Q3 Results: Bharti Airtel seen ahead of Reliance Jio in growth

Bharti Airtel is expected to report the highest revenue growth of all three Indian telecom companies when they announce their numbers for the October-December period, starting later today. This is despite the fact that Reliance Jio would have added several times more new subscribers that Airtel during the period. Broadly, industry observers believe that Bharti […]

Bharti Airtel abandons ‘digital pivot’ strategy as 5G auction nears

Bharti Airtel has abandoned its plan to reorganize its corporate structure by focusing on the digital business — such as its Wynk app, Airtel Cloud, Airtel Xstream and so on — by moving all telecom infrastructure into a different subsidiary known as Airtel Ltd. The move was announced eight months ago, and was widely seen […]

Vodafone Idea cracks the 4,000 Mbps barrier in 5G trials

Vodafone Idea said it achieved speeds of over 4,000 Mbps during its test deployment of 5G on the trial spectrum handed over by Department of Telecom. In comparison, in the early days of 4G, the maximum speeds achieved were in the range of around 200 Mbps. The company released two speedtest results — presumably using […]

Mukesh Ambani calls for subsidized mobile phones

India’s richest man and the chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, has called for the use of universal obligation fund money to subsidize mobile devices. USO fund was set up during the early days of the mobile phone revolution as a tax or levy on existing phone users, to be used for extending telecom services […]

Bharti Airtel gets Rs 1,004 cr from Jio for CDMA spectrum

Bharti Airtel said it has closed its deal to transfer CDMA spectrum to Reliance Jio Infocomm and received the money. “Airtel has received Rs. 1004.8 crores (net of tax) from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs. 469.3 crores relating to the spectrum,” the Gurgaon-based company said. The […]

Bharti Airtel to push prices higher, targets ₹200 ARPU

Bharti Airtel, which this month increased its minimum monthly recharge price from Rs 49 to Rs 79, said it plans to continue with the price increases, targeting to take the average amount paid a single customer from Rs 146 to Rs 200 over the next six months. From this month, the company increased its minimum […]

Vodafone Idea CEO says daily data plans make no sense

Vodafone Idea CEO Ravinder Takkar has urged competitors Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to gradually move away from daily data plans, and said such plans made ‘no sense’ as consumers don’t use data uniformly. Daily data or unlimited plans were introduced by Reliance Jio as part of its Welcome Offer when it launched its services […]

RailWire promises tough fight to Jio, Airtel

Railtel Corporation of India, the telecom unit of Indian Railways, said it does not expect to lose subscribers to rival operators like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, even as it promised to take its RailWire services to even the tiniest of towns this year. RailTel Chairman and Managing Director Punit Chawla said his company is […]

Cable operators boost Bharti Airtel’s broadband growth

Bharti Airtel’s new strategy of tying up with cable operators has helped the company significantly speed up subscriber acquisitions in its wired broadband business and narrow the gap with Reliance Jio, which continues to be India’s fastest growing provider. Since introducing a new, collaborative model of joint roll-out with cable operators, Bharti Airtel’s monthly wired […]

GTPL to provide broadband via LCOs in 2 months

GTPL Hathway, one of India’s top five wired broadband providers, said it will start distributing its high-speed broadband service through local cable operators in the next two months. The company, whose broadband service is currently restricted to towns and cities, will also make the service available in thousands of gram panchayats across Gujarat by leveraging […]

Den Networks caps a year of declining sales, profits

Den Networks, a prominent Indian cable feed provider that is now part of the Reliance Industries group, today reported a set of disappointing financial performance numbers, capping a year of pain and degrowth. The company’s subscription revenue, which is overwhelmingly composed of the monthly subscription fees paid by cable TV subscribers, fell to 190 cr […]

Kerala cable TV association starts voice calling service

Kerala Cable TV Operators’ Association, the biggest organization of local cable operators in Kerala, will inaugurate its much-awaited voice calling service on Thursday, March 25. This will make it possibly the first cable TV operators’ association in the entire country to diversify into voice services. It was one of the first to branch out into […]

Reliance Jio 4G speeds to increase as co spends 57k cr on spectrum

Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator, increased its spectrum holding by 55% after it spent over Rs 57,000 cr in the just concluded auction, and will seen an increase in its 4G speeds in coming days. The company emerged as the biggest spender in the auction, and has reportedly purchased spectrum worth nearly twice the […]

High tariffs hit Reliance Jio’s 4G growth

Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom company, reported a new low in net subscriber additions during the Oct-Dec period, managing to add just about 4.4 million net new users during the final three months of the year. This is the lowest net addition for any three-month period since the company started commercial operations four years ago. […]

Strong demand for fiber broadband powers HFCL Q3

HFCL, one of India’s oldest telecom equipment and services companies, reported strong growth for the three months ended December, riding on burgeoning demand for fiber optic equipment and related services in India. The company’s revenue increased by a whopping 21% compared to the preceding three months ended September 2020, while net profit jumped by 60%. […]

Govt delays 5G auction, internet speeds to remain low

In a move that can potentially derail Reliance Jio’s plans to launch 5G services in the second half of this year, Government of India has come up with a plan to auction only 4G spectrum in March this year. The move to exclude 5G airwaves from the auction is likely to further delay the growth […]