Sun Pharma promoter Shanghvi's brother-in-law Sudhir Valia to pick 26%
Merchant bankers appointed to explore options on merger or stake sale in Tata Teleservices.
Bharti to spend Rs 1,600 cr for spectrum payout over 10 yrs; Telenor to service its own debt.
As the new owner, Airtel will take over Telenor India's spectrum, licences and operations, including its employees and customer base of 44 million.
Telenor Financial Services, IDFC Bank and Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi have decided to withdraw their licence to set up a payments bank.
The government on Wednesday said it has cleared Norwegian telecom firm Telenor's proposal to invest Rs 1,000 crore in a joint venture company in the telecom sector.
After building a subscriber base of nearly 50 million in about eight chequered years, it finally gave up as it saw itself up against a 600-pound gorilla that breezed through double that many subscribers in a fraction of that time, says N Sundaresha Subramanian.
Norwegian telecom firm Telenor, which won licences to operate in six big states in November, is hoping for a further reduction in the start price for the second round of spectrum auction in March.
Telenor 'yet again surprised', says will challenge order in a higher court
Telenor suggested that he be replaced by another representative of the promoters.
Unitech has already got a stay on the rights issue from the Gurgaon district court, while Telenor's appeal against this decision has been declined by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Sigve Brekke, vice president and Asia-head of the Norway-based mobile major Telenor has played a big role in Telenor's aggressive Asian foray. Brekke spoke of his plans for Telenor's joint venture with real-estate firm Unitech.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India last week recommended that the government should auction 5 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band and companies will have to pay a minimum Rs 3,622.18 crore (Rs 36.22 billion) for every unit of spectrum.
Telenor wanted to scrap the JV with Unitech and migrate the business to a new company to seek fresh operating licences.
Says got govt clearance in investments in Unitech Wireless.
Unitech said it would exit the telecom JV with Telenor by disposing of its entire shareholding in Uninor and both the parties have amicably settled all legal disputes between them.
Norway-based telecom company Telenor has raised its stake in its Indian joint venture with Unitech Wireless to 60.1 percent from 49 percent at an investment of Rs 1,493 crore.
The new deal puts the enterprise value -- the sum of a company's market capitalisation plus debt minus cash - of this new-generation mobile services company floated by Delhi-headquartered real estate major Unitech at Rs 10,520 crore (Rs 105.2 billion), against Rs 11,620 crore (Rs 116.2 billion) in the agreement signed on October 28, 2008. At the adjusted rate, the company's equity value stands at Rs 9,100 crore (Rs 91 billion).
It expects to break even by the end of next year.
It has invested Rs 14,000 crore in India through a unit in Singapore.
It is not clear, however, whether the two players are considering a majority stake or would be content as investors with 26 per cent.
Life has come full circle for Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus, who faced persecution during Sheikh Hasina's regime for embezzlement, is now all set to head of the interim government in Bangladesh after she resigned and fled the country.
Idea takes the matter back to Supreme Court as cancellation-hit telcos make decisive moves.
Bengaluru-based IT major Infosys is growing its footprint in the Nordics by establishing a new proximity centre in Oslo, Norway, as part of its continued expansion plans in the region. The new centre is expected to enable Infosys to attract, re-skill, and upskill local talent to work on global opportunities through next-gen technologies like cloud, AI, IoT, 5G, and software engineering. The Nordic region consists of five sovereign states - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden - besides the three autonomous territories connected to these states: the Faroe Islands and Greenland (Denmark), and land (Finland).
The Norway-based firm, Telenor, entered India through a joint venture with Unitech Wireless.
Norwegian firm Telenor, the majority partner in Uninor, has asked Sanjay Chandra to step down from the post of Chairman of Unitech Wireless in the wake of ongoing 2G court case.
While smart boys like the Ruias of Essar, Ajay Piramal, Max India promoter Analjit Singh laughed all the way to the bank, the Tatas, Anil Ambani, Malaysian tycoon T Ananda Krishna of Maxis (which invested in Aircel), Sistema, and Norway's Telenor burnt their fingers, notes Surajeet Das Gupta.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has paid Rs 15,519 crore to the government towards prepayment of its entire deferred liability pertaining to spectrum acquired in the 2014 auction. The company had acquired 128.4 MHz spectrum (including Telenor spectrum) for a consideration of Rs 19,051 crore in the 2014 auction, Airtel said in a statement. The company estimates that the prepayment to Department of Telecom (DoT) will likely result in interest cost savings of at least Rs 3,400 crore over the residual life for fully substituted capital.
Says recommendations not in line with court order; move follows Telenor threat to quit India.
Telenor of Norway and Sistema of Russia - on Friday asserted that they would take legal measures.
Jio is in a neck and neck battle with Airtel, which added a similar number of subscribers as Jio in the 15 months from February 2017 to April 2018
BSNL, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications, who also provide GSM technology-based services, are not part of the report.
Airtel had previously responded to the DoT's order by offering to pay Rs 10,000 crore by February 20 and the remaining before March 17. Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including licence fee and spectrum usage charge, to the government.
Idea may have to shell out Rs 4,500 crore in cash
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday deferred a decision on Rs 2,000-crore (Rs 20 billion) Jet-Etihad deal, the largest foreign investment in the Indian aviation sector, and sought clarity on control and ownership.
The approval comes few days before the company has to clear statutory liabilities of up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is spectrum dues.
Foreign companies miffed at Indian partners for irregularities, rising debt.
The CAG report, tabled in Parliament, states the interest on the short payment stood at Rs 1,052.13 crore for the period up to March 2016.
Despite mounting losses from its Indian operations and growing pressure from minority stakeholders back home, Norwegian telecom major Telenor said Uninor, its telecom joint venture in India, plans to raise about Rs 9,365 crore to support its expansion.
Taking mobile tariffs to a new low, telecom service provider Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norwegian firm Telenor, on Frday announced call charges as low as 20 paise per minute.
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