The petitioner said the companies were increasing the prices just to earn huge profit. Companies like Bharti Airtel had posted an annual profit of more than 90 per cent, the NGO said.
The telecommunications industry will seek a 10-year tax holiday and an additional depreciation of 15 per cent for telecom equipment in the forthcoming Union Budget for 2007-08.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have withdrawn over Rs 12,000 crore from Indian equities this month so far, mainly due to a sustained rise in US bond yields and the uncertain environment resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict. However, the story takes an intriguing turn on observing FPI activity in Indian debt as they have infused over Rs 5,700 crore into the debt market during the period under review, data with the depositories showed. Going ahead, the trajectory of FPIs' investments in India will be influenced not only by global inflation and interest rate dynamics but also by the developments and intensity of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Himanshu Srivastava, associate director - manager research, Morningstar Investment Adviser India, said.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry) may launch its review of the government's plan to potentially reserve the crucial C-band of radio frequencies for 5G and 6G telecommunication (telecom) use, said officials. While the incumbent broadcasting operators have warned that the plan will leave "precious little spectrum" for broadcasting services, telecom service providers (TSPs) have pressed hard for getting access to the C-band. In multiple letters to the I&B ministry over the past month, the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA) has said the industry would be left with precious little spectrum for broadcasting services if the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) further allocates the scant C-band for 5G.
At the close of trade, telecom stocks ended with as much as 4.3 per cent loss.
The mobile tariffs in the world's cheapest telecom market are set to fall further by at least 20-25 per cent during the year, more so due to increasing number of telecom operators and infrastructure overcapacity.
The government on Thursday unveiled its vision for the telecom sector up to 2010, listing plans to initially take total telephone connections to 250 million.
The operator was acquired four years earlier by Essar, when the latter had more telecom ventures, such as the 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, and also owned telecom towers.
Do you think Maran's resignation will hit the telecom industry?
Even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started investigating into the complaints of predatory pricing offered by some of the new operators, experts are divided over whether the current scenario actually resembles predatory pricing.
The Internet is too important to let a few private telecom players decide what the rules will be for consumers, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, independent member of Parliament who was one of the key petitioners seeking the scrapping of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) traded 2 per cent higher at Rs 2,310.10 on the BSE in intra-day trade in an otherwise volatile market after the company reported a 27.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 17,394 crore for the September quarter (Q2FY24). While revenue growth of the company was flattish YoY at Rs 2.32 trillion, the profit rose on the back of operational improvement across most segments, especially higher profits in the O2C (oil-to-chemicals) and oil & gas businesses, as well as the retail business. "Strong operational and financial contribution from all business segments has helped Reliance deliver another quarter of robust growth," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of the company.
This season, the nature of the advertising game has changed dramatically with TV and digital rights going to different entities.
India has pipped China to become the world's fastest growing market, thanks to the various "innovative" ways such as infrastructure sharing and network management outsourcing adopted by it that has also helped telecom operators keep the service charge low, says a report.
DoT has issued notice for licence cancellation to Etisalat DB and Idea Cellular on ground of failing to meet roll out obligation.
Despite the inherent attractiveness of the rural market for telecom operators various challenges still mar their entry.
The government on Thursday ruled out setting up an ombudsman to redress complaints of poor mobile telephony services like call drops saying state-run BSNL/MTNL were taking effective steps to upgrade technology.
Telecom Italia's biggest shareholder is controlled by Pirelli, the Italian tyre and real estate group.
"The telecom companies under the (proposed)NTP-2011 will have to file an application 30 months prior for the renewal of the telecom licenses and it (the licence) will be renewed for 10 years unlike 20 years as of now," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said.
Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has rolled out unlimited data offer for 5G users in 4G plans starting from Rs 239 onward. The move from the telecom operator comes to match its rival Jio, which is offering unlimited 5G data access during the beta trials during the network rollout. "This introductory offer is in line with the philosophy of wanting our customers to be able to surf, stream, chat and enjoy multiple benefits at blazing speeds without having to worry about data limits. We hope our customers enjoy the power of world-class Airtel 5G Plus," Bharti Airtel, director consumer business, Shashwat Sharma said in a statement.
Telecom and petchem businesses will drive growth for RIL.
Titan, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Power Grid, NTPC and Tata Motors were among the among the major gainers. Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Nestle, JSW Steel, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were the major laggards.
Telecom honchos Sunil Bharti Mittal, Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vittorio Colao are expected to meet IT and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal tomorrow to discuss various issues impacting the sector.
Demand has outstripped capacity, not enough spectrum (in the case of mobile) and maybe not enough on-ground investment to keep data speeds high and voice quality good.
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.
The company operates in 21 circles. Mumbai will be in exception, which has a separate licence.
Seeks clarification on a few issues such as enhancement of entry fee and performance bank guarantee from telecom regulator
The telecom industry has condoled the death of former Communication and IT Minister and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, while describing him as one of the dynamic and charismatic leaders.
Private telecom operators have overtaken their public sector counterparts -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Adani Data Networks said it plans to create a private 5G network for its operations. However, it acquired the spectrum in the last 5G auction alongside three telecom companies. Subsequently, it was granted a unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide telecom services in the country.
Warid Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group, offers mobile telecom services with a user base of over 2.9 million in Bangladesh.
Shares of telecom services providers - Reliance Industries (parent of Reliance Jio), Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea - have shed up to 23 per cent so far in the current calendar year as growth in the wireless subscriber segment begins to plateau amid higher tariffs and rising costs of smartphones. By comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, and sectoral index BSE Telecom have dipped 1.8 per cent, and 12.6 per cent, respectively, ACE Equity data shows. However, analysts expect the trend to reverse soon as telecom services providers focus on the next leg of growth -- fixed broadband (FBB) segment.
Jio Financial Services, a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL), got valued at Rs 1.66 trillion ($20 billion) following an hour-long special trading session conducted by stock exchanges on Thursday. Shares of RIL's unit got priced at Rs 261.85 apiece - higher than analysts' expectations of Rs 134-224 per share. The price was arrived at after calculating the difference between RIL's Wednesday (July 19) close of Rs 2,840 and Rs 2,580, the price discovered during the first-of-its-kind pre-trade session.
Telecom Ministry over issues ranging from one-time spectrum charges to 3G roaming and a uniform licence fee.
Indian exporters shipping goods to Israel may face higher insurance premiums and shipping costs due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to experts. Israel witnessed a surprise and unprecedented multifront attack by air, land and sea by the Hamas militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in its southern parts on Saturday morning. The International trade experts said the conflict may reduce the profits of domestic exporters but will not impact trade volumes unless war escalates.
Flag Telecom, a Reliance group company, has awarded a multi-million dollar contract for construction of its Falcon submarine cable to Alcatel, a global networks and application service provider.\n\n
Malaysia's state-controlled top telecom operator Telecom Malaysia is to buy a 49 per cent stake in India's Spice telecom Ltd, both companies said in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.