The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear Bharti Cellular Limited CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal's plea challenging the March 19 order of the special court summoning him as an accused in a corruption case related to allocation of additional 2G spectrum during the 2002 NDA regime.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday said tariffs need to go up amid "tremendous stress" in the telecom sector, and Airtel will not hesitate to raise prices, but it will not do so unilaterally. The comments by the telecom czar came at a time when Airtel's rival Vodafone Idea has approached the government for a one-year moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment of over Rs 8,200 crore - due in April 2022. Cash-strapped VIL has told the telecom department that while it is working on raising new funding for the last six months, "investors are not willing to invest in the company because they believe that unless there is a significant improvement in consumer tariffs, the health of the industry will not recover and they will incur a loss on their investment".
Without assigning any reason, Justice Dave, who was part of the bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, opted out of hearing the pleas of Mittal and Ruia challenging the summons issued to them in the case.
Next week, the government is auctioning spectrum at a minimum bid price of Rs 14,000 crore for 5 MHz of airwaves for all the country's 22 telecom zones.
Bharti Enterprises, which has announced join ventures with US giant Wal-Mart for its retail foray, said that the rising real estate prices could hamper the growth of the organised retail industry in the country.
Two days after Bharti Airtel announced the launch of its fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband services in Kolkata, it is tough to miss the mark of the campaign in the city's key locations.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal has thanked partner SingTel for standing by it in the $10.7-billion takeover of Kuwaiti telecom giant Zain's African business.
Telecom regulator TRAI has issued a show cause notice to Bharti Group, offering mobile services under AirTel brand, for violation of licence conditions by continuing a particular service inspite of the government's instruction to stop it.
Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Teletech has been presented the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council award for achieving the highest exports in telecommunications equipment during 2001-02.
Sunil Mittal is confident that Airtel will retain its numero uno position, inspite of Vodafone's competition.
India's Sunil Mittal has been adjudged Asia's Businessman of the Year by prestigious US magazine Fortune for steering his telecom business in the world's fastest growing wireless market.
Managing director of Ashok Leyland R Seshasayee was elected CII president while Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Telecom became the vice president on Wednesday.
India's leading private sector cellular operator, Airtel is targeting a mobile customer base of 25 million in the next two years, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group managing director, Bharti Enterprises, said on Wednesday.
An 80-member strong Indian delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry will participate in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 23-27 January 2008.
Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja has expressed his interest in bringing down national roaming rates to zero, further cutting international roaming rates and favouring technology neutrality in the country.
It is of course a coincidence, but the pace of corporate news in India is accelerating while the new government, whose election last week sparked a surge of corporate optimism and a stock market boom, dithers over which ministers to appoint to which jobs.
He likes to try and try again, as the renewed merger talks with MTN have demonstrated.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
Following Reliance's move to offer roaming at no extra charge, Sunil Mittal owned Bharti Group on Friday announced new roaming charges without monthly rental of Rs 99 and incoming calls costing just Rs 1.99 per minute.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel on Monday proposed an annual pay package of up to Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) for its chief Sunil Mittal, besides other benefits, while seeking its shareholders' nod for his remuneration.
Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti group on Monday said that it would not participate in the airport modernisation project at Delhi.\n
Corporates are foraying into portfolio management services, with biggies like Reliance Money, Bharti Axa, Tata Capital and others taking the plunge.
Top business leaders to raise issues on investment, trade and the rupee
The deal enables Bharti Airtel to extend its services in 15 countries across the African continent.
Within a year of Gopal Vittal becoming the joint MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel's India operations, the company has elevated him as the MD and CEO for Bharti Airtel's operations in India and South Asia.
Having sold 62 million equity shares last week in Sunil Mittal owned Bharti Group, Warburg Pincus has said that its investments in the Bharti company was one of most successful investment and expressed satisfaction about the deal.
Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel had acquired 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom of Bangladesh for $300 million (about Rs 1,363 crore) earlier this year.
Providing job quotas for the socially underprivileged in private sector should be voluntary and the industry should not be forced to implement reservation, captains of Indian industry said on Tuesday.
This is the single largest foreign investment in India so far.
Most public sector banks, flush with deposits now, offer 3-4% interest on savings deposits, while a few private sector banks go up to 6%.
Mittal would travel in trucks with his consignments.
Internet giant Google will invest USD 1 billion in telecom major Bharti Airtel, which includes equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements, to be identified and agreed on mutually agreeable terms over the course of the next five years.
Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal MTN group president and CEO Phuthuma Nhlek had met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday. The two telecom majors extended the deadline for exclusive talks for their proposed $23-billion deal to the end of next month recently.
Bharti Tele Ventures on Tuesday said the groups' foray into the retail segment, through a joint venture, would be finalised in the next three-four months.
After outsourcing its network management and IT operations, Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Group has given contract of its call centre operations for mobile services to four global majors in a deal, valued cumulatively at Rs 1,000 crore.
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