Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Communications Ltd got a big relief today after the Supreme Court ordered the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India to approve the sale of the company’s spectrum lease to Reliance Jio. “The Spectrum trading transaction will now be completed and RCOM...
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Idea Cellular completes sale of 9,900 towers to ATC for Rs 4,000 cr
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...
Inter-ministerial group on telecom woes dismissed crisis theory, blamed telcos for high debt
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....
Reliance Communications says MTS merger to be closed in 2 weeks, gets DoT nod
Reliance Communication Ltd said it received the approval of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) for its merger with Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited or SSTL, which runs MTS branded services in India. With this, the Anil Ambani Group company has received all the major regulatory approvals for...
Bharti Airtel could help Reliance Jio win Rs 2,000 cr from DoT
Bharti Airtel’s attempts to avoid paying “voice conversion charge” on the spectrum that it is purchasing from internet service provider Tikona Digital could end up unintentionally benefiting arch rival Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio was forced to pay around Rs 1,650 cr four years ago to...
Govt yet to decide on 700 MHz spectrum for BSNL
Government of India is yet to say ‘no’ to a request by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for the allocation of one block of spectrum in the precious 700 MHz band to enable it to launch 4G services in rural areas. The company had sought one block...
DoT likely to remove ‘local address’ requirement for Aadhaar holders
The Department of Telecom is considering the remove of local address requirements for people taking a new mobile connection using an Aadhaar card. “We are in final talks. It will take a few more days,” said a DoT official. At present, taking a mobile phone...
Reliance Jio interconnect dispute with Airtel, Idea to end this month
The dispute over providing interconnection facility is set to end in the next two weeks, with Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone giving in to the demands of new operator Reliance Jio and the regulator. The decision to comply comes in the wake of a...
How Ravishankar Prasad can resolve the 700 MHz spectrum auction pricing problem
India is getting ready for a digital revolution by auctioning 700 MHz spectrum that has the potential to take high-speed Internet to every village in the country. However, telecom operators — who have to play the role of the enablers — are not popping open...
Net Neutrality Committee says using data packs for voice is not cool
Department of Telecom’s Committee on Net Neutrality said the use of data packs by consumers to make voice calls amounted to bypassing “existing licensing and regulatory regime”. The committee therefore said that such a state of affairs must be rectified. It did not specify how...
Pan-India Mobile Number Portability by Friday
India is likely to have pan-India mobile number portability from Friday, according to telecom industry sources. “Most of the glitches have been overcome, and all operators have implemented the technical changes,” said an industry source. The Department of Telecom had given a two month extension...