“Worst is behind us” — Bharti Airtel CEO on ARPU decline

Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said he believes the worst is over as far as the company’s revenue decline is concerned. During the last three months of 2017, Airtel saw the highest ever decline in both its India mobile revenue as well as per-user revenue as it struggled to compete with new entrant Reliance Jio. […]

Current telecom prices ‘clearly unsustainable’ – Airtel CEO

Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal today said that the current levels of pricing in the Indian telecom market was ‘clearly unsustainable’ and will have to be raised. “These levels of pricing are clearly unsustainable, therefore pricing will have to be lifted,” he said, discussing Airtel’s third quarter results. “But there’s a fight for market share […]

Bharti Airtel India mobile revenue falls 12% on quarter, company pretax profit down 35% QoQ

Bharti Airtel reported a decline in its third quarter revenue as the battle with Reliance Jio raged on and the impact of lower termination charges kicked in, but the company prevented any massive damage to its bottom line. Airtel’s top line shrunk by 6.7% on quarter and 13% on year to Rs 20,319 cr for […]

Why no Jiocoin can ever take on Bitcoin

Every few months, there is a new rumor surrounding Reliance Jio, the 4G operator that has taken the country by storm. A year ago, it was Jio DTH, which was supposed to put other DTH operators out of business, and now, it’s Jiocoin, which is supposed to put virtual currencies like Bitcoin on notice. According […]

Reliance Jio crosses 15 cr subscriber mark; Idea, Vodafone back to growth

The Telecom Regulator’s subscriber addition numbers for November showed that new operator Reliance Jio continued to lead the charts in terms of net subscriber addition, but rivals like Idea Cellular and Vodafone too have come back on the growth path. Part of the reason for the reversal in the fortunes of Idea and Vodafone could […]

Reliance Jio unveils 3GB, 5GB daily packs at Rs 509, 799

After disrupting the market with its 1GB per day plans, Reliance Jio has unveiled new packs targeted at heavy users. Two new plans have been unveiled today that were not present on the company’s website earlier — a 3GB per day plan priced at Rs 509 and a 5GB daily plan that costs Rs 799. […]

Tata DoCoMo offers 1GB daily + free calls at Rs 179 with Airtel 3G

Tata DoCoMo, which recently announced that it was moving its customers to Bharti Airtel’s network before a merger of the two companies, has started offering unlimited calls and daily data. Even though users won’t be able to latch on to Bharti Airtel’s 4G network, they can use its 3G network under an intra-circle roaming agreement. […]

Reliance Jio unveils 8 new plans, data price falls 32%

Reliance Jio has unveiled eight new plans that have brought down the price of 4G data by 32% to Rs 3.56 per GB from Rs 5.19 per GB earlier. The new plans are available from Tuesday and will make most of the the company’s existing plans irrelevant (see table below). The new plans start from […]

Jio Impact: 4G overtakes 2G in network size in India

Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, has achieved what was considered impossible barely 18 months ago: India now has more 4G base stations than 2G base stations. In other words, 4G service providers in India have put up more towers in the last three years than 2G installations in the last 32 years. […]

Vodafone offers Rs 1,500 cashback on Samsung Galaxy J series

Vodafone announced cashback of Rs 1,500 on Samsung handsets Galaxy J2 Pro, Galaxy J7 Nxt and Galaxy J7 Max. Vodafone customers, both existing and new, can purchase any of the popular Samsung 4G smartphones, it said. To avail this special offer, prepaid customers have to sign up for the Rs 198 per month scheme that […]

TRAI: India data price rises 22% in Q3; 4G accounts for 80% of data use

When Mukesh Ambani launched his telecom venture a year ago, it was based on one key assumption: India is a data starved country, and given the right pricing, demand for the commodity is almost insatiable. Going by the latest industry data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, he may be right on the money. […]

RCom confirms sale of telecom assets to Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio, the firm led by Mukesh Ambani, will walk away with most of the telecom assets of Reliance Communications, led by Mukesh’s brother Anil. Rcom said it has “signed definitive binding agreements with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited for sale of Wireless Spectrum, Tower, Fiber and Media Convergence Node (MCN) assets.” The Anil Ambani company […]

Inter-ministerial group on telecom woes dismissed crisis theory, blamed telcos for high debt

The problem of high debt levels faced by some telecom companies in India was of their own making and the government had a limited to role to play in resolving the same, the inter-ministerial group set up to address the concerns of telecom sector found. The cash flow issues faced by the companies is related […]

Govt committed to concept of net neutrality – Manoj Sinha

Telecom minister Manoj Sinha today said the government is committed to the “the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality” and is studying the recommendations of the telecom regulator in this regard. The government is keen to ensure “non-discriminatory access to internet,” Sinha added. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had, a month ago, sent […]

Anil Ambani announces the end of Reliance Mobile

Anil Ambani, who warned about the possibility of the emergence of a ‘monopoly’ in Indian telecom three months ago, today said he was hanging up on his consumer telecom business. Ambani, younger brother to Mukesh Ambani — the chairman of Reliance Industries — said the mobile telephony business had changed into a new beast, and […]