Page 12 - Telecom Industry

MTNL Q4 results: Net loss widens to Rs 817 cr on high finance costs

State-run telecom company MTNL has reported widening of losses to Rs 817.58 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024, mainly on account of high finance costs, according to a regulatory filing. The company had recorded a loss of Rs 745.78 crore in the same period a year ago. The finance cost of the loss-making telecom PSU increased to Rs 688.93 crore from Rs 640.91 crore a year ago. The revenue from operations of MTNL fell by about 5 per cent to Rs 192.66 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 202.35 in March 2023 quarter. MTNL's revenue from basic telephone operations comprising landline broadband services fell by 2 per cent to Rs 184.78 crore during March 2024 quarter from Rs 188.68 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. The company's revenue from cellular services fell by about 42 per cent to Rs 8.16 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 14 crore in March 2023 quarter. The maintenance and running of MTNL wireless network has been handed over to BSNL as an

'Telcos will pay GST along with instalments towards spectrum charges'

Telecom companies will have to pay GST along with the instalments paid towards spectrum charges, a senior official said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) will hold the next round of spectrum auction on June 6 for eight spectrum bands meant for mobile phone services. The base price for the auction has been set at Rs 96,317 crore. The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments in the coming mega auction. The official said Goods and Services Tax (GST) will have to be paid at 18 per cent by telecom companies along with each instalment. "The GST Council in its next meeting is likely to clarify the procedure for payment of GST by companies winning the bids during the spectrum auction," the official told PTI. The clarification will end confusion among field formations regarding the method for collection of GST in the auction process. All the available spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz,

Ambani sets sights on African telecom market, plans to develop 5G infra

Radisys Corp., a unit of Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd., will provide key network infrastructure, applications and smartphones for Ghana-based Next-Gen InfraCo

June spectrum auction: Jio likely to spend Rs 12,000 cr, Airtel Rs 8,000 cr

Jio is expected to take the lead in the auction once again, with plans to bolster its spectrum portfolio, particularly in the 800 MHz band across certain circles

Ericsson mulls telecom equipment export from India in future amid 5G boom

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson expects significant use cases to emerge in India for 5G services that will drive densification of telecom networks in the country, a senior company official said on Wednesday. Ericsson India Managing Director Nitin Bansal, at a company's event to showcase 5G technology, said the company is actively engaging with academia, partners, and ecosystem players to develop relevant India-specific use cases. "Significant use cases will emerge in India within the next 12 to 24 months, facilitated by the network slicing capability of 5G technology," Bansal said. India continues to be a strategic market for us and the second-largest market for Ericsson, he added. When asked about green shoots for Ericsson in India after investment in the 5G network rollout is tapering down, Bansal said the demand for 5G will demand for densification of networks. "While the 5G rollouts have stabilised in the country given the rapid rollout and expansion of last year, we do, .

Telcos collaborate with tech partners to curb unwanted calls, messages

The Centre has currently designated the 140 number series for promotional voice calls, and the 160 number series for transactional and service-related voice calls

Trai to announce stricter norms for call disruptions, video jitters on 5G

Currently, 5G service users encounter various challenges including poor call quality, call drops, inability to connect to 5G despite activating phone settings, and negligible disparity in speeds

Telcos to snap 1.8 million mobile connections in cybercrime crackdown

The government believes that telcos need to be more proactive in detecting usage patterns of SIMs, particularly those purchased outside home circles

Substantial rise in mobile tariffs needed in India: Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal

Hints at multiple tariff hikes, says free 5G data dragging down Arpu

Glad to see VIL's fund raise; India to benefit from 3 pvt telcos: Airtel MD

Bharti Airtel Managing Director Gopal Vittal on Wednesday said he was happy to see Vodafone Idea raising funds and asserted that India will be well-served with three private players operating in the market. The comment assumes significance as Airtel's smaller rival Vodafone Idea recently raised Rs 18,000 crore pulling-off India's largest-ever follow-on public offering (FPO). The fundraise is expected to arm VIL with firepower to improve its competitive positioning in the Indian telecom market, where it trails Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, by a wide margin. Speaking at an earnings call of Airtel, Vittal fielded a question on how he sees competitive intensity in the market, post the capital raise by VIL. Vittal said he was glad to see that VIL has raised money, and that he wished them well. "India will be well-served if it has three operators... three private operators working. (On) Whether we need to push harder, we are pushing hard everyday, so it is an ongoing effort... it is a

Value of mergers and acquisitions at lowest level in at least 76 months

With 98 deals, the total value of M&A stood at $1.8 billion. In the same month last year, the value was $8 billion across 204 deals

Jio bundles Netflix with 14 apps into broadband plan for Rs 888 monthly

Jio on Friday said it has bundled premium services of 15 apps, including basic subscription of Netflix, Amazon Prime Lite, Disney+ Hotstar, with its 30 mbps broadband plan for Rs 888 a month. Netflix access was earlier available for customers having JioFiber of Rs 1,499 plan, while there was no access of entertainment apps for customers with entry-level 30 megabit per second broadband plan. Similarly, access to Netflix for AirFiber customers was available only in plans priced at Rs 1499 per month or higher. "Designed to provide the ultimate streaming experience coupled with unlimited data benefits, the new postpaid plan, priced at Rs 888 per month, is available to JioFiber and Jio AirFiber customers...subscribers gain exclusive access to over 15 leading OTT apps, including popular platforms like Netflix's basic plan, Amazon Prime, and JioCinema Premium," Jio said in a statement. According to a company source, the plan will provide access to premium content of all over-the-top (OTT)

Govt portal pins 898,000 missing phones, less than 15% recovered: DoT

Only 1.43% of traced stolen phones finally recovered, 69% in Telangana

DoT's likely 100-day aim: Govt to crack down on rising spam calls, messages

New inter-ministerial panel to coordinate policy, AI-based consent platform in works

Analysts wary of Vodafone Idea's falling subscribers, broadband users

'Recent fundraise could have a bearing on subscriber additions '

Telecom subscriber base rises by 5.6 mn in March 2024, led by Jio, Airtel

Reliance Jio clocked in 3.6 million new subscribers and Bharti Airtel added 2.8 million subscribers in March 2024, while Vodafone Idea loss 0.6 million

BSNL to launch 4G services across India in August; to use indigenous tech

State-owned BSNL will start rolling out 4G services across the country from August, using completely indigenous technology in line with the government's "Atmanirbhar" policy, according to official sources. BSNL officials claimed to have recorded peak speed of 40-45 megabit per second on the 4G network which has been rolled out in the premium spectrum band of 700 megahertz (Mhz) as well as in 2,100 Mhz band during the pilot phase. The company has rolled out 4G services in Punjab using indigenously developed technology by IT company TCS and state-run telecom research organisation C-DoT-led consortium and onboarded around 8 lakh subscribers. "The 4G core developed by C-DoT is performing very well in the BSNL network in Punjab. It was installed in July last year. It takes 12 month to prove the success of such complex technology but the C-DoT core has stabilised within 10 months. BSNL will launch atmanirbhar 4G technology across the country in August," a senior government official, who d

Indian telecom vendors stop supplying broadband internet services to Nepal

Broadband internet was disrupted in many parts of Nepal on Thursday as Indian vendors from whom most Nepali private operators source the bandwidth stopped providing the services because of payment defaults. Private internet service providers in Nepal issued notices saying their services were either disrupted or connections were slow. The state-run Nepal Telecom was still continuing to provide internet services. Two private mobile services operating in Nepal were working, but their internet speed was affected. Private ISPs in Nepal haven't been able to pay the Indian vendors for months as the government hasn't provided them foreign currency from the banks to make the payments. The government has been refusing to do so until the private companies clear taxes on certain services they provide. The private companies say they are exempted from such taxes. Wlink Communications, the largest ISP in Nepal, blamed the government for the disruption. Our upstream provider has disconnected our

SC's ruling on spectrum allocation won't affect satellite regulations

The SC has refused to accept the plea seeking clarifications on administrative allocation of spectrum

SC refuses to accept govt application on 2012 2G spectrum allocation

Application 'misconceived' and there is no 'reasonable cause' for entertaining it, says court registrar