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The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is currently testing anti-deepfake technology to combat the malicious use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in scamming unsuspecting individuals. Recently, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, shared a shocking account of an AI-driven scam that targeted his company.

At the NVIDIA AI Summit in Mumbai, a source familiar with CERT-In’s efforts confirmed that the agency is actively testing this anti-deepfake technology. “The technology will not only detect deepfakes but will also support prosecution of such offenders in a court of law.”

Referring to the Airtel Chairman’s experience, the source added, “The software can detect fake audio as well as video, which will aid in combating fake news that stirs public alarm. MeitY immediately takes down such videos in collaboration with social media intermediaries.”

One recent case involved SP Oswal, Chairman of Vardhman Group, who lost ₹7 crore after scammers, posing as government officials and using fake documents along with virtual settings, persuaded him to transfer funds.

The Election Commission expressed serious concerns about Deepfake AI and warned of strict action against those spreading fake narratives. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar warned of strict measures against those using Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes to spread misinformation about elections. 

In December 2023, CERT-In issued an advisory informing citizens about the rising use of AI and deepfake technology by scammers. According to the advisory, scammers harvest social media profiles and other websites to gather videos, photos, and other personal details, then create convincing deepfakes that mimic real voices and faces of the victims’ friends or family. These deepfakes are used in schemes like fake kidnapping or ransom calls, creating urgency to coerce victims into sending money, often in the form of gift cards or cryptocurrency.

In November 2023, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government would begin drafting regulations specifically for deepfakes. After consultations with multiple stakeholders and platforms, Vaishnaw stated, “We will start drafting the regulations today, and very soon, we will have specific regulations for deepfakes.”

These forthcoming regulations are anticipated to include penalties for creating or sharing deepfakes and may also establish guidelines to help users identify deepfake content.

Additionally, Google has partnered with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to share crucial voting information via Google Search and YouTube. Google also announced its support of Shakti, The India Election Fact-Checking Collective, and joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) as a steering committee member. C2PA is a global standards organization dedicated to certifying the authenticity of digital content.

Meta, in collaboration with the Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), launched a dedicated WhatsApp helpline to tackle AI-driven misinformation, particularly deepfakes. Furthering its consumer education efforts, Meta also rolled out initiatives like the ‘Know What’s Real’ campaign on WhatsApp and Instagram to educate users on recognizing and reporting suspicious content.

MeitY's CERT-In trials anti-deepfake tech to combat AI-driven scams

Bharti Airtel recently announced changes to its leadership team, as the telecom company plans to separate its Direct-to-Home (DTH) and entertainment units as part of a new restructuring strategy. Airtel will also establish customer experience as a standalone function.

Airtel has appointed Shashwat Sharma as the next Managing Director & CEO, while Gopal Vittal will transition to the role of Executive Vice Chairman. These changes will take effect on January 1, 2026.

In his role as CEO designate, Sharma will oversee the entire end-to-end consumer business. Vittal will focus on mentoring and preparing Sharma for his transition to MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel Ltd.

According to media reports, Airtel’s restructuring will separate DTH from the converged entertainment category, creating two distinct areas: Connected Homes—which will include Broadband and Converged Entertainment—and DTH.

The Connected Homes division will aim to drive rapid growth and competitiveness, while the DTH unit will focus on achieving world-class efficiency and competitiveness.

Additionally, Airtel will establish Customer Experience as an independent function. Shivan Bhargava will be appointed as the Director of Customer Experience and will lead this unit.

Siddharth Sharma, currently the CEO of DTH, will be appointed Director of Marketing and CEO of Connected Homes. Pushpinder Gujral, currently CEO of the Upper North region, will take on the role of CEO and Director of DTH.

Amit Tripathi, currently the Director of Marketing and Customer Experience, will become Director of Market Operations, overseeing all regional circles and distribution strategy.

Airtel to separate D2H and entertainment units, restructuring plans to benefit business

Bharti Airtel is reportedly in advanced talks with the Tata Group to acquire Tata Play, India’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) business. The move aims to strengthen Airtel's position in the digital TV segment, which has been facing growth challenges, and enhance its bundled offerings to boost non-mobile revenue through convergence.

According to a report in The Economic Times, "Bharti Airtel is in advanced negotiations with the Tata Group to buy the loss-making Tata Play, India’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) business, said people familiar with the matter. The aim is to consolidate its presence in the digital TV segment that’s facing growth challenges while improving Airtel’s bundled offerings to boost its non-mobile revenue through convergence."

Tata Sons, the holding company of the diversified conglomerate, currently owns 70% of the company, after buying out Singapore investment firm Temasek Holding Pte’s 10% stake in April for ₹835 crore ($100 million), valuing the company at $1 billion, down a third from its $3 billion pre-pandemic valuation.

The Walt Disney Company owns 30% of Tata Play but has been looking to exit the TV distribution business after trimming its portfolio and merging its media operations with Reliance Jio in India. Disney inherited Sky’s legacy stake in Tata Play after its 2019 mega-merger with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Prior to buying out Temasek, Tata also acquired Tata Opportunities Fund’s minority stake in the venture.

Airtel is expected to acquire Tata Play at a valuation similar to that of the Temasek deal. The plan was to consolidate the Tata stakes and list the company, with IPO documents being filed in 2022. However, Tata paused the listing plan in August.


Bharti Airtel in advanced talks to acquire Tata Play

From increasing the "quality" customer base to expanding network coverages, Bharti Airtel Limited's Managing Director and  Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal has shared a "five pillar" strategy after the telecom major posted a 158% rise in profit to Rs 4,160 crore in the first quarter of FY25. According to Vittal, the company plans to expand services like WiFi and coverage offers to the 60 million households in the country that contribute almost 35% of industry revenues. 

"We will leverage our digital targeting capabilities and deliver a brilliant experience to the customers to retain them for longer," Vittal said during the Q1 earning call held earlier this month.

He mentioned that the company has plans to go live with its standalone (SA) technology for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) within the second quarter of the current fiscal year. In the SA mode, the network is built only on 5G, and in NSA mode the 5G network is built as a top-up on existing layers such as 4G, 3G, 2G radio networks.

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/advertising/bharti-airtels-ad-spendings-decline-by-14-2-in-fy24-plans-to-increase-women-workforce-by-20-38172.htm">Bharti Airtel’s ad spendings decline by 14.2% in FY24; plans to increase women workforce by 20%</a>

Vittal expressed confidence in non-mobile portfolio homes and B2B. He said that the telecom major has taken three structural actions for the B2B segment, such as focusing on training the account managers, expanding coverage of small and medium businesses across the country by investing in sales capacity and digital tooling, and improving the network infrastructure.

Bharti Airtel is also focusing on leveraging its digital capabilities to incubate new revenue streams. Vittal said, "We would continue to look for bolt-on acquisitions in adjacencies (IoT, cloud, security, SD-WAN, and Airtel Finance to strengthen and build capabilities to address growing customer needs," he added.

On low network coverages in a rural region, Mittal said the company is working on reducing the coverage gap, and added, "The key focus here is to sweat investments optimally to accelerate the share gains".

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The last pillar of Bharti Airtel's strategy is the "War on Waste". Mittal said that the company has stepped up its "solarisation agenda with over 15,000 sites solarised in the last fiscal and over 6,000 sites solarised in this quarter alone".

Mittal concluded by saying that the company would continue to invest in infrastructure to win quality customers with a focus on the War on Waste and prudent capital allocation.

During the Q1 FY25, Bharti Airtel renewed the spectrum that was expiring in six circles with a total purchase of Rs 6,850 crore. The company fully prepaid an advance payment of the spectrum dues pertaining to the 2012 and 2015 auctions. In the past year, Bharti prepaid over Rs 24,250 crore of high-cost spectrum dues. 

The telecom giant ended the quarter with a 5G customer base of 90 million. In the broadband business, Bharti Airtel added 3,50,000 customers.  ARPU came in at Rs 211 compared to Rs 209 in Q4, driven by upgradation to smartphones, postpaid,  data monetization, and international roaming penetration.

CEO Gopal Vittal unveils Bharti Airtel's roadmap for success: Quality, coverage, and innovation

Bharti Airtel, has received approval from the country's antitrust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) to buy an a 20 percent  stake in its DTH arm Bharti Telemedia, from a New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus.


According to reports, CCI will soon be publishing a detailed public order on the same. 

Last year, Airtel reached out to CCI for their approval for this deal.


Airtel had explained to the competition commission that this deal simply involves combining ownership within their company group. They emphasized that this transaction won't affect the market competition, bring in new players, or change how Bharti Telemedia  operates.


The news soon after another similar development in the space. Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, has also recently increased its stake in direct-to-home (DTH) provider Tata Play by 10 percent, acquiring the shares from Singapore investment firm Temasek for approximately $100 million.



CCI greenlights Airtel's acquisition of Warburg Pincus Affiliate's DTH stake: Reports

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has called for a prohibition on the sale of Wi-Fi 6E routers that operate on the 6GHz spectrum band for data transmission. Alleging that these routers are being sold through various e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, by offline traders, COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone, has sent a letter to the Department of Telecom (DoT) on April 15.


In the letter, COAI highlighted the absence of a government decision regarding the use of frequencies in the 6GHz spectrum band. The association argued that selling equipment for 6GHz band utilisation without proper assignment or declaration by the government is illegal and should be immediately banned in the country.



“We would like to submit the DoT is yet to take a policy decision related to the six GHZ brand utilisation. Therefore, any sale of such Wi-Fi 6C products which utilise the six GHZ spectrum band, in delicensed manner is illegal and such sale would only result in unauthorised transmissions in our country, COAI director, general SP coach said in the letter,” said SP Kochhar, Director General of COAI.

Telecom industry body COAI pushes for ban on unlicensed Wi-Fi 6E router sales

Indian brands are back in business. The Kantar BrandZ report that lists India’s top 75 most valuable brands says the country’s strongest brands have bounced back from the pandemic to increase their brand value by 35 percent CAGR since 2020.

Tata Consultancy Services is the most valuable Indian brand, according to the report. The spot was previously held by HDFC Bank for the past eight years. As per Kantar BrandZ analysis TCS’s brand value has been accelerated by global demand for automation and digital transformation following the pandemic.

India’s top 75 brands are now worth a combined USD 393 billion. According to the report, the top 10 most valuable Indian brands together contribute just over half of the ranking’s total value.

There are brands from 23 different categories in the 2022 Indian Top 75 list, out of which 14 are newcomers. Key newcomers to the ranking include Vi at number 15, Byju’s at number 19 and Adani Gas at number 21.

Coming back to the list, the top ten spots were taken by Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Airtel, Asian Paints, State Bank of India, LIC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Jio.

There has been significant movement at the top, in addition to the two most valuable brands switching positions. There are two new entrants – Infosys which has moved up to number three from twelfth position, and ICICI Bank which has climbed two places to number nine. State Bank of India has also risen four places to number six.

[caption id="attachment_2040" align="alignnone" width="605"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/most-valued-brands.jpg" alt="Most Valued Brands" width="605" height="237" class="size-full wp-image-2040" />  Most Valued Brands[/caption]

According to findings of the report, technology and banking brands account for over half of the total value of all the 75 brands. Six B2B tech brands and 11 Consumer tech brands contribute 35 percent to the total value of the ranking, reflecting the rise of tech in India.

The report states that, overall, B2B brands (tech, payments) are on average almost three times as valuable as B2C brands, reflecting the fact that many of the B2B brands play on the global stage while B2C are more focused on the domestic market.

'Six banking brands deliver 19 percent of the total value. Also notable for their performance are Insurance brands, which have performed well as the pandemic increased consumers’ focus on protection of life and health and Telecom Providers, led by Airtel and Jio which took full advantage of growth opportunities as everything moved online, from education to work to parties,’ the report says.

“India’s leading brands have grown at an exceptional rate, despite global economic headwinds, putting the disruption from COVID-19 behind them. Indeed, they have both driven and benefited from the transformation in consumer and business behaviour as a result of COVID-19, especially where it relates to the use of technology," said Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director- South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar. 

He added, "The challenge now is to sustain momentum as inflation bites worldwide and consumers and businesses adjust to the new normal. Brand owners will need to work harder to identify and build on what makes worth paying for and ensure ROI on their marketing expenditure to avoid a margin squeeze.” 

AIRTEL