Bidding for the sixth round of spectrum auction for radiowaves worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore will start from March 1, according to a notice issued by the Department of Telecom on Wednesday. The long-awaited spectrum auction is being held after a gap of four years and over two years after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) calculated and recommended base price for the radiowaves. The DoT has fixed January 12 for the pre-bid conference and January 28 as the last date for seeking clarification to the notice.
Leading telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications will start selling Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c smartphones from November 1.
In the Sensex kitty, Ultratech Cement was the top gainer, rising 2.10 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries Sun Pharma, NTPC and Asian Paints.
Vodafone Idea on Wednesday said its board has approved availing the four-year spectrum payment moratorium being offered by the government as part of its relief package for the telecom sector. The other options offered in the Telecom Department's notification will be considered by the board of directors within the stipulated timeframe, it said in a regulatory filing. "...we wish to inform you that the Board of Directors of the company has approved the exercise of the option of deferment of the company's spectrum auction instalments for a period of 4 years (October 2021 to September 2025) in accordance with ...the notification dated 14 October 2021 issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the company," it said.
Bulk of these customers use 2G phones and are still focused on voice services and might prove useful for both Bharti Airtel and the Idea-Vodafone combine.
Dr Reddy's was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday said he had reached out to Vodafone's Nick Read after bold telecom reforms were announced by the government and will also speak to RIL's Mukesh Ambani, as the telecom czar vowed to take the lead in bringing the industry together to unleash India's telecom dream. Mittal exhorted the industry to collaborate in areas such as infrastructure sharing to reduce costs but vehemently ruled out possibility of any cartelisation among players. Amid reports of its potential tie-ups with handset makers to counter Jio's upcoming ultra low-cost smartphone, Mittal said Airtel is in a state of "readiness" on an affordable smartphone "should a need arise".
The overall wireless subscriber base increased to 114 crore at the end of June
NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 5 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, SBI and Axis Bank.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
Investors' wealth zoomed by Rs 5,78,634.72 crore in two days of intense market rally, with participants adding Rs 2,74,908.83 crore to their fortune on Tuesday. Over the past two sessions, the BSE gauge Sensex has gained about 1,461 points or 2.99 per cent. The benchmark rallied 612.60 points or 1.24 per cent to settle above the 50,000-mark on Tuesday. Following the two-day massive rallies, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped by Rs 5,78,634.72 crore to a record Rs 2,16,39,367.91 crore on Tuesday.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to a record high of Rs 2,40,04,664.28 crore on Tuesday, driven by a rally in stocks that also saw the benchmark Sensex touching its lifetime peak of 53,887.98 points. Rallying for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE index closed at a fresh closing peak of 53,823.36 points, a jump of 872.73 points or 1.65 per cent. During the day, it zoomed 937.35 points to 53,887.98 points.
IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying up to 46 per cent. Other winners were Bharti Airtel, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, HUL and HDFC -- rising up to 10 per cent. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries closed with losses. NSE Nifty finished 323.60 points, or 3.89 per cent, up at 8,641.45.
L&T was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 1.56 per cent, followed by ICIC Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finserv. NSE Nifty slipped 19.05 points to 14,910.45.
Tatas' brand value grows 12% in the past year, far ahead of Reliance and Airtel.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies reached an all-time high of Rs 261.73 lakh crore on Thursday, helped by a massive rally in the equities where the benchmark Sensex zoomed 958 points to end at a fresh lifetime peak. The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 958.03 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at its new closing peak of 59,885.36. During the day, it gained 1,029.92 points to touch an intra-day record high of 59,957.25.
It reported adding 698,3146 subscribers in September, the lowest since it added 6.1 million in November 2017.
This is the last lot of payments that telcos will make towards deferred spectrum liabilities, as the Union Cabinet had late last year approved a two-year moratorium on such spectrum payment dues.
Nivedita Mookerji explains why a timely rollout of 5G may not be easy in India.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
In the Sensex pack, Vedanta rallied 3.20 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, M&M, Tata Motors, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, SBI, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Coal India, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Reliance and Bharti Airtel, rising up to 2.69 per cent.
Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 4 per cent, followed by HDFC, Nestle India, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement and Bharti Airtel. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and NTPC were the laggards.
Richest 10 account for 41% of promoter wealth, up from 33% in December 2018, says Krishna Kant.
Other losers included Maruti, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, HUL, Kotak Bank, Coal India, RIL, TCS and Bharti Airtel, shedding up to 3.39 per cent.
The company at present provides monthly mobile services at starting price of Rs 24 without data, and plans with data service starts from Rs 33 onward. It did not disclose the quantum of hike.
Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, zooming 7.57 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, L&T, ITC and HCL Tech.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is in the process of issuing a show-cause notice to Vodafone Idea (Vi) for delaying the payment of licence fee. Companies pay 8 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fee. This also includes a universal service obligation levy. The fee is collected from each of the 22 telecom circles in the country on a quarterly basis.
Telecom gear makers, who are in talks with telcos, say that if all goes well, they are ready to roll out the first phase of 5G services from October this year and cover the country's top 30-50 cities (in limited areas) by March 2023. The gear makers expect the telecom companies to give them a heads-up about their plans as well as the equipment required by July, and have promised deployment in three to four months after that. India's main telecom gear suppliers are Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung.
The merged entity would lead with a revenue market share of about 37 per cent against Airtel's 31.2 per cent and Jio's 14.5 per cent
M&M was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 6 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto, Titan, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and PowerGrid.
ONGC was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, dropping 5.80 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, HCL Tech, TCS, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries.
Bharti Airtel made part payment of Rs 4,725 crore.
NSE Nifty sank 127.80 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 12,224.55. According to traders, besides stock-specific action, domestic investors were also seen booking profits at record peaks.
ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, spurting over 2 per cent, followed by Infosys, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Maruti, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank and TCS. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Auto were among the laggards. NSE Nifty rose 16.75 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 11,930.95.
RCom on Friday announced appointment of Deepak Khanna as CEO, India Enterprise Business.
Reliance Industries was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 3 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, HDFC twins and Kotak Bank. NSE Nifty surged 143.25 points or 1.18 per cent to 12,263.55.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Indian telecommunications companies are ringing louder. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are among the big league of gloal telecom companies.
Vodafone India said on Friday it would launch fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services in the country by the end of the year.
