iWorld
Qualcomm’s Hind foresees boom in Indian telecom sector
SINGAPORE: India has come to the forefront of the global telecom map what with the prying open of the sector. Will it continue to hold its own in the near future as neighbouring rival China ups the ante in the telecom sweepstakes? Qualcomm China vice-president and general manager David Hind believes it will.
Speaking at CommunicAsia in Singapore Hind said that the various countries are going to huddle around their core competencies.
“A lot of the telecom code is written in Hyderabad,” he said. “That is only going to increase. Indians have a good command over English, they are willing to work hard, they are accommodating.”
Hind is of the view that the time is not far when more mobile handset manufacturers will start making handsets in India. “Today Reliance is a potent force in telecoms. If Reliance asks a mobile maker to shift production to India, it’ll have to. Today India and China are seeing offtake of close to six million handsets a month. Those are the figures that makers see in a quarter,” he says.
Hind believes that the time is not very far when a Chinese company will come out from nowhere to become one of the top five mobile makers globally. “The Koreans are in for a surprise,” he said.
His view is that China will corner close to 75 per cent of global handset manufacturing by 2006. “It already has a 25 per cent share today. And that is going to explode,” he said.
Hind highlighted the fact that the Koreans are not going to be left behind. “Don’t be surprised if the Koreans fill the slot in the UMTS or WCDMA handsets and repeat what they did in CDMA,” he pointed out.
Hind said that the mobile brand is going to cease to be important. “Carriers will force manufacturers to brand the phones with their own brands. It’s already happening in Europe. A Nokia is not so important, a Vodafone is because it says it know the end consumer very well, more than the maker.”
iWorld
T20 World Cup ’26: India–England semi-final sets global streaming record of 619 million views on JioHotstar
India–England semi-final records 65.2 million peak streams
MUMBAI: The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 set a new milestone in global sports streaming, as the India–England semi-final drew record digital audiences on JioHotstar.
The match on 5 March registered 65.2 million peak concurrent viewers, the highest ever recorded for a live event on any streaming platform worldwide. The semi-final also generated 619 million views, making it the most streamed T20 international match in history.
The landmark audience numbers were driven largely by viewers in India, setting a record achieved within a single market, rather than through aggregated viewership across multiple countries.
The high-scoring encounter between India national cricket team and England cricket team produced 499 runs across both innings, fuelling widespread fan engagement across platforms.
According to the International Cricket Council, the digital record surpassed the previous global benchmark of 65 million concurrent viewers, set in November 2024 by another international streaming platform.
Across television and digital platforms combined, the semi-final reached more than 320 million viewers, while total watch time exceeded 23 billion minutes, making it the most watched T20 international match ever.
“This World Cup demonstrates the immense passion of cricket fans and the progress made in bringing the game closer to audiences worldwide,” said ICC chairman Jay Shah.
“This moment reflects the scale of cricket fandom in India and the technological capability required to serve hundreds of millions of viewers simultaneously.”
JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar, said the audience surge underscored the future of large-scale digital entertainment.
“One in every three Indians tuned in to watch the second semi-final. Delivering such an experience at scale requires the very best of technology,” he said.
The 619 million views during the match also eclipsed the 533 million views recorded during the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
With the final yet to be played, the 2026 tournament has already set multiple benchmarks in audience reach and digital engagement.
India will face the New Zealand national cricket team in the final on 8 March at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network and streamed on JioHotstar.
