Firms to pay Rs 24,700 cr if spectrum formula is accepted.
MobileFirst an alliance of BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular and Spice Telecom announced on Saturday new cellular tariff for Plan-399 involving a rate of rupee one for local cell-to-cell outgoing call.\n\n
The move will help telcos, including Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
Mobile tariffs are currently under forbearance, which means these are determined by market forces.
In an aggressive bid to improve the slow uptake of 3G services, the country's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, on Thursday slashed tariffs in various plans by as much as 70 per cent across circles.
Says Airtel-Vodafone-Idea pacts violate licence terms; firms may move TDSAT.
Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal says his company will be one of the biggest and most preferred telecom providers in India.
Taking the challenge from limited mobility services head-on, Bharti Group on Friday slashed cellular tariffs with outgoing calls costing maximum Rs 1.99 per minute and announced 20 per cent discount on international long distance calls.\n\n\n\n
Idea Cellular has gone off the beaten track in its 3G growth strategy.
Nine million subscribers opt for mobile number portability in first three months of its launch.
Indian telecom seems to be getting back on its feet.
It wants subscribers who are 'active' on its network.
Number of 3G subscribers in India is more than 12.2 million.
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.
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".
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
The GSM-based mobile subscriber base has gone up by 994,000 in April at 2.71 crore (27.1 million) customers with the Bharti Group cornering almost one-fourth of the market with 67.58 lakh (6.76 million) customers.
The GSM operators decided to withdraw their plea when the TDSAT was about to reserve its order on the maintainability of the petition after hearing the case for more than one-and-a-half hours.
In a dig at Jio's Rs 1,500 4G-enabled feature phone, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company said its smartphone would be made available for the price of a feature phone
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to telecom operator Bharti Airtel, GSM lobby COAI and private banks ICICI bank and American Express over unsolicited calls to mobile phones.
ONGC was the top performer while private banking major ICICI Bank extended gains
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."
Telecom tower companies likely to invest around Rs 500 crore (Rs 50 billion) to enhance network.
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.
Analysts have pointed out that with the dues arising out of the SC judgment there could soon be only two private telcos in the country, and not three - Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - as now.
Successful bidders will have to pay 25 per cent of the amount upfront for sub 1 GHz, and 50 per cent upfront for higher frequency bands.
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.
Mittal said that overall, he expected that by March 2018, the "dust will settle down" for the entire industry.
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.
After a long wait, Tata Teleservices on Thursday launched the premium Blackberry mobile services that offers customers e-mail, SMS messaging and Internet-based applications.
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.
The Department of Telecom may bar operators holding 3G airwaves from sharing the high-speed spectrum.
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.
The telecom regulator in the second ultimatum to GSM operators, including Bharti, Vodafone and BSNL, has given August 21 as the deadline to give interconnections to the RCom GSM network. Trai has cited it as a licencing condition to provide interconnection among the service provider implying if a mobile operator does not give interconnection to another based on mutual commercial agreement, it is a violation of license condition attracting penalty.
Although the industry is disappointed with the government decision not to lower spectrum prices at a time telcos are saddled with over Rs 4-trillion debt and an estimated Rs 1.43-trillion licence fee dues, the DCC has relaxed the payment structure to offer some relief to the financially stressed sector.
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