TelecomLive April-2020

Covid-19 www.telecomlive.com 24 Telecom LIVE April 2020 of 2020 as the Covid-19 situation hopefully improves and 5G plans pick up pace globally. The IDC report suggests that small and medium enterprises in the phone industry, especially retail channel partners, will be severely affected. However, there is an opportunity for phone vendors that can effectively help retail channels and other partners recover and re-consolidate after the epidemic is over. In India, after seeing the Covid- 19 outbreak in China, the suppli- ers of iPhones and other handset brands are running low at shops. Apple is the worst hit with many stores saying the iPhone 11 series has almost dried up as have some models of the Apple Watch, though the supplies of the locally manufactured iPhone XR and 7 are not impacted. Xiaomi, TCL and Realme phones are the other brands who also got hit. While plants have resumed operations in China, they are functioning at about 35-50 pc of capacity. As a result, the prices of some components have already risen, forcing manufacturers to increase the prices of TVs, smartphones and ACs by 5-10 pc. With the decline in smartphone market, slash in marketing spends by the smartphone brands is estimated at 70 pc. Most of the advertisements for latest product launches would go to digital platforms such as video streaming apps which are seeing most traction these days. Out-of-home advertisements such as billboards, hoardings and transits are already blank. following the outbreak of Covid- 19, will lead to a 2.3 pc decline in the global smartphone market, with shipments seen over 1.3 billion units. Smartphone sales in the first half of 2020 are expected to fall 10.6 pc yoy. While China will take the biggest hit, other major geogra- phies will feel the hit from supply chain disruptions. Component shortages, factory shutdowns, quarantine mandates, logistics and travel restrictions will create hindrances for smartphone vendors to produce handsets and rollout new devices. IDC expects that the smartphone market is likely to bounce back in 2021 with 5G smartphones fuelling growth. It also expects that market will likely stabilize beginning third quarter Vodafone Idea Ltd has also taken similar steps as taken by Airtel. Reliance Jio Reliance Jio said it will provide Basic JioFibre broadband connec- tivity (10 Mbps) wherever it is geo- graphically feasible, without any service charges, for this lockdown period. Company will also provide home gateway routers with a mini- mum refundable deposit. JioFibre broadband customers are required to pay Rs 2,500 at the time of installation. Of which, Rs 1,500 is refundable at the time of surren- dering the connection. Jio will provide double-data across its 4G data add-on vouch- ers. It will also bundle non-Jio voice calling minutes in these vouchers at no additional cost, to meet the increased need of these services. Jio said that it is combining its digital capabilities with Microsoft Teams, the unified communication and collaboration hub for team- work in Office 365, to enable indi- viduals, students, educational and healthcare institutions to continue their professional lives while still practicing social distancing. Airtel Airtel announced special mea- sures to assist low income group customers impacted by the Covid- 19 crisis. It has extended the pre- paid pack validity for over 80 million customers till April 17, 2020. All these customers will continue to get incoming calls on their mobile numbers even after the validity of their plan is exhausted. The company will also credit an additional Rs 10 of talk time in the pre-paid accounts of all these 80 million customers to enable them to make calls or send SMS and therefore stay connected with their loved ones. These 80 million customers effectively cover all under- privileged households on Airtel Network. These special measures will particularly benefit migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to combat Covid-19. Apart from this, the telco also enabled 'Free' access to thousands of titles on its e-books platform – Juggernaut Books (formerly known as Airtel Books) for all its customers. BSNL BSNL announced free broad- band service to all citizens across the country who have BSNL landline and do not have any broadband. The scheme is also applicable for new customers and after amonth of usage, all the subscribers will bemoved to paid plans. New customers opting for copper cable based connection will not have to pay even installa- tion charges but will need to buy modem for the service. But, cus- tomers opting for optical fibre connectivity will have to pay the installation charge. BSNL cus- tomers can apply for the connec- tion over phone. On traditional copper lines, the speed is slow. But, on fiber, which is provided in selective places, mostly under PPP mode, the data speed as well as quality is good. MTNL MTNL is offering double data in all broadband plans of land- line and mobile for a month in Delhi and Mumbai. It has also announced free broadband ser- vice for its landline and new cus- tomers for amonth. Box-A: Consumer centric announcements by Telecom Operators & ISPs