The RIL-RCOM deal is an indication of telecom sector's future. As the mobile subscriber numbers plateau, telcos need to look at alternate stream of revenues, and data services will be the key to their growth.
'We operate in 16 countries already, and therefore adding the UK to it, and beginning a chapter in the European continent is the next step.'
Investors should tilt their portfolios towards domestic-facing defensive sectors, which should help provide stability and shield them from geopolitical and tariff risks.
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.
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.
The Telecom Commission is considering imposing fines of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) on seven telecom service providers for delay in commissioning of services. A note for this purpose was put up for consideration last month.
Service providers, handset vendors add millions of consumers every month, but don't tackle consumer complaints at the same pace.
With the new entity coming in force, Bharti Airtel will lose the tag of India's biggest telecom service provider to the new entity.
Bharti Airtel promoter Bharti Telecom will buy a 3.33 per cent Airtel stake from Singtel for 2.25 billion Singapore dollars or about Rs 12,895 crore in 90 days' time, the telecom operator said on Thursday. Bharti Group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal's family and Singtel are co-investors in Bharti Telecom (BTL). Singtel in a statement said that after the transaction, Singtel Group is expected to own an effective stake of 29.7 per cent in Bharti Airtel, which is estimated to be worth SGD 22 billion (about Rs 1.26 lakh crore).
Launched in March, it triggers re-verification of suspected fraudulent numbers. Failing re-verification, the number will be disconnected.
In the earlier Press Note 5, these posts could not be occupied by foreigners. However, the chief technology officer will have to be an Indian resident.
The government said on Monday that it will soon come out with a uniform and single licence fee for telecom service provider, which is currently between 6 and 10 per cent of the revenue of these companies.
The framework for new licences will be ready by end of this financial year.
Communication and IT Minister Arun Shourie said on Saturday that the penalty clauses in the telecom licences would be reviewed to make them more stringent and it would be mandatory for companies to comply with them.\n\n\n\n
Network services provider GTL has sold its enterprise network services and managed services business to Orange Business Service, an arm of France Telecom, for about Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) in cash.
The largest stock bourse in the country, NSE on Wednesday said trading across segments came to a halt at 11.40 am due to connectivity issues.
In about two years of commercial roll out of its fixed-line broadband services, Reliance Jio has toppled 20-year-old state-run telecom company BSNL as top service provider in the segment. According to a monthly telecom subscribers report released by the telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday, Jio now leads the fixed-line broadband segment with 4.34 million customers. The segment had been dominated by the state-run telecom since its inception about 20 years ago.
This new service will compete with several other providers, including Reliance Communications. But VSNL officials were upbeat about their offering.
Social media giant Meta Platforms and Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a collaboration to jointly invest in telecom infrastructure to cater to the rising demand of high speed data and digital services in India. The announcement comes on the back of telecom operators' demand to share revenue with service providers to build networks. "Airtel and Meta will jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS (communications platform as a service) based new-age digital solutions to support the emerging requirements of customers and enterprises in India," the statement said.
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has crossed a landmark figure of 100 million with 11 per cent of the total mobile subscribers exercising this facility till date.
Celebrations after India's Oscar moment refuse to die down. Now, it is the telecom services providers who are laughing their way to banks, thanks to the Slumdog Millionaire's Oscar sweep.
UAEs Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has announced that the BlackBerry services in the country, which was due to be suspended on October 11, will continue as normal.
Oil India and other PSUs had filed clarificatory /modificatory petition before the Supreme Court. These companies own and operate telecom networks though they do not provide telecom services.
Excise duties on mobile phones to be 1% without CENVAT credit or 6% with CENVAT credit. This provision will have marginal impact on telcos.
In a setback to telecom service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre's plea to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs 92,000 crore from them.
Consumers and businesses can tweet to communications minister Manoj Sinha (@manojsinhabjp) using #DOTSeva, #BSNLSeva, #MTNLSeva, and #PostalSeva.
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.
TATA Tele services Limited, a leading telecom service provider, said on Wednesday that it would launch its services in over 25 centres in Tamil Nadu soon and cover the entire state.
The telecom ministry will set up an intelligence unit and a consumer protection system as part of continuing efforts to tackle the menace of pesky calls as well as to take strict action against financial frauds perpetrated using telecom resources.
'At a time when massive strides are being made in bringing 5G technology to India, and with TSPs ramping up their infrastructure, it is unacceptable that a large number of complaints over quality issues continue to come in, even from major urban areas.'
'With a very stable technology with limited functionalities, a large network has spanned out.'
'There is definitely a skill war, or a talent war going on.'
Sibal said that Trai had compared India with China.
State-run telecom service provider MTNL on Friday said it will launch its 3G services in Mumbai next month, as it targets a user base of 1,00,000 for the third generation mobile service by year-end
Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer K Rajaraman on Friday took charge as the new telecom secretary. His joining comes following the superannuation of Anshu Prakash on September 30. "Shri K Rajaraman, IAS (TN:89) takes charge as Secretary, @DoT_India in presence of senior officials of the department," a PIB tweet said. He was serving as the additional secretary for investments at the Department of Economic Affairs before being promoted to the position of secretary, DoT.
Reliance Jio added 34.7 lakh mobile subscribers in September, cementing its lead in the competitive telecom market, while Airtel's wireless subscriber tally rose by 13.2 lakh, according to monthly data put out by Trai. Vodafone Idea lost 7.5 lakh mobile subscribers during September, dragging its wireless user tally to 22.75 crore. Reliance Jio gained 34.75 lakh wireless subscribers in September, and its user base climbed to 44.92 crore, as per data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
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