Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, who along with former Telecom Minister A Raja and 17 others are facing a money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam, on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking setting aside of a lower court order of framing charges against him.
The acrimonious atmosphere created by increased litigations among service providers was bound to have its impact on the foreign investors, Shourie said during an interaction with telecom industry stalwarts in New Delhi.
Spice Telecom, one of the cellular service providers in Punjab, on Friday announced a 'special ISD offer' for its subscribers in the state, reducing international calling rates from Rs 16 to Rs 3.99 per minute.
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.
The Union Cabinet on Friday extended the period of compliance with the conditions of Press Note 5, 2005, by three months to December 31, 2006.
The Department of Telecommunications is planning to give more powers to the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in the new telecom policy, including the power to impose financial penalties on the erring telecom service providers.
Sources at the department of telecommunications confirmed that Bharti Airtel has submitted application to bid for airwaves frequencies at pan-India level.
The government is banking on the second round of spectrum auction and customer-centric moves such as free national roaming to rebuild the telecom sector, impacted by controversies and court judgements that have shaken investor confidence.
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.
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.
The industry was hit by the financial stress of 3G and 4G auctions in 2010.
The SC had reserved its verdict on a bunch of similar petitions.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a source of funding has shrunk to a trickle for the once lucrative telecom sector with foreign investment inflows plunging to $43 million in the April-September period of the current fiscal.
Despite the infamous scams and taints that the industry has faced, each Indian can claim to be a proud beneficiary of the country's telecom revolution.
BPL Telecom Pvt Ltd, a part of the Rs 4500 crore BPL Group, on Friday launched its new range of Notebook PCs based on Intel's Centrino Mobile Technology.\n\n\n\n
Since the last few years, the telecom sector has been affected by regulatory uncertainty which has hurt the investor sentiment.
The telecom regulator on March 27, announced its decision to phase out the Access Deficit Charge, which was paid by private telecom service providers to compensate BSNL for offering services in rural areas at subsidised rates. All major telecom players, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices and Vodafone Essar had also welcomed the move.
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.
The telecom and banking departments along with the railways accounted for the maximum number of public grievances among the various arms of the government in the last three years.
Despite the increased business risks, the rating agency affirmed Baa2 ratings, three notches down from the highest grade, with a stable outlook for RIL, Moody's Investor Service said in its weekly outlook.
Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar on Thursday said 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom would not be possible before the 2G auction.
In its report tabled in Parliament, the CAG said the Swan Telecom's application was 'in effect against the intent and spirit' of the Unified Access Service Licencing guidelines as it was among those beneficiaries which 'suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents' to the department of telecommunication.
"The telecom service sector has shown unprecedented growth during 2003-04 mainly driven by intense competition and aggressive pricing," The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement in New Delhi.
India's booming mobile services market will see investments of over Rs 100,000 crore (around $24 billion) by 2010, the fastest investment ramp-up seen in any telecom market globally even as analysts predict a bruising battle that will see tariffs fall sharply.
Sistema Shyam Teleservices on Wednesday said that it has no plans to acquire any telecom service provider and it will wait for the outcome of its curative petition filed before the Supreme Court.
Expressing concern over frequent internet shutdown without any empirical study, a parliamentary panel has pulled up the department of telecommunications for not maintaining the record of incidents and inaction on several of its recommendations.
In the latest move, the telco has reduced validity for its Rs 309/509 packages from 84 days to 56
The network sharing agreement is the start of a new era of partnership between the brothers. More deals on sharing towers and intra-city fibre network are likely.
Wannabe telecom operators will take a while to know whether they have passed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's test. But that hasn't stopped them from taking the next step: tying up with infrastructure providers such as tower operators for rolling out their nation-wide operations.
Leading Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corporation, have launched an aggressive 'Indianisation' drive. The two companies are replacing Chinese nationals with Indians on their board of directors. The move is seen as an attempt by the companies to change the public perception in India, where Chinese firms are often viewed with suspicion. This would also make it easy for the firms to do business in India.
Credible growth in new users was not matched by revenue as the all-India blended Average Revenue Per User per month for GSM remained almost at the same level of Rs 297 as compared with Rs 298 for the previous quarter.The ARPU for postpaid GSM service has shown an increase of 7 per cent from Rs 613 in January-March to Rs 655 in April-June quarter.
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.
What's happening in the telecom sector are classic bullying tactics - do the wrong thing, threaten to do worse, get the threatened party to sue for peace, and walk away smelling of roses after a "compromise".
The telecom foray is the second diversification outside its core business of developing residential and commercial real estate -- it is already in the Special Economic Zone space with five zones to be set up across the country.
China-based telecom equipment supplier Huawei Technologies, which has bagged a $200 million contract from Reliance Communications, is upbeat on India and expects to clinch other multi-million dollar outsourcing deals in the country.
Telecom operators pay 30 per cent of their revenue as levies like annual licence fee, spectrum charges, contribution to universal service obligation fund and the total burden adds up to 40 per cent along with service tax.
This move gives Airtel and Chinese major immense benefits.
The Delhi Police, in a first information report (FIR) filed under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) following allegations against news portal NewsClick, has alleged that a large amount of funds came from China in order to disrupt India's sovereignty and cause disaffection against the country.
During the proceedings, Spice Telecom's counsel Mukul Rohatgi contended that DoT decided not to allow the licence as the operator had a turnover of only Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion). The decision was discriminatory, he said. However, Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal declined to pass any interim relief to the firm.
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