iWorld
Galaxy Racer and Sunburn brings a blend of music and esports
Mumbai: India’s leading transmedia gaming company, Galaxy Race, has partnered with Asia’s premiere EDM festival, Sunburn, to create a unique blend of music and esports for gamers from across the country as the premier Music Carnival comes on board as the official venue partner of the Valorant India Invitational, which will take place between 18 to 20 November.
Sunburn is one of the largest music festivals in the world, and this association with Galaxy Racer is their very first venture in the esports industry.
This first-of-its-kind partnership will help esports profoundly as it gets influenced by the evolving narrative of pop culture alongside competitive gaming.
This is the first-ever international Valorant tournament that is taking place in the whole of South Asia and India, in which the biggest names from the Valorant world, such as Paper Rex, Team Secret, RRQ, etc., as well as some of the top Indian stars, will be competing under one roof.
According to the 2021 Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Fall Pulse Survey, 42 per cent of gen-z gamers listened to music other than gaming ones while playing, whereas 22 per cent of the sample size shared music recommendations while gaming with other online gamers, and 11 per cent showed the trend of attending live music concerts inside a gaming world venue.
These statistics are a testament to the significant connection that gaming and music have, making Galaxy Racer’s vision of blending the adrenaline rush of an esports LAN event with the exhilarating and exciting experience of music and setting a strong blueprint for initiating a new chapter in the history of gaming and hosting tournaments in the country.
Speaking of the collaboration, Galaxy Racer chief gaming officer Siddharth Ravishankar said, “Music and gaming are two core components that have an immense influence on gen-z, and since merging them has yielded huge success globally, we wanted to capitalise on the untapped opportunity in India. Having Sunburn as the official venue partner fortifies the Valorant India Invitational, and it further propagates the impact that this tournament can have on Indian gamers. This partnership fulfils our aim of blending premiere Esports events with music festivals, as the goals and vision of both companies align perfectly in dishing out an experience alongside competitive gaming. Fans will have multiple options for attending either just the finals or both the finals and the music festival. We are looking forward to this remarkable blend and hope gamers and music aficionados can equally enjoy the experiences.”
Expressing his thoughts on the collaboration, Spacebound CEO Karan Singh asserted, “Collaborating with Galaxy Racer gives us an opportunity to enter the gaming industry, which is on the rise in India. Music is a part of gaming & esports, and this is just the right synergy for us. We are always on the lookout for unique distribution, and this is one of them to engage our fans with this unique blend.”
iWorld
Telcos push for unified rules as spam shifts to OTT platforms
Over 80 per cent fraud moves online, operators seek common framework.
MUMBAI: The spam may have left your phone network but it hasn’t left you alone. India’s telecom operators are once again dialling up the pressure for a unified regulatory framework, warning that fraud is rapidly migrating to internet-based platforms where oversight remains far looser. According to industry communication, a leading operator has written to multiple arms of the government including the Department of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance arguing that tighter controls on traditional telecom networks are inadvertently pushing bad actors towards over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms.
The concern is not new, but the framing has sharpened. What was once an industry grievance is now being positioned as a consumer protection issue. Operators say that tackling spam in silos no longer works, as fraudsters seamlessly shift across platforms, exploiting regulatory gaps. The result: a moving target that traditional safeguards struggle to contain.
Executives point to a clear shift in fraud patterns. OTT platforms are increasingly being used for phishing links, impersonation scams and bulk unsolicited messaging, with industry estimates suggesting that over 80 per cent of spam activity has now migrated online. In this environment, the lines between telecom networks, messaging apps and financial fraud are blurring fast.
At the heart of the industry’s demand is a call for a technology-neutral regulatory framework, one that applies consistently across telecom and internet-based communication services. Operators argue that the absence of uniform safeguards, such as sender verification systems, robust spam filters and clearly defined accountability mechanisms, has created enforcement blind spots that fraudsters are quick to exploit.
The proposal is straightforward but far-reaching. Telcos are pushing for baseline anti-fraud measures across all communication platforms, alongside faster response systems and deeper coordination between ministries. Given the interconnected nature of telecom networks, digital platforms and financial systems, they argue that fragmented oversight only weakens the overall defence.
The broader issue is regulatory arbitrage, the ability of bad actors to hop between platforms based on which is least regulated at any given time. Without harmonised rules, operators say, efforts to curb fraud risk becoming a game of whack-a-mole.
As digital communication continues to expand, the debate is shifting from who regulates what to how consistently it is regulated. For now, telecom operators are making their case clear: in a world where spam travels freely, regulation cannot afford to stay fragmented.
