Consumers can expect to see a sharp fall in channel prices in days ahead, going by the trend revealed by Discovery Communications, one of the first broadcasters to publish channel prices under TRAI’s new tariff order. TRAI has mandated a new tariff structure for cable and DTH sectors in India under which they have to […]
Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Communications Ltd got a big relief today after the Supreme Court ordered the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India to approve the sale of the company’s spectrum lease to Reliance Jio. “The Spectrum trading transaction will now be completed and RCOM will pay-off Ericsson and minority investors of Reliance Infratel Limited […]
Ratings agency CRISIL has downgraded certain debt securities of Vodafone Idea Ltd by one notch, quoting conditions in the Indian telecom market. It downgraded Rs 6,000 cr worth of non-convertible debentures issued by Vodafone from AA- to A+. The highest rating in the scheme is AAA+, and the current revision represents a lowering of the […]
The National Company Law Tribunal has admitted a petition filed by Sony Pictures Networks India Ltd against cable and broadband operator Ortel Communications. The petition, under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India, was for initiating insolvency proceedings against the cash-strapped cable and broadband operator. The NCLT also appointed an interim resolution […]
Reliance Jio has pulled its enormously popular Jio Music app and replaced it with JioSaavn, a new app based largely on Saavn, a competitor that the company had acquired in March. Users who have enabled auto-updating of their apps will be upgraded to the new application automatically. With over 100 mln (10 cr) downloads, Jio […]
Vodafone Idea, the company formed out of the merger of the former No.2 and No.3 telecom operators in India, said it will eliminate around 16,000 distributors, close over 2,000 branded stores in urban areas and slash the number of call centers by more than half. The moves are aimed at reducing operating costs and helping […]
Vodafone Idea will shut down nearly 88,000 cell sites (tenancies) as part of the company’s network optimization drive, the company’s chief technical officer Vishant Vora told analysts in Mumbai yesterday. Vodfone Idea had sent out notices to shut down 66,000 towers in the first week of September itself, resulting in savings of Rs 1,800 cr […]
Vodafone Idea, India’s No.1 telecom operator by subscribers and revenue, said it will increase its 4G network capacity by 50% in four months, largely by redeploying existing 4G equipment to avoid duplication. The move would also increase the coverage of Vodafone Idea’s 4G signals by about 30% compared to the present. “We are looking at […]
Vodafone Idea, India’s No.1 telecom operator, said it has decided to withdraw all existing recharges and replace them with five coupons with specific validity. The recharge balance has to be used within the validity period, or it will be lost. With this, a customer has to spend at least Rs 35 per month to keep […]
Hathway, one of India’s top cable feed providers, said it will launch its Smart Hub, a smart set-top-box that will run Google’s Android operating system, in the market next month. This will make it the second big player to come on-board the Android TV platform, a special version of Android OS that is customized to […]
Two weeks after announcing a Rs 3,500 cr order to build the Indian Navy’s communication network, Sterlite Technologies said it won a Rs 1,512 cr order to connect 4,045 panchayats in Maharashtra under the BharatNet project. The announcement comes close on the heels of GTPL Hathway and Polycab Wires announcing a Rs 1,246 cr order to connect 3,767 […]
Bharti Airtel said shareholders of Airtel Africa Ltd, which houses the Indian company’s operations in 14 African countries, have constituted a board of directors, including Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal and his son Shravin Bharti Mittal. Others appointed to the board include both Airtel representatives as well as those of big private equity players who invested […]
Bharti Airtel overtook the combined Vodafone-Idea entity in mobile broadband users in August due to a steep, 20% fall in Vodafone India’s wireless broadband users in the month. The sharp decline of 12.5 mln mobile broadband users on Vodafone’s network in August was at odds from the usual course, when the company used to add […]
India’s biggest billionaire and chairman of telecom operator Reliance Jio said today his company is rolling out fiber connectivity in 1,500 cities in India — an apparent uptick from the 1,100 cities announced four months ago. Pointing out that India is ranked at 134th in the global ranking for fixed broadband penetration, Ambani said Jio is determined to […]
Bharti Airtel today denied a Bloomberg report that said that the company has delayed the IPO of its Africa unit. “We would like to categorically state that Airtel Africa IPO preparations are proceeding as per plan and there is no change in plans,” the Indian telco said in a statement. “[A] new board is in place […]
Bharti Airtel said it has stopped the policy of allowing users to continue on its network even if they spend nothing on outgoing calls and use their numbers only for receiving incoming calls. The company said it has done this by removing many of its existing prepaid vouchers and plans, and replacing them with ‘minimum […]
Bharti Airtel today said that it was ‘open to’ partnering with cable operators to get access to last mile connections to customers for its broadband service. “We would be open to looking at partnerships to expand our access to the last mile,” said CEO Gopal Vittal. The comment came in the context of Reliance Jio […]
The pain for Bharti Airtel’s mobile business does not seem to be over, with the company’s India mobile revenue declining further in the September to a new low, belying expectations that it had hit bottom two quarters ago. Total India mobile revenue fell 2.2% on quarter to Rs 10,252 cr during the quarter. This means […]
Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire who changed the face of telecom in India in the last two years, said he has set his eyes on replicating his success in wireless telecom in the sphere of wired telecom as well. He said the 4G services launched by Reliance Jio has helped India move from the 155th of […]
Bharti Airtel said it has raised $1.25 bln (Rs 9,150 cr) from institutional investors by selling shares in its Africa unit and intends to list Airtel Africa soon. The investors who have committed to invest in the UK-based unit include Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel, SoftBank Group International and others, it said. The investment will be at […]
