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India’s Zero-Tax AI and Cloud Exports Through 2047

India’s Zero-Tax AI and Cloud Exports Through 2047
New Delhi has unveiled a sweeping tax holiday to capture the next wave of AI and cloud build-outs, positioning India as a long-term base for exporting compute. Foreign providers that deliver cloud and data center services to customers outside India will pay zero corporate tax on those revenues through 2047, provided workloads run from facilities in India. The budget also introduces a 15% cost-plus safe harbor for Indian data center units serving related foreign parties, simplifying transfer pricing for global delivery hubs. For cloud providers, it strengthens the business case to place GPU clusters, storage, and interconnect in India to serve overseas demand, not just local workloads.

Ericsson layoffs continue as 5G RAN demand cools

Ericsson layoffs continue as 5G RAN demand cools
CEO Börje Ekholm indicated the company will keep trimming headcount after cutting roughly 5,000 positions over the last year. In Sweden, Ericsson has notified authorities and begun union talks that could affect about 1,600 roles, part of a multi‑year restructuring program. The move follows a 2023 plan to remove around 8,500 jobs worldwide—about 8% of its workforce—with further reductions last year in markets such as Spain and Canada. The rationale remains consistent: reset the cost base, protect profitability, and keep investment firepower for strategic bets amid a slower operator capex cycle.

Google AI Plus under $5 in India vs ChatGPT Go

Google AI Plus under $5 in India vs ChatGPT Go
Google has introduced a sharply priced AI Plus subscription in India to push generative AI into the mass market and counter OpenAI’s ChatGPT Go. The AI Plus plan launches at ₹199 per month for new users for six months, then moves to ₹399 per month. The bundle raises usage limits for Gemini 3 Pro, unlocks video generation within Google’s apps, expands NotebookLM’s “deep research” capabilities, and adds 200GB of storage across Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail. Family sharing is included, signaling a household-centric growth strategy.

Jio IPO: Tariff Hike Timing, Airtel RMS, 5G Outlook

Jio 2026 IPO: Impact on 5G, Capex, ARPU, and India’s Digital Market
Reliance Jio’s path to a mid-2026 IPO is increasingly intertwined with the timing and magnitude of India’s next mobile tariff hike. Domestic brokers argue Jio has a tactical reason to push back on near-term tariff increases: hikes tend to accelerate Bharti Airtel’s revenue market share (RMS) gains more than Jio’s, narrowing the lead at the worst possible time for an IPO. Airtel has been the key beneficiary of previous price actions, chipping away at Jio’s RMS advantage by almost two percentage points since mid-2024. On current assumptions, Jio is informally pegged around $153 billion, implying an EV/EBITDA multiple near the low teens.

Satellite connectivity drives telco churn and ARPU: Viasat Report

Satellite connectivity drives telco churn and ARPU
New consumer research commissioned by Viasat and executed by GSMA Intelligence signals that non-terrestrial networks (NTN) are becoming a mainstream buying factor for mobile subscribers. The survey of more than 12,000 smartphone users across 12 countries finds persistent coverage gaps: over a third of respondents lose basic cellular service multiple times per month. That pain point is translating into intent. Roughly six in ten consumers say they would pay extra for satellite-enabled connectivity on their phones, and nearly half indicate they would switch operators if out‑of‑coverage service were included in their plan. On average, those willing to pay would accept a 5–7% uplift on their current monthly bill, with outliers such as India approaching a 9% premium.

India’s DoT spectrum sharing rules for 5G

INDIA NEARS POSITION AS TOP TWO GLOBAL 5G ECOSYSTEM: MINISTER ASHWINI VAISHNAW
The Indian government has floated draft rules that refine how mobile operators can share spectrum, aiming to boost spectral efficiency and accelerate 5G expansion under the new telecommunications regulatory framework. The draft rules seek to formalize spectrum sharing under the new regime, giving operators a clearer pathway to pool or share spectrum holdings while ensuring compliance with license conditions. In practical terms, telcos would gain a more predictable mechanism to use underutilized spectrum, improve coverage, and optimize capacity without always resorting to new auctions or heavy capex.

India SIM binding mandate for messaging apps

India SIM binding mandate for messaging apps
India’s Department of Telecommunications has ordered major messaging apps to implement continuous SIM binding and frequent web re-authentication to curb fraud, with compliance expected in early 2026. The directive applies to app-based communication platforms that use mobile numbers as identifiers, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Snapchat, ShareChat, JioChat, Josh, and regional players like Arattai. Apps must continuously verify that the SIM linked to the registered number is present and active on the device, not just at account setup. Additionally, web sessions (e.g., WhatsApp Web) must auto-logout every six hours, forcing users to re-link via QR code.

India 6 GHz Spectrum: Wi‑Fi vs IMT Showdown

SPECTRUM CONTROVERSY THE ROLE OF THE 6 GHZ BAND IN INDIA’S TELECOMMUNICATIONS FUTURE
A high-stakes policy fight has emerged in India over the 6 GHz band, pitting global device and cloud ecosystems against mobile operators over whether the band should power unlicensed Wi‑Fi or licensed mobile (IMT) networks. Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Meta, HP, and Intel have jointly urged India’s regulator, TRAI, to reserve the full 6 GHz range for Wi‑Fi, arguing the band is not technically or commercially ready for IMT and that unlicensed use will deliver immediate, widespread capacity benefits. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have countered that delicensing upper 6 GHz would permanently foreclose India’s option to deploy wide‑area licensed broadband in prime mid‑band spectrum.

6G Spectrum: Why Mid-Band Decisions Can’t Wait

6G Spectrum: Why Mid-Band Decisions Can’t Wait
Policy choices over the next two years will set the capacity ceiling for 6G-era services through the 2030s. Mobile traffic is overwhelmingly urban, concentrated in a small fraction of national land areas and rising fastest in very dense zones. The GSMA’s new Vision 2040 analysis concludes these levers will not keep pace with demand growth on their own. The modeling indicates countries will need, on average, 2–3 GHz of total mid-band assigned for mobile by 2035–2040 to meet peak urban demand; higher-demand markets trend toward 2.5–4 GHz. Crucially, about 2 GHz needs to be operational by 2030 to avoid early congestion as 6G arrives.

India 5G to hit 1B subscribers by 2031: Ericsson’s Mobility Report

Indian Telecom Operators Raise Tariffs After Three Years
India’s 5G market has entered a scale phase, with momentum pointing to more than a billion subscribers and deeper network modernization over the next six years. Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report projects over 1 billion 5G subscriptions in India by end-2031, representing about 79% of the country’s mobile base. Average mobile data usage per active smartphone in India stands near 36 GB per month and is forecast to approach 65 GB per month by 2031. Two demand-side levers stand out: affordable 5G devices and expanding Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), accelerating mainstream adoption and opening a credible substitute to wired broadband in underserved areas.

Jio 5G opens free 18‑month Google Gemini Pro

Jio 5G opens free 18‑month Google Gemini Pro
Reliance Jio has widened its Google AI bundle from a youth-focused offer to a network-wide benefit, signaling that AI services are becoming core to 5G monetization in India. Jio is extending a complimentary 18‑month subscription to Google’s premium AI plan—marketed around access to Gemini 3—to every Jio customer on an Unlimited 5G plan. The bundle centers on expanded access to Google’s latest Gemini experience, AI‑assisted features in Gmail and Docs, 2 TB of cloud storage across Photos, Drive, and Gmail, video generation powered by Google’s Veo technology, NotebookLM at elevated limits, and developer tooling such as Gemini Code Assist and Gemini CLI.
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