Huawei likely to conduct trial runs of 5G waves for Airtel, Vodafone

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials

Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is expected to conduct 5G trials for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, sources said, as the central government finalises the trial runs before the spectrum auctions. Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials. Reliance Jio will rope in South Korean equipment maker Samsung.

State-owned BSNL is also likely to go with ZTE. The firms have submitted applications for 5G trials, industry sources said. The Chinese firm had had come under a cloud after there were allegations that its electronic and telecom devices helped China to spy on US corporations and agencies. The firm has been barred in Australia and Japan, but welcomed in Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The central government had even constituted a committee headed by its principal scientific advisor to decide on Huawei’s participation in the 5G trials. The trials would establish use cases in the country as a precursor to the full-fledged launch of 5G services.

However, last month, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast 5G network, and will not bar any equipment suppliers in the trials. The stance had spelt relief for Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei, which rivals western equipment makers such as Ericsson and is facing curbs in the US…

Blow to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea as SC rules out AGR definition change url

The two telecom providers will now have to pay Rs 50,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications

Supreme Court on Thursday rejected telecom companies’ appeal against the Union government’s definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue. The apex court will later decide on the timeframe for the operators to pay AGR.

The definition of AGR has been a long standing issue between the Department of Telecommunications and the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), in particular, on some items that the TSPs strongly believed should not be included while calculating AGR since these are not part of the core telecommunications services.

In a major blow to telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the existing definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) will prevail. This implies that the two telecom providers will now have to pay Rs 50,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The issue had been dragging for the past 14 years with the telecom providers and DoT locked in battle over the definition of AGR. While the telecom providers insisted that AGR only included revenue from core operations, DoT maintained that AGR also included revenue from operations, other than core ones…

Voda Idea, Airtel, Jio pay spectrum dues of over 10,000 cr in April

The payments are towards the latest installment in deferred spectrum liability for radiowaves bought in the past auctions

Companies News: Leading telcos Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have paid the government over Rs 10,000 crore in spectrum dues slated for April 10, but debt-ridden Reliance Communications has so far not deposited its outstanding amount of Rs 492 crore, a source said. The payments are towards the latest installment in deferred spectrum liability for radiowaves bought in the past auctions.

The source privy to the development told PTI that the country’s largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea has made payment of over Rs 6,277.1 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) towards its spectrum dues. The company, which has put in motion a Rs 25,000-crore rights issue, had paid Rs 3,042.7 crore to the department in March as part of a previous installment.

While Bharti Airtel has made payment of Rs 2,745.8 crore and Reliance Jio paid Rs 1,109.1 crore, the embattled Reliance Communications has not yet made payment of about Rs 492 crore as on the due date. Typically, telecom companies are given a grace period of 10 days after the due date by the DoT to make the stipulated payment.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio did not comment on mails sent to them. Reliance Communications too declined to comment on the issue, but an industry observer noted that RCom has repeatedly written to the DoT, seeking return of excess bank guarantee encashment.The next round of installments for the operators is scheduled for September-October. The government, in March last year, enhanced number of annual installments for spectrum payment from 10 to 16 years to provide relief to the debt-laden telecom sector.

The industry argues that the sector has lost 42 per cent revenue from sales of telecom services on quarterly basis between April-June 2016 and July-September 2018. They have said the debt level on four mobile operators is at around Rs 5 lakh crore, and 60 per cent of the liability is from spectrum payment obligations…

Mukesh Ambani’s Jio gets RCom into trouble; DoT rejects spectrum deal

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm had agreed to buy spectrum, towers and other wireless infrastructure of his younger brother

BS: In a major blow for Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication, the department of telecommunication (DoT) on Tuesday refused to give a clearance to RCom-Reliance Jio Infocomm deal. As part of debt reduction efforts, Anil Ambani-led RCom had, in December 2017, signed a Rs 250-billion deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani‘s Reliance Jio. The deal included the sale of assets mortgaged with different banks to avoid insolvency proceedings. The company expected to raise Rs 180 billion from sales of its wireless assets to RJio and real estate assets to Canada’s Brookfield, and pare some of its Rs 460-billion debt.

Earlier, the apex court had asked RCom to furnish a corporate guarantee of Rs 14 billion within 2 days, following which DoT had to give it a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the RCom-RJio spectrum sale deal within 7 days. All went as planned. RCom furnished the guarantee amount and the DoT agreed to give RCom the green signal.

Big brother’s letter gets Anil into trouble

On Friday, DoT had told the Supreme Court that it was ready to provide the company a NOC for spectrum and asset sale to Jio. However, by Tuesday, the DoT reversed its stand following Jio’s letter wherein it sought assurances from the government that it won’t be held liable for RCom’s past dues related to airwaves, reports Economic Times.

In a letter to the DoT, RJio stated that although RCom has offered a corporate guarantee of Rs 14 billion towards settling its dues, the licence conditions stipulate that it should also give a bank guarantee.Jio’s conditions, mentioned in the letter to the government, are not in accordance with spectrum trading norms, according to which, the buyer is liable for dues that haven’t been recovered from the seller.

Keep Reading: Business Standard 

Asset sale to Jio at risk from govt’s Rs 29-bn demand, RCom tells SC

Govt refuses to approve RCom’s spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee is given by either firm

BS | Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) told Supreme Court on Monday that its asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm may not go through if approvals aren’t in place by mid-December, putting at risk planned debt repayments by the distressed company.

The government, however, reiterated its stand in the Supreme Court that it could not grant an approval to RCom for spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee of Rs 29.4 billion was given to it by either company toward spectrum usage charges.|Rcom Asset Sale

RCom, on the other hand, said that it was not in a position to furnish the said bank guarantee and that it had already given land worth nearly Rs 14 billion as security for the government’s dues. But the government refused to use the land given to it as security by RCom and said it would prefer a bank guarantee.

“If the spectrum sale is not approved, banks will also not get anything,” Kapil Sibal, a lawyer representing RCom, said in court said on Monday.

The top court was hearing a plea moved by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday. In its petition, DoT told the Supreme Court that the Centre was looking for some kind of security from the company before it could allow the spectrum sale.

Click here: Business Standard

Asset sale to Jio at risk from govt’s Rs 29-bn demand, RCom tells SC

Govt refuses to approve RCom’s spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee is given by either firm

BS | Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) told Supreme Court on Monday that its asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm may not go through if approvals aren’t in place by mid-December, putting at risk planned debt repayments by the distressed company.

The government, however, reiterated its stand in the Supreme Court that it could not grant an approval to RCom for spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee of Rs 29.4 billion was given to it by either company toward spectrum usage charges.|Rcom Asset Sale

RCom, on the other hand, said that it was not in a position to furnish the said bank guarantee and that it had already given land worth nearly Rs 14 billion as security for the government’s dues. But the government refused to use the land given to it as security by RCom and said it would prefer a bank guarantee.

“If the spectrum sale is not approved, banks will also not get anything,” Kapil Sibal, a lawyer representing RCom, said in court said on Monday.

The top court was hearing a plea moved by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday. In its petition, DoT told the Supreme Court that the Centre was looking for some kind of security from the company before it could allow the spectrum sale.

Click here: Business Standard

Asset sale to Jio at risk from govt’s Rs 29-bn demand, RCom tells SC

Govt refuses to approve RCom’s spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee is given by either firm

BS | Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom) told Supreme Court on Monday that its asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm may not go through if approvals aren’t in place by mid-December, putting at risk planned debt repayments by the distressed company.

The government, however, reiterated its stand in the Supreme Court that it could not grant an approval to RCom for spectrum sale to Jio until a bank guarantee of Rs 29.4 billion was given to it by either company toward spectrum usage charges.|Rcom Asset Sale

RCom, on the other hand, said that it was not in a position to furnish the said bank guarantee and that it had already given land worth nearly Rs 14 billion as security for the government’s dues. But the government refused to use the land given to it as security by RCom and said it would prefer a bank guarantee.

“If the spectrum sale is not approved, banks will also not get anything,” Kapil Sibal, a lawyer representing RCom, said in court said on Monday.

The top court was hearing a plea moved by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday. In its petition, DoT told the Supreme Court that the Centre was looking for some kind of security from the company before it could allow the spectrum sale.

Click here: Business Standard

Chhattisgarh govt to give free cell phones to more than 5.5 mn people

A plan of Rs 230 crore has been prepared in order to provide free mobile phones

economy news: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has wanted to give free cell phones to more than 5.5 million individuals inside over two years in the state.

Under the Chhattisgarh Communication Revolution Scheme (SKY), the most elevated need of Chief Minister Raman Singh, an arrangement of Rs 230 crore has been set up to give free cell phones to 5,560,000 individuals inside more than two years in the state.

Out of this, 5,080,000 recipients will be appropriated cell phones in the current budgetary year 2017-18 and the following money related year 2018-19.

These will incorporate 5,100,000 understudies of specialized and non-specialized universities, including 4,010,000 provincial recipients and 560,000 urban poor. In the principal stage, it is evaluated to cost Rs 1,128 crore.

The staying 480,000 families will be given cell phones in the monetary year 2019-20, which will cost an expected Rs 102 crore.

In a declaration, Chief Minister Raman Singh educated that the Department of Electronics and Information Technology of the State Government has begun arrangements for the execution of the plan

"The office has issued a warning for the Chhattisgarh Communication Revolution plot from the service (Mahanadi Bhawan) here," said the authorities.

They additionally said that the execution of the plan will be done through the 'chips' of the express government's gadgets and data innovation foundation.....READ MORE