Weak balance sheets due to hefty outgo of funds for new licences will reflect negatively on the 2013 outlook for the sector.
The telecom ministry on Monday started issuing show-cause notices to telecom companies which allegedly suppressed information to bag licences or failed to roll out services in stipulated time.
The government will send notices to 85 companies asking why their licences should not be cancelled for suppressing facts, said Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday.
Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company has reported a 258 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 100.31 crore (Rs 1.003 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 as against Rs 28.03 crore (Rs 280.3 million) in Q1 FY03.
DoT plans to initiate move that might lower the revenues telcos share with government.
Analysts expect that Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Idea Cellular will post over 50 per cent annual growth in revenues (year-on-year) and more than 10 per cent sequential growth (over the previous quarter). Bharti continues to lead in the subscriber addition race (2.1 million in August).
A meeting of the board of directors of Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd is scheduled on January 22, 2003 to consider, inter alia, the unaudited results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2002.\n\n\n\n
While everybody is talking about the vast potential of 5G, the uptake of such services in India depends on operators getting around 100 Mhz 5G spectrum. At the reserve price proposed by Trai, getting this spectrum will cost a telco around Rs 490 billion. Which amount could be difficult for operators to mop up, given the financial stress they are undergoing, says Kiran Rathee.
Videocon starts race, says will bid in eight circles, expects 5-MHz spectrum to go for Rs 20,000 crore
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a directive that telecom operators will have to refund the duty sops availed under the commerce ministry's export promotion scheme for services -- Served From India Scheme.
RJio will further add bottomline pressures on the already struggling telcos that will ultimately be forced to consolidate
The telecom industry, with a cumulative debt of around Rs 2,75,000 crore (Rs 2,750 billion), has been mired in various controversies, besides facing intense competition, low tariffs and falling margins.
The department of telecommunications is all set to urge the telecom companies to bring down domestic roaming charges between Re 1 to Rs 2 per minute.
Recently, world headlines buzzed with Elon Musk's announcement that he was shelving his audacious bid for social media platform Twitter. Away from the media spotlight, questions are being asked about the maverick billionaire's plans in India, too. A few days ago, a Reuters report said Musk's flagship Tesla had put on hold its plan to launch electric cars in India.
Rating agency, Crisil, on Friday said that the proposed investment towards 3G auctions are unlikely to impact credit profiles of Crisil-rated telecom operators.
Infosys claims it can deliver a full-fledged applications store within 6-8 weeks, with its application platform Flypp.
Jio's spectrum trading pact with Airtel has enabled India's largest telco to top-up its holding in three key circles and yielded potential savings of about $400 million, according to a report. It is pertinent to mention here that Reliance Jio has signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel to acquire a portion of spectrum in 800 MHz band for Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai circles at an aggregate value of Rs 1,497 crore -- marking the first such deal between the two telecom giants that otherwise compete fiercely in the market. Market analysts have termed the deal "mutually beneficial" and "win-win for both". UBS in a note cited Jio's spectrum buys in the 800 MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai in the recently-concluded auctions.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has expressed hope that the government and regulators will step in to ensure the sector remains a viable place for continued investments and asserted that the industry requires "long overdue" support to maintain its current 3+1 structure. In the latest annual report of Airtel, Mittal said as the sector's role in the economy becomes more pervasive, its challenges loom larger. Issues such as unsustainable pricing and low returns in a highly capital-intensive environment, coupled with legacy legal issues, "have extracted their toll", Mittal observed.
Telcos say tariffs could be cut by up to 20 per cent. While post-paid customers constitute only 5 per cent of the total customer base of 670 million, they make up over 15 per cent of revenues thanks to their relatively higher average revenue per user (Arpu).
While the company insisted it had enough spectrum across circles, analysts said the company might soon need to acquire some spectrum to ensure uninterrupted service.
To revive the two state-run telecom operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the government is likely to waive the one-time fee these telcos need to pay for retaining additional spectrum.
The Supreme Court has cancelled the grant of 2G licences stating that 122 licences for 2G spectrum were granted in arbitrary and unconstitutional manner.
Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Voda Idea gets nod. Final decision will be taken by DoT.
Almost all service providers, including BSNL and MTNL, are in various process of pilot or otherwise on IPTV deployment, which will change the way users watch TV.
Ambani is also the year's biggest gainer, adding USD 9.3 billion to his wealth amid the continuing success of his Reliance Jio broadband telco service.
Also, the combination of a new entrant and new technology is not necessarily good.
The Bharti group, which has just acquired a majority stake in the Bangladeshi mobile operator Warid Telecom, is on the lookout to acquire government-owned telcos in developing markets like Africa which are up for divestment.
Concerned at the large amounts of money blocked on account of litigation, the government is set to amend the law to ensure that at least a certain amount of disputed demand is deposited by the telecom companies before the case is admitted by TDSAT.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday warned that the growth of the telecom industry would be hurt if companies did not align their profit-making motives with the national interest and such a scenario could lead to over-regulation of the sector.
The department of telecom has asked operators to list out the priority areas, where policies are pending, for placing before the new government as a consensus agenda for the first 100 days.
Sensex rally was driven by Bajaj FinServ, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank. NSE Nifty climbed 326.50 points to end at 15,245.60.
In percentage terms, IndusInd Bank, SBI, HDFC, ICICI Bank and L&T were among the top losers. On the contrary, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech and Maruti Suzuki emerged as major gainers.
The auction for the 5G spectrum is likely to take place around April-May next year, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. While relief measures announced in September this year for telecom operators marked the first set of reforms, the government will bring out a series of further reforms and "telecom regulatory structure should change in coming 2-3 years", Vaishnaw said. Speaking at the 'Times Now Summit 2021', the minister said India's telecom sector regulation has to be benchmarked with the global best, and added that "so, we will come with a series of reforms in this, such that the global benchmark of regulations is achieved in India".
Global credit rating agency Fitch upgraded outlook for the Indian telecom sector from 'negative' to 'stable'.
DoT has sought "necessary details" from the Finance Ministry to take action in this regard.
This is the spectrum held by incumbent GSM operators whose licences are coming up for renewal in November 2014
Bharti Airtel made part payment of Rs 4,725 crore.
