Deconstructing the Bharti-MTN Deal
By Vikas Srivastava Jun. 5 – The proposed merger of Bharti and MTN is likely to make the resulting telecom the world’s third largest mobile operator after China Mobile and Vodafone in terms of number of subscribers. Negotiations for the merger started in May, 2008 by Bharati. However, the terms and conditions set in the […]
Bharti Airtel M&A Will Create World’s Largest Transnational Telecom Provider
May 27 – India’s largest telecommunications company Bharti Airtel has announced plans for a merger with South Africa’s MTN in a US$23 billion deal that would see the business become the world’s largest transnational service provider, with over 200 million customers in 26 countries. The new company would be the world’s fourth largest telecom entity, […]
India to Permit Foreign Airlines to Invest in its Carriers
May 26 – India’s civil aviation ministry is revisiting proposals to permit foreign airlines to invest directly in its own carriers. Currently, foreign investment of up to 49 percent is permitted in the sector, however this is only open to non-aviation companies. With India’s three major carriers – Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher – […]
Vodafone’s Indian Subsidiary Accounts for 93 Percent of All New Users
May 21 – The British mobile network operator’s Indian subsidiary, Vodafone Essar, accounted for 93 percent of all new users worldwide, according to quarterly reports. Vodafone is the world’s largest cellular operator in terms of revenues with operations in over 30 countries. In the past quarter, 8.4 million new users joined the network with India […]
Nortel Opens Global Operations Center in Bangalore
May 18 – Nortel Networks opened its global network operations center in Bangalore to manage the networks of its carrier and enterprise customers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. This is the company’s fifth overseas network operations center. According to Suresh Kumar, Nortel Asia-Pacific vice president for managed service delivery, the company chose not to […]
Gov’t to Build National Gas Highway
May 14 – India’s oil ministry may build a national gas highway to bring a steady supply of natural gas across the country. Currently, gas pipelines are found mainly in the eastern and western regions while the southern, central and north-eastern regions are lacking. Expanding the pipeline should balance economic and regional growth. Funds for […]
LG to Expand Manufacturing in India
May 12 – Major Korean consumer electronic brand LG has plans to ramp up its manufacturing capacities and product exports from India for its global operations to cut on costs. LG India is looking at exporting products to mature markets eventually growing its exports from 15 percent of turnover to 30 percent by 2012. The […]
Jet Airways to Begin Low-Fare Domestic Service
May 8 – Jet Airways, India’s second-largest airline, is now offering cheaper tickets on selected domestic routes to attract business travelers. The new no-frills service called Jet Airways Konnect begins today with 19 routes. “It will be offered to 38 destinations where Jet Airways flies and where JetLite does not normally operate,” Chief Commercial Officer […]