Call drops may end as govt allows telecom spectrum trading
Telecom operator Vodafone has been the top gainer of customers through mobile number portability facility while Reliance Communications is the biggest loser.
RCom is expected to have a 50% stake, Aircel 40% and MTS 10%
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.
Since August 2013, FIPB has approved two FDI proposals in the telecom sector.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 80 points up at 23,789 while the Nifty50 closed at 7,235, up 24 points.
The Department of Telecom has put on block around 385 MHz of radiowaves in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band.
The Supreme Court in February, 2012 had quashed 122 2G licences.
The auction started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds on Friday, bids worth around Rs 54,600 crore had been received by the government.
In effect, companies which put their money in telecom in India would have done much better to keep the cash in bank and earn interest.
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.
When it comes to the number of phone bill disputes, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, BSNL and Aircel were high on the list in several service areas during the quarter ended June.
The case is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
Mobile phone service providers alone jointly reported gross revenue of Rs 55,164.18 crore (RS 551.64 billion).
Govt is set to garner Rs 1 lakh crore from sale of radiowaves.
The DoT estimates that it will receive Rs 29,524 cr in revenue from the telecom industry in FY18, which is 38% less than the Budget revenue target of Rs 47,300 cr for FY18
The telecom spectrum auction entered the 33rd round of bidding today after starting off from the Rs 52,689 crore (Rs 526. 89 billion) mark this morning.
World's second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 per cent.
All of these companies are present in India.
Uninor added 8.53 lakh subscribers to take its base to 4.01 crore during the reported period.
DoT had raised the demand on December 22 and asked RCom to pay within a month.
Access spectrum is airwaves used for transmitting wireless signals on mobile devices from mobile towers.
At Rs 2,685 crore for 1MHz pan-Indian spectrum, reserve price would be 52% higher than that of 1,800MHz band
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm and five other telecom firms will battle it out at the spectrum auction tomorrow, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore (Rs 113 billion).
Its says reconsider lower reserve price, uniform usage charges; GSM players to bear the brunt.
DoT decides not to scrap dual-technology telecom licences
The country's wireless subscriber base fell to 87.05 crore at the end of September, registering the first drop in five months, after Reliance Communications deactivated services of over 1 crore "unprofitable" users.
The government has suffered a loss of Rs 12,488.93 crore (Rs 124.88 billion) due to under-invoicing of gross revenue by six telecom companies including Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Bharti Airtel, the CAG said in a damning report on Friday.
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
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
As debt piles up, Anil Ambani's ability to see the asset sale plan through will be crucial
Drones are being sold by e-retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal for less than Rs 40,000 apiece.
