Subject to Union government approval, the board of state-owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday cleared a proposal for the divestment of 30 per cent government equity in it, as suggested by a committee set up under Sam Pitroda, the prime minister's telecom and infrastructure advisor.
With hopes of raising funds through an initial public offer (IPO) or selling a stake to a strategic investor fading due to stiff opposition from the unions, the government is working on a proposal for a private placement of shares for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), India's fifth-largest telecom company,
Bharti Airtel, India's largest private cellular operator, on Thursday announced an investment of over $2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) in 2007-08 to expand network.
State-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) says it expects to increase its visibility in the domestic and international markets, besides improving company performance, as a fallout of the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of equity.
A person who is in the habit of remaining absent without prior sanction of leave and remains absent for a long period of more than 10 days without leave or intimation, is not somebody who is devoted to duty or maintains integrity. The petitioner's conduct needs to be tested on this anvil, the judges said.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is likely to exit the consortium comprising Delhi-based Vavasi Group and Malaysia's Al-Bukhary to acquire 46 per cent in Kuwait's Zain Telecom.Talks, which have been on for two months, have fallen through over valuations, and Vavasi is expected to announce a new consortium partner in a week or two. Vavasi Group Managing Director Farid Afruddin declined to comment on this information.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd authorities in the north-east have drawn the Centre's attention to their inability in restricting Bangladesh telephone services in some bordering areas of the region.
BSNL is aggressively working towards sharing its passive as well as active infrastructure with existing and new telecom operators. It said the Master Sharing Agreement for sharing BSNL towers is in the final stages with some telecom operators and is likely to be finalised soon. In addition, BSNL has also decided to hire infrastructure from various infrastructure providers to speed up its roll out for mobile network in different states.
Telecom equipment vendor Nokia-Siemens filed a case in the Delhi High Court today against its disqualification on technical grounds as a bidder for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's tender for 94 million lines, one of the world's largest telecom contracts worth over Rs 50,000 crore.
Group of ministers to discuss proposal to split companies into three entities, move seen as precursor to merger.
BSNL has just launched a closed user group plan for Other Backward classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra. It has tied up with the Satyashodhak OBC Parishad, a non-political organisation, for a prepaid talk time plan at nominal charges.
The move will require a one-time payment of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore (Rs 40-50 billion), for which DoT would give financial support, a senior official from the latter told Business Standard.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is planning to set up 1,00,000 information kiosks covering 48 per cent of rural population by 2007 in an effort to provide broadband and connectivity in these areas.
Private cellular operators have locked horns with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd over sharing of the revenue earned from roaming subscribers within the country as well as those coming from abroad.
The company aims to roll out wireless broadband connectivity through WiMax technology commercially this year, especially in urban areas. Initially, it will start its operations in three states -- Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Reliance Infocomm is once again giving incumbents Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd a run for their money.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has received permission to offer CDMA services across the country (except Delhi and Mumbai) under the crossover technology policy. Under the policy, existing GSM operators are allowed to offer CDMA service and vice versa within the same licence after paying a fee.BSNL is the third company after Reliance Communications (which is in CDMA and wanted to operate GSM service) and Tata Teleservices (similar to Reliance) which has been given licences
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has signed three agreements with Sri Lanka Telecom, including one for direct connectivity in international voice traffic
The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on telecom headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday decided to impose a one-time fee on incumbent operators prospectively for spectrum beyond 4.4 MHz in GSM and 2.5 MHz in CDMA.
Trai has suggested abolition of ADC on private operators. This move will make telecom services more affordable.
BSNL on Wednesday denied allegations that it was blocking calls of private telecom operators like Reliance and Tatas, even as Trai asked all operators to maintain "status-quo" till the interconnection norms are announced.
An attempt is to be made over the next month to get over the opposition of staff unions to the Pitroda Committee recommendations on the revamp of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state telecom network outside Mumbai and Delhi.
Private cellular and fixed line operators on Monday demanded direct inter-connectivity with Bharat Sanchar Nigam's Ltd cellular services.
Communications Minister A Raja has raised objections.
In a major bonanza, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is planning to offer its 36 million customers an accident insurance scheme free of cost.
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