Airtel announces closure of spectrum trading agreement with Jio

NEW DELHI, Aug 13: Telecommunications company Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the closure of its spectrum trading agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) to transfer the ‘Right to Use’ of Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in three circles to Jio.

Airtel said that the company has received ₹1,004.8 crore (net of tax) from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs. 469.3 crores relating to the spectrum, it said in the exchange filing.

In April, Airtel had announced a spectrum trading agreement with Reliance Jio. The company entered an agreement with Reliance Industries' telecom subsidiary Jio to transfer the ‘Right to Use’ of Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) to Jio. The agreement was subject to statutory approvals.

“Through this agreement, Airtel will receive a consideration of ₹1037.6 crores from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of ₹459 crores relating to the spectrum," the Sunil Mittal-led telco had announced in a release on April 6.

“The sale of the 800 MHz blocks in these three circles has enabled us to unlock value from spectrum that was unutilised. This is aligned to our overall network strategy,'' Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel had said in the statement.

Shares of Bharti Airtel were trading more than 2% higher at ₹636 per share in Friday's afternoon deals on the BSE.

In Setback to ISRO, Mission GSLV-F10 Fails

BENGALURU, Aug 12: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)’s geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) failed to put the EOS-3 earth observation satellite into orbit early on Thursday.

"GSLV-F10 launch took place today at 0543 Hrs IST as scheduled. Performance of first and second stages was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly. The mission couldn't be accomplished as intended," the ISRO tweeted.

The GSLV-F10 rocket carrying earth observation satellite EOS-03 blasted off from the spaceport, Indian Space Research Organisation said on Thursday. The launching event is the second one this year for the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency after the launch of Brazil's earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 and 18 co-passenger satellites in February this year.

As the 26-hour countdown for Thursday's launch concluded, the 51.70-metre tall rocket lifted off majestically at 05.43 am from the second launch pad at this spaceport. The earth observation satellite would provide real-time images of the country and also be able to quickly monitor natural disasters.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Watch 4 Classic Launched

SEOUL, Aug 11: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 features a starting price of $249.99 (Roughly Rs 18,560), while the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic starts from $349.99 (Roughly Rs 26,990). The LTE version of the Galaxy Watch 4 starts from $299.99 (Roughly Rs 22,300), while the Galaxy Watch 4 Class LTE version starts from $399.99 (Roughly Rs 29,700).

All Galaxy Watch 4 series models are available in Black and Silver colour options, while the vanilla Watch 4 (40mm) also gets Pink and Gold colour options. Additionally, a special rhodium-plated Galaxy Watch 4 Classic Thom Browne limited edition will be available in late September.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is available in two screen sizes – 40mm and 44mm. The 40mm dial features a 1.19-inch AMOLED display with a 396x396 pixels resolution, while the 44mm model has a 1.36-inch AMOLED screen with a 450x450 pixels resolution. The Galaxy Watch 4 boasts an aluminium case.

The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic is also available in two sizes – 42mm and 46mm. The 42mm variant features a 1.19-inch display, while the 46mm variant boasts a 1.36-inch display. The Watch 4 Class also features a rotating bezel that can be used to navigate through the menus.

The Galaxy Watch 4 series will feature a new Exynos W920 chipset. The chip is built on the 5nm EUV process and is equipped with two ARM Cortex-A55 cores and an ARM Mali-G68 GPU. The chip is paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

The Galaxy Watch 4 series comes with Snoring Detection, SpO2 tracking, and Sleep Score features. It also boasts a Body Composition feature that offers insights on the Body Mass Index (BMI), Fat Mass, Skeletal Muscle, and more. The Galaxy Watch 4 series also features a new BioActive sensor that does the job of three health sensors including an Optical Heart Rate Sensor, ECG and BioElectrical Impedance Analysis Sensor.

On the software front, the Watch 4 series runs on the latest version of Google’s Wear OS with One UI Watch on top. The operating system also comes with Google, Samsung, and third-party apps. The Galaxy Watch 4 packs a 247 mAh battery, while the Watch 4 Class uses a 361 mAh battery. Both the new Samsung smartwatches offer up to 40 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours of juice on a 30-minute charge.

Connectivity options include LTE , Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, and more. The Galaxy Watch 4 series is 5ATM + IP68 water-resistant and features MIL-STD-810G certification. Both smartwatches feature Always-on displays, while the screens are protected by Corning Gorilla with Glass DX.

Samsung unveils new foldable smartphones

SEOUL, Aug 11: Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest high-end foldable smartphones on Wednesday with lower prices than last year's offerings in a push to expand foldable demand beyond niche devices.

The tech giant priced its 5G-enabled Galaxy Z Fold3 with 7.6-inch main screen to start at $1,799.99 in the United States, and clamshell Galaxy Z Flip3 at $999.99 - down from the launch prices of last year's models at $1,999 and $1,380, respectively.

The Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 will launch on August 27 starting in markets such as the United States and Europe.

Foldable phones, with about 8.6 million units expected to be shipped this year, are expected to account for just 0.6% of estimated 1.447 billion smartphones to be shipped.

However, that is more than double the 3 million foldables shipped in 2020, and Samsung will lead the market with over 88% market share, according to Counterpoint Research.

Samsung also unveiled new smartwatches and earbuds on Wednesday with fresh designs and functions. Brisk sales of such high-margin accessories have added to the mobile division's profitability in recent quarters.

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