Mobile tariffs are currently under forbearance, which means these are determined by market forces.
Telecom Commission says refarm all spectrum in 900-MHz band to 1,800-MHz band operators.
The adjusted gross revenue (earnings from sale of telecom services) of the top three telecom companies in India - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular declined by 7.98 per cent, 5.14 per cent and 4.91 per cent respectively during third quarter of 2016-17.
Idea Cellular has gone off the beaten track in its 3G growth strategy.
Reliance Communications has accused "old 2G operators" of causing over Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) in losses to the exchequer through "fraudulent means".
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has become the world's third largest mobile operator with 303 million subscribers.
The books of these companies had come under a cloud after it was alleged that many of them had not been paying the goverment's share of revenue by showing the revenue earned under other categories. Under a suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a special audit of all the integrated telecom companies will be undertaken once in 3-5 years.
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.
After continuously bleeding subscribers for nearly two years, state-owned telecom services provider BSNL added 2.9 million users in July when its private-sector rivals raised tariffs by nearly 20 per cent. With BSNL keeping tariffs unchanged, many subscribers using entry-level plans shifted from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), said analysts.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
But COAI secretary general Rajan Mathew sought to deflect the issue saying "it is our internal matter and is not for public discourse. So I will not comment."
Says Airtel-Vodafone-Idea pacts violate licence terms; firms may move TDSAT.
Though the controversy over the security of BlackBerry services is yet to be resolved, the four operators that offer these services - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL Mobile and Reliance Communications - have added over 50,000 customers in the four months since the problems began. Before this, the push-mail service, which was introduced in India in October 2004, had 400,000 subscribers according to industry estimates.
The company at present provides monthly mobile services at starting price of Rs 24 without data, and plans with data service starts from Rs 33 onward. It did not disclose the quantum of hike.
Recently, companies like Bharti airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Communications raised tariffs for their services by about 20 per cent in most operating circles.
As trade pundits predicted, tariff hikes are going to be slow and steady unlike the domino effect caused in 2009, when even established operators went into a frenzy and slashed tariffs to hold back subscribers.
CDMA operators on Tuesday slammed a report of the DOT spectrum committee on airwave allocation, saying it is 'highly inclined' in favour of the GSM operators.
This equity capital infusion is the country's largest-ever FDI.
Incumbent operators can retain 2.5-MHz spectrum in 900-MHz band, rest to be refarmed decision final.
Telecom watchdog sought the regulator's intervention on the price hike by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea and alleged that the three telcos have formed a cartel and increased local call charges by 20 per cent.
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.
At present, GSM operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular earn 10-12 per cent of their revenues from the national roaming services, which amount to Rs 10,000-Rs 13,500 crore.
Solicitor General of India Goolam Vahanvati has said no further allotment of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz should be made to telecom operators till the report of the committee on its pricing and allocation is received.If the opinion is acted upon, it would affect companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel, which have applied for extra spectrum in other circles.
Spectrum auction on Thursday entered the 10th day of bidding and started off from Rs 61,091.83 crore (Rs 610.91 billion) in terms of value.
In a blow to GSM operators, who have been demanding that auditor CAG be stopped from vetting their account books, tribunal TDSAT has declined an interim relief, saying it had no powers to intervene.
Operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Aircel, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Idea Cellular might have to fork out over Rs 11,200 crore for having spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, if the government accepts the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommendations.
In the show-cause notice, Trai said it is of the view that the claim of VIL for providing priority 4G network with faster data speeds is not in compliance with the extant regulatory framework.
The 3G spectrum auction evoked an excellent response from mobile operators on day one on Friday, with the reserve price of Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) for pan-India operations escalating nearly 12 per cent to Rs 3,913.81 crore (Rs 39.138 billion).
New telecom operators who have been given licences to operate pan-India GSM mobile services are all set to fight a bitter battle with the established GSM players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
Taking the government head on, four GSM mobile operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice -- have decided to "unitedly" approach the Delhi High Court against telecom tribunal TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.
Sunil Mittal is confident that Airtel will retain its numero uno position, inspite of Vodafone's competition.
Contrary to reports that world's largest mobile phone company Vodafone is planning to bid for South Africa's MTN, the UK-based firm has said it is not in the race to acquire the African mobile major. "Vodafone has ruled itself out of the running to acquire South African mobile phone group MTN, paving the way for Bharti Airtel of India to take a majority stake in the company."
Vodafone Essar on Thursday said it has crossed the 100-million subscriber mark in India, becoming the third mobile operator in the country to do so after rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance communications.
His comments come little over a week after Vodafone sold its entire 3.2 per cent shareholding in China Mobile Ltd for about 4.3 billion pounds.
The bid price for 3G spectrum continues to rise as it touched Rs 10,749 crore (Rs 107.49 billion) for pan-India operations on the 21st day of auction, assuring the government of Rs 43,372 crore (Rs 433.72 billion) in terms of revenue.
Ambani to up ante by $3 bn on Ruia's hint at larger premium.
India's largest cellular operator Bharti Airtel on Wednesday posted a 48 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 755 crore (Rs 7.55 billion) for the first quarter ended June 30, on the back of strong additions in its subscriber base.
Consumers are unlikely to disconnect their mobile connections and will most likely absorb the up to 22 per cent tariff hike imposed last week by Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), according to analysts. The last major tariff hike in 2021 was followed by a 4-5 per cent SIM consolidation, with people leaving mobile operators with more expensive plans for their peers offering comparatively affordable options.
Tata Teleservices Ltd has decided to pull out of the upcoming 2G spectrum auction, leaving no takers for spectrum in the CDMA 800-MHz band. This will deprive the government of around Rs 18,300 crore.
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