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Top telcos from the country have asked the government to introduce uniform rate across states and union territories (UTs), capping them at 15%, before finally going ahead with the goods &amp; services tax (GST) regime. 
 
As per these telcos, a rate higher than that would drive up cost of provisioning services, which would hurt both prepaid and postpaid consumers as they would have to pay more. 
 
As of now, the circle boundaries are not synced with geographical borders of states/UTs in several cases. If this doesn’t happen, it could result in tax complications in some big markets because of differential rates within the same circle. 
 
"We've recently told the finance ministry that it is imperative to have a uniform tax rate for telecom services across states/UTs, and a failure to do so could lead to a surge in consumer complaints as differential tax rates would impact the talktime pricing within a circle," Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/telcos-seek-uniform-gst-rate-across-india-cap-at-15-per-cent/articleshow/53482817.cms">ET</a>. 
 
He added that COAI is working with E&amp;Y India so that it can identify potential irritants in GST regime for telecom. 
 
<a href="http://hightechforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/shutterstock_97609325.jpg">Image source</a>

Telcos want to cap GST rate at 15% across India

<ul><li>As India works from home, <keyword id="6383126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="telcos">telcos</keyword> have experienced a 10% increase in mobile internet usage.</li><li>To reduce stress on mobile networks, COAI asked streaming services to reduce streaming quality from HD to SD.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=coronavirus&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Follow the comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact, and other useful resources that can help you in the fight on Business Insider India</a>.</li></ul>Any given day, a typical home in India during the lockdown there are three sets of heavy <keyword id="128628" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="internet-users">internet users</keyword> -- at least two adults connecting to office servers on cloud; children even as young as five attending ‘remote’ classes online and then there are those who are relatively jobeless - mostly teenagers - live streaming shows and songs. While their troubles are not as deep as that of medical staff, even internet service providers are struggling to keep up with the excess demand. While a fairly decent broadband connection can handle most of this traffic, few Indians care to subscribe for fixed broadband as they continue to rely on mobile internet. Now, they are stumped. Internet speeds might not last say experts In fact only 19 million homes have fixed broadband connection as compared to over 630 million who have 4G/3G users. This lopsided ratio is now hurting telcos. While broadband companies across the country <a href="https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/covid-19-internet-service-providers-see-demand-for-new-broadband-connections-high-speed-plans/74711384">reported</a> an increase in the demand for new installations thanks to many offers by BSNL and others. But they might be too little too late. The current lockdown and possible curfews will prevent any new installations right away. However, Indian telcos remained resilient in times of stress and maintained download speeds, according to Ookla’s Speed Test index. This might not last for long as India entered into a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-goes-into-a-complete-lockdown-in-30-states-and-union-territories/articleshow/74782275.cms">complete lockdown</a> only today, say experts . Internet usage increased by 10% According to a report by the Bank of America Securities, there has been a 10% increase in internet usage. A lot of companies asked their employees to <keyword id="123591" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Work-from-home">work from home</keyword> due to Coronavirus. That includes large companies like Infosys and TCS that employ over 4 million. A direct impact of people ‘working from home’ is the need to connect to a virtual private network (VPN) to access office apps. Given the way VPN works, there is a noticeable degradation in speeds. This, combined with the already congested 4G networks and reduced speeds means that the overall experience can be frustrating. IT as an essential service In the meanwhile, global giants like UBS Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and more are working with trade bodies like Nasscom to convince the government to grant essential services tag to IT companies. This will allow some of their employees to go to office and access databases with reliable high-speed internet. Keshav Murugesh, in an interview with <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/worlds-back-office-scrambles-to-stay-online-as-india-locks-down/articleshow/74781330.cms">ET</a> said, “Moving millions of desktops to employees’ homes, configuring software to allow for slower bandwidth and ensuring cybersecurity - it’s a mind-boggling physical and logistical exercise that our companies are in the midst of right now.” Netflix, Amazon Prime movie to reduce telco stress While work needs to go on, the telecom industry body (COAI) urged the streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, YouTube and others to initiate measures that will ease pressure on their networks. And, they have complied. “Given the crisis, we've developed a way to reduce Netflix's traffic on telecom networks by 25 percent while also maintaining the quality of our service,” Netflix’s VP (Content Delivery) Ken Florance said, according to a PTI report. Amazon Prime Video said that it is working to “reduce streaming bitrates whilst maintaining a quality streaming experience for the customers.” See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-goes-into-a-complete-lockdown-in-30-states-and-union-territories/articleshow/74782275.cms">India goes into a complete lockdown in 30 states and union territories</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-can-double-coronavirus-test-kits-to-200000-in-a-week-thanks-to-pune-based-mylabs/articleshow/74787231.cms">India can double coronavirus test kits to 200,000 in a week, thanks to Pune-based Mylabs</a>

As India works from home, telcos struggle to maintain speeds and service

<keyword id="76827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-telcos">Indian telcos</keyword> have said that regulations for over-the-top (OTT) players such as WhatsApp and Skype, which provide communications services to their customers, need to be at par with the regulations that these telcos face. 
 
The telcos have said that since these apps provide similar services such as voice calling, they should also be brought under the same regulation. 
 "It is an undisputed fact that VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) service offered by <keyword id="3395662" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="OCSPs">OCSPs</keyword> (OTT communication service providers) is a substitute for services offered by <keyword id="130693" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="telecom-service-providers">telecom service providers</keyword> (TSPs), " Rajan Mathews, director general at GSM industry body <keyword id="105151" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cellular-Operators-Association-of-India">Cellular Operators Association of India</keyword> (COAI), wrote in a letter that he addressed to <keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="TRAI">TRAI</keyword>. 
 "OCSPs offer these services without holding any licence in India, which is violative of the <keyword id="116276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-Telegraph-Act">Indian Telegraph Act</keyword>. The licensing and regulatory regime cannot allow a situation wherein the licensed entity (read: telcos) is treated at a lower footing than an unlicensed entity (read: OCSP)," COAI said. 
 
The main issue here is that communication apps offer calling services to their customers at far lower rates, most of them being charged only for the data consumed. This takes a major share from the telcos' revenue, for which voice calls still account for around 80%. 
 
If from telcos’ recommendation, these apps come under regulation, they would need to pay the same levies such as licence fee, spectrum charges, etc. and would also have to follow rules around security, lawful interception, quality of service, the cost of which would mean that the apps wouldn't be able to offer calling and messaging services for free. 
 
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq1meB_2Tzc/VzLFPAtU1UI/AAAAAAAADx0/7M5QySt5BEIEv1BKNd-6aDSZTyOvaPDngCLcB/s1600/Whatsapp.jpg">Image source</a>

WhatsApp and Skype should face similar regulations as us, Indian telcos tell government

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/India-Ratings-pegs-Economy-to-grow-at-7-4-in-FY18/articleshow/57149878.cms">India Ratings &amp; Research</a> (Ind-Ra) has estimated that India’s incumbent telecom service providers will be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Telecom-industry-is-facing-20-revenue-loss-all-thanks-to-Reliance-Jios-free-services/articleshow/57202392.cms">hit harder</a> in the coming time, thanks to <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> Infocomm's aggressive pricing strategies. As per the rating company’s report, telcos "would continue to lose market share to Jio and suffer from poor profitability in FY18." This would also substantially increase their debt burden, because of spectrum-linked payouts and network-related expenditure. The report expects "longer and deeper than-expected deterioration in the credit profile of existing telcos following free services extended by Jio." Ever since Jio started its commercial operations in September last year, it has proven to be a nightmare of sort for rival telcos, thanks to its promotional packages of free voice and data services, followed by aggressively priced subscription plans. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Airtel-Idea-Rcom-are-not-going-to-be-happy-with-their-revenues-thanks-to-Reliance-Jio/articleshow/58161378.cms">Airtel, Idea, Rcom are not going to be happy with their revenues, thanks to Reliance Jio</a> Jio’s popularity can be estimated by the number of its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Reliance-Jio-nearing-100-million-subscribers-mark-in-just-six-months-will-it-be-good-news-for-customers-too/articleshow/57183001.cms">paying subscribers</a> at the end of its promotional offers, which went up to 72 million by the time March ended. This popularity has forced other telcos to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Your-mobile-bills-are-all-set-to-decrease-Heres-why/articleshow/58192303.cms">slash their prices</a> in order to retain customers; however, the risk to the voice revenue of the older telcos can’t be swayed because of Jio’s declared strategy of lifetime free voice calls. "There is a structural shift in pricing plans, which will move towards bundled tariffs with free or discounted voice," says the Ind-Ra sector outlook report. The rating agency report stated that pricing stabilisation is critical to get the industry stable, further adding that return of pricing power and substantially higher data volumes would also be required, so that telcos could get their desired return on large investments.

Jio continues to rule market; incumbent telcos to suffer poor profitability

<ul><li>The 14 year old battle on defining ADR will cost Airtel and Vodafone-Idea over ₹50,000 crore in penalties and interests.</li><li>The order also technically affects 13 other telecom companies which have ceased to exist.</li><li>While a few filed for bankruptcy, others have simply shut down operations. </li></ul>It is not just Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea that are affected by the Supreme Court order which went in favour of the telecom department. Ideally, other than these two companies – which were three earlier–there were 13 others who could have been affected by the order, if they did survive. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for DoT – they did not. As much as ₹38,000 crore that the telecom department is owed can never be recovered, according to a report by Spark Capital. “Recovery is unlikely from bankrupt companies given banks are already taking a haircut on such telcos,” Nitin Soni, director of corporate at Fitch Ratings told Business Insider India. One of such is Reliance Communications which is now undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. It is the only telecom company for whom the change in definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (ADR) is known along with penalties---at over ₹16,000 crores. However, since this order came much after it went into bankruptcy, there is no way could recover it. Aircel has been fighting a losing battle with its own debt and inability to keep up its operations. Just last year, the company became defunct and filed for bankruptcy. But the company was once the market leader in Tamil Nadu and also expanded to 6 other circles. But it was hit by a controversy over its takeover by Malaysian company Maxis Communications and was heavily investigated by the CBI. By 2012, it had started scaling down its operations owing to excessive competition among other hurdles. It had tried to merge itself with many operators including Sistema, Airtel and RCom but those deals never took off. The next in line is BPL Communications which unlike other telecom companies, died a natural death. Its held licence only for the Mumbai circle which expired in 2014. While it did consider re-applying for it and also merging itself with Airtel, that was not to be. It simply stalled operations and allowed its users to port out. DoT is getting nothing from it, as no traces of this company exists now. There are many others which have been protesting against DoT’s move to charge ADR on all the revenues of a telecom company instead of those which centric to telecom operations. Some of them are listed entities like Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, and others like Tata Teleservices which also includes Tata Docomo and Tata Indicom. But these companies have since merged with Airtel and the extent of their liability and ability to pay up is not known.

Airtel and Voda-Idea could pay DoT, but what about ₹38,000 crore from defunct telcos?

<keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="TRAI">TRAI</keyword>, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, has asked the Department of Telecommunications (<keyword id="16054" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="DoT">DoT</keyword>) for more powers so that it can penalise mobile operators that don’t act upon the issue of <keyword id="6395111" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="call-drops">call drops</keyword> despite several warnings. 
 TRAI secretary Sudhir Gupta told ET that most <keyword id="76827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-telcos">Indian telcos</keyword> have failed to meet the minimum criteria for quality of services in New Delhi. 
 
It’s been a week that the Supreme Court had struck down its order, which required operators to compensate consumers Rs 1 for each call drop with the upper limit at Rs 3 per day. Currently, any disputes between telecom operators and their subscribers do not go to the consumer courts because the Supreme Court had barred any such relief under the Consumer Protection Act in 2009. 
 
It’s been quite some time that TRAI wants to levy penalties on telcos for call drops. The regulator is now looking at options to make sure that Indian telcos improve their service quality, passing the call drop parameter set at 2% of all calls made from the network. 
 
"All 3G networks, 2G networks of Airtel and MTNL and CDMA network of RCom have shown degradation in performance compared to previous test drives," said a release from TRAI about the test it did to check the quality. Even the state-run MTNL failed when checked on an all network-based quality-of-service parameter. 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/47170222.cms">Image source</a>

TRAI to ask DoT for more powers to penalise mobile companies for call drops

It looks like the New Year has not started on a good note for <keyword id="76827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-telcos">Indian telcos</keyword>. After being rapped up by the TRAI for not giving compensation to subscribers for call drops, telcos may now have to pay additional amount for site installations. 
 
"Tower installation costs have increased manifold, primarily due to exorbitant permission fees being charged by municipal corporations and local authorities across the country," a Tower &amp; Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) spokesman told ET. 
 
The association has warned telcos of tough days coming up, because of outstanding rental agreements of a majority of India's 4.5 lakh towers. Site owners and resident welfare associations (RWAs) are demanding manifold increases in rent/lease charges, leading to a big hole in the telcos’ pockets. 
 
In the recent past, costs to install towers have sharply risen in the metros, class A &amp; B cities and state capitals. This has happened because of municipal corporations’ increased overall permission costs for putting up new sites, renewing old sites or even bringing in new tenancies to already existing towers. 
 
"The margins impact will vary from towerco to towerco and will depend on the extent the additional costs can be passed on to mobile operators as per their master service agreements (MSAs), especially since monthly site rentals have gone up by at least an average 10% in the last six months, and the number is much more in Mumbai and Delhi," a top executive of a leading global tower firm told ET. 
 
<a href="http://www.networkedindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mobile-phone-tower.jpg">Image source</a>

Telcos may need to shell out more for site installations

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (<keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="TRAI">Trai</keyword>) is not an easy nut to crack and the telcos need to register this fact seriously. In a strict warning to India's top telcos and <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> Infocomm, Trai has given an ultimatum to resolve the contentious interconnect matter among themselves. Trai’s order comes with further warning that it would act if quality of service drops and consumers suffer, as reported by The Economic Times. 
 
"If quality of service suffers, if consumers suffer, Trai will take action. That is Trai's job," a senior official told ET on Friday after the meeting. "The telcos should sit across the table and resolve it." 
 The war has been waged by the top telcos like Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone and Idea against the newly launched Reliance Jio Infocom. Mukesh Ambani owned Jio had sought an adequate number of PoIs for their service to which the top telcos didn’t show much interest in. Citing traffic imbalance, the telcos have refused any additional PoIs to Jio. However after Friday’s meeting, an official of a top telco confirmed that they are willing to talk to Jio and provide ‘reasonable number’ of additional PoIs. 
 
What are these PoIs? PoIs are used to connect calls from one telecom operator to another. Jio has complained to Trai the other day that due to other telco’s non cooperation in giving adequate PoIs, the call quality is suffering. 
 
 
“We have put forth our point of view to Trai. It is for Trai to look into the matter. There is no time frame indicated by the Trai," Jio board member Mahendra Nahata told the ET after the meeting. "It is a fight for justice for Indian customers, and not those of Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone or Idea." 
 
In a statement, market leader Bharti Airtel said it will provide Jio more PoIs, as per the bilateral agreement signed between the two operators, so that customers aren't affected. Incumbent telcos had signed interconnect pacts with Jio back in 2014, confirmed the ET report. 
 
Traffic Tsunami 
 
While common mass are happy to know about the freebies of Reliance Jio’s welcome pack, Airtel is quite nervous about the asymmetric traffic tsunami that would result from Jio. Airtel has asked Trai to intervene to curb the asymmetric traffic that might result in abusing the network. 
 
"In this regard, IUC (interconnect usage charge) is an effective tool in the hands of Trai, which we hope they will use judiciously," Airtel said, adding that Trai should make sure pricing by any telco is "IUC compliant, non-predatory and non-discriminatory". 
 
Airtel expects that once Jio starts charging its customers from January 2017, there would be no issue. "The traffic will inevitably get to a more balanced level and PoIs will be less of an issue," said an Airtel release. Top telcos have earlier said they do not possess the financial or network resources to handle the imbalance of the huge traffic generated through Jio's network due to the free offers. 
 
According to the news report by The Economic Times, Trai Chairman RS Sharma did not attend the meeting, which was led by Secretary Sudhir Gupta. Other Trai members, representatives of incumbent telcos that included Bharti Airtel's Chief Regulatory Officer Ravi Gandhi, Vodafone India's P Balaji and Idea Cellular's Rajat Mukarji, besides Nahata of Jio were present. 
 
Rajan S Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents the top telcos as well as Jio, wasn't allowed to be part of the meeting, since only the three telcos were invited, marking a dramatic start to the crucial talks. At the meeting, incumbent telcos said given the volume of traffic from Jio, they can't give interconnect at 14 paise a minute which is very low. 
 
Jio countered saying the rate had been preset. Incumbents also said that traffic from Jio could go up to 4,000 minutes per user a month given the free voice offering, which would be practically impossible to handle, while Jio's officials said its traffic currently is 450 minutes per user a month. 
 
Where lies the end of the drama? 
It is believed that Trai has been able to bring some kind of end to a stalemate between Jio and incumbent carriers and the interconnection issue is expected to be sorted out within 90 days. 
 
Trai asked to increase points of interconnections incrementally. The regulator's concern was to improve service quality," Mathews said. "We expect Reliance Jio to start discussions with incumbent players and regulator should look into incremental numbers." During the meeting, incumbent telcos had sought clarity on whether the services of Jio were now "commercial". 
 
When told they were, incumbents pointed out that Jio then can't offer free services for more than 90 days. Sources at incumbent telcos also said they believe adequate PoIs have already been given for Jio which currently has some five million users, but are willing to give more once 70% capacity is reached for those existing PoIs. According to them, one PoI can support 12,000 subscribers, with Airtel itself having provided 700 of them. "As and when they (Jio) reach 70% capacity, they can request us, and we will provide incremental PoIs within 90 days, according to the ET news report.

TRAI plays the boss,
issues warning to Jio and other Telcos to settle their issue

The <keyword id="30356" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Telecom-Regulatory-Authority-of-India">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</keyword> (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/trai-to-penalise-airtel-vodafone-and-idea-for-choking-jio-pois/articleshow/58839878.cms">TRAI</a>) has banned mobile service providers from offering different plans to same category of subscribers after a complaint was filed by <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword>. This order would limit the incumbent <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/gst-implementation-to-be-difficult-for-mobile-companies/articleshow/58836618.cms">telcos</a> to sell customised plans in a bid to to lure customers against switching to Jio. "The authority directs all the Access Service Providers to ensure that all the tariffs offered to the consumers shall not be discriminatory between the subscribers of the same class, and to ensure that every tariff that is offered to a customer is invariably reported to the authority as per the reporting framework under the forbearance regime," said <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/trai-chief-rules-out-iuc-as-call-tariff-floor/articleshow/58511016.cms">TRAI</a> in a two-page order. Presently, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/telcos-looking-for-new-sources-of-income/articleshow/58802856.cms">telcos</a> need to report all plans to <keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="TRAI">TRAI</keyword> within seven working days of introducing them. However, now the telcos won’t be be able to offer customized packs to an individual subscriber. These customised plans, when filed with TRAI, would also breach the limit of up to 25 plans a month that telcos can file, both postpaid and prepaid. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Airtel-and-Vodafone-to-lower-travel-tariffs-by-up-to-90/articleshow/58821779.cms">Airtel and Vodafone to lower travel tariffs by up to 90%</a> The order came after Reliance Jio informed TRAI that <keyword id="6354287" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bharti-Airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword>, <keyword id="6354923" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vodafone-India">Vodafone India</keyword> and <keyword id="6354924" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Idea-Cellular">Idea Cellular</keyword> were offering special tariff vouchers to their users, so that they can stick with these telcos and not move to Jio. Incumbent telcos, however, denied all allegations, claiming that they were complying with all regulatory guidelines.

TRAI bars telcos from offering different plans to same category of subscribers

India’s top telcos are demanding a cut in licence fee, spectrum usage charge (SUC) and Universal Service Obligation Fund levy so that they can come out of the financial stress that they are in. However, regarding the issue of interconnect charges (IUC), Indian telecom companies have come to a standstill with little chances of a consensus. While incumbent telcos like <keyword id="6354287" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bharti-Airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone India and <keyword id="6354924" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Idea-Cellular">Idea Cellular</keyword> have demanded that IUC be raised, debutant <keyword id="1543410" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio-Infocomm">Reliance Jio Infocomm</keyword> has asked for it to be scrapped. The IUC is a fee that one telco has to pay to the other telco on whose network a call terminates. Presently, it stands at 14 paise per minute, considered to be around half of an incumbent carrier's cost per call. The reason why <keyword id="2003276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> wants it scrapped is that it relies on free offers to earn the loyalty of customers ever since it was launched in September last year, and believes that IUC is a subsidy provided to incumbent carriers. If IUC is abolished, Jio would be befitted by reduction in its IUC payout, as it clearly has more outgoing calls to <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone India and Idea. None of the telcos wish to change their stand regarding the issue, since incumbent telcos have also urged <keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="TRAI">TRAI</keyword> to create a floor price for voice and data services, which Jio has opposed saying that it won’t ever charge for voice services for life. If there is a floor price, Jio would have to end its free services, leading to a probability of customers moving back to their original carriers, which Jio wishes to avoid.

IUC becomes bone of contention between incumbent telcos and Jio

<div type="image" title="What is private 5G and why it is important for telcos" msid="92885007" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;What is private 5G and why it is important for telcos&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/5g-in-india-who-what-when-why-and-how-much/articleshow/91004188.cms">5G in India</a> has everyone from the Ambanis to the Adanis and Mittals excited – more so now that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/why-the-govt-should-not-expect-a-bumper-harvest-from-5g-spectrum-auctions/articleshow/92679454.cms">5G spectrum auctions</a> are just around the corner. Even though the telecom industry is on the brink of becoming a duopoly, the entry of Gautam <keyword id="76451" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="adani" source="Orion">Adani</keyword> could stir things up once again. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/after-energy-media-and-consumer-goods-its-adani-vs-ambani-in-telecom/articleshow/92772403.cms">Adani’s foray into 5G</a> is for a different reason altogether, at least going by the official announcements made by the company. India’s richest man announced last week that his 5G entry is aimed at providing secure connectivity to his diverse business portfolio, which ranges from ports to energy, mining and airports, among others. This, in other terms, is <keyword id="11059247" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="private-5G" source="Orion">private 5G</keyword>. Essentially, Adani wants to own the network infrastructure to connect his various businesses. This gives him two benefits – he owns the security of his network, and he also saves on the costs that he would otherwise have to pay to a telco for managing the network. Of course, Adani will have to pour in thousands of crores to acquire 5G spectrum and set up the infrastructure, but it’s possible that the company thinks this is more beneficial in the long run. 7 out of 10 people surveyed by Stocktwits think Adani will outbid telcos in the 5G spectrum race <div type="image" title="7 out of 10 people surveyed think Adani will outbid telcos in the 5G race" msid="92885047" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;7 out of 10 people surveyed think Adani will outbid telcos in the 5G race&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> But what exactly is private 5G and why is everyone from Big Tech to telcos and now Adani so interested in it? Let’s decode this in simple terms. Private 5G – what does it mean? <div type="image" title="What does private 5G mean?" msid="92885072" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;What does private 5G mean?&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Simply put, private 5G is a localized network that uses cellular technology to provide connectivity within a specific area. Imagine a campus of a major company – it is large enough to require wireless connectivity, something that Wi-Fi alone cannot service. That said, private networks are not a new concept. Several countries have already given out licenses to operate private networks – even on 4G LTE. Overall, there are 55 countries which have private networks. In the simplest of terms, private 5G is like a secured Wi-Fi network in your home – the access is restricted to authorized people and equipment. Outsiders cannot access it, and it is different from your existing subscription with Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea or BSNL. Also read: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/5g-in-india-who-what-when-why-and-how-much/articleshow/91004188.cms">https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/5g-in-india-who-what-when-why-and-how-much/articleshow/91004188.cms</a> Why is <keyword id="14457033" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="private-5G-important" source="Orion">private 5G important</keyword>? Private 5G is important for two reasons – 5G technology opens up a wide range of use cases for the enterprise segment, and using a private network can help maintain security and avoid the cost of using telecom service providers’ networks. <div type="image" title="Smart factories" msid="92885094" hostid="261"></div> Network experts have termed private 5G networks as the future of smart factories. Think self-driving vehicles in a company’s campus, mobile robots, augmented reality-guided predictive maintenance and more. Wired networks also have the troublesome wires to deal with – wires are manageable when it’s just one fibre line entering your home, but for a large company with thousands of employees and huge factories, wire management is a big hassle. This is also why a closed, wireless, fast and secure 5G network is that much more attractive for big companies. Even though private networks have existed for a while, they do not offer the speeds, reliability and capacities that 5G networks offer. For this reason, Big Tech and giants like the Adani group want to run their own private 5G networks, instead of leasing the services of telcos. Telcos don’t want private 5G – here’s why On the other hand, telcos say that private 5G networks will hamper their business models. This is understandable, since running a network is the bread and butter of telecom companies – if others start doing it, what is the point of investing lakhs of crores in setting up the telecom infrastructure? In an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/interview-the-big-picture-on-5g-big-tech-telco-war-with-coais-dr-sp-kochhar/articleshow/92356710.cms">exclusive interview</a> with Business Insider India, COAI’s director general Dr SP Kochhar said enterprise services will contribute to 70% of 5G revenues, so it makes sense why telcos are not extremely happy about private 5G networks. Will private 5G benefit the common man? <div type="image" title="Will private 5G benefit the common man?" msid="92885187" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Will private 5G benefit the common man?&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Private 5G, by definition, is not accessible to the common man. Only those in the organization will be able to access these networks, so the question of the common man deriving benefit from private 5G does not even arise. Even with publicly accessible 5G networks, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/5g-in-india-does-the-aam-aadmi-even-need-it/articleshow/92382529.cms">aam aadmi might not have enough of an incentive</a> to upgrade to 5G, given that 5G could cost a little more than 4G, the existing 4G speeds are more than sufficient for streaming shows and movies, and 5G phones cost an average of INR 29,300. Kya aapke phone mein 5G hai?

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SIMPLY PUT: What is private 5G and why it is important for telcos

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