iWorld
International roaming incoming calls on Airtel to be free
MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, one of India’s largest telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of its new international roaming (IR) packs that redefine the value proposition for customers traveling abroad, a communique to the BSE stated.
With the new IR packs, customers will have the convenience of carrying their India mobile number wherever they go and stay connected 24×7 without having to worry about high call and data charges. The packs will be available to both postpaid and prepaid customers.
Airtel’s new IR packs offer free incoming calls, free texts to India and ample data benefits along with free India calling minutes across all popular destinations. Charges for calls to India and local in-country calls have been reduced to as low as Rs. 3/min across popular destinations. Airtel also announced that post the exhaustion of pack data benefits, international roaming data will now be charged at just Rs. 3/MB, a reduction of 99% from Rs. 650/MB.
The IR packs, available for all popular global destinations, come with validity of one day and 30 days, giving customers greater flexibility to plan their communication budgets when traveling overseas.
The one day pack is designed for short/quick international trips and for appx. $10. This pack is particularly useful for business travelers who may be traveling to multiple destinations for very short duration. The 30 days pack offers connectivity through long duration trips for appx. $75. With the holiday season around the corner, Airtel plans to launch a $45 medium duration pack with 10 days validity by middle of October 2016.
Bharti Airtel director – operations (India & south Asia) said, “The new IR packs ensure that customers get no bill shocks and have the convenience of always keeping their phones switched on, wherever they are.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
