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.
The company has been designated as the official telecom service provider for Commonwealth Games 2010, to be held in Delhi, and it has already received Rs 182 crore (Rs 1.82 billion) from the government for providing infrastructure.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed a petition filed by Vodafone and ruled that the tax office had jurisdiction to tax its 2007 deal.
An application by MTN to the Johannesburg Securities Exchange to suspend trading in its shares just 20 minutes before it put out a short statement which said Bharti and MTN had agreed mutually not to proceed with the transaction also surprised analysts.
Tata Group had hinted at combining its enterprise business with Tata Communications and its fixed-line and broadband businesses with Tata Sky.
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.
Tata Motors subsidiary Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd (Telcon) has opposed a proposal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) from John Deere for a joint venture with Ashok Leyland to distribute and market its construction equipment in India.
Analysts believe as operators roll out 3G services by next year, the telecom infrastructure and mobile value added services will see more PE deals materialising in the sector.
Earlier in the day, Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, who was heading the high-level committee to monitor vacation of spectrum by the defence forces, said revenues would get preference to timing for 3G auction.
Reports by CAG earlier on the 2008 telecom licence scam had resulted in the cancellation of 122 licences.
Need for much more investment; sector would like govt help
The operating profit growth rate of mobile service providers is expected to double in next two years buoyed by increase in call rates and clarity in policy, credit rating agency CRISIL has said.
'MFs acted as reckless lenders and not as prudent investors.' 'Clearly, how debt funds are being run is a systemic issue,' warns Debashis Basu.
The process of switching off the 3G network has already started with Kolkata in the recent-concluded June quarter. By September, the shutdown will be affected in 6-7 more circles and between December and March the entire 3G network would be shut down.
In view of the foreign investment that would come into Bharti Airtel via the proposed share-swap and cash transaction arrangement, the finance ministry has asked DoT to ascertain more specific contents of the deal and advise the ministry on the same. In its letter, DEA has also said that the transaction would need to adhere to the sectoral cap as per the FDI policy as also specific telecom sector regulations.
Essar group, which is buying out the Uganda and Congo assets of Warid Telecom -- a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Group and Singtel and is present in Kenya, has also reportedly been sounded out by Zain shareholders. A company spokesperson, however, declined to comment on the issue.
A recent study on internet speed in India put Hyderabad on top with 6.5 Mbps download and 4.5 Mbps upload speed
Trai wants to prevent accidental activation of such services.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today directed the mobile operators to seek written consent from the users who have subscribed to their value-added services (VAS), such as call ring-back tone and hello tunes, in order to prevent accidental activation of such services.
VIL pegs dues at Rs 21,533 cr, less than half of DoT estimate. During a meeting with Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made it clear that the government is against a monopoly in the telecom sector, and wants Vodafone Idea to survive and remain invested in India.
Australian telecom giant Telstra has reportedly dropped outsourcing partner Satyam Computer Services from an applications support contract worth Aus $32 million annually.
In the broader market, the BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap index gained 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively
BSNL, MTNL respond to Vavasi despite advice to the contrary
In an interview with rediff.com Kamal Mansharamani of AlmaMate advices graduates on their career growth, what it takes to be a leader and how to cope with job lay offs.
Currently, USO fund administrator invites bid from interested telcos for setting up infrastructure in rural areas and the process is time consuming.
Jamshedpur gave birth to Telco (now Tata Motors) which has just launched the low-cost Nano; Jamshedpur, according to the 35-year old Tata Housing Development Company managing director Brotin Banerjee, is what inspired Tata Housing to launch its Shubh Griha low-cost housing project in Mumbai.
One reason why mobile subscribers haven't shifted companies is that the service is uniformly bad. But now, with new players coming in, the picture could be different, says Sunil Jain.
Come September, the company will launch its Time Travel -- Journey 1 album with Sonu Nigam to be released on Nokia's 5130
"Around 150 people, including the company employees and their family members, are undergoing treatment at Telco Hospital while several others have been released after treatment," Deputy Chief Minister Sudhir Mahto said. He said he had directed the East Singhbhum district administration to probe the chlorine gas leak.
After the rechristening of Telco to Tata Motors in 2003, one of the auto-maker's earliest decision was to settle its high-cost debts of around Rs 500 crore with the proceeds from foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The company had raised $100 million and repaid the debt.
Electronics and white goods manufacturers such as Videocon, Spice, Usha and Mirc Electronics have begun engaging the services of Independent design houses to take on the likes of global giants including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and LG in the mobile handset space. An IDH conducts research and development and designs handsets to enable Indian telcos launch their own mobile handset brands. It takes an upfront one-time fee for the purpose.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, however, continued to add wireless subscribers
The race for South African telecom major MTN Group is hotting up with the possibility of two other players evaluating a bid or a strategic relationship with the company. Banking sources say European telecom major Deutsche Telekom and Russian telco Vimpel Communications are also studying the possibility of talking to the MTN Group.
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."
'BSNL employee cost is Rs 14,500 crore and we anticipate that around 80,000 should opt for VRS.'
The three companies for sale are Reliance Communications, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.
According to the CEO of an Indian group with presence in the telecom segment and two merchant bankers, the Mexico-headquartered telco's bankers have been sounded out for preliminary discussions with leading Indian telecom companies for a strategic tie-up.
Indian operators offering BlackBerry services, top executives of Canadian telco Research in Motion (RIM), the company that owns the brand, security agencies and officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) are expected to meet on March 14 to answer the concerns of security agencies in a bid to prevent having BlackBerry services terminated after the March-end deadline.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to allocate one block of 3G spectrum in each service area except Delhi and Mumbai to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) at a price equivalent to the highest bid in the respective service areas.
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