Officially confirming the change in tack for the first time after months of speculation, Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL's chairman and managing director, told Business Standard, "Foreign partners definitely bring in some expertise that will help the company improve its performance."
Reliance Power Ltd, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, is in talks with five leading global power companies to sell 15 per cent equity stake in the company. Preliminary talks have started with three Chinese power companies, which include China Light and Power Holdings, and French and Canadian companies.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has made it clear that Press Notes 2 and 4 issued in February 2009, which changed the way indirect foreign equity would be treated in calculating foreign investment levels in Indian corporations, cannot take effect retrospectively for proposals before the board.
The sole exception would be the Rajasthan circle (which can accommodate only two operators). The West Bengal and North-East circles would be able to accommodate only four operators. The numbers are based on the latest note prepared by the DoT. The availability of spectrum is a key element that determines the auction price of spectrum. Higher availability means a lower price.
Operators say 10-paisa, 25-paisa calls not possible.
Bharti Telecom, the unlisted holding company of Bharti Airtel, may issue fresh equity to the MTN group to give it the 25 per cent economic interest in India's largest mobile service provider.
The defence ministry had demanded the entire spectrum in the area up to 100 km from the international border. The DoT has rejected this, as also a proposal by the ministry asking for prime towns, including state capitals, to be put under the 'defence interest zone'.
Differences are growing among mobile operator lobbies over a government proposal to introduce an 11-digit access code in place of the existing 10-digit code from January 2010 for mobile services to accommodate a rapidly growing subscriber base.
It's celebration time for Bharti Airtel, which last week became the third telecom brand in the world to cross the magic 100 million-subscriber mark in a single country. The gap between Airtel and its nearest competitor, Vodafone, is now about 26 million subscribers.
Solicitor General of India Goolam Vahanvati has said no further allotment of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz should be made to telecom operators till the report of the committee on its pricing and allocation is received.If the opinion is acted upon, it would affect companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel, which have applied for extra spectrum in other circles.
Three telecom companies - Spanco Telesystems and Solutions, TVS Interconnect Systems (a TVS group firm) and Acme Tele Power - have emerged as the front-runners for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) Rs 30,000-crore infrastructure contract.
Soma Networks, a US-based provider of mobile Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) products and services, plans to launch compact WiMAX-enabled devices in India within six months.
The decks have been cleared for the appointment of TDSAT member JS Sarma as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Sarma will succeed former Trai chairman Nripendra Mishra who retired on March 22, 2009.
The investigation arm of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, the country's anti-trust body, has launched a probe against 10 cellular service providers, including state-owned ones, for allegedly charging customers for Short Message Services that are not delivered.
The company plans to leverage its tie-up with NTT DoComo to offer many value-added services.
With the start of general elections as a source of revenue Bharti Airtel's direct-to-home arm is ready to launch its mobile DTH units for cars.
The telecom tower-transmission business is going to see a shake-up with cash-rich and independent companies moving in with aggressive plans.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
Given the ongoing economic turmoil, the DEA has raised concerns that the government may not be able to get the right value for its stake. TCIL has been seeking an exit route for over two years. It first wanted to get the company listed so that it could exit. However, the proposal was turned down by Bharti Airtel, which has 70 per cent stake.
This is the first time the world's largest mobile operator in terms of the number of subscribers has expressed an interest in India. Chairman and CEO Wang Jianzhou declined to comment on whether they were already in talks with any Indian operator. He however said the approach would be cautious since the domestic market still presented huge potential for growth.
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