the Issues with Stakeholders The regulatory body issued a Consultation Paper (CP) for the reviews on Interconnection Usage Charges on November 8, 2019, to discuss the issues with the stakeholders. Trai asked the stakeholders to submit their views and counter comments by December 9 and December 23, 2019. An open meeting session was also held in New Delhi to discuss the prospects the Interconnection Usage Charges. The regulatory body received multiple views from the stakeholders, and on the basis of it, Trai implemented the 16th amendment and kept the rate of ITC in range of Re 0....

Broadcasters Concerned About Stability in Sector One of the broadcasters remarked about this, “OTT is still not the primary choice for content, so TV is still a very important part of households across the country. The constant change in pricing is leaving everyone confused. First, there was NTO which changed cable and DTH bills then there were festive discounts which made the bill look different for a while now there is another disruption in terms of channel pricing....

The Dilemma of the Bouquet Discount Trai’s consultation paper traces the timeline of the new tariff regime and establishes the premise as to why the regulator had to bring in new rules in the first place. To understand the motives of Trai behind this new regulatory measure, we will have to see the previous pricing structure by the broadcasters, which used to push the consumers towards channel bouquets. The consumers used to pay a lot for individual channels as compared to the bundled channels....

Truecaller, a major and popular voice calling app used by millions of users has announced that it will be discontinuing the call recording feature. This is in line with the policies that Google has announced recently. For the unaware, Google said that it wouldn’t allow third-party applications to offer voice calling recording feature in Android smartphones from May 11. None of the voice call recording apps will work on Android devices from May 11....

Network integration between Vodafone and Idea is almost complete and looking at that, Vi has started upgrading its 3G data users to Vi GIGAnet 4G network in select telecom circles. Since the 4G resources of both the companies are integrated, it has enormously improved the 4G network capacity for Vi. Large chunks of 3G spectrum are being converted to 4G by the telco so that its customers can enjoy faster internet speeds than ever....

The amount of content being consumed rose quite a bit after the lockdown with people spending more time watching television and binging shows as they were restricted to their houses. However, if one did not have a smart television, it would become quite difficult to consume the latest content on the go. If you were in a similar situation, we have a good alternative for you, called the ViU Hub 2....

Specifications for Vivo S12 Vivo S12 operates on Android 11 based OriginOS and features a 6.44-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,408 pixels) AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a 91.01% screen-to-body ratio. In addition to this, the screen of the device has a 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz sampling rate, and 408 PPI pixel density. Under the hood, the device features an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1100 chipset combined with 12GB of RAM. As far as the camera module of the device is considered, Vivo S12 comes with a triple rear camera setup that consists of a 108MP primary lens with an f/1....

The Chinese smartphone brand has announced its Vivo X80 series in its domestic market which consists of Vivo X80 and Vivo X80 Pro handsets. The series was also expected to feature a Vivo X80 Pro+ which hasn’t been introduced. However, the brand has announced May 8 as the official global launch date of the Vivo X80 series where we could witness the Pro+ model. Vivo X80 series have been introduced with exciting features and specs such as Zeiss engineered cameras on the back, the Pro model with both Qualcomm and MediaTek chipset variants, 120Hz refresh rate and more....

Vivo has been restructuring key elements of the company, from the pricing model to the overall competitiveness of its devices to the software; all of these aspects are being fixed for the better, leading to a better and more competitive brand that is capable of taking the fight to competitors rather than being a company with an overpriced product, with only a selfie snapper to its credit. Now, Vivo is preparing to launch another new phone in India, as it confirmed the launch of the Y73 in the Indian market....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Bharti Airtel are going to go for tariff hikes soon. But neither of the telcos should be too jumpy about it after looking at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monthly report for May 2021. Apart from Jio, neither of the telcos added any subscribers. In fact, both Vi and Airtel, who are planning to go for tariff hikes, lost more than 4 million subscribers each....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) is the most affected telecom operator because of the current industry norms and regulations. The sector is financially stressed and at the bottom of the table is Vodafone Idea burdened with adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, other statutory dues and thousands of crores worth of loans from lenders. Vi needs the industry to regain momentum in terms of overall revenues as soon as possible. ICRA, an independent credit rating agency, has said that because of the largely stagnant 4G user base and the pressure on the average revenue per user (ARPU) levels, Vodafone Idea’s profit generation has been muted....

Vodafone Idea Limited is offering free benefits to the customers who refer their friends or family members to join its network and get a postpaid connection. The telecom operator silently introduced a refer and earn programme to the existing postpaid subscribers as part of which the referrers will get Rs 100 off on three bill cycles, whereas the referred customer will get free 100GB of data valid for the first six months....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has not been able to fulfil the network rollout obligations set by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). As per the obligations, telcos who bid for 5G spectrum in the 2022 auctions have to roll out commercial 5G services in each of the three metros within one year from the date of spectrum allotment. Further, the telcos also have to ensure that they are reaching at least one city or town in each of the 22 telecom circles with 5G within one year....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) is the top operator for us if we are to consider the dynamism and the benefits that both its prepaid and postpaid plans offer to the users. At regular intervals, Vodafone Idea has come out with new offers for its prepaid customers to attract them towards its plans. Today, we will be looking at a few such offers from the company which are helping its users recharge their next plans for a lesser amount of money or a discount....

Reliance Jio Continues to Add Subscribers in Massive Number In what would be a piece of expected news, Jio continues its aggressive subscriber addition for another month. The telecom operator which started operations in September 2016 has added 9.3 million subscribers in January 2019. As noted, Bharti Airtel has added just 103,389 subscribers. Also, the data released by Trai states that Jio has a market share of 24.49% while Airtel is still second on the list with 28....

Vodafone Idea is using the cluster method and has created 10 clusters for better operational and managerial efficiency. The cluster method adopted by Vodafone Idea will rationalise the cost and improve EBITDA. Also, the customer market share maximisation (CMS) will improve, and Vodafone Idea will have a strong grip in the telecom market. Mahesh Uppal, who is the director at Com First stated that Vodafone Idea might break its service units based on commercial operations to increase the efficiency of management and create a better organisational structure....