In big bang reforms, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a relief package for the telecom sector that includes a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telecom companies as well as allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Cabinet, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said nine structural reforms for the telecom sector were approved. The definition of AGR, which had been a major reason for the stress in the sector, has been rationalised by excluding non-telecom revenue of telecom companies.
India Inc's quarterly net profit reached a record high of Rs 1.64 trillion in the third quarter ended December 31, 2020, mainly due to gains from higher commodity prices and a big swing in banks' earnings. The combined net profit of 3,323 listed companies that have declared results so far was up 68.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY). In comparison, earnings were up six times (534 per cent) in the second quarter and 6.5 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
RIL says Sebi has not asked for revision of offer price, expecting clearance soon.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
RCom intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction to reduce its debt.
DoT still working on final AGR dues due to varying accounting practices. Telecom operators have been submitting two separate audited details of deduction towards interconnection usage charges and roaming fee to the DoT.
In absolute terms, the outstanding book value of NPAs of LIC in the debt portfolio across life, pension and unit-linked funds is to the tune of Rs 32,685.39 crore at the end of December 2019.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has bluntly told the government there is no reason for its members to roll out 5G networks as they will be unviable if 'captive private wireless networks' are allowed to be run by enterprises. The COAI, which has Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea as its key members, has written to Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw saying there is 'no business case for the roll out of 5G networks'. Permitting such captive networks will 'diminish the revenue so much that there will be no viable business case left for the telecom service providers and there will not remain any need for 5G network roll out by telecom service providers (TSPs)'.
The company has increased the cost of 1 GB of 3G internet usage to Rs 156 from Rs 123 it charged earlier.
The total number of telephone connections in the country crossed the record one billion mark in May, bolstered by growth in number of mobile users.
Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Friday announced the sale of 51 per cent stake in its telecom tower business to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Group, for an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore.
The debt resolution involves RCom exiting the SDR framework with no conversion of debt into equity and zero write-off by lenders, Anil Ambani said, adding that he expects full closure by March 2018.
In a major reform push, government on Thursday approved 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector, meeting a key demand of the fund-starved industry.
RCom had net debt of about Rs 40,222.6 crore at the end of June 30.
Facebook Inc is launching an open platform for online content and application developers to join its Internet.org service.
The development comes a day after RCom posted a consolidated loss of Rs 30,142 crore for July-September 2019 due to provisioning for liabilities after the Supreme Court ruling on statutory dues.
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
The agency had earlier alleged that the company had sold its 9.1% stake to Delphi for Rs 10 crore --a rate much lower than the prevalent market price.
RCom and Aircel will hold 50 per cent each in the new company
Voice calling will be free on Jio phones for life and post December 31, 10 data plans will be offered
In a setback to telecom service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre's plea to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs 92,000 crore from them.
The deal includes Reliance Infrastructure's integrated business of Generation, Transmission and Retail Electricity Distribution
With the addition of 4,000 employees, the RCom staff strength is estimated to rise to 9,500
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth in segment with net addition of 1.31 million subscribers.
The users of 5G-enabled Apple iPhones will be able to try 5G telecom services - wherever available publicly in the country - from next week, both on standalone (Reliance Jio) and non-standalone networks (Bharti Airtel). Airtel and Jio customers who download the iOS 16 Beta software update as part of its 'Apple Beta Software Program' can try the service and send their feedback to the company. The final updated software will become available sometime in December.
'Spectrum payment to push up telcos' debt to Rs 3.5 lakh cr'
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.
After a turnaround in performance by Indian equity markets since July that has seen the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 wipe out the year-to-date losses, analysts suggest investors start nibbling into stocks that are focused on the domestic economy. While they say intermittent corrections, led by policies of global central banks and other economic data, cannot be ruled out, analysts expect India's relative outperformance among global equity markets to continue as it looks better placed with a healthy economic recovery, and remains one of the fastest growing major economies. In this backdrop, Neeraj Chadawar, head of quantitative equity strategy at Axis Securities, believes that amid global slowdown, aggressive tightening by the central banks, and preference for domestic interests first (by the local government), export-oriented themes are likely to be muted or will deliver conservative returns in the near-term.
Flipkart has promoted several of its leaders into newer roles at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has internally raised its IPO (initial public offering) valuation target to about $60 billion and aims for a US listing in 2023, according to the sources. "I am delighted to announce the promotion of some of our exemplary leaders," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, in an internal note, and which has been reviewed by Business Standard. "Each of them has been instrumental in delivering impact and creating long-term value for Flipkart.
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd on Thursday accused e-commerce giant Amazon of adopting a media strategy of "having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges" regarding the Amazon-Future Coupons' arbitration proceedings in Singapore. The Court of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) had turned down a plea of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to be excluded from being a party to arbitration. In a regulatory filing disclosing the development, FRL said,"...this disclosure is being made out of abundant caution to avoid any speculation given Amazon's media strategy of having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges."
Despite the recent fall, the Nifty Midcap 100 index has outperformed by gaining 20 per cent till date in this year calendar year.
Despite the recent fall, the Nifty Midcap 100 index has outperformed by gaining 20 per cent till date in this year calendar year.
The Mumbai-based firm is on a cost optimisation drive through outsourcing of network management services and call centre operations.
Amazon has shot off yet another letter to market regulator Sebi, accusing Future Retail of insider trading and called for an investigation as the US online retailer looks to ratchet up pressure against the Future-RIL deal. Future Group, however, vehemently denied the charges, saying these allegations were "Amazon's ill-motivated attempts to throw everything at the situation to stultify the transaction."
At the close of trade, telecom stocks ended with as much as 4.3 per cent loss.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday handed over to the Army a raft of home-grown military hardware including unmanned aerial systems, quick reaction fighting vehicles, patrol boats and surveillance equipment for boosting its overall combat capability in eastern Ladakh.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that One Rank-One Pension (OROP) in Armed forces is a policy decision and suffers from no constitutional infirmity.
Bharti Airtel made part payment of Rs 4,725 crore.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, however, continued to add wireless subscribers
Experts say going ahead data price will fall further due to competition