After opening the day in green, share markets in India have continued the momentum and are presently trading above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the energy sector and stocks in the PSU sector trading in red. While stocks in the realty sector are trading in green.

The BSE Sensex is up by 130 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 31 points (up 0.3%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%. The rupee is trading at 63.35 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the telecom sector. Bharti Airtel share price is among to top gainers on the markets today after entering in to a strategic partnership with Samsung Mobiles.

India’s largest telecom company, announced a strategic alliance to bring a range of affordable 4G smartphone options to customers.

As a part of this alliance, four top models from Samsung’s popular Galaxy J-series range will be available with attractive cashback offers, bringing down the effective price of the device and making them highly affordable for customers.

Telecom operators are coming up with such offers with an aim to capture smartphone users in the country as they consume more data compared to feature phone users. As per a CLSA report, Reliance Jio has already captured 80 per cent of smartphone users in the country. The company had 139 million subscribers in September while smartphone customer base stood at around 178 million in the same month.

At the time of writing, Bharti Airtel share price was trading up by 3%.

Telecom Sector: A decade of Underperformance

The whole telecom business has been an underwhelming story so far. While the telecom subscriber base has increased from 300 million in 2008 to 1.2 billion in 2017, investors have little to cheer. The BSE Sensex has gone up 3.25 times in nine years, but the BSE Telecom Index has not moved an inch from its levels of 2008.