Last week, we had quite new developments in the telecom world. Right from the upheaval in domestic Indian Telecom market, to new developments on 5G, we have lot many stories to cover in this edition.
Let’s start with national stories first.
As Vodafone India and Idea Cellular inching closer on announced mega-merger plans (the story we followed with much interest), Vodafone now brought former MD Marten Pieters to work on the merger deal. What it means is simply that it should expedite matter on M&A, given the fact that Mr Pieters had extensive experience with the local market.
Also, Vodafone announced that it had given the contract worth Rs 2000 Cr to Ericsson to roll out 4G services in UP West, Rajasthan, NE and Assam circle by Q3 2017. The deal includes deployment of full radio system portfolio by Ericsson, reports ETT. We would see how these contracts would actually be executed in light of proposed merger, given the fact that, both Idea and Vodafone, have awarded MS contracts to both Nokia and Ericsson.
Jio, the newest disruptor in India Telecom, announced that it already crossed 100 million subscriber mark, well before the target date. Announcing the news, at NASSCOM summit, Mr Mukesh Ambani, MD Reliance Industries, also highlighted the fact that AADHAR helped to acquire subscribers quickly in shortest time. He also added that with reverse globalisation taking place, it would be boon to domestic IT industry, as now IT players would focus on solving India’s problems. Though he refused to confirm much-anticipated news if Jio would extend its ‘Happy New Year Offer’ beyond March, industry experts believe that it would be tough for him to do so, in light of rising pressure from competitors.
In the meanwhile some good news for Jio, from Truecaller report, which stated that Jio already became the No 2 telecom player, capturing 23{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} market share. Although this number is based on numbers collected from Truecaller App data installed on Smartphones, we believe with 100 million subscribers, Jio should ideally be placed fourth, behind Airtel, Vodafone and Idea regarding Market share. Do we need to mention how Jio’s free offers lead to 20{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} revenue loss to Indian Telecom Industry? Also, read on how Airtel is planning to rip benefits from proposed Idea-Vodafone merger after Jio swept the subscriber addition wave. Nothing surprising!
Now let’s focus on some tech news across telecom world.
Last month, Drive Test market leader Anite launched Xynergy Geospatial-Intelligence platform, for better customer experience management. Following the lead, the competitor, South Korean drive test solution company, Accuvar yesterday announced the launch of Cloud-based drive test system XRO, aimed at automating testing and analysis during LTE Network roll-out. Interestingly, XRO is based on Accuvar’s experience in rolling out LTE Network for Reliance Jio, over past couple of years.
Telstra, the Australian Telecom Operator, last month successfully demonstrated Gigabit LTE, taking it closer to real 5G network realisation. With Telstra Nighthawk M1 hotspot, the company collaborated successfully with Qualcomm, Netgear and Ericsson to reach to download speeds of more than 900 Mbps during the trial. Now another equipment vendor company announced that it will be showcasing 5G compatible Gigabit LTE Smartphone during MWC this year. As per reports, the named ZTE Gigabit phone, the phone will be first one in-the-market and will have 360 degrees panoramic VR Video, Instant cloud storage among other key features. We would watch the development closely later this month.
Another chipset maker, Sequans, yesterday announced that it had successfully completed first NB IoT data call with Telefonica, with LTE Cat M1 chipset device. Powered by Sequans Monarch LTE-M/NB IoT Chipset, this is very significant development for Operators, who would be looking to launch commercial NB IoT Networks soon.
Anritsu, the T&M company, last week announced the launch of ultra portable Spectrum Analyser for 5G and mmWave testing. Dubbed as world’s first ultraportable mmWave spectrum analyser, MS2760A is primarily going to target applications in 5G and E-Band space. Currently, the model supports sweeps from 9 KHz to 110 GHz.
We close this edition with few more trending reports from the market.
BGR talks more about ‘Hottest Trend in Home Wi-Fi market- Mesh Wi-Fi. Although Mesh Wi-Fi terminology isn’t new, Ubiquity’s new device AmpliFiHD, the home Wi-Fi router, smartly uses Mesh Wi-Fi to boost the performance of Wi-Fi at homes.
Two interesting reads. ET reported that India IoT Market to touch 1.9 billion till 2020, Deloitte predicts that market would be worth more than $9 billion. What we know for sure is IoT trend is growing in India rapidly, and we are watching the IoT space carefully. Sunil Kamath from Opera highlights the need for the lighter Internet in India in the brilliant article on LR.
Nokia is reportedly bringing back its flagship 3310 devices, decade after discontinuing the production in 2005. We really don’t know what’s the motive behind this move, as Nokia 3310 may be irrelevant in LTE era, it appears that Nokia evidently looking forward to bring old glory days back with iconic 3310 phone. Wait and Watch!
Last but not the least, Telecomblogs is recognised for its contribution to Telecom World by Feedspot, and we are rated as among top 50 Telecom Blogs and information source in the world. Thank you FeedSpot Team. It really meant a lot to us.
