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India Ready to Lead in Telecom, Tech

Satellite communication to be next evolution in broadband space

The Union Minister hailed the Prime Minister’s foresight of using technology as an enabler for good governance, for providing business opportunities and as an enabler to expand the country’s economic activities…reports Asian Lite News

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that India is all set to become a provider of telecom services and Indian companies will become providers of high security and quality technological equipment to emerging economies.

According to a Ministry of Commerce and Industry release, Goyal expressed confidence that India in the future will lead international telecom supply chains and urged companies to find solutions to help take telecom to countries still behind in network connectivity.

Addressing the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly and 8th edition of India Mobile Congress in New Delhi on Tuesday, Goyal said, “India has a role to play in making technology available in the Global South and in leading the world in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to make digital connectivity affordable across the globe.”

He added that seamless broadband connectivity across the country has earned India the moniker ‘Trusted Partner of the World’. He also highlighted India’s stable network connectivity across rural and urban areas as an achievement of the flagship ‘Digital India’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

The Union Minister hailed the Prime Minister’s foresight of using technology as an enabler for good governance, for providing business opportunities and as an enabler to expand the country’s economic activities.

Goyal said that India today thinks as one nation and attributed Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ushering a change in the mindset of the youth and aligning the thought process of the entire country towards the nation’s development. He outlined that making the digital push back in 2015 helped in continuation of essential services leading to seamless business activities across the country during Covid pandemic.

“When countries work with India, they are assured of high quality, affordability and cost effective solutions and are assured of uninterrupted business activities allowing companies to look up to India for their global capability centres (GCCs),” the release said quoting Goyal.

He noted that in terms of technological developments in telecom services like innovation, availability of equipment, services and data India is far ahead of developed countries.

“Of India celebrating World Standards Day yesterday, Goyal said that the government is working towards making India a provider of quality goods and services. Everything that India does will have an imprint of quality defining the India growth story,” Goyal said as quoted in the release.

Alluding to the theme of the event “The Future Is Now”, the Minister said that India is contributing to not only its future but of the world and its offering of digital technologies plays an integral part in bringing the world as one family. He stated that the entire ecosystem of digitalisation involving machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics has its imprint in India, the release mentioned.

“India is recognised for its innovation, talent and the large market it provides. Innovation defines the India growth story and the world recognises India as a leader in democratising technology for the deprived and the whole world,” the release said quoting Goyal.

Paying tributes to APJ Abdul Kalam on his birth anniversary, the Union Minister stressed the former President’s pioneering work in cutting edge technology and said that it has been appreciated worldwide and his engagement with the youth will always remain a source of inspiration for the country

The release further stated that Goyal praised the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) for instilling confidence in making India self-reliant in technological achievements.

He emphasised that India today is a different story as it has been able to launch 5G parallelly with the rest of the world and underlined that the country will be the leader in launching and developing 6G. He said that through the National Broadband Mission, every corner of the country will benefit from 5G technology, the release stated. (ANI)

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India News Tech Lite

Telecom Sector Faces Shortage of 2.41 Million Skilled Workers

The country will require 22 million skilled workers in 5G-focused industries by 2025, in areas such as cloud computing, robots and the Internet of Things (IoT)….reports Asian Lite News

India currently faces a shortage of 2.41 million skilled workers in the telecom sector in the 5G era, which is forecast to jump by 3.8 times by 2030, a report showed on Friday.

The country will require 22 million skilled workers in 5G-focused industries by 2025, in areas such as cloud computing, robots and the Internet of Things (IoT).

One of the key challenges is that only 40 per cent of India’s graduates in computer science, IT, and math are employable in the technology sector due to the mismatch between academic requirements and industry demands, according to the report by the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), launched in association with enterprise decision-making platform Draup at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2023 here.

The number of employed talent in the Indian telecom industry is currently 11.59 million, with 2.95 million corporate talent and 8.24 million blue-collar talent.

According to the report, India is the only country expected to have a skilled labour surplus, with 1.3 million workers in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector by 2030.

“In anticipation of the upcoming 6G era, our focus remains on aligning our skilling initiatives with cutting-edge technologies, ensuring a workforce ready for the future of telecom,” said Atul Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

The report, titled ‘Telecom Talent in 5G Era: Demand Supply Skill Gap Report 2023-24’, highlighted that across 15 top streams, network operation and maintenance and project engineering have the most corporate talent, while network operation and maintenance and sales and distribution – service segment have the most blue-collar talent.

According to Arvind Bali, CEO, TSSC, the telecom sector is the third-largest industry in India that accounts for roughly 6.5 per cent of all FDI inflow and also by 2027, the country is anticipated to account for 11 per cent of all 5G subscriptions worldwide.

“India has a good chance to close the growing demand-supply gap by 2030 with the proper reskilling and hiring strategies that target adjacent talent in tier 2 and 3 cities and university supply,” said Bali.

With the help of AI, even more powerful 6G network technologies will emerge in the future, the report mentioned.

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Business India News

Big relief for Telecos

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) welcomed the much-awaited DoT order regarding the levy of SUC charges for spectrum in 600, 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2500, 3300 MHz and 26GHz bands….repiorts Asian Lite News

In a big relief for telecom companies, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has scrapped the 3 per cent floor rate on spectrum usage charge (SUC).

As the government prepares for 5G spectrum allotment next month, the telcos had been demanding to scrap the SUC floor rate, equivalent to 3 per cent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), to cut their 5G spectrum payouts.

The DoT, in its latest SUC computation order that came out late on Tuesday, did not mention the 3 per cent floor rate, which means it has been scrapped, industry watchers said.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) welcomed the much-awaited DoT order regarding the levy of SUC charges for spectrum in 600, 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2500, 3300 MHz and 26GHz bands.

“The order will provide clarity to telecom service providers for the upcoming auctions,” said Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar, DG, COAI.

The government is set to launch 5G spectrum bids at the end of next month.

The Union Cabinet has approved the telecom department’s proposal to conduct an auction through which spectrum will be assigned to the successful bidders for providing 5G services to public and enterprises.

Payments for spectrum can be made in 20 equal annual installments in advance at the beginning of each year. It is expected to significantly ease cash flow requirements and lower the cost of doing business in the telecom sector.

Spectrum auction will begin on July 26. The Department of Telecom has released a notice inviting applications (NIA) for the auction of spectrum in 600, 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2500, 3300 MHz and 26GHz bands.

The last date for submission of application is July 8 and it will give an indication of potential participants for the auction and earnest money deposit on July 20 which will indicate maximum spectrum payout for each telco.

Further, spectrum purchased in the upcoming auction will have two payment options.

First one is full or part upfront payment of total bid amount within 10 days of auction completion.

Part payment should be made at least for two years’ instalment or multiple complete years.

Thereafter, the buyer will have the option to avail moratorium for the corresponding number of years of payment. Second is payment in 20 yearly equal instalments with first instalment due in 10 days of completion of auction.

The rate of interest of calculating installment is fixed at 7.2 per cent. Pre-payment of spectrum dues is allowed without any penalty.

The telcos are allowed to surrender spectrum that will be auctioned after a minimum period of 10 years from the date of acquisition.

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UAE News

Etihad signs MoU with Telecom Egypt

The establishment of the new cable system aims to meet the rising communication traffic and the large demand for such services between KSA and Egypt…reports Asian Lite News

Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily) signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telecom Egypt to build the first submarine cable system to directly connect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Egypt. The MoU was signed in Riyadh by Eng. Salman Al-Badran, CEO of Mobily, and Adel Hamed, Managing Director, and CEO of Telecom Egypt.

The agreement explores various new ways to connect international capacity to Europe in the west, through Telecom Egypt’s network, and to the GCC in the east, through Mobily’s network, which is made possible by expanding the two companies’ networks and connecting them to neighboring countries.

The establishment of the new cable system aims to meet the rising communication traffic and the large demand for such services between KSA and Egypt.

“By adopting cutting-edge technologies, we continue to expand our infrastructure and scale our capabilities across the KSA and the wider region,” said Eng. Salman Al-Badran, CEO of Mobily. “We are confident that our strategic partnership with Telecom Egypt will help achieve our goals.”

Thamer A. AlFadda, Senior Vice, President Wholesale & Carrier Services, said: “The MoU is part of Mobliy’s efforts to enhance its global infrastructure, aiming to establish the KSA as a leading international hub for communication services and data traffic, which contributes to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.”

Adel Hamed, The Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt, added: “We are pleased to build this strategic collaboration with Mobily, which helps increase the scale and reach of our networks, and adds more connections with the KSA.”

Seif Allah Mounib, Vice President, Chief International & Wholesale Officer at Telecom Egypt: “The MoU lays the foundation of a fruitful and growing collaboration with Mobily, as well as adding to our cutting-edge international infrastructure.”

Mobily follows a leading approach aiming to empower the digital economy and offer advanced digital solutions in-line with Saudi Vision 2030. This further cements Mobliy’s reliability, agility, and competitiveness, it also contributes to the company’s efforts to bolster the growth of the communication sector and digital economy in the Kingdom. Telecom Egypt is the preferred partner for subsea cable owners worldwide, offering advanced infrastructure both locally and globally, with +140 landing stations across +60 countries.

Mobliy also continuously focuses on scaling subsea cables using cutting-edge technologies, which is reflected clearly by investing in subsea cables, in addition to recently joining two new consortiums to increase global capacity and presence, and cement the leading position of the Saudi communication sector globally.

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Reliance mulls bid for controlling stake in British Telecom

The ET report quoting unnamed sources said the deliberations are early stage and may not occur eventually. It remains unclear if Ambani has met the top management of BT, CEO Philip Jansen and outgoing chairman Jan du Plessis…reports Asian Lite News.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is mulling a potential bid for the UK-based telecommunications giant British Telecom (BT), is an indication of Mukesh Ambani’s plans to take Jio global. Out of 419 institutional investors in the UK company, some may cash out for the right offer.

RIL is expected to make an unsolicited offer to buy a stake into the company or even stake a claim for a controlling share in the company, according to an Economic Times report.  

RIL may alternatively propose to partner with BT’s optic arm Openreach and fund its expansion plans. BT, however, earlier said it was junking plans to get a financial or strategic joint venture partner. It said the company would fund its expansion plans itself. The market capitalisation of the FTSE 100 company was $20.63 billion as of November 26. If RIL plans to go through with the deal, it would be the biggest such outbound mergers & acquisitions deal by an Indian company.

The ET report quoting unnamed sources said the deliberations are early stage and may not occur eventually. It remains unclear if Ambani has met the top management of BT, CEO Philip Jansen and outgoing chairman Jan du Plessis.

The development comes close on the heels of Ambani’s conglomerate being outbid by a PE consortium comprising Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus which scooped up T-Mobile’s Dutch unit for Rs 43,329 crore. The bid was indicative of RIL’s global telecom aspirations. The billionaire has been shunting between Mumbai and London where he recently bought the iconic Stoke Park estate for £57 million.

BT is one of the UK’s biggest telecommunications and network providers. It has a presence in 180 countries and is the incumbent operator of fixed-line telecom services in the UK. It also offers fibre broadband, IP TV, television and sports broadcasting and mobile services.

Analysts accuse the company of holding on to its bureaucratic legacy since the 1980s when it was privatised. The company’s stock has fallen 53% in 5 years, touching an 11-year low in 2020-21.

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Business India News

India allows 100% FDI in telecom sector

Under the amendment, 100 per cent FDI via the automatic route will be allowed into telecom services including telecom infrastructure providers ‘Category-I’….reports Asian Lite News

The Centre on Wednesday notified 100 per cent inflow of foreign direct investment into the telecom industry via the automatic route.

Accordingly, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, via ‘Press Note No 4 (2021 Series)’ said the Centre reviewed the extant of FDI policy on telecom sector and made amendment under the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2020.

Under the amendment, 100 per cent FDI via the automatic route will be allowed into telecom services including telecom infrastructure providers ‘Category-I’.

In financial parlance, under this route no prior permission from the Centre or RBI is required by a foreign entity before making an investment.

An year ago, government has notified some changes in FDI rules in April 2020. As per the changes, govt mandates prior approval for foreign investments, especially for the nations share border with India including Pakistan, China, Nepal and Bangladesh, India Today reported.

Last month, the Union Cabinet allowed for 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route.

On its part, India Inc welcomed the move.

According to Lt Gen Dr S.P. Kochhar, DG, COAI: “The FDI approval will help the industry to build a robust telecom sector for new India. Through the amendment in license agreements, telecom service providers will be eased off the huge burdens of bank guarantees and will enable the availability of more funding for the expansion of the telecom network and build a ‘Digitally Connected India’.”

“Further, ‘SACFA’ clearance based self-declaration will facilitate ease of doing business and will help in the faster rollout of services to the citizens.”

Meanwhile, India’s total FDI inflow during the first four months of FY22 has risen by 62 per cent on year-on-year basis, an official statement said on Wednesday.

India attracted a total FDI inflow of $27.37 billion, against $16.92 billion during the corresponding period of FY21.

“FDI equity inflow grew by 112 per cent in the first four months of FY 2021-22 ($20.42 billion) compared to the year ago period ($9.61 billion),” said the Commerce & Industry Ministry statement.

According to the ministry, automobile industry has emerged as the top sector during the period under review to attract the largest total FDI Eeuity inflows followed by computer software and hardware, and services sector, respectively.

“Under the sector automobile industry, majority of FDI equity inflow was reported in the state of Karnataka during the first four months of the current financial year (2021-22).”

“Karnataka is the top recipient state during the FY 2021-22 (upto July, 2021) with 45 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflows followed by Maharashtra and Delhi.”

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UAE tops world telecom infra

UAE ranks first in rate of mobile broadband Internet subscriptions, competition index and quality of the telecommunications infrastructure, reports Asian Lite News

The UAE was ranked first in the world in several global competitiveness indicators that measure the development and quality of the communications infrastructure around the world in 2020.

In a report issued by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority under the title “UAE is a pioneering country in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector 2020” and includes the most important results achieved by the country in the telecommunications sector last year, based on the numbers and indicators issued by relevant international organisations specialised in issuing indicators. This is part of the authority’s efforts through which it contributes to 17 global competitiveness reports containing 142 competitiveness indicators.

The report monitored, in numbers and facts, the vital role that the telecommunications sector plays in the development of the country, as an embodiment of the vision of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, which states that the UAE is a pioneer in the ICT sector.

According to the report, the UAE ranked first in the world in the rate of mobile broadband Internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants and the index of public-private partnership and its impact on technological development.

The UAE ranked first in the world in the index of competition in the Internet and telephone sectors, the government’s purchase of advanced technology products, and the first in the world in the speed of mobile broadband, and the highest fibre-to-home penetration rate.

The country has also maintained first place in the world in many global competitiveness indicators that measure the development and quality of the telecommunications infrastructure in the world. In this regard, the UAE ranked first in the world in terms of the percentage of the population’s mobile network coverage and access to mobile phone services.

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According to the report, the UAE continued its global leadership in the competitiveness indicators that measure the rate of subscriptions to mobile broadband Internet and mobile services in the countries of the world, as it ranked first in the world in the mobile broadband Internet subscriptions index and the mobile phone subscriptions index.

Concerning the use of ICT, the UAE has advanced in the global ranking on this axis from 24th in 2017 to second place globally according to the last Global Competitiveness Report issued in 2019. Despite the pandemic, the country has maintained second place globally in 2020.

The UAE also continued to top technological development indicators as a result of having a quality communication infrastructure and the keenness of the country’s various sectors to be equipped with the latest technologies, which also contributed to raising the ability of the various sectors of the country to adapt to the COVID-19 crisis, gaining flexibility in dealing with the circumstances resulting from the pandemic and allowing efficient business continuity.

In this regard, the country ranked first in the world in the index of Public-Private Partnerships and its impact on technological development, and the index of Use of Virtual Professional Networks.

The country also topped countries in the Global Infrastructure Investment Index according to the global competitiveness indicators that measure the level of countries’ investment in infrastructure. The UAE ranked third in the world in the investment in telecommunications services index and fourth in the world in the foreign direct investment and technology transfer index.

The report included the most important results achieved by the country in indicators related to the ability of the communications infrastructure to keep pace with the changes, the future readiness of the communications and information technology sector, the e-government survey, the global indicator of readiness for variables, and others.

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The authority thanked and appreciated its partners in the communications and information technology sector from the government, the private sector, the academic sector and all members of society for their role in achieving the successes mentioned in the report.

Commenting on the report, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Head of the UAE Digital Government and Director-General of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, said, “The progress achieved by the UAE in the global indicators of the telecommunications sector is a reflection of the wise leadership’s directives to strengthen the telecommunications sector, as it is one of the main engines of development in many sectors and the gateway to enter the fourth industrial revolution era, with its developments, such as the Internet of Things, the fifth generation, technologies supported by artificial intelligence, smart transportation, and others.”

The results are the result of a persistent and accumulated effort over the years in which the authority’s work teams have participated along with their partners in the private sector, mainly represented by Etisalat and Du, he added.

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