'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
From January 15, callers will have to dial numbers with prefix '0' for making calls from landline to mobile phone. Announcing the decision, the communications ministry said the move would free up sufficient numbering resources for future use, and nearly 2,539 million numbering series are expected to be generated as a result. There will be no change with respect to dialling numbers for fixed-to fixed, mobile-to-fixed, and mobile-to-mobile calls.
Overall market reaction to the Budget was neutral. Investors absorbed the changes to the tax rates (positive for salaried class) and capital gains taxes (CGTs, negative due to the removal of indexation and increases. Other proposals largely pertain to supporting rural development, buybacks taxed as dividends, Custom duty changes that impact multiple sectors, higher outlays for clean energy, etc. There's some moderation in the growth of capex outlay across defence, fer
Telecom operators have started the process of scrubbing telemarketing messages but will allow their transmission to mobile subscribers till regulator Trai takes a final call, according to industry body COAI. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on March 12 gave three days' time to entities like banks, e-commerce firms and others for complying with telemarketing rules, failing which they were to be barred from sending out commercial communication to customers. The business organisations, however, have sought more time from the telecom regulator to implement the process. In the meantime, Trai has allowed telecom operators to start the process of scrubbing and prepare a database of messages that do not comply with norms.
With the new entity coming in force, Bharti Airtel will lose the tag of India's biggest telecom service provider to the new entity.
American tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday said his proposed visit to India has been postponed due to "very heavy Tesla obligations". The electric carmaker Tesla CEO -- who was expected to be in India on April 21 and 22 and scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- wrote on X that he is looking forward to coming to India later this year.
From connectivity woes to infrastructure advancements and the startup boom, there is a gulf between claims and reality in India's economic landscape, points out Devangshu Datta.
Vodafone Idea's (Vi's) search for a lifeline has turned longer and tougher even as it continues to lose customers and delay vendor payments. Vi's much-needed Rs 1,600-crore fundraising plan got stuck due to the government's silence on picking up a proposed 33 per cent equity in the financially stressed telco. The development spells further trouble for the company, which has an overall debt pile of Rs 2.2 trillion, including hefty dues to the government.
'The expeditious enactment of labour codes and strategic measures to bridge the skills jobs gap are critical.'
Reliance Jio has accused old operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, of "illegally" masquerading wire-line numbers as mobile numbers for "undue enrichment".
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.''
When, recently, Bharti Airtel announced a Rs 21,000 crore rights issue, analysts pointed out that its structure was similar to that of Reliance's issue in June 2020. One similarity is that shareholders in both companies have to pay only 25 per cent of the money on application. The rest is to be paid in two tranches. In Bharti Airtel's case, it is within 36 months; in Reliance Jio's, it is within 17 months.
The package gives the officers time until October 15 to take a decision on staying back with one of the two public service undertakings.
Ambani said, it will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year.
'Tinkering will not do. Merely staggering spectrum dues comes nowhere near solving the problem,' cautions Rahul Khullar.
The government believes firms which are subject to China's laws could be forced to hand over information to Beijing's security services.
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.
The move comes against the backdrop of the US and some of its allies banning the purchase of Chinese telecom gear over security concerns and pressuring other countries to follow suit.
The government on Thursday ruled out setting up an ombudsman to redress complaints of poor mobile telephony services like call drops saying state-run BSNL/MTNL were taking effective steps to upgrade technology.
There is no plan to direct over the top (OTT) communications players who generate large amounts of traffic to give a 'fair and proportionate' share of their revenues to telecom network operators, the communications ministry has said. A senior official allayed any such apprehension by saying: "We have no proposal of this kind or anything like this which we are working on. "There is no fresh reference on this matter to the regulator (Trai)," he said. The ministry's view is significant as telecom network operators have been escalating this issue since July when Trai issued a consultation paper called 'Regulatory Mechanism Over OTT Communication Services and Selective Banning of OTT Services'.
I hope those who underestimate Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be proved wrong in this fight for Thiruvananthapuram's future, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Pointing out to the 133-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City on the outskirts of the financial capital, he said there is huge realty play opportunity that RCom's erstwhile corporate headquarters possesses, and pegged the potential value creation at the site at Rs 25,000 crore.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and Tata Group have made it to the prestigious TIME's list of 100 World's Most Influential Companies of 2024. TIME called Reliance 'India's Juggernaut'. This is the second time that Reliance has found its way into the TIME list. Jio Platforms, the firm that holds digital properties of the conglomerate, was included in the inaugural TIME 100 Most Influential Companies List of 2021. Serum Institute is the other Indian company on the list.
Taking a strong view of Google pulling out some apps from its Play Store, the government on Saturday said delisting of Indian apps cannot be permitted and that the tech company and the startups concerned have been called for a meeting next week. In an interview to PTI, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the startup ecosystem is key to the Indian economy and their fate cannot be left to any big tech to decide. The minister's comments assume significance as Google on Friday began removing some apps, including popular matrimony apps, from its Play Store in India over a dispute on service fee payments, even as apps and well-known startup founders cried foul.
Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Tuesday announced an increase in mobile call and data tariffs across plans by 20-25 per cent. The higher tariffs will be effective from November 25, it said in a statement. The company has increased the minimum value of recharge by 25.31 per cent for 28 days period to Rs 99 from Rs 79.
The attached properties include 14 assets of Tuteja worth Rs 15.82 crore, 115 properties of Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, worth Rs 116.16 crore, properties of Vikash Agarwal alias Subbu worth Rs 1.54 crore and 33 properties of Arvind Singh worth Rs 12.99 crore, it said in a statement.
The Trai recently issued a consultation paper to seek public views to strengthen regulations to check pesky calls and SMSes.
Vodafone Idea board on Tuesday approved a fund-raise of up to Rs 20,000 crore through a combination of equity and equity-linked instruments, the crisis-ridden telco said, adding promoters will also participate in the proposed equity raise. Overall, Vodafone Idea plans to raise around Rs 45,000 crore through a mix of equity and debt, the company said. The company has been fighting a desperate battle for survival -- it has a debt of Rs 2.1 lakh crore and is reporting quarterly losses, amid massive subscriber churn.
The entire Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday was one against the hike in telecom rates but failed to elicit any assurance of a rollback from Telecom Minister Arun Shourie.
The petitioner had sought enforcement of existing laws on call drops.
Manoj Sinha will retain his current role in the railways.
Both Airtel and Vodafone claim they did everything possible to resume services.
Ahead of its Rs 18,000 crore further public offer (FPO), Vodafone Idea on Monday said it expects to roll out 5G services in select pockets within 6-9 months of raising fresh capital. Its chief executive Akshaya Moondra said rollout of the modern 5G telecom services is one of the objectives of raising the capital from the public and once the funding comes, it will start work on the rollout. "With this round of funding, we believe we will be able to (come) back to participate in the industry growth which has not been possible," he said.
The country's telecom sector went into an overdrive witnessing among other things a uniform call rate, huge foreign investments as intense competition in the arena led to a drop in tariffs to benefit the consumer.
Spice Telecom, one of the cellular service providers in Punjab, on Friday announced a 'special ISD offer' for its subscribers in the state, reducing international calling rates from Rs 16 to Rs 3.99 per minute.
Manoj Sinha, earlier minister of state for railways, will be tasked to conduct the auction and deal with issues like net neutrality.
'In the next 15-20 years, India will have at least 50 new (AI-driven) billion-dollar companies that are going to solve problems for the largest companies around the world.'
The telecommunications industry will seek a 10-year tax holiday and an additional depreciation of 15 per cent for telecom equipment in the forthcoming Union Budget for 2007-08.
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