Loop Mobile has debt of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion), which is likely to be included in final deal size.
This is the first merger in the country's crowded telecoms market in nearly six years.
This follows the expiry of its brand-use agreement with the BPL Group. The company, which faces an ownership battle between the Ruias of the Essar Group and the UK-based Vodafone, does not expect 'any issues' to arise from the change. "Loop is an extension of an ongoing campaign, Get in the Loop, and it will be easy for our subscribers to identify with this new brand name," said BPL Mobile Director and CEO Sanjeev Chachondia.
Agreement between Bharti Airtel and Loop Mobile, which offers mobile services in Mumbai, expired on October 31
Lenders, with Rs 600-cr exposure to telco, want it to sell properties to repay loans.
The current termination charge is 10 paisa a minute.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, on October 15, gave its recommendation on spectrum auction for premium 900 Mhz band and 1800 Mhz band that are presently being used for 2G GSM mobile services by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications.
Users are increasingly taking to dual-SIM handsets, which enable two connections on a single device.
The government has announced starting auction in March for 2G spectrum that remained unsold in November auction.
Old king cash may have to take a bow. Plastic credit may find itself redundant. And 40 per cent of people who do not have bank accounts could leapfrog into the banking space. With mobile wallets, that's the change they are gunning for.
Besides Ruias, the CBI charged Essar Group director (strategy and Planning) Vikas Saraf, Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and her husband I P Khaitan.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued show causes notices for alleged foreign exchange violations of Rs 3,805 crore (Rs 38.05 billion) to telecom firms and other entities as part of its investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation case.
TDSAT has adjourned for a day the hearing on a petition filed on interconnect filed by cellular operators against basic players offering WLL.
After the success of its wireless-in-local loop (mobile) service, Reliance Infocomm on Tuesday launched another innovative communication product -- fixed phones sans any wire connection.
Mirroring the growth in cellular services, the basic telecom including the WLL (mobile) services, has touched 31.82 lakh customers, with Reliance Infocomm leading the tally with 16.7 lakh at the end of June this year.
Belying perceptions that the cellular industry was incurring heavy losses due to wireless in local loop mobile telephony, Bharti Tele Ventures on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 31 crore (Rs 310 million) in the first quarter ended June 2003
The SC had reserved its verdict on a bunch of similar petitions.
Telecom operator Vodafone has been the top gainer of customers through mobile number portability facility while Reliance Communications is the biggest loser.
The ongoing arguments in the case remained inconclusive and would continue on August 5
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
The Department of Telecom has put on block around 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band.
The auction started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds on Friday, bids worth around Rs 54,600 crore had been received by the government.
The Central Bureau India (CBI) on Monday alleged before a special court that Essar Group of companies had created a "corporate veil".
Telecom subscriber base crossed the 95-crore mark in August, after a gap of more than two years, on the back of higher mobile users whose number touched 92.43 crore.
A special court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. The scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Here is a detailed timeline of how the case came to light and how it has progressed over the years:
Mobile phone service providers alone jointly reported gross revenue of Rs 55,164.18 crore (RS 551.64 billion).
According to a study, the change in frequency for transmitting mobile signals could cost the telcos over Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) cumulatively.
The telecom spectrum auction entered the 33rd round of bidding today after starting off from the Rs 52,689 crore (Rs 526. 89 billion) mark this morning.
Regulator has suggested a lower reserve price even in service areas where spectrum was sold in November 2012.
According to rating agency Fitch, India can in the long run support five-six profitable telecom operators.
The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, will provide relief for mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, but will increase rates for broadband wireless access spectrum holders like RJIL.
Telecom tower companies likely to invest around Rs 500 crore (Rs 50 billion) to enhance network.
The third round of spectrum auction continued to witness aggressive bidding even after completion of seventeen rounds on Wednesday with demands for both bands of airwaves on offer continuing to pour in.
As per the initial proposal, DoT had sought 60 days time to start auction from the date cabinet decides on the spectrum base price and the NIA was to be issued after 15 days of the decision.
Sources say companies will have to keep the market share of merged entities below 50% in all circles
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm and five other telecom firms will battle it out at the spectrum auction tomorrow, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore (Rs 113 billion).
A liberalised spectrum allows operators to use any technology to deliver services like 3G and 4G.
The Sensex ended below 28,000 for the second straight day at 27,869.
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