Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday announced a substantial cut in levy accrued to state-owned BSNL at Rs 3,200 crore (Rs 32 billion) from over Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) and shifted to revenue share regime from per call basis.
The department is planning a complete overhaul of the archaic Indian Telegraph Act.
Among the businesses that need consolidation are retail and defence
Shares of telecom services providers - Reliance Industries (parent of Reliance Jio), Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - have shed up to 23 per cent so far in the current calendar year as growth in the wireless subscriber segment begins to plateau amid higher tariffs and rising costs of smartphones. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, and sectoral index BSE Telecom have dipped 1.8 per cent, and 12.6 per cent, respectively, ACE Equity data shows. However, analysts expect the trend to reverse soon as telecom services providers focus on the next leg of growth -- fixed broadband (FBB) segment.
The country's telecom sector went into an overdrive witnessing among other things a uniform call rate, huge foreign investments as intense competition in the arena led to a drop in tariffs to benefit the consumer.
Department of telecommunication and intelligence agencies have long been demanding access to data on Blackberry phones, which is available only to the owners of the handset. RIM executives had met senior DoT officials recently.
The government has lost Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in just over a month after 1,300 group A officers, who constitute the top management and technical cadre in telecom giants BSNL and MTNL, rejected the ''inferior'' absorption offer.
The most important lesson is that you have to build your political proposition, and sell it yourself. You can't leave it to the courts, media, NGOs and civil society and expect them to play the role of the Opposition. That's precisely what Mr Modi's challengers have been doing and we know the results, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to place before it the "files and notings" which purportedly suggest that its Director Ranjit Sinha wants stopping of whole trial against Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and three top executives of the Reliance ADAG, who are accused in the 2G spectrum scam case.
Expressing concern over frequent internet shutdown without any empirical study, a parliamentary panel has pulled up the department of telecommunications for not maintaining the record of incidents and inaction on several of its recommendations.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have withdrawn over Rs 12,000 crore from Indian equities this month so far, mainly due to a sustained rise in US bond yields and the uncertain environment resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict. However, the story takes an intriguing turn on observing FPI activity in Indian debt as they have infused over Rs 5,700 crore into the debt market during the period under review, data with the depositories showed. Going ahead, the trajectory of FPIs' investments in India will be influenced not only by global inflation and interest rate dynamics but also by the developments and intensity of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Himanshu Srivastava, associate director - manager research, Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said.
Former Telecom Minister Sukhram has been held guilty by a Delhi court of misusing his official position when he was in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet and giving undue favour to a cable supply company in a 15-year-old case.
Despite its run-in with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Mumbai-based GSM telecom service provider Loop Telecom will launch its services in the Tamil Nadu and Orissa circles by next week.
Airtel already offers services in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 African countries apart from India.
A day before he is to surrender to undergo a three-year jail term in a 1993 telecom scam, former Union minister Sukhram on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on the Delhi high court order which had upheld his conviction in the case.
The much-awaited guidelines on foreign direct investment in telecom are expected to be notified this month with companies likely to be given a maximum of four months
Telecom sector has seen phenomenal growth over the past decade or so, says the prime minister.
Telecom Italia is targeting to reduce the debt significantly over the period 2009-2011. It plans to reduce net debt to earnings before by interest, tax and depreciation and amortisation ratio to 2.3 at the end of 2011 from over 3 at present.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a heated debate Friday on an Ethics Committee report recommending Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra's expulsion in the cash-for-query issue, with the Opposition demanding she be allowed to speak in the House, and the government contending her views were heard by the panel.
After targeting employees in the sectors of insurance, banking and hospitality, militants in Manipur have now targeted mobile operators in the state to continue their activities of extortion and abduction.The militants had earlier burned down mobile towers after employees of telecom companies refused to fulfill their demands. In February, militants of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Nongdrenkhomba faction) outfit burnt down a mobile tower and gunned down a security personnel.
The chairman and group managing director of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, was chosen the best Asian Telecom CEO
The company declined to disclose the names of the firms it was acquiring as the regulatory clearances and some negotiations are still in process.
The continued growth in the communications sector, especially mobile subscriber base, is expected to push further the level of energy consumption by networks, Trai said while releasing a consultation paper 'Green Telecommunications'.
The CBI on Wednesday called Loop Telecom, CEO Sandeep Basu, Chairman of Shyam group Rajiv Mehrotra, former telecom minister A Raja's brother A K Perumal and close aide Sadiq Batcha, for questioning in relation with the 2G spectrum scam.
Titan, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Power Grid, NTPC and Tata Motors were among the among the major gainers. Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, JSW Steel, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were the major laggards.
The recommendations of the commission will now be put before the empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram for a final decision.
Jio Financial Services, a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL), got valued at Rs 1.66 trillion ($20 billion) following an hour-long special trading session conducted by stock exchanges on Thursday. Shares of RIL's unit got priced at Rs 261.85 apiece - higher than analysts' expectations of Rs 134-224 per share. The price was arrived at after calculating the difference between RIL's Wednesday (July 19) close of Rs 2,840 and Rs 2,580, the price discovered during the first-of-its-kind pre-trade session.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has significantly tightened the noose on mergers among telecom operators within a circle by imposing a three-year lock-in period, besides making it mandatory for them to take prior permission from the ministry.
India can build new technology in the telecom sector that leapfrogs the legacy systems in the West and leverage these systems to serve the global market, Satyam Computer Services director T R Anand said on Monday.
Israel's Tadiran Telecom on Wednesday entered into a strategic alliance with BPL Telecom to sell its enterprise products including advanced digital PBX systems in India and said it would set up a joint venture with the Indian company for local manufa
Funds will be raised via non-cumulative preference shares issued to Tata Sons on rights basis
Private telecom operators have managed to grab 43 per cent of the total revenue generated from telecom services during 2004-05, says a leading communications business magzine.
With the heat over the 2G telecom spectrum scam rising, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended the cancellation of 34 telecom licences of companies, including Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom and Siestema, due to non-compliance of roll-out obligations.
A senior official in the Telecom Ministry said the government is considering an exit option for the new telecom players who are struggling to roll out services.
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