Idea Cellular, the telecom service unit of the Aditya Birla Group, has announced the launch of two more 3G smartphones namely, Idea ID 920 and Idea Aurus III aimed at different market segments in the Indian market.

Both the Idea ID 920 and Idea Aurus III come with dual-SIM support, will be powered by 1GHz processor as well as Google's Android platform. The company said that ID 920 is an entry level phone and is aimed at semi-urban markets while on the other hand, Aurus III comes with Android 4.1 OS and 4 inch TFT screen, 5MP primary camera as well as video calling facility.

Idea Cellular, the telecom service unit of the Aditya Birla Group, has launches new Idea Whiz smartphone powered by Google's Android platform in the Indian market.

The Idea Whiz smartphone, which is already listed on the telecom service provider's website, will come with a 4-inch WVGA display and will be powered by 1GHz dual-core processor. It will run on Android 4.0 and have has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory storage. The device will support two SIM cards and feature a -megapixel auto-focus rear camera as well as a VGA front camera for video conferencing.

Idea Cellular, the telecom service unit of the Aditya Birla Group, has announced the launch of the new Aurus 2 smartphone in the Indian market.

The new 3G Aurus 2 runs on Google's Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS dual and is powered by a powerful 1 GHz processor. The smartphone comes with a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixel and it supports dual SIM cards. It has an internal memory of 4GB ROM along with 512 MB RAM.

The Delhi High Court on Friday has ordered the central government not to take any steps against the telecom service providers including Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The telecom department (DoT) of the government of India has imposed a fine of Rs 300 crore to telecom service provider, Idea Cellular and also asked the company to stop offering 3G services in telecom circles where it does not have a 3G license.

The company has not responded to the notice of fine and it is not known if it will approach the Supreme Court in the matter. The DoT has ordered telecom service providers to halt providing 3G services in all the telecom circles where they do not hold required licences but offers the services under agreements with other telecom players.

The Indian government has imposed an additional fee of $339 million or 18.42 billion rupees on the leading five telecom service providers in the country after it was found that the companies had underreported their revenues.

Indian telecom service provider, Idea Cellular has recorded an increase of 14 per cent in net profit to Rs 228.6 crore during the third quarter of the financial year.

The company also said that its revenues increased 10.7 per cent to Rs 5578.5 crore during the third quarter from October to December, 2012 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The company said that its profits did not rise as per expectations due to higher operating expenditure and increase in tax outflows.

Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, the country's top two mobile operators, on Wednesday announced some changes in tariffs in the prepaid segment, with a sole aim to enhance their revenues.

Both Airtel and Idea announced that while they had not hiked headline tariff (the pulse/second rate), some promotional offers, discounts and free minutes had been withdrawn from some schemes in certain circles.

Indian Stock Markets continued in the positive territory on Thursday as the US markets gained smartly on Wednesday. Stock prices of Gold Loan companies witnessed huge demand after reports of loan valuation for gold ratio increase to 75 per cent.

JSW Steel has increased price of all steel products of the company. The stock price was higher in today's session. Maruti Suzuki and M&M witnessed higher sales during December compared to other auto majors facing tough times.

Indian telecom service providers have asked the authorities in the country to consider allotting unused CDMA spectrum in the 800 megahertz (MHz) band for providing GSM services in the country.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular have asked the telecom authorities to consider allocating unused CDMA spectrum for GSM services. They have asked the Department of Telecommunications to consider altering 800MHz airwaves and making them compatible with the 900MHz band that is used for GSM services.

Several major telecom operators in India are looking to enhance revenues by slashing freebies and talk-time that come with discount vouchers, which are used by prepaid customers.

The telecom service providers are looking to improve sales and margins as they face stagnating earnings in the country. According to latest data, 96 percent of India's 906 million mobile connections are subscribed to prepaid plans.

The much-awaited auction for 2G telecom spectrum has finally started and five operators, viz. Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Telenor are contending for Global System for Mobiles (GSM) airwaves. But no auction is currently taking place for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) airwaves because no operator has bid for this sort of airwaves.

Details released by the Department of Telecom (DoT) has portrayed Aditya Birla Group firm Idea Cellular as the most aggressive bidder for the upcoming 2G spectrum auctions.

Idea Cellular has deposited the highest amount of money for the upcoming spectrum auctions among all bidders. According to the recently released data, Idea Cellular has deposited Rs 1,306.75 crore for 2G spectrum in the 1,800 Mhz band. The figure represents the highest amount deposited by any telco.

Idea Cellular, one of the largest telcos in India, has reported a more than two-fold increase in its net profit for the September quarter.

Net profit jumped to Rs 240 crore in the three months to September 30, from Rs 105.76 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.

The Aditya Birla group company's total revenue jumped from Rs 4,619.92 crore to Rs 5,314 crore over the same period.

India’s telecom sector suffered the first-ever decline in the number of monthly subscriber in July this year, figures released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed.

According to the latest TRAI report, the total number of telecom subscribers slipped by 20.71 million subscribers month on month, from 965.52 million in June to 944.81 million in July.

It was the first time in India’s telecom sector that overall subscriber base had shrunk.

Almost all the incumbent telecom players, including Bharti Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Tata Tele, Airtel, attended the conference organized by DoT on Thursday in the run-up to the next round of 2G auctions, but international mobile phone major kept away from the pre-bid conference.

The pre-bid conference kicked off the process for the second round of 2G auctions. But, Thursday's conference remained a low-key affair, particularly when we compare it with the passion seen in the pre-bid conference in the run-up to the 3G auctions in 2010.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has admitted Idea Cellular petitions against the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decision to impose Rs. 300 crore penalty on the network provider for allegedly holding more than 10 per cent stake in two telecoms in six circles.

Telecom tribunal TDSAT ruled that the Department of Telecommunications should give some logic for reaching such decision.

According to a new study, the total data usage through mobile data traffic rose by an impressive 54 per cent between December 2011 and June 2012 in India.

The report by Nokia Siemens Networks said that the increase in data usage on mobile phones is mainly due to recent reduction in 3G tariff prices by the telecom service providers in the country. The reduction in tariffs by service providers for faster 3G services has resulted in more users consuming more data than slower 2G network.

The Supreme Court of India has ruled against the petitions from seven telecommunications companies challenging the apex court’s earlier decision to cancel 122 telecom licenses in the country.

The Supreme Court also dismissed a similar plea filed by former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja. alleging that the ruling unfairly impeached him. The court rejected review petitions of companies including Videocon Telecommunications Ltd, STel Ltd, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, Tata Teleservices, Unitech Wireless Ltd, Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd.

The Supreme Court of India has accepted a review petition filed by the central government on the ruling by the court ordering the cancellation of 2G telecom licenses in the country.