'What we need to watch is how Saudi Arabia's financial assistance will be used by Pakistan. If the funds go to build their military hardware and operations, it should worry us.'
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has made a representation through the UAE government to request the Enforcement Directorate to withdraw a showcause notice over alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), insofar as it relates to the company and its directors on the board of its Indian joint venture Etisalat-DB Ltd. The UAE (United Arab Emirates) government owns 60 per cent of the Etisalat group.
Emirates Telecommunications of the United Arab Emirates, better known as Etisalat, is in discussion with Reliance Communications for a possible merger or acquisition.
Telekom Malaysia might partner with strategic investors to increase their combined stake in Spice Communications to 74 per cent. The Malaysian giant has 39.20 per cent equity in the telecom company and foreign institutional investors hold 9.59 per cent, taking the total foreign holding to 48.79 per cent.
UAE-based telecommunication services provider Emirates Telecommunications Corporation has pulled out of negotiations to acquire a stake in Indian wireless telephony service provider Spice Communications, citing high valuation. Separately, the promoters were expecting a deal to be signed in the next couple of days.
The UAE-based Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) on Thursday filed a petition against Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, promoters of the beleaguered Swan Telecom, for "fraud and misrepresentation".
Etisalat, which is mulling an Indian foray, has since started discussions with several telecom companies including the Videocon Group's Datacom Solutions and Essar-controlled Loop Telecom for equity. Ravi Sharma, CEO of Datacom confirmed that Etilasat was one of the companies to which the company was talking but declined to offer details. Loop Telecom declined to comment.
Last year Etisalat had forayed into the Indian telecom scene with the acquisition of 45 per cent stake in India's Swan Telecom for around $900 million (around Rs 4,140 crore or Rs 41.4 billion). The deal puts the value of the Indian GSM service provider, which holds telecom licences in 13 circles, at around $2 billion.The company plans to launch its first telecom operation during April-June next year.
The deal with Nokia will be signed in San Francisco on Friday morning in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is on a 17-day trip to the US to attract fresh investments.
Those who consider the rupee as a proxy for virility have started thumping their chests and dreaming of dethroning the dollar from its coveted position, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Israel and the UAE agreed to normalise their relations, and an agreement on the mutual establishment of embassies is expected to follow in the coming three weeks.
Under the deal, Israel would suspend its plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank.
The department of telecommunication has sent notices to Etilsalat DB, along with other new operators for cancelling their licences, as it failed to start services even after two years of getting spectrum, which is a violation of the licence terms and conditions.
In less than a week's time, a fourth submarine cable was severed in West Asia, disrupting voice and telecommunication traffic between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In 2012, India attracted $22.78 billion of FDI, according to the data by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
The telephone subscriber base was 996.49 million at the end of March.
Though Indians were no strangers to scams, spectrum loss was beyond their wildest imagination.
Qatar is the world's richest country in terms of per capita income.
Whether this happens because DGCA actually cares about the future of the national carrier or for other motives is not clear.
King Salman and Narendra Modi will find common ground to intensify cooperation against jihadi terrorism, says Tarun Vijay, MP.
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