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.
Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Nestle, Tata Motors, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended almost flat in highly volatile trade on Thursday amid the lack of any immediate trigger. The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 5.43 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 66,017.81. During the day, it hit a high of 66,235.24 and a low of 65,980.50.
While Airtel may be pushed to to No 3, Jio will find it mighty difficult to beat the new entity.
Connecting Maharashtra, Goa and Mumbai telecom circles without roaming charges, Airtel on Wednesday announced a 'One Maharashtra' scheme for its pre-paid and post paid customers in these circles.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday said that its subscribers can access social networking site Facebook on their mobiles free of cost for two months till August 31.
Dalal Street investors became richer by Rs 9.68 lakh crore in five days of market rally, where the Sensex breached the historic 73,000-mark for the first time ever to reach a new record peak, taking the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies to an all-time high of Rs 376 lakh crore. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 759.49 points or 1.05 per cent to settle at a new closing high of 73,327.94 on Monday. During the day, it zoomed 833.71 points or 1.14 per cent to reach its all-time peak of 73,402.16.
To launch a service that will enable users to use Google services for free on their phones.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Monday unveiled its wholesale service portfolio that will enable telecom operators across 50 countries access its services. Bharti Airtel's wholesale portfolio will offer MPLS, ethernet, IP and International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) services to global carriers through its global network with a reach to 50 countries, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
The deal between Bharti group and Tata Teleservices is yet another example of how swiftly things can change in business.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty settled with marginal gains on Thursday in a highly volatile trade amid the scheduled monthly derivatives expiry and muted trend in the US markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 86.53 points or 0.13 per cent higher at 66,988.44, registering its third day of gains. During the day, it hit a high of 67,069.89 and a low of 66,610.35.
Bharti Airtel recently acquired a 100 per cent stake in Wireless Business Services, a company founded by US chipmaker Qualcomm. Subsequent to the acquisition, the company was renamed Airtel Broadband Services.
Company has already reached out to its customers and employees
During a recent pilot test with 15,000 Airtel subscribers in Delhi and the NCR region, Affle claims to have boosted Airtel's average revenue per user by almost 8 per cent.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday described the electoral bonds scheme as a 'very big scam' and demanded that a special investigation team (SIT) be set up with court-appointed officials to probe the alleged quid pro quo and wrongdoings under it.
The recognition that content - video in particular - will be the next big thing in the telecom wars requires no rocket science.
Riding on a bull run, equity investors became richer by Rs 128.77 lakh crore in the 2023-24 fiscal, driven by robust fundamentals of the Indian economy, increased investment inflows and promising corporate earnings. After a muted performance in 2022-23, equity markets made a remarkable recovery in FY24, giving handsome returns to investors. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 14,659.83 points or 24.85 per cent in 2023-24.
Benchmark indices--Sensex and Nifty--were 0.7-0.8 per cent higher from the Saturday closing. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 stocks, 39 advanced and the rest 11 declined at the opening bell. Among the individual stocks, Cipla, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, and Bharti Airtel were the top five gainers, while Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britania, HDFC Bank, and BPCL the losers, NSE data showed. On Monday, Indian stock exchanges were closed for trading on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Trai has said the three operators were "intentionally denying and delaying" the provision of points of interconnects (PoIs) to Jio, "only to restrict a new entrant thus violating the terms and conditions of licence and regulations of the Authority which also caused a lot of inconvenience to the consumers."
The telco, being one of the first operators in the circle, has a strong base of high-value subscribers; Airtel could leverage that for its top-end services.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the applications filed by telecom majors, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, seeking rectification of the alleged errors in calculation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues payable by them. "All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed," a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said while pronouncing the order. The telecom companies had submitted before the apex court that arithmetical errors in the calculation be rectified and there are cases of duplication of entries.
Total revenue dropped by 10.5 per cent to Rs 19,634 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18
With this acquisition, Airtel will be second company, after Reliance Jio, in the country to have pan-India presence in 2300 Mhz band
President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel, Atul Bindal, said unlike DTH, IPTV services would be available only in few major cities. The company had recently introduced DTH service in the country.
Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Nestle, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank were the major gainers.
Among the Sensex firms, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies and Axis Bank were the biggest gainers. Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the laggards.
Bharti may look at gaining market share pre-merger and benefit from a lower capex intensity
Targetting Non Resident Indians in the United States, Bharti Airtel on Thursday launched its 'CallHome' service at the price of 7.9 cents per minute.
All the three companies, which dominate India's mobile services market with about 53 per cent share, have reduced the quantum of Internet download and/or validity periods on various packages they were offering, as per their websites.
Telecom major Airtel has decided against renewing the title sponsorship contract with the BCCI for India's international matches at home leading to the Board calling a marketing committee meeting in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Among the Sensex firms, JSW Steel, Titan, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank were the biggest gainers. NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.
HCL Technologies was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 5.58 per cent, followed by Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, State Bank of India, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, NTPC and Wipro. In contrast, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and ITC were among the laggards.
It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid.
Airtel starts 4G trial in Mumbai; partners Flipkart, Samsung.
AirTel on Thursday announced a tariff plan for new subscribers in which the user has to pay a net monthly charge of Rs 299 and rupee one per minute for cell-to-cell local calls.
A third-party brand valuation is signalling an imminent threat but analysts say impact on the business is still some time away.
Mittal said he discussed a plethora of issues with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and sought the government's support for faster clearances to streamline the group's investment plans.
Vodafone Idea will gradually lose market share given its weak balance sheet and limited financial flexibility, says Fitch.
Airtel customers woke up to a network outage on Tuesday as the telecom giant's data and cellular network was severely impacted due to a major fire at its data centre in Malad in suburban Mumbai.