Prices of mobile data have crashed by 96% under Modi’s tenure, while those of voice services fell by 76%, according to data released by Department of Telecom. On average, 1 GB of mobile data used to cost Rs 254.95 in December 2014, DoT said, while its price has fallen to just Rs 10.91 for the […]
With a long and painful process of merger with Idea Cellular over, Vodafone India has started has begun slashing its 4G prices and has dislodged new entrant Reliance Jio as India’s cheapest 4G provider. Vodafone Idea, which has been bleeding millions of customers every month in the face of relentless competition, has slashed the price […]
Vodafone Idea, the company formed out of the merger of the former No.2 and No.3 telecom operators in India, said it will eliminate around 16,000 distributors, close over 2,000 branded stores in urban areas and slash the number of call centers by more than half. The moves are aimed at reducing operating costs and helping […]
Vodafone Idea, India’s No.1 telecom operator, said it has decided to withdraw all existing recharges and replace them with five coupons with specific validity. The recharge balance has to be used within the validity period, or it will be lost. With this, a customer has to spend at least Rs 35 per month to keep […]
Bharti Airtel overtook the combined Vodafone-Idea entity in mobile broadband users in August due to a steep, 20% fall in Vodafone India’s wireless broadband users in the month. The sharp decline of 12.5 mln mobile broadband users on Vodafone’s network in August was at odds from the usual course, when the company used to add […]
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have completed the merger of their operations in India, creating India’s largest telecom network with over 3.4 lakh 3G and 4G cell sites. In comparison, Bharti Airtel has around 3.2 lakh wireless broadband cell sites and Reliance Jio has an estimated 2.5 lakh 4G base station. In terms of subscribers […]
Outgoing Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania admitted today that his company understimated the impact that unlimited plans would have on the company’s finances. Reacting to concerns about Idea Cellular’s failure to keep up with the revenue growth of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio in the last six months, Kapania identified two factors for the slowdown […]
Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania said his company has placed the order for radio equipment that will increase the company’s 4G capacity significantly in eight crucial circles as part of a massive network upgrade process for Vodafone Idea. “We have placed the order for TDD in both 2300 and 2500 MHz in eight circles… A large […]
Idea Cellular, India’s fourth largest telecom company, officially confirmed the receipt of approval for its mega merger with Vodafone India. “We wish to inform you that the Department of Telecom has approved the merger of Vodafone India ltd and Vodafone Mobile Services Ltd with Idea Cellular Ltd,” the company said in a statement today morning. […]
Idea Cellular said its had completed the sale of its 9,900 towers to American Tower Corp’s India unit at an ‘enterprise valuation’ of Rs 4,000 cr. The exact amount that ATC will pay to the telecom operator for the towers is not clear. Enterprise valuation includes the money payable to creditors as well as shareholders. […]
Idea Cellular slashed its employee costs by nearly 40% in the three months from January to March this year, and also reduced several other items of expenditure in a successful attempt to protect its margins from the impact of falling revenue. As a result of the heavy cost cutting ahead of its merger with Vodafone, […]
Newly launched telecom operator Reliance Jio has overtaken market leader Bharti Airtel as the company with the largest telecom network in India. As of March 1, Reliance Jio had 4.48 lakh telecom base stations (towers) in India, compared to 4.31 lakh base stations for Bharti Airtel. At the same time, Idea Cellular had 2.79 lakh […]
Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone have announced the list of office bearers who will run the company resulting from the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. Balesh Sharma, who is currently Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India, has been chosen to head the new company, while the existing CEO of Vodafone India and Idea […]
4G operator Bharti Airtel was clearly ahead of market leader Reliance Jio and challenger Idea Cellular in on-the-ground 4G speed tests conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in ten cities in India this year. According to the data from these tests, Bharti Airtel scored an average download speed of 9.46 Mbps, 44% faster […]
Idea Cellular, one of India’s largest telecom operators, said the recently concluded sale of its shares to institutional investors, along with a recent fund infusion by the promoter, will reduce its net debt by Rs 6,750 cr. “This equity raise of Rs. 3,500 crore along with recent infusion of Rs. 3,250 crore by Idea’s Promoter […]
The pain for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular may be far from over as Reliance Jio is seen preparing a massive rollout of its low-cost smartphone that could deal yet another heavy blow to the incumbent telecom operators’ revenue. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Forum in Lucknow today, Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh […]
Idea Cellular said it has approved a price of Rs 82.50 for the shares to be sold as part of its Rs 3,500 cr qualified institutional placement. The price implies a discount of 2.6% to the opening price of Idea Cellular stock on the NSE today. It also said that it will close its QIP […]
After advising restraint in the fight with new operator Reliance Jio, it seems to be the turn of Idea Cellular and its partner Vodafone to slash prices. Both operators have cut the price of the cheapest unlimited voice and data pack to the Rs 150 range from Rs 200 range, bringing them into direct competition […]
Smaller operators Idea Cellular and Telenor handily beat bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in a 4G network quality field test conducted by the telecom regulator in the Gujarati city of Surat. In fact, the survey agency was not able to get a Youtube video playing over Jio’s network in all five locations where […]
UK’s Vodafone is looking to combine its stake in Indus Towers, India’s largest tower company, with Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of market leader Bharti Airtel, on the basis of $5 bln valuation for its asset, the Economic Times reported, quoting unnamed sources. The move would seem to indicate an upcoming merger of Indus Towers and […]
