<ul><li><keyword id="6354287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharti-airtel" source="Orion">Bharti Airtel</keyword> launched India’s first multiplex on the Partynite Metaverse platform.</li><li>The 20-screen multiplex will showcase content portfolios from leading OTT platforms partners.</li><li><keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword>’s latest metaverse multiplex will enable viewers to watch samples of top original shows and movies.</li></ul>One of the biggest telecom companies in India, Bharti Airtel, entered the multiplex business but in the metaverse. The company on Tuesday (June 17) launched India’s first multiplex on the Partynite Metaverse platform. The 20-screen multiplex — which is a part of Airtel’s video app Xtream — will showcase content portfolios from leading over-the-top (OTT) platforms it has partnered with. A quick scan of the website reveals that Airtel Xstream offers content from OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Sony Liv and Eros Now. The Xstream multiplex is an extension of Airtel’s Xstream Premium offering, which added two million subscribers within 100 days of its launch. “Airtel’s Xstream multiplex provides a larger-than-life experience, which brings together Web 3.0 apps and immersive storytelling, and an assortment of content from our partners. We all know people’s love for movies and entertainment in India. Through the metaverse, we are looking to tap into a larger audience, giving content enthusiasts an opportunity to sample Airtel’s Xstream Premium offering and, thus, aiding in driving higher adoption,” Shashwat Sharma, director of marketing at Airtel, said in a statement. Airtel’s latest metaverse multiplex will enable viewers to watch samples — such as the first episode or initial minutes — of top original shows and movies. These shows or movies will be in multiple regional languages, besides English and Hindi. Viewers can get complete access upon subscription of a plan, the company added. Airtel Xstream Premium’s multiplex experience is one of the most scalable use case scenarios for the metaverse and can be used for movies, music, live events and premium sports streaming in the future, Partynite’s founder Rajat Ojha said. “Apart from the robust scope, it will also allow social engagement, open up newer methods of content delivery and, of course, provide an immersive experience at the core of it,” he added. Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 490 million customers across 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/reliance-jio-vs-bharti-airtel-four-charts-to-showcase-how-indian-telecom-giants-faired-in-2022/slidelist/91640306.cms#slideid=91640359"> earned ₹1.17 lakh crore</a> across its several businesses in the fiscal year 2022, while its profits lingered at ₹8,305 crore. Bharti Airtel’s shares were trading at a price of ₹681 at 1:06 pm on Tuesday, representing a slight spike of 1.47% since market opening. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/adani-sells-a-fourth-of-its-green-hydrogen-business-to-frances-totalenergies/articleshow/92197541.cms" style="">Adani sells a fourth of its green hydrogen business to France’s TotalEnergies</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/burger-king-dominos-kfc-to-see-high-growth-even-as-consumer-staples-suffer/articleshow/92196523.cms" style="">Burger King, Domino's &amp; KFC to see high growth even as consumer staples suffer</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-richest-people-are-moving-to-uae-australia-and-singapore/articleshow/92181712.cms" style="">India’s richest are moving to UAE, Australia and Singapore — but there’s nothing to worry</a>

Airtel launches its first multiplex, but in the metaverse

<ul><li>Invact Metaversity raised its first round of funding at a valuation of $33 million in less than 3 months of launch.</li><li>They are trying to run a 3D immersive virtual learning platform that allows students to attend online classes as animated avatars.</li><li>The company will be designing their own course structures in order to further enhance the online learning experience.</li></ul><keyword id="11121339" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">Metaverse</keyword> has become the new buzzword of the global technology ecosystem, and even Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg is<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/facebook-meta-microsoft-epic-games-and-others-companies-building-the-metaverse/articleshow/87663969.cms"> betting high</a> on it. Metaverse is a term used to describe a virtual space within a digital environment such as online games, social media and virtual reality. Create avatars, set up a second life, interact with strangers and friends — just like one would do in real life. While there are those working on creating virtual restaurants and dating experiences, Twitter India’s former head Manish Maheshwari and Microsoft’s former executive Tanay Pratap are trying to create virtual classrooms with their latest venture Invact Metaversity. Earlier this week, over 70 top global leaders and founders — including Future Group’s Kishore Biyani and Infosys’ former executive TV Mohandas Pai — decided to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/future-groups-kishore-biyani-mohandas-pai-and-68-others-invest-in-former-twitter-india-heads-latest-startup/articleshow/89403045.cms"> accord a $33 million valuation</a> to the company, Invact Metaversity, that was barely started three months ago. The company is now looking to launch its first <keyword id="13137985" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="metaverse-education" source="Orion">metaverse education</keyword> experience with a special four month business foundation MBA course for 60 students. Students will have the option to attend the classes through their desktops and mobiles or have the real experience with the help of virtual reality (VR) headsets. Here’s how it will work The first and the simpler option is that students can simply use their laptops or mobile phones to attend these metaverse classes. It would be like playing Second Life or the simulation game Sims. The second one is where one uses a VR headset to be in the actual setting — sitting in the classroom, having friendly conversations, interacting with avatars and having a teacher teaching in front of them. The company’s investors have also experienced the VR aspect of this method of online learning before investing. In both the settings, the only aspect that changes is the mode of usage, but the access to canteens, libraries and other aspects would still be the same, the company’s cofounder and chief technology officer Tanay Pratap told Business Insider. “In the world we are building, you can have the fully immersive experience with the VR device, and it will work on laptop and desktop as well with the clicking and cursor movement,” he added. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Today, on a Zoom call you are in a box. You look left, you look right, you feel alone. Contrast this with a class in metaversity, teacher is front, you have peers around you. We will bring back the light jokes and humour of the class through spatial audio… When students would study together in the virtual world, there would be better exchange of ideas.”" auname="Tanay Pratap, cofounder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Invact Metaversity"></div> Though the company has no long-term plans to provide the VR headsets to students yet, they may do so for the first batch to test to experience. The company believes that VR headsets will be more common and cheap as smartphones in the coming years. As far as the business is concerned, Invast Metaversity plans to add more courses and expand its business offering in the coming months. The course structure would be designed in-house by team members and even creators, educational institutions and companies would have to create their courses on the platform. ‘Coursera and SkillShare are dinosaurs, will go extinct’ The company is trying to solve two problems. First, make online education or remote learning a much more interesting prospect for the students. Secondly, ensure that the course completion rate increases in the online space. “I think those [Coursera, SkillShare, edX and Udemy and others] are like dinosaurs right now. And in ten years [of launch], the<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2020/06/21/the-depressing-and-disheartening-news-about-moocs/?sh=6f48c9c976ed"> outcome in course completion is less</a> than 10%. It just shows that even though the business model [of these companies] is working somehow, the end user's product is not working. If you sign up for a course, you need to complete it. Why would one out of ten people complete it,” Pratap added. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“These [Coursera, SkillShare and others] are just competitions [sic] that will go extinct in some time when this new way of learning and the whole college experience emerges in the metaversity.”" auname="Tanay Pratap, CTO of Invact Metaversity"></div> He believes that the model they are operating in would allow the students to have peers and community, which will drive accountability that will push others to complete it. “The community-based course and the whole cohort experience would drive accountability and course experience,” he emphasised. ‘We want to prevent students from over spending on sub-par education’ “In the education piece [sic] we have not seen a disruption. Education is still the same. It’s still exams, it’s still rot learning, it’s still very dry. If it’s [education] is good, it’s good only for the top 1% of the world,” he said, adding that they want to democratize education and enable students to get better learning opportunities without giving up on the real experience. Citing an example of an MBA course, he noted that the course on their platform is for $2,500 compared to the usual tuition fee of $50,000-80,000 charged by universities abroad. He said it’s not about replacing all education with a digital one, but more about replacing sub-par education experience with a more hands-on learning experience digitally. Pratap said, “In the 1980s or 1990s, if somebody asked what the internet was, nobody would have predicted that the internet would be this thing wherein we’ll do voice, video or all our work would be online. Somebody would have predicted, people would have thought that they might be joking. That’s how will it [metaverse] evolve.” SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bharti-airtel-vedanta-irctc-among-top-stocks-to-watch-out-on-february-9/slidelist/89444055.cms" style="">Bharti Airtel, Vedanta, IRCTC among top stocks to watch out on February 9</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/avalanche-price-rises-as-bitcoin-ethereum-and-other-cryptocurrencies-fall/slidelist/89443437.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Crypto relief rally ends but Avalanche is still keeping its head above water</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/inox-green-energy-will-be-using-7-out-of-10-from-the-ipo-to-repay-its-debts/articleshow/89439043.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Inox Green Energy will be using ₹7 out of ₹10 from the IPO to repay its debts</a>

INTERVIEW: Former Twitter and Microsoft execs building a classroom on the metaverse explain what it would look and feel like

The auction of <keyword id="764355" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="5G" source="Orion">5G</keyword> spectrum capable of offering ultra-high-speed internet received bids worth Rs 1,50,130 crore until Sunday amid pick-up in demand for radiowaves in the <keyword id="364870" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="up-east" source="Orion">UP East</keyword> circle, pushing the bidding to seventh day on Monday. Seven new rounds of bidding held on the sixth day of auction on Sunday 'dialled in' an incremental Rs 163 crore, propelling the cumulative spectrum sale beyond the Rs 1.50 lakh crore-mark. The auction has fetched provisional bids worth Rs 1,50,130 crore in the first six days, according to data released by the telecom department. Sources said that after a relative easing of demand on Saturday, the UP East circle - which includes Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur - saw bidding activity pick-up once again for 1800 MHz, a band primarily used by telcos for 4G services. UP East - which has over 10 crore mobile subscribers - accounted for all of the incremental spectrum sales on Sunday, amid a pitched battle for radiowaves among players such as <keyword id="6354504" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="reliance-jio" source="Orion">Reliance Jio</keyword> and <keyword id="6354287" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bharti-airtel" source="Orion">Bharti Airtel</keyword>. As on May, Reliance <keyword id="2003276" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="jio" source="Orion">Jio</keyword> had 3.29 mobile subscribers in UP East, Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> (3.7 crore) and Vodafone Idea (2.02 crore). The bidding intensity for 1800 MHz band in Uttar Pradesh East circle had peaked between Wednesday and Friday, then subsided somewhat on Saturday. On Sunday, however, renewed interest was seen and demand flared once again outstripping the spectrum supply, sources said. All the three private operators are said to be keen on topping up their holdings in this band in UP East, as radiowaves in 900 MHz band are not available. All eyes will be on this circle when bidding resumes on Monday with 38th round, and the auction timelines would depend on how the bidding progresses through the day. Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier said the 5G auction underscored that industry wants to expand, and had entered a growth phase. "The auction results are very good, close to Rs 1,49,966 crore has been committed by the industry for buying the spectrum," Vaishnaw had said at a briefing on Saturday. The reserve price fixed for spectrum is a "fair number" and the same is visible from the auction outcome, the minister had asserted. <keyword id="2628697" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="billionaire-mukesh-ambani" source="Orion">Billionaire Mukesh Ambani</keyword>'s Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and a unit of billionaire <keyword id="111343" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="gautam-adani" source="Orion">Gautam Adani</keyword>'s flagship Adani Enterprises are in the race to bid for the 5G spectrum, which offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. Besides powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), the Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming, among others. Up until Friday, about 71 per cent of the total spectrum put on the block had been provisionally sold. After a flying start on Tuesday that saw players pouring in Rs 1.45 lakh crore on the first day, the numbers have inched up incrementally since Wednesday, with players such as Jio and Airtel locked in intense bidding in Uttar Pradesh East circle for 1800 MHz band. In all, 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore is on the block in the 2022 auction. The auction is being held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/hdfc-says-demand-for-home-loans-remains-strong-despite-higher-rates/articleshow/93213348.cms">HDFC says demand for home loans remains strong despite higher rates</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/meet-divya-gokulnath-ruchi-kalra-and-neha-bansal-the-richest-women-startup-entrepreneurs-in-india/slidelist/93213069.cms">Meet Divya Gokulnath, Ruchi Kalra and Neha Bansal — the richest women startup entrepreneurs in India</a>

5G spectrum bids cross the Rs 1.50 lakh mark as demand for UP East picks up

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s biggest-ever auction of spectrum that carries telephone and internet data signals, began on Tuesday with a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of 5G airwaves worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore on offer. <keyword id="2628697" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="billionaire-mukesh-ambani" source="Orion">Billionaire Mukesh Ambani</keyword>'s <keyword id="6354504" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="reliance-jio" source="Orion">Reliance Jio</keyword>, Sunil Mittal-led <keyword id="6354287" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bharti-airtel" source="Orion">Bharti Airtel</keyword>, <keyword id="1553175" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="vodafone-idea" source="Orion">Vodafone Idea</keyword> and a unit of billionaire <keyword id="111343" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gautam-adani" source="Orion">Gautam Adani</keyword>'s flagship <keyword id="118623" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="adani-enterprises" source="Orion">Adani Enterprises</keyword> are in the race to bid for 5G spectrum, that offers ultra-high speeds (about 10 times faster than 4G), lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), <keyword id="59798" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="fifth-generation" source="Orion">Fifth Generation</keyword> or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others. The auction is being held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. The bidding which started at 1000 hrs will continue till 1800 hrs and will carry over into the next day, if there exists a demand for spectrum and bidders are putting in bids. The number of days the auction ultimately stretches to will depend on the actual demand for radiowaves and the strategy of individual bidders, although the broad industry consensus is that it may last up to two days. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/upcoming-new-features-of-miui-14-and-supported-devices-leaked/articleshow/93127500.cms">MIUI 14 features and supported devices leaked—audio upgrades, new notification, and anti-fraud expected</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/suspected-case-of-monkeypox-in-ups-aurraiya-district/articleshow/93126209.cms">Suspected case of monkeypox in UP's Aurraiya district</a>

India's biggest spectrum auction begins; 5G airwaves worth Rs 4.3 lakh cr on offer

<ul><li><keyword id="5565" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="south-korea" source="Orion">South Korea</keyword> wants to become the fifth-largest <keyword id="11121339" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">metaverse</keyword> market in the world by 2026.</li><li><keyword id="15399" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="seoul" source="Orion">Seoul</keyword> aims to become the first city to enter the metaverse.</li><li>The government wants to nurture 40,000 professionals and 220 companies specialized in metaverse technologies.</li></ul>The information technology ministry of South Korea has pledged 223.7 billion KRW, approximately $186.7 million, to create a metaverse ecosystem for the country. In a statement, the Ministry of ICT, Science and Future Planning said the goal is to nurture youth experts in the metaverse and create a favourable business ecosystem around the concept. Other than creating experts, the Ministry’s <a href="https://doc.msit.go.kr/SynapDocViewServer/viewer/doc.html?key=dcc6cbad6011442e8caf03550a0e7ea7&amp;convType=html&amp;convLocale=ko_KR&amp;contextPath=/SynapDocViewServer/">statement</a> detailed three other objects for the future, which include creating an expanded virtual world (translated from Korean). The government also wants the metaverse platform to focus on industrial convergence and lifestyle, using it for growing Korea’s education industry, media and its cities. Further, the statement also said that content creators will get support from the government’s strategy. The Ministry will also host hackathons, developer events etc. aimed at fostering the country’s metaverse community, while the statement also mentions forming favourable regulatory systems and laws in order to favour the metaverse. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="wazirx" comment="wazirx" text="wazirx">wazirx</cmsannotation> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Kicking into a higher gear" comment="subhead" text="Kicking into a higher gear">Kicking into a higher gear</cmsannotation> This is not the first time South Korea and its government have shown interest in the metaverse though. It reinforces moves the country’s corporations and government have already been making. Last month, the government said it will nurture 40,000 professionals and 220 companies that are specialized in metaverse technology, according to the Korea Herald. At the time, the government <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220120000709">said</a> that it wanted to make South Korea the fifth largest metaverse market by 2026. The country’s capital city, Seoul, also wants to become the first city to enter the metaverse. In November, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) <a href="https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/11/10/seoul-to-become-the-first-city-to-enter-the-metaverse-what-will-it-look-like">announced</a> that it wants to create something called “Metaverse Seoul”, which would provide a virtual communication ecosystem for the city’s municipal administration. That said, Korea still needs to clear some challenges that the industry has pointed out on multiple occasions. For instance, the country doesn’t allow the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in gaming, and also prohibits games from issuing their own tokens. Given that South Korea is amongst the largest gaming markets in the world, that’s an issue many have objected to in the past. The government is taking heed of these issues too. “It is important to create a world-class Metaverse ecosystem as the starting point to intensively foster a new hyper-connected industry,” <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-korea-to-invest-187m-in-national-metaverse">said</a> Park Yungyu, head of communication and policy department at the Ministry of ICT, Science and Future Planning in South Korea. The government calls this the “Digital New Deal”, which is a set of policies that aim to help build metaverse platforms. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/sensex-falls-sharply-on-worsening-russia-ukraine-war-hdfc-bank-axis-bank-eicher-motors-among-biggest-losers/articleshow/89886018.cms">Markets remain worried as energy rich Russia faces harsh sanctions from western countries</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bharti-airtel-vodafone-idea-reliance-industries-future-retail-and-other-hot-stocks-on-february-28/slidelist/89882555.cms">Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Industries, Future Retail and other hot stocks on February 28</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/bitcoin-donations-are-pouring-into-ukraine-3-experts-broke-down-the-effectiveness-of-crypto-during-humanitarian-crises-/articleshow/89854134.cms">Bitcoin donations are pouring into Ukraine. 3 experts broke down the effectiveness of crypto during humanitarian crises.</a>

Not just China, South Korea is betting big on metaverse too – plans to spend $187 million to build its national ecosystem, form a Digital New Deal

<ul><li> <keyword id="6355725" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tata-group" source="Orion">Tata Group</keyword> continues to be the most valuable brand in the country for the eighth time in a row.</li><li> The title was previously held by State Bank of India (SBI) in 2013, which had a brand value of about $6 billion.</li><li>Tata Group has continued to beat other conglomerates like Mukesh Ambani-led <keyword id="10926" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance" source="Orion">Reliance</keyword> Industries and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> since 2013.</li></ul>Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Group continues to be the most valuable brand in the country for the eighth time in a row. The title was previously held by State Bank of India (SBI) in 2013, which had a brand value of about $6 billion. According to brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, Tata Group’s brand value increased by 12% to reach a whopping $24 billion mark. Infosys was a distant second, which was nearly half the value of the century-old business group. Tata Group has continued to beat other conglomerates like Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel since 2013. It also surpassed the brand value of India’s largest life insurance company <keyword id="6367143" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lic" source="Orion">LIC</keyword>, largest lender SBI, as well as biggest IT behemoths like Infosys and Wipro. <div type="image" title="Tata Group is once again the biggest brand in India -- check out others in top 10" msid="92219274" hostid="261"></div> Back in 2013 when SBI led the Indian market in terms of brand value, the list was slightly different too. Reliance Industries was the second <keyword id="14199127" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="biggest-brand-in-india" source="Orion">biggest brand in India</keyword> with a valuation of $3.7 billion, which has now nearly doubled in the last eight years. Reliance was followed by Airtel with brand value of $3.7 billion and Tata Group stood at fourth position with a brand value of $3.5 billion. Tata Group’s brand value has witnessed the highest jump, whereas SBI’s brand value has witnessed a sluggish growth. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/airtel-launches-its-first-multiplex-but-in-the-metaverse/articleshow/92200692.cms">Airtel launches its first multiplex, but in the metaverse</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/adani-sells-a-fourth-of-its-green-hydrogen-business-to-frances-totalenergies/articleshow/92197541.cms">Adani sells a fourth of its green hydrogen business to France’s TotalEnergies</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/burger-king-dominos-kfc-to-see-high-growth-even-as-consumer-staples-suffer/articleshow/92196523.cms">Burger King, Domino's &amp; KFC to see high growth even as consumer staples suffer</a>

Tata Group is once again the biggest brand in India — check out others in top 10

<ul><li><keyword id="2003276" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jio" source="Orion">Jio</keyword> 5G services will be launched in India this Diwali, across some of the major cities of the country. </li><li>The telco has branded its service Jio True 5G; Ambani is betting on the superior Standalone 5G network to deliver faster and more reliable 5G services to beat rivals Airtel and Vodafone Idea. </li><li>Overall, Jio has committed ₹2 lakh crore for its pan-India 5G rollout, scheduled to be completed by December 2023. </li></ul>Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that Jio 5G will launch in India this Diwali, starting in key cities of India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. By December 2023, Ambani said that every town, taluka and tehsil across the 3.3 million square kilometer landmass of India would be covered by Jio 5G. “Jio 5G will be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network. Unlike other operators, Jio’s 5G network will be standalone with zero dependency on 4G network,” Ambani said, outlining the company’s ₹2 lakh crore capex towards a pan-India 5G rollout. “The three-fold advantage of Standalone 5G architecture, largest and best mix of spectrum and carrier aggregation technology means that Jio 5G will be able to offer an unparalleled combination of coverage, capacity, quality and affordability,” he added. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Standalone 5G vs Non-standalone 5G – which is better and why?" comment="subhead" text="Standalone 5G vs Non-standalone 5G – which is better and why?">Standalone 5G vs Non-standalone 5G – which is better and why?</cmsannotation> “Most operators are deploying a version of 5G or non-standalone 5G which is essentially a 5G radio signal that is delivered over their existing 4G infrastructure,” said Ambani. “This non-standalone approach is a hasty way to nominally claim a 5G launch, but it cannot deliver the breakthrough improvements in performance and capability that are truly possible with 5G,” he added further, taking a jibe at rivals Airtel and Vodafone Idea, who have opted for the lower cost option for now. “With standalone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services like low latency, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, edge computing and network slicing. Jio 5G will be true 5G in every sense, and I believe that India deserves nothing less than true 5G,” said Ambani, which explains the ‘Jio True 5G’ branding as well. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Jio AirFiber to deliver cloud PC services and more" comment="subhead" text="Jio AirFiber to deliver cloud PC services and more">Jio AirFiber to deliver cloud PC services and more</cmsannotation> Jio’s announcements today include a new service called Jio AirFiber, which is a gigabit home broadband solution that will enable a wide range of use cases, including interactive sports entertainment, metaverse and virtual cloud PC access. The telco’s Jio AirFiber service allows users to use a virtual PC hosted in the cloud – this service is called Jio Cloud PC and users can opt for the ‘pay as you go’ model instead of a subscription. While Microsoft and other cloud providers offer similar services, no other telco in India has a similar service offering, yet. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="93516727" title="Jio vs Airtel: Which one will offer faster and more reliable 5G services?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Leveraging Jio’s $11 billion worth 5G spectrum purchases" comment="subhead" text="Leveraging Jio’s $11 billion worth 5G spectrum purchases">Leveraging Jio’s $11 billion worth 5G spectrum purchases</cmsannotation> In the recently-concluded 5G spectrum auctions, Jio scooped up airwaves worth $11 billion (₹88,078 crore) – more than twice the amount spent by closest rival Airtel (₹43,084 crore). However, despite spending 2x the amount, Jio managed to acquire only 25% more spectrum than Airtel. <div type="image" title="5G spectrum auctions total." msid="93854742" hostid="261" sizebytes="26180" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;5G spectrum auction results&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The main reason is Jio’s decision to go for the 700MHz band, which is expensive. Ambani says this combination of the 700MHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz mmWave spectrum is the “most appropriate” to deliver high quality and fast 5G services. Ambani also revealed that Jio’s 5G stack is completely indigenous and has been developed by the company’s 2,000-strong workforce of engineers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm and others join the Jio 5G bandwagon" comment="subhead" text="Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm and others join the Jio 5G bandwagon">Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm and others join the Jio 5G bandwagon</cmsannotation> For its broadband services, Jio has partnered with some of the world’s leading technology players for a ‘Made in India’ 5G collaboration. The list includes companies like Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Meta, and network equipment providers like Nokia, Ericsson, among others. For immersive technology, it has tied up with Meta, allowing it to work on interactive IPL and other services in the coming years. Jio has also partnered with Google to develop affordable 5G smartphones. On the network side, Jio has also forged a collaboration with Qualcomm to develop 5G solutions for India. Ambani said once this 5G rollout is proved in India, it can be taken to the rest of the world. “As India celebrates 75 years of Independence, with Reliance Jio, we’re committed to developing the digital infrastructure that enables the success of citizens and businesses, and achieves the New India,” said Cristiano Amon, CEO, Qualcomm. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/jio-vs-airtel-which-one-will-offer-faster-and-more-reliable-5g-services/articleshow/93516727.cms">Jio vs Airtel: Which one will offer faster and more reliable 5G services?</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/jio-airtel-could-emerge-stronger-weaking-vodafone-idea-further-say-analysts/articleshow/93499353.cms">Jio, Airtel could emerge stronger weakening Vodafone Idea further, say analysts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/the-economics-of-reliance-jios-5g-rollout/articleshow/93641787.cms">The economics behind Reliance Jio’s operations</a>

Jio set to launch True 5G services across major Indian cities this Diwali

<ul><li><keyword id="1440203" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hp-spectre" source="Orion">HP Spectre</keyword> range of laptops features backlight Adjustment for video calls, auto-frame, noise reduction, dynamic voice levelling and more.</li><li>Both new HP laptops come with a 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor.</li><li><keyword id="2807299" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spectre-x360" source="Orion">Spectre x360</keyword> laptops are currently available for pre-bookings through the HP website.</li></ul>To empower users in the country, HP on Tuesday launched new laptops that come with AI-powered intelligent features such as Auto-frame, Noise reduction, dynamic voice leveling and more for Indian consumers. The HP <keyword id="302094" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="spectre" source="Orion">Spectre</keyword> portfolio is powered by Intel Evo platforms featuring 12th Gen Intel Core Processors for improved multitasking and performance. "The <keyword id="14192104" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-HP-Spectre" source="Orion">new HP Spectre</keyword> x360 laptops are stunning, powerful and provide modern consumers with the tools and technology necessary to maximise their potential in today's hybrid world," Vickram Bedi, Sr. Director, Personal Systems, HP Inc. <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, said in a statement. "The Spectre range has a variety of AI features including AutoFrame, Noise reduction and backlight adjustment, as an attempt to create intelligent products that can keep up with today's youth and help them show up at their best," Bedi added. To cater to the needs of consumers, the portfolio is built with AI-powered intelligent features Auto-frame, Noise reduction, dynamic voice leveling, health and well-being features, AI-based privacy alert and sound enhancement for a smooth and seamless experience. Available in nightfall black with pale brass accent and nocturne blue with celestial blue accents, the laptops come with breakthrough design and striking features for the ultimate experience. The HP Spectre 13.5 x360 ef-0053tu with Intel Evo Core i7 will be available at Rs 1,29,999 and the HP Spectre 16 x360 f-1003tu with Intel Evo Core i7 will be available at 1,39,999. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/airtel-launches-its-first-multiplex-but-in-the-metaverse/articleshow/92200692.cms">Airtel launches its first multiplex, but in the metaverse</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/elon-musk-will-address-twitter-employees-this-week-to-present-his-vision/articleshow/92196785.cms">Elon Musk will address Twitter employees this week to present his vision</a>

HP unveils AI-powered laptops in India, starting from ₹1,29,999

<ul><li>The <keyword id="1553175" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="vodafone-idea" source="Orion">Vodafone Idea</keyword> stock has seen a massive uptrend over the last one month. </li><li>According to a new report, Vodafone Idea could finally be ready to raise equity, either from the promoters or private equity firms or both. </li><li>The market seems to have caught a whiff of it, sending the stock rallying by over 50% in the last one month. </li></ul>Shares of Vodafone Idea have rallied by over 50% in the last one month, bringing back cheer to the shareholders of the company who have shown their faith while the telco was running on fumes over the past one year. In early trade on December 16, Vodafone Idea’s shares were up by nearly 3% when compared to the previous closing price. <div type="image" title="Vodafone Idea 01_11_21 to 16_12_21." msid="88311420" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Vodafone Idea share price over the last one month&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The rally seems exceptional, especially in the absence of any major positive for the company – Vodafone Idea’s subscriber attrition hasn’t slowed down, and its average revenue per user (ARPU) is significantly lower than that of its rivals, at just ₹109 versus Airtel and Reliance Jio’s ₹153 and ₹143, respectively. So, what gives? <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/vodafone-idea-plans-to-get-back-in-the-game-with-4x-rise-in-capex-to-2-billion/articleshow/88308573.cms?from=mdr">Reportedly</a>, the promoters of the company are aiming to increase the annual capital expenditure by four-fold to $2 billion (approx. ₹15,200 crore). Clearly, the market caught a whiff of it. It’s not the first time that reports have claimed Vodafone Idea will infuse equity, but this time, it’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth – the report adds that these comments were made by the company’s senior management at an internal investors’ call this week. The increase in capex could help the telco catch up to its rivals Airtel and Reliance Jio in terms of technology and other aspects. Business Insider has reached out to Vodafone Idea for comments. For instance, Vodafone Idea did not launch Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) for several months after Airtel and Reliance Jio announced support across the country. Vodafone Idea currently spends an estimated $500 million (approx. ₹3,800 crore) in capex, while its rivals Airtel and Reliance Jio spend $3 billion (approx. ₹22,800 crore) each. At the end of September, 2021, Vodafone Idea had ₹250 crore in cash and cash equivalents, while its debt stood at ₹1.94 lakh crore. A four-fold boost is only possible if either the promoters, or private equity firms are ready to plough in equity into the third largest telecom company in India. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/reliance-jio-1rs-data-plan-recharge-benefits-cheapest-4g-data-plan/articleshow/88292543.cms">At ₹1, Reliance Jio’s latest data pack is the cheapest in the world – costs less than a packet of water</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/mark-zuckerberg-on-indias-role-in-building-the-metaverse/articleshow/88295433.cms">Here is why Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is praising India's techies as he dreams of a Metaverse future</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/ussd-mobile-banking-charges-trai-vs-airtel-vodafone-idea/articleshow/88249773.cms">TRAI’s push to make mobile banking services via USSD free faces stiff opposition from Airtel, Vodafone Idea</a>

We finally know why the Vodafone Idea stock rallied over 50% in the last one month

<ul><li>The round was led by Sequoia Capital India, followed by the likes of SoftBank Vision Fund 2.</li><li><keyword id="2462624" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="polygon" source="Orion">Polygon</keyword> was founded by Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun in 2017.</li><li>The funds will be raised through a private sale of Polygon’s native MATIC token.</li></ul>Homegrown blockchain technology firm Polygon has raised $450 million from more than 40 venture capital firms. The round was led by Sequoia Capital India, followed by the likes of SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Galaxy Digital, Galaxy Interactive, Tiger Global, Republic Capital and others. Brevan Howard’s Alan Howard and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, popularly known as Mr Wonderful on ABC’s Shark Tank, also participated in the round. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Thousands of developers across a range of applications are choosing Polygon and their complete set of scaling solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem.”" auname="Statement by Shailesh Lakhani, managing director at Sequoia Capital India"></div> The funds will be raised through a private sale of Polygon’s native MATIC token. The cryptocurrency did dip during the January doldrums, but its price is back up at ₹151 as of February 8 at 11:00 a.m., Indian Standard Time (IST). Polygon is among the top 20 biggest cryptocurrencies in the world with a market value of ₹1.1 lakh crore. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What is Polygon?" comment="subhead" text="What is Polygon?">What is Polygon?</cmsannotation> Polygon, originally known as the Matic Network, launched back in 2017 with Sandep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun and Jaynti Kanani as its founders. The platform is built around the Ethereum blockchain, which can be used for developing other decentralised apps (DApps) like decentralised finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs). Simply put, Polygon is designed to solve scalability and usability issues that exist in the Ethereum blockchain, without compromising an app’s core decentralised aspect. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Ethereum, scaled by Polygon, will be the bedrock of this next stage in the Web’s evolution. Technological disruption didn’t start with Web2, nor is it going to end there.”" auname="Statement by Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder and chief executive of Polygon"></div> Decentraland, one of the biggest metaverse projects in the world right now, added Polygon to its platform in 2021 to solve the issues that users were facing with Ethereum. OVR, an augmented reality (AR) metaverse based on Ethereum, also moved over to Polygon recently due to Ethereum’s inherent issues. Overall, the Polygon network has more than 130 million unique addresses and over 2.67 million monthly active users who are generating some 3 million transactions per day. The company had raised a “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/polygon-crypto-gets-funding-from-billionaire-investor-mark-cuban/articleshow/82965262.cms?from=mdr">sizable investment</a>” from US-based billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban last May. Just last month, Polygon onboarded YouTube’s head of gaming, Ryan Wyatt, to lead Polygon Studios — the part of its business that works on bringing game and other media entities onto the network. SEE ALSO: <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/adani-wilmar-tvs-motor-bharti-airtel-irctc-and-other-hot-stocks-on-february-8/slidelist/89418927.cms">Adani Wilmar, TVS Motor, Bharti Airtel, IRCTC and other hot stocks on February 8</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/interview-indias-latest-software-unicorn-is-wetting-its-feet-in-america-after-holding-its-horses-for-seven-years/articleshow/89409491.cms">INTERVIEW: India’s latest software unicorn is wetting its feet in America after holding its horses for seven years</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/future-groups-kishore-biyani-mohandas-pai-and-68-others-invest-in-former-twitter-india-heads-latest-startup/articleshow/89403045.cms">Future Group’s Kishore Biyani, Mohandas Pai and 68 others invest in former Twitter India head’s latest startup</a>

Mark Cuban-backed Polygon raises nearly half a billion dollars from 40 VCs led by Sequoia

<ul><li>The price band for the public issue has been fixed at ₹1,000-₹1,033.</li><li>The lot size will be of 14 equity shares and in multiples of 14 shares thereafter.</li><li><keyword id="103425" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mapmyindia" source="Orion">MapMyIndia</keyword> counts PhonePe, Flipkart, Yulu, HDFC Bank and Airtel as its clients.</li></ul>The initial public offering (IPO) of CE Info Systems — which operates MapmyIndia — will open for subscription today, December 9. The price band for the public issue has been fixed at ₹1,000-₹1,033. The grey market premium (GMP), premium at which investors are comfortable buying the shares before it gets listed on a stock exchange, was at ₹784 on December 8. MapMyIndia’s ₹1,040 crore IPO will close on December 13. The company is looking to sell 1,00,63,945 equity shares, consisting entirely of an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders of the company. The lot size will be of 14 equity shares and in multiples of 14 shares thereafter. Retail investors will have to shell out at least ₹14,000 to buy one lot. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Details </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Date </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO Opening Date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 9 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO Closing Date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 13 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Basis of Allotment Date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 16 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Initiation of Refunds </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 17 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Credit of Shares to Demat Account </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 20 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO Listing Date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">December 21 </td></tr></tbody></table> MapMyIndia was founded by Rakesh and Rashmi Verma in 1995, and it is currently headed by Rohan Verma. The company that builds digital map data, telematics services, location-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) and geographic information system (GIS) services. MapMyIndia counts PhonePe, Flipkart, Yulu, HDFC Bank, Airtel, Hyundai, MG Motor, Avis and Safexpress as its customers. It has over 500 customers. It is essentially a business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-business-to-customer (B2C) platform, MapmyIndia’s chief executive (CEO) Rohan Verma highlighted. MapmyIndia reported a profit of ₹59.4 crore in fiscal year 2021 and the revenue was at ₹152 crore. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/zoho-freshworks-and-top-indian-saas-companies-have-given-500-entrepreneurs-to-the-indian-startup-ecosystem/articleshow/88145310.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Zoho, Freshworks and top Indian SaaS companies have given 500 entrepreneurs to the Indian startup ecosystem</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/humanoid-robot-sophia-is-entering-the-metaverse-with-intelligent-nfts/articleshow/88156738.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Humanoid robot Sophia is entering the metaverse with ‘intelligent’ NFTs</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/here-is-what-to-expect-from-the-rbi-monetary-policy-today/slidelist/88150941.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" style="">Six charts explain what the market expects from the RBI’s monetary policy review</a>

MapmyIndia’s IPO opens today — GMP at ₹784

<ul><li><keyword id="6367391" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="domestic-travel" source="Orion">Domestic travel</keyword> is expected to be a growth driver for the Indian hospitality and tourism industry.</li><li>International <keyword id="34619" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="travel-industry" source="Orion">travel industry</keyword> may still have to wait a little longer for travel to grow at the same rate.</li><li>The credit rating agency emphasized that the slow recovery in international travel could be a silver lining for domestic industry.</li></ul>The cost of everything has been increasing – including the cost of travel – but that is not stopping lockdown-affected Indians as they head on to ‘<keyword id="10039138" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="revenge-tourism" source="Orion">revenge tourism</keyword>’. The biggest benefactor of this is the sector that has been hit the hardest since the pandemic – hospitality. While the more lucrative international travel is yet to pick up, domestic travel is expected to be a growth driver for the Indian hospitality and tourism industry, according to credit rating agency CARE Ratings. The sector which has been in retrenchment mode for the last two years has seen a ‘re-alignment of cost structures’ by industry players. This forms a strong base for the profitability of the hospitality sector in the coming months. “FY22 has been a promising year for the sector wherein the revival in the occupancy and RevPAR has led to green shoots for the industry players. The decline in Covid cases, resumption of international flights from March 2022, and strong leisure and wedding demand are the positive factors that should lead to growth in occupancy and ARRs in FY23,” the CARE report said. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="International travels likely to recover in next two years" comment="subhead" text="International travels likely to recover in next two years">International travels likely to recover in next two years</cmsannotation> Care Ratings is betting on international travel demand to recover gradually through FY23 till the end of FY24. Notably, 25 million tourists travel from India to international destinations annually. The credit rating agency — in a report published in September 2022 — emphasized that the slow recovery in international travel could be a silver lining for domestic industry. “For FY23, CareEdge estimates the majority of its portfolio of hotel companies to report improved performance, largely restored to pre-Covid levels. Domestic tourism is expected to be the key growth driver, with international travel slowly gaining momentum, specifically post resumption of international flights,” the report added. The India tourism and hospitality segment has been witnessing an uptick post relaxation of the lockdown since June 2021 and the decline in Covid-19 infections. The industry did witness a sudden surge in bookings in May 2021 as customers explored the option for staycation and workcation. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Challenges still remain" comment="subhead" text="Challenges still remain">Challenges still remain</cmsannotation> A recent Travel &amp; Tourism Development Index by the World Economic Forum (WEF) noted that despite the positive trends, the travel and tourism sector is still facing many hurdles with its recovery. “As the world emerges from the pandemic, economies must invest in building a strong and resilient environment to deliver the travel and tourism experience and services for many decades to come,” Lauren Uppink, Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism at the World Economic Forum. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/airtel-launches-its-first-multiplex-but-in-the-metaverse/articleshow/92200692.cms">Airtel launches its first multiplex, but in the metaverse</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/adani-sells-a-fourth-of-its-green-hydrogen-business-to-frances-totalenergies/articleshow/92197541.cms">Adani sells a fourth of its green hydrogen business to France’s TotalEnergies</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/burger-king-dominos-kfc-to-see-high-growth-even-as-consumer-staples-suffer/articleshow/92196523.cms">Burger King, Domino's &amp; KFC to see high growth even as consumer staples suffer</a>

Domestic travel, fuelled by revenge tourism, aids growth in hospitality sector

<ul><li><keyword id="14238168" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="cloudextel" source="Orion">CloudExtel</keyword> took over old gas pipelines, excavated and cleaned them and laid over 200 kilometres of fibre in South Bombay. </li><li>The pipeline-turned-telecom assets gave way to their dark fibre leasing business but its co-founder wants to convert it into a full-stack NaaS company. </li><li>“We’re able to build out our network infrastructure and offer that on a service basis to our customers,” <keyword id="6358511" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bajaj" source="Orion">Bajaj</keyword> told Business Insider <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>. </li></ul>CloudExtel was founded in 2014 but its story had started unfolding much earlier – when The Gilded Age was playing out in British-ruled Bombay and even before electricity was in use. A company called Bombay Gas used to supply gas via pipes to Bombay buildings and to even power street lights. The company stopped gas distribution in the mid-80s and the pipes were lying unused since then. That was until 2014 – when <keyword id="131281" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kunal-bajaj" source="Orion">Kunal Bajaj</keyword>, a telecom sector veteran and former partner- India director of consulting firm Analysys Mason, was introduced to the promoters of Bombay Gas – the <keyword id="23193" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="hamilton" source="Orion">Hamilton</keyword> and Company group. The firm, which had since diversified into real estate and others, wanted to convert the company’s gas pipelines into telecom assets. As CloudExtel was formed, it took over the old gas pipelines, began excavation, cleaned them up and laid over 200 kilometres of fibre in South Bombay. Since the fibre is laid under footpaths and bridges inside cast-iron pipelines, it provides an added layer of security. The pipeline-turned-telecom assets gave way to the company’s dark fibre leasing business – where the service provider offers the fibre optic infrastructure but the customer operates it. Some of its customers include Airtel, <keyword id="197484" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pgcil" source="Orion">PGCIL</keyword>, Railtel, Sify, Tata Communications and Vodafone Idea. Bajaj, who had seen the market evolve from the bare minimum net speeds of the 2G era to the high-speeds of 3G and 4G, had bigger plans beyond just geographic expansion for the company. He wanted to build a network-as-a-service operation – a model where customers rent networking infrastructure and services through a cloud-like subscription-based model. “So, I came to them with the idea that rather than just thinking about building out a fibre business, we should actually think about building out an entire network-as-a-service (NaaS) full- stack operation,” Bajaj, who is also the co-founder of CloudExtel, told Business Insider India. Unblocking networks While India needs underground fibre – which is tough to lay and maintain amidst the many roadblocks telecom companies encounter, the sector itself faces a multitude of challenges when it comes to providing high-speed data services to an increasingly demanding customer base. India’s large population and its high density in most urban and even semi-urban areas has presented network challenges for <keyword id="6383126" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="telcos" source="Orion">telcos</keyword> and ISPs. And this is the problem that CloudExtel wants to solve. “There is the traditional way of serving these (crowded) areas with the macro sites and large towers. But at some point, those macro sites get completely choked and the capacity limits are reached and telcos need to be able to provide additional capacity in that high-density area. You then need to go from the very top of a tall building with a large site and you need to have a miniaturised site, which is at a lower height closer to where the actual traffic consumption is,” explained Bajaj. In addition to laying over 4,000 kilometres of fibre across cities, CloudExtel added 4,000 small cell sites across 325 cities and towns. In addition, it provides services like virtual networks that take it from providing infrastructure-as-a-service to NaaS. It leverages fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) with single platform end-to-end services that build, plan and maintain networks for telcos and internet service providers that target homes and SMEs. “So we take some of the hardest parts of that telecom network and we build it out on behalf of the telcos, ISPs and content providers. We focus on very difficult-to-solve types of problems, where high-network capacity is required or where it’s very difficult getting fibre into the ground or buildings and homes. We’re able to build out our network infrastructures and offer that on a service basis to our customers,” said Bajaj. CloudExtel believes that a time will come when telecom companies will outsource most or all of their infrastructure needs, paving the way for network-as-a-service or NaaS companies such as themselves. Global players like Cisco and <keyword id="10875" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ibm" source="Orion">IBM</keyword> are also players in the NaaS space. “We are delivering a completely virtualized network to our customers. We can compare it to Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud, which have taken over from companies building, owning and maintaining their own data centres. I'm not saying that the telecom network or the telecom industry is ready to be completely virtualized or share all these stations and microsites, but this is the first step in that process, in that direction,” Bajaj said. A new era beckons CloudExtel has been bootstrapped until now and funded internally off the balance sheets. Even with the substantial set of assets, it still calls itself a startup. “So I still consider ourselves a startup because we have not yet achieved even one-tenth of what we believe we can achieve,” Bajaj said. Even as India is on the cusp of 5G network launches, Bajaj believes that the definition of network speeds is evolving, with more and more new technologies coming in. And infrastructure companies such as CloudExtel will have to stay ahead of the innovation cycle. “We're launching 5G today, but work on 5G actually started 10 years ago. That's kind of the timelines on which this kind of sector really works. 5G is going to be very largely about the ability to deploy small cells and provide dense network capacity and good network signals in very busy or very high traffic areas. That can basically be done on the back of only small cells being put very close to end-customers right on traffic junctions and high-density venues,” Bajaj said. Even as technology evolves, the number of high bandwidth applications like connected TVs, AR and VR-based shopping, in addition to metaverse etc. are multiplying at a rate that is faster than the time taken to build the infrastructure needed to handle it. “I think the biggest challenge we face is we don't have fixed-line infrastructure prominently available in the country. So, with rising capacity requirements and throughput requirements, telcos will always find it difficult to keep up pace with what the industry demands. That was really the genesis of the idea eight years ago,” Bajaj says. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indias-startup-economy-stares-at-deepening-funding-winter-in-2023/articleshow/96807902.cms">India's startup economy stares at deepening funding winter in 2023</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/an-aai-and-two-college-dropouts-home-snacks-biz-sends-shark-tank-judges-into-a-bidding-war/articleshow/96784920.cms">An aai and two college dropouts’ home snacks biz sends Shark Tank judges into a bidding war</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-decennial-census-to-be-delayed-further-say-officials/articleshow/96784633.cms">India's decennial census to be delayed further say officials</a>

This startup is using abandoned gas pipelines from 1800s to ease telecom traffic via network as a service

<ul><li><keyword id="2407038" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dmart" source="Orion">DMart</keyword> is among the top 15 companies in terms of valuation as it crossed market cap of ₹3 lakh crore last week.</li><li>However, the company’s shares noticed a sharp 7% dip on Monday after the company announced its September quarter results on Saturday.</li><li>Analysts have cited lack of fundamental changes in DMart’s business as one of the reasons why investors are trying to take a step back.</li></ul>DMart has added 43 stores in 2021, the revenue has hit a new record between July and September and the profit has grown too — well above its pre-pandemic level — but the stock took a 7% dip in trade on Monday after the second quarter earnings report came out Saturday. The street’s concern is the lack of strength shown by India’s largest retail chain (by market value) in the online space. <div type="image" title="DMart is continuing to do what it knows best but the street wants more" msid="87127521" hostid="261"></div> Stock broking firm JM Financial highlighted that DMart Ready’s ⁠— the ecommerce front of <keyword id="6410316" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="avenue-supermarts" source="Orion">Avenue Supermarts</keyword> ⁠— revenue declined 8% between July and September compared to the previous quarter. This was despite the soft launch in two new cities — Surat and Vadodara. <div type="image" title="DMart is continuing to do what it knows best but the street wants more" msid="87114918" hostid="261"></div> Shares of Avenue Supermarts have risen 76.4% this year on hope that India’s fourth richest man will take a bigger leap towards digital sooner than later. However, from the looks of it, he is taking very careful steps into the online retail world. <div type="image" title="DMart is continuing to do what it knows best but the street wants more" msid="87127541" hostid="261"></div> “The stock’s recent run-up and valuation have happened without any fundamental change in the business prospects,” highlighted a report by Edelweiss Securities. The stock broking firm further highlighted that the massive opportunity in the brick-and-mortar stores have been factored in but the further re-rating would now depend on “significant strides” in the online grocery operations or a step up in store addition. Take for instance, its online competitor JioMart is already serving customers in over 200 cities. Even within the areas where DMart has an online presence, the only thing that is driving growth are big discounts. DMart Ready is currently among <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/dmart-and-jiomart-are-offering-deep-discounts-to-catch-up-with-bigbasket/articleshow/86750826.cms">the cheapest online stores</a> and has been trying its best to take on the biggest e-grocer in the country BigBasket, which is now owned by Tata Digital. According to a recent report by Jefferies, JioMart has the highest discounts in packaged foods, beverages and home care whereas JioMart is best suited for dairy, basic staples and personal care. Watch More: DMart and JioMart are offering deep discounts to catch up with BigBasket <div type="Video" msid="87011977" hostid="261" title="DMart and JioMart are offering deep discounts to catch up with BigBasket" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=87011977"></div> The expansion of physical stores on the other hand has been strong over the last couple of years but even that has slowed in the last two quarters. However, this expansion is coming at a very low cost. Between September 2020 and September 2021 quarters, DMart’s other expenses have grown 3.2% despite nearly 11.8% increase in the store front. This indicates a “significant cost control” and “operating leverage”, as per a report by stock broking firm Prabhudas Lilladher. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Quarter </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Stores added </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Apr-June 2020 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">July-Sept 2020 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Oct-Dec 2020 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Jan-Mar 2021 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">13 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Apri-June 2021 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">22 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">July-Sept 2021 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">8 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source: Avenue Supermarts’ financial statement Right now, investors seem to be demanding a clearer promise of the future and what DMart’s chief executive Ignatius Navil Noronha’s strategy is going to be. In the meantime, analysts are cautious with their recommendation on the stock. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Broking house </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Target price </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Motilal Oswal </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹4,900 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Edelweiss </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹3,782 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ICICI Securities </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹4,000 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Prabhudas Lilladher </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹5,359 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">JM Financial </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹ 4,055 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-vodafone-idea-and-reliance-jio-have-till-october-29-to-opt-for-the-agr-dues-moratorium/articleshow/87107590.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio have till October 29 to opt for the AGR dues moratorium</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/brazil-buys-4-billion-in-crypto-ahead-of-bitcoin-law/articleshow/87109498.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Brazilians bought more than $4 billion in cryptocurrencies this year as the country looks to regulate Bitcoin</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebook-says-its-hiring-10000-people-in-europe-to-help-build-mark-zuckerbergs-metaverse/articleshow/87107124.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Facebook says it's hiring 10,000 people in Europe to help build Mark Zuckerberg's 'metaverse'</a>

You Searched For "airtel metaverse" and got 14 results

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This startup is using abandoned gas pipelines from 1800s to ease telecom traffic via network as a service

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