Vodafone judgement has set the cat amongst the pigeons.
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.
Telecom services providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation (USOF) till the existing corpus is exhausted. In their Budget recommendations, they have also pressed for an exemption from the service tax on "assignment of right to use natural resources" and the slashing of Customs duty on telecom equipment to zero. The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), which represents private sector telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, called for abolishment of USOF levy.
The IT department had issued a tax assessment order in December 2011 asking Vodafone to add Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) to its taxable income, thus raising the tax liability of the company.
UK-based Vodafone is not the only one awaiting the Indian government's call on its purchase of stake in Hutch-Essar, US coffee retail giant Starbucks is also anxiously looking for a decision on the issue.
UK's Vodafone is learnt to have approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for approval to acquire 52 per cent stake of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom in mobile firm Hutch-Essar and also for investing in telecom activities.
Troubled Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court after the apex court recently dismissed its plea for rectification of the alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenues-related dues. In the petition, filed earlier this week, VIL has said it is "a travesty of justice" that the company is restrained from questioning the arithmetical errors/ omission which are going to cost it about Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 5,932 crore of principal plus interest, penalty and interest on penalty). VIL has said its contentions have been rejected by the order under review and added that this denial could result in the company going under and its about 27.3 crore subscribers being left "high and dry".
Vodafone India on Thursday launched tariff plans wherein customers can get calls, SMSes and 3G data bundled with an iPhone starting at Rs 2,099 per month.
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."
The company has $2 billion tax dispute with the income tax department.
British telecom giant Vodafone could face a downgrade in its credit rating by Standard and Poor's if its proposed bid for Hutchison Essar Ltd exceeds $19 billion, a media report said in London.
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.
UK oil explorer Cairn Energy is facing a tax demand of Rs 10,247 crore and Vodafone over acquisition of 67% stake in the mobile business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007
Former managing director of Vodafone Essar, Asim Ghosh, is in talks with Max India founder and chairman Analjit Singh to sell his 2.39 per cent stake in the mobile phone operator. Ghosh holds the stake in Vodafone Essar indirectly, through various holding companies. Analjit Singh was the original promoter of the company.
The I-T department had said Vodafone India under-priced shares in a rights issue to its parent. The tax demand was for the two financial years ended March 2011.
Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said there was no government scrutiny on the company's decision to buy back 5.6 per cent stake from Vodafone and the transaction was within the foreign investment norms in the telecom sector.
Company is also facilitating this growth by playing an active role in reduction of prices of 3G-enabled smartphones.
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.
The text of the Income tax amendment is so wide and so riddled with ambiguities that it deserves to be scrapped for those reasons alone, says N S Nigam.
Vodafone has been recognised as the most admired mobile service brand online in India followed by Tata Indicom and Aircel, a survey said.
Over the weekend, the Bombay high court quietly published a 160-page court order detailing its decision to dismiss a petition by Vodafone of the UK against the Indian tax department.
Under the travel plan, customers can avail roaming rates at 70 paisa per minute while the Ticket plan offers 1.5 paisa per second.
The company is relying on Vodafone Blue, a device that will be manufactured by Alcatel, to find a consumer following in non-metros.
Vodafone's Kisan Mitra will provide a spectrum of services for India's small farmers, simple mobile service interventions that can increase a farmer's income by Rs 8,000 per year.
Market concentration in the country's telecom sector continues to scale new heights despite government bailouts of public-sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), and private-sector Vodafone Idea. The combined revenue (or net sales) share of the country's top two telecom operators - Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio - in the sector's total reached an all-time high of nearly 72 per cent in FY23 from 70.4 per cent in FY22 and around 60 per cent in FY20. The net sales of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel India were Rs 1.67 trillion in FY23, up 18.6 per cent from the Rs 1.4 trillion a year earlier.
Law ministry tells finance ministry to inquire into the acquisition of Hutchison-Essar further.
The Bombay High Court had last week dismissed Vodafone International's petition challenging the Indian tax authorities demand of Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) in tax over the Hutchison deal.
This fresh case pertains to the tax assessment done by the I-T department for the year 2009-10.
Vodafone, the mobile phone giant headed by NRI chief executive Arun Sarin, on Tuesday announced annual losses of 14.85 billion pounds and said it planned to cut 400 jobs at its headquarters in Newbury in the UK.
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.
Set to achieve a major milestone of playing his 100th Test this week, England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow dedicated the achievement to his cancer-survivor mother who has been his driving force and kept the family together through the difficult times.
A landmark court challenge by Vodafone against Indian tax authorities, which want it to pay an estimated $2bn in taxes on its acquisition of Hutchison Essar, has been adjourned for three months. The Bombay high court delayed the hearing until June 23. It is a case that has potential implications for mergers and acquisitions of Indian assets by foreign companies. The court said it wanted to allow time for changes to tax laws to come into force.
Country's second largest telecom player Vodafone has launched Rs 5 per day scheme offering free incoming calls, cheaper outgoing calls and SMS rates during national roaming.
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.
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.
The rumour verification process would now be triggered by changes in price or 'material price movements', as the paper defines it. What this means is that companies would need to verify rumours only if the share price moves significantly.
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.
The Department of Telecommunications has raised demand of around Rs 877.6 crore from Vodafone as spectrum charges for the period between 2008-09 and 2011-12, sources said.
The three will now use each other's networks through inter and intra-circle roaming arrangements where they do not have licences.
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