To become the most favoured operator in the MNP stakes, Idea has worked hard to spruce up its network and quality of service.
Nivedita Mookerji explains why a timely rollout of 5G may not be easy in India.
Vodafone India MD & CEO Marten Pieters, 59, blames regulation and the spectrum policy for the telecom industry's troubles.
Unlike Reliance Jio's focus on 4G, it plans to segment the data market based on device prices and spectrum.
GSM operators say upcoming auctions will be a dud, while govt hopes to rake it in.
Subscriber churn costs operators heavily, retailers make Rs 7.7k cr a year.
Typically these are high-beta stocks and earnings are volatile
But few analysts have played down the impact of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendations.
The letter was written on February 20, two weeks after the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs had approved the 100 per cent ownership proposal of Vodafone Plc in Vodafone India, at a proposed investment of Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion).
Telecom honchos Sunil Bharti Mittal, Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vittorio Colao are expected to meet IT and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal tomorrow to discuss various issues impacting the sector.
'The recent incident in the US has no bearing in India.' 'We are not aware of any request from the US to India about 5G.'
Transcript of Nikhil Pahwa's chat with Rediff readers.
The social impact of this could be worse as 300 million subscribers may face the annoyance of network shutdown and churn.
PM has been regularly seeking people's inputs through mygov.in and his app, to assess the mood of the nation.
Idea takes the matter back to Supreme Court as cancellation-hit telcos make decisive moves.
Amidst the controversial sale of stake by two new telecom operators, Swan and Unitech, at a huge premium, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended a three-year lock-in period for stake sale by companies, which have recently got licences, in a bid to prevent them from making windfall gains overnight.
The exercise is ostensibly for security reasons and to prevent misuse of the freedom of speech in cyberspace.
India is today the second-largest telecom market in the world with over a billion customers and close to 600 million Internet users. New connections are available on the tap, calls are virtually free and it's hard to imagine anyone without a mobile phone today. Globally, there would be few parallels to this success story that truly democratised telephony and empowered a billion-plus people, observes Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Telcos demanding OTT players to come under some sort of regulation as they are eating into their SMS and voice revenues.
The paying capacity of telcos will not be the same over the next two decades. J S Sarma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says after the regulator recommended a high reserve price for the auction of 2G spectrum.
The paying capacity of telcos will not be the same over the next two decades. J S Sarma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says after the regulator recommended a high reserve price for the auction of 2G spectrum.
Airtel reported a 19 per cent rise in its ARPU in the March quarter, as it removed the non-paying users from its network.
According to software company Mavernir, the new virtualised networks would lead to a saving of 40 per cent in capex and 34 per cent in terms of lower operations cost for operators.
Despite low tariffs, voice usage is not growing.
In the not too distant future, you could see 5G technology being used for functions such as remotely-performed robotic surgeries, mine equipment operated remotely or cars driven by someone sitting hundreds of miles away. While these ideas will certainly find application globally, the urgent need for them in India could spur swifter adoption here than elsewhere.
Bharti Global is planning to put up more satellites and has set a stiff deadline to launch commercial Internet services by October in the UK, Alaska, northern Russia and northern Europe.
Has liberalisation squeezed the personality out of India Inc's leaders?
Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Thursday reserved judgement on new operator Uninor's petition challenging Telecom Ministry's drive to impose penalty on telcos that did not roll out services within the stipulated period.
BSNL had disconnected the point of interconnection of Reliance Communications on May 23 and May 31 in Haryana and on May 4 in Punjab claiming non-payment of pending dues by the private telco.
The decision of the Telecom Commission to approve in-flight connectivity won't just bring cheer to the chat-friendly passengers, but even more to the telecom industry facing severe financial stress, says Nivedita Mookerji.
GSM operators in the country have added 14.49 million new users in the month of March, taking the total GSM subscriber base to 569.55 million, an industry body said.
If it happens, this would mean the largest spectrum auction in terms of amount with over 7,000 Mhz going up for sale across eight bands
Sebi ruled that Pendse has violated various provisions of the PFUTP Regulations and the Securities Contracts Regulation Act with his illegal transactions.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel unveiled its new logo on Thursday, November 18, and also announced that its subscriber base has crossed the 200 million mark, with nearly 150 million users in the domestic market alone. The company has 40 million users in Africa, while the rest are in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Footfalls will invariably come down to a trickle even after lockdown restrictions go away, and the only way to prevent someone else from poaching your consumer is to go down to the consumer herself. Consumers will prefer products and services to be delivered to their doorstep, hygienically and safely.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Friday dismissed GSM operators' charges that its recommendation to revise 2G spectrum prices will hit them hard and said they (telcos) were looking at the issue from a narrow perspective.
'The announcement has come too late. This should have been done years ago.'
Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel had acquired 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom of Bangladesh for $300 million (about Rs 1,363 crore) earlier this year.
Jio's global partnerships took shape this year when Jio Platforms, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Jio which has invested in various digital platforms, was able to woo a bevy of marquee investors: Facebook, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, and a numerous PE funds.
Industry experts have mixed reactions on the results: While some are happy that no company has spent around Rs 16,750 crore (Rs 167.50 billion) for a pan-India licence, some lament that lack of coverage will result in long-term competitive disadvantage.
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