Bharti Airtel on Thursday launched fixed wireless phone services in the country and unveiled an offer for subscribers under which they need to pay only Rs 1.20 for a 3 minute call to all local and intra-circle mobiles.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has acquired 49 per cent stake in Qualcomm's broadband wireless access (BWA) business in India for USD 165 million (about Rs 922 crore).
This is the first merger in the country's crowded telecoms market in nearly six years.
Under the new plan 'Airtel Turbo', users will be charged 60 paisa per minute on all incoming calls while roaming. The 60 paise rate will also apply to local and STD calls within its own network.
UK-based Vodafone Group has ruled out selling its around 5 per cent stake in the holding company of Bharti Airtel in the near future as there is no buyer.
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit their fresh record levels on Thursday after lower inflation numbers raised hopes of an interest rate cut by the RBI. Besides, heavy buying in capital goods, consumer durable and industrial stocks also helped the indices, traders said. Retail inflation continued its downward slide to reach a one-year low of 4.75 per cent in May due to a marginal decline of prices in the food basket and remained within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of below 6 per cent, according to government data released on Wednesday.
It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid.
Stock markets will be driven by quarterly earnings by index majors, global trends and the RBI's interest rate decision this week after digesting news on budget proposals and US Federal policy outcome, say analysts. The trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude would also dictate trends in equities. "On the domestic front, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) meeting is scheduled from February 6-8.
Airtel has unveiled a video service for its GPRS subscribers with non-video handsets at a cost of Rs 30 per download.
The bench comprising Justices N K Sodhi and Samar Ray, had on August 11, permitted Mehra's lawyer to make both Bharti and MTN parties to the case. SAT made Bharti and MTN parties to the case, based on an application made by Mehra's lawyer Janak Dwarkadas, a source close to the development said.
'India's top companies currently lack the organisational wherewithal to hire and train 2 million interns annually, given their current scale of operations and existing employee base.'
Within a year of Gopal Vittal becoming the joint MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel's India operations, the company has elevated him as the MD and CEO for Bharti Airtel's operations in India and South Asia.
Reasserting its emotional connect with consumers -- something that is at the core of its brand philosophy --, Bharti Airtel last week rolled out a new plan called Special 5 for all its 100 million mobile phone customers.
Checl out Airtel's new pre-paid plan for Chennai.
Customers are sharing their grievances on the official Twitter account of Bharti Airtel.
Mittal said he discussed a plethora of issues with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and sought the government's support for faster clearances to streamline the group's investment plans.
Airtel, in a tie-up with RecruitGuru, has launched a 'Job Alert on Mobile' service in Mumbai that would alert jobseekers of vacancies through SMS.
The six-year Q3 contract for outsourcing contact services to IBM's Managed Business Process Services unit would involve augmentation of Airtel's sales, customer service, and back office capabilities, an IBM release said. services covering both voice and back office in areas such as customer service, collections, customer retention and the like to Airtel Platinum customers from its centres.
Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, on Wednesday entered into an agreement with Opera Software, under which its customers across India, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be able to access a customised version of the latter's internet browser on their mobiles.
Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, becoming the first private player to offer the service in the country.
From the Sensex basket, NTPC, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were the biggest gainers. Bharti Airtel, Maruti, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints were the laggards.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth in segment with net addition of 1.31 million subscribers.
The incumbent operators faced the onslaught of free offers and cheaper rates from Jio.
Leading telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone and the Tatas are understood to have been slapped penalty for non-verification of subscribers in the J&K and Assam circles.
IT and interest rate-sensitive bank, realty, and auto stocks ended with sharp gains.
Qualcomm launched its new affordable, India-designed chipset, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, on Tuesday. This chipset will enable mobile device makers to sell 5G smartphones operating on a standalone (SA) network for Rs 8,300 or less.
Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Wipro, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and UltraTech Cement were the biggest laggards. Hindustan Unilever, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel were the gainers.
The service, offering 175 channels, will be initially available to customers in 62 cities -- starting October 9, 2008 -- through 21,000 retail points, including retail relationship centres across the country. Later, it will be expanded to 252 cities.
From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Maruti, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank and ITC were the major gainers. Nestle India, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Infosys were among the laggards.
The market capitalisation of listed companies on the NSE surpassed $5 trillion (Rs 416.57 trillion) on Thursday on a day when the Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 22,993.60. The Nifty 500 index also touched an all-time high of 21,505.25 on Thursday indicating that growth in the equity market is not restricted to only the large capitalised stocks, a statement by NSE said.
Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were the biggest gainers. JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Infosys and Titan were among the laggards.
Vodafone Idea will gradually lose market share given its weak balance sheet and limited financial flexibility, says Fitch.
In August 2021, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Plc at the time, did not mince his words while speaking about the India business in an earnings call. Replying to an analyst's question on Vodafone Idea, a venture with the Aditya Birla Group that had piled on huge debts and worrisome losses, Read described it as a highly stressed situation that "they (Vodafone Idea) are trying to navigate... "We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.''
Bharti Airtel is learnt to be considering a bid for South African telecom firm MTN, which has operations in over 20 countries. If successful, it will catapult the company into the league of top global telecom players.
'Puneet did his research and gave us a very basic idea on male prostitution. He said it is like any other job.'
The Customer Complaints Council pulled up Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) for advertisement of its water purifier product 'Pureit Ultima'.
Airtel rolls out fourth-generation (4G) data service across 296 cities.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the applications filed by telecom majors, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, seeking rectification of the alleged errors in calculation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues payable by them. "All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed," a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said while pronouncing the order. The telecom companies had submitted before the apex court that arithmetical errors in the calculation be rectified and there are cases of duplication of entries.
The country's largest telecom player Bharti Airtel sees 3G as a major growth propeller and says the journey of 3G to 4G and to LTE (long-term evolution) would take place much faster in India.
