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).
Complying with the Trai directive, Idea Cellular has stopped levying one time migration fee from one of its tariff plans to the other and has refunded the subscribers their due amount.
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.
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.
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
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.
Canvas Blaze will have one sim slot that will work on 3G equivalent CDMA network of MTS and the other will support GSM sim which can work on network of telecom players like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular etc.
According to BSE, Bharti Airtel's revenue (on a standalone basis, excluding that from foreign operations and their subsidiaries) stood at Rs 49,919 crore (Rs 499.19 billion).
Bharti may look at gaining market share pre-merger and benefit from a lower capex intensity
The adjusted gross revenue (earnings from sale of telecom services) of the top three telecom companies in India - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular declined by 7.98 per cent, 5.14 per cent and 4.91 per cent respectively during third quarter of 2016-17.
Further deleveraging needed to cut net debt and sustain operational improvement
The device, which will be available in 11 circles, comes with a special offer for existing 3G users offering 3G data benefits of 1.6 GB and free Idea TV for three months, with a pack priced at Rs 259.
Amid an existential crisis facing the firm over Rs 50,000 crore unpaid dues towards the government, billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Birla -- who had in June offered to give away his holding in the joint venture with Britain's Vodafone to the government -- will cease to be a director and non-executive chairman of the company at the end of business hours on Wednesday, VIL said in a filing to the stock exchanges. It did not give any reason for Birla's decision. He will be replaced by Himanshu Kapania (who was earlier managing director and CEO of Birla's Idea Cellular) as the new chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd.
One in five stocks from the BSE-500 index has underperformed the market and recorded losses.
DoT officials said instructions have been issued to Idea and Vodafone to provide the requisite information to IB at the earliest.
Sources at the department of telecommunications confirmed that Bharti Airtel has submitted application to bid for airwaves frequencies at pan-India level.
Govt files case alleging telco breached directive not to get new customers in areas where it did not have 3G spectrum licence.
Telecom operators slash call rates to quake-hit Nepal
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.
All the three companies, which dominate India's mobile services market with about 53 per cent share, have reduced the quantum of Internet download and/or validity periods on various packages they were offering, as per their websites.
Says inordinate delay on this and other issues raised by firm earlier are impacting investor confidence.
Justice Rajiv Shakdhar asked the telecom company and five others including Birla to file their responses within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 5.
Both the promoter groups - Vodafone and Aditya Birla - have confirmed their participation of up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, in the issue.
Two leading mobile operators, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, are understood to have increased pre-paid tariffs by up to 20 per cent, in line with the recent Bharti Airtel move. According to industry sources, the tariffs were increased few days ago.
Market worth has risen to half that of Airtel and double that of RCom.
The company wants to woo post-paid customers and rent out its assets to cut debt.
A recent note based on the audit said telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular had demanded additional spectrum, based on subscriber-linked criteria for meeting the quality parameters of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India before the spectrum auction decision was taken.
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.
A day after mobile charges were hiked by leading operators, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said consumers should be offered the lowest call rates. "We want consumers to be offered calls at lowest rates," Sibal told PTI.
Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal, Vodafone Plc CEO Vittorio Colao, Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday met ministers and senior government officials to present the industry's concerns over telecom regulator Trai's proposals on the auction of spectrum.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, referring to a Supreme Court order on a plea of Bharti Cellular Ltd in a similar case, asked the Department of Telecommunications not to take any coercive steps in pursuance of its notices issued to the telecom companies asking them to stop providing 3G services to mobile users in the circles for which they lacked licences.
Now, it cannot offer 3G services in pact with other telcos.
In the November auction of second-generation telecom spectrum, Bihar was the only circle to cross the base price
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