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.
As per data, call drop situation in Delhi has improved.
Govt is set to garner Rs 1 lakh crore from sale of radiowaves.
The entry of the deep-pocketed conglomerate is expected to heighten competition.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm and five other telecom firms will battle it out at the spectrum auction tomorrow, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore (Rs 113 billion).
Vodafone had contended in its plea that DoT instead of signing and executing the ULs had at the last moment informed them that their request for deletion of 'restrictive' clauses in licence pertaining to roaming cannot be accepted.
Some leading Indian companies are likely to see their earnings declining if the Indian currency depreciates further, analysts and finance heads say.
Banks have Rs 10 trillion in stressed assets - Rs 7.8 trillion of bad loans and Rs 2.2 trillion of restructured ones.
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Reliance, Birla Group, Airtel eye small finance banks.
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
Telecom stocks fell after Mukesh Ambani extended Reliance Jio's free offers till March 2017.
The company is targeting 100 million subscribers in shortest possible time, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said
Apex telecom industry body COAI has asserted that spectrum pricing should be kept conducive to market conditions as 5G entails upfront capital investments with monetisation spread over a long-haul, and pricing radiowaves high will only push the players up against the wall. The stage is set for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come out with its recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities for upcoming auctions, and the announcement from the sector watchdog is expected anytime now. Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band, that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz.
After initial success, data use is stagnating and getting consumers to spend additional money for high-speed internet is proving to be difficult for telcos.
A liberalised spectrum allows operators to use any technology to deliver services like 3G and 4G.
Most of the session's gains for both the indices were wiped out as investors rushed to book profits ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday and also due to concerns over stretched valuations.
According to rating agency Fitch, India can in the long run support five-six profitable telecom operators.
Mukesh Ambani said the Digital India initiative has the potential to transform the lives of 1.2 billion Indians using the power of digital technology.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 8 points at 27,508 and the 50-share Nifty closed 1 point higher at 8,284.
Both the indices ended at their highest levels since February 1.
The country's wireless subscriber base fell to 87.05 crore at the end of September, registering the first drop in five months, after Reliance Communications deactivated services of over 1 crore "unprofitable" users.
Telecom shares rallied on hopes that they would hike tariffs after huge investments to acquire spectrum.
After their merger Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao says India is not a Jio market alone. Aditya Birla Group CEO, Kumar Mangalam Birla says Vodafone is dominant in metro cities, while Idea is a big player in urban, semi-urban markets.
Midcap stocks continued to remain on buyers' radar with BSE Midcap index up 0.1%.
Seeking urgent steps by mobile operators to check call drops, regulator TRAI on Wednesday said their performance would be reviewed after 15 days and warned it will "cross the bridge" if they fail to do the needful.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 204 points at 27,215 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 59 points at 8,238.
Financial shares were the top losers.
Bharti to spend Rs 1,600 cr for spectrum payout over 10 yrs; Telenor to service its own debt.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 1 point at 27,459 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 1 point at 8,341.
Lt Governor says discoms must cooperate or face cancellation of licences. Ficci cries interference.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices extended gains and were up over 1% each
Market breadth was weak with 1239 losers and 1078 gainers on the BSE.
Most public sector banks, flush with deposits now, offer 3-4% interest on savings deposits, while a few private sector banks go up to 6%.
Markets will be closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Holi and Good Friday, respectively.
Textile and telecom shares have gained ahead of the Cabinet meet later today which is likely to announce new measures for both the sectors.
Markets ended lower on Tuesday, snapping a two-day winning streak, as investors turned cautious and booked profit in financials.
Sensex remained volatile through the day.
The Sensex soared 402 points higher to end at 25,720 and the Nifty surged 130 points to close at 7,819.
The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices pared all intraday gains to end 0.3% and 0.5% lower
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