The government on Friday said telecom companies would be heard before a decision is taken on telecom regulator TRAI's recommendations on spectrum related issues, including levying a one-time charge for excess air waves.
Leading mobile phone operators came down hard on the telecom regulator on a day when most saw their stocks on a crash course.
Idea, Reliance and BSNL have call drop rates in the range of 10 per cent or above.
In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it.
Indian telecommunications companies are ringing louder. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are among the big league of gloal telecom companies.
A senior department of telecommunication official said the estimated figure for 2009-10 is Rs 10,000 crore and the actual figures could be a little higher.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
Earlier, RBI had allowed domestic entities to invest in overseas unincorporated entities in the oil sector, up to 400 per cent of the net worth of the Indian company, under the automatic route.
Only those foreign companies with an existing presence in Indian telecom finally put in bids for the 3G auction. The last date for applications was March 19.
Bharti Airtel's fund raising is expected to strengthen its competitive positioning in the market and provide the telco with the necessary ammunition for aggressive 5G rollout, analysts said. The capital raising announcement, though unexpected and surprising, would enable Airtel to enhance its market share and provides it wherewithal to make faster investment in a scenario India moves to a two-player market earlier than expected, some analysts felt. Bharti Airtel's board on Sunday approved raising up to Rs 21,000 crore by way of rights issue at a price of Rs 535 per share.
The total outstanding dues against Bharti Airtel is Rs 11,235.50 crore.
Vodafone, one of the largest GSM operators, had said that service providers like itself and "Bharti pay the highest spectrum charges per MHz to department of telecommunications compared to others. . .
Even as the slogan of their lifetime tariff promise customers one-time service charge throughout life, telecom operators have sought regulatory authority TRAI's
Though Google's investment is minuscule and will not move the needle, it will attract other investors to the company and be a morale booster. Pursuing Vodafone Idea would potentially pit Google against Facebook and an increasingly dominant Jio.
Ambani is banking on new businesses to boost profit as earnings from producing oil and natural gas has slowed in the past three years.
Telcos have indicated that rates will have to be raised, as higher volumes alone will not suffice to meet the higher costs.
Telcos propose licence regime for apps like WhatsApp, Skype.
Telcos in line of fire over call drops, inflated bills
While smart boys like the Ruias of Essar, Ajay Piramal, Max India promoter Analjit Singh laughed all the way to the bank, the Tatas, Anil Ambani, Malaysian tycoon T Ananda Krishna of Maxis (which invested in Aircel), Sistema, and Norway's Telenor burnt their fingers, notes Surajeet Das Gupta.
Debunking a government charge about forming a cartel, India's top three private telecom players - Bharti, Reliance Infocomm and Videsh Sanchar Nigam
Telcos may hike mobile rates to recover spectrum cost: Moody's
Mukesh Ambani-led company will squeeze market shares and margins of existing players
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
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Instead of tinkering with roaming, the circle system should be ended.
According to a study by analyst firm Angel Broking, once the MNP facility is operational, mobile operators' average revenues per user, the benchmark of a telecom operator's financial strength, would get adversely impacted by around 5 per cent. Telecom companies' margins would also drop by 100-150 basis points and even earnings per share estimates would be pruned by 9-21 per cent.
The books of these companies had come under a cloud after it was alleged that many of them had not been paying the goverment's share of revenue by showing the revenue earned under other categories. Under a suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a special audit of all the integrated telecom companies will be undertaken once in 3-5 years.
Supreme Court had on October 24 upheld government contention that non-core revenue in telecoms groups should be included in adjusted gross revenue. According to DoT's calculations, Bharti Airtel faces a liability of around Rs 42,000 crore after including licence fees and spectrum usage charges while Vodafone-Idea may have to pay about Rs 40,000 crore.
The new telecom players in the country, which had received licences in January 2008 and were subsequently allocated spectrum, are ready to roll out services in the next three to four months.
Global rating agency Fitch on Tuesday said the imminent entry of Reliance Jio into the telecom space will see a likely 20 per cent fall in data tariffs, but will not have any impact on the credit profile of the top four incumbents in the medium term as their revenue is on an uptick on rising voice tariffs and improving regulatory environment.
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According to the regulator, a large number of complaints relate to calls or messages received by consumers on behalf of banks, insurance companies and builders.
This means the regulator can bring rates under regulation once again. Currently, the rates are determined by market forces.
In an interview to PTI, Raja said his ministry would keep a vigil on these players and on their plans to start operations (50 per cent in the first year of spectrum allotment). Raja's assertion has come at a time when he is faced with criticism following the high-value stake-sale of two new telcos -- Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom -- who are yet to start services.
The economic slowdown may have raised the spectre of job losses in most industries, but telecom is a notable exception. Far from cutting back, telecom companies expect to hire over 16,000 people, 15 to 20 per cent more than last year, to meet the unprecedented expansion in subscriber numbers, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India, the association for GSM service providers.
Reliance Communications has launched a seven-inch tablet at Rs 13,000 per piece and Bharti Airtel's Beetel at Rs 8,000 a piece.
Although the industry is disappointed with the government decision not to lower spectrum prices at a time telcos are saddled with over Rs 4-trillion debt and an estimated Rs 1.43-trillion licence fee dues, the DCC has relaxed the payment structure to offer some relief to the financially stressed sector.
Expressing deep concerns over India's policy of preferring domestically manufactured information and communication technology goods, the apex body of US telecom industry has told lawmakers that this will have negative impact on exports and economic competitiveness.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the submissions by a battery of senior lawyers including A M Singhvi and C A Sundaram and said it will list the fresh pleas "sometime in next week" before the same bench which had heard the earlier petition in the high-stake matter.
To end possibility of forming cartels in the telecom sector, new telecom licences are proposed to come with a clause that will bar service providers from holding either direct or indirect stake in other telecom companies providing services in the same area.
According to the police, Delhi-Ghazipur border remains closed for traffic due to the farmers' protests. The commuters are suggested to take alternate routes via Anad Vihar, Chilla, DND, Apsara, bhopra and Loni borders, it added.
The broad idea was endorsed by the DoT's internal panel in its report on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations last year on spectrum management and other licensing issues.
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