Telecom Watchdog, a consumer forum and a non-governmental organisation, has urged the Government to reject beleaguered operator Vodafone Idea Ltd’s (VIL) request for more time to pay dues of Rs 8,292 crore. The not-for-profit organisation has termed VIL’s request for one-year deferment to pay the dues as “illegal”, even as it called for a forensic audit of the firm’s last 10 years’ accounts. On its part, VIL had sought to deferment its dues owed to the Government to April 2023 from April 2022....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) offers multiple affordable options to its users looking for a postpaid mobile connection. If you are an individual who is looking for a postpaid mobile connection under Rs 500, you get two options from Vodafone Idea. The first entry-level plan comes for Rs 399, and the other one comes for Rs 499. Let’s check out the benefits of both these plans individually. Vodafone Idea Rs 399 Postpaid Plan Vodafone Idea offers its Rs 399 postpaid plan with 40GB of monthly data and a data rollover limit of 200GB....

In terms of tariffs, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has been following what Airtel does. Vi wanted the tariff hikes even more badly than Airtel; however, the cash-strapped telco couldn’t have done that without Airtel or Jio leading the way. Vi would have lost its subscriber market share very steeply, which is already the lowest amongst the private telcos. However, since now Airtel has already moved ahead with tariff hikes, we can see the same movement from Vodafone Idea....

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea’s Managing Director and CEO Ravinder Takkar said the telco is deploying 5G-ready equipment across the country. During the post-earnings investor call, Takkar said Vi’s network is 5G-ready, both on radio and core fronts. He mentioned that whenever the 5G ecosystem develops in India, Vi will rollout 5G services in the country, depending on the spectrum availability. Just a couple of weeks ago, Bharti Airtel said its network is 5G-ready and once the 5G spectrum is available in the country, it will start rolling out the next-generation technology....

Government Want to Protect Vodafone Idea Subscribers Vodafone Idea has to pay annual spectrum worth 1.7 billion dollars roughly. Also, after the two years moratorium period, the amount will extend to 2 billion dollars because of added interest. The Government is not planning to implement any strict regulations on Vodafone Idea and hamper the active 300 million Subscribers. Since a stable network is the prime need of the country right now, the Government is working with telcos to ensure seamless connectivity in stressful times....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has set up 50 new retail stores in rural Tamil Nadu. The third-largest telecom operator in the country is trying to add as many subscribers as possible to boost revenues. The new stores in Tamil Nadu is to boost the presence of the brand in the rural community. The company is also opening Vi stores in other states. Since the launch of the brand, this has been the most significant retail expansion activity undertaken by Vi....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) shares are surging this Friday morning ahead of the quarterly results that the company is expected to release in a few hours. Vodafone Idea, trading as Idea, opened at Rs 9.95 after closing for Rs 9.85 the previous trading day. The telco’s stock touched a high of Rs 10.35, but now at the time of writing, it is trading at Rs 10.15, which is still 3.05% in the green....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become the most talked-about telecom operator in India for the last few weeks. The telco’s uncertain future has people debating about what its next move should be to ensure survival. Due to all this, Vi’s stock had seen a major blow last week and had fallen under Rs 5. But on Monday, in the early trading session, telco’s stock is looking much better. As of the time of this writing, Vi’s share price is Rs 7....

Vodafone Idea (Vi) offers multiple prepaid plans with year-long validity to the users. But in the mix, there’s a prepaid plan that is built specifically for the people who are looking for a very pocket-friendly plan. Generally, even with 1.5GB daily data, the year-long prepaid plans tend to cost more than Rs 2,000. But here is Vodafone Idea, with its unique prepaid plan that brings 365 days of validity to the users for a very pocket-friendly cost....

Vodafone Wi-Fi Hotspot Data Quotas It is worth noting that almost all of the Vodafone Wi-Fi hotspots are in public places where people are most likely to be visiting in large groups. As part of these offerings, Vodafone is giving away 1GB of free Wi-Fi quota to both its prepaid and postpaid subscribers. If any subscriber needs to access more data, then they can do so by buying a Wi-Fi pack....

Things to Keep in Mind

Apart from Apple, there’s no other smartphone brand that plays in the ‘luxury’ market in India. Believe it or not, using an iPhone is more about the status that it offers than the features. Frankly, iPhones don’t have any unusual over the top feature for which someone needs to pay up to Rs 1.5 lakhs. But it is the brand value that supersedes everything, and users still pay for the severely overpriced products....

WhatsApp is a free, cross-platform messaging service that allows users to exchange text, photo, audio and video messages with others across the globe. WhatsApp is available on iPhone and Android smartphones as well as Mac and Windows PCs. A few months back, WhatsApp introduced the native macOS app, which is limited to some TestFlight beta users. In case you were unable to download the beta version of its new native software through the TestFlight App, WhatsApp has now made the beta version of its macOS early-beta programme available for download on the company’s official website....

WhatsApp is including a new security feature that would enable users to shield their accounts from prospective scammers. The function is currently being developed and is referred to as Login Approval, according to a feature tracker. The two-step verification function that the instant messaging platform presently provides will be enhanced by this. With this function, users of WhatsApp can get notifications when someone logs in from a different smartphone. According to recent reports, WhatsApp is planning to make it possible to see previous group members on iOS....

WhatsApp Pay, a tool inside WhatsApp mobile application for the users to send money to each other via UPI’s platform, has registered a big growth in the volume of transactions and the amount transacted in June 2022. Since the start of the year, WhatsApp’s growth in the UPI space has been negligible. The growth curve was mostly flat for both the volume of transactions as well as the amount transacted....

“If you choose to search an image, WhatsApp will alert you that it will be uploaded to Google after which WhatsApp will open the browser to show the results,” WABetaInfo reported on Friday. The feature would help users understand if the news is real or fake. “When you receive an image, you can try to search it on the web and read information related to that image on the web,” the report said....

End to End Encryption As concerns around the world about privacy and tech companies were growing, WhatsApp gained the trust of its users by implementing the End-to-End encryption on its platform. This move ensured that the messages sent by the user were not intercepted in between and were only decrypted when they reached the intended recipient’s phone. The introduction of this feature ensured that the user’s data was in safe hands and that WhatsApp was not misusing it....

WhatsApp is going to be redesigned very soon. The social media application is working on bringing new colours and changing the user interface (UI) of the application very slightly. WhatsApp has kept on evolving with features over the years, but the company hasn’t paid a lot of attention to the design of the application. But not anymore; a new report from WABetaInfo suggests that for the Android version of the application, WhatsApp will be bringing subtle changes to the UI and colours....

Currently, in India, Wi-Fi signals move through the unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrum bands. But very soon, more spectrum in the V-bands and 6 GHz band might be available for Wi-Fi networks in the country. AK Tiwari, Member - Technology, Digital Communications Commission, at a virtual workshop by the ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI), said the Indian government is currently considering and discussing the use of 6 GHz and V-band spectrum for Wi-Fi in India....

Recently, Huami confirmed that the Mi Band 5 would be launched later this year. If you don’t know, Huami and Xiaomi together develop the Mi Bands. Now, an image has surfaced on the internet, which shows the watch has a punch-hole camera. However, there is no surety about this yet. These images are authentic or not; no one knows. But if the pictures shared are real, then it is clear that the Mi Band 5 will come with substantial upgrades over its predecessors....