Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday pitched for using the USO Fund to subsidise smartphones for select groups to help penetrate the digital revolution and said India should make the rollout of 5G or the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks a national priority. As much as 5 per cent of the licence fee paid by telecom operators goes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund, which was set up in April 2002 for achieving universal service objectives by providing access to telephone services in rural and remote areas and creation of infrastructure for mobile services and broadband in these areas. However, according to the CAG, less than half of the funds so collected are transferred for the said purpose.
The Big Two telecom companies have accelerated their moves towards this next-gen technology, though they have chosen very different routes to getting there.
RCom and Research In Motion have introduced the 'Reliance E-Lite' plan for BlackBerry smart phone users in India, where users can have unlimited access to email and instant messaging on their phones for Rs 299 a month, RCom said. The service plan would be available on BlackBerry smartphones available from Reliance Mobile, such as BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8830, BlackBerry Curve 8300, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Pearl 8110 and BlackBerry Pearl 8130.
Mumbai Metro commuters get top-up facility.
Around 75 per cent, or 372 stocks, that are part of the BSE500 are trading at least 10 per cent below their all-time high levels, despite the index hitting a record high 20,515 points on the BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday, surpassing its previous high of 20,390 touched in March 12. The index, which accounts for 93 per cent of BSE listed companies' market capitalisation, has gained 8 per cent from its recent low of 18,983, touched on April 19. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex gained 6 per cent over the same period, but is still nearly 4.5 per cent away from its all-time high of 52,517 that it hit on February 16.
'While investors in Reliance have had to play a game of patience for long stretches, for Anil the challenge is to do what used to be his brother's forte -- generating cash by putting assets in the ground and making things,' says T N Ninan.
Public-interest litigators Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who spearheaded a historic legal battle for LGBTQ rights in India, along with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani are among the Indians who have been named by TIME magazine in its prestigious list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list also includes Indian-American comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex is likely to hit the much awaited psychological level of 21,000 this week, driven by the smart Reliance numbers and expectations of robust listing of the Coal India IPO, say analysts.
The fixed line broadband will offer "ultra high-definition entertainment on large screen TVs, multi-party video conferencing from your living room, voice-activated virtual assistants, virtual reality gaming, digital shopping, immersive experiences," Ambani said.
Index majors NTPC, BHEL, Reliance Reliance Energy, Reliance Communications and HDFC, DLF, TCS, SBI and Bajaj Auto have zoomed.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to make a presentation detailing the pros and cons of the controversial Indian 5G standard, also known as 5Gi, which the government has been pushing for. The move comes after serious differences emerged among telcos with regard to the technology's efficacy and implementation.
Vodafone-Idea (Vi) has said the key hurdle it faces in raising fresh funding, despite interest from investors, is the 'pricing situation' which is also the reason why it has asked the Department of Telecommunica-tions (DoT) for another extension of the moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment by one more year. Responding to a question during an analysts' call on Friday after its quarterly results on the reason for the delay in fund-raising nine months after it was announced, CEO & MD Ravinder Takkar said: "We are in discussions with investors. There is continued interest in investing in the telecom sector in the country. "The biggest hurdle is that the overall industry is under stress because of the pricing situation." He said that once tariffs go up, it will create a significant amount of confidence.
Raamdeo Agrawal says, an investor should figure out if the company actually makes money or not, making an investment comes later.
The new discounted fares are Rs 10 (3 km), Rs 15 (8 km) and Rs 20 (20 km).
Profit booking in IT, FMCG shares take index lower; Realty and banking stocks hold on to gains.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Infosys, Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank led the gains on the Sensex, rising up to 2.53 per cent.
The famous Nokia 8110 comes back to life in a new avatar after 22 years!
The Sensex opened with a positive gap backed by fresh buying in technology stocks
It has captured 38 per cent of the feature phone segment in 2018 through frequent innovation, says Arnab Dutta.
According to analysts, most of the growth in the smartphone space will come from existing users, who will be lured to upgrade their handsets as new features and technologies turn existing features redundant, says Arnab Dutta.
Equity investors grew richer by Rs 32.49 lakh crore in 2020 on the back of smart returns in the stock market which had a roller-coaster ride during the year hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak ravaged lives and livelihoods on a global scale, shuttering businesses and jolting world equities. But amid all the gloom, Indian stock indices gave hope of returning to winning ways towards the latter part of the year.
The broader market ended mixed. The market breadth was weak with 1,416 declines and 1,184 losers on the BSE.
Organisations value employees who go beyond their boundaries and step up to the occasion when the need arises.
Coal India was the biggest gainer on both Sensex and Nifty
Asserting that the self reliant India programme will help revive the global economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told global business community that his government aims to transform the country through access, inclusion and empowerment while also ensuring complete data security. Addressing the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda Summit, where he also interacted with global business leaders, Modi also said India offers a predictable and friendly environment from tax regime to FDI norms. He said Aatmanirbhar Bharat movement is committed to global good and global supply chain while the country's digital profile has been completely transformed.
The liquidity-fuelled rally will continue for some time, however, fundamentals are getting stretched.
All eyes were on these celebs on Day 3 and 4 at Lakme Fashion Week..
'We are in the middle of an unprecedented SIP revolution.' 'Monthly inflow through SIPs will be Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore soon.' 'Traditional avenues of Indian savings like bank fixed deposits, gold or real estate are no longer attractive to invest.'
Barbeque Nation IPO: The promoters hold 60.24 per cent stake, CX Partners owns 33.79 per cent and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's investment firm Alchemy Capital holds 2.05 per cent in the company.
Highlighting the role of MSMEs in enhancing exports and helping the country achieve self reliance, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said India does not need to import from China. "Already in automobile sector, in many sectors now, in agriculture, automobiles, everywhere, we have already found the solutions. Now we don't need to import from China," said the minister. He observed that India was exporting a lot of items instead of importing them.
The indices are moving in a narrow band. The Sensex is currently at 5183, up 13 points, while the Nifty is unchanged at 1632.
Declaring that the plans will come at less than one-tenth of global rates, Ambani said Jio Fiber plans will be priced between Rs 700 to Rs 10,000 per month "to suit every budget".
Infrastructure for all-IP next-generation, wireless broadband infrastructure across all the 29 states in India is being laid, says Mukesh.
The NSE Nifty ended at 4,239, up 28 points. The index had dropped 565 points in the last two trading sessions.
The rise in commuters was also despite the state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority filing a petition against MMOPL on fare fixation.
Analysts say that Jio's substantial slowing down in net additions is possibly because the company has dramatically reduced its bundled 4G feature phone offering, which contributed an average 30-40 per cent of its net additions.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances