Roaming charges! I-T dept issues notices to Bharti Airtel

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The income tax department has issued fresh notices to telecom giant Bharti Airtel in connection with taxation of overseas roaming charges for financial years 2001-02 and 2006-07, reports CNBC-TV18.

This is in addition to the I-T department

‘s Rs 1,067-crore tax demand notice for non-payment of TDS dues in the last four financial years in a similar case.

Bharti Airtel had approached the Delhi High Court challenging these notices and has been granted a stay in the matter. The telecom operator has recently made an interim payment of Rs 236.9 crore in this regard.

An Airtel spokesperson said in a statement to PTI that “this pertains to a matter where the I-T department is trying to treat inter-connect charges being paid by domestic telecom operators to international operators, as fee for technical services and recover withholding tax on that basis.

“The matter is sub-judice and the demand on the company stands stayed. The pre-deposit amount has been paid in compliance of the court order granting stay.”

According to sources in the I-T department, fresh notices were issued to the firm in order to obtain financial documents and revenue collection figures of overseas roaming operations during those financial years and a tax demand will be raised after scrutinising this data.

The Income Tax department, earlier this year, had asked the company to pay a total tax of Rs 1,067.24 crore under Section 201 (consequences of failure to deduct or pay taxes) along with Section 195 (any person responsible for paying to a non-resident) of the I-T Act.

The tax demands raised for the four financial years were- 2007-08 (Rs 202.07 crore), 2008-09 (Rs 329.913), 2009-10 (Rs 313.577 crore) and 2010-11 (Rs 221.681 crore) on payments made by the company to “non-resident mobile service providers”.

The I-T department had held that such payments are in nature of fee for technical services and are subjected to TDS deductions as per section 195 of the I-T Act.

The department, in its notice, had also said that for payments of such taxes, the location of the company’s property or place of conducting the operations is not “relevant”.

Bharti Airtel offers a variety of telecom services both in India as well abroad.

The company claims to have a subscriber base of over 230 million across 19 countries.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Vodafone cuts down value of Indian venture by a third

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 19 (ANI): A price war triggered by stiff competition and future payments for spectrum has forced telecom giant Vodafone Group to cut down the value of its Indian venture, Vodafone Essar, by 3.2 billion dollars.

Prices in India, where Vodafone has added nine million customers in three months, have come down by a third.

Vodafone is also unhappy the Indian authorities’ plans to charge firms more for 2G licenses they already hold and make takeovers harder, The Sun reports

Vodafone’s Chief executive officer Vittorio Colao said: “I don’t think these rules (on consolidation and spectrum) make sense. India needs investment. India is a vast country with a vast population still not fully able to communicate. What India needs is investment and good technology and this will not come in an environment with too many operators and fragmentation of investment.”

The company had acquired an economic interest of 67 percent in the asset from Hutchison for 11.1 billion dollars in 2007, but its current value is merely 8.2 billion dollars, Vodafone said on Tuesday.

The world’s largest private mobile phone firm may find that its difficulties in India are far from over, the paper said.

Finance chief Andy Halford insisted though that India was still a huge asset. The company has 100 million customers there, more than in Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK combined. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

China Mobile to invest $300 mln in Pakistan-spokesman

April 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

ISLAMABAD, April 2 (Reuters) – Chinese telecom giant, China Mobile (0941.HK), will invest $300 million in Pakistan in 2010, mainly on expansion of its infrastructure in the south Asian country, a company spokesman said on Friday.

Telecommuncations Services

Pakistan’s telecom sector has boomed over the past 10 years and now has over 95.40 million mobile phone users, from some 300,000 in 2000, with cellular mobile density of over 58 percent, according to its state telecommunication authority.

But growing concerns over a Taliban insurgency and chronic power shortages have put off investors, with net foreign investment down 45.9 percent to $1.02 billion in the first eight months of the 2009/10 fiscal year.

China Mobile, which operates in Pakistan through its overseas subsidiary, China Mobile Pakistan, has some 6.93 million subscribers in Pakistan, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) website (www.pta.gov.pk/).

The company’s chairman, Wang Jianzhou, was in Pakistan this week where he met government officials to discuss expansion and investment plans, said the spokesman of the company known in Pakistan by its brand name of Zong.

“During the visit Mr Wang made the announcement that for this year our investment in Pakistan will be $300 million,” the spokesman said.

Last year, China Mobile’s investment in Pakistan was $500 million, while total investment in the country has reached $1.66 billion, he said.

Pakistan’s mobile operators include CM PAK of China Mobile, Mobilink, a unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA), Norway’s Telenor (TEL.OL), Ufone, a subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd (PTCA.KA), Warid Telecom Pakistan, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Group and SingTel Group (STEL.SI), and Instaphone, which is not publicly traded.

Mobilink has the largest share with 31.06 million subscribers, according to the PTA website. (Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bachchan is brand ambassador for tiger conversation campaign

March 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Mar 26 (ANI): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has been signed on as the brand ambassador for a tiger conservation campaign.

Bachchan joins the Indian cricket and football captains as the face of the ”Save Our Tigers” campaign, spearheaded by the environmental group WWF India and Indian telecom giant Aircel.

Bachchan said: “I immediately agreed because I feel it is first of all a national cause. It is a cause of nature, it is a cause of environment and if my face and my voice can be used to impress upon people that this is something essential and important.”

“It is not just for the environment but for the entire nation then I shall be most willing to join it,” he added.

“If I can be a voice that is going to be speaking about these issues, if I can be a face that perhaps a few people will listen to and hear and if I can convince even one individual to follow this path, this very righteous path,” he said further.

“I think that somewhere I will feel convinced that I have done something worthwhile. And I feel that this campaign will also take one very small step forward but at least a step forward,” he added.

“Just 1,411 tigers left in India. You can make a difference,” is the message being broadcast from TV advertisements, Facebook and YouTube, in what organisers say is India”s biggest ever campaign to conserve the dwindling numbers of its national animal.

India is a key player in efforts to boost the global tiger population, which numbers just a few thousand. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BT’s India call centre pull back plans hit over excessive working hours

September 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sep 1(ANI): British telecom giant BT’s plans to cut 2,000 call centre jobs in India to provide permanent positions for UK staff during the recession have taken a major hit, over worries whether British workers would put in the stifling hours.

Keeping the recession in mind BT, which had moved 5,500 call centre jobs to India in 2003, had said that it was preparing to repatriate the jobs.

However, following reports that the types of jobs to be brought back home could require staff to work weekend shifts and up until 11pm at night, Communications Workers Union (CWU) has said that it will be unfair for call centre operators to work for the hours, particularly for those with families, The Telegraph reports.

The company had no such issues with Indian employees, despite the fact that India is 4.5 hours ahead of the UK, which meant that late shifts pushed till 3.30am local time.

“We have been in discussion with the Communication Workers Union in order to gain their support to begin a process of seeking as far as possible to reflect the hours currently undertaken by our partners outside the UK,” a BT spokesman said. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nortel sells wireless biz to Nokia

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

TORONTO: Toronto-headquartered Nortel, which is under bankruptcy protection in both the US and Canada, has announced that it will liquidate itse
lf. In a statement, the 127-year-old Canadian telecom equipment giant said it has entered into a deal with Nokia Siemens to sell its wireless business for $650 million.

“This (sale) will ensure Nortel’s strong assets – technologies, customer relationships and employees – continue to play an important role in driving the future of communications. The value of Nortel’s wireless business is recognised throughout the industry,” said Nortel president and chief executive Mike Zafirovski.

“The agreement we are announcing today is solid proof of that value and represents the best path forward for our other businesses,” he added.

Once the biggest maker of telecom equipment and Canada’s most valuable company, Nortel said it was in advanced stages of discussions with other parties to sell its other businesses.

“Maximising the value of our businesses in the face of a consolidating global market has been our most critical priority. We have determined the best way to do this is to find buyers for our businesses who can carry Nortel innovation forward, while preserving employment to the greatest extent possible,” said Zafirovski.

Nortel, which once accounted for the bulk of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), said it was delisting from the stock market.

“Trading in such shares on the TSX is expected to be suspended pending the TSX’s decision on the delisting application,” the statement said.

Nortel, which has been in business making telephones and later telecom technology since 1882, had to file for bankruptcy after suffering losses to the tune of $5 billion last year.

Even as its top bosses restructured the company and cut jobs, Nortel posted a further loss of $507 million in the first quarter ending March 31. The telecom giant’s accumulated problems – from the bubble burst to internal accounting scandal to the current meltdown – forced it to seek bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada this January.

Its bankruptcy plea was accepted ahead of its $107 million interest payment in January. The telecom giant had announced last month to sell its majority stake in LG-Nortel, which it formed with Korea’s LG Electronics in 2005.

Nortel, which once employed 90,000 people worldwide, has about 30,000 employees now. But under the deal with Nokia-Siemens, 2,500 of its employees will stay with the new company.

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MTN-Bharti deal could create telecom giant straddling India to Africa

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Johannesburg, May 26 (IANS) South African telecom giant MTN believes a potential deal with New Delhi-based Bharti Airtel has the makings of a telecom giant that would straddle India, the Gulf and Africa.

In a statement to shareholders here, MTN said the potential transaction would create a leading telecom service provider aligning Bharti’s Indian business with MTN’s African and Middle Eastern operations. MTN, which has reopened discussions with Bharti Airtel after talks failed last year, said this would also foster south-south cooperation.

It said the implementation of the potential transaction would not result in any job losses in South Africa. MTN advised shareholders no decision had yet been made to enter into or implement any particular transaction.

It said the two groups were currently exploring a potential transaction, whereby MTN and its shareholders would acquire about 36 percent in Bharti, while Bharti would acquire approximate 49 percent shareholding in the South African entity.

MTN shares jumped 9 percent on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange Monday, goading analysts to express optimism over the proposed deal.

Jan Meintjes, portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management, said discussions had deadlocked last year because neither group was happy about the other having a controlling interest.

“The world looks different today to a year ago. Perhaps the economic downswing has shrunken the egos,” Meintjies told the Afrikaans daily Beeld here.

Dobek Pater, analyst at Africa Analysis, felt that MTN could learn a lot from Bharti, which was competing with other operators in a low-tariff market. Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal had earlier said the transaction presented advantages for both groups, including cost savings through economies of scale.

Bharti and MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with one another till July 31.

MTN said the broader strategic objective would be to achieve a full merger of MTN and Bharti, as soon as it was practical, to create a leading emerging market telecom operator with a combined revenues of over $20 billion and a combined customer base of over 200 million.

Bharti would have substantial participatory and governance rights in MTN, enabling it to fully consolidate the South African firm’s accounts.

MTN’s economic interest in Bharti would be equity accounted and it would also have representation on the Indian operator’s board.

The potential transaction, when completed, would be expected to create value for MTN shareholders due to, among others, synergistic benefits and a further diversification of MTN’s income streams into the fast growing and relatively under-penetrated Indian market.

The potential transaction is also expected to create value for Bharti shareholders, due to, among others, diversification of the company’s income streams into the fast growing and relatively under-penetrated African and Middle Eastern markets.

MTN would continue to be listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and would be the primary vehicle for expansion across Africa and the Middle East, while Bharti would pursue expansion in India and Asia.

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bharti airtel begins swap talks with South African telecom giant

May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bharti airtel begins swap talks with South African telecom giant New Delhi – India’s largest mobile-phone operator, Bharti Airtel, and South African telecom giant MTN resumed negotiations that collapsed last year to buy mutual stakes in a deal estimated to be worth approximately 25 billion dollars, a news report said Monday.

The two firms are discussing options under which Bharti would acquire 49-percent stake in MTN and the South African company would buy 36-percent equity in Bharti, the IANS news agency reported quoting both companies.

“Bharti and MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with one another until July 31, 2009,” the IANS quoted from a joint statement.

“Potential transaction between Bharti and MTN will create a leading telecom service-provider group, aligning Bharti’s market-leading Indian business with MTN’s market-leading African and Middle Eastern operations.”

Based on Friday’s market closing, Bharti is worth some 25 billion dollars, while MTN’s valuation is close to 35 billion dollars.

The percentage of shares proposed to be acquired by the two companies would make the deal worth nearly 25 billion dollars, the report said.

Both Bharti and MTN have over 100 million subscribers and the deal will make the combined entity among the top five telecom service companies in the world, with annual revenues of 20 billion dollars.

The talks call for MTN and its shareholders to buy 36 percent interest in Bharti for which the South African firm will pay 2.9 billion dollars. Bharti intends to buy 49 percent in the enlarged capital of MTN.

Bharti ended talks with MTN last year, rejecting a proposal that would have made the Indian firm a subsidiary of MTN.

Following that, the South African group started negotiations with India’s Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which also failed.

“We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the Bharti group.

“Both companies stand to gain significant benefits by sharing each other’s best practices in addition to the savings emanating from enhanced scale,” he added.(dpa)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Airtel negotiating a deal about outsourcing last-mile broadband connectivity

April 20, 2009 By 2 Comments

The Bharti Telemedia subsidiary of the telecom giant Bharti Airtel is reportedly negotiating a deal with two infrastructure service providers Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent, related to outsourcing the ‘last-mile’ connectivity of its broadband operations.

The ‘last-mile’ concept essentially constitutes the last lap of delivering connectivity from an operator’s end to the customer’s place. In the case of broadband services, ‘last-mile’ connectivity can be either through wired lines or over the wireless. By outsourcing its ‘last-mile’ operations, Bharti will be able to not only reduce its operational costs, but also concentrate on its core competencies.

According to NDTV reports, the projected endeavor is being spearheaded by a former senior T-Mobile official, and an agreement would get through in the next couple of months. Bharti Airtel already two outsourcing deals – a 10-year, $750 million agreement for outsourcing its IT network to IBM; and the outsourcing of its telecom network to Nokia and Ericsson.

Talking about the benefits Bharti’s outsourcing polices, Rishi Sahai, Director of Cogence Advisors, said: “You are constantly seeing that they are using largely the vendors’ benefit of scale. That’s one of the reasons they are looking for outsourcing. Secondly, their vendor brings to them global best practices. And, more importantly, once they hive off these assets they can look at others coming and sharing these assets.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Report: Apple may take iPhone from AT and T

April 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

San Francisco – Apple’s iPhone could see wider distribution in the US next year as the company has not yet agreed to a request from AT and T to extend the telecom giant’s exclusive rights to the hit smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The report said the exclusivity deal signed in 2007 is set to expire in 2010 and AT and T is asking Apple to extend it for two years.

The cult status of the phone has helped AT and T nab millions of new customers. In the second half of last year alone it signed up 4.3 million new iPhone subscribers – 40 per cent of whom switched to AT and T from other carriers. In total Apple has sold an estimated 17 million iPhones worldwide.

According to the Wall Street Journal, AT and T is heavily subsidizing the price of iPhones, shelling out 1.3 billion dollars to bring the price down to affordable levels. The company hopes to make up the cash with income from monthly data plans and by cross-selling other AT and T services such as landline phones, cable TV and internet access.

Industry analysts say that selling the iPhone to other carriers could greatly increase its market penetration in the US and that ties between executives at Apple and AT and T have become strained. (dpa)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aircel to expand India operations; planning $5 billion investments in 3 years

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As per the reports by Business Standard, Aircel Cellular is working on plans to expand its presence in India, proposing to put in a $5 billion investment over the next three-year period.

Initiating its operations in Mumbai on Friday, the GSM service provider – with a 70 percent stake held by Malaysian telecom giant Maxis Communications – has dispelled hearsay about its plans to get hold of the city’s oldest mobile company, Loop Mobile.

After commencing its operations in December 2003, Aircel has thus far had invested a total of $5 billion; with a part of its future investments will also be earmarked for the development of its current network, increasing the number of towers from 20,000 to 40,000 by this year-end.

By and large, Aircel’s planned expansion will also see the addition of five new circles –Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab – by next year.

Saying that the company has adequate funds, and is not planning an “immediate Initial Public Offering,” Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh elaborated on the proposed plans: “We have planned $5 bn investment for financial years 2010, 2011 and 2012 for expansion of operations. We are planning to commence operations in five additional circles. A good amount of investment will be made in existing circles also.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

China capable of launching cyber attack on UK

March 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar. 29 (ANI): Intelligence chiefs have cautioned the Gordon Brown Government about the possibility of China launching a cyber attack on Britain’s telecom system.

British Telecom’s new communications network has been installed by Chinese telecom giant ‘Huawei’, which is allegedly funded by Beijing and has links to the People’s Liberation Army.

In case of a war like situation, China could use BT to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies, Times Online quotes intelligence officials, as saying.

In January, the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Alex Allan, briefed a ministerial committee led by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith about the threat from China, Whitehall sources have claimed.

Allan then expressed concern because government departments, the intelligence services and the military were all going to use the new BT network.

The ministerial committee on national security was told that Huawei components that form key parts of BT’s new 10 billion pound network might already contain malicious elements waiting to be activated by China.

Experts seconded intelligence chiefs’ warnings.

“If an unauthorised person were able to gain control of the equipment, its mode of operation could be changed. The ability to move traffic across the network could be switched off. Traffic could be re-routed to another node controlled by the attacker,” said John Tindle, professor in telecommunications engineering at Sunderland University.

Chinese hackers have a history of targeting western networks, and the Chinese Army is reputed to hold an annual competition to recruit the country’s best hackers

In 2007, computers at the Foreign Office and other Whitehall departments were attacked by Chinese hackers. Later, the MI5 Director-General Jonathan Evans warned 300 British businesses that they were under Chinese cyber-attack Two years ago, Chinese Trojan horse spy ware was found in the offices of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,