This is contrary to the BSNL technical committee's earlier approval to use the DR solutions of US-based Sun Microsystems and EMC Corporation. According to vendors close to the development, HP's DR solutions were not mentioned in the original purchase order issued to Ericsson, the main bidder.
The Reserve Bank of India has initiated a review of the benchmarking system for pricing floating rate loans, a move that could impact 70 to 75 per cent of banks' loan portfolios.
Guidelines may be relaxed with strict quality checks.
The Ruias and other promoters own a 99.99 per cent stake through various companies in BPL Mobile Communications. They have already toned it down to 82.4 per cent, sources close to the development said. Now, the group is looking at further bringing it down to less than 70 per cent. This will make BPL Mobile Communications a shell company and diminish its values making its shares 'worthless,' says Vodafone.
The dispute between Vodafone and the Ruia-owned Essar Group, its 33 per cent partners in Vodafone-Essar, over ownership of BPL Mobile deepened this week after the UK-based telecom major alleged that Essar had altered the share structure of the Mumbai service provider in violation of a 2006 agreement
The move comes at a time when four foreign banks - Standard Chartered, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, American Express and Citibank -- have moved the Supreme Court with a special leave petition and the hearing for admission of SPL is on September 8. The committee is, however, expected to wait till the Supreme Court decides on the issue before finalising its recommendations. The committee is, however, expected to wait till the Supreme Court decides on the issue.
Foreign operators may fail to provide quality 3G services, unlike their Indian counterparts, as the Department of Telecommunications is offering spectrum in tranches of 5 MHz, which is insufficient for starting operations.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has awarded a 5-year outsourcing contract to a Delhi-based call centre, Caretel Infotech, a part of Dalmiya group, for about Rs 300 crore.
Apple, the US consumer electronics and software company, is close to opening its iTune Store in India. iTune Store, the world's most popular online entertainment store, offers songs, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks and iPod games.
With at least seven more mobile service providers planning to launch operations in the Mumbai circle, following in the footsteps of GSM player Idea Cellular, the market is slated to become the country's most competitive and fierce telecom zone.
The negotiations were shelved following a difference of opinion on prices. "We intend to close both the deals by September," said a highly-placed source with MCorp, the holding company for B K Modi's group of companies.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain), the third largest telecom operator in West Asia and a leading operator in Africa, has initiated talks with several Indian telecom service providers to buy stakes.
In a move that will not augur well for companies which have been awarded 2G licences recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has rejected proposals by new telecom entrants for a relaxation of rollout obligations.
In India, Apple users purchase entertainment content from other websites, at times from legitimate portals, but mostly end up buying pirated content in India.
Consumer durables major Videocon Industries' subsidiary Datacom Solutions, which has received telecom licences to begin pan-India operations, is planning to commence network rollout starting August 15 and services by year-end, becoming one of the first newcomers to launch operations.
Global mobile phone majors Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and others are offering a slew of products including touchscreen and music capable handsets in India to counter the might of Apple's iPhone, which is expected to hit the markets in September.
Etisalat, which is mulling an Indian foray, has since started discussions with several telecom companies including the Videocon Group's Datacom Solutions and Essar-controlled Loop Telecom for equity. Ravi Sharma, CEO of Datacom confirmed that Etilasat was one of the companies to which the company was talking but declined to offer details. Loop Telecom declined to comment.
On September 1, 2007, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reigned in the 'don't call regime' with setting up of the NDNC. Subscribers had to register with the NDNC by calling the respective service provider and the marketing calls were to stop within the next 45 days. However, even after 10 months, unsolicited calls still haunt mobile users.
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, is investing around Rs 647 crore (Rs 6.47 billion) for the rollout of operations in the Mumbai circle. The operations are expected to commence in two months time.
Move to skirt public offer for S African telco.