Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
Jio is planning to win over 350 million 2G feature phone users by launching a smartphone at a fraction of the current cost.
The Department of Telecommunication and mobile service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications failed to reach a consensus on the spectrum issue during a meeting held on Wednesday. According to sources, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani raised the issue of extra spectrum being held by GSM operators. He asked how over 6.2 MHz of radio waves have been given to GSM players beyond their contractual agreement.
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.
The government is expected to outline a policy framework for artificial intelligence (AI) at the annual India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2024, beginning Tuesday, officials said. Apart from industry participation, the four-day event will feature booths from over 15 ministries showcasing how AI is being integrated into their departments.
The incumbent operators faced the onslaught of free offers and cheaper rates from Jio.
Cut-throat competition, high spectrum costs, and frequent flip-flops in government policies have made it difficult for Vodafone to make money in the country.
Conversion of debt of the stressed telecom player Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) into equity could be an option to emerge out of the crisis, lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) have suggested to Department of Telecommunications (DoT). DoT had called senior bank officials on Friday to discuss the stress in the telecom sector arising out of the Supreme Court order last month on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues payable by telecom majors, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, sources said. The top court has given a time period of 10 years to telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of AGR-related dues to clear their outstanding amount to the government.
With Airtel and RCom already having launched their special offers for post-paid customers, and RJio around the corner, Vodafone makes its move with Red.
The company has a valuation of Rs 2.22 trillion, up from Rs 1.33 trillion a year ago.
Reliance Jio has paid about Rs 10,700 crore to the telecom department towards outstanding amount for spectrum acquired in 2016 auction, sources said. The payment was made by Jio last week, sources added. With this, the company has made full payment with regard to spectrum bought in 2016 auction, and the outstandings now pertain to 2014, 2015 and 2021 auction.
Vodafone has to sell its entire stake in Airtel following new norms issued by government.
India's largest telecom operator in terms of subscriber numbers has been struggling to raise its share of subscribers in the market for fourth-generation technology services.
The company added 95 lakh new 4G subscribers taking its total 4G subscriber base to 7.53 crore inching closer to its peer Bharti Airtel which reported 4G customer base of 7.7 crore.
Vodafone Idea on Monday paid Rs 2,500 crore to DoT and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week.
Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, and Idea, a smaller rival, have agreed to pool network infrastructure in a joint venture that may in the future seek a stock exchange listing.
The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led firm on Sunday approached its competitors to set up intra-circle roaming and other processes in the way it is done by the sector to respond to disasters.
We could not find out anybody's name, CBI lawyer said to the judge.
India's telecom subscriber base grew to over 1.17 billion in October with Bharti Airtel maintaining its leadership in mobile subscriber addition that accounts for over 98 per cent of total connections in the country, according to the monthly report released by sector regulator Trai on Wednesday. This is the second consecutive month when Airtel added highest number of subscribers. In September, it had regained the leadership position in subscriber addition after a gap of four years. The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company added 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million in October 2020, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) report said.
Market share of Airtel, Vodafone & Idea rises to 70% from 60% in 2010 and 50% in 2008.
Vodafone and Bharti have pointed out that, for data, their revenue realisation should be at Rs 30-35 per GB for them to cover their costs as opposed to the current figure of over Rs 11 per GB. But Jio has suggested a gradual increase to Rs 15 per GB and then maybe to Rs 20 per GB after six to nine months.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday submitted its bid for 3G spectrum, auction for which starts from April 9.
DoT still working on final AGR dues due to varying accounting practices. Telecom operators have been submitting two separate audited details of deduction towards interconnection usage charges and roaming fee to the DoT.
The company wants to woo post-paid customers and rent out its assets to cut debt.
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.
Airtel says to avail alternative routes to keep services on.
The latest ad, done by O&M again, Vodafone's ad agency, shows two engineers tinkering away in a dimly-lit highway tunnel.
The government has announced starting auction in March for 2G spectrum that remained unsold in November auction.
The clarification comes a day after Vodafone signed a shareholders' agreement with the Essar group.
Prominent exits by promoters included a Rs 15,300 crore share sale in Indus Tower by Vodafone Plc, a Rs 9,300 crore share sale by the Tata group in Tata Consultancy Services.
The government is likely to get about Rs 24,000 crore from one-time spectrum fee that has been levied on existing operators for holding radiowaves beyond a prescribed limit.
Firms to pay Rs 24,700 cr if spectrum formula is accepted.
According to the quality of service rules, not more than 2 per cent of total calls in a telecom circle on a network should automatically get disconnected.
Bharti Airtel will start talks for "disengagement" from its partner Vodafone once the UK company decides on its future course of action in India.
Singapore Telecom is believed to have sought the removal of Vodafone representatives from the board of Bharti Airtel, following the British telecom major's bid to acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar.
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
Telecom Commission says refarm all spectrum in 900-MHz band to 1,800-MHz band operators.
The brand integration not only marks the completion of the largest telecom merger in the world, but will also set the company on its future journey to offer strong digital experiences to 1 billion Indians on its 4G network.
The joint letter to Manmohan Singh was written by Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla group which has promoted Idea Cellular, and Vittoria Colao, chairman of Vodafone Group Plc.
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