Mobile Services
India’s top financial institutions rely on Cisco for digital transformation
NEW DELHI: The banking and financial services industry is in the midst of an evolutionary shift. The pressing realities of agile ‘fintech’ disruptors, changes in customer behavior and expectations, complex regulatory requirements, and digitization throughout the business model are affecting the banking and financial services industry at every level.
To keep up with this change, the industry is working to adopt innovative digitization models to remain on top of costs, increase revenue, and protect themselves against risks all at the same time.
New services enabled by digital technologies can help banking and financial firms to maximize the value they offer to the customers. According to a recent Cisco study, these digital opportunities make financial services the No.2-ranked industry in terms of Digital Value at Stake, with an estimated $3.14 trillion up for grabs over the next decade.
However, this will require a convergence of mobility, analytics, and video to create delightful experiences and effortless transactions for the customers. It will also allow the industry to move away from legacy and paper-based approaches thereby enabling improved delivery of services cost-effectively.
In line with its commitment to digitize the financial services sector in India, Cisco developed a Digital Transformation Blueprint for the banking & financial services sector. The blueprint leverages the power of Cisco’s intent-based networking portfolio to integrate connectivity, security, automation, collaboration, and analytics across the business value chain. It will deliver enhanced customer experience, improved workforce productivity, build new business models and protect against risks by bringing in connectivity and visibility into every aspect of the organization.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest stock exchange and the world’s fourth largest in terms of daily turnover and number of trades, is leveraging Cisco’s world-class, ultra-low-latency trading architecture to deliver high-performance trading experiences, greater control, and visibility to its members. Cisco has also completely automated NSE’s data center, helping it reduce app deployment time from weeks to hours. Optimising NSE’s network with Cisco ACI has allowed it to reduce overall efforts by 15-18%. NSE is also leveraging Cisco’s AppDynamics platform to monitor the performance of core applications and get real-time analytics for business performance to deliver superior end-user experience.
Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technological innovations in systems, silicon, software and security, and unrivaled expertise in mass-scale networking, automation, analytics, video, wireless and mobility. Combining these capabilities with Cisco’s portfolio of go-to-market, security, collaboration, IoT, and professional services capabilities, it is enabling financial services companies across the world to reduce cost and complexity, grow revenue and more importantly to help secure their network and customer data.
Sankarson Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer, National Stock Exchange said, “Our vision is to adopt the latest technologies to deliver greater value to our customers and employees as well as build trust and investor confidence. Digital Innovations in technology are going to transform the financial services sector as we know them. Institutions that are quick to embrace innovation and adopt new technologies will have immense opportunities to improve the way they deliver services. We are pleased to be working with Cisco to further modernize our digital capabilities and give our customers the best experience possible. Digital initiatives are core to NSE’s strategy of leveraging technology to deliver “the future” to our clients today”.
Sameer Garde, President, Cisco India and SAARC said, “Today financial institutions experience an unrelenting need to be flexible, secure and scalable across increasingly complex data centers. In addition to gaining performance and operational efficiencies, Cisco ACI has enabled the National Stock Exchange to manage it’s infrastructure and data repositories, which is critical when handling sensitive customer and financial data. In addition to that, with AppDynamics, NSE will have complete visibility spanning from the infrastructure to application to end user, thereby offering a superior end-user experience. From a trading perspective, speed, efficiency, and data accuracy are critical for investors, and therefore we are delighted that National Stock Exchange has partnered with Cisco to power their digital transformation journey’.
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.
