Jio to Offer Mobile Service on Motorola Razr eSIM

Reliance Jio will offer mobile services on an eSim-equipped Motorola smartphone that will start selling in the country from April 2.

"Jio has announced eSIM service support on the recently launched Motorola razr," Jio said in a statement.

A Jio official said that customers buying Motorola Razr can avail activation of eSim -- embedded sim -- on their doorstep.

According to CyberMedia Research (CMR), eSIM enabled smartphone shipments are expected to reach 3.5 million by end of this year in India.

Apple had 97.7 per cent market share in eSIM enabled smartphone category in 2019, followed by Google and Samsung, according to the CMR report. PTI PRS

Free Voice Calls No Excuse for Poor Service Quality, says TRAI Chief

Telcos are citing free voice calls to duck action on poor quality of service, but that will not pass regulatory muster, Trai Chairman R S Sharma said on Sunday, assuring users that the issue of call drops remains on its agenda.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) head said the watchdog's earlier provision for a penalty on telcom firms for call drops was successfully challenged in the Supreme Court, but the regulator will continue to work for improving the quality of service.

"Most of the telcos are offering voice free, their argument is that if something is free, how much can you (Trai) punish me because I am not getting anything for that, which may not be correct because they are essentially cross-subsidising," Sharma said at the Asia Economic Dialogue here.

The comments come amid continuing call drops being experienced by subscribers across the country.

After the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, voice calling has become virtually free as it is getting embedded in the data plans. This has resulted in entrenched operators losing their biggest revenue stream, which has led to financial troubles.

Sharma acknowledged the problem of call drops and added that "hopefully" the service quality will get better over time.

Trai officials conduct standard tests on roads, trains and other busy spots and any operator found to be giving poor service is punished, he said.

Speaking at the conference co-organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Pune International Centre, he also urged citizens to come forward by allowing erection of telecom tower infrastructure, adding that there are no health hazards because of the same.

He also pitched for last-mile telecom infrastructure to be erected to ensure people get faster connectivity in their apartments in high-rises.

In his speech, Sharma also mentioned that the lowest tariffs in the world might be the reason why telecom companies are having a tough time in the country at present, but did not elaborate.

On the upcoming 5G technology, Sharma said it requires investment in infrastructure building and marked out optical fibre cable (OFC) laying as a crucial task, stating that there is a heavy dependence on wireless data transfer in India and there is a need for wired access as well.

He said there are sufficient number of use cases and applications of 5G which are available.

Sharma, who has also been associated with the Aadhaar project, said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt a "digital diplomacy" strategy, wherein New Delhi extends its know-how on projects like the biometric ID or payment systems to countries in Africa and Asia.

Speaking at the same event, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Chief Executive Dilip Asbe said a trial run of its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is set to be carried out at a Singapore merchant on Sunday, which will herald the internationalisation of the domestic payments system.

He said a code will be scanned by a BHIM app to pay at the merchant's end in Singapore and the transaction settled.

Asbe also said the NPCI has been generating sufficient revenues to sustain its developmental activities.

Govt Takes Over Process of Issuing, Managing IMEI for Mobile Phones in India

The Department of Telecom has taken over the process to issue and manage IMEI allocation for mobile phones in India from the private body MSAI.

The IMEI number - a unique 15-digit serial number of mobile devices - is allocated by global industry body GSMA and organisations authorised by it. When a mobile phone is lost, the victim is required to mention the IMEI number of the handset for tracking.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had issued a standard operating procedure in May 2015 to prohibit import of mobile phones with duplicate, fake and non-genuine international mobile equipment identity.

The process was being managed by Mobile Standard Alliance of India (MSAI), erstwhile reporting body of GSMA in India.

"The government has decided to replace the MSAI operated system and hence a new system, Indian Counterfeited Device Restriction (ICDR) system, has been developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics - R&D unit of DoT for implementing the SOP, " the DoT said in a letter dated January 28, 2020 to industry bodies and concerned government departments.

The new system has been operationalised on pilot basis on the web portal of Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR). The CEIR is being used to block all services on stolen or lost mobile phones on any network even if the SIM card is removed or the IMEI number of the handset is changed. PTI PRS

Affordable Internet To India's Entire Population - National Telecom Policy 2018

While we can't be sure about anything else that's going around the world nowadays, one thing is for sure, internet is going to remain a crucial parts of our lives for years to come. India, which has the second largest population on earth, also prides on being one of the world's fastest growing internet market. The power of internet has gripped the urban and rural population alike in the South Asian country. Unfortunately though, the large numbers and the general infrastructure present in the country has made it impossible for everyone in the country to have an internet connection. Yes, even in 2017, internet is a luxury for many in India. But, all this, is going to change soon.

In a recent statement to Economic Times, Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha revealed that the National Telecom Policy, which is due to be refreshed in March 2018, is expected to provide affordable internet access to 1.3 billion Indians, which is precisely India's total population.

In addition to this stellar announcement, Sinha also revealed that policy will officially flag India's telecom industry's advancement towards higher technology like 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and offering wider services at cheaper rates that are affordable to majority of the population.

Currently, India's telecom industry is in a battered shape. For the first time since 2008-2009, the sector has seen its revenue decline to Rs 1.88 trillion, from Rs 1.93 trillion the previous year. According to brokerage firm CLSA, the revenues are going to decline further in 2017-18 to about Rs 1.84 trillion. Experts believe that this disruption in the sector is mainly a result of Reliance Jio's entry in the sector. Reliance Jio, which has taken the Indian telecom sector by storm by providing low-cost and virtually free services to users, has gained over 100 million 4G mobile subscribers in just over an year.

According to Sinha, on the basis of recommendations of an inter-ministerial panel, the Telecom Commission has taken a note of the sector's flailing health and has vouched to take steps to retrieve the sector back to good health.

Sinha also shared that with the 5G spectrum auctions right in the vicinity, the Indian government wants to bet its money and energy on technologies that are not only “future-proof” and play a significant part in increasing the sector's revenue, but also help in furthering Modi government's much popularised Digital India mission.

"Telecom service providers have upgraded their network and there is a substantial improvement in call drops and service quality…The new policy will be forward-looking and current challenges of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence will be taken care of," Sinha added.

Considering that two-thirds of the mobile devices sold in the Indian subcontinent are still feature phones, India as a market holds immense potential for telcos to grow their futuristic services.

According to analysts, improved technologies can increase the Indian telecom sector improve its revenue figure almost by about 20 per cent. They also predict that high-speed data along with AI-enabled services will lead to an increase in consumption numbers, and also coincide with the continuing smartphone popularity in the country.

Reportedly, Indian telcos are currently working on a 100-day action plan, wherein they are planning on committing to invest a whopping Rs 12,000 crore and deploy about 60,000 base transceiver stations. The telecom ministry has also given a green signal to the Indian Railways to provide internet data to 200 railways stations in rural India.

Oyepostpaid.com Launched to Facilitate Telecommunications Services in India

A group of three exceptionally talented entrepreneurs, Vikas Khullar, Vineet Bhandari & Nitin Khanna launched an online portal, oyepostpaid.com at Golf Course Road, Gurgaon and Okhla Phase 2 New Delhi. The portal provides services of top telecom operators that exist in NCT of DELHI and NCR.

"Oye Postpaid aims to simplify the process of purchasing mobile connections, data cards, corporate no’s, premium numbers, lucky numbers of all telecom operators at a single platform and thus making a sincere effort to promote Mr. Modi's dream of digital India." said Khullar. Portal has collection of more than 15 thousand post paid numbers of airtel, vodafone, reliance, aircel, Tata, idea.

Interestingly, there is not even a single portal providing services of all networks at one platform. The spirit and uniqueness of portal is lucid as consumer has the option to choose out of various operators by just clicking at one website instead of surfing six different websites.

The company raised a sum of Rs 10 million to start its services in Delhi and NCR and would be investing another Rs 50 million gradually for Pan India presence. Consumers would also be delighted to pay mobile bill of any operator at the portal. Moreover, our tie up with various food outlets, merchandise house, movie halls, book stores, restaurants etc gives ample opportunity to earn freebies with purchase of a new connection, data card, premium numbers and even paying bill at the portal, said the founders. Company has a vision to connect rural and urban India.

Telecom operators have large number of stores and even franchisees. But, oyepostpaid.com is pitching itself as a single point of communication between all the operators and consumers where company outlets and franchisees are yet to establish themselves.

Keeping in mind the trend of numerology, the portal automatically suggests mobile no which is lucky for the consumer and can be calculated by just providing the birth date. Similarly, toll free numbers are also available at reasonable price.

For smooth functioning and satisfaction of customers the company has hired experienced employees from service industry who will be serving customers and will be delivering the products at doorstep without any additional charges. In order to satisfy customers the employees undergone a special training programme conducted by team of professionals. Employees have been trained to operate credit/debit cards machines, special classes for behaviour management and customer satisfaction techniques.

Portal has been launched recently and is operating in Delhi and NCR for new connections, data cards etc and billing facilities, MNP has been activated in Pan India. Customers have advantage of paying mobile bills at the portal and can earn unlimited freebies as mentioned on website.