Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told Parliament in November that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies owe the government as much as Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past statutory dues.
Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by HUL, HDFC, ITC, IndusInd Bank, SBI, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, L&T and Asian Paints. On the other hand, Kotak Bank, Nestle India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.
Indian telecom operators have surpassed the three- year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months and now the government is making efforts to enhance adoption of 5G applications across various key segments, a senior government official said in Barcelona. Department of Telecom Additional Secretary VL Kantha Rao told PTI at "India Evening" event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2023 that the government has hosted over 50 companies at the India pavilion and the delegation is here to showcase indigenously-developed 4G and 5G technology stack. "When the spectrum was allocated to telecom service providers for 5G rollout, we gave a minimum rollout obligation saying that within one year they have to cover a few cities within three years, a few towns and so on and so forth.
The market valuation of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) jumped Rs 31,294.89 crore to Rs 8,25,149.40 crore while Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) added Rs 28,464.11 crore to take its market valuation to Rs 11,33,168.55 crore.
Trai plans to allow consumers to change operators without changing set-top box
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
Bajaj Finance was the top loser, tumbling 4.68 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech. NSE Nifty crashed 290.70 points or 2.43 per cent to 11,680.35.
Jio's global partnerships took shape this year when Jio Platforms, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Jio which has invested in various digital platforms, was able to woo a bevy of marquee investors: Facebook, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, and a numerous PE funds.
The market capitalisation of the BSE-listed companies reached an all-time high of Rs 220.74 lakh crore on Thursday, helped by a bullish sentiment in the equity market. At the close of trade, their market capitalisation stood at Rs 2,20,74,421.11 crore. The 30-share BSE benchmark closed 97.70 points, or 0.19 per cent, higher at 51,115.22 on Thursday.
According to telcos and analysts, this is due to SIM consolidation happening after the minimum recharge plans were implemented by incumbents.
Jio says it has completed mobile number portability testing and is certified MNP-compliant
HDFC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 5 per cent, followed by M&M, L&T, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints finished in the red.
Late selling in blue-chips like Reliance Industries, ITC, Infosys, TCS and Bharti Airtel dragged down the index from the record level to close flat.
The Sensex rally was driven by Tata Motors, Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro and HCL Tech.
M&M was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 6 per cent, followed by SBI, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and ONGC. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's were among the laggards. NSE Nifty inched up 1.40 points to its fresh closing record of 14,564.85.
A rare bonhomie among three private telecom companies in raising tariffs coming on the back of a bailout package by the government may have helped the telecom sector avert a crisis but the challenges haven't ceased to exist as the industry faces a cash-guzzling task of rolling out 5G networks in the coming months. The sector that provides direct and indirect employment to millions is projected to see Rs 1.3 lakh crore to Rs 2.3 lakh crore of investments in the coming years in creating robust infrastructure and building telecom and network products that have been incentivised by the government through PLI and other initiatives. After years of cut-throat competition and the apex court ruling on payment of past statutory dues left some players in the lurch, billionaire Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel and struggling Vodafone Idea almost in tandem raised tariffs, taking the plunge they had long been talking about.
After a turnaround in performance by Indian equity markets since July that has seen the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 wipe out the year-to-date losses, analysts suggest investors start nibbling into stocks that are focused on the domestic economy. While they say intermittent corrections, led by policies of global central banks and other economic data, cannot be ruled out, analysts expect India's relative outperformance among global equity markets to continue as it looks better placed with a healthy economic recovery, and remains one of the fastest growing major economies. In this backdrop, Neeraj Chadawar, head of quantitative equity strategy at Axis Securities, believes that amid global slowdown, aggressive tightening by the central banks, and preference for domestic interests first (by the local government), export-oriented themes are likely to be muted or will deliver conservative returns in the near-term.
IndusInd Bank, ITC, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries are also among top gainers. SE Nifty jumped 52.35 points to finish at 11,322.50.
Equity markets halted their two-day rally on Friday, with the Sensex tumbling 714.53 points amid weak global equities and selling in index majors Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. Continuous foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. The BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 714.53 points or 1.23 per cent to settle at 57,197.15. During the day, it plummeted 776.96 points or 1.34 per cent to 57,134.72. The NSE Nifty also declined 220.65 points or 1.27 per cent to 17,171.95.
BSNL, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications, who also provide GSM technology-based services, are not part of the report.
The Sunil Mittal led firm accused the regulator of "wrongly" holding Jio's promotional offer as compliant with the regulatory guidelines
M&M was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HUL, ICICI Bank and Infosys. NSE Nifty dropped 64.80 points to 14,341.35.
ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, slumping over 4 per cent, followed by NTPC, Kotak Bank, Titan, Bharti Airtel and PowerGrid. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank rallied over 6 per cent.
M&M was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, soaring over 10 per cent, followed by L&T, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank. On the other hand, HUL, ITC, Titan TCS and Bharti Airtel were among the losers.
Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea has decided to defer payment of additional adjusted gross revenues of Rs 8,837 crore dues by a period of four years. The company in a late night filing on June 22, said that the DoT on June 15, has raised adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demand for additional two financial years beyond 2016-17, which were not covered under the Supreme court order on the statutory dues. Vodafone Idea (VIL) in the filing said that its board of directors "has approved the exercise of the option of deferment of the AGR related dues by a period of four years with immediate effect, in accordance with the said DoT Letter.
Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 3.33 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, SBI, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Maruti.
Jio has accused incumbent telecom operators for not providing the required number of equipment to connect its mobile network with theirs
Jio is in a neck and neck battle with Airtel, which added a similar number of subscribers as Jio in the 15 months from February 2017 to April 2018
Investors' wealth rose by Rs 2,22,763.25 crore in three days of market rally, with the benchmark Sensex closing at an all-time high on Thursday. At close of trade, the 30-share BSE index gained 254.80 points or 0.48 per cent to 53,158.85, its lifetime closing high. During the day, the benchmark also reached its all-time intra-day peak of 53,266.12 points. The benchmark has gained 786.16 points in three days.
Experts say going ahead data price will fall further due to competition
Bidding for the sixth round of spectrum auction for radiowaves worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore will start from March 1, according to a notice issued by the Department of Telecom on Wednesday. The long-awaited spectrum auction is being held after a gap of four years and over two years after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) calculated and recommended base price for the radiowaves. The DoT has fixed January 12 for the pre-bid conference and January 28 as the last date for seeking clarification to the notice.
Leading telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications will start selling Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c smartphones from November 1.
In the Sensex kitty, Ultratech Cement was the top gainer, rising 2.10 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries Sun Pharma, NTPC and Asian Paints.
Vodafone Idea on Wednesday said its board has approved availing the four-year spectrum payment moratorium being offered by the government as part of its relief package for the telecom sector. The other options offered in the Telecom Department's notification will be considered by the board of directors within the stipulated timeframe, it said in a regulatory filing. "...we wish to inform you that the Board of Directors of the company has approved the exercise of the option of deferment of the company's spectrum auction instalments for a period of 4 years (October 2021 to September 2025) in accordance with ...the notification dated 14 October 2021 issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the company," it said.
Bulk of these customers use 2G phones and are still focused on voice services and might prove useful for both Bharti Airtel and the Idea-Vodafone combine.
Dr Reddy's was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.
The overall wireless subscriber base increased to 114 crore at the end of June
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday said he had reached out to Vodafone's Nick Read after bold telecom reforms were announced by the government and will also speak to RIL's Mukesh Ambani, as the telecom czar vowed to take the lead in bringing the industry together to unleash India's telecom dream. Mittal exhorted the industry to collaborate in areas such as infrastructure sharing to reduce costs but vehemently ruled out possibility of any cartelisation among players. Amid reports of its potential tie-ups with handset makers to counter Jio's upcoming ultra low-cost smartphone, Mittal said Airtel is in a state of "readiness" on an affordable smartphone "should a need arise".
NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 5 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, SBI and Axis Bank.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
