Author: Newsbit

  • Vi nears ₹5,000 Cr debt deal

    Vi nears ₹5,000 Cr debt deal

    Vodafone Idea Ltd., the country’s third-largest telecom operator, is in advanced talks to raise about Rs 5,000 crore in debt financing as it works to shore up capital for its ongoing turnaround.

    The debt will be raised by Vodafone Idea Telecom Infrastructure Limited, a group subsidiary that houses part of the company’s telecom infrastructure and renewable energy assets. The operator has appointed JM Financial as its advisor for the transaction, which is expected to close in the next fortnight.

    The fundraise, if completed on schedule, would mark a critical step in Vodafone Idea’s long and difficult effort to restore financial stability. For years, the company has struggled under the weight of enormous liabilities and declining subscriber numbers, with its financial distress aggravated by the Supreme Court’s ruling on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.

    While the government’s decision to convert more than Rs 53,000 crore of dues into equity provided some relief, fresh capital is still needed to maintain competitiveness in India’s three-player telecom market, dominated by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel alongside Vodafone Idea.

    Industry watchers said that this fundraise will provide sufficient liquidity for Vodafone Idea’s planned network investments through the first half of 2026.

    Sources said the proceeds will be used primarily for capital expenditure on network expansion and for selective 5G rollouts, ensuring that the company continues to hold on to its share of India’s fast-growing data market. Vodafone Idea Telecom Infrastructure Limited was chosen as the vehicle for the fundraise to help ring-fence core infrastructure assets and attract investor interest in a structure that offers greater security than exposure to the main operating company.

    Vodafone Idea and JM Financial are yet to respond to Moneycontrol queries.

    Signs of recovery in Vodafone Idea’s subscriber performance have added momentum to these efforts. In the most recent quarter, the company’s churn fell sharply, with net subscriber losses down to about half a million. News18

  • Meta to Invest $50B in Louisiana AI Data Center

    Meta to Invest $50B in Louisiana AI Data Center

    Meta’s, opens new tab planned AI data center in Louisiana will cost $50 billion, President Donald Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

    The social media company is building its largest data center in Richland Parish, which could handle intense computational power to support digital infrastructure, including artificial intelligence workloads.

    The Facebook and Instagram parent declined to comment when asked about Trump’s remarks about the data center.

    Meta has tapped U.S. bond giant PIMCO and alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital (OWL.N), opens new tab to spearhead a $29 billion financing for its data center expansion in rural Louisiana, Reuters reported earlier this month.

    The company announced last year that it would spend over $10 billion to set up the data center.

    Meta reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June, a high-stakes push that followed senior staff departures and lukewarm reception to its latest open-source Llama 4 model.

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for Superintelligence, intensifying his pursuit of a technology he has chased with a talent war for top engineers. Reuters

  • EU rejects Trump’s Digital rule claim

    EU rejects Trump’s Digital rule claim

    The European Commission rejected on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism that EU digital services rules unfairly target U.S. tech companies and denied they amounted to censorship.

    Trump wrote on Monday he would impose additional tariffs on all countries with digital taxes, legislation or regulations, saying they were “all designed to harm or discriminate against American technology”.

    The United States and the European Union last week agreed a joint statement on a deal to limit most U.S. tariffs on EU goods exports to 15%, with little mention of digital services.

    The Trump administration has consistently criticised the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which seeks to curb the power of tech giants, and the Digital Services Act, which requires large online platforms to tackle illegal and harmful content.

    The European Commission, which proposed both acts, said on Tuesday it was the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities. The Commission firmly rebutted Trump’s statement that the EU was targeting U.S. companies, insisting the DMA and DSA applied to all platforms and firms operating in the bloc.

    A spokesperson added that the last three DSA enforcement decisions were against AliExpress, Temu and TikTok – all Chinese-owned. The Commission has also opened DSA investigations into X and Meta.

    Accusations that European Union data laws censor social media, as Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has asserted, were “completely wrong and unfounded”, the EU spokesperson said.

    The DSA was not asking platforms to remove content, but to enforce their own terms and conditions, which set out things that should not be on their platforms.

    “And when we’re talking about this, more than 99% of content moderation decisions taken here in the EU online are proactively done by platforms based on their own terms and conditions,” the spokesperson said. Reuters

  • Telenor KNL Reports Rising Demand for Military Radios

    Telenor KNL Reports Rising Demand for Military Radios

    Telenor’s Finnish subsidiary KNL said on Tuesday it is seeing rising demand in the coming years for its encrypted portable radio units from NATO countries looking to boost battlefield communications.

    Earlier this month, KNL announced a joint procurement of more than 15 million euros ($17.6 million) by the Finnish and Swedish armed forces for its Cognitive Networked High Frequency (CNHF) manpack radios.

    “This is just the opening contract,” KNL Chief Executive Toni Linden told Reuters, adding that the company has ongoing pilot tests with militaries of Norway and several other NATO countries.

    “We’re staring to see some real interest and substantial orders and we’re looking to grow that now,” Linden said.

    Powered by KNL’s own software, the radios provide long-distance voice and data communication without relying on satellites such as the global positioning system (GPS) or private sector networks like Starlink, the company said.

    European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have agreed to raise their collective defence spending over the next decade, citing a long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.

    KNL declined to comment on any potential use of its units in Ukraine, but said that the ongoing conflict with Russia held important lessons.”The world was not prepared for such a full-scale war, where you have basically the whole country’s border as a battlefield and you need to connect the different hotspots,” Linden said.

    The Swedish and Finnish contracts mark the first deliveries under the Nordic region’s NORDEFCO framework agreement signed in April, with equipment scheduled to arrive by year end, said telecom group Telenor, KNL’s Norwegian owner. Reuters

  • Trai urges stronger critical communication infrastructure in India

    Trai urges stronger critical communication infrastructure in India

    The country is moving quickly on infrastructure policies, spectrum allocation, and standards needed for critical communication. The Trai chairperson explained that the regulator has already submitted a set of recommendations to the government to reinforce the national communication network.

    He pointed out that the government had brought out the National Digital Communication Policy 2018 with the objective of improving the Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) system. Following this, Trai in 2018 provided detailed inputs on next-generation PPDR networks. These included the creation of a pan-India Integrated Broadband PPDR network and the use of a hybrid model. The model proposed a dedicated BB-PPDR system in metro cities, border regions, disaster-prone areas, and sensitive zones such as Jammu & Kashmir and the northeast.

    The official further shared that, on the basis of references received from the Department of Telecommunications, Trai recommended the allocation of 10 MHz paired spectrum in the 700 MHz band to improve railway safety. These suggestions were made in two separate sets of recommendations.

    During the same forum, the Broadband India Forum chairperson underlined that European Union nations are in the process of creating the EU Critical Communication Systems (EUCCS). The initiative is meant to provide a continent-wide framework where public safety responders can operate without interruption across different regions. She noted that India too requires a system of this scale, considering its size and diversity.

    She referred to how different technologies had supported each other during Operation Sindoor, stressing that technology alone is not enough. According to her, the country must also establish clear ecosystem standards, enable interoperability between multiple agencies, ensure encryption for data security, build redundancy and resilience to handle disasters, and prepare for the rising threat of cyber-attacks. PTI

  • YES Network-Comcast dispute back in public view with FCC first pitch

    YES Network-Comcast dispute back in public view with FCC first pitch

    Five months after Comcast and the YES Network called a truce of sorts in their carriage dispute, the Yankees’ TV network has returned to public view in recent weeks, with their temporary extension expiring at the end of the MLB season.

    Before Saturday’s Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The 36th chairman of the agency also joined the YES broadcast booth for an interview during the bottom of the 2nd inning, discussing his love for baseball and his interest in sports.

    While far from the first government official to take part in the ceremonial honors, Carr’s appearance at the stadium is significant given his role in the lingering dispute between YES and Comcast.

    Back in March, the two sides made an 11th-hour agreement that kept the YES Network, also home to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, on Comcast’s Xfinity basic tier. Just before that deal, YES general counsel Derek Heuzey filed a formal program carriage complaint to the FCC. (The FCC does not regulate what cable companies charge consumers and networks.)

    Though the agency did not respond to the complaint, Carr himself addressed the impasse on social media, posting that “I would encourage a quick and favorable resolution for the benefit of everyone” and that the FCC “does have authority to step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct,” without providing further details.

    The dispute came back into the discussion thanks to a July 16 op-ed for Politics NY by Tosha Miller, the president of the New York City Black Chamber of Commerce (NYCBCC); she centered the impasse in her discussion about President Donald Trump’s combative history with the Black community in the city and across the country.

    Miller singled out team president Randy Levine due to his longstanding relationship with the president. “So it’s no surprise that when YES Network didn’t get what it wanted from the market,” she wrote, “it turned to Trump for help. Worst of all, the deal that was pushed through isn’t just unfair, it hurts regular people by forcing them to subsidize YES Network broadcasts—whether they watch the Yankees or not.”

    Levine responded through amNY on July 29, alluding to a quid pro quo between the NYCBCC and Comcast. By dissecting the chamber’s finances in public records and mentioning Miller sharing “a very positive story” from a Comcast executive on LinkedIn, Levine suggested that the operator could have contributed to the NYCBCC for submitting the critical op-ed.

    The Yankees president argued that SportsNet New York, the RSN home of the New York Mets, is being spared from Comcast’s tier reassignment because the operator has an ownership stake in the channel. (Comcast’s NBC Sports Group owns 8% of SNY.) Levine dipped into the Yankees/Mets fan rivalry by saying that keeping SNY on basic cable would mean that Mets fans would pay less to see their team than Yankees fans would to see theirs.

    “When you ask Comcast to explain why this is fair, they are dismissive and show no regard for YES and Yankees’ fans,” Levine wrote. “Instead, Comcast often uses its corporate muscle to Comcast’s advantage against independent programmers.”

    It’s worth noting Comcast moved NBC Sports RSNs it owns in Boston and northern California to the higher tier after the expiration of their carriage deals. The Philadelphia channel remains on basic cable. Additionally, SNY’s distribution deal with Comcast, one made by former Mets owner Fred Wilpon (who still owns the network), does not expire until 2035.

    YES Network declined to comment. Comcast didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    Across its national footprint, Comcast has been pushing regional sports networks out of its basic cable tier into the pricier Ultimate TV package, which would cost subscribers $20 more per month. The company has taken this strategy in hopes of slowing down declines in cable subscriptions, believing that it could lower cable bills for customers who don’t watch regularly sports.

    Comcast’s Xfinity cable service does not operate in New York City itself, but it does throughout northern New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley, parts of western Connecticut and a sliver of northeast Pennsylvania. MSG Networks, another NYC-based RSN group that carries the New York Knicks and the region’s three NHL clubs, have been blacked out for Comcast customers since September 2021.

    Cable-based RSNs are not the only channels in the crosshairs of Comcast. Broadcast channels must have retransmission agreements with cable and satellite operators to be carried in those systems.

    Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), an over-the-air sports channel, came to an agreement with the operator in June, well after the end of the Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ seasons. Scripps’ KPUX Channel 16, which carries Utah Mammoth games, remains blacked out for customers as the team prepares for its second season in Salt Lake City.

    YES partners with Sportico on a monthly sports-business program, Sportico Sports Business, that is carried by the RSN. Sportico

  • Starlink to launch in India by 2025: MoS

    Starlink to launch in India by 2025: MoS

    Starlink will launch its satellite broadband services in India by the end of 2025, minister of state for communications Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told HT. The company received a Unified License from the Department of Telecommunications in July, but clearance was given only after it agreed to India’s strict security rules, the minister told PTI a day earlier.

    As part of the clearance, Starlink is barred from copying, decrypting, or routing Indian user traffic through systems located abroad. The security framework mandates that all satellite communications be routed through earth station gateways within India, which will serve as a critical checkpoint for data traffic.

    The conditions are mandatory for all satellite communication firms, and Starlink has accepted them. With approvals in place, the company is expected to roll out services in phases, focusing first on remote and underserved regions. Commercial operations are likely to begin by December 2025, subject to final spectrum allocation and infrastructure readiness.

    Dr Pemmasani spoke to HT on the sidelines of the 42nd Foundational Day of Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) organised in New Delhi. “Given the geo-political risks and the faster change of technology, institutions like C-DOT have never been of greater importance. Therefore, when it comes to AI, 6G, quantum secure communications, they are doing wonderful things,” said the minister.

    Dr Pemmasani also highlighted C-DOT’s wider role, from providing secure communications to the armed forces during Operation Sindoor to building a cell-broadcast platform for disaster alerts.

    “India today faces geopolitical pressures not from one, but two countries; challenges that test our economic strength on the global stage. In this context, the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address is a reminder of why self-reliance is so critical,” said telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal at the event.

    Dr Pemmasani noted that C-DOT is now the fifth player worldwide, after Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and Samsung, to develop an indigenous 4G and 5G stack. India’s homegrown 4G and 5G technology, built by C-DOT, is powering nearly one lakh BSNL towers, putting the country among a select group with its own telecom systems. Hindustan Times

  • Global telecom fraud reaches $39B

    Global telecom fraud reaches $39B

    Telecom fraud cost the world nearly $39 billion in 2023—fueled by robocalls, spoofing and service abuse, according to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA).

    Latin America is feeling the heat, with digital channels now driving over half of all fraud losses and 38% tied to mobile payments and cryptocurrencies. As digital adoption surges, so do the threats — demanding faster, smarter and more proactive defenses.

    At the forefront of this fight is iconectiv, delivering proven solutions that help communication service providers (CSPs), regulators and ecosystem players stay ahead of evolving fraud schemes.

    iconectiv will be at Telco Transformation LATAM, August 27–28, 2025, in Rio de Janeiro, to discuss strategies for fighting the LATAM region’s burgeoning fraud as well as showcase an array of solutions.

    During the session, “Fighting Communications Fraud. Winning Global Trust,” on Thursday, August 28 at 12:30 pm, iconectiv Account Director for LATAM, Alberto Apablaza, will examine the fraud landscape in Latin America, as well as discuss best practices and effective strategies for securing and modernizing telecom networks across the LATAM region.

    iconectiv will additionally spotlight three mission-critical fraud-fighting tools built to secure networks, protect consumers and restore trust in digital communications, including:

    iconectiv TruNumber Protect. To stave off increasing communications fraud threats across the telecom landscape, TruNumber Protect delivers real-time phone number intelligence to help CSPs proactively detect and block suspicious calls and texts. By drawing on trusted data sourced from regulators, telecom consortiums and global numbering administrators, CSPs can protect customers, safeguard business operations and enhance Do Not Originate (DNO) directives by proactively blocking calls from invalid, unallocated and inbound-only numbers that should never originate traffic.

    iconectiv TruNumber Routing. In an interconnected, mobile-first world, number portability data is essential. TruNumber Routing provides accurate, port-corrected information from over 100 countries – including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay – ensuring that calls and messages are completed successfully and cost efficiently. By avoiding incorrect routing and expensive intermediaries, CSPs can enhance customer experience and protect their bottom line. The platform also supports precise rating by delivering current number plans and portability data for every market in its coverage area.

    iconectiv TruNumber Portability Clearinghouse. During the telephone number porting process, managing the complexity of forging bilateral agreements with multiple CSPs often results in delays, errors and miscommunications, as well as increased operational costs, which are passed onto the subscribers. TruNumber Portability Clearinghouse, already in use in Latin America, is a centralized system that simplifies the porting process while minimizing communications fraud and security concerns for CSPs, regulators and consumers. For instance, for more than a decade, iconectiv has been enabling customers in both Argentina and Chile to switch CSP without changing their phone number within their respective countries. The Fastmode

  • Data centers to drive infra securitizations past $110B

    Data centers to drive infra securitizations past $110B

    The market for securities backed by various digital infrastructure — including data centers — could grow about 46% by the end of next year to roughly $115 billion, according to Bank of America.

    Data centers account for 61% of the current $79 billion market for digital-infrastructure securitizations, according to BofA’s note. Fiber infrastructure makes up another 20% while cell towers are at 18%. The estimates take into account both asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

    Companies have been developing large data centers to help support demand for artificial intelligence, and banks as well as private lenders have been competing to underwrite such deals. Meta Platforms Inc. picked Pacific Investment Management Co. and Blue Owl Capital Inc. to lead a $29 billion deal for its data-center expansion in rural Louisiana. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, meanwhile, are leading a loan of more than $22 billion to support Vantage Data Centers’ plan to build a massive data-center campus, Bloomberg reported last week.

    Investors’ concerns about the development of data centers, cloud adoption and the path of investment in AI have been assuaged recently after major hyperscalers reported strong earnings, strategists including Chris Flanagan wrote in the note dated Aug. 22. The four big data-center developers in particular — Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. — disclosed higher cloud business revenues and reiterated plans for capital spending increases, BofA noted.

    Risk premiums on all three types of digital infrastructure ABS — data centers, fiber and cell towers — have tightened significantly over the past two years. While BofA strategists expect limited spread tightening going forward, they see such securitizations as offering attractive relative value compared to some other types of ABS. Bloomberg

  • India’s semiconductor market to cross $100B by 2030: IESA

    India’s semiconductor market to cross $100B by 2030: IESA

    India’s semiconductor market is poised for a transformational decade, with industry leaders projecting it to surpass $100 billion by 2030. According to a report by the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the country could cater to nearly 8–10% of global demand, amounting to $40 billion, if policy momentum and execution continue at pace.

    Ashok Chandak, President of IESA, highlighted that India has already made significant progress under the Semicon India programme but stressed that the sector requires long-term support.

    “It is very clear that the semiconductor industry is a long haul. One programme or a few years of efforts is just the beginning and a starting point… this programme needs to continue for an additional five to ten years minimum, so that it becomes more impactful and self-sustainable in the future,” he said.

    Chandak underlined that the next phase, dubbed “Semicon 2.0,” must expand its scope. “The previous one was $10 billion. Equal or more would be welcome, surely. And also the expectation is that this time, it could cover the wider range of topics, including the supply chains, particularly materials, chemicals, and gases.”

    On the design front, Chandak pointed out that India already accounts for nearly 20% of the global semiconductor design workforce. He noted that more than 300 institutes now have access to electronic design automation tools under the government’s design-linked incentive scheme, calling it “one of the world’s largest government-supported programmes.”

    Despite geopolitical uncertainties, Chandak maintained that India must adopt a balanced global approach.

    “No country is able to fulfil 100% of its value chain and demand on its own. We need to establish proof points by executing our currently announced projects… and build interdependence with multiple countries,” he said, citing active interest from global players in the upcoming Semicon India 2025 event.

    On capacity creation, Chandak revealed that 10 central government-approved projects and several state-supported initiatives are already underway. “All these projects put together, there is a capacity of about 80 million chips per day… at least three plants would be in pilot production this year,” he said, adding that full-scale operations could enable India to produce 70–72 million chips daily within the next two years. CNBCTV18