"Bharti has decided to disengage from the ongoing talks and has conveyed the same to MTN," the company said. "The MTN board has now presented a completely different structure," the statement said, than what was agreed earlier.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors were the biggest laggards. ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Nestle and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.
Leading telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone and the Tatas are understood to have been slapped penalty for non-verification of subscribers in the J&K and Assam circles.
People given to hyperbole would say that Gopal Vittal's rise at Bharti Airtel has been "meteoric". But in his case, superlatives could perhaps be forgiven. Here's why
The launch will lower phone bills and enable customers to use a single phone with a common number for mobile and fixed-line calls.
From the Sensex pack, Zomato jumped nearly 5 per cent, followed by Titan which climbed almost 4 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank were also among the gainers.
In order to help voters make informed choice, Bharti Airtel said it is offering its pre-paid users 50 MB free Internet usage on Thursday.
'At a time when massive strides are being made in bringing 5G technology to India, and with TSPs ramping up their infrastructure, it is unacceptable that a large number of complaints over quality issues continue to come in, even from major urban areas.'
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced an agreement to acquire about 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup Lavelle Networks. Further, ASM Technologies, a global technology engineering and product development services provider, has done a follow on investment in Lavelle Networks. In a statement on Monday, Airtel announced the acquisition of about 25 per cent strategic stake in SD-WAN startup Lavelle Networks but did not disclose financial details about the deal that entails a cash consideration.
Reacting sharply to Bharti Airtel's offer to pay Rs 2,650 crore (Rs 26.50 billion) for all-India spectrum, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications on Monday said said the GSM operator was trying to prevent competition. "This is another ploy of Bharti to prevent competition. It shows their (Bharti's) anti-consumer and anti-competitive behaviour," an RCom spokesperson said.
Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel, is launching its High Definition service, with set top boxes (STBs) priced at Rs 2,840, further fuelling the price war in the sector.
Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday the government has alloted additional spectrum to the company in five telecom circles in the country. The five circles are West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (west), Assam and Haryana.
Just ahead of its mega FPO opening to public investors, Vodafone Idea (VIL) has announced closure of its anchor book allocation, raising about Rs 5,400 crore from marquee global as well as domestic investors, according to a statutory filing by the telco. This could be the third-largest anchor book after One 97 Communications and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). One 97 Communications and LIC had raised Rs 8,235 crore and Rs 5,627 crore in the anchor round, respectively.
Warid Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group, offers mobile telecom services with a user base of over 2.9 million in Bangladesh.
Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and JSW Steel were the other big laggards.
Total revenue came in at Rs 20,422 crore for the September quarter, which was 6.2 per cent lower than Rs 21,777 crore notched in the year-ago period.
This move gives Airtel and Chinese major immense benefits.
Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer, rising by over 4.51 per cent. Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Infosys, JSW Steel and Mahindra & Mahindra were the other big gainers.
Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal MTN group president and CEO Phuthuma Nhlek had met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday. The two telecom majors extended the deadline for exclusive talks for their proposed $23-billion deal to the end of next month recently.
Loop Mobile has debt of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion), which is likely to be included in final deal size.
Bharti Airtel and MTN of South Africa are likely to extend the exclusive talks period beyond September 30 in the absence of clarity on the proposed $23 billion deal between the two companies.
The move is aimed at enhancing its focus on expanding operations in international markets beyond India and South Asia and to further consolidate its leadership position in India, the company said.
The BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 3,004 stocks traded, 1,605 advanced while 1,277 declined.
Bharti Airtel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 7 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Titan, TCS and Tech Mahindra. NSE Nifty soared 201.15 points to an all-time closing peak of 17,132.20.
India's first auction of 5G spectrum, that powers ultra-high data speeds, is currently underway with a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore up for bidding. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises are in the race to bid for 5G spectrum, that offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others.
The country's largest mobile service provider Bharti Airtel is all set to overhaul its look and come forth in a new avatar. The re-designed logo would be launched for Indian as well as overseas operations to bring synergy among the company's business ventures.
Stock markets will be driven by quarterly earnings by index majors, global trends and the RBI's interest rate decision this week after digesting news on budget proposals and US Federal policy outcome, say analysts. The trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude would also dictate trends in equities. "On the domestic front, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) meeting is scheduled from February 6-8.
Over the past week, the BSE Sensex ended on a muted note, showing a marginal gain of 2.25 points at 28,114.56.
Sunil Mittal is confident that Airtel will retain its numero uno position, inspite of Vodafone's competition.
Jio's spectrum trading pact with Airtel has enabled India's largest telco to top-up its holding in three key circles and yielded potential savings of about $400 million, according to a report. It is pertinent to mention here that Reliance Jio has signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel to acquire a portion of spectrum in 800 MHz band for Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai circles at an aggregate value of Rs 1,497 crore -- marking the first such deal between the two telecom giants that otherwise compete fiercely in the market. Market analysts have termed the deal "mutually beneficial" and "win-win for both". UBS in a note cited Jio's spectrum buys in the 800 MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai in the recently-concluded auctions.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle and Titan were the major laggards. In contrast, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and HCL Technologies were among the major gainers.
Comviva (formerly Bharti Telesoft) is in talks with several telecom service providers, including group company Bharti Airtel, to launch a SIM (or Subscriber Identity Module) card that allows up to 10 users to share the same mobile phone with their own specific numbers.
In yet another major outsourcing deal, Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Group on Tuesday entered into a over Rs 580 crore ($125 million) deal with telecom major Nokia to expand the network in eight circles.
Bharti to spend Rs 1,600 cr for spectrum payout over 10 yrs; Telenor to service its own debt.
Airtel already offers services in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 African countries apart from India.
The plan coming under 'Super Lifetime Prepaid' offers an Airtel user local outgoing tariff of Re 1 for life. Under this plan, the customer can stay mobile by paying just Rs 999 and they have to use a minimum of Rs 200 every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime validity benefits.
Bharti Enterprises Group CFO Sarvjit S Dhillon said there is more clarity on the regulatory front now, which is a good sign for the industry.
Adani Ports was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, declining 1.37 per cent, followed by ITC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Maruti, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro. In contrast, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Axis Bank and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.
Vodafone has to sell its entire stake in Airtel following new norms issued by government.