Idea, Vodafone to share 4G network; Broadband towers overtake 2G

Idea Cellular and Vodafone in India started sharing their some of their networks in October, and will soon increase their 4G coverage by about 5,000 villages due to this, the Aditya Birla Group company said. “In October 2017, Idea and Vodafone India have entered into Active Infrastructure sharing arrangement, to avoid duplication of spends and […]

American Tower Corp buys towers of Idea and Vodafone in India for $1.2 bln

Vodafone India and IdeaCellular Ltd said they agreed to sell their standalone tower businesses in India to the local unit of American Tower Corp for an aggregate enterprise value of Rs 7,850 cr (US $1.2 billion). In case the sale is completed before the merger of Vodafone India and Idea, Vodafone India will receive Rs […]

Bharti Airtel unveils new postpaid plan 499 with 20 GB data

Bharti Airtel said it had introduced new 4G plans for its postpaid, or contract, customers, bringing some of the benefits that were hitherto available only to the prepaid segment. The new plan has been priced at Rs 499 plan for the postpaid segment. However, compared to prepaid plans, the benefits are lower for postpaid users […]

Not getting MNP code due Reliance network down? Vodafone to help

Vodafone has come forward and allowed users of Reliance Communications to use its network if they want to generate their MNP code. The MNP code so generated can be used by the RCom subscriber to port to any operator in India, including Vodafone. This will help those Reliance Communications’ customers who are unable to generate […]

RCom says still talking to Brookfield, others to sell towers

Reliance Communications said it is in talks with several parties, including Brookfield Asset Management, to sell its tower assets. “The Company is renegotiating the tower transactions with all the interested parties including Brookfield Infrastructure Group,” it said. The clarification comes after reports that Brookfield had withdrawn from the tower deal completely sent RCom’s shares plunging […]

Reliance Industries to raise Rs 5,000 cr next week via listed debentures

Reliance Industries said it would raise Rs 5,000 cr from the debt market by issuing debentures on Wednesday, November 8. The debentures issued will not be convertible to equity shares and will be sold privately (private placement) without a public offering, RIL added. Unlike shares, debentures generate a fixed return in the form of interest. […]

Tata Sky users may lose Star channels in three weeks

Star India, India’s biggest broadcasting company, has threatened to pull out its channels from Tata Sky, India’s biggest distributor of television content. Tata Sky is a joint venture between Tata Group and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, which also owns Star India. Unlike in case of Star, Fox owns only a minority stake of around […]

Hathway Broadband starts FTTH, data use up 26% in 3 months

Hathway Digital said it has started rolling out fiber-to-the-home services in congested areas, and also reported a strong increase in data use after slashing prices and increase quotas. For the three months ended September, an average consumer on Hathway Broadband increased her consumption to 98 GB per month, or 3.2 GB per day, from 78 […]

UFO Moviez, Qube announce merger, ratio 64:36

Two of India’s top satellite-based cinema feed providers, UFO Moviez and Qube Cinema Technologies, have decided to merge to take advantage of higher scale. The merger ratio and valuation will be 63.6% for UFO and 36.4% for Qube Digital. Currently, UFO supplies its movie feeds to around 4,000 screens while Qube provides its feed to […]

Post Bharti Airtel deal, Tata DoCoMo reaches out to worried subscribers

Tata DoCoMo has started reaching out to customers to prevent them from leaving the network in droves, ahead of a takeover of the mobile operations by Bharti Airtel. Subscribers of Tata DoCoMo, a brand operated by Tata Teleservices, had started porting out last month soon after newspaper reports claimed that it would shut down services […]

Google’s AWS rival cloud services come to India

Google has opened its first data center for third-party cloud services in India at Mumbai. This will enable developers to host their applications, websites and other IT projects within India, enabling faster response times for their customers in the country. Before this, the closest location was Singapore. Google offers various services, such as virtual servers, […]

RCom could sell assets to Reliance Jio, go virtual – Fitch

Reliance Communications could ink more spectrum selling and sharing agreements with Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio, Fitch Ratings said, adding that the Anil Ambani company would end up as a mobile virtual operator after its ongoing restructuring. Rcom “plans to monetise spectrum assets in the 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands by sharing and trading with […]

RCom to issue shares to MTS, to pay earn-out fees in case of 4G conversion

Reliance Communications said it the company’s board has approved the issue of fresh shares in the company to the shareholders of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, which operates the MTS brand of telecom services in India. RCom’s merger with MTS received the government’s approval a few days ago. Since companies in India can get an extension […]

Bharti Airtel ARPU falls below Jio’s; but data usage zooms

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom company by revenue, reported further erosion in its revenue and profit in September quarter compared to the previous June quarter. The company reported revenue of 21,777 cr, down 12.3% compared to a year ago and down 0.8% compared to the previous three months of April to June. Profit before exceptional […]

Bharti Airtel Q2 profit margin up, but ARPU falls

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom company by revenue, reported further erosion in its revenue and profit in September quarter compared to the previous June quarter. The company reported revenue of 21,777 cr, down 12.3% compared to a year ago and down 0.8% compared to the previous three months of April to June. Profit before exceptional […]

Bharti Infratel to try to buy Vodafone & Idea stake in Indus Towers

Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of Bharti Airtel, said it has decided to explore the possibility of buying out the stakes of Idea Cellular and Vodafone in rival tower company Indus. Bharti and Vodafone currently own about 42% each in Indus, while Idea holds about 11%. As a result, anyone who buys the stakes of […]