Vi partners SpaceX-rival AST SpaceMobile for satcom service on smartphones
Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 168 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the September quarter, and the company unveiled top-level changes, including Gopal Vittal moving into the role of executive vice chairman on January 1, 2026. India's second-largest telco - that competes with Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea in the Indian telecom market - clocked quarterly revenues of Rs 41,473 crore, 12 per cent higher than the year-ago period, aided by strong momentum in India and growth in Africa.
Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators for cartelising and increasing prices of telecom services simultaneously. Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators.
In India, there are 22 services area, or circles, for 2G telecom services and both the companies operate in all the circles.
Vodafone has been recognised as the most admired mobile service brand online in India followed by Tata Indicom and Aircel, a survey said.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will roll out revised mobile service tariffs increasing rates in the range of 10-24 per cent from the first week of July. Bharti Airtel announced a 10-21 per cent hike in prepaid and postpaid mobile tariffs from July 3, a day after larger rival Reliance Jio announced an increase in rates. Later in the day, loss-making telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) also announced its plan to raise mobile tariffs by 11-24 per cent from July 4.
IPOs have been the flavour of the season for some time. But the coming together of three mega IPOs, from diverse businesses and historic relevance, could tell a story that's still in the making, points out Nivedita Mookerji.
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.
Bharti Airtel may end up cumulatively bidding for more spectrum than market leader Reliance Jio in the upcoming auctions. This is owing to its need for spectrum renewal, and a requirement for 900 MHz in a few circles, analysts have said. Despite the muted bidding expected in the upcoming auctions, Airtel may end up making more bids than Jio, they added.
Just ahead of its mega FPO opening to public investors, Vodafone Idea (VIL) has announced closure of its anchor book allocation, raising about Rs 5,400 crore from marquee global as well as domestic investors, according to a statutory filing by the telco. This could be the third-largest anchor book after One 97 Communications and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). One 97 Communications and LIC had raised Rs 8,235 crore and Rs 5,627 crore in the anchor round, respectively.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra declined to accept the proposal given by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone, after he mentioned the matter. Rohatgi said they are willing to pay Rs 2,500 crore today (Monday) and another Rs 1,000 crore by Friday but no coercive action be taken against the company. He urged the bank guarantee deposited with the government by Vodafone should also not be encashed.
Bharti may look at gaining market share pre-merger and benefit from a lower capex intensity
Vodafone Idea and Airtel have made provisions for their liabilities arising from the Supreme Court order in their latest September quarter results.
The trio has been voicing their criticism of Trai's recommendations and have asked the government to dump the report, which according to them are 'retrograde' and 'absurd'.
Temporary relief for Bharti, Vodafone and former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh
Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and other telecom operators may have to pay the government a whopping Rs 1.42 lakh crore following the Supreme Court order last week that sent shock waves through an industry already grappling with billions of dollars in debt and an intense tariff war to retain customers.
The company had announced similar pricing for Sri Lanka, where its application was in advanced stages of regulatory clearance.
Debt-saddled telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd's Rs 18,000 crore follow-on offering (FPO) opened to a modest response on Thursday with just 26 per cent of shares on offer being sought by investors. Of the 1,260 crore shares on offer, 331.24 crore was subscribed on Thursday, according to information on the BSE. Qualified institutional buyers picked up 61 per cent of their 360 crore shares reserved for them while non-institutional investors sought 28 per cent out of 270 crore shares earmarked for them.
Reliance Jio added 34.7 lakh mobile subscribers in September, cementing its lead in the competitive telecom market, while Airtel's wireless subscriber tally rose by 13.2 lakh, according to monthly data put out by Trai. Vodafone Idea lost 7.5 lakh mobile subscribers during September, dragging its wireless user tally to 22.75 crore. Reliance Jio gained 34.75 lakh wireless subscribers in September, and its user base climbed to 44.92 crore, as per data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
As Vodafone started examining the books of Hutchison Essar, its existing partner Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has not been approached by anyone to buyout British telecom firm's stake in the company.
Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company of the $150 billion Tata group, may be forced to infuse fresh capital into its loss-making telecom arm, Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL). This is because TTSL has to pay Rs 19,256 crore adjusted gross revenue (AGR) along with other dues to the central government by March 2026.
UK telecom giant Vodafone has offloaded its 5.6 per cent direct stake in India's mobile leader Bharti Airtel to promoter Sunil Mittal's group for $1.6 billion, coinciding its acquisition of controlling stake in Hutch-Essar.
The company has made payment in compliance with Telecom Department's instructions for self assessment, Mittal said, adding that the Supreme Court had not mentioned specific amounts.
As per TRAI norms, Vodafone and Airtel are close to getting added spectrums, given their growing subscriber rates.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth in segment with net addition of 1.31 million subscribers.
Call drop problem to improve in 12-16 weeks in Delhi: Vodafone
'My job is to provide people with a bouquet of options they can choose from.'
In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it.
After their merger Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao says India is not a Jio market alone. Aditya Birla Group CEO, Kumar Mangalam Birla says Vodafone is dominant in metro cities, while Idea is a big player in urban, semi-urban markets.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have enough capacity to absorb over 113.9 million Vodafone Idea subscribers who are on 4G if Vodafone Idea has to shut operations.
Trai has said the three operators were "intentionally denying and delaying" the provision of points of interconnects (PoIs) to Jio, "only to restrict a new entrant thus violating the terms and conditions of licence and regulations of the Authority which also caused a lot of inconvenience to the consumers."
Today is the last date for submitting the applications and companies have the option to withdraw them by January 27.
From its lows this month, the stock of Bharti Airtel is up 14 per cent. The gains for the telco have come on the back of expectations that market share consolidation, tariff hike and lower capex should boost margins and profits. While the company is a key player in the Indian market, it also has a leadership position in major markets of Africa.
Adjusted gross revenue of the industry has grown just 5.3 per cent during the financial year ended March 31
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio is India's strongest telecom brand in India, ahead of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd, according to brand intelligence and data insights company TRA. TRA, formerly Trust Research Advisory, in its 'India's Most Desired Brands 2022' ranked companies according to their brand strength. Reliance Jio topped the telecom category, followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and BSNL.
The top three operators - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea - which account for over 67 per cent of the GSM market, lost over 2.17 million users in September.
Airtel tops with 3.7 million new subscribers, Jio adds 2.2 million; Vi lets go of 2.7 million.
There have been several positive signals in Bharti Airtel with revenue market share (RMS) growth, better visibility of profits from Africa, and enough free cash flow to pursue deleveraging. Airtel's 4G and 5G data subscriber net additions were 5.6 million in Q1FY24, and 24.5 million in the last 12 months. Airtel currently has 230 million data subscribers on 4G/5G, which is about 70 per cent penetration of its base of 339 million subscribers.
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