Operators

India’s Department of Telecom has revealed the seven operators that have applied to bid in its upcoming spectrum auction.

RCom and Aircel have signed official documents that will lead to “the largest-ever consolidation in the Indian telecom sector”.

US and Dutch authorities have proposed that Telia be fined $1.4 billion over its transgressions in Uzbekistan.

Telenor has announced that it will sell a portion of its holding in VimpelCom via a public offering in the US.

The government of Russia has suggested that 85% of equipment deployed by Russian operators should be locally made by 2020.

Oi could sell off its mobile operations in order to exit bankruptcy protection.

China’s second and third-placed operators are collaborating on the construction of an optical network and 4G base stations in an attempt to reduce their annual capex by up to CNY3 billion ($451 million).

Indian number three Idea Cellular has shot down an officially published news story claiming that it was holding discussions with number two Vodafone India regarding a potential merger.

Blue Label Telecoms has stated that its planned acquisition of a 35% stake in Cell C is still “on track” although it was aiming to close the deal by mid-2016.

Reliance Jio has hit back against claims that its trial service is illegal by accusing its rival operators of attempting to sabotage its much-anticipated debut into the market.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has claimed that new operator Reliance Jio Infocomm is providing a full-fledged mobile offering masquerading as a trial.

The US investigation into its activities in Uzbekistan has prompted MTS to sell its majority holding in Uzbek operator Universal Mobile Systems (UMS) to the country’s government.

The Indian government must accept responsibility for ensuring that Tata Sons pays NTT Docomo the $1.17 billion that it is owed in compensation, the Japanese operator has claimed.

Approval has been granted for the proposed merger of Bangladeshi operators Robi Axiata and Airtel by the country’s prime minister.

The GSMA has announced the launch of the first active infrastructure sharing initiative in East Africa between mobile network operators (MNOs) Airtel, Millicom and Vodacom.

Turkey’s alternative ISPs have announced plans to work on a joint venture company.

Telenor has ruled out its participation in India’s mammoth upcoming spectrum auction, prompting speculation that it may be planning to leave the market.

Vodafone India is mulling an acquisition of Telenor’s Indian operations in an attempt to increase its spectrum holding.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has declared MTN as winner of its latest auction for a ten-year frequency spectrum licence for the 2.6GHz band.