While Airtel may be pushed to to No 3, Jio will find it mighty difficult to beat the new entity.
Idea Cellular's bid to acquire a controlling stake in the B K Modi-promoted Spice Communications has hit a pricing roadblock. Investment banking sources said that B K Modi had asked for Rs 70 a share for his 40.8 per cent stake in Spice, valuing the company at Rs 4,829.47 crore, but Idea is reluctant to pay that much."Any price valuing Spice Communications beyond Rs 4,200 crore would be expensive for Idea Cellular," said an analyst with a domestic brokerage.
According to sources, Idea Cellular has agreed to provide interconnection to RCom thereby not becoming a part of Cellular Operators' Association of India's likely petition against Trai's directive on the same. Besides, other operators to provide interconnectivity to RCom GSM network are Aircel and Spice Communication.
Adjusted gross revenue of the industry has grown just 5.3 per cent during the financial year ended March 31
Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular on Monday made an open offer to the shareholders of Spice Communications for acquiring additional 20 per cent stake in the telecom services provider for about Rs 1,066.63 crore (Rs 10.66 billion).
Cellular operator Idea Cellular on Monday announced investing over Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) for extending its coverage in 30 new towns in Haryana circle while kicking off the brand migration process of Escotel to Idea.
Triggering a tariff war, Idea Cellular on Thursday slashed data charges by 90 per cent in eight circles, following Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, who recently cut their rates by similar margins in select circles.
Idea Cellular on Tuesday said it would be investing upto Rs 1,300 crore (Rs 13 billion)
Idea Cellular, the fifth largest mobile operator in the country with around 15 million subscribers, is believed to be on the verge of clinching a cash-cum-equity buyout of Spice Telecom that values the latter at around $1 billion.
While Vodafone will hold 45.1% of the shares in the new entity, to be renamed at a later stage, Kumar Mangalam Birla and other promoters of Idea group will hold 26%. Vodafone India will also transfer 4.9% of its shareholding to Idea's promoters for a cash consideration of Rs 38.74 lakh crores.
The department of telecommunications has raised questions about the merger between Idea Cellular and Spice Telecom violating key clauses on intra-circle merger and mobile licence conditions.
Idea Cellular has over 68 million mobile subscribers and has operations in most of the circles across the country.
Close on the heels of acquiring Escotel in a deal valued at about Rs 1,150 crore (Rs 11.50 billion), Tata-Birla-AT&T-promoted Idea Cellular expects to conclude another acquisition of a regional player in 2004.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications has entered into an agreement with GSM service providers Hutchison-Essar and the Aditya Birla-controlled Idea Cellular to share passive infrastructure for cell sites.
Aditya Birla Group company Idea Cellular today said it expects to start 3G services in the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal.
Swedish equipment supplier on Monday said it has bagged a major contract to provide technology -- Ericsson Mobile Organiser -- to Idea cellular enabling its subscribers to surf e-mail facility on their cell phones.
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, is investing around Rs 647 crore (Rs 6.47 billion) for the rollout of operations in the Mumbai circle. The operations are expected to commence in two months time.
Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd (ABTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Idea Cellular, will offload 20 per cent to Providence Equity Partners, a US buyout firm, for Rs 2,560 crore. This takes Providence's total investment in Idea Cellular to $1.04 billion, which is the largest private equity investment in an Indian telecom service provider. The deal values ABTL at Rs 12,800 crore.
Idea Cellular Ltd has achieved financial closure of over Rs 2,225 crore for its telecom venture with a project cost of around Rs 5,000 crore from IDBI Ltd and Rabo India Finance Pvt Ltd.
Idea Cellular, an unlisted cellular company, will invest over Rs 1200 crore (Rs 12 billion) for network capacity expansion and coverage during the current fiscal for eight circles.
The Aditya Birla group on Monday said it would acquire the entire 48.14 per cent stake of Tata group in Idea Cellular for a consideration of Rs 4,406 crore (Rs 44.06 billion).
Three days ahead of the launch of Mobile Number Portability, Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular on Monday started a helpline to guide over 700 million mobile users on various aspects of the service.
Idea, the country's sixth-largest mobile operator was the biggest gainer in the first eight days of mobile number portability (MNP) being launched across the country.
Market worth has risen to half that of Airtel and double that of RCom.
Idea Cellular and BPL Mobile announced interconnect for multimedia messaging service.
A choppy beginning followed by flashes of good work. Strong pedigree, yet lagging behind peers. That could be actor Abhishek Bachchan or the mobile phone service he endorses, Idea Cellular. The analogy goes further. Just like Amitabh decided to step in and shore up his son's career, Idea's parent, AV Birla Group, has taken the cellular services provider by the scruff in a bid to make it one of the top three in the business.
Aditya Birla group on Tuesday announced it had concluded acquisition of Tata group's 49 per cent stake in Idea Cellular Ltd for Rs 4,406 crore
India's third largest telecom operator Idea Cellular joined the data tariff war by slashing 2G mobile internet rates by 90 per cent and 3G tariffs by 30 per cent for six months from November 15.
IDEA Cellular Limited has come up with a new scheme whereby cell phone users can send forth music messages by dedicating their favourite song to their loved ones with a personalised message in their own voice.
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