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3G: Gujarat tops bids, 31% hike in All-India base price
NEW DELHI: After the end of fourth day of the 3G Auction, the All-India price was at Rs 45.82 billion, 31 per cent up from the base price of Rs 35 billion.
Gujarat received the highest bid after a total of 22 clock rounds were completed. Delhi, however, continued to dominate the auction among cities with the price rising to Rs 4.38 billion.
The price for Mumbai service area rose to Rs 4.17 billion, while the price of the rest of Maharashtra was Rs 4.25 billion.
The bid for Tamil Nadu rose to Rs 4.29 billion, while that of Andhra Pradesh clocked Rs 4.25 billion. Kolkata received a bid of just Rs 1.58 billion, dropping from the bid of Rs 1.59 billion at the start of the day.
While eastern Uttar Pradesh received a bid of Rs 1.82 billion, the bid for western Uttar Pradesh was Rs 1.59 billion. Rajasthan received the next highest bid of Rs 1.74 billion.
The bids for Assam, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir service areas remained at Rs 300 million each, with the north-east getting a bid of Rs 303 million.
The auction, which will resume on Thursday as Wednesday is a local holiday, may take about two weeks to complete.
The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Vodafone Essar.
The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 3G operations from 1 September.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
