New Delhi: For the second time in as many months, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday met chiefs of leading operators, including Sunil Bharti Mittal, Anil Ambani and Vodafone's Marten Pieters, to discuss various contentious issues such as spectrum pricing, allocation and one-time fee. "All the operators conveyed their views on various issues which are also a part of regulator TRAI's recommendations on 'Spectrum Pricing and Framework'. The minister will...
06:24 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Kolkata: The government is studying the Supreme Court judgement setting aside a Bombay High Court verdict asking the company to pay income tax of Rs 11,000 crore, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday night. "We are looking into it," Mukherjee said on the sidelines of the 111th annual general meeting of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce. Concerned over revenue implications of Friday's Supreme Court judgement, Mukherjee had held consultations...
11:39 PM, Jan 22, 2012
The SC has set aside a Bombay HC ruling asking Vodafone to pay over Rs 11,000 crore as tax on the Vodafone-Hutch deal. ...
10:06 PM, Jan 20, 2012
New Delhi: Concerned over revenue implications of the Supreme Court judgement on the Vodafone case, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday held consultations with Law Minister Salman Khurshid and senior officials. "Right now we only know that it is a unanimous judgement that has gone against the revenue authorities ... we have to examine. We obviously need revenue for government's important programmes and the other thing is the certainty in...
06:17 PM, Jan 20, 2012
New Delhi: UK-based Vodafone Group Plc, the parent company of Vodafone Essar, on Friday hailed Supreme Court's ruling to set aside the Bombay High Court judgement asking the company to pay income tax of Rs 11,000 crore. Vodafone which is the second largest telecom operator in India, said the judgement underpins its confidence in the country. "We welcome the Supreme Court's decision, which underpins our confidence in India. We will...
06:04 PM, Jan 20, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced its judgement on Vodafone International Holdings' appeal and said that the Indian tax authorities have no jurisdiction over transactions outside India. The Indian tax authorities will have to return Rs 2,500 crore to Vodafone. The Supreme Court ruled by a majority decision that capital gains tax is not applicable in Vodafone case and the money deposited by Vodafone will have to be...
01:46 PM, Jan 20, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its judgement on Vodafone International Holdings' appeal challenging the income tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore on the overseas deal between Vodafone and Hutchison. Vodafone had moved the apex court challenging the Bombay High Court judgement of September 8, 2010 which had held that Indian IT department had jurisdiction over the deal. Through the $11.2 billion deal in May 2007, Vodafone...
07:38 AM, Jan 20, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Friday pronounce its judgement on Vodafone International Holdings' appeal challenging the income tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore on the overseas deal between Vodafone and Hutchison. Vodafone had moved the apex court challenging the Bombay High Court judgement of September 8, 2010 which had held that Indian IT department had jurisdiction over the deal. Through the $11.2 billion deal in May 2007, Vodafone...
10:00 PM, Jan 19, 2012
New Delhi: The telecom ministry on Tuesday questioned the jurisdiction of telecom tribunal TDSAT on entertaining the petitions of five telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, challenging the government's directive to stop 3G roaming agreements. Additional Solicitor General A S Chandiok appearing for the Department of Telecom (DoT) told the tribunal that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the petitions which are altering the terms of telecom licence. Terming...
12:56 PM, Jan 03, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom Ministry on Friday issued notices to three leading telecom firms - Bharti airtel, Vodafone and Idea - asking them to stop their 3G roaming agreements with immediate effect as the pacts are illegal and has sought their response within 24 hours. "DoT today issued notices to three operators who are having 3G roaming arrangements among themselves without having 3G spectrum in that circles. The Department has also...
06:49 PM, Dec 23, 2011
New Delhi: Coming down heavily on operators for violating licence norms, the Telecom Ministry has asked service providers to discontinue their 3G roaming agreements and is also contemplating imposing penalty on them. The decision comes after the unanimous view of telecom regulator TRAI, Law Ministry and DoT that such roaming agreement was in violation of the telecom licences. Leading operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had entered into agreement with...
12:52 PM, Dec 22, 2011
New Delhi: ...
11:27 AM, Dec 20, 2011
New Delhi: Two leading telecom firms, Bharti and Vodafone, have come under the scanner of regulator Trai for violating Mobile Number Portability (MNP) norms. Trai had issued showcause notices to the firms seeking information based on complaints from subscribers that their requests for MNP had been rejected, sources in the know said. "We have received their (Bharti and Vodafone) replies and the same is under examination. After analysing it we...
07:20 PM, Dec 14, 2011
New Delhi: Vodafone India has launched a new 3G phone - Vodafone Smart, which runs Android 2.2.1 operating system. Weighing 104g, the phone has a 2.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen and a 2 mega pixel camera. Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S1 processor, the phone has 130 MB of storage space. Its memory can be expoandable up to 32 GB. Reportedly, users will get a 2GB memory card free when buying the...
11:31 AM, Dec 13, 2011
New Delhi: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will soon meet telecom industry leaders to work out an amicable resolution to the dispute between the government and service providers over a 3G roaming pact. "I will meet with the industry players soon to discuss the 3G roaming issue, industry players have sought time and I am hopeful to resolve the issue," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of the Skoch summit on...
01:25 PM, Nov 29, 2011
Rajasthan: Leading telecom service provider Vodafone India and private lender HDFC Bank Saturday launched "m-paisa", a mobile banking service in Rajasthan to enable millions of unbanked Indians perform basic banking transactions on their mobile phone. "It is a great opportunity for a country like India to improve financial inclusion through mobile banking. It is a pioneering initiative modelled on the lines of Vodafone's m-pesa product running in three different countries...
11:04 AM, Nov 28, 2011
New Delhi: The total revenue of telecom service providers was Rs 50,054 crore during the quarter ended September, according to TRAI data released in New Delhi on Wednesday. Bharti Airtel alone accounted for almost 26 per cent of total industry gross revenue at Rs 13,239 crore. It was followed by state-owned BSNL, with 18 per cent share at Rs 9,040 crore. Vodafone was next, with 17.8 per cent share at...
10:57 PM, Nov 23, 2011
New Delhi: Major telecom firms Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have threatened to exit 3G services if the Government does not approve their pact to provide intra-circle roaming. Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal, Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Birla and Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao have written a joint letter to the Prime Minister. In the letter, they said, "...in the event that 3G Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) is now deemed impermissible, then, it...
03:40 PM, Nov 22, 2011
New Delhi: India's federal police on Saturday conducted searches at Vodafone's Indian unit and Bharti Airtel's offices seeking details on spectrum allocation by the government to operators between 2001-02. The searches were in regard to possible irregularities in allotting spectrum during the previous government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now in opposition, Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) spokeswoman, Dharini Mishra told Reuters. "All our documents are in complete...
10:04 AM, Nov 21, 2011
