The Anil Ambani group company is in advanced talks with France Telecom for a branding, marketing and franchisee agreement. The company plans to launch the brand by the second quarter of FY09, according to sources close to the development. Initially, the Orange may be launched on RCom's CDMA network -- spanning across 23,000 towns and 5 lakh villages in India -- and later extended to its 8 GSM circles. The Indian company has a total of 44.5 million subscribers in India.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday deferred till August 2 the hearing on an appeal filed by Vodafone International challenging income tax department's decision to levy tax on the company for acquiring stake of Hutchison International in Hutchison-Essar in a $11.1 billion deal in February 2007.
Sources said I-T deparment has sent a notice to Vodafone for not paying capital gains tax, arguing that the company should have deducted tax at source while making payment to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd.
Seeks capital gains tax payment prior to FIPB clearance.
The income tax (I-T) department in Mumbai has requested Vodafone to make an application to the assessing officer for determining the exact tax liability resulting from buying out 62 per cent equity stake from Hutchison in Hutchison Essar Ltd.
A consortium of bankers that will fund the Ruias' bid for Hutchison's 67 per cent equity stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd will begin "due diligence" on the company in the next few days
Agency reports said Hutchison Whampoa had received bid interest in its Indian mobile business, but that the prices indicated so far were too low.
Vodafone is locked in twin tax disputes with the government.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board will take up on March 20, the proposal of UK mobile giant Vodafone to acquire 52 per cent direct stake in Hutchison-Essar from Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom based on an enterprise value of $18.8 billion.
Two private cellular operators in Delhi -- AirTel and Hutchison-Essar complained on Friday of disruption in calls from cell-to-fixed line phones and vice versa even as state owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd dismissed
As Vodafone started examining the books of Hutchison Essar, its existing partner Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has not been approached by anyone to buyout British telecom firm's stake in the company.
British telecom giant Vodafone on Friday said it is considering acquiring a controlling stake in India's fourth-largest mobile player Hutchison Essar.
While smart boys like the Ruias of Essar, Ajay Piramal, Max India promoter Analjit Singh laughed all the way to the bank, the Tatas, Anil Ambani, Malaysian tycoon T Ananda Krishna of Maxis (which invested in Aircel), Sistema, and Norway's Telenor burnt their fingers, notes Surajeet Das Gupta.
Arun Sarin is the chief executive officer of Vodafone Group Plc, the United Kingdom-based global mobile operator.
The Essar group-owned BPL Mobile is believed to be seeking an extension to use the 'BPL' brand name that is owned by Bangalore-based industrialist TPG Nambiar
The government said it has identified a few more cross-border merger and acquisition cases, including Barclays-Intelnet deal, for possible tax evasion after slapping Rs 11,000-crore (Rs 110 billion) tax notice on Vodafone for Hutchison Essar deal.
UBS AG's head of operations (India), Manisha Girotra has resigned from the bank to pursue her own business venture. The lender has named Aashish Kamat as the new head of its India business.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia asked the company to file its representation before the IT department.
"Kraft's acquisition of Cadbury is a global acquisition, where some value is attributable to India. This is different from Vodafone, where the transfer of a single share of the offshore company by Hutch resulted in the Indian business getting transferred to Vodafone," said Pranay Bhatia, associate partner at legal firm Economic Laws Practice.
Amid a government scrutiny into the alleged breach of FDI norms by Hutchison Telecom International, the Hong Kong-based firm on Monday asserted its Indian mobile venture Hutch Essar Ltd (HEL) did not violate any regulations.
Hutchison Telecom on Monday entered into a deal with Essar Group to buy over BPL's stake and Essar SpaceTel for $1.15 billion (about Rs 4,900 crore).
However, Misra added that Vodafone will need to follow this transition up with a highly visible multimedia campaign in the initial two months. "This will instill confidence among consumers that their brand is in the right hands," he said.
Bid to plug loopholes that surfaced in Hutch Essar case.
The total revenues and net profit of the top six Indian telecom players, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, BSNL, Hutchison Essar, MTNL and Idea Cellular, more than doubled during the last two years.
The department of telecommunications is planning to seek details from four operators - Bharti-Airtel, Hutchison-Essar, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Reliance Communications - on the fulfillment of rollout obligations under the mobile telephony licence.
Sterling Infotech Group and Hutchison Essar Group have terminated the agreement, which contemplated acquisition of Sterling's Aircel and Aircel Cellular by Aircel Digilink India, a part of the Hutch Group.
The Hinduja group says it will bid for Italian tyre and real estate major Pirelli's stake in Telecom Italia only if the acquisition gives it management control in Italy's largest telecommunications operator.
The Hinduja Group, which has evinced interest in acquiring India's fourth-largest mobile operator Hutchison Essar, is also considering to buy part of a controlling stake in Telecom Italia, media reports said in London.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications has entered into an agreement with GSM service providers Hutchison-Essar and the Aditya Birla-controlled Idea Cellular to share passive infrastructure for cell sites.
A landmark tax case between Vodafone of the UK and the Indian government that is set to determine the future climate for mergers and acquisitions in the country began on Monday.
I-T department has fixed Rs 12,000-crore tax claim on the 2007 deal in which Vodafone bought Hutch's 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar for $11.2 billion.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday issued another directive to Bharti, Spice and Hutchison-Essar following blocking of calls originating from the basic telecom players offering limited mobile services.
Vodafone, which has equity interests in 25 countries besides India where it bought controlling stake in Hutchison Essar early this year, said its capital expenditure on fixed assets this fiscal would be around 4.7-5.1 billion.
Finance ministry is understood to have reservations on the ownership of minority stakeholders in Hutchison-Essar and is likely to raise the issue at the FIPB meeting.
Over the weekend, the Bombay high court quietly published a 160-page court order detailing its decision to dismiss a petition by Vodafone of the UK against the Indian tax department.
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