Bharti Airtel told to pay $125 million for unpaid customs duty

 A tax tribunal has ordered top mobile phone carrier Bharti Airtel to pay more than Rs 7 billion ($125 million) for unpaid customs duty, a report said on Friday.

 A Bharti spokesman told Reuters that the company was yet to receive a copy of the tribunal order.

 Bharti imported mobile telecom equipment by splitting the value of the equipment into hardware and software, the newspaper said, citing case documents seen by it. The case was over "undervaluation of the imported goods and non-inclusion of the value of software in the imported goods", the paper said.

 Authorities had conducted searches at Bharti's Bangalore office in 2004, it said, adding that Bharti has the option to appeal the tribunal's order at the country's Supreme Court.
Source: TOI

Bharti Airtel in talks with Qualcomm India unit: Sources

Bharti Airtel, the country's top mobile phone carrier, is in advanced talks to buy out the Indian partners ofQualcomm in a fourth-generation (4G) broadband venture in the country, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on Wednesday. 

Qualcomm, which spent nearly $1 billion to buy4G radio airwaves in a 2010 Indian state auction, had sold a total 26 percent stake to Indian companies Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom for about $58 million to comply with the sector's foreign holding rules. 

The venture's equity value was about $223 million and enterprise value, which includes debt, was more than $1 billion in 2010 when it entered into the stake sale agreements with the two Indian companies. 

Both sides are still negotiating valuations, but Bharti will likely pay "some premium" over what Global Holding and Tulip paid in 2010, one of the two sources said, adding that Qualcomm was not planning to reduce its stake immediately. "What is planned is that Bharti will make further investments in the company in future and new shares will be issued to them. That automatically dilutes (the) Qualcomm holding," the source said. 

Both the sources declined to be named as the talks are not public yet. Bharti and Global Holding declined to comment, while Qualcomm and Tulip were not immediately available.The sources said details were still being worked out and there is no clarity yet on when an agreement might be reached. Qualcomm wants to close the deal as soon as possible as it prepares for rollout of services, they said. 

If Bharti comes on board, Qualcomm will get a carrier partner with experience in operating 3Gand 4G networks. The deal will give Bharti access to four telecoms zones, including the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai cities, where it does not have its own 4G airwaves. Bharti, which won 4G airwaves in just four of India's 22 telecoms zones, has said it would like to have a nationwide 4G broadband network. The company recently launched commercial 4G networks in Kolkata and Bangalore cities. 

Qualcomm, which was embroiled in a dispute with the Indian telecoms ministry, was granted the 4G airwaves this month, nearly two years after it won them in the auction. The ministry cut the usage period of the airwaves by 18 months. Qualcomm, which is pushing for the deployment of LTE (long-term evolution) broadband technology in India, has previously said it is looking at one or more operator partners in the India broadband venture. 

Reliance Industries, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, is the only company to have 4G airwaves in all 22 telecoms zones in India. Reliance is yet to start commercial services.

Source:TOI.IT

Bharti Airtel launches 4G services in Bangalore

 Bharti Airtel has launched broadband wireless access (BWA) services based on 4G technology in Bangalore followed by the recent inaugural launch of the services in Kolkata. Airtel has also introduced 'Smartbytes' for 4G -- thus allowing customers to buy these add-on packs and use 4G services even after exhausting their monthly data limits.

"As seen the world over, the total data usage is exploding and is doubling each year to grow to nearly 3.6 hexabytes by 2014. With the launch of 4G, India will move from being a follower in technology to matching the world in this domain," said Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive officer (CEO) - India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel.

The service was inaugurated by Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda. A successor to the 3G and 2G families, 4G is expected to be five times quicker than 3G services. It would offer services such as high-definition mobile TV and video conferencing. Airtel, which had bagged BWA spectrum in four telecom circles -- Kolkata, Maharastra, Punjab and Karnataka -- for Rs.3,314.36 crore in 2010, selected Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE to manage its services in Kolkata.

The other players are yet to announce plans to rollout 4G services.

As part of an introductory offer by Airtel, customers subscribing to 4G services will now be given a cash back for the dongle -- thus bringing device-cost to customers zero and paving way for mass adoption of 4G services.

Airtel 4G is now also available in an all new 30 GB pack priced at Rs 2,999.

Via : timesofindia.indiatimes