Indian telecommunications colossus Bharti Airtel has sold off its stake in tower unit Infratel in an effort to reduce the company’s debt. It has been reported that a consortium of investors acquired the stake for a fee of around INR61.9bn ($952m) which represented Bharti Airtel’s 10.3% stake in the tower unit. The consortium of investors was spearheaded by private equity company KKR and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Leading smartphone maker Xiaomi has revealed that it is producing one device every second in India. The Chinese tech colossus has revealed that a staggering 95% of the Xiaomi smartphone being sold in India were being made in the country. That disclosure was made by vice president and managing director of Xiaomi India, Manu Jain, at the announcement of a new manufacturing plant in the scenic coastal city of Vizag in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Xiaomi also disclosed details of its latest phone the Redmi 4A.
Vodafone New Zealand is set to purchase 70 percent of the rural broadband and satellite section ‘Farmside’ of operator TeamTalk for NZ$10 million ($7 million). The acquisition is subject to approval by shareholders. Vodafone NZ has the option to purchase the remaining 30 percent for NZ$3 million within the next three years.
Apple has come under fire for not paying any tax in New Zealand. The Californian company reportedly sold NZ$4.2 billion worth of products in the country, but didn’t pay any tax at all.
ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, announced an agreement with Digicel Group to expand 4G LTE networks across its 26 markets in the Caribbean and Central America.
British telecommunications giant Vodafone has given the green light to its Indian unit to merge with Idea Cellular in order to create India’s largest telecoms operator. The merger has been made out of necessity following the emergence of 4G newcomer Reliance Jio.
PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, has signed an agreement with SAP Mobile Services now SAP Digital Interconnect to merge their respective Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) domains into a single IPX domain. The agreement signifies the creation of a global, independent full-service IPX offering, with customers now being able to benefit from both SAP’s extensive LTE roaming footprint and PCCW Global’s state-of-the-art IPX Voice and VoLTE capabilities, all offered via a single dedicated network connection.
India, one of the world’s most competitive telecommunication industries has continued to be shaken following the incessant and aggressive strategy of the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. Since he introduced 4G newcomer Reliance Jio to the market in September 2016 – the telecommunications market has been drastically transformed. So much so in fact, that Norwegian multinational firm Telenor quit the Indian sector and sold its operations to Bharti Airtel.
Indian telco Bharti Airtel has sold 10 percent of its tower unit Infratel $952 million to a consortium of investors in a bid to reduce its debt pile. The investors are led by private equity firm KKR and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Samsung, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, is embroiled in a corruption scandal which has seen South Korea's President, Park Geun-Hye, impeached. The heir to Samsung, Lee Jae-Yong, has denied all charges made against him involving corruption, bribery, perjury and other offences linked to the former President.
