Ambani said, in the telecom space, the focus will be on debt reduction, and the virtual merger did away with the need for major capex and will help towards this
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.
The long-overdue consolidation makes indebted RCom an even more attractive partner for a soon-to-launch upstart led by older brother Mukesh.
Spectrum auction on Thursday entered the 10th day of bidding and started off from Rs 61,091.83 crore (Rs 610.91 billion) in terms of value.
Jio is in a neck and neck battle with Airtel, which added a similar number of subscribers as Jio in the 15 months from February 2017 to April 2018
The CAG report, tabled in Parliament, states the interest on the short payment stood at Rs 1,052.13 crore for the period up to March 2016.
RCom and Aircel have permits for 3G services in 13 out of 22 service areas while Tata Teleservices has permit in 9 circles.
The government is looking at a time frame within the first two weeks of July to kick off and complete the upcoming 5G auctions, according to discussions between officials and stakeholders. It is expected that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will give its recommendations on the base price by March, after which the necessary cabinet clearances will be given. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier looked at undertaking the auction in the first quarter of 2022 but decided to push it back. Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had also said that the auctions are likely to take place in April-May.
India's largest mobile operator Reliance Jio Infocomm will land the multi-terabit India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) undersea cable system in Hulhumale, Maldives, according to a statement on Monday. The high capacity and high-speed IAX system will connect Hulhumale directly with world's major internet hubs in India and Singapore. Jio's IAX project will land in the Maldives in collaboration with Ocean Connect Maldives, the statement said. The IAX system originates in Mumbai in the west and connects directly to Singapore, with branches including additional landings in India, Malaysia, and Thailand.
While the company insisted it had enough spectrum across circles, analysts said the company might soon need to acquire some spectrum to ensure uninterrupted service.
More asset sales may be only way out, though most of the group companies' ratings have been downgraded and their combined market value is now a fraction of their combined debt.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telcom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have opposed the proposal to compensate consumers.
DoT though failed to implement TRAI's recommendations to levy spectrum usage charge
The CBI is probing whether the former IRDA chief J Hari Narayan had misused his discretionary powers to favour Reliance General Insurance Company, which has admitted that the extra amount collected by it way of premium was not Rs 1.07 crore, as originally believed, but 20 times as much, report Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Pranati B Mehra.
Reliance Jio submitted the highest pre-auction deposit.
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
In a meeting on Thursday evening, the RCom management, led by CEO Punit Garg, requested the bank representatives to release Rs 260 crore it received as I-T refund so that it could repay the dues to Ericsson.
Telecom operator Vodafone has been the top gainer of customers through mobile number portability facility while Reliance Communications is the biggest loser.
The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, will provide relief for mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, but will increase rates for broadband wireless access spectrum holders like RJIL.
RIL says Sebi has not asked for revision of offer price, expecting clearance soon.
Investors' wealth eroded by a massive Rs 8,21,666.77 crore on Monday as the market saw a massive sell-off not seen in many months. The BSE benchmark Sensex plunged 1,170.12 points or 1.96 per cent to close at 58,465.89. This is the worst single-day drop for the gauge in over seven months. This was also the fourth straight session of decline for the Sensex.
Private equity investments into domestic companies fell sharply year-on-year by 42 per cent to $23.3 billion in 2022, which is the lowest since 2019, when it was $15.8 billion, according to an industry report. The numbers reflect the overall funding winter that the startup space in particular, and the overall foreign investments in general have been witnessing since the Ukraine war began last February. Private equity investment inflows into the country fell by a sharp 42 per cent in 2022 from last year to $23.3 billion -- the lowest annual inflows since 2019 when it was a low $15.8 billion, but still relatively elevated compared to historical levels, said Elaine Tan, a senior analyst at Refinitiv, the LSEG business arm that provides financial markets data and insights.
RCom intends to utilise the proceeds of the proposed transaction to reduce its debt.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has slapped a penalty of Rs 2,000 crore on Vodafone Idea and Rs 1,050 crore on Bharti Airtel based on sector regulator Trai's recommendation five years ago, according to sources. The DoT has given three weeks time to the telecom operators to pay the penalty, a source said while sharing the content of the demand notice served to the companies on Thursday. When contacted Bharti Airtel spokesperson said, "We are deeply disappointed with the arbitrary and unfair demand based on Trai recommendations of 2016 relating to provisions of point of interconnect to a new operator.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Monday pressed for bridging the digital divide "both among nations and within nations", saying connectivity and communications have become the fundamental rights of every person. Also, there is a need to bring back the economies around the globe. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, he said it is difficult to imagine what India would have been without the 4G telecom network during the pandemic. "The digital divide must be bridged, both among nations and within nations.
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.
The company has increased the cost of 1 GB of 3G internet usage to Rs 156 from Rs 123 it charged earlier.
The government expects the rollout of 5G services to start from early October in the country, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday. "As soon as the spectrum auction ends, within a few days itself, we will allocate the spectrum. "We expect that the 5G roll-out will happen from the beginning of October and within a year or so, we should have a good rollout in the country," the Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in New Delhi.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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