The dispute between RCom and Chinese banks led by ICBC started after Anil Ambani led company defaulted on its loans to Indian as well as Chinese banks. A British court on May 22 asked Ambani to pay nearly $717 million to three Chinese banks within 21 days.
In his third letter in the last one month to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has lambasted GSM operators.
Global businesses still believe that India consumption story is intact despite the slowdown of the past couple of years.
According to some analysts, Reliance has vaulted ahead of others in the queue and now stands a "rock-solid" chance of getting spectrum earlier than expected.
From a policy point of view, India's telecom industry is getting exciting once again. After a lull of a few years, we're back to the same half-truths from regulators/policy makers, and the all too familiar attempts to help favoured firms.
It means a CDMA players like Reliance can also operate GSM services and get the required spectrum from the government within the same licence. Earlier, they were allowed spectrum either for CDMA or for GSM within the licence. However, now they have to pay an amount equal to the entry fee of a UASL licence (over Rs 1,680 crore for a pan-India licence) to get the spectrum as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications has entered into an agreement with GSM service providers Hutchison-Essar and the Aditya Birla-controlled Idea Cellular to share passive infrastructure for cell sites.
Branded Mobi-Retail, this service will be offered to the 35 million subscribers of Reliance Communications, who will be able to use their handsets to buy over 100,000 products ranging from fresh vegetables to groceries, readymade garments, toys etc.
Their accumulated debt stood at Rs 1,85,720 crore in March.
Market worth has risen to half that of Airtel and double that of RCom.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia supports operators' plea. He tells the finance minister that existing players should not be charged for the remaining licence period.
For sometime, satellite-based management education has come to the aid of senior managers who never went to a business school.
China-based telecom equipment supplier Huawei Technologies, which has bagged a $200 million contract from Reliance Communications, is upbeat on India and expects to clinch other multi-million dollar outsourcing deals in the country.
A high-profile team from MTN is also expected to meet Reliance Industries Ltd next week to take stock of the situation. RCom had informed the bourses on May 26 that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with MTN for 45 days soon after the South African giant aborted its talks with the Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti group. The deadline will end on July 8.
At present, Reliance is in exclusive talks with MTN with respect to a potential combination of their businesses. The exclusivity talks period of 45 days started on May 26. The due diligence is currently in the final stages and is likely to be concluded anytime. Industry sources said MTN top brass, including Azmi Mikati, chief executive of the investment unit that is MTN's second-largest shareholder and Phuthuma Nhelko, chief executive of MTN are positively inclined to it.
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.
According to sources, with this deal and some others in the anvil Reliance would be able to double its network capacity(GSM and CDMA) from 35 million lines currently.
The Indian stock market boom saw the rise of many wealthy investors. However, some of the high profile companies did not live up to the expectations of investors.
The government struck a cordial note with the GSM mobile lobby by agreeing on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) norms for spectrum allocation, a move described by rival CDMA player Reliance Communications (RCom) as "succumbing to pressure".
The group said Dassault choose Reliance Defence Ltd to meet its 'offset' or export obligation in the contract and the Ministry of Defence has no role in the selection of Indian partners by the foreign vendors.
Ericsson to manage day-to-day ops across wireline and wireless network.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd on Friday said they have got shareholders'
Concerned over mobile signals crossing the international border, the department of telecom is planning to take action against telecom operators
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.
Bharti Airtel announced on Tuesday it would hive off its mobile tower and infrastructure business into a 100 per cent subsidiary.
The Rs 8,000-cr deal is expected to be finalised early next month.
Anil Ambani-spearheaded Reliance Communications Ltd will on Thursday launch online video streaming on mobile phones, a service that would allow the company to mobile cast events to all its subscribers.
The Sensex has conquered the 19,000-mark backed by revival of funds-based buying in blue chip stocks in metal, capital goods and refinery sectors.
Telcos' m-cap rises Rs 11,286 crore; Bharti, RCom lead.
Top brass of Qualcom, developer of CDMA technology, will be visiting India next week and may hold discussions with the company on royalty obligations.\n
New tariffs to apply to all customers with immediate effect and the move is aimed at bringing in greater RPMs (revenue per minute) and profitability.
The NSE Nifty is at 5,148, up 82 points. The prominent gainers were HDFC Bank, Wipro, HUL, NTPC, Sterlite and Tata Power, up 1-2% each.
Reliance Communications could become a much more formidable opponent.
Companies may face significant spectrum fees from the government.
