Indian Television News, TV Stars, TV Actress, TV Actor | TVJini

In an exclusive interview to NDTV Profit, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Mittal hit out at what he called the irrational pricing of spectrum between older and newer players. He said older players are being asked to pay astronomical sums to renew 2 G licenses, while newer players are getting spectrum at 2002 prices. This he said will not only kill the telecom dream, but is unprecedented anywhere in the world.

Watch Sunil Bharti Mittal in conversation with Sreenivasan Jain on POWER OF ONE on Saturday 24th July 10 at 9:30 PM.

Enclosed are the excerpts from the interview:-

NDTV: The regulators say that when your license comes up for renewal, the first license is going to come in 2014 and that’s for the next 20 years. Again the spectrum which you are going to get 2G spectrum at, will be at 3G prices?

Sunil: I cannot live in a position where a license has been granted at 2008 at 1650 crs, and the license you will renew in 2010-11-12-13 whenever they come, will be at a price of 16,000 crs. You cannot run two licenses in the market, one at 1,600 and one at 16,000 crs. There’s no one in the world that can take this irrationality and survive. I am happy if the government is having a punitive regime in this industry, which I believe they should not but then let it be punitive for all, that’s all I would say.

NDTV: It’s not that the newer players who are coming in for the past couple of years are favoured? They are paying much less than the price you are paying.

Sunil: And we have heard enough on that. No they are paying much less; I paid this price in 2001. They are paying this in 2010. In actual term they are paying fraction of what I have paid. So, all I am saying is that this inconsistency must be exposed that we paid the same price 7-10 years back, the same price is paid by 6+7 new licenses. Now you are asking us to pay ten times more than that. It is inconsistent, you cannot have that.

NDTV: This could literally kill the big telecom dream in India if they carry on like this.

Sunil: Not only that, this is something unheard of that you will have two set of rules. That has never happened in any other industry and I am hoping that won’t happen here too.

Gul Panag will be the first Bollywood actress to be on the jury panel along with other eminent members like Aspi Bathena( editor car/bike india), Siddharth Patankar (NDTV) and Raymond Banajee.

Gul Panag on her Bike

Gul Panag has well known passion for bikes and cars, owns a Royal Enfield, a BMW F650 Funduro, a custom made 4X4 Scorpio and a BMW 520. She is none other than bollywood actress Gul Panag. Gul will be the first bollywood actor to have been invited to be a jury member of the most credible of all Auto industry awards, the NDTV Car & Bike Awards. The award function will be held on January 6th, 2010 where the winners will be honored.

Last year Priyanka Chopra & Saif ali Khan were felicitated as Brand Ambassadors of the year, but till date no prominent Bollywood personality has made it to the list of jury members. - Bollywood News.

Recently Gul was at the jury briefing dinner and judging in Hyderabad where she had the opportunity to test drive all the nominated cars & bikes “I am a motor enthusiast and personally look into the maintenance of my bikes and cars. I keep a complete up-to-date track of all the cars and bikes being launched around the world. In fact most of my male friends take my guidance before purchasing a new car or bike! It was fun to test drive all the nominated cars & bikes at the meet. I have completely enjoyed the process of selecting the ultimate winners. May the best wins” ends Gul.

Next year, on the 6th of January 2010, the best of the cars & bikes will be awarded with the coveted trophies at Hyatt Regency, Delhi to coincide with the Auto Expo 2010.

NDTV Profit announced the winners of the prestigious NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2009 at a special award ceremony held yesterday at Taj Lands End, Mumbai graced by Union Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. The award now in its 4^th year has emerged as the most credible and distinguished platform for the recognition of exceptional business performance and entrepreneurial abilities in India. The award night brought together the best business minds and bureaucrats of the country under one roof, including Kumarmangalm Birla, Sanjeev Aga, Rajiv Dubey, Nandan Nilekani, Tulsi Tanti, Dr. Tarun Das and Harsh Mariwala amongst others.

The winners of the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2009 are:

Inaugurating the award ceremony, Union Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, said, “It’s not only because of the stimulus packages or policy initiatives but because of the spirit of accepting challenges which have made India weather the international financial crisis. I appreciate the sprit of business leaders and the young entrepreneurs, who recognized the gravity of the situation, took courage and faced the challenges.”

Week 34 stood out as a very strong week for UTVi in the genre. There has been both a reach increase and a rise in time spent over all, as the channel progresses in surpassing other channels (NDTV Profit and ET Now) in 6 metro market.

The genre had dipped for a straight third week with CNBC, Profit and ET Now all declining in channel shares (CS 25+ M AB). UTVi has been the only channel that has gained. Infact in the 6 metro market, the shares have doubled over last week.

In the 6 Metro Market, UTVi has crossed both NDTV Profit and ET Now

It is interesting to note that UTVi was ahead of NDTV Profit and ET Now across time bands: In Breakfast Band, Markets band and Evening Prime Slots.

Thus establishing that the preference in Week 34 was more or less decisive.

The rise in reach has been consistent. Infact, UTVi was at the highest reach point of 2009 this week

Reach : A  37% increase in All India and 49% increase in 6 Metros

Time Spent: A 31% increase in All India and 12% in 6 Metros

Time Spent Details for current week: In the All India market, UTVi enjoyed a time spent of 7.3 minutes per viewer compared to 4.9 minutes of ET Now and 6.5 minutes on NDTV Profit. The corresponding figures for UTVi in 6 Metro Market have been 8.47 minutes for UTVi , 4.95 minutes on ET Now and 5.73 minutes per viewer on NDTV Profit

Special feature Shanghai Surprise this Tuesday & regular programming like India Business Day Plus have helped the channel to boost the ratings this week