Telecom shares rise on proposal to fix floor price for data tariffs
Telecom companies' shares on Wednesday zoomed over 9 per cent, buoyed by the proposal before regulator Trai regarding fixing a minimum price for mobile internet tariff. Vodafone Idea shares spurted 9.79 per cent to close at Rs 7.74 apiece on the BSE. The stock touched an intra-day high of Rs 7.86, up 11.48 per cent over previous close.
On the NSE, the stock soared 9.93 per cent to Rs 7.75 per unit. It zoomed 12.05 per cent to Rs 7.90 during the day. Bharti Airtel also saw its shares rising though marginally at 0.41 per cent to end at Rs 460.85 a unit on the BSE. Intra-day, its stock touched a high of Rs 464.75 apiece, up 1.26 per cent.
The telco's shares on the NSE settled at Rs 460.80 apiece, up 0.37 per cent. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd shares gained 1.25 per cent at Rs 8.91 a unit on the BSE and 1.14 per cent to Rs 8.90 on the NSE. Shares of Reliance Industries, the parent firm of unlisted RJio Infocomm, lost 1.67 per cent to Rs 1,552.55 on the BSE. Intra-day, the stock lost 2.87 per cent to Rs 1,533.45.
On the NSE, its scrip went down 1.55 per cent to Rs 1,554.50. During the day, it plummeted 2.87 per cent to Rs 1,533.75. In volume terms, over 70 crore shares of Vodafone Idea, 1.65 crore of Bharti Airtel, 95 lakh of Reliance Industries, and 4.5 lakh of MTNL were traded on the NSE.
Telecom operators have proposed sector regulator Trai to fix a minimum price for mobile internet as no company on its own is in a position to decide on it due to fierce competition in the market, industry body COAI said on Tuesday.
"All the current telecom service providers in the private sector, namely Bharti Airtel Limited, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea limited are in complete agreement that Trai be requested to regulate tariffs by setting floor price for data services," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said in the letter dated December 3, 2019.
However, private telecom operators want call rates to continue to remain unregulated.
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