BHARTI SLASHES MOBILE ROAMING CHARGES, SHARES FALL

Bharti Airtel launched yet another new billing plan on Friday, slashing mobile roaming rates by nearly 60% and signalling a tariff war in the world’s fastest-growing wireless market was far from over.

The announcement accelerated losses in the shares of Bharti, the country’s top mobile operator. The stock fell as much as 3.3% but trimmed losses to 2.7% at Rs284.90 by 0825 GMT in a Mumbai market that was up 0.3%.

The price war, aimed at grabbing new users ahead of fresh entrants waiting in the wings, has raised concerns about telecom firms’ profitability. Four new firms, including ventures funded by Telenor and Etisalat, are set to start services this year adding to the existing 11 operators.


Reuters/Livemint

INDIA SHATTERS MONTHLY MOBILE SUBSCRIBER RECORD

India added new mobile phone subscribers at a furious pace in January after telecom service provider Reliance Communications launched a new network. The nation increased its mobile subscriber tab by a monthly record high 15.4 million people in January, up from the previous record, 10.8 million, in December, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Network World

ANIL AMBANI's PAY PACKET FATTENS SIX-FOLD

Consumers may be reeling under an inflation of close to 13 per cent, but it should not be a cause of concern for India's second richest person Anil Ambani, whose pay package has grown by close to six times over past fiscal.

The Financial Express

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF POLICY IS WORKING

The unravelling of the merger between Reliance Communications (RCOM) and South Africa’s MTN and the travails of the Ranbaxy-Daiichi Sankyo deal highlight the changed economic environment in India. If it came to pass, the RCOM-MTN deal would have created an international telecom giant with a subscriber base of 120 million from the Cape of Good Hope to the Himalayas..

Hindustan Times

IDEA-SPICE DEAL 4th LARGEST M&A IN INDIA

The buyout of Spice Telecom by Idea Cellular is the fourth largest merger and acquisition deal involving an Indian entity and may be a pre-cursor to more such transactions in the telecom space.

The Financial Express

Microsoft pips Infosys, SBI in most reputed firms list

US software giant Microsoft has topped the list of most reputed companies in India ahead of homegrown major Infosys and public sector banking giant State Bank of India.

The Economic Times
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
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articleshow/3159984.cms

Reliance Power IPO beats expectations

Power on. India on. That’s the ad slogan for Reliance Power. On Tuesday, as India’s largest initial public offer received an overwhelming response on day one of subscription, it seemed to be a case of ‘Reliance Power on, Dalal Street off’. The 22.85 crore share mega issue, looking to raise roughly Rs 11,000 crore, was fully subscribed under a minute of the start of bidding, making you wonder if there were any early-bird prizes on offer. At last count, bids for more than 10.5 times the issue size had been received.

The Economic Times
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
Reliance_Power_IPO_beats_expectations/
articleshow/2703391.cms