India's total telephone subscriber base reached 1,321.31 million by the end of February 2026, marking a 0.56 per cent monthly growth, primarily fuelled by a significant surge in broadband adoption.
App-based communication services providers and Indian telcos are at loggerheads over the SIM-binding directions issued by the department of telecom, which are to be complied with by the end of February 2026.
During the said period, the Consumer Complaints Council of ASCI found 15 advertisers, including Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular, fast moving consumer goods player Dabur and Elder Pharma and coaching centre Career Launcher, violating the council's code.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued show cause notices to Bharti Tele, Reliance Infocomm, and Idea Cellular for not adhering to prescribed format for advertising tariffs to consumers.
RCom and Tata Teleservices are the top net losers of subscribers under mobile number portability (MNP) services.
While Airtel may be pushed to to No 3, Jio will find it mighty difficult to beat the new entity.
The government on Tuesday invited financial bids from all the nine applicants, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices and RCom, who had applied for participating in 3G spectrum auction.
Vi partners SpaceX-rival AST SpaceMobile for satcom service on smartphones
A new board has been constituted for the merged entity 'Vodafone Idea Ltd' with 12 directors (including six independent directors) and Kumar Mangalam Birla as its Chairman. The board has appointed Balesh Sharma as the CEO, the companies said in a joint statement. The combination will have an all-India revenue market share of 32.2 per cent and take the numero uno slot in nine telecom circles, it said adding that both Vodafone and Idea brands will continue.
Market concentration in the country's telecom sector continues to scale new heights despite government bailouts of public-sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), and private-sector Vodafone Idea. The combined revenue (or net sales) share of the country's top two telecom operators - Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio - in the sector's total reached an all-time high of nearly 72 per cent in FY23 from 70.4 per cent in FY22 and around 60 per cent in FY20. The net sales of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel India were Rs 1.67 trillion in FY23, up 18.6 per cent from the Rs 1.4 trillion a year earlier.
With the new entity coming in force, Bharti Airtel will lose the tag of India's biggest telecom service provider to the new entity.
Experts say going ahead data price will fall further due to competition
Telcos' m-cap rises Rs 11,286 crore; Bharti, RCom lead.
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
Incumbent operators can retain 2.5-MHz spectrum in 900-MHz band, rest to be refarmed decision final.
The auction is the biggest ever sale of 2G and 3G airwaves.
The launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd last September, particularly the tariff war it has unleashed on its competitors, has deepened the crisis facing India's telecom sector. One offshoot of this is the major drop in earnings reported by industry leaders Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular with each passing quarter. Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com tells the story in numbers.
Idea Cellular will have to furnish an undertaking that it will entertain all the liabilities whenever a final decision is taken by the courts
The Department of Telecommunications has called a meeting of the heads of all leading telecom companies offering GSM technology services on November 21 to resolve contentious issues that have arisen following recent changes in telecom policy.
Companies may face significant spectrum fees from the government.
Going by application dates, companies like Spice, Birla-promoted Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (through Swan and Cheetah) and Hindustan Futuristic are in the lead for licences in different circles. The only new player in the list is the little-known ByCell.Several incumbents like Idea Cellular, Maxis-Aircell, owned by a Malaysian promoter, and Vodafone-Essar lead the list of applicants for initial spectrum allocation since they already hold licences.
In August 2021, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Plc at the time, did not mince his words while speaking about the India business in an earnings call. Replying to an analyst's question on Vodafone Idea, a venture with the Aditya Birla Group that had piled on huge debts and worrisome losses, Read described it as a highly stressed situation that "they (Vodafone Idea) are trying to navigate... "We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.''
Analysts expect structural risks such as risk to voice revenues, steep correction in data realisations, capex spend and rise in churn and subsequent increase in costs to continue in the medium term
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 company wants to woo post-paid customers and rent out its assets to cut debt.
The telecom tower-transmission business is going to see a shake-up with cash-rich and independent companies moving in with aggressive plans.
India's third largest telecom operator Idea Cellular joined the data tariff war by slashing 2G mobile internet rates by 90 per cent and 3G tariffs by 30 per cent for six months from November 15.
The overall wireless subscriber base increased to 114 crore at the end of June
Denial of interconnection "appears to be with ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti consumer", Trai said.
Experts argue that the cost savings both in terms of capex as well as operating costs can be substantial in the next one to two years.
The incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded adjusted gross revenue of Rs 10,701.5 crore and Rs 9,808.92 crore, respectively, during the quarter.
Bharti may look at gaining market share pre-merger and benefit from a lower capex intensity
Idea has slashed prices by up to 67% for 3G/4G internet packs for both post- and pre-paid users.
It emerges that Vi has probably offered good data quality despite being short on spectrum and infrastructure due to its stretched finances. Did the two companies that merged face the heat due to price wars? Probably. Did the government's tough stance in demanding its "due" share of telecom revenues hurt the company? Certainly!
Indian telecommunications companies are ringing louder. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are among the big league of gloal telecom companies.
Telecom services providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation (USOF) till the existing corpus is exhausted. In their Budget recommendations, they have also pressed for an exemption from the service tax on "assignment of right to use natural resources" and the slashing of Customs duty on telecom equipment to zero. The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), which represents private sector telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, called for abolishment of USOF levy.
The case is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telcom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have opposed the proposal to compensate consumers.
The Department of Telecom may bar operators holding 3G airwaves from sharing the high-speed spectrum.
Given the escalating cost of doing business, the revenue opportunity is decreasing and consolidation is an inevitable part of the industry.
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