airtel • Nuclear Bits

Vodafone India's BGP Hijack Takes Down Several Global Networks

Ax Sharma, writing for BleepingComputer:

A large BGP routing leak that occurred last night disrupted the connectivity for thousands of major networks and websites around the world.
Although the BGP routing leak occurred in Vodafone’s autonomous network (AS55410) based in India, it has impacted U.S. companies, including Google, according to sources.

You should also read Anurag Bhatia’s fantastic analysis here.

Time and again, these companies prove that initiatives like this one and this one need to be taken a lot more seriously for the Internet to become a better place.

April 19, 2021 ✚ Permalink

Airtel Opens Pre-Orders for iPhone XR in India

Airtel India has today launched pre-orders for the new Apple iPhone XR on the Airtel Online Store. The phones will start shipping on October 26th, just in time for the Diwali festivities.

The iPhone XR can be purchased from the Airtel Online Store in two ways — either at Full Price or in Easy Installments with an Airtel Postpaid connection.

If you opt for Easy Installments, you can grab the 64GB iPhone XR model with a one-time down payment of ₹14,999 and then monthly payments of ₹3499. This takes the effective price of the phone to almost ₹99,999. As part of the Postpaid connection, you get:

100 GB Data per month
Netflix for 3 months
Amazon Prime
Free Handset Damage Protection
Unlimited Calling

If you are looking to purchase an iPhone XR this year, but are unable to purchase one using your banking finance options, this is a good option for you to consider. Unfortunately, though, the pricing set by Airtel is much higher compared to the other phone models available on the Online Store.

October 19, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Airtel Starts Offering Complimentary Amazon Prime Membership for its Postpaid and V-Fiber Customers

Airtel — one of the largest telecom operators in India — has started offering complimentary Amazon Prime memberships to its postpaid and broadband customers in the country. Airtel and Amazon have partnered to offer these free Prime memberships to Airtel customers who’re either subscribed to the company’s Infinity Postpaid plans or are using Airtel’s V-Fiber broadband services.

For Airtel Postpaid customers, you can claim this complimentary benefit if you’re subscribed to a Infinity postpaid plan of ₹499 or higher. For Airtel V-Fiber broadband customers, you need to be on a ₹849 or higher plan to be eligible for the complimentary one-year membership to Amazon Prime.

Unfortunately, Amazon users who already have an existing Prime memberships cannot take advantage of this offer, as the offer is valid for new users only.

To claim the offer, you need to download the Airtel TV app available for iOS and Android and click on the banner in the app. You’ll be asked to sign into your Amazon account, or you can sign up for a new Amazon too.

This offer is not currently available for Airtel’s Prepaid customers.

January 12, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Airtel Removes 1,000 Retailers from Network for Flouting Norms

People familiar with the matter said the company levied a penalty of around 50 times the commission paid on several retailers who violated the guidelines for the first time, and removed repeat offenders from the network besides imposing a fine on them.

This is in response to the massive Aadhaar-related fraud that came to light a few weeks ago.

[…] UIDAI imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 crore on Airtel for allegedly opening payment bank accounts for its mobile subscribers without consent. The report also notes that Airtel routed the LPG subsidies of 31 lakh users (payments worth Rs 190 crore) to their Airtel payment bank accounts instead of the beneficiaries’ original bank accounts.

It still boggles my mind all the crazy shit that Aadhaar has enabled to happen, so easily.

January 8, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Airtel’s ‘myHome Rewards’ Program Gives Free Data to its Brand Loyal Customers

Bharti Airtel has today announced a new ‘myHome Rewards‘ program for its broadband customers. A first of its kind offer from the company, Airtel Broadband customers who also subscribe to an additional Airtel service connection will get FREE additional data benefits added to their account.

Starting today, all Airtel Broadband customers who also own either an Airtel Postpaid connection or Airtel DTH subscription will get 5GB of FREE Data added to their broadband account per month. The 5GB data is offered per service connection, so for example, if you have three different Airtel postpaid connections, you’ll get 15GB of additional data for Free every month.

Speaking about myHome Rewards, Hemant Kumar Guruswamy, CEO — Home, Bharti Airtel (India) said,

At Airtel, it is our constant endeavor to delight our customers with great products and services. As a further step in this direction, we are very excited to launch myHome Rewards today. This is a gesture from us to thank our broadband customers for giving us an opportunity to serve them. Along with the unlimited free calling benefit on our landline, customers can now make the most of their Airtel broadband with the free additional data benefits.

To claim these benefits, customers can visit myHome Rewards website or download the myAirtel app for iOS or Android.

Airtel myHome Rewards

I have been an Airtel Broadband customer for almost 10 years now and this new announcement fills me with excitement. Who wouldn’t welcome 20GB of Free Data per month, right?

However, I have downgraded from from the ₹2799/mon plan to the ₹550/mon plan and merely use my Airtel Broadband connection as a backup service, simply because Airtel has refused to keep up with newer broadband standards and even in 2016, still offers DSL-only plans in my area with a maximum speed of 8Mbps. I’ve been waiting for their FTTH plans for years now, but those don’t seem to be on their roadmap yet.

August 10, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Airtel Seeks TRAI Nod Before Deal with Video Content Provider

Trying to avoid any controversy on net neutrality, Bharti Airtel on Monday has written to the telecom regulator seeking its permission for a deal the company is mulling with a “big global content provider” for video content.

Airtel might just be at it again, but are playing it cautious this time.

April 25, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Bharti Airtel files FIR against former employee for stealing confidential data to aid Reliance Jio

Romit Guha, reporting for ETtech:

“(Yasir Majid) after having been relieved from the services of the company (Airtel), took up employment with M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd…It thus became evident that the said Mr Yasir Majid downloaded, copied and extracted the aforementioned confidential financial data/information of the company for his own use and the use thereof by his current employer M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., who is a business competitor of the company,” said the first information report (FIR) filed by the police, a copy of which was viewed by ET.

and…

Data that were unauthorisedly transferred included details of locations of Airtel’s base stations used to transmit airwaves and plans for future installations of such equipment, “highly confidential” financial information about the company’s BTS wise activation gross revenue details for the Jammu & Kashmir service area and a power point presentation used at the zonal business manager’s meeting on February 15.

June 25, 2015 ✚ Permalink

Airtel 4G Trials Launched in Mumbai

Airtel on Saturday officially rolled out 4G LTE trials in the Mumbai on Band 40, 2300MHz using the TD-LTE technology. The company has previously rolled out its 4G services in 23 other cities and over the weekend, it has also added Chennai, Hyderabad & Vishakhpatnam along with Mumbai to its list.

Existing and New Airtel customers with 4G compatible mobile handsets can upgrade their existing SIM cards to newer 4G U-SIMs for Free by visiting any nearest Airtel gallery or by ordering one from their website at http://airtel.in/4g. You can also check whether your handset & SIM are ready for the 4G network by visiting this page and entering your mobile number there.

(more…)

May 19, 2015 ✚ Permalink