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IoT to overtake mobiles by 2018: Report The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected device by 2018, according to the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report. Between 2015 and 2021, the number of   IoT   connected devices is expected to grow 23 per cent annually, of which cellular IoT is forecast to have the highest growth rate. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, nearly 16 bn will be IoT devices. Western Europe will lead the way in adding IoT connections. The number of IoT devices in this market is projected to grow 400 per cent by 2021. This will principally be driven by regulatory requirements. The report said mobile data traffic in India would grow 15 times by 2021. India expanded the most in terms of net addition during the first quarter of 2016 (calendar year), adding 21 million, followed by Myanmar (5 mn) and Indonesia (5 mn). For example, for intelligent utility meters, a...

AIADMK vows free mobiles, laptops with internet, free electricity in manifesto The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has announced several freebies to voters in Tamil Nadu if re-elected. These include free mobile phones, free laptops, along with internet and free electricty. This time, other political parties including the main opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, have refrained from offering major free schemes in their election manifesto . The AIADMK’s, issued on Thursday by its head and state chief minister, J Jayalalithaa (pictured), promises all ration card holders will get mobile phones free of cost. A free set-top box will be provided to all Arasu Cable TV subscribers. Free internet and up to 100 units of electricity free of cost, in effect exempting close to eight million consumers from paying power bills. Also, a Rs 500 gift coupon to all ration card holders during the Pongal festival. And, continuation of the earlier free...

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of digital wallet-turned-e-commerce firm Paytm, on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Facebook’s campaign for its Free Basicsinternet access programme, calling for a ’ jihad ’ to save a free internet without any corporate agendas. Sharma said India’s digital independence is threatened by the world’s largest social network, tweeting, somewhat dramatically, “Oh my fellow Indians, either choose this and do a jihaad for independent internet later or pick net neutrality today.”  Facebook on Tuesday launched a missed call campaign in Indian newspapers asking users across India to support its Free Basics campaign – formerly known as the internet.org project – that allows subscribers not not to pay for data charges to telecom service providers. “I am surprised that we in this time and age might get our digital independence threatened. All for #NetNeutrality,” Sharma said on Twitter, adding “Open and out. Internet won’t be equal ...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai  has said he believes India will become a bigger market for the company than the United States sometime in the middle of 2016. In an interaction with half a dozen journalists in New Delhi on Wednesday, Pichai said it was not just with regard to the use of Android-based phone devices that India would scale ahead of the US; there also were many areas of technological development where India will become its first market for experimentation and trial before launch in other markets of the world. “We developed the offline version of YouTube in India, tried it here and are now taking that to other countries,” Pichai said in what was his first media address after taking over as Google CEO in August this year. Pichai, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur who joined Google in April 2004 within days of the company launching Gmail said it was an emotional experience for him to come to India and launch these initiatives in this country. Elaborating on the Google Loon proje...