The Indian telecom industry is neck-deep in trouble. Vodafone Idea is almost sunk and Airtel’s boss Sunil Mittal has been calling for a tariff hike for a while. And while Jio is perhaps the only one not under stress, if its competition were to collapse all of a sudden, the company alone does not have the build to handle the influx of new customers. The govt that is proposing to create a “floor price” for services. Competition may have just killed competition.
Tag Archives: covid india
August 10 – Smoking Up
Code Red! That is what the first of the many IPCC reports on the present climate science is calling the situation right now. The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850. The temperature is likely to breach 1.5degC warming from pre-industrial levels by 2040 and heatwaves and droughts are going to be more severe. A sliver of hope: Drop fossil fuels now and we could prevent it breaching 2degC.
August 9 – A Parrot’s Help
Another Olympics has come and gone with the US once again topping the charts with the most gold medals and medals. China, with 38 golds, was in the lead for most of the Games until the last day when US ended with 39 golds. India was 48th. Next stop for the Games is the City of Light – Paris!
August 8 – A Win to Reflect
Sometimes victory blinds us to the truth and that should not happen. Neeraj Chopra’s epic performance has given a reason to cheer. But just two months ago, his celebrated coach, Uwe Hohn, had said Indian athletes’ preparations for the Olympics were not up to the mark. In fact, he seemed to suggest that the set up almost scuttled Chopra, and that he was unhappy with his contract. Even stories of other Olympians show the incredible hardships they have to face.
August 7 – Step Backs, Stumbling Blocks
Apple’s move to introduce a software that will scan users’ phone for child abuse content has come in for much criticism. While the intention is good, the company now suspects every customer. Worse, it could also be a backdoor for the govt to enter. So much for privacy.
August 5- An Exodus of Tolerance
200 million hat’s how many people have been infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus till date. Deaths are over 4.2 million. These numbers are gross underestimates. And there is so much we still don’t know about the virus.
August 3 – Vi, bye bye?
“You and I… in this beautiful world”. Those words are enough to invoke memories of Cheek the pug following a boy around. The image is of one of the most successful ad campaigns, run by Hutch in the early 2000s. Since then, the group has changed hands and is now known as Vi. But for how much longer? Aditya Birla group now says it is willing to give it up to the govt to keep the company afloat.
August 2- The writing on the wall
It’s like deja vu. Although for scientists this may seem like fears coming true. More fires are being reported in Europe as Italy, Spain and Greece fall victim. And the EU says this year’s fires have been more destructive than before. In Afghanistan, after the Taliban, it’s the floods that is killing more people – 113 in the last count. Climate crisis, indeed.
July 30 – Salavaging Parliament; Biden’s $100 offer
How old is animal life? How did it look like? A new paper published in the journal Nature says it may have found an answer – in an 890 million years old fossil of a sponge. Yes, your bath sponge could be a descendant of one of them! Of course, this has generated debate and it may well be proved otherwise later. But a sponge, imagine!
July 29 – Taliban on Top Of The Mind
The US love affair with guns is a strange thing for the rest of the world. Remington, a gun maker facing bankruptcy and the country’s oldest is offering $3mn to each of the nine families who lost a member in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.
News Of Today 