NEWS UPDATES

Bharti

Infratel to launch IPO on December 11, 2012

Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of the leading telecom company Bharti Airtel, has received the regulatory approval for the proposed initial public offering (IPO), says news reports. The company will launch the IPO on December 11, 2012 and close on December 14, 2012. Bharti Infratel, has set a price band of Rs 210 to Rs 240 a share for its IPO. The company plans to raise about Rs 45 billion from the IPO. The IPO is set to be the countrys biggest IPO in two years after state-run Coal India Limited raised $3.5 billion in October 2010.

 Supreme

Court restores SMS cap to 200 messages per day

The Supreme Court (SC) has stayed TDSAT order, which overruled the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias circular limiting the number of SMSs to 200 per day per SIM. A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi stayed TDSATs order.The apex court passed the order on an appeal filed by TRAI challenging TDSATs order. Following, SCs order TRAI can enforce the circular till the apex court vacates its stay on the verdict by the TDSAT. TRAI had allowed only 100 SMSs per day per SIM except on blackout days or days specially notified by it. However, subsequently on November 1, 2011, it had increased the limit to 200 SMSs per day, per SIM.

 Roaming

charges likely to be waived off by February-March, 2013: DoT

According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the roaming charges in the country are likely to be done away with by February-March, 2013. DoT is looking at a three month timeframe for working out all the modalities to ensure operators do not levy any roaming charges on customers when they are travelling across the country. Once the roaming charges are waived off, mobile users will be able to get incoming calls free of charge and be able to make outgoing calls at local rates while travelling anywhere in the country. However, before implementing the policy, DoT will have to take a decision on pan-India unified licensing.

 Idea

wins spectrum in the 7 operational circles

In the just concluded 1800 MHz Spectrum Auctions, Idea Cellular was declared the winning bidder in the Service Areas of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam, North East, J&K, West Bengal, & Kolkata. This effectively ensures the continuity of service to its over 8 million subscribers in these 7 New circles and protects the investments made in these Circles. Additionally it also secured an additional slot of 1.25 MHz for the circle of Bihar, allowing it to effectively cater to the growing needs of the subscribers of Bihar and Jharkhand. With this auction the company acquires an additional 37.5 MHz of spectrum for Rs. 2,031.31 Crore at the rate of Rs. 54 Crore/MHz.

 Vodafone

India and ICICI bank ink a strategic pact to launch m-pesa

Vodafone India and ICICI have come together for a strategic partnership to launch a mobile money transfer and payment service called m-pesa. Vodafone India through its 100 per cent subsidiary, Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited (MCSL) will start offering mobile payment services m-pesa shortly. The offering will comprise a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a Mobile Wallet - issued by MCSL. The service will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash from designated outlets, transfer money to any bank account in India, recharge mobile and DTH services and pay utility bills. The mobile payment service will be initially launched in the eastern region of the country including Kolkata, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand and then will be rolled out to other parts of the country.

 TRAI

seeks comments on Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2012

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released draft The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Tenth Amendment) Regulations, 2012 and a consultation paper on review of measures taken for curbing Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC),prescribing further measures to tighten the framework for controlling the menace of unsolicited commercial communications. The key measures proposed in the draft are: For sending UCC, the unregistered telemarketers to be charged Rs 500 followed by disconnection of telecom resources. Easy lodging of UCC complaints by forwarding the SMS to 1909. Access Providers to send SMS blast on periodic basis, at least twice in a year, advising consumers not to send any commercial communications.

 2G

auction: EGoM slashes base price 30% for unsold spectrum in 4 circles

The panel of ministers on spectrum has reduced the base price for unsold airwaves in four regions - Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan - by 30%, and approved the telecom department's plan to simultaneously sell these airwaves along with a portion of spectrum held by incumbent operators before March 31, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal. The Centre had failed to attract even a single bid for 2G airwaves in the 1800 MHz band in these four regions in the recently concluded sale process. The auctions turned out to be a damp squib, with the Centre getting less than a fourth of its revenue target of 40,000 crore as there were no takers for about 57% of the airwaves put on sale.

 Quashed

mobile permits: Sistema sets deadline for government

Russian conglomerate Sistema has set a deadline for the government to finalise a strategy for restoring its quashed mobile permits here, and warned that failure to resolve the issue would hit diplomatic ties between the countries. In a strongly worded communication to the external affairs and telecom ministries, the Russian group warned it would seek billions of dollars in damages by initiating international arbitration proceedings if India failed to reinstate mobile permits for its local unit before the IndoRussian summit that takes place later this month. Sistema's Indian mobile phone unit is set to lose its zonal operating permits on January 18. Losing the licences would compel Sistema Shyam Teleservices(SSTL) to switch off its mobile networks and disconnect services to 16 million customers next month.

Telcos' FY'11 revenue collection at over Rs 1.62 lakh crore: Government

Telecom operators in the country garnered revenues of over Rs 1.62 lakh crore in 2010-11, with private players accounting for more than 79 per cent of the share, the government said. Gross revenue of telecom service providers stood at Rs 1,62,918.90 crore in 2010-11, of which Rs 1,29,289.33 crore was private operators' share. The remaining Rs 33,629.57 crore was the share of public sector players. The revenues of telecom players have grown from Rs 87,646.59 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 1,02,484 crore (2006-07), Rs 1,24,654.84 crore (2007-08), Rs 1,50,159.85 crore (2008-09) and Rs 1,47,576.84 crore in 2009-10. The share of private operators has grown from 47.1 per cent as on March 31, 2005 to 86.3 per cent as on March 31, 2012.