Idea Cellular completes merger with Vodafone India after NCLT nod

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The merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India has been completed, creating India's biggest telecom service provider with over 408 million subscribers, the two companies said today.

A new board has been constituted for the merged entity "Vodafone Idea Ltd' with 12 directors (including six independent directors) and Kumar Mangalam Birla as its Chairman. The board has appointed Balesh Sharma as the CEO, the companies said in a joint statement.

The combination will have all India revenue market share of 32.2 per cent and take the numero uno slot in nine telecom circles, it said adding that both Vodafone and Idea brands will continue.

The telecom giant will topple Bharti Airtel from its current pole position, and will have the firepower to take on competition in the Indian telecom market, which has intensified with the aggressive entry of Reliance Jio.

Airtel postpaid, broadband users can now get free 3-month Netflix access

Airtel and Netflix have announced an expansion of their partnership in India through which subscribers of select Airtel Postpaid and V-Fiber home broadband plans will receive a three-month free Netflix subscription. After this, these subscribers will be able to pay for Netflix subscription using their Airtel postpaid or home broadband bill. Existing Netflix subscribers will also be eligible for this gift. Subscribers not eligible for the gift will be able to sign up to Netflix through Airtel’s applications and pay for their subscription using their Airtel bill.

The telecom operator will announce details of eligible postpaid mobile and home broadband plans over the coming weeks. Netflix and Airtel have also partnered to promote Netflix content through a dedicated row on the Airtel TV app.

Last week, the telecom major announced a content and distribution deal with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). Through this deal, Zee will help Airtel curate content for its over-the-top (OTT) platform and provide content from Zee5. Zee will also create some content exclusively for Airtel.

Most companies, barring a few, can withstand ongoing rupee fall: Report

Most domestic corporates, barring a few, can withstand the ongoing rupee plunge as the share of their dollar-linked earnings largely balance the share of their greenback-denominated debt, says a report.

The rupee fell beyond Rs 70 to the dollar, closing at an all-time low on Thursday at 70.15, while today the market was closed. So far, the rupee has lost close to 9 per cent, making it one of the worst performers among the large currencies.

"A weaker and more volatile rupee would likely result in increased hedging costs for companies, while the same may benefit exporters," an S&P report said on Friday.

"Most corporates can withstand the rupee plunge as the share of their dollar-linked earnings largely balance the share of their greenback-denominated debt. A few of them will be negatively affected, but not severe enough to impact their credit ratings," S&P said.

Headcount at RCom down 94% to 3,400 from peak of 52,000 in 2008-12

Debt-ridden Reliance Communications on Wednesday said that the total number of jobs at the company have been reduced by about 94 per cent to 3,400 at present, from a peak level of 52,000. "Total number of people in the RCOM group: from peak of approximately 52,000 to current 3,400, a reduction of approximately 94 per cent," RCom said in a BSE filing on Wednesday. 

The company is estimated to be at peak in around 2008-10. RCom, which is reeling under debt of around Rs 450 billion, closed its mobile services business in January this year and continues to provide business-to-business (B2B) telecom services.

Jio offers 1.5 GB additional data per day to customers

"Airtel introduced 1GB per day additional data on Rs 149 and Rs 399 price points only for limited users. Jio will now provide 1.5 GB per day additional Jio 4G data to every Jio user," a company source said. An email query sent to Airtel did not elicit any reply. The telecom ministry in a presentation on Tuesday shared that mobile data tariff in the country has reduced by 93 per cent in the last four years. 

"Moreover, Jio also offers a Rs 100 discount on all recharges of Rs 300 and above, and 20 per cent on recharges below the Rs 300 price point, if the user recharges through the MyJio app and pays using PhonePe wallet," the source said. The scheme, valid between June 12-30, will effectively bring down the cost of 1GB of 4G data in the range of Rs 1.56 to Rs 1.77.

Singtel to increase stake in Bharti Telecom; invest Rs 26.49 billion

Singapore-based telecom operator Singtel will invest Rs 26.49 billion in Bharti Airtel Ltd, increasing its stake in the Indian telecom major to 48.9 per cent.

"Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) will invest Rs 26.49 billion in Bharti Telecom Limited (Bharti Telecom), the promoter company of Airtel through preferential allotment of shares," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The transaction is subject to the shareholders' approval of Bharti Telecom and the funds raised will be used towards debt reduction, it added.

"With this investment, Singtel's total stake (along with its affiliates) in Bharti Telecom will increase to 48.90 per cent," the statement said.

Reliance Jio's Republic Day offer: Now get 50% more data, pay Rs 50 less

Stepping up the tariff war, Reliance Jio has decided to offer 500 MB extra data to its subscribers using 1GB and 1.5GB per day data packs with effect from January 26, according to company sources.
Besides, the telco as part of its 'Republic Day offer' will double the validity of Rs 98 pack to 28 days from the current 14 days from January 26 onwards, they said.
"Jio will always offer more value to its customers, and offer Rs 50 lower price than competition and 50 per cent more data on its plans.

As part of Republic Day offer, all existing 1 GB per day packs enhanced to 1.5 GB per day, 1.5 GB per day packs enhanced to 2 GB per day," sources said.
Bharti Airtel had recently introduced Rs 399 plan offering unlimited calls and 1GB 4G data daily with 84 days validity.
With this new offer, Jio's flagship Rs 399 plan will provide free voice, unlimited 4G data with 1.5 GB daily, unlimited SMS and premium subscription to Jio Apps for 84 days.
The Rs 98 pack at present offers 2.1 GB data at 4G speed and thereafter speed drops to 64 kilobits per second with 14 days validity.
According to Bharti Airtel MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Gopal Vittal, the battle among telecom operators is now for market share and the pressure on tariff will continue for some time even though it is at an unsustainable level at present.
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Airtel offers unlimited broadband data for bundling postpaid, DTH services

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel, which had earlier announced 5 GB of free data for bundling each postpaid or DTH service with its brodband internet connection, has now made the offer even more exciting for users. Under its myHOME promotional offer, the company is now offering 10 GB of additional data a month, twice as much as earlier, for each postpaid connection and digital TV service that you link to your Airtel broadband connection.

The Airtel myHOME offer is currently active on My Airtel app and can be availed of by users who have Airtel broadband or Airtel postpaid connection, or Airtel digital TV service.

Earlier, the Airtel myHOME offer was valid for users who started availing of Airtel broadband services before July 1, 2016. Also, there was a limit of 25 postpaid connections and 25 DTH connections that could be bundled. This translated into a limit of 250GB (5GB x 50 postpaid or DTH) extra data per month.

ALSO READ: Airtel offers 250 GB free broadband data to counter JioFibre's freebies

Now, under the tweaked terms and conditions of the offer, Bharti Airtel has not only doubled the dole of free data but also removed the cap on the number of postpaid or DTH service that could be bundled with a broadband connection.

The latest Airtel broadband offer comes within days of rival Reliance Jio saying that it is testing its Fibrenet broadband service, JioFibre, in 5 major cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Jamnagar, Pune and Chennai. Though there is no defined timeline yet for the official launch of the JioFibre broadband service, some details of the offers that the company might give at launch were leaked online a few days ago.
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Jio impact: Bharti Airtel consolidated net income down 72%

Amid stiff competition from Reliance Jio Infocomm, Sunil Mittal-led telecom giant Bharti Airtel suffered a 72 per cent plunge in its net income during the quarter ended March 2017. The company’s net income dropped to Rs 373.4 crore, while its revenue slipped to Rs 21,934.6 crore, Bharti Airtel said on Tuesday.

India’s telecom sector has seen a massive churn in the past few months with the entry of Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio, especially as the latter has come up with attractive schemes and freebies and eaten into the subscriber base of older rivals like Bharti Artel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
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Telecom industry lost 20% revenue due to Reliance Jio giveaways: Ind-Ra

Latest News - The telecom industry has lost about 20 per cent of revenue due to Reliance Jio's free services, India Ratings and Research has said, revising the sectoral outlook for 2017-18 to negative.

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), a Fitch group company, said the revision of outlook on the sector to negative for 2017-18 from stable-to-negative for 2016-17 is due to "increasing competition".

"The negative outlook reflects Ind-Ra's expectation of longer and deeper than expected deterioration in the credit profile of telcos following the extended free services by Reliance Jio Infocomm," its latest report on corporate outlook said.

The report further said the industry has lost about 20 per cent revenues due to the free services by RJio.

"The existing telcos would lose market share to RJio and suffer profitability while the (Read More)

Airtel network logs highest download speed in Jan: Trai

Latest News - Average download speed on Bharti Airtel's mobile network was highest in January at 8.42 megabit per second (mbps), according to latest data published by telecom regulator Trai.

The monthly average mobile data speed published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed that the download speed on Airtel network has almost doubled in January to 8.42 mbps from 4.68 mbps.

On the other hand, average download speed on country's largest broadband service provider (Read More)