In India, there are 22 services area, or circles, for 2G telecom services and both the companies operate in all the circles.
The government on Saturday issued final guidelines for mergers and acquisitions within a telecom circle with the condition that the market share of merged entity would not exceed 67 per cent.
The strike notices were given by workers' unions of various sectors such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks and insurance.
Investors seem to be shying away from stocks of companies in the 'digital' space with most counters that comprise the Nifty India Digital index giving negative returns over the past year. The index tracks the performance of a portfolio of stocks that broadly represent the 'digital theme' within basic industries, such as software, e-commerce, IT-enabled services, industrial electronics, and telecom services. The fall in some of these stocks over the past year has been steep; the sharpest decline of around 60 per cent was seen in shares of PB Fintech (parent company of Policybazaar).
Sensex ended above 26,000 led by telecom shares amid TRAI's spectrum sharing norms.
Essar Telecom Retail Ltd will be introducing a pan-Indian network of retail telecom outlets called TheMobileStore, which will offer state-of-the-art technology in telecom solutions besides several value-added services.
"There is a limit when it comes to tolerating abusive behaviour or working styles. Many (employees) find ways to quit," says career coach and rediffGURU Pradeep Pramanik.
COAI has argued that in India the government has been working to keep telecom networks secure, with reviews of the security policy and the insertion of specific clauses into the licences to prevent any risk to network security.
Analyst are cautious about the performance of IT services sector from January to March quarter (Q4) of FY24 and the first half (H1) of FY25. While the Bloomberg consensus on revenue implies the market is expecting 2-3 per cent growth on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis for the IT majors through FY25, the H1FY25 is likely to see even flatter returns, and Q4FY24 is likely to be poor. There is likely to be some recovery in the second half (H2FY25) but even so, there's a chance that the market will be overall disappointed.
Typically these are high-beta stocks and earnings are volatile
The operating profit growth rate of mobile service providers is expected to double in next two years buoyed by increase in call rates and clarity in policy, credit rating agency CRISIL has said.
After falling 11 per cent over the past six months, shares of Bharti Airtel gained over three per cent on news that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had given a split verdict on inter-circle 3G roaming arrangements between Bharti, Idea and Vodafone.
Telecom infrastructure player Indus Towers has been largely ignored by investors with occasional bursts of trading when there's news flow. For example, the stock fell from Rs 188 (Jan 1, 2023) to Rs 135 (Jan 27) and then bounced back to Rs 165 in early February as the Government of India (GoI) converted Vodafone Idea's (Vi) debt into equity and Bharti Airtel pushed up its direct stake in Indus to 47.95 per cent. The cash-strapped Vi holds 21 per cent stake in Indus Towers and Indus also has substantial receivables to come in from Vi which is a negative overhang.
Private detectives forge relations with policemen and unsuspecting people in telecom companies, as they have access to call data, says Sahil Makkar
Ambani said, it will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year.
Punjab-based telecom operator HFCL on Wednesday became the first service provider to offer uniform call rates across all telecom networks and announced that all calls from its service Connect would be local calls.
The robust earnings, shown by corporate India in the first half of this year, may not sustain the momentum due to slowdown in performance of IT and telecom sectors, making it difficult to match the forecasted growth for the entire fiscal.
Most of the steep rate cuts announced might also not translate into bill savings for subscribers
The gross telecom subscriber base of fixed and mobile services rose by 9 per cent to touch 70.53 million by the quarter ended December 2003.
France Telecom is close to buying the IT business of communication infrastructure provider GTL in the next few days for about $70 million, intended to enter the fast growing Indian telecom space.
The subscribers will have to, however, wait for some more time for Internet services to resume in the Valley
Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Monday unveiled its wholesale service portfolio that will enable telecom operators across 50 countries access its services. Bharti Airtel's wholesale portfolio will offer MPLS, ethernet, IP and International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) services to global carriers through its global network with a reach to 50 countries, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
The government has initiated a series of measures, including allowing re-verification at subscribers' doorstep and One Time Password (OTP) based authentication of existing users, to make the entire exercise easier for telecom subscribers.
The absence of a transparent telecom regulatory environment not only makes life difficult for service providers, but also impacts investors' confidence in the sector, a senior Bharti Airtel official said.
Since August 2013, FIPB has approved two FDI proposals in the telecom sector.
The DoT has sought legal opinion on whether to seek a review of the court order or withdraw the penalty.
DoT, has decided that it will not cancel the GSM licences of dual-technology companies.
Vodafone has to sell its entire stake in Airtel following new norms issued by government.
The company is also in advanced stages of negotiations to rope in the kingdom's largest telecom service provider, Bhutan Telecom, as partner.
The employees, who will avail the VRS, would get an ex-gratia amount of 60 days salary (basic + dearness allowance) for each completed year of service, or salary for the number of months left in the service, whichever is less.
Investors indulged in profit booking at attractive and higher valuations
The discussions are 'indicative and non-binding' in nature.
'While consumers have benefited tremendously from rock-bottom telecom tariffs, the telecom sector has been reeling under deep financial stress,' points out Rajan S Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India.
The Adani family, led by Chairman Gautam Adani, is the most valued first-generation family business at Rs 15.44 trillion.
Reliance Jio has accused old operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, of "illegally" masquerading wire-line numbers as mobile numbers for "undue enrichment".
