The Department of Telecommunications has received 21 bids from telecom operators and infrastructure service providers for the Rs 2,395 crore (Rs 23.95 billion) rural telephony project.
Going by application dates, companies like Spice, Birla-promoted Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (through Swan and Cheetah) and Hindustan Futuristic are in the lead for licences in different circles. The only new player in the list is the little-known ByCell.Several incumbents like Idea Cellular, Maxis-Aircell, owned by a Malaysian promoter, and Vodafone-Essar lead the list of applicants for initial spectrum allocation since they already hold licences.
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.
BPO and IT services across India remained largely unaffected.
Spectrum trading will happen in 9 circles.
Flag Telecom was looking at divesting up to 20 per cent of its equity stake through an international convertible bond issue and raise over $200 million.
Upping the ante in the ongoing spectrum war, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has shot off a missive to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), accusing GSM operators of having cornered spectrum under the valuable 900 MHz.
The department of telecommunications is planning to seek details from four operators - Bharti-Airtel, Hutchison-Essar, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Reliance Communications - on the fulfillment of rollout obligations under the mobile telephony licence.
The race for Hutch-Essar, the country's fourth largest mobile service provider, quickened on Wednesday with Hong-Kong based Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd formally informing the 4 companies in the fray to submit their bids by Friday
Rival bidders Vodafone and Reliance Communications are studying the possibility of taking an indirect route to acquire control of Hutchison Essar to skirt the right of first refusal claimed by the Essar group.
The licensor has asked Bharti Airtel, Hutch, Reliance Communications and BSNL why they should not be asked to pay Rs 50 crore or Rs 500 million (per circle) as penalty for violation of the licensing agreement, official sources said.
The move will help telcos, including Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
Recently, world headlines buzzed with Elon Musk's announcement that he was shelving his audacious bid for social media platform Twitter. Away from the media spotlight, questions are being asked about the maverick billionaire's plans in India, too. A few days ago, a Reuters report said Musk's flagship Tesla had put on hold its plan to launch electric cars in India.
Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) has dissociated itself from the GSM lobby's stance on spectrum, stating there is no merit in the demand for additional spectrum.
Telecommunications major Reliance Communications will invest $1.5 billion (around Rs 7,000 crore) in Flag Telecom, its under-sea cable subsidiary, over the next three years.
Reliance Communications, along with Malaysian telecom major Maxis, has confirmed its interest in picking up a stake in Hutchison Essar.
The company will invest Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion) for network expansion in FY08, said ADAG chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday in Mumbai.
Based on radio frequency identification technology, the phone will work like a credit or debit card.
New Delhi is also set to top its target of raising at least $13 billion.
Under the UASL norms, spectrum is linked to licences, and a particular band of radio wave is restricted to be used in a particular technology
Anil Ambani on Wednesday met Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Home Minister Shivraj Patil presumably to brief them about the settlement of Reliance empire with the elder scion of the Ambani family, Mukesh.
Discussing the prospect of more reform earlier this month, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a delay in the 5G spectrum auction. India's telecom sector regulation has to be benchmarked with the global best, he said. It's another matter that many countries have either introduced or are about to roll out 5G services that will enable cutting-edge tech in diverse areas. For India, too, it will mean a lot for healthcare, robotics and unleashing a new chapter in Digital India perhaps.
RJio will further add bottomline pressures on the already struggling telcos that will ultimately be forced to consolidate
American Tower bulks up in India with $1.2 billion Viom stake buy
'The recent incident in the US has no bearing in India.' 'We are not aware of any request from the US to India about 5G.'
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.
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.
