BSNL, MTNL respond to Vavasi despite advice to the contrary
Not too much is known about the middle-aged Arifuddin who is Vavasi's major shareholder, except for the fact that he is a civil engineer from Karnataka and started the group around a decade ago.
A decision on this issue is important because new operators would shy away from bidding for a standalone 3G licence if they are made to wait for years to get the UAS licence even though they have won bids for 3G. That would make the 3G project unviable from the very beginning.
The race for control of Kuwait-headquartered Zain Telecom has quickened with the Indian consortium led by Delhi-based Vavasi group saying it is willing to give a majority stake in the consortium to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, depending on which company gets government approval to go ahead with the deal.
Essar group, which is buying out the Uganda and Congo assets of Warid Telecom -- a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Group and Singtel and is present in Kenya, has also reportedly been sounded out by Zain shareholders. A company spokesperson, however, declined to comment on the issue.
The rupee, which rose by over 12 per cent against the dollar this year, has slowed down the hiring plans of companies like Infosys, Satyam and HCL Technologies and also put pressure on their margins. Country's top software exporters -- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and HCL Technologies have added 25,801 employees in the second quarter of 2007-08, against 27,000 in the second quarter of last fiscal.
Indians can look forward to availing Internet services even on low-cost mobile handsets as the world's largest cell phone maker Nokia is gearing up to offer such handsets through which the web can be accessed. Nokia also aims to be the number one in bringing the Internet to mobile devices. According to estimates, the total internet services market will be approximately euro 100 billion in 2010.
Buoyed by the growing wireless market in India, Japan-based electronics and technology major Toshiba is planning to tap the country's mobile segment by the end of this year.
Cellular handset maker Motorola has launched the 'Motorokr E6,' the upgraded version of its iTunes-enabled phone, which is expected to be introduced in India by mid-2007.
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