The telecom tower-transmission business is going to see a shake-up with cash-rich and independent companies moving in with aggressive plans.
Indian GSM telecom operators added 11.25 million new subscribers in the month of May, taking the all-India cellular subscriber base to 444 million, according to cellular operators' association COAI.
Leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has urged the government not to change existing spectrum allocation criteria and to continue with the additional 2G spectrum allocation policy based on subscriber figures.
The government on Friday banned short message service for post-paid subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir, while restricting the facility for pre-paid users from midnight, due to security concerns.The department of telecom has asked all the 12 operators, including state-owned BSNL and other private players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to withdraw text message service to their post-paid users in J&K altogether.
The companies are looking at tapping solar power, wind energy and bio-fuels, including fish and vegetable oil, to run base transceiver systems in areas with poor power supply.
CDMA operators on Tuesday slammed a report of the DOT spectrum committee on airwave allocation, saying it is 'highly inclined' in favour of the GSM operators.
Tata DOCOMO has announced its intention to launch 3G services around Diwali. Vodafone Essar plans to roll out 3G services by the first quarter of next year.
Though the controversy over the security of BlackBerry services is yet to be resolved, the four operators that offer these services - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, BPL Mobile and Reliance Communications - have added over 50,000 customers in the four months since the problems began. Before this, the push-mail service, which was introduced in India in October 2004, had 400,000 subscribers according to industry estimates.
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies that enable wireless communication. It has been the source of a bitter dispute between mobile operators of the rival GSM and CDMA technologies. In its petition, Tata Teleservices has also demanded immediate allocation of spectrum that is under the contractual obligation in areas in which it has fulfilled its subscriber base criterion.
Based on Statista data for 2019, Vodafone has 17.2 million subscribers in the UK, 29.5 million in Germany, and over 13.7 million in Spain. Without Voda Idea, the Group will become smaller than Airtel and Jio.
The department of telecom (DoT) on Friday announced a set of rules for granting telecom licences and allocating spectrum that is likely to impact GSM-technology service providers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, among others.
Call blocking is one facility that telecom service providers claim is only for the chosen few, for instance the celebrities. Not withstanding its niche appeal, service providers in the country are in various stages of implementing the technology.
A user can list certain numbers with the operator from which he does not want to receive calls, and calls from these numbers would be blocked. Around 10-15 numbers can be blocked, while the caller will get a "busy tone or a recorded message".
Operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Aircel, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Idea Cellular might have to fork out over Rs 11,200 crore for having spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, if the government accepts the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommendations.
Telecom watchdog sought the regulator's intervention on the price hike by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea and alleged that the three telcos have formed a cartel and increased local call charges by 20 per cent.
A landmark tax case between Vodafone of the UK and the Indian government that is set to determine the future climate for mergers and acquisitions in the country began on Monday.
Price of put option to be assessed for future sale.
The telecom industry has come out in support of new Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal for his observation that the sector should not be viewed as source of revenue for the Finance Ministry.
GSM operators added 8.89 million subscribers in June, taking the total number of subscribers using the technology to 315.8 million.
Apple has authorised Bharti Airtel to 'unlock' its 3G iPhones, launched earlier, enabling the Indian company to sell it through their stores to any user, not necessarily only an Airtel subscriber.
British telecom giant Vodafone on Wednesday ruled out any higher offer for buying out Essar's 33 per cent stake in mobile venture Hutch-Essar, saying it would be same as that for Hutchison Telecom's stake.
In his letter dated October 19, Anil Ambani points out that while the top three GSM players -- Bharti, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular -- have acquired an additional 52 million subscribers in the past few years without allocation of any additional spectrum, something they have constantly told the government that they do not have sufficiently.
Vodafone, which is yet to announce the acquisition, has offered to partner Essar, on which the Indian conglomerate said, "We are at the moment evaluating all our options in the best interest of the Group."
According to sources, Bharti, Idea and Vodafone Essar have won in some of the circles in the auction that lasted 34 days.
Opening another line of inquiry into the Hutch-Essar shareholding structure, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is looking into the call options that would together give Vodafone a further 15.03 per cent proportionate indirect equity owner
Seeking to assuage fears of big four mobile service providers, including Bharti, of huge payout for excess spectrum telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday said their outgo would be only about Rs 120 billion (Rs 12,000 crore).
The bid price for 3G spectrum continues to rise as it touched Rs 10,749 crore (Rs 107.49 billion) for pan-India operations on the 21st day of auction, assuring the government of Rs 43,372 crore (Rs 433.72 billion) in terms of revenue.
Sunil Mittal's Bharti, in which British telecom firm Vodafone has 10 per cent stake, said on Thursday it is yet to hear a final word from the UK-based operator on its plans to buyout Hutchison Telecom's stake in Indian joint venture Hutch-Essar.
GSM operators (excluding Reliance Telecom) in the country added 6.3 million subscribers in August, taking the total number of users to 225.6 million. In July, the total GSM subscriber base in the country was 219.30 million.
Government approval for British telecom giant Vodafone's takeover of Hutch-Essar now depends on whether the two minority stakeholders in the company can prove through documents that they are not acting as benami shareholders for Hutchison.
Hutchison Essar is an Indian Company, the controlling interest of Hutchison Essar is held by an SPV of Cayman Island (CGP Investments Holding Ltd). CGP is owned by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (HTIL), Hong Kong.
New services will bring the IPL to mobile phone screens.
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".
Undeterred by the controversy surrounding its acquisition of Hutch-Essar, Vodafone asserted on Monday it was fully compliant with the foreign direct investment regulations as it had 'only stepped into the shoes of Hutchison Telecom.'
A lot of hype has been generated ahead of the launch of iPhone, which would be available at Rs 31,000 a piece for the 8Gb memory model and Rs 36,100 for 16GB from the stroke of midnight on Thursday. Leading service providers Vodafone-Essar and Bharti Airtel, who have been accepting bookings from customers, have said the response has been extremely good.
Rival bidders Vodafone and Reliance Communications are studying the possibility of taking an indirect route to acquire control of Hutchison Essar to skirt the right of first refusal claimed by the Essar group.
Singapore Telecom is believed to have sought the removal of Vodafone representatives from the board of Bharti Airtel, following the British telecom major's bid to acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar.
Vodafone is locked in twin tax disputes with the government.
Cut-throat competition, high spectrum costs, and frequent flip-flops in government policies have made it difficult for Vodafone to make money in the country.
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