Telecom News : The Indian government has shortlisted 33 companies for being a part of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the telecom sector. The scheme will offer these companies benefits worth Rs 12,000 crore if they are able to meet their manufacturing or production goals within the desired time and inside the boundaries of India. The government had announced the PLI scheme for various sectors earlier this year. On February 24, 2021, the Indian government had said the telecom sector would get a PLI scheme too, which will offer benefits worth Rs 12,195 crore.
Telecom News – In July this year, the state-run telco issued a letter of intent to five eligible bidders mandated to use Indian core technology while deploying next generation networks. These include L&T, Tech Mahindra, TCS and HFCL.
Telecom News: The rollout of 4G network by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) will get delayed further as domestic firms, which have been mandated to conduct trials for the project, have hit a fresh hurdle. Shortlisted firms such as Tech Mahindra, HFCL and L&T are facing challenges with their Indian partner, Pertsol, which is offering the core solution for the network.
Sources said these firms have communicated to BSNL that conducting trials with Pertsol won’t be feasible and chances of failure are high as several technical glitches were unearthed during technical discussions. These firms have, therefore, suggested that they be allowed to conduct the trials with state-owned, C-DoT’s core solution. However, so far they have not been accorded permission as C-DoT has a tie-up with TCS for conducting the trials.
Telecom News : A 2-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday referred to a 3-judge bench the appeals filed by Employees Provident Fund Organization and Union of India, challenging the judgments of various High Courts which quashed the Employee’s Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to credit 8.5% Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) interest for its six crore subscribers by the end of July for the financial year 2020-21. Earlier, in March this year, the EPFO kept the interest rate unchanged at 8.5% for the current financial year as there were more withdrawals than deposits during this period.
Telecom News – Twitter Trending : Trends going on social media tell you which issue is hotly discussed these days. In a similar fashion, a trend was run against Airtel and Jio on Twitter on Friday. Social media users opposed the policies of these two telecom companies . Along with the trend, people openly expressed their views.
Telecom News – The All Unions and Association of BSNL (AUAB) has sought the Centre’s intervention for directing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to approve the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s proposal for upgrading 3G sites to 4G sites for launching 4G services and stressed that this is the only decision that can revive the telco.
For making available high quality and high speed internet access to the States of North Eastern Region of the country, Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) has signed an Agreement with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on 18.08.2021 for hiring of 10 Gbps International Bandwidth for Internet Connectivity to Agartala from Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), Bangladesh via Cox Bazar/Kuakata.
The state-run telco reportedly said the deviations include a few critical issues that cannot be compromised for testing the equipment under Proof of Concept (PoC) or trials considering the same equipment will be commercially deployed for rolling out 4G services after the trials. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s 4G trials has hit yet another roadblock as a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium has proposed 128 deviations in 4G equipment specifications, with the highest deviations proposed in radio network (71), Financial Express reported. Other specifications where TCS has reportedly proposed deviations include core (18), interworking (6), deferred core (13), and deferred radio (20).
BSNL, though said accepting these deviations could jeopardize its business prospects and customer experience. It has written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asking whether to accept the deviations or not. The state-run telco reportedly said the deviations include a few critical issues that cannot be compromised for testing the equipment under Proof of Concept (PoC) or trials considering the same equipment will be commercially deployed for rolling out 4G services after the trials.
“According to this office, acceptance of such deviations will cost BSNL in future once the rollout happens and it will not only jeopardise the interests of BSNL’s business prospects but also adversely impact the customer experience as well as BSNL’s competitive strength,” BSNL CMD Sh P K Purwar was quoted as saying by the publication.
It should be noted that ITI and TCS have submitted their bid with state-run C-DoT for core technology and Tejas Networks for radio, and will conduct trials at Chandigarh.
Telecom News – In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Communications submitted that the loss of BSNL narrowed to Rs 7,441 cr in 2020-21 from Rs 15,500 cr in 2019-20.