Telecom major Bharti Group Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal denied any attempt on forming a cartel with other telecom players to distort competition. Bharti Airtel had received a 'notice of enquiry' by anti- monopoly watchdog MRTPC. Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular too had received such notices. It was alleged that 3 GSM operators, by colluding, have simultaneously increased the price. Mittal said that MVNOs will not work in India due to existing tariffs.
The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, will provide relief for mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, but will increase rates for broadband wireless access spectrum holders like RJIL.
The Department of Telecommunications' Wireless Planning and Coordination arm has moved a note to issue start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz to four leading service providers offering GSM technology, whose applications have been pending from December 2006.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Members of COAI, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Idea Cellular and others met in New Delhi and decided to go ahead with filing of the affidavit in TDSAT against the Telecom Engineering Centre's report. COAI has also questioned the government's move to allocate spectrum to two telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL -- saying they have been given frequency out of turn as many other players have been waiting to get spectrum for months and even years now.
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.
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.
The Department of Telecommunications has called a meeting of the heads of all leading telecom companies offering GSM technology services on November 21 to resolve contentious issues that have arisen following recent changes in telecom policy.
The Godhra inquiry panel on Saturday ordered two mobile service providers to provide the call details of Gujarat ministers, legislators, police officials and Chief Minister Narendra Modi, during the post-Godhra communal riots.
New telecom operators who have been given licences to operate pan-India GSM mobile services are all set to fight a bitter battle with the established GSM players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
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.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
Communications Minister A Raja on Monday told Parliament that there was no "contractual agreement" between government and telecom operators to allot spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, a move that could hurt GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Raja also ruled out auctioning of spectrum saying this was not feasible based on previous experiences, especially in 1993 when operators were not able to fulfill their roll out obligations.
The Super Cup is an annual match played between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League
Anil Ambani severely criticised the attitude of GSM operators and raised the issue of returning the extra spectrum again.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
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.
The government has accepted Telecom Engineering Centre's report that has suggested tough norms for spectrum allocation to GSM operators, a move that may make it difficult for players like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to get additional frequency.
The government expects to garner about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) from the existing mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea by imposing a one-time fee on those who are holding spectrum beyond the threshold limit of 6.2 Mhz, a move which will raise the cost of radio frequency.
The telecom sector's adjusted gross revenues have grown 13.2% year-on-year in the June quarter.
"There is no contractual agreement to give spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz. We are releasing more spectrum based on subscriber base as suggested by telecom regulator Trai," Raja said in the House while replying to a question. Spectrum is radio frequency used for offering wireless telecom services. Currently, spectrum allocation norms, which were revised in August 2007, are being followed while the Teleconm Enginering Centre report is awaited.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Year 2013 saw business leaders facing the ire of hostile investigative agencies.
The retrospective tax decision reversing the January 2012 Supreme Court verdict in the Vodafone case has often been cited as the reason for foreign investors losing confidence in India as an investment destination.
BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap outperformed the frontline indices to gain 0.2% and 0.3%
While moving towards the new technology is compelling and inevitable, powering 5G would also mean massive initial investments for telcos, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
Mobile phone service providers alone jointly reported gross revenue of Rs 55,164.18 crore (RS 551.64 billion).
Pankaj Vasani tells us how he moved from an unhealthy life to walking and running 20 kilometres a day.
It may be the season for corporate matchmaking but India Inc's record of managing partnerships is far from impressive, says Shailesh Dobhal.
It has suggested OTTs be subject to the same security requirements that a traditional TSP has to adhere to.
The total outstanding dues against Bharti Airtel is Rs 11,235.50 crore.
Government's resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators with none of them withdrawing their application from airways auction on the last day on Monday.
A Parliamentary Committee will discuss the controversial issue of net neutrality on Thursday at a meeting where officials of telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are expected to present their views.
Spectrum auction ends, brings Rs 1.09 tln to govt kitty.
'I'm an unbalanced human,' the founding partner of AZB, India's top law firm, tells Pavan Lall.
Telcos may hike mobile rates to recover spectrum cost: Moody's
Falling revenues, increased capex, and first full year of spectrum debt may make things worse
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Ajit Mishra, Vice President, Research, Religare Broking, answers readers's queries on stocks they own or want to buy.
