The latest quarterly numbers released by Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular point to an interest fact — both have increased the rate of 3G deployment by 100% or more. Bharti Airtel, for example, added 9,561 new 3G towers in India during the three months ended September, compared to only around 4,060 new towers added in […]
Vodafone India said it will launch its 4G services in Delhi-NCR by December 2015. Key corridors of Delhi-NCR will be part of the first wave of the 4G roll-out, which will be launched across the circle in a phased manner, it added. “Testing of 4G services has commenced successfully. Vodafone India has partnered with leading […]
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication is unlikely to go for pan-India spectrum trading or sharing with Reliance Jio Infocomm. Instead, the company is expected to focus on its merger with MTS to get the requisite spectrum in majority of the circles for LTE launch. Only in a handful of circles — less than 10 — where […]
The TRAI has promulgated new draft guidelines — which are expected to soon turn into final guidelines — that require cable and DTH operators to keep the rates charged from ‘a la carte’ customers under check. At present, DTH operators charge up to Rs 50 per channel from customers who do not subscribe to the […]
With spectrum trading rules promulgated, all eyes are on two key players — Aircel Cellular and Tata Teleservices — wondering whether they will sell coveted 3G and 4G spectrum held with them. Operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are known to be keen to buy spectrum from these operators. Adding fuel to speculation […]
Reliance Communications has introduced a special offer under which customers who use the AC2739 CDMA modem can get ultra-high-speed wireless data (known as Rev B) at just Rs 28.2 per GB under its “Freedom Recharge” offer. Under the offer, anyone can recharge for Rs 1947 before Sept 30 and get 69 GB of high-speed data […]
Spectrum trading is likely to lead to consolidation in the Indian telecom industry and four telecom operators — Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Jio — are likely to emerge the winners — analysts said. “The industry could see emergence of four pan-India players (Bharti Airtel Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Idea Cellular Ltd and […]
Amid rising concerns of call drops, the TRAI is floating second consultation paper within two weeks time clearly stipulating the factors and compensation that may be paid to the consumer by telecom, said its Chairman Mr R.S. Sharma at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi today. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is […]
Axiata Group Berhadand Bharti Airtel Limited said they have entered into an exclusive discussion to explore the possibility of combining the business operations of their telecommunication subsidiaries in Bangladesh; namely, Robi Axiata Limited and Airtel Bangladesh Limited. Malaysia-based Axiata holds a stake of around 20% in Idea Cellular in India. “There is no certainty that […]
The Indian government today implemented perhaps the most awaited reform in the telecom sector in recent years — spectrum trading. Trading will be allowed for all spectrum acquired through auctions or for which ‘market rates’ have been paid. Largely as expected, the norms however have hit MTS — owned by Russia’s Sistema — badly as […]
Idea Cellular, Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel are known to have started offering aggressive discounts on their 3G plans to their customers via promotional offers and SMSes ahead of Reliance Jio’s launch. All three are already offering 1 GB of 3G data for Rs 149 as opposed to Rs 249 earlier. However, the discounts don’t […]
Vodafone is going to town about its double data offer — claiming that now you can get double the amount of data at the same old recharge prices. Most of the media reports on the subject say that the offer is valid on all data recharges, such as this one. But is it really the […]
Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania will be one of the highest paid executives in India after his reappointment for five years starting April next year. According to the plans disclosed by the company, Kapania will be offered the following terms. A basic pay of Rs 12.9 lakhs plus a special allowance of 14.8 lakhs, coming […]
Vodafone India said that it will launch its 4G services by end of the calendar year 2015. Important data markets including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Kochi will be part of the first wave of the roll-out. Vodafone India had successfully acquired additional 4G (LTE) spectrum in 5 circles viz. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Kerala and Karnataka […]
Bharti Airtel is trying to address a key weakness in the lucrative market of Kerala — the lack of a 3G network — by going aggressively with its 4G roll-out. The biggest cities, Kochi and Calicut, have already got LTE services from the company, while most of the cities in the state will be covered […]
Reliance Communications Ltd reported disappointing results for the June quarter on a steep decline in voice usage, but the company’s voice pricing is now more or less at parity with that of Idea Cellular. However, in the absence of data growth, the company was not able to report impressive numbers for the first quarter. Net […]
Reliance Communications is fast emerging as the biggest beneficiary of the approval of spectrum sharing guidelines, though Vodafone and Bharti Airtel — which obtained 3G spectrum earlier this year — could also benefit big time. According to a report in the Economic Times, Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications will take advantage of the new rules […]
QUAAditya Birla Nuvo, the diversified business company, reported a 10% increase in its first-quarter revenue to Rs 6,820 crore, while net profit rose 50% to Rs 397 crore. EBITDA rose 31% to Rs 1,671 crore. Financial Services Aditya Birla Financial Services (ABFS) assets under management (AUM) grew by 29% to USD 28.9 billion (Rs 173,170 […]
With operators like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular asking the government to be allowed to block certain web applications that compete with their own offerings, data-centric service provider MTS has declared that it will never block any web traffic on its network. Sistema Shyam TeleServices – which runs its services under the MTS brand – […]
TRAI today issued the “Telecom Consumers Protection (Eighth Amendment) Regulations, 2015” to requiring strict levels of disclosure of billing for mobile data. While prepaid users do get such notifications even now, these rules will extend the benefit to postpaid users in addition. TRAI has been receiving several complaints from consumers regarding non-availability of information relating to […]
