Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications said it was confident of overcoming the twin legal challenges posed by shareholders in its tower subsidiary and one of the company’s unsecured creditors, Ericsson. The company is selling much of its spectrum, fiber, towers and other network assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm, led by Anil Ambani’s brother Mukesh, for an […]
Taking the fight up a notch, Star India, the biggest television broadcaster in the country, has threatened to disconnect all its 56 channels currently aired by Airtel Digital, India’s second-biggest DTH network. “Dear Airtel Digital customer, your favorite channel.. along with all 56 channels in Star India bouquet is likely to be disconnected on Airtel […]
Reliance Jio, the 4G operator, said users of its JioTV streaming app can now choose any of the five camera angles while watching the ongoing Nidahas trophy as part of a new ‘interactive TV’ feature. Similarly, they can also choose to listen to different mics, such as the one on the stump or the stadium […]
Under an onslaught of cheap wireless internet devices from Reliance Jio, Indian brands such as iBall, Intex and Micromax have virtually exited the data dongle market, while the once dominant Huawei has been reduced to a 7% share, according to CMR. For the whole of 2017, all the top five models of datacards belonged to […]
Even as Airtel Digital and Star India are trying to scuttle a new TRAI law aimed at unraveling TV channel bundles, the DTH operator has removed all Star channels from its various bundles and packages due to a disagreement over pricing. UPDATE: Star is now threatening to stop providing the signals altogether. https://ultra.news/s-e/38740/star-india-threatens-airtel-digital-with-complete-disconnection-of-channels As of […]
The government of India “has developed” a plan to improve Internet connectivity in Lakshadweep Islands, communications minister Manoj Sinha said today. Lakshadweep Islands, home to about 70,000 people, are currently connected by satellite, which restricts the bandwidth and increases the cost of connectivity. The move follows the approval given to a Rs 1,100 cr project […]
The Telecom Commission, the top bureaucratic decision making body within the communications ministry, has approved a Rs 7,330 cr project to set up an additional 4,072 mobile towers in left-wing extremism affected areas, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said today. The project will be a follow-up the first phase, when BSNL set up 2,329 towers in […]
Promoters, including Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, saw their combined shareholding in financial services provider Religare Enterprises Ltd come down by 2.16 percentage points due to the invocation of pledges, they said in a regulatory filing. The filing comes in the wake of reports that the company’s board may be reconstituted to give more representation […]
LYF, the mobile phone brand that was launched along with Reliance Jio, emerged as India’s No.1 mobile phone brand by shipments in January, market researcher CMR said. In January, LYF had a share of 27% in the overall mobile phone market in India, while Samsung was a distant second with just 12.1%. This was primarily […]
BJP President Amit Shah is not a very expressive person, but the relief and happiness on his face during the party’s regular press conference today was hard to miss. Among the questions asked of Shah was whether today marks the ‘golden period’ of the BJP in India. Though the question sounded like a compliment, it […]
CMR, part of CyberMedia, said a total of 14.83 cr 4G LTE devices were sold in India during 2017 — or one for every 5 adults in the country. The number of 4G devices sold in the country rose 80% compared to 2016, it added. This includes mobile phones, tablets and dongles and mifi devices. […]
Tata Sky, the country’s largest distributor of television content, has taken decided to take on JioTV and other emerging content distributors with an online streaming website of its own. The DTH provider’s online video and TV service can be accessed at ‘watch.tatasky.com‘ and currently has around 250 live television channels, compared to over 550 on […]
Bharti Airtel said it will launch affordable 4G smartphones powered by Google’s Android Go platform next month, under a tie-up with handset makers Micromax and Lava. “Entry level 4G smartphones under Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ program will be shipped with Android Oreo (Go edition) as standard OS starting March 2018,” the telecom operator said. “Lava […]
Sterlite Tech, India’s biggest fiber cable maker, said it won a Rs 3500-crore order to design, build and manage a communications network for the Indian Navy. The advance purchase order requires Sterlite Tech to design, build and manage the communications network for over a decade. The project includes the creation of a high-capacity IP-MPLS (Internet […]
Indian operator Bharti Airtel, aircraft maker Airbus, US airline Delta and US operator Sprint were among the founding members of a new platform intended to pave the way for easier in-flight telecom connectivity. The alliance, which also includes satellite broadband operator OneWeb and in-flight connectivity specialist GoGo, plans to bring more companies onboard. The aim […]
Idea Cellular, one of India’s largest telecom operators, said the recently concluded sale of its shares to institutional investors, along with a recent fund infusion by the promoter, will reduce its net debt by Rs 6,750 cr. “This equity raise of Rs. 3,500 crore along with recent infusion of Rs. 3,250 crore by Idea’s Promoter […]
The pain for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular may be far from over as Reliance Jio is seen preparing a massive rollout of its low-cost smartphone that could deal yet another heavy blow to the incumbent telecom operators’ revenue. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Forum in Lucknow today, Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh […]
Idea Cellular said it has approved a price of Rs 82.50 for the shares to be sold as part of its Rs 3,500 cr qualified institutional placement. The price implies a discount of 2.6% to the opening price of Idea Cellular stock on the NSE today. It also said that it will close its QIP […]
After advising restraint in the fight with new operator Reliance Jio, it seems to be the turn of Idea Cellular and its partner Vodafone to slash prices. Both operators have cut the price of the cheapest unlimited voice and data pack to the Rs 150 range from Rs 200 range, bringing them into direct competition […]
Bharti Airtel said it has tied up with HMD, the maker of Nokia smartphones, to offer cash back of Rs 2,000 on the Nokia 2 and 3 smartphones. The initial price of Nokia 3 will be Rs 9,499 and that of Nokia 2 will be Rs 6,999. To get the cash back of Rs 2,000, […]
