Mobile Services
Google joins hands Tamil Nadu
NEW DELHI: Continuing with its digital literacy initiative aimed at empowering women in rural India, Google India and Tata Trusts today announced the expansion of its ‘Internet Saathi’ program in the state of Tamil Nadu by Dr M.Manikandan, Minister for Information Technology, Tamil Nadu in the presence of T K Ramachandran IAS, Principal Secretary (Information Technology), Anandrao V Patil IAS, Commissioner, Tamil Nadu eGovernance Agency (TNeGA) and R Sudalaikannan IAS, Chairman & Managing Director Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT).
Google India and the Government of Tamil Nadu today also announced other initiatives to support the digitization efforts in the state. Google India will facilitate the provision of Google Cloud credits and access through its affiliate, for eligible startups engaged with Tamil Nadu Government’s startup initiative. Google India will also, through its Developer Relations team, provide technical mentorship and advisory support to various startups.
Other initiatives as part of the announcement today include: working together to make all government sites mobile friendly, introduce joint programs to help local small and medium businesses get online, and internet safety education for children to stay safe online.
Launched as a pilot in Rajasthan in July 2015 along with Tata Trusts, Google had announced the ambitious plans to scale the Internet Saathi program, to cover 300,000 villages across India in December 2015. In Tamil Nadu, the program has already started to roll out and will be covering over 4000 villages across 6 districts.
Dr M.Manikandan, Minister for Information Technology, Tamil Nadu said, “Google India is a valuable partner of the state of Tamil Nadu and we are happy to launch the Internet Saathi program that will benefit rural women, across our state. We believe all the initiatives launched today with them that will benefit women, small businesses, youth, and others across our state. Our mission is to Digitize Tamil Nadu and Google’s efforts in the state will help in the same direction.”
As per the latest report released by Kantar IMRB – ICube – Rural Internet Report for 2017: There are 134 million active Internet users in rural India that continue to be dominated by male users. Using the train the trainer model, women in villages were equipped with smartphones and tablets, that enabled them to explore the world of Internet and help reduce the digital gender divide in rural India. Today, with over 36,000 Internet Saathi across 12 states, 13.5 million women have already benefited from the program in over 1,40,000 villages.
Speaking about the expansion, Chetan Krishnaswamy, Director, Public Policy Google India said, “Google India is pleased to work with the government of Tamil Nadu in its efforts to making Tamil Nadu a truly digitally empowered state. We have been hard at work, in partnership with Tata Trusts to change the female: male ratio of new Internet users in rural India and in the last two years have seen it move from 1 in 10 in 2015 to 3 in 10 in 2017. We’re delighted with the progress we have made with the Internet Saathi model and the impact it has had on the saathis, their families, kids and their communities. Through our expansion in Tamil Nadu, we hope to benefit over 600K women in the first phase of the program and will be adding more villages as we move forward.”
“We would like to thank Minister Dr M.Manikandan for his support and we look forward to working with the state government to create an enabling environment and ecosystem to help women, students, small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs to realize the full potential of the Internet and the opportunities it offers.” he added.
Recently, Google India and Tata Trusts announced the extension of the Internet Saathi program, to support the Foundation For Rural Entrepreneurship Development (FREND) set up by Tata Trusts . Under this initiative, Google is jointly working with the new foundation, to create digitally enabled livelihood opportunities for the Internet Saathis. FREND, will become a vehicle for other like minded companies and institutions to utilise the Internet Saathi network and enable dissemination of information and services in the rural areas thereby creating newer avenues of income for these women in rural India. This will be in addition to imparting digital literacy to millions of rural women under the ongoing Internet Saathi program.
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of its ultra-fast 5G services in 125 cities. Airtel 5G Plus service is now available to customers in over 265 cities in the country.
Airtel 5G Plus has three compelling advantages for customers. First, it runs on a technology that has the widest acceptance in the world with the most developed ecosystem. This ensures that all 5G smartphones in India seamlessly work on the Airtel network. Second, the company promises to deliver the best experience – between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than today coupled with brilliant voice experience and super-fast call connect. Finally, Airtel 5G Plus network will also be kinder to the environment with its special power reduction solution. Powered by the reliable Airtel network infrastructure, Airtel 5G Plus will provide superfast access to High-Definition video streaming, gaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos et all.
Commenting on the launch, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “5G has revolutionized the world of internet, ushering new era of connectivity and communications that will prove to be a game-changer for the country. At Airtel, we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of network and service to our customers as we roll-out 125 more cities today. Airtel was the first in the country to offer 5G services in October 2022, and today’s mega launch is our promise to connect every Airtel customer in the country with ultra-fast Airtel 5G Plus. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.”
Airtel 5G Plus service availability will continue to rapidly expand – including service in all towns and villages in the country soon – as the company is working towards offering nationwide coverage. Airtel is now offering its 5G services in every major city from the upper northern city of Jammu to the southern tip of Kanyakumari.
In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated the power of 5G with a host of powerful use cases that will change the way customers lead their lives and do business. From India’s first live 5G network in Hyderabad to India’s first private 5G network at the BOSCH facility in Bengaluru to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility, India’s first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, Airtel has been at the forefront of 5G innovation.
NEW DELHI: Apple Inc has rolled out a beta programme to enable 5G on Apple devices as the upgrade lets users try out pre-release software.
This software upgrade enables 5G access on Apple devices, as and when service providers Jio, Airtel and Vodafone enable 5G network access, sources said.
Apple Users have to enrol for the Beta Programme on the website, install a profile and download the software.
Jio users using iPhone 12 and above, in cities where JioTrue5G has been rolled out, will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio Welcome Offer provides unlimited 5G data at up to 1 Gbps speed to users at no additional cost. However, there is a condition that prepaid users must be on active Rs 239 and above plan. All Postpaid users are eligible for this trial.
Airtel is not providing any special 5G offer like Jio to their users. In the cities/areas in which the Airtel 5G network has been launched, users can trial 5G services as a part of their existing plan, once they have updated the latest Apple Beta software.
While an email sent to Apple did not solicit an immediate response, the firm had last month stated: “We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December”.
Airtel and Jio customers on iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (3rd generation) models can experience 5G as part of Apple’s iOS 16 Beta Software Program. The Apple Beta Software Program is open to anyone with a valid Apple ID who accepts the Apple Beta Software Program Agreement during the sign-up process.
If a user has an iCloud account, that is an Apple ID, it is recommended they use that. If they do not have an iCloud account or any other Apple ID, they can create one.
Customers who want to try the beta software should back up their iPhones before installing the beta software. It is recommended to install the beta software only on non-production devices that are not business-critical. Users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.
The iOS beta comes with the built-in Feedback Assistant app, which can be opened from the Home screen on the iPhone or iPad or from the Dock on the Mac.
Source: Press Trust of India
5g
Nokia wins multi-year deal with Reliance Jio India to build one of the largest 5G networks in the world
NEW DELHI: Nokia has announced that it has been selected as a major supplier by Reliance Jio to supply 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment from its comprehensive AirScale portfolio countrywide in a multi-year deal. Reliance Jio is India’s number one mobile operator and has one of the largest RAN footprints in the world.
Under the contract, Nokia will supply equipment from its AirScale portfolio, including base stations, high-capacity 5G Massive MIMO antennas, and Remote Radio Heads (RRH) to support different spectrum bands, and self-organizing network software. Reliance Jio plans to deploy a 5G standalone network which will interwork with its 4G network. The network will enable Reliance Jio to deliver advanced 5G services such as massive machine-to-machine communications, network slicing, and ultra-low-latency.
Akash Ambani, Chairman Reliance Jio, commented: “We are pleased to be working with Nokia for our 5G SA deployment in India. Jio is committed to continuously investing in the latest network technologies to enhance the experience of all of its customers. We are confident that our partnership with Nokia will deliver one of the most advanced 5G networks globally.”
Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO at Nokia stated: “This is a significant win for Nokia in an important market and a new customer with one of the largest RAN footprints in the world. This ambitious project will introduce millions of people across India to premium 5G services, enabled by our industry-leading AirScale portfolio. We are proud that Reliance Jio has placed its trust in our technology and we look forward to a long and productive partnership with them.”
Nokia has a long-standing presence in India. This new deal will mean that Nokia is now supplying India’s three largest mobile operators.
