The Anil Ambani group company is in advanced talks with France Telecom for a branding, marketing and franchisee agreement. The company plans to launch the brand by the second quarter of FY09, according to sources close to the development. Initially, the Orange may be launched on RCom's CDMA network -- spanning across 23,000 towns and 5 lakh villages in India -- and later extended to its 8 GSM circles. The Indian company has a total of 44.5 million subscribers in India.
Gold, forex assets, IT sector, pharma. Devangshu Datta explains why each of these is a good hedge against market shocks at this time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The launch of services by Jio in September 2016 had disrupted the whole telecom sector, with operators matching low rates to maintain competitive edge
Analysts say that Jio's substantial slowing down in net additions is possibly because the company has dramatically reduced its bundled 4G feature phone offering, which contributed an average 30-40 per cent of its net additions.
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.
Mumbai has fastest 4G speed, Ahmedabad most consistent, says wireless coverage mapping firm OpenSignal
Investment in market leaders with a safety-first approach could yield reasonable returns across sectors.
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.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telcom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have opposed the proposal to compensate consumers.
Taking the government head on, four GSM mobile operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice -- have decided to "unitedly" approach the Delhi High Court against telecom tribunal TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.
Despite low tariffs, voice usage is not growing.
While only 78.15 per cent of Jio's total subscriber base was active, Airtel boasts of 98.14 per cent active customers.
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.
Takeover deals involving Indian companies were valued at a total of $8.3bn and numbered 153 in the first 10 weeks of this year, second only in non-Japan Asia to China, with $11.5bn deals numbering 372, according to figures from Thomson Financial. Even as the global credit crunch has damped the appetite among US groups for deals, cash-rich Indian groups have been able to continue their hunt.
'Willing to spend is different from when to spend and how much to spend'
Says cap breached on account of Singh, Ghosh stakes.
With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) refusing to reserve 900-MHz spectrum for incumbent telcos, asking them to vacate the quantity held and win back through bidding, GSM operators, led by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), have decided to propose a compromise formula.
The interconnection charge has been reduced.
The government has signed Bippas with 72 nations.
Lakshmi Mittal and Arun Sarin, two India-born entrepreneurs, have figured out in UK's Power 100 list.
Investing in special situations can help you tap opportunities that arise during adverse conditions, advises Joydeep Sen.
Revenues of Airtel and Idea have been hit by falling realisation and analysts said margins would be affected by higher costs.
What we want from spectrum allocation is access to broadband networks at prices that will result in productivity gains.
The former Australia captain declined to name the players involved but reiterated that he had told them, "I don't want to know about it", and then walked away.
GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin will also keynote the Indian Institute of Technology 2007 Global Alumni Conference titled 'Transforming the World through Technology' in California next month.
The Supreme Court recently quashed a rule that mandated telecom operators to compensate consumers.
The Unified Licence for all 22 Service Areas across India will make the company the first telecom operator in the country to get pan India Unified Licence, the company said in a statement.
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Reliance, Birla Group, Airtel eye small finance banks.
Star Plus has signed up telecom major Airtel as the presenting sponsor for the Shah Rukh Khan-anchored Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai. According to sources, the deal has been struck at Rs 40 crore. The Airtel deal follows on the heels of its competitor Vodafone signing up as the presenting sponsor for the Indian Premier League on Sony TV.
The pack is available for Rs 1,495 for existing users and Rs 1,494 for new users, and effectively brings down 4G data rates to Rs 50 per GB
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The Ruias, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Hindujas and Vodafone are all believed to have put in their bids.
The Indian market is driven by prepaid connections, which accounted for over 84 per cent in 2006. It is expected to reach 93 per cent by 2011.
Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who engineered the acquisition of Hutch-Essar in India, has accused unsuccessful rival bidders of trying to derail the deal and sought transparency from Indian regulators in M&A approvals.
Analysts attribute this fall to the recent moderation in energy (mainly crude oil) and commodity prices, lowering of input costs for companies in sectors such as FMCG, consumer durables, and automobiles, reports Krishna Kant.
