A potential merger being discussed by Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN could increase the net debt of the two firms by about $6.9 billion, global rating agency Fitch said.
Every third Indian today owns a phone connection, thanks to a number of steps taken by the government to foster affordable telecom services.
Targetting Non Resident Indians in the United States, Bharti Airtel on Thursday launched its 'CallHome' service at the price of 7.9 cents per minute.
The government on Wednesday said it has cleared Norwegian telecom firm Telenor's proposal to invest Rs 1,000 crore in a joint venture company in the telecom sector.
Optical media maker Moser Baer on Friday said that it would start manufacturing mobile phone hand sets in the next six months.
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!
One Chinaman is three time more productive than an Indian at the workplace through his life, observes Virender Kapoor.
The 50 million customers span mobile, broadband and fixed telephone services, with wireless segment estimated to be contributing as much as 96 per cent (47.99 million) of the total base.
Sensex ends 134.91 pts down at 28,709.87; Nifty falls 44.70 pts at 8,712.05.
'If the airlines are not given a clear deadline to change the altimeters by the DGCA, why should they do it voluntarily?' 'It means that the aircraft will be grounded for a while and lose money.'
Indian telecom operators are tuning in to digital music as an alternative revenue stream, with income from traditional modes starting to dry up.
The company had recently announced its plans to reduce the number of managers by about 1,000 and the number of contractors by another 5,000 as a part of its restructuring initiatives. The company is in discussion with other firms for deployment of low-cost WiMax devices in the country.
The Army on Tuesday said it was prepared to give an appropriate response to any adverse aggressive designs of China in the Ladakh sector, maintaining that the integrity of the country was being ensured through physical patrolling and technical means.
CDMA technology developer Qualcomm on Tuesday said it was not negotiating with Indian telecom players, including Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications, on lowering the royalty paid by them.
The voice operations (call centres) of IT-BPO firms -- which comprise around 20-30 per cent of most firms in India -- will be the most affected since the International Private Leased Circuits are down.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani has set targets for his three kids whom he has identified for takeover of telecom, retail and new energy business. Speaking at his father Dhirubhai's anniversary, celebrated as Reliance Family Day, he said the oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate Reliance industries Ltd has embarked on a journey of comprehensive self-transformation. "The end of 2022 is when Reliance will have crossed the half-way mark of its Golden Decade.
Indian Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is looking to establish itself as a major player in the Island nation's mobile telephony space as it prepares to launch its $200 million operation in Colombo early next year. Mobile penetration in Sri Lanka is pegged at around 30 per cent, with approximately 2 million mobile users being added each year.
Amid long-pending dispute between the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone and the tax authorities in India, Finance Minister's advisor Parthasarathi Shome on Wednesday said the government should not use retrospective amendment of tax laws to raise revenues.
Customers of Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and BSNL in some circles have reported maximum discrepancies in their phone bills, according to a latest report by telecom regulator TRAI.
From spending a little less than three hours on making voice calls, Indians are spending well over 5 hours. So, while people make more calls, they are spending less than ever, reports Romita Majumdar.
Banking sources said with the MTN shareholders asking for a higher price than what Bharti had initially offered, the Indian telecom company might now pay 50 per cent of the money in cash and the rest through shares in Bharti Airtel. The sources added that MTN is also believed not to favour signing an 'exclusivity' contract with Bharti Airtel under which it would be bound not to talk to any other competing bidder till the negotiations with them have been concluded.
The Tata group's tryst with mobile services, with either CDMA or GSM technology, did not really fly, forcing it to close operations and write off losses. Now the group is back in the big game, this time straddling the telecom equipment, network and technology space in India as well as the global market. To this end, it is leveraging the opportunities that flow from 5G technology through open radio access network, or O-RAN. Recently, the Tata Sons' subsidiary Panatone Finvest acquired 43.3 per cent in Bengaluru-based telecom equipment manufacturer Tejas Network for Rs 1,850 crore and announced it would buy another 26 per cent of the voting capital through an open offer.
Indian telecom companies are investing over Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) in 2007-08 to finance a massive expansion of their mobile networks, infrastructure and subscriber numbers.
Telecom major Jio will start the beta trial of 5G services in four cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Varanasi from October 5 with a select set of customers, the company said on Tuesday. The company will send invites to customers under 'Jio True 5G Welcome Offer' to try its 5G services and the subscribers will get Unlimited 5G data with up to 1 gigabit per second speed. "Post the successful demonstration of its True-5G services at the India Mobile Congress 2022, Jio is announcing the Beta trial of its True-5G services on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra, for Jio users in four cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Varanasi," Jio said in the statement.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at 44 places across the country in a money laundering investigation against Chinese smartphone manufacturing company Vivo and related firms, officials said. The searches are being carried out under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at locations in several states including in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and others. The agency is conducting searches at 44 places related to Vivo and associated companies, they said.
World's second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 per cent.
The Department of Telecom on Tuesday approved applications of telecom companies -- Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL -- for conducting 5G trials but none of them will be using technologies of Chinese entities. The list of telecom gear makers approved for trials include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, C-DOT and Reliance Jio's indigenously developed technologies.
The largest stock bourse in the country, NSE on Wednesday said trading across segments came to a halt at 11.40 am due to connectivity issues.
Mukesh Ambani, who took over the reins of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) after the sudden demise of his legendary industrialist father Dhirubhai Ambani, completes 20 years at the helm during which the company saw a 17-fold jump in revenues, 20-times surge in profit and has become a global conglomerate.
Zee and Star, the two largest media companies in India, are undergoing some radical ownership changes. What could it mean? Vanita Kohli Khandekar attempts an answer.
These individuals largely include businessmen associated with companies, including the dummy ones, in sectors ranging from real estate, financial services, technology and telecom to paints, home decoration, textiles, engineering goods, gems and jewellery. Several of these persons and their companies are said to be based in Kolkata, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.
Airtel acquired African telecom operator Zain in 2010 for $10.7 billion.
'Those who want stability in life have started looking at opportunities outside of the start-up ecosystem.'
Bharti Group, which has joined hands with industry leader Wal-Mart for a foray into
BayPackets Technologies has said it would invest $30 million in its Indian operations in the next three years and would double its headcount soon.
NRI businessmen Hindujas on Monday began studying the books of Indian telecom firm Hutch-Essar for which they are understood to have roped in leading Spanish Bank 'Banco Santander' for financing the multi-billion dollar deal.
