The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has granted permission to cable operators to hike rates of cable TV in non-digitised areas. Starting mid-April, the hike will be passed on to consumers, mainly in non-metros and small towns, in two phases. “Based on the rise in the wholesale price index (WPI) over the last five years and considering the other relevant factors, the authority has come to a conclusion that overall 27.5 per cent inflation hike is to be allowed,” a TRAI statement said.

Trai says the operators are required to appoint the auditor by 30 Apr for the audit of metering and billing system for financial year 2014-15. Trai said though the service providers are free to engage any auditor from the notified panel, they shall not engage an audit agency consecutively for more than two years. “They shall also not engage an audit agency, which is currently their statutory auditor or internal auditor or concurrent auditor or has been engaged as consultant,” Trai said.

According to the recent Avendus Report, India has more than 160 million active internet users, of which 86 million access internet using their mobile devices. This also means that 46 per cent of the country relies on accessing the internet through broadband connections either from their home or office. With 12.6 per cent of the population accessing internet in the country, India ranked 145th among the countries with the percentage of individuals using the internet.

With prices of 3G enabled mobile handsets falling coupled with availability of more spectrum in the segment, India is likely to witness a data explosion which hitherto contributes only 10 per cent of the revenue, a top Ericsson official has said. "That's the big opportunity here. 10 per cent of revenue on average is from data, 90 per cent is still voice. I think there's a big opportunity there for data", Head of Region India, Ericsson, Chris Houghton said.