Page 7 - Airtel

Airtel prepays dues of Rs 7,904 cr for spectrum acquisition in 2012, 2015

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has prepaid the entire dues of Rs 7,904 crore for the spectrum it acquired in 2012 and 2015 to the Department of Telecom. Airtel acquired spectrum worth Rs 8.67 crore in 2012 and Rs 29,129 crore in 2015 auction. "Bharti Airtel...said that it has prepaid Rs 7,904 crore to the Department of Telecom. With this, the Company has fully prepaid all deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the auction of the year 2012 and 2015, which were at the highest interest cost of 9.75 and 10 per cent, respectively," the company said in a statement. The consolidated net debt for the company, including the impact of leases, declined to Rs 2,04,646 crore as of March 31, 2024, from Rs 2,13,126.4 crore as of March 31, 2024.

Bharti Airtel converts $49.87 mn worth of foreign debt bonds into equity

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has converted USD 49.87 million worth of foreign debt bonds issued in January 2020 into equity, the company said on Tuesday. Airtel had raised USD 1,000 million through foreign currency convertible bonds in January 2020 that were convertible into the company's fully-paid up equity shares of Rs 5 each at any time on or after February 27, 2020, and up to the close of business hours on February 7, 2025, at the option of the FCCB holders. "We wish to submit that upon receipt of notices for conversion of FCCBs of principal value of USD 49.87 million from certain FCCBs holder(s), the Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising has, today i.e. on June 11, 2024, approved the allotment of 6,934,266 fully paid-up equity shares of face value Rs 5 each at a conversion price of Rs 518 per equity share to such holder(s) of FCCBs," Airtel said in a regulatory filing. The company said that with this transaction, the outstanding principal value of FCCBs listed on t

Is 5G-enabled FWA the answer to the monetisation prayers of Jio and Airtel?

The cost of more towers is more than neutralised by the low price the telcos paid for the spectrum. Spectrum used currently for FWA is 43 times more expensive than the millimetre band

Telecom operators seek 5-6 year moratorium on spectrum purchases after 2025

Operators said such a moratorium is needed on spectrum bought in auctions from next year due to significant capital expenditure incurred in deploying 5G services

Allowing payment banks to lend will have big impact: Anubrata Biswas

Anubrata Biswas, managing director and chief executive officer of Airtel Payments Bank, discusses the quarterly results and future prospects with Harsh Kumar

As Ambani eyes Africa with new telecom venture, should Airtel be worried?

Reliance Industries Ltd, through its subsidiary, is set to offer cutting-edge 5G shared network infrastructure solutions in Africa in collaboration with a local company supported by Ghana

Frivolous complaint can cost consumer dearly

National Commission concluded that false and baseless allegations had been made in the complaint to claim a highly exaggerated and atrocious amount of compensation

Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea deposit Rs 4,350 cr ahead of spectrum auctions

Reliance Jio had a net worth of Rs 2.31 trillion followed by Airtel with Rs 86,260 crore, DoT said. Vodafone Idea had a negative net worth of Rs 1.16 trillion

Bharti Airtel Q4 results: Profit drops 31% to Rs 2,072 cr, revenue down 10%

Airtel Q4 FY24 results: The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 8 per fully paid-up equity share of face value Rs 5 each for the financial year 2023-24

Airtel, Google Cloud partner to propel cloud adoption & gen AI in India

Public cloud services market in India is expected to reach $17.8 billion by 2027

Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea to participate in Rs 96,317 cr spectrum auction

Telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have submitted their application to bid for Rs 96,317-crore spectrum auction, which is scheduled to start from June 6, according to sources. The last auction held in 2022 had the Adani Group firm as a surprise bidder but there is no new name for the upcoming auction. "Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have submitted applications for spectrum auction," an official source said. The government will auction eight spectrum bands for mobile phone services at a base price of about Rs 96,317 crore. All the available spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz, and 26 GHz bands are part of the auction. The total frequencies being put under the hammer are valued at Rs 96,317 crore on base price. The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments. The DoT has provided an option to surrender t

Airtel appoints Ambareesh Mandelia as head of M&A, business development

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it has appointed Ambareesh Mandelia as head of M&A and business development. Before joining Airtel, Mandelia was heading the corporate health and wellness business units at Tata 1mg, along with corporate strategy. "Ambareesh Mandelia has been appointed as Head M&A and Business Development of the Company with effect from May 01, 2024," Airtel said in a regulatory filing. Mandelia is a qualified chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, 2003 batch. He has over 20 years of experience in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, strategy and corporate development.

Airtel Xstream Play strengthens regional library; teams up with Sun NXT

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced that Airtel Xstream Play, the OTT aggregator service with over five million paid subscribers has strengthened the regional content library by partnering with Sun NXT. Sun NXT is the video streaming platform, owned and operated by the Sun TV Network. Announcing that Airtel Xstream Play has partnered with Sun NXT, the release said Airtel Xstream customers can avail of Sun NXT's 50,000-plus hours of content. This includes titles across blockbuster movies, exclusive series, TV shows, live TV, kid's content in a host of languages from Tamil to Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla and Marathi. "Users can enjoy content from across 23 content apps on Airtel Xstream making it one of the largest bouquets of OTT content aggregated on a single app in India," according to a release. It also offers features of a single app, single subscription, single sign-in, unified content search, and AI-driven personalised curation for each user with users being able to ac

Telecom operators group asks govt to ban sale of unlicenced WiFi 6E routers

Cellular Operators Association of India says routers are available for sale on e-commerce platforms and through offline retailer

Bharti Airtel denies reports of interest in Vodafone's Indus Towers stake

Amid reports of buying UK-based Vodafone Group's 21 per cent stake in Indus Towers, Airtel affirmed that it is not in any such talks

Airtel arm Telesonic Networks penalised for irregularity in claiming ITC

Bharti Airtel Group firm Telesonic Networks has been penalised for alleged irregularity in claiming input tax credit, according to a regulatory filing. Bharti Airtel informed stock exchanges that the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) in Bengaluru has passed an order under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act against a subsidiary of the company, levying a penalty of Rs 2,19,873. According to the filing, the penalty has been levied for "alleged irregular input tax credit claimed during the financial year 2018-19" on the company's subsidiary Telesonic Networks. The company received the order on March 30. "The maximum financial impact is to the extent of the penalty levied. The company does not agree with the order and will take appropriate action(s) for the same," the filing noted.

DoT imposes Rs 4 lakh fine on Airtel for violation of verification norms

The Department of Telecom has imposed a penalty of around Rs 4 lakh on Bharti Airtel for violation of subscriber verification norms in Delhi and Bihar circles. According to a regulatory filing by Bharti Airtel, the Department of Telecommunications, Delhi circle, has issued a notice imposing a penalty of Rs 2.55 lakh for alleged violation of subscriber verification norms. The Delhi circle has issued notice for "alleged violation of terms and conditions with respect to subscriber verification norms under the Licence Agreement, pursuant to Sample CAF Audit conducted by DoT for January 2023", the filing said. The department's Bihar circle has given a notice to the company, imposing a Rs 1.46 lakh fine for "alleged violation of subscriber verification norms", Bharti Airtel said in a separate filing. For Bihar circle, the notice has been issued "pursuant to Sample CAF Audit conducted by DoT for January 2024", the filing said. The company has, however, contested the penalty levied by DoT

Florida-based GQG Partners ups India bet with Bharti Airtel stake buy

The fund also acquires additional stake in Macrotech Developers

Sunil Bharti Mittal receives honorary Knighthood from King Charles III

Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Wednesday became the first Indian citizen to be conferred an honorary Knighthood by Britain's King Charles III for services to UK and India business relations. In a list of honorary British awards unveiled by the UK Cabinet Office, Mittal receives a KBE under the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire one of the highest honours conferred by a British monarch. The 66-year-old entrepreneur said in a statement that he was deeply humbled by the gracious recognition from King Charles. The UK and India have historical relations, which are now entering a new era of increased cooperation and collaboration. I remain committed to working towards strengthening the economic and bilateral trade relationships between our two great nations, Mittal said. I am thankful to the government of the UK, whose support and keen attention to the needs of business has been critical in making the country an attractive investment destination,

Here's how Centre is gearing up BSNL to compete with private telecom peers

The measures include network upgradation, employee cost rationalisation and a proposal to provide more value-added services