Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will gear their network heavily towards 4G after merger and will also shut down over 60,000 cell sites as part of network optimization, going by the presentation being made by Idea in front of investors. The companies had earlier announced that they would surrender around 6,300 cell sites that are […]
Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania sounded a note of caution and urged Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to stop trying to beat each other by cutting prices. “We don’t want to participate in the present level of price drops,” Kapania said, in the context of the company’s quarterly results. “We are hoping that the volatility […]
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel said it received the approval of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority for its acquisition of Tigo Rwanda Limited, a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular S.A. The deal was announced a month ago. “The merged entity will have the largest customer base in Rwanda with 5.9 million subscribers,” it said. It will […]
Reliance Jio has slashed its prices again, offering unlimited calls at a starting price of Rs 98 per month and increasing data allocation on its existing plans. The move comes after Bharti Airtel started offering up to 90 GB at a price of Rs 193. The price of the entry-level pack has been cut from […]
In a sign that it is willing to go all the way in taking on Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel has slashed its 4G price to an all-time low of Rs 2.14 per GB. With its new tariff line-up, Bharti Airtel is now the cheapest operator by some distance for those who require 2.0 to 2.5 […]
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. […]
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 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 […]
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, 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 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 […]
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. […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
With Reliance Jio unveiling its first monthly tariff plans, all eyes are now on the incumbents — Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone — to see how they will respond. Industry sources believe that the three operators will unveil a new 199 plan which gives 1 GB of data per day for 28 days to […]
As expected, Reliance Jio has launched its first monthly plans — Rs 199 for 1.2 GB per day and Rs 299 for 2 GB per day. The plans were anticipated after the newcomer unveiled its permanent plans on Diwali — more than a month ago. The plans price data at roughly the same levels as […]
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is currently testing an intra-circle roaming agreement with Reliance Jio in Karnataka circle, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said. However, he did not clarify whether the agreement was to allow BSNL users to tap into Reliance Jio’s 4G service or to allow Jio users to access BSNL’s 2G service. However, the […]
Shareholders of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd — the listed unit of Tata Tele — will get one share of Bharti Airtel for every 2,014 shares held by them, the company said. The ratio of share issue indicates that the consumer mobile business of Tata Telservices Maharashtra Ltd accounts for only 3.77% of the equity value […]
Bharti Airtel Limited said it has agreed to acquire 100% of Tigo Rwanda Limited, the local unit of Millicom International Cellular S.A.. Airtel already has operations in Rwanda and the acquisition “will consolidate the Rwandan telecom market and position Airtel as a strong number 2 operator in Rwanda,” it said. The consideration for the transaction […]
