PREMIUM NO MORE? Idea Cellular matches Reliance Jio’s 399 plan

Hit by a loss of subscribers, Idea Cellular seems to be having second thoughts about its strategy of always pricing its packs above those of Reliance Jio. The mobile operator has now slashed the price of its 70-day unlimited pack to Rs 398 from Rs 448 earlier for many of its 4G customers. This makes […]

RCom lenders get first round of bids for spectrum, fiber and assets – report

The lenders of Reliance Communications have got initial bids for the company’s assets from the three big telecom companies in India, CNBC TV18 reported, quoting banking sources. The Anil Ambani Group company is under the control of its lenders after it ran aground due to high debt load and the emergence of 4G services. Three […]

Airtel’s new 4G pack is 30% cheaper than Reliance Jio

Bharti Airtel has unveiled two new publicly available 4G plans with 2 GB and 3 GB of data allocation per day, along with free voice and SMS benefits. These plans are unique as currently no other operator offers 2GB or 3G per day at these price levels. Airtel has priced its 3 GB per day […]

Bharti Airtel offers cashback on Intex 2GB RAM models, others

Continuing with its tie-ups with hardware brands, Bharti Airtel announced three more ‘cash back’ models from Intex, including one with 2GB of RAM. The cheapest will be the Intex Aqua LIONS N1, priced at Rs 3,149 and eligible for for a cash back of Rs 1,500 over a period of three years. The effective price […]

Bharti Airtel invests in e-publishing platform Juggernaut

Bharti Airtel said it has acquired a strategic stake in Juggernaut Books, a popular digital epublishing platform. Telecom companies in India are busy building or buying content companies in an effort to offer their own content on their networks. “The investment is in line with Airtel’s endeavour to build an open content ecosystem and bring […]

Bharti Airtel denies violating Aadhaar norms

Bharti Airtel today said it has not violated any norms set down by the UID Authority of India for the use of Aadhaar verification. Responding to a notice from the stock exchanges, the company confirmed having received notices from the UID Authority on alleged violations of norms. “We confirm that the company is dealing with […]

Will Reliance Jio launch Rs 199 plan with 1 GB per day for 28 days?

A new plan being bundled with Xiaomi’s new affordable plan, Redmi 5A, suggests that Reliance Jio could soon launch its first monthly unlimited plan priced at Rs 199. The plan, valid for four weeks, will give 1 GB of data per day, unlimited voice and access to Jio apps. The bundled offer on Xiaomi 5A […]

Exchanges seek clarification from Bharti Airtel on Aadhaar misuse charges

Stock exchanges in India have sought a clarification from India’s largest telecom company by revenue, Bharti Airtel, on a report that it was under investigation by a government agency for allegedly misusing customer data to open bank accounts in their names. “(The) exchange has advised the company to provide clarification/confirmation on the news item in […]

Tata DoCoMo users get Airtel network, but not the tariff plans yet

Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices said they have started moving customers of Tata DoCoMo to the Bharti Airtel network using what is called an ‘intra-circle roaming’ or ICR agreement. This essentially means that Tata Teleservices will continue to operate a network in a technical and legal sense, but is free to decommission all its towers […]

Reliance Jio arrests trend of declining net additions; user activity increases

Reliance Jio, India’s newest operator, added 5.94 mln subscribers in September, breaking a declining trend in net additions and taking the total subscriber number to 138.62 mln (13.86 cr). Even as the company increased its subscriber numbers, it was also able to reduce the proportion of inactive or switched-off users on the network. SEPTEMBER BLUES […]

As Jio reality sinks, Idea abandons ‘limited aggression’ strategy

Idea Cellular has abandoned its earlier strategy of ‘limited aggression’ in dealing with the threat from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, and will be more visible in its counter strikes from now, said CEO Himanshu Kapania. “From end October, Idea has shifted its earlier stand of limited aggression, which was limited to offering unlimited plans […]

Tata Teleservices loses 7.3% subscribers in October in Maharashtra

Tata Teleservices, the mobile telecom arm of the Tata Group that was sold to Bharti Airtel last month, lost about 7.3% of its nearly 7 mln mobile subscribers in Maharashtra and Goa, according to a regulatory filing by the company. Tata Telservices Maharashtra Ltd, as the company is know in the two circles of Mumbai […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]