Telco sector has been been cutting back on freebies and discounted minutes to maintain profitability.
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.
While only 78.15 per cent of Jio's total subscriber base was active, Airtel boasts of 98.14 per cent active customers.
Bharti to spend Rs 1,600 cr for spectrum payout over 10 yrs; Telenor to service its own debt.
The market could see a fresh round of tariff war, similar to what happened in the voice market a few years ago.
Jio's disruptive strategy, including free voice services and data at throwaway rates, apart from offering all services free for six months, triggered a consolidation in the telecom sector.
Although the industry is disappointed with the government decision not to lower spectrum prices at a time telcos are saddled with over Rs 4-trillion debt and an estimated Rs 1.43-trillion licence fee dues, the DCC has relaxed the payment structure to offer some relief to the financially stressed sector.
Govt's revenue estimates may take hit on spectrum sharing, trading deals
Currently, MNP is only available within a state/circle.
.jpg)
Reliance, Birla Group, Airtel eye small finance banks.
The Department of Telecom may bar operators holding 3G airwaves from sharing the high-speed spectrum.
Battleground shifts to rural and small towns, where user base aspires to upgrade to smartphones.
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.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Says, Jio unlikely to gain 2% revenue market share in 2017
Mumbai has fastest 4G speed, Ahmedabad most consistent, says wireless coverage mapping firm OpenSignal
The big advantage that Jio is able to garner currently is its low cost of operations.
Telecom operators owe government a huge amount of Rs 17,980.77 crore in licence fee and spectrum charges, but the outstandings are under litigations, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
Payments banks will mainly deal in remittance services and accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The freebies are now over, but Jio will need to notch up subscriber numbers and margins to prove its sceptics wrong.
To make the scheme attractive, the government has announced a rate structure wherein the operators may take the optical fibre on lease and provide broadband connectivity to customers.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
'Spectrum payment to push up telcos' debt to Rs 3.5 lakh cr'
Tata Group had hinted at combining its enterprise business with Tata Communications and its fixed-line and broadband businesses with Tata Sky.
Commercial services may start in Mar-Apr next year
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to urge Tim Cook to begin manufacturing its prized iPhones in India.
Mukesh Ambani-led company will squeeze market shares and margins of existing players
Analysts expect structural risks such as risk to voice revenues, steep correction in data realisations, capex spend and rise in churn and subsequent increase in costs to continue in the medium term
India's first auction of spectrum in five years attracted Rs 77,146 crore of bids on the opening day on Monday with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea participating in the bidding process - a response that the government said was better than expected. There were, however, no takers for spectrum in 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands on the first day, and the auctions will continue and conclude on Tuesday. About 2,308.80 MHz of spectrum, that carry telecom signals, in seven bands worth nearly Rs 4 lakh crore at the reserve or start price, was offered for bidding in the auction that began on Monday. Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Rs 77,146 crore worth of spectrum was bid on the first day but there were no takers for the airwaves in the premium 700 MHz as also 2500 MHz bands.
Given the security dilemma prevailing between India and China, India should curb the operation of Chinese telecom companies in India, asserts Dr Rup Narayan Das.
As debt piles up, Anil Ambani's ability to see the asset sale plan through will be crucial
Text messaging services of all telecom operators also remained suspended in Lucknow and some other parts of UP. In Assam, services were restored 10 days after being banned.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries
Analysts say that Jio's substantial slowing down in net additions is possibly because the company has dramatically reduced its bundled 4G feature phone offering, which contributed an average 30-40 per cent of its net additions.
Top three mobile operators spend $13.6 bln in auction
'Unless cash has ceased to be king, the issue is the same in the aviation, telecom and ecommerce sectors: Sustainability,' notes T N Ninan.
Jaitley said banking network is expanding hugely and the health of banks reflects on the challenges for the economy.
