Operators

Tata Sons has stepped up to pay the lion’s share of Tata Teleservices INR100 billion ($1.4 billion) debt to the Indian government, despite Bharti Airtel being formally obliged to do so.

The government of Tanzania has claimed that Bharti Airtel’s proposed IPO of its African operations would be illegal as it was not consulted on the matter despite holding a 40% stake in Airtel Tanzania.

After participating in Thailand’s latest 900MHz spectrum auction as the sole bidder, dtac has obtained a 10MHz block for THB38.06 billion ($1.15 billion).

Beleaguered Indian operator Reliance Communications has blamed the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the renewed legal action that it now faces from Ericsson.

MTN’s woes in Nigeria could get even worse after the country’s Central Bank indicated that the operator would owe interest on the $8.1 billion that it is accused of illegally repatriating.

Is the creation of the largest mobile operator in the Balkans about to be announced?

The news that India’s Department of Telecoms is to open an investigation into alleged historic under-reporting of revenues in India’s telecoms sector could hardly have come at a worse time for operators in the country.

Will the MTN IPO in Nigeria go ahead? Or could it be scuppered due to an ongoing row with government about allegedly unpaid tax and money the authorities claim was illegally taken out of the country?

Telia’s mooted sale of its majority stake in Kcell to fixed-line provider Kazakhtelecom has been abandoned after the two parties failed to agree on a price.

After being linked last week to a possible bid for Nextel Brazil, Telecom Italia has confirmed that its board is considering its investment strategy, which could include divesting non-core assets.

Axiata’s tower unit Edotco has stated its goal of strengthening its position in its current markets via two or three acquisitions across the next year.

The assets of bankrupt Indian operator Aircel have attracted bids from several interested parties, including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

Axiata’s tower subsidiary Edotco has been denied regulatory permission for its planned acquisition of 13,000 towers from Pakistan Mobile Communications (PMC) for $940 million, forcing it to abandon the deal.

MTN intends to continue its preparations for an IPO on its Nigerian unit despite the country’s government fining the group $10.1 billion.

The government of India has approved the state-owned operator BSNL’s request for a holding of 2.1GHz spectrum as it prepares to launch a commercial 4G offering next year.

Vodafone Group has formed a new partner market agreement with Telecom Argentina as part of an effort to strengthen its presence in Latin America.

Thai operator True has confirmed that it intends to challenge a THB94 billion ($2.9 billion) fine that it has been issued by a tribunal relating to a dispute with rival operator TOT back in 2005.