The launch of VF 247 solar powered phone is in keeping with Vodafone's aim to increase mobile technology accessibility for millions in India.
With the completion of the acquisition of Hutch Essar earlier this month, British mobile major Vodafone is chalking out strategies to relaunch the rechristened 'Vodafone Essar' brand in India.
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.
Vodafone said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of controlling stake in Hutchisson-Essar Ltd while paying a less amount at $10.9 billion as against $11.8 billion announced earlier.
Both the smartphones from Research in Motion have in-built GPS, which would allow users to know their exact location and provide support for a wide range of location-based applications and services such as Google Map.
State Bank of India has agreed to lend Vodafone-Essar, the joint venture between United Kingdom's Vodafone and Essar, Rs 10,000 crore to finance the company's entry into 3G (third generation) telecom services and expansion of its broadband operations.
In a bid to increase efficiency, telecom major Vodafone Essar is set to relocate over 1,500 of its employees to Ahmedabad from all over the country.
Tops the group in mobile voice usage volumes.
British telecom major Vodafone on Friday said it had made an adjustment to the tune of Rs 3,400 crore in its fair market value to account for the payment it has made for 3G licences. This will be the additional amount payable to Essar, the 33 per cent shareholder in the company's Indian operations, if Essar opts for an independent valuation of its stake while exercising its put option.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday submitted its bid for 3G spectrum, auction for which starts from April 9.
The Essar Group is raising $3.59 billion (Rs 14,360 crore) against its 33 per cent stake in Vodafone-Essar. The loan will be the largest fund-raising through the share monetisation route by an Indian company.
The airship will offer Vodafone customers a chance to be seated in the spacious deck and enjoy a leisurely journey of the scenic terrain beneath.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone on a BSNL petition, seeking that the private telecom operators pay interconnection charges, along with penalty, for transferring to its network their calls that did not identify phone numbers.
Nine million subscribers opt for mobile number portability in first three months of its launch.
The department had sent a notice to the company seeking details and clarifications on a host of issues besides the original agreement between Hutch and Vodafone to establish the jurisdiction of the tax authorities to determine the tax liability. This follow an SC order in January 2009 to the effect that Vodafone should present its case to the tax authorities first and submit a copy of the share purchase agreement, the deadline for which expires by the end of this month.
Vodafone's assessment is that the controversy over the spectrum allocation case is not over.
Loop got licences to offer mobile services in 21 circles by the telecom ministry run by Raja, now in jail, in 2008. Essar has investment in Loop; it also holds 33 per cent equity in Vodafone Essar, a big player in the sector.
Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators for cartelising and increasing prices of telecom services simultaneously. Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators.
Telecom major Vodafone Essar on Monday launched its new bonus card, which will help subscribers send 100 local and national SMS or make local/STD calls for 8 minutes, at a price tag of Rs 4.
Netcore offers the service 'MyToday' to 3.8 million mobile phone users in the country. Jain was the founder of IndiaWorld Communications, a small start-up, which was acquired in 1999 by IT major Sify Technologies for around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).
With this, Vodafone prepaid customers can now avail 500 free local or national SMS daily with a bonus card of Rs 89 with a validity of 30 days, the company said.
A battle between incumbent GSM and CDMA operators has broken out, with Marten Pieters, the managing director of Vodafone Essar, the country's second-largest telecom operator, lashing out at comments made by a competing operator, saying it was ridiculous to imply that incumbent GSM players like them were hoarding scarce spectrum.
Under the travel plan, customers can avail roaming rates at 70 paisa per minute while the Ticket plan offers 1.5 paisa per second.
In his complaint, Delhi resident Rajender Yadav had alleged unfair trade practice by Vodafone for deducting Rs 50 from his account towards activating 'hello' tune service on his number without his consent.
The Ruias and other promoters own a 99.99 per cent stake through various companies in BPL Mobile Communications. They have already toned it down to 82.4 per cent, sources close to the development said. Now, the group is looking at further bringing it down to less than 70 per cent. This will make BPL Mobile Communications a shell company and diminish its values making its shares 'worthless,' says Vodafone.
GSM operators on Monday stepped up pressure against the regulator's 2G recommendations, with Idea Cellular writing to the DoT and officials of Vodafone Essar calling on TRAI chief J S Sarma to convey their objections to the spectrum proposals.
Vodafone-Essar, the leading GSM operator is raising around $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through overseas borrowing. This is the first fund raising by the telecom major after British telecom major Vodafone acquired a majority stake.
The second largest telecom operator said auction would avoid possible legal disputes and pave the way for licence extensions.
Vodafone which has won the bid for majority stake in Hutch-Essar, is likely to resume discussions with Indian partner Essar on issues like management and share structure within the next week or 10 days.
As per TRAI norms, Vodafone and Airtel are close to getting added spectrums, given their growing subscriber rates.
No hybrid name, exercise to begin this week.
In a first of its kind initiative and available only in Kolkata, mobile services provider Vodafone Essar, has launched the 'Sambhav' prepaid card, targeted at customers with hearing and speech disability.Available at Rs 151, the prepaid Sambhav card will enable the hearing impaired to communicate effectively using a cellphone. The card enables customers with hearing and speech disability to use mobile phones primarily for sending SMSes.
The move by three major telecom service providers - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular - to set up a consortium for passive infrastructure is gaining ground, but independent telecom infrastructure providers are yet to be convinced.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed Vodafone Essar Mobile Services to refund value-added service (VAS) charges that were levied without "explicit consent". However, the regulator did not specify the amount the GSM major has to refund to the consumers.
Setting an ambitious target of 100 million cellular subscribers, leading private GSM operator Vodafone-Essar today announced an investment of $6 billion (about Rs 24,000 crore) in the next three years.
The Ruias of the Essar Group will now be getting around $750 million (about Rs 3,493 crore) more from their telecom joint venture partner, Vodafone Group, over and above the fair market price if they exercise the "put" option for their 33.02 per cent stake.
Apple's decision to slash its entry-level iPhone (8 GB version) in the US market will not trickle down to India anytime soon.
In a desperate attempt to grab spectrum and start operations in new circles ahead of rivals, leading GSM operators have informed the government that they are willing to start services with less than 4.4 MHz spectrum. Vodafone Essar has intimated its willingness to start operations in new circles where the availability of spectrum is less than 4.4 MHz.
The 40 per cent market share cap suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is likely to make mergers between existing telecom operators extremely tough.
At $12-bn valuation, this will be India's largest FDI; deal to be announced on Saturday, says Dev Chatterjee.
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