Two leading mobile operators, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, are understood to have increased pre-paid tariffs by up to 20 per cent, in line with the recent Bharti Airtel move. According to industry sources, the tariffs were increased few days ago.
The telecom tower-transmission business is going to see a shake-up with cash-rich and independent companies moving in with aggressive plans.
Bharti Airtel Ltd led the signings, adding 2.73 million subscribers in February to take its mobile customer base to 91 million. Vodafone Essar Ltd, controlled by Britain's Vodafone, added 2.5 million users in the month, to take its subscriber base to 65 million, data from the Cellular Operators Association of India showed.
Indian GSM telecom operators added 11.25 million new subscribers in the month of May, taking the all-India cellular subscriber base to 444 million, according to cellular operators' association COAI.
The Department of Telecommunications' Wireless Planning and Coordination arm has moved a note to issue start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz to four leading service providers offering GSM technology, whose applications have been pending from December 2006.
The operators are willing to accept auction of second generation spectrum beyond what has been contracted. According to them, they are allowed to have spectrum up to 10 Mhz.
The DoT is conducting a special audit on companies that have multiple licences -- mobile, international long distance, domestic long distance and internet service provider among others. Contractor, Nayak & Kishnadwala has been appointed to examine the books of Bharti Airtel, while S K Mehta & Co will check Vodafone-Essar's accounts. Varma & Varma has been appointed as auditors for Tata Teleservices, while Chhajed & Doshi will examine the books of Idea Cellular.
The government will start allotting third generation (3G) spectrum from Wednesday to successful bidders, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar, among others. A senior DoT official, said the allotment of 3G spectrum will start on Wednesday.
The government on Friday banned short message service for post-paid subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir, while restricting the facility for pre-paid users from midnight, due to security concerns.The department of telecom has asked all the 12 operators, including state-owned BSNL and other private players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to withdraw text message service to their post-paid users in J&K altogether.
The department of telecom (DoT) on Friday announced a set of rules for granting telecom licences and allocating spectrum that is likely to impact GSM-technology service providers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, among others.
Tata DOCOMO has announced its intention to launch 3G services around Diwali. Vodafone Essar plans to roll out 3G services by the first quarter of next year.
GSM operators added 8.89 million subscribers in June, taking the total number of subscribers using the technology to 315.8 million.
GSM operators (excluding Reliance Telecom) in the country added 6.3 million subscribers in August, taking the total number of users to 225.6 million. In July, the total GSM subscriber base in the country was 219.30 million.
Singapore based telecom firm SingTel, which holds over 30 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel, on Wednesday said it has full faith in the company's corporate governance standards under the leadership of company's chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Vodafone Plc and its ex-shareholders have suffered due to the delay in an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of its Indian unit.
A lot of hype has been generated ahead of the launch of iPhone, which would be available at Rs 31,000 a piece for the 8Gb memory model and Rs 36,100 for 16GB from the stroke of midnight on Thursday. Leading service providers Vodafone-Essar and Bharti Airtel, who have been accepting bookings from customers, have said the response has been extremely good.
GSM industry's subscribers base has added 6.19 million users in January 2008, taking their total mobile subscriber base to 178.4 million.
Ambani to up ante by $3 bn on Ruia's hint at larger premium.
Cash-strapped telco Vodafone Idea's proposal for investment of up to Rs 15,000 crore through foreign direct investment (FDI) has been approved by the Union government, according to officials. A top-level group, comprising representatives from the ministries of home affairs, external affairs, finance and commerce and industry, took the decision. The nod, which is an enabling provision, would help the financially-stressed company raise funds to pay up some of its dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR), reduce debts and use the money for operational expenses.
The police had filed charges in December against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's India unit.
In a report, JP Morgan said Vodafone needed to raise exposure to high-growth emerging markets and offset prospective fall in EBITDA in Europe.
Country accounts for 38% of telco's global user base, 10% of total revenue
The IPO is expected to bring handsome fees for the selected banks at a time when billion-dollar listings have become scarce
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.
Based on Statista data for 2019, Vodafone has 17.2 million subscribers in the UK, 29.5 million in Germany, and over 13.7 million in Spain. Without Voda Idea, the Group will become smaller than Airtel and Jio.
To bring clarity, the department clearly defines terms such as promoter and competitor.
The letter was written on February 20, two weeks after the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs had approved the 100 per cent ownership proposal of Vodafone Plc in Vodafone India, at a proposed investment of Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion).
Analysts said even though the Indian economy is expected to slow down to 7.2 per cent in fiscal 2020, it is still the best bet for investment for foreign investors.
ONGC was the top performer while private banking major ICICI Bank extended gains
India's telecom sector has been through dizzying peaks, troughs, policy U-turns, court battles, brutal competition, and daily controversies. India could go back to a private sector duopoly with just Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel surviving the mayhem. The third player, Vodafone Idea, could be history.
In effect, companies which put their money in telecom in India would have done much better to keep the cash in bank and earn interest.
'Is it advisable to have more number of scrips in small quantities or a few scrips in big quantities?'
In April 2013, CBI had first told the Court there were "some difficulties" in the probe after it went abroad.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
The Union finance ministry has asked field officers of the income tax department to not be adversarial to assessees, and to not send high-pitched demands without a proper basis.
APAs are part of govt's aim to move to a non-adversarial tax regime.
The financial year ending Saturday saw such big-ticket events that set the directional tone for the country's business journey.
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