Last week, the Supreme Court refused to grant interim relief to the operators.
'The huge amount of investments being made by telcos in India for telecom gear, there is no way this demand could be met only by Europeans.' 'The Chinese are quick in installation and offer great value for money.'
In August 2021, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Plc at the time, did not mince his words while speaking about the India business in an earnings call. Replying to an analyst's question on Vodafone Idea, a venture with the Aditya Birla Group that had piled on huge debts and worrisome losses, Read described it as a highly stressed situation that "they (Vodafone Idea) are trying to navigate... "We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.''
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
Telco spiraled to its 52-week high of Rs 193.60 on reports that the company has hiked its commercial vehicle production by 15-20% for June 2003.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Over the past 18 months, the number of caller tune subscribers, each paying Rs 30 a month for the service, has fallen from 100 million to 55 million.
Chinese telecom gear giant Huawei Technologies has sought permission for access to the government's 'Trusted Telecom Portal' which went live on June 15 so that it can share details about the telecom products which telecom service providers have agreed to buy from it. The move is significant as sources close to the development say that, according to Chinese telecom companies' interpretation, the new National Security Directive on the telecom sector does not in any way prohibit them from participating in the process of selling telecom equipment of any kind to private telcos. The firm is waiting for a response from the government. It declined to comment.
The market could see a fresh round of tariff war, similar to what happened in the voice market a few years ago.
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.
Launched in March, it triggers re-verification of suspected fraudulent numbers. Failing re-verification, the number will be disconnected.
Vodafone Idea's (Vi's) subscriber loss reduced to a seven-month low in March, and alongside the company added 1.1 million broadband users after two months of net loss -- two things analysts have noted as key trends that need to be monitored. While Vi has been losing customers for more than two and a half years now, the churn reduced to below a million after five straight months in March, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data has shown. "Jio's softer than usual subscriber growth in March, and VIL's slowing subscriber market share loss are key trends to keep an eye on going forward," global investment banking and financial services major UBS said in an analyst note.
The next spectrum auction will be held in late February 2024 and the reserve price for most bands will remain the same as the 2022 auction, department of telecommunications (DoT) officials have said. The government expects operators to go for low bands beginning in 600 megahertz (MHz), licences for many of which are lapsing soon. Back in September 2021, the government had decided that spectrum auctions should be held annually.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will roll out revised mobile service tariffs increasing rates in the range of 10-24 per cent from the first week of July. Bharti Airtel announced a 10-21 per cent hike in prepaid and postpaid mobile tariffs from July 3, a day after larger rival Reliance Jio announced an increase in rates. Later in the day, loss-making telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) also announced its plan to raise mobile tariffs by 11-24 per cent from July 4.
India's largest truck maker, Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co Ltd, said on Wednesday its total vehicle sales in April jumped 55 per cent from a year ago to 14,979 units, despite a truckers strike.
Telco edged up 1.17% to Rs 185.80 early today as the latest figures show sales volumes have risen 67.9% in May 2003.
Just ahead of its mega FPO opening to public investors, Vodafone Idea (VIL) has announced closure of its anchor book allocation, raising about Rs 5,400 crore from marquee global as well as domestic investors, according to a statutory filing by the telco. This could be the third-largest anchor book after One 97 Communications and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). One 97 Communications and LIC had raised Rs 8,235 crore and Rs 5,627 crore in the anchor round, respectively.
Telco pounded up the indices in early trades on Tuesday and much of the vigour came from the 24.3% rise in overall sales for January 2003 recorded by the company.
The government is considering the option of handing over operations of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) to BSNL through an agreement, instead of pursuing a merger route, a source privy to the development said. A final call on this is likely to be taken in a month's time. The source said the option of handing over debt-laden MTNL's operations to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) through an agreement is being looked into.
The network cost per tower of Reliance Jio is lower than its rival Bharti Airtel even as the gap between them is narrowing due to the latter cutting costs at a faster pace, analysts said. While the energy cost per tower for both telcos is reducing, Airtel has managed to reduce costs at a faster pace, brokerage firm IIFL Securities said in a research note. "Jio used to enjoy 35 per cent lower network cost per tower, including the right of use (RoU) depreciation and lease finance cost, versus Bharti four years back. This gap has now (FY24) narrowed to 7 per cent," it said.
For the first time in history, the luxury car market is poised to cross the sales mark of 50,000 units in 2024, with Mercedes leading the way
The telcos have assured the government that things would improve over the next 45 days.
Messages sent through Internet-based messaging service providers such as Whatsapp, Signal, and Telegram, as well as those which are encrypted, are understood to be within the Act's ambit.
Automaker Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co Ltd said on Monday its total vehicle sales in May vaulted 67.9 per cent from a year ago to 21,929 units, boosted by higher car sales.
The government on Wednesday imposed a condition on telcos that only those, who are ready with Mobile Number Portability, would be allowed to start new operations, a move that may restrict or delay launch of new services, including 3G.
Infosys Ltd on Thursday reported a 4.7 per cent rise in the September quarter net profit and raised revenue guidance after broadbased growth. Net profit of Rs 6,506 crore in July-September was up 4.7 per cent when compared to Rs 6,212 crore earnings in the same period last year. It was 2.2 per cent higher quarter-on-year, according to a company statement.
Engineer-turned-philanthropist Sudha Murty on Thursday took oath as Rajya Sabha MP in the presence of her husband N R Narayana Murthy.
Decades of military rule kept the country closed to foreign investors.
Ahead of its Rs 18,000 crore further public offer (FPO), Vodafone Idea on Monday said it expects to roll out 5G services in select pockets within 6-9 months of raising fresh capital. Its chief executive Akshaya Moondra said rollout of the modern 5G telecom services is one of the objectives of raising the capital from the public and once the funding comes, it will start work on the rollout. "With this round of funding, we believe we will be able to (come) back to participate in the industry growth which has not been possible," he said.
The telcos have been offering 3G services through roaming agreements among themselves.
This comes on the heels of the department of telecom appointing private auditors to look into the books of telcos after it was detected that some of the operators were diverting revenues in segments which attracted lower licence fee.
Govt petition separated from others, to be heard in open court on Apr 13
As per the Indian laws, foreign companies can own up to 74 per cent stake and thus they would be required to form a joint venture with an Indian company before starting the services, Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura told reporters. The foreign players want DoT to allow them to bid as 100 per cent foreign entities or give them a minimum of six to seven months after announcement of bidding details to enable them form JV with Indian firms before the spectrum is auctioned.
India's third largest carmaker, Tata Engineering and Locomotive, launched a sedan version of its lone car model on Wednesday and priced it below its competitors in a bid to grab market share.
Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd said on Friday it has agreed to supply its homegrown Indica hatchback cars to the UK's MG Rover Group, to be sold under the Rover brand in Europe.
Far from benefitting consumers, the new rules on roaming charges have opened another front in the battle between large and small operators.
Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal, Vodafone Plc CEO Vittorio Colao, Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday met ministers and senior government officials to present the industry's concerns over telecom regulator Trai's proposals on the auction of spectrum.
