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 […]
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 […]
About 600-650 mln telecom customers in India will remain ‘pure 2G’ users even in the year 2022, while 4G users would swell from 175 mln to 750 mln, said Himanshu Kapania, CEO of India’s fourth largest telecom operator Idea Cellular. At present, India has around 1.05 bln active telecom users, out of which around 70% […]
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 […]
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 […]
Credit rating agency India Ratings has warned that the ongoing consolidation in the telecom industry caused by the entry of Reliance Jio will be painful for lenders and banks, but was good for the industry as whole. It said it had become difficult for smaller players to survive in the market after the entry of […]
Reliance Communications today said that it was ‘optimizing’ its 2G and 3G networks in the light of its decision to focus on 4G, but also dropped a hint it may use the towers and infrastructure to later launch its own, fully-owned 4G network. At present, it depends on Reliance Jio for delivering 4G services and […]
Reliance Communications, the telecom arm of the Anil Ambani Group, has got moving on its announced strategy of becoming a 4G-only operator by shedding its GSM and 3G operations. According to industry sources, the company has been re-allocating its staff to the 4G division and gradually switching off GSM cell sites. The GSM network could […]
The stock of Bharti Airtel is at a two-year high, not far from its life-highs of late 2007, but going by the latest tariffs unveiled by Reliance Jio, investors will do well to hold off on the bubbly for a while longer. Airtel closed at Rs 461.30 on Tuesday, buoyed by two factors — the […]
Reliance Jio has unveiled a set of new plans that will come into effect from tomorrow, effecting a price increase of about 15% to existing tariff. The phrasing of the new plans also suggests that these are ‘regular’ plans, and not promotional offers that will disappear after three months. 15% ON AVERAGE Most scheme has […]
Reliance Industries, the parent of telecom operator Jio, will announce its quarterly performance numbers at around 5 pm today. Besides its core oil and gas business, the company will give an update on the operations of its telecom unit. Some in the market even expect it to reveal the new set of tariffs that will […]
Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd has lost 3.5% of its mobile subscribers in September. The company, which offers mobile and wired telecom services in Maharashtra, Mumbai and Goa saw its mobile users fall to 69.8 lakh (6.98 mln) on September 30 from 72.4 lakh at the end of August. The decline comes at a time when […]
Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania said sector regulator TRAI was forcing telecom operators to shut down their older networks as it pushes for the adoption of newer technologies, seeking urgent intervention from the government. Kapania said the move towards phasing out of older technologies could have a negative impact on connectivity, especially in areas like […]
Vodafone said it will offer Rs 50 per month in extra talk-time for people using any Intex 2G-only feature phone, provided they top-up by Rs 100 or more per month. The offer will work for 18 months. However, Vodafone said the offer is valid only till 31st October, which could indicate that it must be […]
As expected, incumbent telecom operators have expressed their disappointment with the regulator going ahead with cutting the interconnect charges paid by one operator to another at the time of handing off internetwork calls. The operators are likely to approach the government and the court against the move to reduce interconnect charges to 6 paise per […]
Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL and Idea Cellular are likely to cut call tariffs for 2G and 3G users after TRAI decision to cut ‘termination charges’ to 6 paise per minute from 14 paise. More importantly, the bet that Mukesh Ambani placed by making voice free seems to be paying off as his […]
Idea Cellular said it has now achieved 3G or 4G penetration for 50% of its cell-sites. “Idea added nearly 50,000 broadband sites over the last 12 months period ending August ’17, growing its broadband footprint to cover 5,888 Census towns and nearly 105,755 villages, reaching out to 45% population of the country,” the company said. […]
Reliance Communications said it has asked subscribers in Gujarat to move to its 4G network as its 2G spectrum in the state is expiring at the end of this month. “The Company has initiated migration of its customers in Gujarat circle to an all 4G network, prior to expiry of 2G spectrum in that circle […]
Vodafone today introduced an unlimited roaming pack for Indian users in 18 countries priced at Rs 500 per day or Rs 5,000 per month. Both incoming and outgoing calls as well as data usage will be free. “We launched our flagship unlimited international roaming proposition for USA, Singapore and UAE in April, and are now […]
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for hiving off mobile tower assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited into a separate company owned by BSNL. While the move, is not of that big a significance in itself, it is crucial from the perspective of what could come next. It is believed that the move to […]
