Page 8 - Airtel

Airtel prepays Rs 8,325 cr to clear 2015 spectrum acquisition liabilities

Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 8,325 crore to the Department of Telecom towards part prepayment of the deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the 2015 auction, the company said on Tuesday. Bharti Airtel won spectrum worth Rs 29,129.08 crore in the auctions that were held in March 2015. The company had paid Rs 11,374.7 crore, while the upfront amount due was Rs 7,832.20 crore. "Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 8,325 crores to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) towards part prepayment of the deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the auction of the year 2015, which were at an interest cost of 10 per cent," the company said in a statement.

Airtel gets notice from DoT for violation of subscriber verification norms

Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has received a notice from the telecom department for an alleged violation of subscriber verification norms, entailing a penalty of Rs 3.57 lakh. In a BSE filing, the telecom operator informed that the notice pertains to Bihar LSA and was received on January 8, 2024. "We submit the details of notice received by the company from the Department of Telecommunications," Airtel said, informing about the "notice imposing a penalty of Rs 3,57,000 for alleged violation of subscriber verification norms". Citing details, the company said it pertained to an alleged violation of terms and conditions with respect to subscriber verification norms under the Licence Agreement, pursuant to a sample customer application form (CAF) audit conducted by the Department of Telecom for September 2023.

Airtel loses 1.2 million users, Jio gains 1.84 million in October: Trai

Trai data suggests that Airtel's market share was flat at 32.85 per cent in October and Jio's share rose to 39.30 per cent

Airtel Africa CEO Ogunsanya to retire, Sunil Taldar named successor

Airtel Africa on Tuesday announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Olusegun 'Segun' Ogunsanya, with effect from July 1, 2024, and named Sunil Taldar as his successor. Taldar, who joined Airtel Africa in October 2023 as Director Transformation, will begin the transition to the CEO role, working alongside Ogunsanya. After the transition period, Taldar will be appointed to the board as an executive director and assume the role of CEO on July 1, 2024, when Ogunsanya will step down from the board and retire from the company, Airtel Africa said in a release. "Airtel Africa plc today announced the retirement of the Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Segun Ogunsanya, with effect from 1 July, 2024," the release said. Ogunsanya, who joined Airtel in 2012, ran the Nigeria operations of the telecommunications and mobile money company for nine years before being appointed as CEO of the group in 2021. "With local knowledge of the African landscape and deep distribution experience he l

Bharti Airtel Services set to acquire 97.1% stake in Beetel Teletech

Bharti Airtel Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, has entered into an agreement for the acquisition of 49.45 lakh shares or 97.1 per cent stake in Beetel Teletech, another Bharti Group company, according to a filing. Pegging the cost of acquisition at Rs 669 crore, the filing said this acquisition is a part of the company's strategy to enable indigenisation initiatives within its own ecosystem of telecom products in line with the Government's policy of Make In India' and add distribution and service capabilities (including system integration) largely for the enterprise business. "...as a part of group restructuring, Bharti Airtel Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Bharti Airtel Limited has entered into an agreement for acquisition of 49,45,239 equity shares representing 97.1 per cent stake in another Bharti Group company, Beetel Teletech Limited, which also has 49 per cent stake in Joint Venture having two manufacturing facilities which produce .

Airtel to seek reversal of Rs 24.9 lakh penalty order received under CGST

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it does not agree with an order it received under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act for levy of Rs 24.94 lakh penalty, and will take suitable action for rectification or reversal. The violation pertains to alleged irregular input tax credit claim from 2017-18 to 2021-22 and other related matters, Airtel said in a BSE filing. Submitting details of the orders received by the company under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, Airtel said the order was received on December 24. The order entails a levy of a penalty of Rs 24,94,316, it said, adding, "the company does not agree with the order and will take appropriate action for rectification/reversal of the same." "The maximum financial impact is to the extent of the penalty levied," it said.

India shouldn't oppose consensus on 6GHz use at global talks: GSMA

Global telecom operators body says major nations nearing consensus on capacity requirements of 5G and beyond

Proposed US bill to charge large apps should be adopted in India: COAI

Telecom operators want the government to adopt a bill, similar to a proposal in the US Congress, that would make large internet apps contribute to infrastructure costs to help lower broadband costs for consumers, a senior industry official said. A bill sponsored by US Senators Markwayne Mullin, Mark Kelly and Mike Crapo in US Congress last month aimed at lowering broadband costs for consumers proposed a direction to telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate social media platforms, streaming services apps, cloud computing service providers like WhatsApp, YouTube, Netflix, Google etc to contribute to universal fund that is used for building networks. The proposed bill named, Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act of 2023, has classified social media platforms, streaming service, over-the-top messaging service, video gaming service, videoconferencing service, e-commerce platform, search engines under edge services providers. Telecom industry body Cellular

Trai directs Jio, Airtel to clarify terms on unlimited 5G data offerings

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have both clarified that unlimited does not equate to infinity as data usage is restricted by speed and network

Airtel explores $1bn fundraising to prepay majority of 2015 spectrum dues

Bharti Airtel bought a spectrum worth Rs 29,130.20 ($3.54 billion) during an auction in March 2015 out of which Rs 10,000-12,000 crore remains in dues

Airtel approves allotment of 1.4 mn equity shares to certain FCCBs holders

Bharti Airtel on Friday said its committee of directors has approved allotment of 14.16 lakh fully paid-up equity shares at a conversion price of Rs 518 per equity share to certain Foreign Currency Convertible Bond (FCCB) holders. This followed the receipt of notice for conversion of FCCBs of principal value of USD 10,188,000 from the FCCBs holders. "We wish to submit that upon receipt of notice for conversion of FCCBs of principal value of USD 10,188,000 from certain FCCBs holders, the special committee of directors for fund raising has, today approved the allotment of 1,416,607 fully paid-up equity shares of face value Rs 5 each at a conversion price of Rs 518 per equity share to such holders of FCCBs," Bharti Airtel said in a BSE filing. Put simply, FCCB is a quasi-debt instrument. While it serves as a bond by making regular coupon and principal payments, these instruments also grant the bondholder, stock conversion option. "This is in reference to the USD 1,000 million 1.50 per

Sunil Mittal's Airtel Uganda IPO failed to sell as investors prefer bonds

The demand for Ugandan government bonds maturing in 2033 exceeded the amount on sale by eight fold in an auction on Thursday

Trai without a chairman, satcom spectrum allocation to be affected

The rollout of satellite-based communication services by Bharti Enterprises -backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio will be affected by the delay in appointing Vaghela's successor

Outdoor unit launch soon, AirFiber service nationwide by year end: Airtel

Pegs home broadband market at 60 million, lower than Jio's 200 million claim

Airtel, Microsoft partner to make phone calls through Microsoft Teams

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and Microsoft have partnered to enable phone calls through Microsoft Teams, a joint statement said on Saturday. This is the first time an over-the-top player in the country will be able to connect mobile and landline users but at present the service will be available for enterprise customers only, the statement said. "Airtel's traditional strength of connectivity combined with Microsoft's technology will result in reliability, cost savings, ease of management and, most importantly, scalability for all customers, ensuring that going forward they can focus solely on productivity," Airtel IQ, Business Head, Abhishek Biswal said in the statement. This new service will enable enterprises to make and take calls to external users through the Teams experience streamlining communications and collaboration within the flow of work. "We are thrilled to partner with Airtel and introduce an innovative solution that will enable India's workforce to unlock a new leve

OneWeb satellite service ready to connect nation from next month: Mittal

OneWeb Satellite communication service is ready to connect all parts of the country from next month, Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said on Friday. While speaking at the inaugural session of the India Mobile Congress 2023, Mittal said 5G services was launched last year and Airtel has covered the entire country, covering 5,000 towns and cities along with 20,000 villages till date. He said that Airtel with the help of Universal Services Obligation Fund has been connecting rural and remote areas, and now satellite technology is available to connect all parts of the country. "OneWeb constellation is ready to serve the globe and is ready to serve the country. Anybody, anywhere in the country, in remote parts or in difficult areas , wherever they are located can be connected from next month," Mittal said. OneWeb, now merged with Eutelsat, will operate commercially as Eutelsat OneWeb with its centre of operations in London. Bharti Enterprises is the largest shareholder of the

Airtel logs 1.7 mn unique 5G customers in Northeast, covers 110 districts

In October, Bharti Airtel said it has over 50 million unique 5G customers on its network

Airtel 5G Plus service now live in 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir

Airtel's 5G service is now available across all districts and union territories in the country, said the company in a BSE filing on Friday

Airtel gains 4.8 mn unique 5G customers in 3 states within 1 year of launch

Airtel 5G Plus has expanded its network within all districts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan

Airtel launches CCaaS platform to unify contact centre solutions for firms

The platform combines Voice as a Service and cloud connectivity, that can help reduce significantly reduce investments of enterprises