Search Result for : Telecom

The Dollar Business Bureau Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd and international telecom and media company Millicom International Cellular SA on Monday announced the closing of a deal for combining their operations in Ghana. Executed through their respective arms, the deal will create the second biggest mobile operator in Ghana with around 10 million subscribers and $300 million in revenues. “The combined networks of the two companies will cover more than 80% of Ghana's population, in particular, in villages and far flung areas and serve customers with affordable world-class voice/data services, affordable global roaming and mobile banking services,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.  Both Airtel and Millicom will have equal shareholdings and rights of governance in the merged entity. In addition, both the companies ...

The Dollar Business Bureau  Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India surged by 37% to $10.4 billion during the April-June quarter of current financial year, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said on Monday.  According to the DIPP data, India had received FDI amounting to $7.59 billion during the first quarter of 2016-17.  The key sectors which attracted the maximum inflow of foreign investments include services, trading, telecom, automobile and computer software and hardware.  The countries from where the bulk of FDI came into India are Japan, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Singapore.  The Government has announced various measures for attracting foreign inflows that include improvement in business climate and liberalisation of FDI policy.  FDI is considered vital for India as it needs about $1 trillion to ...

By Ranjeet Mahtani & Sweta Rajan On the path to complete all responsibilities and release the requisite laws, regulations and rates ahead of the proposed transition date of July 1, 2017, the GST Council met on June 3, 2017. The key developments during the meeting were: A committee comprising revenue officers from Centre and States is to be set up to entertain complaints relating to anti-profiteering. GST rates of the items which were not placed across the agreed rate slabs (after the Council’s meetings on 18 and 19 May, 2017) were decided, including 3% GST on gold and gold jewellery, 0.25% on rough diamonds, 5% on packaged food items sold under registered trademarks, 18% on biscuits, 5% on footwear priced below Rs. 500/- ...

The Dollar Business Bureau A gazette notification issued by India’s Home Ministry on  Saturday, says that  the Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) can now issue licences to private players for manufacturing defence items. Private sector players can now apply to the commerce ministry for licences to take up the manufacture of tanks, fighter planes, warships and other defence equipment. This is a step the government feels will promote ease of doing business and give impetus to the 'Make In India' initiative. However, the licences will be issued only after the Home Ministry supervises the contenders to the license. The power of issuing licences was exclusively with the home ministry earlier. The decision has been taken ...

PTI Israel's leading hotel chain, Dan Hotels, is set to venture into India by opening its property in Bengaluru in July, its first overseas facility outside the Middle East. "If all goes well and regulatory requirements are met quickly, the hotel will be operational in July," a senior executive at Dan told PTI. The 230-room luxury hotel is coming up close to Bengaluru's high-tech park and will have easy access to it. "We chose Bengaluru because it presents us with a good opportunity given that so many Israeli tech companies have a presence in the city," the official said, adding that the hotel chain would look to explore further opportunities in other Indian cities in the future. ...

By Ranjeet Mahtani and Sweta Rajan A seven-hour long debate in the Lok Sabha, resulted in the passage of the Integrated GST, Central GST and GST Compensation Bills this week. Having been introduced as ‘money bills’ the Rajya Sabha did not have the power to amend or reject bills. Now, the Bills require presidential assent to become law. In preparation for the transition to GST, the Central Government has introduced another bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Customs Act, 1962, the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, the Central Excise Act, 1944, the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, the Finance Act, 2001, and the Finance Act, 2005, and to repeal certain existing enactments. These amendments are essential to modify the tax levying ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Telecom major Bharti Airtel Ltd has acquired the 4G business of Tikona Digital Networks for Rs1,600 crore, to ramp up its capacity of a high-speed broadband spectrum to take on Vodafone-Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm in a highly competitive telecom market which is witnessing rapid consolidation. The deal, which was announced just a few days after the merger of Vodafone and Idea, will give an edge to Bharti Airtel as the largest telecommunications company in India. Through this deal Bharti can gain access to Tikona’s 4G airwaves in five states of Gujarat, UP (West), UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.  This will also bridge the gap between Bharti Airtel's pan-India 4G capacity and Reliance Jio and ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Vodafone and Idea officially confirmed their much-anticipated merger on Monday. The combined entity, in terms of revenue and number of subscribers, will form the biggest player in India, which is the world's second largest telecom market. However, Airtel is still projected to lead in profitability and average revenue per user (ARPU). The $23 billion deal between India's second and third largest telecom firms will see the formation of a gargantuan entity with a subscriber base of close to 400 million and revenues projected at over Rs.80,000 crore, capturing 41% market share in revenue. Vodafone will hold a 45.1% share in the joint venture after selling 4.9% stake to Idea for Rs.3,900 crore. Aditya Birla holds a 26% stake initially, but at the end of three ...