Page 4 - Telecom Sector

Bharti Airtel gained 1.65 million subscribers in January, says Trai

Jio controlled nearly 85 per cent of all 5G fixed wireless access connections

Telecom operator BSNL 5G sites light up in multiple state capitals

State-owned telecom operator targets full-scale 4G launch by June, 5G rollout to follow

Govt to raise stake in Vi to 49% with fresh acquisition worth Rs 37,000 cr

The government has agreed to raise stake in Vodafone Idea to 48.99 per cent with fresh acquisition of shares worth Rs 36,950 crore in lieu of outstanding spectrum auction dues, the company said in a regulatory filing on Sunday. The government is the single-largest shareholder in the debt-ridden Vodafone Idea with 22.6 per cent stake. "The Ministry of Communications... in line with the September 2021 Reforms and Support Package for Telecom Sector has decided to convert the outstanding spectrum auction dues, including deferred dues repayable after expiry of the moratorium period, into equity shares to be issued to the Government of India. The total amount to be converted into equity shares is Rs 36,950 crore," the filing said. Vodafone Idea (VIL) said it has been directed to issue 3,695 crore equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 10 each within 30 days after issuance of necessary order from relevant authorities, including from Securities and Exchange ..

Telcos support Parl panel recommendation of merging IT & Telecom ministries

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology made the suggestion to merge the three allied ministries in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha last week

Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal elected GSMA chairman

Vittal had already been serving as the acting chair of the GSMA board

BSNL, MTNL raise Rs 12,984 crore from asset monetisation since 2019

State-owned telecom firms BSNL and MTNL have earned a total of Rs 12,984.86 crore from monetisation of land, buildings, tower and fibre since 2019, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. According to data shared by Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in Lok Sabha, BSNL has earned Rs 2,387.82 crore and MTNL Rs 2,134.61 crore up to January 2025 from monetisation of lands and buildings. "BSNL and MTNL are monetising only those land and building assets which are not required for their own use in the foreseeable future and for which it has the rights to transfer the ownership," Sekhar said in a written reply. BSNL has earned Rs 8,204.18 crore and MTNL Rs 258.25 crore from monetisation of close assets comprising tower and fibre up to January 2025, as per the reply. "Monetisation of assets are being done as per approved policy of the Government and its impact on the PSUs are being monitored closely," Sekhar said.

Musk's Starlink to vie with Indian telcos in fixed wireless access space

The challenge of course for Starlink will be to price its product competitively against both Jio as well as Airtel in FWA and with Airtel in satellite broadband

No need for private 5G networks in India amid wide telecom reach: COAI

Trai has said private networks are non-starters, telcos argue

Airtel lands subsea cable in Chennai to connect India to Singapore, France

The 21,700 km SEA-ME-WE-6 cable brings 220 TBPs of data, to help hyperscalers

BSNL Q3 results: Net profit at Rs 262 cr, first quarterly gain in 17 years

BSNL has posted a net profit of Rs 262 crore for December quarter, marking its return to profitability after almost 17 years, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday terming it a "significant turning point" for the state-owned telco that has been focused on expansion of service offerings and subscriber base. BSNL scripted an improvement on several counts, clinching 14-18 per cent growth across mobility, FTTH and leased line service offering, Scindia, Minister for Communications said adding that the subscriber base too has risen to about 9 crore in December, from 8.4 crore in June. "Today is an important day for BSNL, and for the journey of the telecom sector in India...BSNL has, in third quarter of FY2024-25, for the first time in 17 years, posted a profit on a quarterly basis. The last time that BSNL posted a quarterly profit was in the year 2007," he said on BSNL's earnings. The net profit came in at about Rs 262 crore in the third quarter of the financial year. Mobilit

Bharti Hexacom Q3 results: Net profit rises 22.6% rise to Rs 260.9 cr

Bharti Hexacom on Thursday posted a 22.66 per cent increase in profit to Rs 260.9 crore for the December quarter. The company had registered a profit of Rs 212.7 crore in the same period a year ago. The revenue from operations of the company increased about 25 per cent to Rs 2,250.7 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,800.6 crore a year ago, the company said. Bharti Hexacom provides telecom services to customers in the Rajasthan and the Northeast telecommunication circles. The Northeast circle includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The company's average revenue per user increased 20.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 241 during the quarter from Rs 200 in the year-ago period. The Bharti Airtel subsidiary posted a 3.5 per cent increase in customer base to 2.8 crore in the December 2024 quarter from 2.7 crore in the same period a year ago.

Indus Towers to acquire telecom sites of Airtel, Hexacom for Rs 3,309 cr

Telecom infrastructure firm Indus Towers will acquire mobile sites of its parent firm Bharti Airtel and sister concern Bharti Hexacom for Rs 3,308.7 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing. The boards of Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom have approved the sale of telecom towers for Rs 2,147.6 crore and Rs 1,134 crore respectively. "The Board of Directors...have today, approved the acquisition of passive infrastructure assets/ telecom towers from Bharti Airtel Limited and Bharti Hexacom Limited, by way of slump sale," Indus Towers said in a regulatory filing. The country's largest telecom infrastructure Indus Towers has a pan-India presence with 234,643 towers and 386,819 co-locations as on December 31, 2024. Through the proposed transaction, the company plans to acquire aggregate of approximately 16,100 telecom towers. "The aggregate cost of acquisition will be up to a maximum of Rs 33,087 million subject to the closing adjustments as agreed between the parties," Indus ...

Non-tax revenue from telecom pegged 33% lower at Rs 82,443 cr for FY26

The non-tax revenue collection from the telecom sector has been pegged 33 per cent lower at Rs 82,443 crore for the coming fiscal, according to the Budget documents, which also placed the revised FY25 realisations a tad higher than originally expected at the beginning of the fiscal. The revised estimates for FY25 place revenue from telecom (under the head 'other communications services') marginally higher at Rs 1.23 lakh crore against the originally-expected 1.20 lakh crore. The estimates for FY26, however, have been set at Rs 82,442.84 crore, which is 33 per cent lower than FY25. Asked about the reason for estimates being pegged lower for FY26, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the revenue from telecom that goes straight to the consolidated fund of India is mainly from two heads, the AGR dues and spectrum auctions. "In the last two years, we have auctioned a huge amount of spectrum, with 5G coming into play. And it's only when that spectrum gets saturated that you will se

PLI scheme in the works to boost localisation of key telecom gear

In its discussions with stakeholders, according to the sources, the government has proposed two alternative models for linking incentives to a localisation roadmap

Telcos block 20 global carriers allowing spoofed calls to reach India

DoT has asked telcos to flash 'international calls' on all calls originating abroad

Budget 2025: Telcos bat for cut in levies, LTGs contribution in USO fund

The telecom services industry has batted for the abolition of levies and extension of carry forward of business losses to 16 years in its Budget wishlist, and argued that large traffic generators (LTG) should contribute to USO Fund/Digital Bharat Nidhi Fund. It has pitched for a cut in licence fee, and suggested that the definition of gross revenue (GR) be made more precise by stipulating that the revenue from activities that requires no licence, would not be a part of it. The suggestions are aimed at enhancing the financial stability of the telecom sector, COAI said in its recommendations. "Considering the huge capital that Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have to invest in the current scenario, especially for the deployment of 5G, COAI recommends that the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) levy be abolished. Alternatively, the government may consider the suspension of the USO contribution of 5 per cent of AGR, till the existing USO corpus of over Rs 86,000 crore is exhausted

Union Budget 2025-26: Here are the key challenges in the telecom sector

Digital ecosystem growth is facing the increasing risk of cyberattacks on consumers and enterprises alike

DoT launches fraud reporting Sanchar Saathi mobile app: What is it

Originally launched in May 2023, the Sanchar Saathi portal allows users to directly flag such incidents from their call logs

Reliance Jio Q3FY25 results: Net profit jumps 24% to Rs 6,477 crore

Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, on Thursday reported a 24 per cent jump in its October-December quarter net profit as average per-user revenue rose largely due to tariff hike. Its standalone net profit of Rs 6,477 crore in October-December 2024 compared to Rs 5,208 crore in the same period a year back and Rs 6,231 crore in the preceding July-September 2024 quarter, according to a stock exchange filing by the company. Jio's revenue from operations was up at Rs 29,307 crore from Rs 25,368 crore in October-December 2023.

Time for telcos to reap gains from tariff hike: EY's Prashant Singhal

Reduction in levies and tariff hikes are required for telecom operators in the country to reap the benefit of investments they have made in digital infrastructure, according to experts in the sector. Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services in 2024 for the sector. However, the challenge is to keep 180 million 2G customers connected and encourage them to move to 4G for inclusive growth. "Telecom sector levies need to be rationalised, India is the highest on levies and still one of the lowest on tariffs. Innovation in tariff structure may come in with high usage customers paying more and entry level data users still at similar rates," EY India Markets and Telecom leader Prashant Singhal said. He said that India still had over 18 crore 2G customers who need to move to the 4G bandwagon in 2025 may see that happening. "The investments made by telecom companies