Tata Teleservices said on Monday that it is unfair and incorrect to compare the company with dual technology operators like RCom and others as they had applied and got the approval even before the policy came into effect.
Intensifying the ongoing tariff war, Tata Teleservices on Thursday announced half a paise per second tariff for domestic long distance (STD) calls for its CDMA prepaid users, making it cheaper than locals calls.
Vodafone, one of the largest GSM operators, had said that service providers like itself and "Bharti pay the highest spectrum charges per MHz to department of telecommunications compared to others. . .
Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it will launch its third-generation (3G) mobile services 'very soon'.
The DoT is conducting a special audit on companies that have multiple licences -- mobile, international long distance, domestic long distance and internet service provider among others. Contractor, Nayak & Kishnadwala has been appointed to examine the books of Bharti Airtel, while S K Mehta & Co will check Vodafone-Essar's accounts. Varma & Varma has been appointed as auditors for Tata Teleservices, while Chhajed & Doshi will examine the books of Idea Cellular.
According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authoroty of India, the total number of GSM subscribers of RCom at the end of September was 41.2 million, while the CDMA base was 55.28 million.
Tata Teleservices has become the first service provider to offer mobile TV on high speed broadband wireless by launching Photon TV, which allows users to access channels on desktops and laptops.
After a long wait, Tata Teleservices on Thursday launched the premium Blackberry mobile services that offers customers e-mail, SMS messaging and Internet-based applications.
During a hearing before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) last month Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, and government-run BSNL and MTNL agreed to submit the undertaking.
The books of these companies had come under a cloud after it was alleged that many of them had not been paying the goverment's share of revenue by showing the revenue earned under other categories. Under a suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a special audit of all the integrated telecom companies will be undertaken once in 3-5 years.
Tata Teleservices on Wednesday joined state-owned BSNL for sharing infrastructure across the nation, in a first such partnership that would help the private firm expand its GSM network expeditiously.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement on a petition filed by Tata Teleservices challenging the telecom tribunal's order, which classified the company's fixed wireless phone service 'Walky' as limited mobile. TDSAT had ruled that Walky service offered by Tatas was a mobile service, thus the private company was liable to pay a levy called Access Deficit Charge (ADC) to state-owned BSNL as per the interconnect order of telecom regulator Trai.
The clearances are for three proposals submitted to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board by Bharti Telemedia, which offers direct-to-home television services, Tata Teleservices, in which Japan's DoCoMo has picked up 27.3 per cent equity, and SKR BPO Services, which has made downstream investments in Sparsh BPO. Press notes 2 and 4, issued in February this year, changed the way indirect foreign equity is treated while computing the total foreign investment.
Amul, non-government organisations reach out to buyers through the virtual world, which is free.
Telecom major Tata Teleservices said it will offer comic books on mobile handsets to Tata DOCOMO subscribers.
Tata Sons, the holding firm of the Tata group, and a few group companies have pledged part of their stakes in Tata Steel, Tata Power and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) to raise money for acquisitions and capital expenditure, according to disclosures made on Monday.On January 21, the Securities and Exchange Board of India made disclosure of pledged shares mandatory after it came to light that former Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju had pledged almost his entire holding.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
In March this year, DoCoMo completed acquisition of 26 per cent in TTSL, in accordance with the agreement announced by the parties last November, for Rs 12,740 crore (Rs 127.4 billion). TTSL, which is predominantly a CDMA player, acquired GSM licence last year under the government's policy where an operator can launch both GSM and CDMA services under a single licence.
As per the terms of the partnership, Quippo telecom would hold 49 per cent in the new entity, while Tata Teleservices's Wireless-TT Info-Services Ltd would hold the remaining. Despite a low stake, Quippo would control the management. Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, which is a Srei Group company, would have to pay Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion) cash upfront for 30 per cent stake in WTTIL.
On 60th Independence Day, it is bonanza time for telecom subscribers with operators rolling out a range of services.
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.
The annual report also mentions Tata Sons is obligated to buy the stake at the higher end of fair value or 50 per cent of the subscription purchase price.
In what can be termed as the biggest write-off by an Indian firm, CDMA service provider Tata Teleservices is planning to restructure the company to offset losses of around Rs 5,141 crore (Rs 51.41 billion) by way of capital revamp.
Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja has expressed his interest in bringing down national roaming rates to zero, further cutting international roaming rates and favouring technology neutrality in the country.
Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd said on Friday that Ratan N Tata has been elected as the company's chairman. \n
The company has similar pact with Bharti Infratel.
According to a company statement, IOL Netcom will also introduce a variety of value added services. IOL Netcom's CDMA mobile services will offer multi-play services, comprising mobile, data card, desktop CDMA phone, IPTV and broadband services, among others.
Two regional CDMA players - HFCL in Punjab and Shyam Telecom in Rajasthan - have deposited fee for their GSM spectrum as per the dual technology permitted by the government. HFCL deposited Rs 151.75 crore (Rs 1.51 billion) for Punjab circle, while Shyam gave about Rs 32 crore for the Rajasthan circle.
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies that enable wireless communication. It has been the source of a bitter dispute between mobile operators of the rival GSM and CDMA technologies. In its petition, Tata Teleservices has also demanded immediate allocation of spectrum that is under the contractual obligation in areas in which it has fulfilled its subscriber base criterion.
Corporate giant Tatas on Tuesday asked the government to seek surrender of excess spectrum lying with GSM operators, a line being aggressively pursued by Reliance Communications chief Anil Ambani. With this, the top two CDMA players have joined forces against GSM operators like Bharti and Vodafone to seek return of spectrum beyond the contractual amount of 6.2 Mhz.
But Tata Tele's latest offer fails to excite competitors.
The new Silver data plan provides customers with unlimited data for accessing up to 10 supported e-mail accounts, plus an optional BlackBerry email address, and popular instant messaging (IM) services at the low monthly rate of just Rs 299, TTSL said.
TCL wants to raise around Rs 10 billion through a rights issue, sources familiar with the developments said. This means the government will have to invest Rs 2.6 billion to retain its stake in the company, in case it approves the issue. The company needs to raise fresh equity for any fresh borrowing, as it has already reached the maximum limit of debt vis-a-vis its net worth, as stipulated under the shareholder agreement.
Confirming this, Chief Financial Officer S Venkatesan said that the company has passed an enabling resolution to raise around $200 million from foreign investors either through an FCCB or a private placement.
"Keeping in view of the security implication involved, the licensee (company) is directed not to connect or provide or run the Blackberry e-mail and mobile messenger services unless the required monitoring system to the satisfaction of the security agencies are in place and the master key and algorithm are deposited with the licensor," DoT said in a letter to Tatas.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has received permission to offer CDMA services across the country (except Delhi and Mumbai) under the crossover technology policy. Under the policy, existing GSM operators are allowed to offer CDMA service and vice versa within the same licence after paying a fee.BSNL is the third company after Reliance Communications (which is in CDMA and wanted to operate GSM service) and Tata Teleservices (similar to Reliance) which has been given licences
The government is likely to refer the controversial issue of Blackberry mobile phones to the Telecom Commission to decide whether operators can continue offering this service. The issue of Blackberry was raised after Tata Teleservices recently said they have been denied the permission to offer this value added service by the Ministry of Home Affairs due to security concerns. Telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone & Reliance are offering Blackberry services to users.
The company plans to leverage its tie-up with NTT DoComo to offer many value-added services.
Cyrus Mistry, who was replaced as chairman of Tata Sons last Monday, October 24, still serves as the chairman of Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Indian Hotels, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices.
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