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8 BusinessLine WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 28 • 2019IT & TELECOM
RAJESH KURUP
Mumbai, August 27
Ailing Staterun telecom fi��rmBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd(BSNL) is unlikely to disbursethe salary for August on time,with the payment likely to becredited 56 days late.
Further, the company’s revival plan – which has been approved by the Prime Ministers’Offi��ce (PMO) and the TelecomMinistry – is yet to be forwardedto the Cabinet.
“As per the company policy,salaries are credited on the lastworking day of the month. Thistime also there would be a delay,a minimum of fi��ve days and amaximum of a week, as wedon’t expect the salaries to becredited on August 31,” a source
close to the development said.BSNL is raising the amountfrom internal accruals and theoutstanding from its enterprisecustomers to pay its 1,63,902employees (46,597 executivesand 1,17,305 nonexecutives).
BSNL’s salary expenses permonth are in the range of ₹��750850 crore. The PSU had delayedsalary payments twice in thisyear itself, with February salary
paid later in March and that ofJuly footed on August 5.
BSNL is pinning its hopes on₹��3,000crore receivables fromenterprise customers, a bulk ofwhich is expected to begarnered within the next twothree months.
Procedural delaysBSNL’s revival plan – that includes a capital infusion for the4G rollout, a Voluntary Retirement Scheme and monetisation of land, optical fi��bre cableand towers – is yet to be forwarded to the Cabinet.
A revised note detailing thenew plans, which was approvedby the PMO last week, was to beissued to the Cabinet this week.
“Some procedural delays atthe Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) end are holding up the note. It may be issuedeither today or tomorrow, orlatest by the end of the week,”
another source said. In its note,the PMO had rejected a proposal to merge the lossmakingMahanagar Telephone NigamLtd (MTNL) with BSNL but assured to look into the matterlater. A proposal to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formonetisation of land and transfer of BSNL’s ₹��23,000crore loanand an equivalent land parcelwas also not approved.
A revival plan approved lastmonth recommended a₹��14,155crore capital infusioninto BSNL by the Government toacquire 4G spectrum and a VRSfor employees above 50 years,following which the age of retirement would be reduced to58.
The monetisation of land (tomeet BSNL’s expansion plans)would be jointly monitored byBSNL, DoT and the Departmentof Investment and Public AssetManagement.
Revised note on
revival plan yet to
be sent to Cabinet
BSNL had delayed salary
payments twice this year — in
February and July
BSNL may miss salary date again
S RONENDRA SINGH
New Delhi, August 27
Chinese smartphone makerOppo said that it is targetingcustomers who are upgrading to semipremium(₹��25,000 to ₹��40,000) handsets with the launch of theReno 2 range on Wednesday.
The Reno2 boasts a 5x hybrid zoom with 20x digitalzoom capability in a quadcamera set up.Also, Oppo isintroducing ‘ultra dark’mode and ‘ultra steady’ videomode for picture quality.
The range comes withQualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 730G octacore processor paired with 8GB RAMalong with 256GB storage.The company said there are alot of opportunities in thesegment as it is a major draw.Buyers look to that segmentfor a full package– not onlycamera but also hardwareand software.
“The big insights that wehave picked up were thatthere is a huge surge in thedemand for consumerswanting to upgrade theirsmartphone. This is wherewe will play a critical part.The days are gone thatpeople were looking just foran update on body or coloursof the phones, but now theywant aspirational devices,”Sumit Walia, Vice PresidentProduct and MarketingOppo India told Business-Line. The company is nowready to give consumers a
multiple choice from bothOppo and Reno brand – fromlowend to mid andhighend.
“Reno stands for reengineered for innovation and inevery aspect, we have pushedthe bar – in terms of camera,design, and also on performance. What we have doneearlier was that we launchedproducts at higher range of₹��40,00050,000 above, andafter creating and seeing thedemand we are trying to expand the Reno brand. Wewant consumers to experi
ence the midsegment now,and this is actually a downward expansion for us,” hesaid.
60,000 sales points“That is why the company isalso giving better experienceat its over 60,000 salespoints and 250+ exclusiveOppo stores,” he said addingthat there are a few premiumstores as part of these exclusive stores, which will beexpanded.
When asked if the company will get into wearabledevices or televisions, Waliasaid as of now the main focusis to concentrate on smartphones and its expansion inIndia including doubling ofits manufacturing plant inGreater Noida to 100 millionunits by next year and employment of 15,000 people. Itis investing ₹��2,200 crore inthe facility, majority of whichare ongoing right now.
China’s Oppo sets sights on semi-premium handset market
Sumit Walia
OUR BUREAU
New Delhi, August 27
Microsoft India, on Tuesday,launched the ‘Digital Governance Tech Tour’, an initiativeaimed at training 5,000 government personnel incharge of ITin Artifi��cial Intelligence (AI) andintelligent cloud computingskills over a 12month period.
Through this programme, Microsoft will help upskill government offi��cials, equipping themwith the digital skills and experience needed to successfully deploy cloudbased solutions, saida statement from Microsoft.
Speaking at the launch of theprogramme, Amitabh Kant,CEO, NITI Aayog, said, “Thepower of AI, cloud services, anddata analytics needs to bebrought to bear in core sectorsfor inclusive economic growth.As we move beyond pilots, andunderstand how to scale AI implementation and cloud adoption across States and sectors, itis vital to equip the ecosystemwith the right knowhow andskills.”
He added, “Collaborationwith academia and the industry,and initiatives such as this, will
help build the foundation towards an AIenabled future.”
The programme will be opento technocrats and IT professionals across the governmentecosystem. The fi��rst track — fortechnical directors, technical architects and project managers—will cover areas such as data,analytics and insights, ethicalgovernance through AI, and security considerations for moving to cloud. The second track —for developers, IT architects andapplication architects — willdeal with the fundamentals ofAzure cloud.
Microsoft launches AI, Cloud trainingprogramme for government staff OUR BUREAU
New Delhi, August 27
Ridehailing platform Uberon Tuesday announced thelaunch of a 24x7 inapp safetyhelpline in India.
This helpline will be accessible to customers only duringan ongoing Uber ride and willbe available under the ‘Safety’tab on the Uber app.
The feature was rolled outacross the country today andBusinessLine has verifi��ed itspresence on the app. PavanVaish, Head of Central Operations (Rides), Uber India andSouth Asia, said that thismove is not because of anyregulatory requirements.
“There are ongoing initiatives around leveraging allkinds of technology to fur
ther it (safety). This is not determined by a regulatorypush,” Vaish told Business-
Line. Vaish added that this fea
ture will gradually be rolledout across geographies. Ubercould look into a chat interface for customer support inthe future. “We are beginningto hear that this is somethingthat riders would like,” saidVaish.
Uber offi��cials said that thisinapp calling feature will
work even without a data connection over voice service.However, it cannot be accessed after the Uber trip hasended. This helpline will befunctional in addition to theemergency feature to connectwith law enforcementauthorities.
This new safety line willhelp riders reach Uber’s safetyteam for an urgent, nonemergency issue during a trip,such as reporting a copassenger’s behaviour, a dispute
with a driver, or a break down. Uber is looking at improv
ing its inapp support interface to make it easier for consumers.
The company currentlyfaces complaints that navigating the ‘Help’ menu of the appis a cumbersome and lengthyprocess.
“Our endeavour is that theexperience is so seamless thatyou do not have to contact usbecause you don’t have issuesarising,” said Vaish.
For ‘assistance’ during rides, Uber launches in-app helpline
This new safety line will help
riders report a dispute with a
driver, or a breakdown
OUR BUREAU
Mumbai, August 27
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio),a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambanicontrolled Reliance Industries (RIL), has reported amarketshare in terms of 31.7per cent Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for the quarterended June 30.
In June, RJio had emergedas the largest operator with asubscriber base of 331 million.
Bharti Airtel ranked secondwith a 30 per cent marketshare, followed by VodafoneIdea with a 28.1 per cent share,according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) data.
“RJio’s AGR (including National Long Distance) rose 9per cent YoY to ₹��10,900 crore,
and fi��nally became the number one operator,” saidbrokerage fi��rm ICICI Securities, which analysed the data.
It added, “RJio’s AGR grewstrong at 12.3 per cent in Acircles and in metros grew 5.1per cent. AGR growth in B andC circles was 8.6 per cent and9.8 per cent, respectively. Its
ARPU (based on AGR) rose 0.2per cent on a quarteronquarter basis to ₹��114.”
In comparison, RJio’s AGRwas at 31.6 per cent in the previous fourth quarter and 22.4per cent in the comparableprevious yearago quarter.AGR is defi��ned as gross revenue minus access and passthrough charges. ARPU, or Average Revenue Per User, is afi��nancial metric for a telecomfi��rm.
Bharti Airtel’s AGR (including NLD) stood at ₹��10,300crore during the quarter under review.
The New Delhibased company had posted a 27.2 percent market share in thefourth quarter of FY19, and31.7 per cent in the compar
able yearago quarter. “Bhartiis gaining higher incremental market share in itstraditionally weaker 1,800MHz circles where revenueAGR grew 17.9 per cent YoY to₹��2,400 crore. These wereleadership circles of Vodafone and Idea Cellular.Bharti’s AGR grew 8.1 per centin its traditional 900MHzleadership circles,” said thebrokerage fi��rm.
Vodafone Idea’s AGR stoodat ₹��9,600 crore. The companyposted a 28.1 per cent AGRmarket share in the fi��rstquarter of this fi��scal, compared with 34.7 per cent in theyearago period.
It posted an AGR marketshare of 32.1 per cent in fourthquarter of last fi��nancial year.
In June, RJio emerged as the
largest operator with a user
base of 331 million
Reliance Jio Infocomm becomes market leader on ‘AGR’ basis
LN REVATHY
Coimbatore, August 27
WebNMS, the IoT division ofZoho Corporation, hasentered the industrial IoT (Internet of Things) space thisyear.
Karen Ravindranath, Program Head, WebNMS IoT, toldBusinessLine that Zoho Corporation is eyeing the marketpotential in India to expand.
“While consumer IoT (forinstance, smart watches) isone space that is witnessing ahuge traction, we foreseegood adoption in the B2Bspace as well. The IoT divisionempowers SMEs and mediumenterprises by off��ering industry/vertical specifi��c solutions that are ready to be deployed without complexcoding or extensive development processes,” saidRavindranath.
Ravindranath said, “The
whole ecosystem of hardwaredevices is changing with technology developments like IoT.Connected devices are the order of the day and would bemore so in the future. We helpdevice manufacturers andOEMs create new IoTenabledsmart products by integrating the device data to our(IoT) platform for a completesolution. We are vendoragnostic.”
The division is currentlyworking with Coimbatorebased SMEs that are in the embedded and electronics manufacturing space, by helpingthem create smart productswith specialised IoT solutions.
“While IoT adoption is onthe rise, vertical specifi��cknowledge for IoT jobs is stillhard to come by. We decidedto engage with universities tosupport them in talent development,” she said.
WebNMS steps intoindustrial IoT space
REUTERS
Brussels, August 27
EU regulators are checkingGoogle for Jobs to see if thecompany unfairly favours itsfastgrowing tool for searching job listings, Europe’s antitrust chief said on Tuesday.
Launched two years ago, thetool has already drawn numerous complaints from rivals alleging anticompetitive behaviour. Earlier this month, 23job search websites in Europeurged the European Commission to temporarily orderGoogle to stop such practiceswhile it investigates the issue.
European CompetitionCommissioner MargretheVestager, who has handed out€8.25 billion ($9.2 billion) infi��nes to the tech giant in threeseparate cases, voiced concerns about the possibility ofsimilar anticompetitive practices by Alphabet unit Google
in other areas. “We’re lookingat whether the same thingmay have happened withother parts of Google’s business like the job search business known as Google forJobs,” Vestager said at a conference in Berlin.
Google said it had madechanges to the tool followingfeedback in Europe, includingoff��ering direct links to a choiceof job sites and linking directlyto job off��ers available only on asingle site.
“There’s also a broader issueof whether we think it’s rightfor companies like Google andothers to have such controlover the success or failure ofother companies,” she said.
“If we don’t, then we mayfi��nd that we need regulation,to make sure that these platforms use their power in a waythat’s fair and doesn’t discriminate,” she said.
Google’s job-search toolunder EU microscope