The new voice in the telecom sector is %G network launch and all the countries are happily taking part in this rate race. This ultra-fast network is designed to boost domestic telecom sector at the expense of mobile companies. The promotional activities for hyping this upcoming revolution is such high that upcoming the soccer World Cup 2018 in Russia and Winter Olympics 2018 in South Korea will be showcasing this network. In this race, China is leading with starting trials with different mobile network. Huawei is one of such telecom-equipment makers which is part of this trial. China targets to launch commercial 5G network facility by 2020 and expecting a contribution of $440 billion economic value and 8 million vacancies by 2030. On the other hand, the Indian Government also targeting to bring 5G network by 2020. The premier Indian mobile networks are all set to deploy 5G in coming two years. The leading telecom network provider are more focused to shut down 3G in coming year. The survey indicates that 2G network has been drooped already and 3G is also declining with time. 4G network in India is catching the speed gradually and thus mobile operators are more optimistic about shifting to 5G soon.

The biggest news in the telecom sector this morning is the announcement made by Anil Ambani regarding exit from ongoing strategic debt restructuring (SDR) programme. He confirmed the same last night at a press conference in Mumbai. RCom has taken this step to reduce their current debt burden and indicated selling few telecom assets. Reportedly, assets including spectrum, fibre, and towers worth Rs 25,000 crore will be sold by March 2018. Though he has not mentioned any potential buyer in his announcement, but all leading telecom has said to be submitted their bids for buying these assets including his brother Mukesh Ambani. RCom is all set to repay its all debt by the early trimester of 2018 and has ensured that no buyer will be in the loss by doing any business with them.

India government has taken a step to improve mobile connectivity in rural areas by equipping solar towers. The intention behind planting solar towers is to keep the towers functioning even without no power supply. Yesterday during Rajya Sabha question hour, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will get help from the new towers to improve their services. Such decision will definitely improve public sector connectivity and telecom service in rural India. Currently, India has a total of 4.61 Lakh mobile towers and BSNL owns only 66,771 towers. Now BSNL’s subsidiary company will own the towers for BSNL and will have the right to monetize them for financial stability. The Telecom Minister further added that a proposal for the same has been submitted from the side of BSNL. In the proposal BSNL showed interest in testing 4G as well. Sinha further included that there are 30,000 villages in India that has no internet connectivity and such steps will improve the situation. He has urged the state's government to identify such villages so that new tower planting plan can be curved accordingly to get more benefits.

While the whole nation is getting loud with “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” slogan, there are many ‘Beti’ left who still need a caring hand. Sometimes dreams are not enough to attain the goal especially when one is short in budget. This article is about the Girl who lives in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad who is facing the hard reality of poverty. Sunita Singh, 16 years is a teenage girl with lots of potential to knock down future with success. Than what is stopping her? It’s her financial condition which was not like this from starting. So what happened? Her Father Ram Singh, 42 used to have a local grocery shop in their own locality only and the family was living happily with their little income. Years ago, her elder brother was diagnosed with leukemia which gradually affected their financial condition. At some point, Ram Singh had to sell his shop to continue his son’s treatment so that he can live few more years. Her brother is still fighting with the mortal disease but this disease is now taking away Sunita’s dream of pursuing further studies. She had achieved flying colors in her 10th exams and wants to study further in Science stream. When Aria Telecom Founder, Mr. Ravindra Saini came to knew about this girl through word of mouth, he decided to help are with funding little burden of her studies. Well, being a socially responsible organization, Aria Telecom has helped her with buying new books and stationeries. During Navratri we worship Kanyas as little Devi and this will be a real worship of Devi Maa if we all can help Sunita with her coaching fees. This is a request to all devotees of Devi Maa that please participate in real worshipping of little Devi and made her dreams come true.

We have completed one big project for reputed international Airport by dealing with company Data Modul.This is a Dubai based Company and specialized to manufacturing the Computer hardware accessories. Client Requirement: The Company had requirement to setup the IVRS system for their client, this system should have capability to provide flight information via IVRS & should have flexibility to integrate with their Software FIDS (Flight Information Display System). Solution Given: Parth Unified Communication System-IVRS is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gather information and transfer calls to appropriate recipients. We have customized this productforInternational Airport Authority. The purpose of this system shall be helpful for the customers to know flight details & respective information’s. All flights related details of airlines will be received from this system. Passengers can get real time information through IVRS assistance by dialing specified number & there is option available to transfer call to Operator as well. It is integrated with FIDS (Flight Information Display System) to automatically fetch the flight data & information, which will be relayed to callers in English & Urdu.

DST (Department of Science & Technology) official have confirmed that India is all set to play an important role in formulating global 5G technology Standards. This plan of formulating 5G standards will be a robust part of Digital India Initiative. The DST official added that, although India missed the same steps during 3G & 4G standardization, but this time it is all prepared to give input for formulating 5G standards. Earlier in September 2017, Modi-led NDA government had constituted a forum called “5G Forum” to prepare Indian technology to be an equal participant in adapting global technology. The government-led panel for idealizing this idea include Gopal Vittal, chief executive, India & South Asia from Bharti Airtel, and Sanjay Mashruwala, managing director from Reliance Jio Infocomm. India government is planning to boost Digital India initiative with the upcoming 5G technology.

Latest outlook done by leading tech marketers predicts a rise in technological and telecom sector. This will be also a consequence of the recent digital transformation of services and outsourcing. Rapid digitalization in the Indian economy and increasing digital consumers will continue the rising demand of telecom technology. Survey authority remarked that Indian businesses are now entering into the era of technology and every sector are following this trend. Businesses are more likely to spend on business technology such as business communication system or customer retention systems. The latest growth curve prediction for 2018 is showing upward from 5.6% to nearly 6%, which is a great news for the telecom sector. Telecom service providers are expected to down their prices to more stable rates. It is also interpreted that connectivity to remote offices will be improvised by implementing more advanced telecom software. Cloud technologies are expected to drive the market demand for data solutions. So, overall, 2018 is going to be a great year for the sector with a lot of expectations and promises to faster digitalization.

Today at 12pm (IST), the BSE telecom index was trading at 1,437 which is 1.72% up from the usual. In the same time, most of the telecom stocks were trading up including Himachal Futuristic Communications (up by 7.41 per cent), Reliance Communications (up by 4.17 per cent), Idea Cellular (up 3.51 per cent), MTNL (up by 2.68 per cent) and Bharti Infratel (up by 2.11 per cent). Also, other players including ITI (up by 4.12 per cent), Tata Communications (up by 1.06 per cent), Tata Teleservices (M) (up by 0.95 per cent), GTL (up by 2.58 per cent), Aksh Optifibre (up by 4.22 per cent), OnMobile Global (up by 6.73 per cent) and Sterlite Technologies (up by 2.01 per cent) hit the list. The key equity indices were trading up over other sectors including pharma, IT banking etc. Yesterday RBI had published status quo in its monetary policy review which have affected the trade scales. NSE Nifty50 index was at 10,605 which is 129 points up while BSE sensex was up at 34,533 with 451 points up. Players from other sector who are in gainer list of stock kitty index include Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, and HDFC. While, most of the players were gaining today, there were also few players who were nagging behind the list with downward. GTL Infrastructure (down by 0.36 per cent), Tejas Networks (down by 0.53 per cent), and Vindhya Telelinks (down by 0.13 per cent) were among those whose stocks went down. Shares of PGCIL also dropped by 1 per cent in this BSE index.

Communication Today has featured Aria Telecom Founder Ravindra Saini in their February edition. In the edition, they have published his views on “Convergence Trend in Indian Telecom Sector” where he has reflected his views on digital conversion of India. The article also reflects on Business Communication system, Enhanced data security, and advanced integrated telecom system. The talk has been published in the “PERSPECTIVE” section. In the article, Mr. Founder has indicated “The digital conversion of India is hugely dependent on internet bandwidth where telecom players are ruling the game. Digital data need to be mobilized between different medium to spread information and this is where telecom providers work to realize it. Telecom providers initialize services at a different level to transfer data between one medium to other. Not only this, but the whole infrastructure is also changing to keep the pace with the speed of digitalization”. You can view this article online at http://www.communicationstoday.co.in/ezine/archive/201802/. We, thank Communication Today to give us the door to open our pillar views to their great audience base.

Indian Government is all preparing to finalise 5G service roadmap by June 2018. Officials of The Department of Telecom has informed media of the same. ," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan also added that India will be unveiling 5G roadmap in next 4 months in an Assocham event yesterday. Sundararajan further added "In the 5G we are looking to do a lot of pilots. So when 5G hits India will be a leading edge of technology as well as used cases. Just as last 18-24 months have been period of rapid and radical changes. In the next 12 months, we will see a large number of these capabilities being built in India. In the coming months, we will begin to see the actual rollout of M2M”. She also added that DoT is preparing to frame a new numbering scheme for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications SIMs. It is expected that 5G services will be more focused on M2M services such as car sensors, smart homes and smart cities to prevent any unfortunate incidents and accidents. On the other hand, 5G standards are needed to be finalized globally by 2018. A high-level committee has been appointed to figure out 5G roadmap by the telecom ministry. These initiatives are taken by the ministry to ensure that the country gets access to this next generation technology along with the world whenever it gets available commercially.

In a latest press conference today, Indian Telecom minister Manoj Sinha spoke about India’s telecom service sector. He addressed to all telecom operators that it’s time to focus on improving consumer services rather than involving in rat race. The context behind this address was Government’s new policy of immediate relief for telecom industry that will drive investments. In the press event, he also addressed the rat race between reliance Jio and other major providers. In addition, he said that, as now the financial relief has been approved by the government, the industry should now focus on to improve customer service. Earlier, union cabinet has increased the time limit to pay for spectrum, excluding a two-year moratorium from 10 years to 16 years. Also, increased overall airwave holding limit from 35% to 25% which has ultimately imposed a cap of 50% on combined spectrum holdings in three sub-1GHz bands. In context of this, Minister Sinha added “The decisions will help consolidation, give a fillip to investments and improve the ease of doing business in the sector”. So, it is obvious in this situation that Telecom Minister Sinha is now expecting better consumer services from all the giant provider.

Indian Telecommunication networks is very prone to everyday increasing cyber-attack and to protect them, center is working to set up Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). The spoken CERT will be working across the telecom networks along the lines of the Finance Ministry. An official from the Department of Telecom has ensured the same in a recent press conference. The CERT will be providing real-time information about any upcoming cyber threat to the network stakeholders beforehand so that they can take proper action in time. Presently national nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have a CERT-In to respond against computer security incidents. The new said CERT will be also functioning under the MeitY for proper coordination as conformed by the Department of Telecom official. This step has been taken as The Department of Telecom now realizing the need of setting up an exclusive CERT-In due to increasing internet penetration and proliferation into telecom networks through smartphone devices. As per CERT-In data, in 2016 India has reported a total 50,362 cybersecurity incidents and 49,455 incidents in 2015. This CERT will not only work against phishing, website and malicious codes or ransomware but will enhance the total security system.

As per Telecom Sector Skills Council (TSSC), Indian telecom sector is expected to produce 10 million more jobs by next 5 years. TSSC CEO S.P. Kochhar said that such huge scope of employment will be coming from emerging new telecom areas such as big data automation and IoT (internet of things). Kochhar further added that "There are a lot of services which are enabled by telecom. Telecom is a horizontal play. The distinction between IT, telecom and cyber security is blurring". In last few years, the sector has been grown very rapidly due to the introduction of new technologies and advancements. Previously, telecom sector used to be defined by voice communication which has now dramatically shifted to data that has contributed largely in creating more job scope in the sector. Currently, telecom sector employs over 4 million people through direct and indirect means which is expected to be raised in coming years. The new policies introduced by the Government and increasing trends of using smartphones has accelerated the growth of telecom sector hugely. Both of these reasons has increased demand of manufacturing, server spreading and telecom network requirement across the country. To fulfil these demands, the sector is now expending skill requirements in different spaces of telecom sectors.

DoT (Department of Telecom) is all set to release New National Telecom Policy (NTP) draft tomorrow.  Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan confirmed the same at the Annual General Meeting of US industry body Amcham. This draft policy will be released to receive public comments for at least 2-3 weeks before making further decisions. The new policy has been restructured to be more investor friendly cost compatible for the telecom solution providers. In the event, Sundararajan further added that this new policy will encourage more company partnering and work more closely on Make in India project. Once the public comments are received, DoT will be having inter-ministerial consultation on the same and then only it will be forwarded to the cabinet for approval. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also recommended a roadmap for new NTP to be more addressing towards global requirements and investments. TRAI is optimistic about to receive USD 100 billion investment by 2022 with this new policy. It also suggested that the new NTP must create more relaxed opportunity for businesses by simplifying the regulatory process and rationalizing of taxes, levies and related compliances. As per TRAI recommendation, the new policy will create more jobs with achieving 900 million broadband subscriptions I coming years. It has also recommended for a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps, and least 1 gigabit per second with wireless broadband for connecting all gram panchayats by 2022. The telecom solution provider has demanded lower the spectrum charges, use charges, license fees and other levies to ease business in this sector.

<p style="line-height: 115%;">Further to our last update on releasing New Telecom Policy in India, recently communication minister Manoj Sinha has stated that the same will be released by late next month. He stated the same on Tuesday with expressing his expectation to the cabinet to approve the new policy soon. He further added that telecom sector has been a great hit for the nation and thus need this policy. He also mentioned that this new policy has been made with an intention to target $100 billion investment by <g data-gr-id="44">July,</g> 2022. <o:p></o:p>

<p style="line-height: 115%;">The new policy has the various attractive proposal included in it such as in-flight connectivity (IFC) services to allow voice calls and Internet surfing during flights. Mr. Sinha said that he expects this proposal to be active within a year. He also added that in 2015-16, telecom sector received a foreign investment of $1.3 billion, and in the year 2017-18, it has received the foreign direct investment of $6.1 billion.<o:p></o:p>

<p style="line-height:115%">Mr. Sinha further added that “Consolidation is a global phenomenon and India too is part of this phenomenon,” in the answer of recent job losses in this sector. However, he made hope that with time, the industry will become healthier and will create more opportunities for employment in near future. <o:p></o:p>

<span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%">Aria Telecom recently launched their new product line of cloud telephony solution range. The new product range has been launched recently through the official website earlier this month. The new range of their cloud telephony offers cloud dialer, cloud contact center, conference bridge, cloud IVR, cloud clouds based SMS panel, cloud toll-free number, cloud-based virtual number and cloud-based click to dial facility for call centers. While the world is moving towards luxurious cloud solution, Aria telecom stepped onto the stage with their affordable range of cloud solution. <o:p></o:p>

<span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%">The prime attracting factor of their cloud telephony range is the price and subscription system. While others are offering costly price for providing subscription, Aria telecom is offering subscriptions on pre-paid and post-paid manner. Aria cloud telephony solution has been designed specifically for the SMEs and small startups. Such businesses always have budget constraints and require a telephony system that meets their limited communication needs. All the components of this range have been designed specifically for the small businesses to meet their communication needs. <o:p></o:p>

<span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%">The expert from Aria Telecom has quoted “the new cloud telephony launched by us is designed exclusively to meet the basic <g data-gr-id="80">customer centric</g> communication needs and startups are <g data-gr-id="79">main</g> target as this system has got everything that a small business need. We are hoping to capture a great share of <g data-gr-id="99">market</g> with our new cloud telephony product range”. <o:p></o:p>

The New Telecom Policy got green signal from telecom commission (TC). The commission confirmed that the same will be presented to the cabinet for getting approval within 2 weeks’ time. This policy will soon amend telecom licenses to integrate net neutrality rules to include a bar on content blocking or slowing down. The bill was recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in support of implementing open internet which has been now accepted by the highest decision-making body in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the TC. This policy also aims to create jobs and attract foreign investment of approx. $100 billion by 2020. telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said “All recommendations of Trai on net neutrality have been accepted. Its core principles will be followed except in the case of critical services where you need to prioritise certain kinds of traffic. Those categories of critical services that will be notified subsequently by the DoT will be kept out, and that is in line with international practices. A separate regime for critical services will be issued”. The key points: Telcos and ISPs are barred from creating “walled garden” by signing pacts as it may lead to discrimination in web content, protocols or equipment. Any violation in net neutrality license rules will attract huge penalty. However, exceptions are there such as rural healthcare services etc. Content delivery networks that do not uses public internet are exempted from the open web rules.

The Indian Government is preparing to table the first draft of Personal Data Protection Bill by December this year. The bill is being drafted by Justice BN Srikrishna committee and will be tabled in Parliament after discussing with different ministries, Govt. authorities, industry representatives <g data-gr-id="23">and</g> the public. A public consultation over the bill is likely to <g data-gr-id="22">be happened</g> from Government side as disclosed by sources. <o:p></o:p>

The committee preparing the first draft of this Personal Data Protection Bill is being led by retired Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna. The committee has submitted a report and a draft bill on last week which states the importance of individual data privacy. The bill asserts that a layered consent architecture for personal data processing should build up so that companies only <g data-gr-id="27">uses</g> specific data for explicitly and store it until required. As per sources, in the draft bill, the citizens have given the rights to decide if their data should be shared and for what purposes they can be used. They have even given the rights to withdraw consent for sharing personal data at any time along with 'right to be forgotten' option on certain conditions. However, the bill has already raised concern among companies and many authorities regarding using personal data & criminal prosecution. <o:p></o:p>

However, two significant members of the committee, Rama Vedashree, CEO of Data Security Council of India, and Rishikesha Krishnan, director at IIM Indore has expressed concern on data localization, and <g data-gr-id="18">categorisation</g> of financial data as personal data as drafted in the bill. They also recommended <g data-gr-id="17">inclusion</g> of "criminal <g data-gr-id="19">offences</g>" category in the bill. It is said that this bill may override provisions of 50 existing laws, particularly the Aadhaar, right to information and information technology rules.<o:p></o:p>

The sudden demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has left the nation in deep trauma. While the whole nation is in shock with this news, telecom industry is remembering his contribution in developing the sector. The leaders of telecom industry has addressed him as the “Father of Modern Telecom In India” to pay tribute to his great contribution in developing telecom sector in 90’s. The New Telecom Policy was introduced in 1994 which has considerably grown the telecom sector. By 1999, the teledensity jumped to 2.3% from 1.2%. Another significant achievement held during Atal era was separation of the policy formulation arm i.e. Department of Telecom from the service provider arm BSNL. This was a huge decision that has not affected BSNL’s revenue share but also significantly changed the picture of Indian telecom operators. At 2015, than union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted “Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre had left BSNL with a profit of Rs 10,000 crore.” Today the big faces of telecom industry like Sunil Bharti Mittal has quoted Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the great economic reformer for being the first person to usher National Telecom Policy in 1999 that has helped the telecom industry overcome some of its toughest early challenges. He further quoted “A great economic reformer, as a prime minister he was always guided by a strong conviction that liberalization would help us realize our economic potential and ultimately open the doors to becoming a globally competitive, strong and resilient economy".Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the former owner BPL mobile service company, has quoted Vajpayee as the responsible person for opening up the telecom sector withimpetus policy to expand telecommunication sector in the country.

Recently Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has announced <g data-gr-id="34">launch</g> of a new “Smart City” project under which the Indian capital city Delhi will get FREE Wi-Fi. The same was announced during <g data-gr-id="35">inauguration</g> of Charkha Park earlier this month in Connaught Place, Delhi. Hon’ble Minister also added that this project will set a landmark for other cities to follow the same path. In the occasion, a coffee table book on the green initiatives titled "Green and Colourful NDMC -- A Transformational Journey". Recently the government has launched other initiatives such as smart poles, ideation center, solar tree, and 50 LED interactive screens etc. Also, Minister of State for Communications and Railways Manoj Sinha, added in this occasion “it is a proud moment that Digital India and Smart City Mission integrated into the initiatives launched by NDMC and MTNL in a joint venture. Online or offline is the status symbol in every person's life today and it will be felicitated by the government reliable network provided by MTNL's optical fiber broadband network". In the same occasion, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, added "nerve center of the command and control of country's digital and smart city mission". Further Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal <g data-gr-id="40">added</g> "Red light and over-speeding violation mechanism recorded by the Smart Poles, along with e-FIRs and female distress complaint should be recorded by the Digital Display panels in these smart infrastructures”.

The much awaited New Telecom Policy or the National Digital Communications Policy is going to be tabled before the Cabinet in two weeks for approval. Although, the timeline is tentative, yet the information has been confirmed by telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan. During a BSNL event, she has quoted "It is likely to be placed in two weeks" in this regard. She further added that Department of Telecom has already completed an inter-ministerial consultation over this new policy and now working on required processes that need to be fulfilled before the draft get tabled before the cabinet for approval. Once issued, the new telecom policy promise to provide broadband access with 50 mbps speed across country along with 5G services. This new policy is also expected to create 40 lakh new job opportunities by 2022. The new telecom policy will be adopting "Optimal Pricing of Spectrum" to maintain a sustainable and affordable digital communication access. The main concern of telecom services segment has always been the high spectrum price and related charges that is reeling under Rs 7.8 lakh crore debt. Recently the government has issued National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) which has great potential for Indian economy. This policy is expected to bring investment around Rs 6.5 lakh crore and to create 40 lakh new work opportunities. The new policy is also expected to rationalize spectrum charges that will rejuvenate the debt-ridden telecom sector.

Department of Telecommunication’s highest policy making body, Telecom Commission, has approved 6,000 Cr plan to set up 12.5 lakh public Wi-Fi hotspots on last week. Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) will be funding the project. Being a part of government's ambitious project BharatNet, this project is aimed to offer WiFi hotspots in rural areas at all developmental institutions, police stations, schools, community health centers and post offices across all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across the country. A senior official from the DoT confirmed that tender for this project will be announced soon and the planned WiFi hotspots are expected to be installed by this December. Telecom Commission also approved additional funding for a pilot projects under this scheme to connect all the districts through alternative technologies. The service providers will be given Rs 10 crore to promote this new technology usage. As per the upcoming new telecom policy, this project is targeted to provide 1 gbps connectivity by 2020 and 10 gbps by 2022 to all gram panchayats. It is also expected that the project will enable 100 mbps broadband on demand to key development institutions with deploying WiFi hotspots. First phase of BharatNet project is to connect 100,000 gram panchayats which has already been completed. Now the work for second phase aiming to connect 150,000 gram panchayats is going on which is expected to get completed by March next year.