Indemnity insurance on property

When you’re buying a house and applying for a mortgage, the conveyancing process can sometimes throw up all sorts of surprises.
Some of these might seem like insignificant issues to both the buyer and the seller, but they can throw a real spanner in the works when it comes to persuading the mortgage lender to release the funds.
Indemnity insurance - sometimes called legal indemnity insurance, or title indemnity insurance - can come to the rescue in such cases, satisfying the lender (and the buyer) that it’s ok to proceed.

What’s indemnity insurance?

Indemnity insurance is used during conveyancing transactions to cover some sort of legal defect with the property which can’t be resolved swiftly, or at all.
As an alternative to rectifying the defect, an indemnity insurance policy can be taken out, particularly when the buyer is otherwise satisfied with the property and simply wants to make sure their mortgage goes through smoothly.

 The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) handbook for conveyancers says: “You must effect an indemnity insurance policy whenever the Lenders' Handbook identifies that this is an acceptable or required course to us to ensure that the property has a good and marketable title at completion.”
The issues covered by indemnity insurance usually have a very low risk of causing any actual loss - but if they did cause a loss, it would be significant.
Yet buyers should always keep in mind that the indemnity policy doesn’t actually remedy the defect - it simply provides financial compensation in the event of the defect causing a loss.

Who’s covered by legal indemnity insurance?

Legal indemnity insurance covers the buyer and the mortgage lender in the event of any loss of value on the property as a result of the defect.
Unlike other types of insurance which have an annual premium, indemnity insurance is paid as a one-off, is transferred to successors in title and lasts for the life of the property.
Yet it’s usually the seller who pays for the policy.
Most policies cost in the region of a few hundred pounds, so most sellers will pay this rather than see a sale fall through.
However, if the seller refuses to pay, the buyer may need to negotiate with them over who covers the cost, or else walk away from the sale.

Defects covered by indemnity insurance

Legal indemnity insurance could extend to a whole range of defects, with planning permission and building regulation issues being the most common.

Planning permission/building regulations

When you’re buying a property, your conveyancer has a responsibility to make sure all relevant planning permission and building regulations have been obtained.

If a property has been built, altered or extended without building regulations or planning permission approval, then the local authority could take action to ask for it to be reversed or remedied.
However, in most cases there's a four-year limit on the local authority issuing an enforcement notice, so if the work was carried out before this the risk of any action is remote.
Because of the low risk involved, indemnity insurance is often more appropriate than the seller trying to retrospectively satisfy planning conditions in the case of things like loft conversions and extensions.
However, indemnity insurance is no guarantee that the work carried out is safe or satisfactory, so a prudent buyer should still consider arranging surveys and engineer reports for their own peace of mind.

Restrictive covenants

Restrictive covenants are provisions written in the deeds of a property which limit its use in some way. On residential properties that could be anything from an agreement not to erect any outbuildings, to not keeping chickens in the garden.

If you’re looking to buy a house where a covenant has already been broken – for instance an extension has been built in a position where it’s forbidden – a neighbour or other interested party could, in theory, insist that it’s removed.
However, if the breach has been in existence for some time, indemnity insurance may be a solution to allow a house sale to go through.
There may be conditions to the insurance, such as no dispute being currently ongoing, or the breach having been committed a certain time ago.

Absence of easement

During the conveyancing process it might transpire that the property is accessed by land where the property hasn’t been granted a right of easement – the right to get to the property this way.
Indemnity insurance for an absence of easement will cover the cost of establishing easement, or the loss of value in the event access ever becomes an issue due to this lack of permission.
Again, the chances of this happening are usually remote if the property has had access that way for many years, or if the owner of the access land is unknown.

Chancel repair

Sometimes during the searches, the conveyancer will find that the property is liable for chancel repair. This means that the owner of the property could be collared for repair costs to their local church and there are horror stories of this running to thousands of pounds.
In practice, however, it’s rarely enforced, so an indemnity insurance policy can offer a cost-effective solution if it’s a sticking point during a home sale.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio hike prepaid tariff by up to 40%

The three telecommunication giants together account for over 90% of India’s 1.18 billion mobile subscribers, with the market share of around 30% each split evenly among them. 

The era of low tariffs for Indian consumers seems to have ended as major telcos — Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), Bharti Airtel Limited and Reliance Jio — have hiked tariff by up to 40% for prepaid customers. 
While VIL, and Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Airtel have decided to hike the tariffs with effect from December 3, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio has decided to effect the hike from December 6. 

90% of market

The three telecommunication giants together account for over 90% of India’s 1.18 billion mobile subscribers, with the market share of around 30% each split evenly among them. 
“New plans will be available across India starting 00:00 hours of December 3, 2019,” a Vodafone Idea statement said. 
Bharti Airtel’s statement read: “Airtel’s new plans represent tariff increases in the range of a mere 50 paise/day to ₹2.85/day and offer generous data and calling benefits.”
Both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel announced new prepaid plans starting with options of 2 days, 28 days, 84 days and 365 days validity and prices starting from ₹19 and going upto ₹2,399. Reliance Jio is yet to announce its new plans.

Telecom services spending up less than 1% in next year

pending on telecom services and pay-TV will reach $1.63 trillion worldwide in 2019, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Telecom Services Database.

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IDC expects this figure to reach $1.65 trillion billion in 2020, representing an increase of 0.9%.
Despite the overall lack of growth, some areas of the sector have seen a moderate increase and IDC is optimistic about 5G’s impact.

Winners and losers

Mobile remains the largest segment of the market, accounting for 52.8% of the total in 2019. The mobile market is set to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.3% over the 2019-2023 period, driven by the growth in mobile data usage and M2M applications, which is offsetting declines in spending on mobile voice and messaging services, IDC said.
Fixed data service spending represents 21.7% of the total market in 2019, with an expected CAGR of 3.3%, driven by the need for higher bandwidth services.
Spending on fixed voice services will post a CAGR of negative 4.8% over the forecast period and will represent only 8.5% of the total market by 2023. Rapidly declining TDM (time-division multiplexing) voice revenues are not being offset by the increase in IP voice, according to the analysis.
On a geographical basis, the Americas was the largest services market, with revenues of $630 billion in 2019, driven by the large North American sector. Asia Pacific was the second-largest region, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The markets with the fastest year-on-year growth in 2019 were EMEA, driven mainly by emerging markets, followed by the Americas.

One billion 5G subs by 2023

IDC also forecasts that the number of mobile 5G subscriptions will surpass 1 billion by 2023.
“By introducing extremely high speeds and ultra-reliable low latency, 5G will create the infrastructural foundation for a smarter and even more connected world," says Kresimir Alic, research director with IDC's Worldwide Telecom Services.
He added, "It will also generate new opportunities for telecom services operators. More than ever before, these companies will be expected to create, innovate and educate — becoming true leaders of the global digital revolution."

Europe launches second EDRS space laser satellite

Europe has launched the second satellite in its space laser telecommunications network.

It will use optical beams to pull pictures and data from other spacecraft and then speed that information to the ground.
EDRS-C, as it is known, was sent into orbit on Tuesday by an Ariane-5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
It joins the first node in the network, EDRS-A, which was put up in 2016.
That spacecraft was positioned over Central Africa to service Europe.
The new satellite will sit slightly to the east, where it will provide additional capacity.
The European Data Relay System is a joint venture between the European Space Agency and aerospace giant Airbus.
It is used predominantly by the European Union's Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Earth observation spacecraft. These platforms take images of the planet's surface.

Ordinarily, such satellites would have to wait until they pass over a radio receiving dish on the ground before downloading their pictures, which could mean a delay of over an hour as they circle the globe.
But the Sentinels were equipped to connect with the EDRS satellites' 1.8-gigabit laser links.
The relay platforms orbit much higher in the sky - some 36,000km in altitude - and always have visibility of a radio antenna on the ground.
The capability has particular relevance in the realm of natural disasters, such as major floods or big earthquakes.
Information about the scale of these emergencies can be put in the hands of first responders much faster than would normally be the case.
"We have demonstrated that it's possible to get a Sentinel image on the ground and ready to use after just 15 minutes of it being acquired," Magali Vaissiere, the director of telecoms at Esa, told BBC News.
"The launch of EDRS-C brings additional capacity to the network, obviously, but it also provides redundancy, a back-up, which you need in an operational system."
Between a third and a half of all image data from Sentinels 1 and 2 is now routed through EDRS, and usage is certain to expand with the second node now in orbit.


There are plans to use the relay system to regularly pull data to the ground from the European Columbus science laboratory on the space station. Future Earth observation satellites are also actively being planned with EDRS in mind, including the EU's next batch of Sentinels and Airbus's Pléiades Neo satellites which will take Earth images at 30cm resolution. Airbus says airborne reconnaissance could make use of the laser links, too.
A third node, EDRS-D, should be launched over the Asia-Pacific region before 2025.
Esa wants to see optical technology play a much bigger role in space communications.
Telecoms satellites that rely solely on radio frequency transmissions are being left behind by the performance of terrestrial fibre networks.
In time, this is going to put significant constraints on applications that include TV broadcasting and the services carrying the messages of connected devices (the so-called Internet of Things).
It is why the space agency will propose to Europe's research ministers in November that they fund the R&D necessary to break the "bottleneck in the sky".
Esa's High Throughput Optical Network (HyDRON) project envisages laser links, not just between satellites but between spacecraft and the ground.
This brings certain challenges, including the issue of how to manage light transmissions through a turbulent - and often cloudy - atmosphere.
However, if the technologies can be mastered they should permit terabit-per-second connections.
"We have shown with EDRS that we have some leadership in Europe in these technologies, and one of the strategic lines we have defined for [the ministerial meeting] will be dedicated to optical uses so that we strengthen that leadership," the Esa telecoms director said.
The 3-tonne EDRS-C satellite also hosts a Ka-band radio frequency payload for the London-based Avanti telecommunications company.
Avanti calls the payload Hylas-3 and will be using it to deliver broadband and other data services to markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Trai invites public comments to review mobile call termination rate deadline

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday invited public views to review the January 1, 2020 deadline for service providers to end interconnect usage charges. A telecom operator pays for connecting calls of its subscribers to the company on whose network a call is made. Currently, an operator is required to pay 0.06 paisa per minute as mobile call termination charges, called interconnect usage charges (IUC), which is proposed to be made nil from January 1, 2020.

Telecom operators with large number of subscribers gain from IUC as most of the calls are made within their network while net payout for service providers with lower subscriber base is higher.

At present, Reliance Jio leads mobile market with 339.7 million subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel with 328 million customers. Vodafone Idea in July reported decline in customer base to 320 million in the first quarter of 2019-20. BSNL has mobile customer base of 116 million.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said it has seen rapid adoption of modern technology in the country's mobile networks since the time it lowered ICU from 14 paise to 0.06 paise from October 1, 2017 onwards.

"Though the imbalance in the inter-operator off-net traffic is reducing over a period, it still exists," Trai said.

The regulator said it has proposed a bill and keep (BAK) regime in which no operator raises bill for IUC, after analysing that the regime will reduce the inter-operator off-net traffic imbalance.

Trai said it has received representations from some interested parties about revision of the existing IUC regime.

The regulator has sought public views on whether there is a need "to revise the applicable date for BAK regime i.e. zero mobile termination charge, from January 1, 2020".

Last date for comments on the paper is October 18 and for counter comment it is November 1, 2019.

Apple under investigation for unfair competition in Russia

MOSCOW: Apple is under investigation in Russia following a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab and may be abusing its dominant position in smartphone apps, Russia's anti-monopoly watchdog said on Thursday.

Watchdog FAS said it was investigating why a new version of Kaspersky Lab's Safe Kids application had not been updated on the Apple operating system, resulting in a significant loss in functionality for the app.

It said Apple had released an updated version of its own app, Screen Time, which had similar functions to the Kaspersky programme.

The recent consolidation in the telecommunication space in India is a big opportunity for global tech giant IBM, and the company will look to leverage its acquisition of Red Hat to build more open source systems that are more efficient and can handle vast amounts of data as the world prepares for 5G rollouts, a senior executive said.
“There's no market on the planet which has gone through more consolidation than the Indian market in the last three years. So if there's a test case for how new architectural capabilities need to be implemented it would be India," said Steve Canepa, global industry managing director ( telecommunications, media and entertainment), IBM Global Markets.
Last year saw the consolidation of the domestic telecom market into three large private players — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea. Together, the three account for more than 90 per cent of revenue. IBM has deals to manage IT infrastructure of both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
“With Bharti as an example, we recently announced a very strategic partnership around blockchain... (and) embracing blockchain and hyper ledger as a new technology that can enable ecosystems to collaborate, because data is secure and access to the same is done in such a way that you can only see information you’re entitled to see. So, it allows firms in the industry to collaborate when they might not otherwise collaborate,” Canepa said.
With the Vodafone-Idea merger, it is working on a model to help the two companies streamline their processes and get new services to market as a combined entity much more quickly. IBM is currently focusing on its IBM 2.0 strategy for cloud across the globe, which centres around the idea that in the first generation of cloud, only about 20 per cent of the major enterprises work.
Moving the most critical work that an organisation has onto the cloud has always been a big challenge, which is what IBM is trying to solve with its new plan.
“And, we see this as a representation of a true trillion-dollar market opportunity,” said Canepa. “This comes with some really different requirements than what happened in the first generation of cloud, which is why we’ve really pivoted our strategy to focus on creating what we call a hybrid multi cloud capability,” he added.
In order to achieve the scale, effective data management, and getting products and services to market more efficiently, IBM plans to leverage its acquisition of open source software company Red Hat, which it bought for $34 billion in late 2018.
With significant presence of both firms in India, Red Hat is likely to be used in a big way to execute open source projects, which allow for open architecture and better inter-operability between different kinds of software.
In India, according to Canepa, there is “kind of an emerging class of high-value consumers and enterprise services that are being put into the marketplace. So, there’s really a number of market forces and these require a highly efficient and agile platform,” which will be powered by IBM'’s Cloud 2.0 strategy.
A critical element of the Cloud 2.0 Strategy is IBM’s cognitive intelligence platform, Watson.
In India, he said, telecom networks are moving towards better digital engagement, in order to ensure a consistent omni channel experience and prepare enterprises to be hybrid cloud-ready. Thus, the telecom network is, in itself, becoming a cloud.
With telecom networks gearing up for deployment of 5G, or the fifth generation cellular network technology that provides much faster speed and the ability to make faster data-related decisions in real time.
Canepa said the open hybrid cloud capability will provide the base on which these fast systems are built because “the network is a cloud platform that can deploy both the IT and network services”.

China's telecom dominance a security challenge: UK's GCHQ

China's global dominance in telecommunications networks could pose security threats for decades, Britain's cybersecurity chief warned in a speech in Singapore on Monday.
As countries move to roll out ultra-fast fifth-generation -- 5G -- mobile networks, concerns are mounting that Beijing could use hardware provided by Chinese firms to spy on Western governments. 
"The strategic challenge of China's place in the era of globalised technology is much bigger than just one telecommunications equipment company... it's a first order strategic challenge for us all," the head of Britain's GCHQ cybersecurity agency Jeremy Fleming said. 
"It's a hugely complex strategic challenge which will span the next few decades... How we deal with it will be crucial for prosperity and security way beyond 5G contracts." 
In the last year, the United States has stepped up pressure on its allies to block Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from building their 5G networks, citing security concerns. 
While the company's presence has been severely restricted in the US, Australia and New Zealand, Britain has launched a security review, which is due to decide whether Huawei technology will be used in the UK's 5G network.  
Huawei executives in December met senior officials from Britain's National Cyber Security Centre where they agreed to a range of technical requirements to meet British security standards, which Fleming said is likely the world's "toughest oversight regime" for the firm. 
"We need a diversified market that is competing on quality and security, as well as price," Fleming said, adding that the potential risks of allowing Chinese firms into markets need to be fully understood. 
Speaking in Singapore to government and military leaders from across Southeast Asia, Fleming said that half of Britain's 1,100 cyber attacks in the past two had a state actor behind it, naming groups from China and Russia. 
"Our future security will be guaranteed not by the quality of our coding, the design of our silicon, or the cunning of our cyber operators, but by the bonds that tie us together and the relationships that give us confidence to act decisively against common threats," he added. 
Last year, Australia banned Huawei equipment from its future 5G network while New Zealand has blocked its largest telecoms carrier from using Huawei technology in its rollout.
Both are members of the Five Eyes intelligence network, which also includes Britain, Canada and the US.  
US prosecutors are also charging the firm with stealing trade secrets, saying it offered rewards to employees for stealing technology from other rivals.
Huawei is the world's second-largest smartphone vendor after Samsung and the leading supplier of the backbone equipment for wireless mobile networks worldwide which many countries are using to roll out 5G networks. 
These will bring near-instantaneous connectivity, vast data capacity and futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars.
Chairman Guo Ping said Sunday that 5G security standards should be decided by technical experts, not politicians, and that Huawei hoped each country would make its decisions based on "national interests (and) not just listen to someone else's order".

Loon bolsters connectivity credentials with advisory board signings

Alphabet’s latest X graduate Loon has added industry heavyweights to its advisory board as the business searches for commercial credibility in the world of connectivity.
As the ludicrous dream starts to become a reality, Loon has added three industry veterans to its ranks. Former McCaw Communications CEO Craig McCaw, Evernote CEO Ian Small and Verizon EVP Global Media & New Business Marni Walden will all be added to the roster, bringing with them years of experience and, perhaps more importantly, connections in the telco space.
“As Loon transitions to a commercial business and looks to partner with MNOs worldwide, we’re adding some serious expertise to our ranks with a new Advisory Board that brings together top wireless innovators with decades of experience in the industry,” Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth wrote in a blog post.
For those who have missed out on this blue-sky thinking idea, Loon is Alphabet’s latest attempt to branch into the connectivity segment. Previous efforts might have been a flop, just have a look at the success brought through Google Fiber, but this is something slightly different; its attempting to create a new segment rather than steal business from established players.
By floating these massive balloons 18-23km above the earth for periods of up to 100 days, the Loon team claims each balloon can create a connectivity cone with coverage to a ground area 80km in diameter. The balloons are fitted with a broad-coverage LTE base station and a high-speed directional link used to connect between balloons and back down to the internet infrastructure on the ground.
In an industry which has constantly struggled to bridge the digital divide due to the expense of deploying infrastructure, this is a genuinely innovative approach to providing connectivity. It helps lessen the financial pressures of delivering the internet, adding to the connectivity mix.
Back in November at AfricaCom, Westgarth gave some insight into the business on the main conference stage. At the time he announced the beginning of a commercial relationship with Telkom Kenya, as well as outlining the wider ambitions of the business. This is an idea which has big commercial potential, most of which will be in the developing markets. These are after all areas where ARPU is low and deployment is staggered. It would appear to be the perfect mix for Loon’s proposal to bring the internet to the masses.
These appointments however perhaps suggest Loon is not a firm satisfied with the developing markets alone. These are three US executives who have considerable experience in the domestic market. Of course, there will be connections in the international space with telcos in the developing nations, but perhaps Loon has spotted an opportunity in the US. These executives would certainly help pave the way for conversations across the homeland.
Of course, this is just a theory and the PR team have been, just as you would expect, pretty evasive when asked the question. However, the digital divide is certainly a challenge in the US. For those who are lucky enough to live in the cities, they’ll have no concept of connectivity challenges, but the vast expanses and challenging terrain of the US open up numerous, huge not-spots, despite what the telcos actually tell you.
Loon has been touted as an innovation for the developing markets but seeing as the US telcos are clueless as how to solve the domestic digital divide, why not. These executives will certainly know the right people in the right places.

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Tags: 4G, alphabet, Appointment, connectivity, digital divide, Google, Loon, LTE, mobile broadband

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