Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced a new corporate structure to sharpen the company's focus on rapidly unfolding digital opportunities while enabling it to unlock value. The move comes at a time when digital is turning out to be a compelling proposition for players in the Indian market, where the use of smartphones and better broadband connectivity has spurred the adoption of a new range of services. Players are positioning themselves beyond the core telephony offerings, as they enhance digital engagement, build future streams of revenue and create brand differentiation, besides redefining themselves as a larger platform of digital services, say market watchers.
Ending Paytm's monopoly as the only wallet payment option on Uber, the ride-hailing service has decided to allow payments through Jio Money. Alnoor Peermohamed reports.
Reliance Jio and Facebook will look to use WhatsApp for delivering goods from local neighbourhood kirana stores to consumers before expanding collaboration in education and healthcare sector, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said soon after announcing the mega Rs 43,574 -crore deal. "All of us at Reliance and Jio are delighted to welcome Facebook Inc," he said in a short video message posted on the group's social media handles.
RIL was among the top gainers in the Sensex pack, jumping over 3 per cent to hit its record closing high. Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HUL and ITC were also among the prominent gainers.
Reacting to the statement Jio said that the admission by Ookla reinforces Jio's submission that there is a clear contamination in primary data collected by Ookla in India, where nearly 90 per cent of smartphones are dual SIM devices
Reliance Industries' (RIL's) retail arm, Reliance Retail, is now valued at nearly twice the amount of its decades-old and lucrative oil-to-chemical (O2C) division. Bernstein's latest report on the conglomerate projects a valuation of $112 billion for its retail business, dwarfing the $57 billion valuation of its O2C division. In addition, the research firm valued Jio Platforms, the company's telecom arm, at $77 billion and the renewable energy business at $17 billion.
SoftBank-backed Inmobi has fired about 50-70 people on performance metrics. According to a source, the employees impacted are from Inmobi and the firm's lock screen-based content provider Glance. This comes even as the company announced that it will skip increments for CY23 and also undertake recruitment only when required. The Inmobi group has a total headcount of 2,600.
Across the board, brands use influencers like a Bhuvan Bam or Kusha Kapila as the second or third rung of their strategy. The first rung is always a celebrity that has been created outside the Internet, through mainstream media.
Reliance Industries, which sold stake worth $21.7 billion in Jio Platforms, kept the league tables moving in spite of the pandemic.
Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) traded 2 per cent higher at Rs 2,310.10 on the BSE in intra-day trade in an otherwise volatile market after the company reported a 27.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 17,394 crore for the September quarter (Q2FY24). While revenue growth of the company was flattish YoY at Rs 2.32 trillion, the profit rose on the back of operational improvement across most segments, especially higher profits in the O2C (oil-to-chemicals) and oil & gas businesses, as well as the retail business. "Strong operational and financial contribution from all business segments has helped Reliance deliver another quarter of robust growth," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of the company.
While most others have not been able to replicate the WeChat model successfully, experts expect Jio to be able to score on its 300 million plus new mobile phone users.
Bharti Airtel is rolling out last-mile connectivity with a target of reaching over 20 mn addressable households in 90-100 cities in the next 3 years
Vodafone and Bharti have pointed out that, for data, their revenue realisation should be at Rs 30-35 per GB for them to cover their costs as opposed to the current figure of over Rs 11 per GB. But Jio has suggested a gradual increase to Rs 15 per GB and then maybe to Rs 20 per GB after six to nine months.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL) is in discussions to acquire a 29.8 per cent stake in Tata Play from the Walt Disney Company, according to sources close to the development. This move is seen as part of RIL's broader strategy to deepen its footprint in India's television distribution sector. Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, currently holds a 50.2 per cent stake in the satellite television broadcaster.
Reflecting subdued global economic growth, India's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 33.3 per cent sequentially to $1.21 billion in August, compared to over $1.82 billion in July.
In a curious move, Reliance Industries' (RIL) executive director and Mukesh Ambani's trusted aide PMS Prasad pledged 600,000 shares of the company last month, which is 93.75 per cent of the total shares he owns in RIL. Prasad owned a total of 640,000 RIL shares and his compensation stood at Rs 11.15 crore in FY20.
Jio will woo consumers with new products as well as technology, offering them quadplay services - TV, data, voice and mobile - seamlessly working across the platforms, with a single bundled offer and just one bill.
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, run by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, on Tuesday raised Rs 5,512.50 crore from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), taking the total fundraise to Rs 37,710 crore in less than four weeks.
Reliance announced a rights issue of Rs 53,125 crore, which it said was the biggest in India.
Much of the discussion is happening at a "family level, not a corporate level". That means it is an Ambani or a Goenka in direct talks with Johar.
Cricketer Virat Kohli has reclaimed the top position in brand value, now reaching $227.9 million, surpassing Bollywood star Ranveer Singh, who holds the second spot with $203.1 million, according to Kroll's 'Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2023: Brands, Business, Bollywood'. The report ranks India's most influential celebrity brands by assessing their brand values derived from endorsements and social media presence.
Many who track the ministry and the technology sector closely believe that the space won't see much impact on the policymaking side, but the gestation time for regulations might get long, as now there could be a wider consensus-building exercise on policy matters under a coalition government.
Airtel Xstream will allow its subscribers to access live TV, video, music, news and sports on an over-the-top smart stick, interned-enabled set top box, and handheld devices.
As much as Ishan Kishan has done his bit, India will need Iyer, the proverbial slayer of spin bowling in the middle overs during the World Cup.
Close to $18 billion that Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail mopped up from a slew of private equity transactions in 2020 has pushed up the money inflows through this route by 108 per cent to $33.8 billion, according to an industry report. As per the data collated by Refinitiv, private equity investments increased 108 per cent in 2020 over the previous year, with the number of deals jumping from 665 in 2019 to 791 in 2020 at $33.8 billion, despite the pandemic. In 2019, total PE deals stood at $16.2 billion. Most of the fund inflows were in the third quarter, fetching $24 billion, which, however, tapered off in Q4 to just about $4.57 billion, as per the data from the agency that tracks financial transactions at a global level.
Apart from digital advertising revenue, both companies want to reach out to the 'next billion' Indian customers. After all, around half of the 1.3 billion population is still not on the net and this represents a challenge as well as an opportunity.
Launched in March, it triggers re-verification of suspected fraudulent numbers. Failing re-verification, the number will be disconnected.
The top 10 films of the year may not be great by themselves but they stand out amidst the other OTT releases.
While the investment amount could not be immediately ascertained, a report pegged it at about $2 billion.
Qualcomm launched its new affordable, India-designed chipset, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, on Tuesday. This chipset will enable mobile device makers to sell 5G smartphones operating on a standalone (SA) network for Rs 8,300 or less.
Tech and startup industry bodies have again pushed back against calls by telecom operators to bring over-the-top (OTT) services under a licensing regime similar to telcos, and open them up to taxation. Ahead of public consultations on the issue later this week, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Nasscom and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), among others, have written to the government arguing against such efforts.
In a regulatory filing, Reliance -- the country's most valuable company - said, 'The 43rd AGM will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 2 pm though video conferencing / other audio-visual means.'
Over the three-month period, Airtel's stock price has rallied from Rs 432 to Rs 540, while Vodafone Idea has risen from Rs 9.2 to Rs 11.8 per share.
The Big Two telecom companies have accelerated their moves towards this next-gen technology, though they have chosen very different routes to getting there.
'It was the early days of my 5th standard school vacation, and my mother asked me, 'Robotics classes or swimming classes for the weekends?' I chose robotics classes because technology fascinated me.'
As part of its expansion plans, Jio has announced the roll-out of Internet of Things (IoT) services in association with Samsung, which will help consumers and enterprises.
The recognition that content - video in particular - will be the next big thing in the telecom wars requires no rocket science.
bp had last year bought 49 per cent stake in the 1,400-odd petrol pumps and 31 aviation turbine fuel stations owned by RIL for $1 billion.
The company raised Rs 53,124 crore through a rights issue and sold nearly 33 per cent stake in Jio Platforms Ltd - the firm that houses telecom business and apps - to likes of Facebook and Google for Rs 152,056 crore.
All directors, key officials, and shareholder speakers will be visible and audible and thousands of shareholders, including those from the US, UK, Canada UAE, Japan, HongKong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia, will be able to post their questions and eVote on resolutions.
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