Commenting on the development, Rajiv Mehrotra, Chairman of Shyam Group, told PTI: "We are delighted that the government has opened up the way for new telecom players to operate telecom services as soon as possible and this is a major step towards offering cost-effective mobile services." Russian conglomerate has already announced up to $5 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) investment in the Indian telecom sector.
Telecom operators continued to place bids for 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
To revive the two state-run telecom operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the government is likely to waive the one-time fee these telcos need to pay for retaining additional spectrum.
Former India cricketer and selection committee chairman MSK Prasad was on Thursday named as strategic consultant by Indian Premier League franchise Lucknow Super Giants.
A meeting of United Progressive Alliance allies scheduled for Monday night, in the wake of persisting Opposition demand for a joint parliamentary committee into 2G spectrum allocation, was postponed at the last moment. The meeting convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is now expected to be held in a day or two. It had to be postponed as a number of leaders of allies were not in Delhi. The issue has paralysed Parliament.
The two-part trend for blockbuster films was started by S S Rajamouli.
The government may earn about Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) from the new telecom spectrum policy, which seeks to delink licences from spectrum, if it decides to fix the price based on the figure discovered through last year's 3G auction.
The Indian Air Force, in particular, has grown from a very modest beginning just about 90 years ago, to being "one of the most formidable air forces in the world", the IAF chief said.
According to senior officials in the department of telecommunication 20 Mhz of spectrum has been given to the four firms -- Infotel, Bharti, Aircel and Tikona Digital, which have licences to offer services.
The ministry wanted to use spectrum in the 700-MHz band for mobile TV services.
With seven million new subscribers, India accounted for the highest net addition of mobile subscriptions globally in the second quarter of 2023, according to the August edition of Ericsson Mobility. Among national markets, India was followed by China with five million and the US with three million subscribers. The subscriber penetration in India, however, stood at 79 per cent, compared to 120 per cent in China, the report said.
Co-lending deals between non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banks are likely to rise after the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision to increase the risk weight on consumer credit, industry leaders and experts say. Smaller NBFCs, they add, may increasingly opt for co-lending as capital markets could become costlier for them. "Smaller NBFCs will be more comfortable with co-lending because they are geography-specific in terms of industry or customers.
After poor response to last month's 2G spectrum sale, a ministerial panel on telecom on Friday decided to lower the base price by 30 per cent for radiowaves in 1800 Mhz band in four circles, which attracted no bidders, for fresh auction this fiscal.
The government has raised over Rs 38,300 crore (Rs 383 billion) from the 16-day long auction for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum, which closed on Friday.
Winners of recently held 2G spectrum auction will have to make payment, either in full or at least 33 per cent of the due amount, by December 1, the Department of Telecom said on Thursday.
Some 74 applications for these licences for mobile services are pending with the Department of Telecom.
Multiple disputes to ensue; auction begins today, but will do little to quell uncertainty.
Imagine if the sale of telecom spectrum resulted in a cash payment directly into the hand of every Indian citizen. Absurd? Well, there is a place where petroleum reserves were treated as a 'commons' and their sale now earns every local resident an annual revenue.
Chip giant Qualcomm chief executive Cristiano R Amon and billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday discussed role of AI, semiconductors and edge appliances across markets in the fast changing global technology space. The two leaders met in Mumbai on Monday morning to discuss India's potential around semiconductors, AI and mobility, according to a social media post by Adani. While Qualcomm is big on designing and manufacturing semiconductors and wireless telecommunications products, Adani group had in 2022 bought a small quantity of fifth generation or 5G spectrum for private captive network deployment in ports, logistics and power generation among others.
The government has accepted Telecom Engineering Centre's report that has suggested tough norms for spectrum allocation to GSM operators, a move that may make it difficult for players like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to get additional frequency.
Decks were cleared on Wednesday for launching 3G mobile and broadband services in the country, with the government allocating air waves to private operators after making certain amends to the licence terms.
Demand for 1,800-MHz weak but govt secures a combined Rs 42k cr on Day-1
'I think because India is a bigger country and Bollywood is such a well-oiled machine, the star thing has become so much bigger than the actor thing.'
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel acquired the African business of Kuwait-based Zain in a $10.7-billion deal, which was completed in June.
'Banks make money because they take the right credit calls. So they need to focus on risk mitigation rather than risk avoidance.'
Ahead of its Rs 18,000 crore further public offer (FPO), Vodafone Idea on Monday said it expects to roll out 5G services in select pockets within 6-9 months of raising fresh capital. Its chief executive Akshaya Moondra said rollout of the modern 5G telecom services is one of the objectives of raising the capital from the public and once the funding comes, it will start work on the rollout. "With this round of funding, we believe we will be able to (come) back to participate in the industry growth which has not been possible," he said.
Parliament failed to function for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday with the Opposition insisting on a joint parliamentary committee probe into 2G spectrum allocation and Congress and Janata Dal Secular hitting back, alleging land scams involving the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Karnataka. Rajya Sabha adjourned almost immediately after it met for the day with Opposition members creating an uproar, while Lok Sabha was first adjourned till noon.
The telecom spectrum auction entered the 33rd round of bidding today after starting off from the Rs 52,689 crore (Rs 526. 89 billion) mark this morning.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is understood to have taken a decision to recommend auction of spectrum for the launch of next generation (3G) mobile services.
a scarce resource. By some estimates, spectrum worth Rs 7,690 crore (Rs 76.90 billion) has been given away for ''free'' for mobile licences.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended up 62 per cent reduction in base price of premium 2G spectrum and up to 37 per cent in case of radiowaves freed from the cancellation of 122 licences, compared to the amount fixed for previous auction.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Thursday lauded World Athletics' decision to award USD 50,000 to all its gold-medallists in the Paris Olympic Games and said he would like to see such incentive being given in other global competitions as well.
About Rs 52,500 crore (Rs 525 billion) has been offered as of the fourth day of the ongoing wireless spectrum auction on Thursday, with metros like Delhi seeing renewed demand for airwaves.
Foreign companies, except those already present in India, have stayed away from the auction of third-generation mobile spectrum, or 3G, though two new ones are keen on broadband wireless access.Not one new foreign company has applied for 3G. The last day for showing interest in bidding for 3G and BWA spectrum drew to a close on Friday.
KKR will look to iron out their flaws and get the better of a misfiring Mumbai Indians during their IPL match on Friday.
Reliance Infotel to be the biggest beneficiary.
Communications Minister A Raja has shifted responsibility for holding auctions for third generation or 3G telecom services to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee by requesting him, in a letter last week, to ensure that the defence ministry releases the spectrum it had promised on time.
CBI has removed a public prosecutor from the 2G spectrum case after he was allegedly caught in a taped conversation discussing prosecution strategy with one of the high-profile accused Sanjay Chandra, Managing Director of Unitech.
