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Etisalat not to participate in fresh 2G auction in November
NEW DELHI: Stung by the cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court earlier this year, the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) today announced that it will not participate in the 2G auction in November.
This follows the publication by the Communications and Information Technology Ministry of the Information Memorandum for the planned Auction of Spectrum in 1800MHz and 800MHz Bands.
Etisalat – whose headquarters are in Abu Dhabi, UAE – said in a terse statement that it believed that the Indian telecommunications industry has significant potential and it has high regard for the Indian Government, its judiciary, and its regulatory bodies and “wishes a positive outcome for the forthcoming auction”.
Earlier this year, Etisalat DB, the joint venture between Etisalat and India‘s DB Group, had announced closure of its services in India following the Supreme Court canceling 122 spectrum licences. These included 15 of Etisalat, which had over 1.6 million subscribers.
Etisalat has already written off its investments worth $827 million in Etisalat DB.
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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.
