Operators in the United States will be among the first to launch 5G commercial services. The country's four major operators have publicly announced that they will begin providing 5G services between late 2018 and mid-2019.

RIL's telecom arm Reliance Jio today said it is looking at covering 99 per cent of India's population by the end of the current fiscal.

Abolishing it (income tax) means, the rate of savings should go up. The rate of savings goes up, investment goes up and therefore growth goes up. Therefore, indirect taxes will give you more than you lose by abolishing it, says Swamy.

The draft is divided into 3 broad areas: expanding the current telecom infrastructure, outlining plans for emerging technologies and data security.

The draft National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018 brought out late on Tuesday emphasises the need to optimally price crucial spectrum waves and simplify the process to acquire them and reduce levies to ease the burden of debt-ridden telcos which are struggling to survive.

The telecom policy is put in place to give all states, central agencies and other key players like the telecom companies and even start-ups a general idea of what can be expected from the government in the coming years.

The agreement capped four years of on-and-off talks between the third and fourth largest US wireless carriers, setting the stage for the creation of a company with 127 million customers that will be a more formidable competitor to the top two wireless players, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.

Telecom regulator TRAI had recommended that both E and V bands should be opened for backhaul with light touch regulation. The regulator had also suggested that the E-band airwaves should be given at Rs 10,000 per annum fee per slot of 250 megahertz (MHz) whereas the V-band airwaves should be charged at Rs 1,000 per annum for each 50 MHz slot.

Bharti Airtel is planning a stake sale in the new tower company that will be formed after the merger. The combination of the two companies' footprints will create a tower operator with the ability to offer the high-quality shared passive infrastructure services.

The numbers paint a rosy picture of the towers division and highlight the bleak situation at the core telecom business at the same time. For the financial year 2017/18, Bharti Infratel registered 8 per cent annual growth in revenues to Rs 14,490 crore.

Huawei to launch first 5G phone, 5G hotspot device in 2019; 4G availability improves in India, 4G speed remains stagnant; iPhone X generates 35% profit on its own in Q4 2017; Moto G6, G6 Plus, G6 Play to be launched and more in this episode of Tech Wrap with Vivek Punj.

Bharti Airtel has launched a new data pack that comes with a validity of 82 days and 2GB of daily limit per day. The new Airtel data pack is priced at Rs 499.