56 Percent Smartphone Users in India Have No Data Access at Least Once a Day: Survey

Despite the massive growth in mobile data usage in the past eight months in India, 56 percent of smartphone users have no access to Internet at least once a day, a new report said on Monday.

According to a report compiled by True Balance mobile app, the data connectivity environment is still poor, leading to devices being exposed to offline environment on large.

"We have found that across India, the connections are patchy and users often find gaps in network coverage depending on their location,"said Alex Suh, General Director of Data Analysis, True Balance, in a statement. "This is why despite the mobile data usage in the country increasing significantly, there is still prevalence of users found experiencing offline state in a day. While the data connectivity issue has improved considerably since last year, there is still scope to address the main issues behind poor connectivity and get these numbers further down."

Jio Phone Launch in Pictures

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company's annual general meeting on Friday announced the hotly anticipated JioPhone, which will be 'effectively free'. Ambani referred to the JioPhone as 'India ka Smartphone' that will bridge the digital divide and bring about 'digital freedom' in India. Let us walk you through the major announcements made at the RIL AGM 2017 in pictures.

Contrary to the earlier reports of JioPhone price being between Rs. 499 and Rs. 1,500, Mukesh Ambani surprised everyone with JioPhone's 'effective price' of Rs. 0.

Reliance Jio vs Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Aircel – The Best Data, Calling Plans You Can Buy Today

Reliance Jio, which claims to be the world's largest mobile data network, continues to bring about paradigm shifts in the Indian telecom market. Just last week, it launched new plans and revised the old plans to offer more data, and is widely expected to launch the rumoured 4G VoLTE-enabled Jio feature phone in a couple of days. With such sweeping changes afoot, telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, BSNL, and Aircel have launched several plans with bundled data and calls. We take a quick look at the best data and talk value offers launched by all the major telcos since the Jio Summer Surprise offer was launched.

Reliance Jio

With its launch in September last year, Reliance Jio revealed the Jio Welcome Offer, with free data, calling, SMS, and app services to customers. While the operator claims calling will remain free on its VoLTE network, its promotional launch offer for free data, SMS, and app services was extended for another three-months from January with the Happy New Year offer. Reliance Jio started its paid services in April, and alongside also introduced the three month Jio Summer Surprise offer for customers who purchase the Jio Prime membership - at Rs. 99 - valid until March 2018.

BSNL Asks Broadband Users to Change Passwords After Malware Attack Affects 2,000 Modems

State-owned telecom operator BSNL on Thursday said it has advised broadband users to change the default system password after a section of its broadband system was hit by a malware attack earlier this week.The malware attack impacted nearly 2,000 broadband modems, where subscribers had not changed default password "admin".

"The situation has been addressed to a great extent. We are advising customers that they should immediately change their passwords, and they should not be worried about using broadband once they have done that," BSNL Chairman Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.He said that the malware has not impacted BSNL's core network, billing or any other system.