While existing players are expected to first drop prices, acquisition of smaller firms by larger ones is likely in future
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told Parliament in November that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies owe the government as much as Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past statutory dues.
Telecom subscriber base crossed the 95-crore mark in August, after a gap of more than two years, on the back of higher mobile users whose number touched 92.43 crore.
Telecom subscribers in the country can now make intra-state call at the rate of a local call, with the state-owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) extending its group-dialing facility to private operators. Group dialing facility enables local dialing within a state by pre-fixing `95' to the receiver's number.
Indian mobile operators led by Reliance Communications, BSNL and MTNL on Friday announced a bonanza for their users who are frequent travellers by waiving or nearly eliminating roaming charges.
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has increased pulse duration for its landline to landline local calls in Mumbai.
Private GSM operators on Thursday got a reprieve from Supreme Court, which has stayed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's notices asking them to refund excess charges levied from customers on calls made to the networks of PSU telecom firms.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday offered to discuss the issue of call drops and poor service by state-owned BSNL and MTNL in the Rajya Sabha.
However, operators said the chief beneficiary would be the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, which have already been given the spectrum for 3G services, as well as Reliance Communications, which is still to roll out its 2G GSM network.
A poser by CPI-M member Sitaram Yechury on whether Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited are deliberately not setting up towers to favour private companies left Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran seething with anger.
Stocks of government probables for divestment or stake sale such as Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Container Corporation (Concor) have outperformed the markets in the past one year.
Three private operators - Bharti, Reliance and Tata-owned VSNL - had bid for carrying MTNL's STD traffic throughout the country.
Suspected bookie Shobhan Mehta alias Shobhan Kalachowkie is facing allegations of misusing telephone lines of MTNL to indulge in cricket betting.
MTNL on Tuesday launched its long distance services between Delhi and Mumbai, opting Tata-owned VSNL as its preferred carrier for STD calls -- a move that could bring down call rates.
Telecom regulator TRAI has asked Hutch and Idea Cellular to stop charging higher rates for calls made to the mobile networks of state-owned BSNL and MTNL as compared to the same made to private GSM operators.\n
Faced with the challenge of retaining subscribers, state-owned MTNL is launching a 3-in-1 service, offering voice, broadband and cable TV on a single line while assuring affordability to its customers.
The Department of Telecom has sought information from private telecom operators about the employees who joined them from the PSUs - BSNL and MTNL - on whether they took permission from the concerned authorities.
The company, which has a subscriber base of 120 million, also plans to raise funds via a bonds issue. The company's impending 4G launch is also expected in the second half of the current financial year for which it would invest Rs 12,000 crore, partly through bonds.
Preliminary work on submitting proposals for offloading government equity in 12 PSUs, including BSNL and MTNL, has begun.
Telecom operators slash call rates to quake-hit Nepal
The Delhi High Court on Monday deferred to next week hearing on a petition filed by telecom regulator TRAI challenging TDSAT's order to go ahead with the adjudication of regulations on the new Access Deficit Charge levy regime.
When on October 24, the Supreme Court, on a petition moved by the government, ordered payment of past dues according to its new definition of AGR, the country's second-biggest carrier Vodafone-Idea Ltd warned of shut down if no relief is given. The total dues for the industry ran into a whopping Rs 1.47 lakh crore. For an industry that has come from 7-8 operators to just three private players and state-owned fourth operator, the warning by Vodafone-Idea sounded like a death knell.
In the backdrop of intense competition in the sector, government on Tuesday asked telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL to reinvent themselves to react faster on aspects like tender processes.
In all, 25 Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) posts, 8 MD posts and 2 Chairman posts are lying vacant, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises P Radhakrishnan in the Lok Sabha.
In talks with BSNL, MTNL to float a firm in which it will hold 49 per cent.
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.
According to reports, the fire started at around 9.30 am in the MTNL office located on the first floor.
The government is likely to get about Rs 24,000 crore from one-time spectrum fee that has been levied on existing operators for holding radiowaves beyond a prescribed limit.
'The government is unwilling or unable to provide the kind of relief that Vodafone India is asking for.'
Telecom Commission says refarm all spectrum in 900-MHz band to 1,800-MHz band operators.
Incumbent operators can retain 2.5-MHz spectrum in 900-MHz band, rest to be refarmed decision final.
'Their action in asking for blocking of entire websites is a mis-representation of a judicial order to cause indiscriminate blocking of these web-services throughout the country.'
Home minister heads several groups of ministers, including the one to decide the revival package for Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam. His ministry also takes decisive calls on national security in relation to telecom operations as well as equipment and technology used in the industry.
The Indian market is more in sync with mobile markets of advanced countries like the UK, Japan, and South Korea, where there are fewer players - three to four.
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