In insolvency proceedings, Ericsson will be treated as only an operational creditor and may end up losing the Rs 550 crore
Reliance Industries on Friday announced the sale of 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US-based Vista Equity Partners for Rs 11,367 crore, the third deal in a little over two weeks that will inject a combined Rs 60,596.37 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt. The US-based private equity firm will buy a stake in Jio Platforms, which houses the country's youngest but biggest telecom firm Jio, at an equity value of Rs 4.91 crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 crore.
According to software company Mavernir, the new virtualised networks would lead to a saving of 40 per cent in capex and 34 per cent in terms of lower operations cost for operators.
Refuting the allegations of TRAI that the telecom service providers are making huge gains in the sector, the firms had said they have been investing hugely on the infrastructure.
Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the closure of its agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm to transfer the 'Right to Use' of Airtel's 800 MHz spectrum in three circles to Jio. Airtel said it has received Rs 1,004.8 crore (net of tax) from Jio for the proposed transfer.
Analysts at rating agency ICRA say the debt level of the telecom companies is very high and the ecosystem for the premium band is not in place.
With the Beijing Olympics 2008 starting from Friday, three of the major Indian telecom service providers Reliance Communications, BPL Mobile and Tata Communications are launching services aimed at tapping the communication potential of the event.
In the third infrastructure sharing agreement between firms run by brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Reliance Industries' telecom arm has agreed to use Reliance Communication Ltd's intra-city fibre network to roll out 4G services.
The books of these companies had come under a cloud after it was alleged that many of them had not been paying the goverment's share of revenue by showing the revenue earned under other categories. Under a suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a special audit of all the integrated telecom companies will be undertaken once in 3-5 years.
RIL, however, remains miles ahead of TCS in other financial parameters such as total revenue, operating profit, net worth, assets, and market capitalisation.
Telcos' m-cap rises Rs 11,286 crore; Bharti, RCom lead.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
The company is offering its own devices under the brand name Lyf along with other brands to employees at a 25 per cent discount.
The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in four weeks. A bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said if the 'contemnors' failed to make the payments within the specified period, they will undergo a jail term of three months.
The telecom sector's adjusted gross revenues have grown 13.2% year-on-year in the June quarter.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India have moved into the slow lane, dropping 43 per cent in terms of deal value to touch $13.37 billion since January this year to date, compared to the same period in the last year. According to data sourced from Bloomberg, Indian companies reported deal value worth $23.5 billion between January and March 22, 2023. Data Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of American Tower Corporation's India telecom towers business for $2.5 billion was the top deal for the ongoing quarter so far, followed by the Highway Infrastructure Trust's acquisition of PNC Infratech's road projects for $1.08 billion.
Given the security dilemma prevailing between India and China, India should curb the operation of Chinese telecom companies in India, asserts Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued show cause notices to Bharti Tele, Reliance Infocomm, and Idea Cellular for not adhering to prescribed format for advertising tariffs to consumers.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday took serious note of unauthorised phone tapping by private telecom companies and sought Centre's response on the action taken against Reliance Infocom for intercepting politician Amar Singh's telephone five years ago.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has started a limited test use of WhatsApp to connect customers to grocery stores, days after Facebook decided to invest USD 5.7 billion in digital assets controlled by the company. JioMart, an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, "has already started interacting with customers on WhatsApp for grocery orders" in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan, Credit Suisse said in a report.
Among the Sensex firms, Kotak Bank, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid were the major gainers. HUL, TCS, M&M, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech were among the losers.
Telecom and petchem businesses will drive growth for RIL.
Jio is now present in all of the 29 states.
Reliance Infocomm on Wednesday said it would enter the pre-paid card segment soon for its mobile telecom operations.
Oil to telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has initiated the process to seek shareholders' approval for the appointment of the third generation of the Ambani family on the company's board. The remote voting through postal ballot will start from September 27 onwards. In a separate note, CreditSights said a trust and hold-co model could be a possibility for the anticipated succession at RIL.
The government is considering withdrawing legal cases against telecom companies, involving disputes of about Rs 40,000 crore, a source said on Tuesday. In line with this, the Department of Telecom has already filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in a case against Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications to take an informed decision whether to proceed with the present appeal or not, the source said. DoT has said the telecom sector is passing through a financial stress due to various circumstances and telecom services providers are making losses.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group is said to be planning a surprise entry into the race to acquire telecom spectrum, which will pitch it directly against Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, sources said. Applications for participating in the July 26 auction of airwaves, including those capable of providing fifth-generation or 5G telecom services such as ultra-high-speed internet connectivity, closed on Friday with at least four applications. Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- the three private players in the telecom sector -- applied, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Communications, which is in the process of bidding for Hutch-Essar, is planning to list its undersea cable business unit Flag Telecom in London to raise over $500 million.
With the State Bank of India moving the National Company Law Tribunal's Delhi bench to enforce the personal guarantees of Ambani, it will delay the recovery of dues by the Chinese banks which won a UK court order in May this year.
Reliance Infocomm has asked the government to reconsider the penalty imposed on it on charges of illegal routing of international calls, saying the telecom ministry's action was "misconceived and unjustified."
The company also expects to benefit in its proposed banking foray through partnership with Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Nippon Life Insurance
GSM operators (excluding Reliance Telecom) in the country added 6.3 million subscribers in August, taking the total number of users to 225.6 million. In July, the total GSM subscriber base in the country was 219.30 million.
He allegedly advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.
