Justice Rajiv Shakdher, referring to a Supreme Court order on a plea of Bharti Cellular Ltd in a similar case, asked the Department of Telecommunications not to take any coercive steps in pursuance of its notices issued to the telecom companies asking them to stop providing 3G services to mobile users in the circles for which they lacked licences.
The order in favour of Vodafone is being considered significant because some domestic companies too are involved in similar transfer pricing cases.
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.
INX Media, the company set up by Indrani Mukherjea, wife of ex-Star Group CEO Peter Mukherjea, has roped in three top advertisers -- Vodafone, Reliance Industries and Future Group -- for their Hindi entertainment channel 9X. Each of these advertisers are believed to be paying Rs 35-40 crore (Rs 350-400 million) for a three-year contract. The television broadcaster has formed Club INX, which will include corporates keen to advertise on the channel.
According to the agreement with the government, the operator can ask 10-year extension if the request is made during the 19th year.
Ahead of its Rs 18,000 crore further public offer (FPO), Vodafone Idea on Monday said it expects to roll out 5G services in select pockets within 6-9 months of raising fresh capital. Its chief executive Akshaya Moondra said rollout of the modern 5G telecom services is one of the objectives of raising the capital from the public and once the funding comes, it will start work on the rollout. "With this round of funding, we believe we will be able to (come) back to participate in the industry growth which has not been possible," he said.
Vodafone on said it is seeking legal advice to challenge the Bombay High Court order that dismissed its plea against the I-T department's Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) demand in tax and penalty on the company's acquisition of Hutchison Telecom in a deal of about Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
The submission was made before additional sessions judge Hardeep Kaur, who extended the judicial custody of all the six accused till March 1.
The admission comes as it seeks to ensure approval of the deal by Indian regulators under restrictive foreign investment laws.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday deferred till August 2 the hearing on an appeal filed by Vodafone International challenging income tax department's decision to levy tax on the company for acquiring stake of Hutchison International in Hutchison-Essar in a $11.1 billion deal in February 2007.
In what may provide some relief to Vodafone in its tax case with the government, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said tax officers won't be rash on the company. He said a decision on sending tax notice to the British telecom major would be taken after getting Shome panel's report on retrospective amendment to the Income Tax Act with regard to indirect transfer of Indian assets.
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.
After the enactment of retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act next month, the government may ask Vodafone to pay in excess of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) -- more than two and half times the tax amount the telecom major was "advised to withhold" on its $11-billion deal with Hutchison in 2007.
Besides Vodafone, several other major MNCs like Nokia and Shell were locked in tax dispute with the revenue department.
Vodafone can mitigate risks of money-laundering through M-Pesa by making sure the funds are being traced.
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 police had filed charges in December against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's India unit.
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.
While some are relatively new in this business, Vodafone, which has 1.8 million touch points in the country, has been offering basic banking and payment services through its pre-paid mobile digital semi-closed wallet called M-Pesa since 2012.
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 letter was also forwarded to Mukherjee, Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Commerce and Industry Ministry Anand Sharma.
Vodafone's revenues for the third quarter have gone up by 16%, thanks to good performance in emerging markets including India.
The British teleco is bidding hard for cellular operator Hutchison Essar. At stake: the world's fastest growing mobile market-and Vodafone's reputation.
Interview with MD and CEO, Vodafone India.
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.
Vodafone, which is offering the iconic Apple iPhone in India along with Airtel, has tied up with Axis Bank and Barclays to offer the phone on six or 12 equated monthly installments (EMIs) for customers who may find the Rs 31,000 to Rs 36,000 price tag too steep.
The trio has been voicing their criticism of Trai's recommendations and have asked the government to dump the report, which according to them are 'retrograde' and 'absurd'.
Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin on Wednesday discussions with Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who asked the UK telecom giant to follow best commercial practices in its bid to acquire Hutch-Essar.
A name change is quite a tedious thing. And nearly all companies undertake the same exercise to go all out to assure their customers of the same fact -- that nothing has changed, except the name. So amongst the plethora of work all making the same declaration, it is quite difficult to be memorable.
In a report, JP Morgan said Vodafone needed to raise exposure to high-growth emerging markets and offset prospective fall in EBITDA in Europe.
Vodafone India, the nation's second-biggest telecom firm, is planning to invest Rs 7,100 crore in the next 2-3 years, mainly on rolling out 3G networks.
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.
The simple, innocent and funny acts of the alien-like white, egg-headed creatures with balloon bodies created a phenomenon in the Indian advertising industry.
"Smiling tiger may look friendly but is very dangerous." That is how an US Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Fred Thompson said about China Resource Enterprise (CRE). In its investigation into China's attempts to influence the 1996 US presidential campaign, the Committee identified CRE as a conduit for "espionage - economic, political and military for China." Incidentally CRE is owned by the Chinese army, the PLA.
If he bets big, billionaire Mukesh Ambani will emerge from this week's airwave auction armed with spectrum that could make his Reliance Industries Ltd a formidable rival to market leaders Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Group.
With Lok Sabha approving the Finance Bill that amends law to retrospectively tax cross-border transactions dating back to April 1, 1962, Vodafone faces a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) plus interest and a penalty on its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd's Indian operations.
Recently, the government had appointed former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti as arbitrator in the tax dispute case.
