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3G auction: pan-India price crosses Rs 154 billion
NEW DELHI: Even a month after a month of bidding, the 3G auction shows no signs of stopping though it has slowed down to a certain extent with the bids coming only for the major centres.
Mumbai remained at the top of the bids for the 3G auction even on the 30th day, as the overall bids stood at just over Rs 154.16 billion after 167 rounds today.
Mumbai closed at Rs 29.10 billion, with Delhi was at Rs 28.86 billion.
Tamil Nadu closed at Rs 14.65 billion, the rest of Maharashtra was at Rs 12.45 billion, and Andhra Pradesh at Rs 12.56 billion. West Uttar Pradesh went up to Rs 4.70 billion, Kolkata to Rs 4.64 billion, East Uttar Pradesh to Rs 3.30 billion, Rajasthan to Rs 2.85 billion, Kerala to Rs 2.80 billion, Punjab to Rs 2.26 billion, Bihar to Rs 1.75 billion, Orissa to Rs 688.3 million, the North-East rose to Rs 398.8 million, Assam went up to Rs 391 million, and Himachal Pradesh was at Rs 321.3 million.
The bids for Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir remained unchanged.
With no applications for price increment for tomorrow, the bids for eleven service centres are expected to slow down. These are Mumbai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rest of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir. Some other service centres like Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and the North-East are also unlikely to see much increase with the price increment for tomorrow’s bid at Rs 39,000 or less.
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.
