'Similar to the case of the digital payment system where the government created a public platform and others joined in, we are exploring a similar structure to create a PPP platform where the compute required for AI could be accessed by the small player.'
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 by voice vote following a walkout by opposition members over the Manipur issue.
A new law that defines how companies should process users' data came into force with the President giving assent to the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act passed by Parliament in the just-concluded monsoon session. The law arms individuals with greater control over their data while allowing companies to transfer users' data abroad for processing, except to nations and territories restricted by the Centre through notification. It also gives the government power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content.
The government on Thursday tabled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 in the Lok Sabha with an aim to protect the privacy of Indian citizens, while proposing a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore on entities for misusing or failing to protect digital data of individuals.
Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Thursday reserved judgement on new operator Uninor's petition challenging Telecom Ministry's drive to impose penalty on telcos that did not roll out services within the stipulated period.
Attorney General K K Venugopal on Wednesday defended The Tribunals Reforms Act of 2021 in the Supreme Court and said that many times the top court through its judgments had waded "into the policy domain" and it should "keep in mind separation of powers".
Government on Wednesday decided to appeal in Supreme Court against telecom tribunal's order rejecting its claim of privilege on certain internal documents which led to the decision to allow basic operators to offer limited mobility services.
TDSAT lifted the stay on distributing spectrum within about 30 minutes, instead of hearing detailed arguments on merits. Perhaps things would have been different if the hearing had come up after the Chief Justice made it clear the courts could interfere in government policy.
The Sunil Mittal led firm accused the regulator of "wrongly" holding Jio's promotional offer as compliant with the regulatory guidelines
The two member bench comprising its Chairman Justice S B Sinha and member P K Rastogi differed in theirs findings.
TDSAT had stated no amount was payable till resolution of the disputes.
The government is considering withdrawing legal cases against telecom companies, involving disputes of about Rs 40,000 crore, a source said on Tuesday. In line with this, the Department of Telecom has already filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in a case against Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications to take an informed decision whether to proceed with the present appeal or not, the source said. DoT has said the telecom sector is passing through a financial stress due to various circumstances and telecom services providers are making losses.
The telecom tribunal TDSAT on Wednesday asked new operators S Tel and Videocon Teleservices to pay 60 per cent of the penalty within two weeks, imposed on them by the Department of Telecom for failing to meet their roll-out obligations.
The Supreme Court admitted an appeal by BSNL challenging a TDSAT decision expressing inability to penalise Bharti Telesonics Ltd for allegedly violating conditional clearance for providing national long distance telephone service.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a telecom dispute tribunal's order directing the government to give to cellular phone service providers copies of files pertaining to its decision allowing WLL operations.
The Supreme Court refused to give any interim relief to Zee-Turner on Wednesday.
In a setback to telecom service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre's plea to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs 92,000 crore from them.
Trai had asked the Attorney General for views on Jio's free voice and data offering till March 2017, that rivals have termed predatory.
TRAI said it will submit recommendations on the TDSAT's directive to work out a level playing field between the cellular and basic operators offering wireless in local loop services, to the government in 2-3 months.
The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal on Friday, by a majority judgement of 2:1, dismissed the petition filed by cellular operators challenging government's decision.
Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday sought the views of cellular operators regarding the alleged loss to their revenues on account of limited mobility services.
Telecom tribunal on Monday fixed April 2 as the date for hearing of petitions by Association of Basic Telecom Operators, Cellular Operators Association of India, Data Access and Bharti Telesonic against telecom regulator's IUC regime.
Merging tribunals may lead to administrative convenience, but pendency of cases is likely to increase
The GSM operators decided to withdraw their plea when the TDSAT was about to reserve its order on the maintainability of the petition after hearing the case for more than one-and-a-half hours.
Telecom operators Vodafone and Idea Cellular on Monday said they will resume 3G services in circles where they don't have spectrum through intra-circle roaming (ICR) pacts with other operators.
The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to MTNL on a petition filed by telecom regulator TRAI challenging TDSAT's order to go ahead with adjudication of regulations on the new access deficit charge levy regime.
Concerned at the large amounts of money blocked on account of litigation, the government is set to amend the law to ensure that at least a certain amount of disputed demand is deposited by the telecom companies before the case is admitted by TDSAT.
Members of COAI, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Idea Cellular and others met in New Delhi and decided to go ahead with filing of the affidavit in TDSAT against the Telecom Engineering Centre's report. COAI has also questioned the government's move to allocate spectrum to two telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL -- saying they have been given frequency out of turn as many other players have been waiting to get spectrum for months and even years now.
Trai contends that the issue does not come under the tribunal's jurisdiction.
Anil Ambani severely criticised the attitude of GSM operators and raised the issue of returning the extra spectrum again.
During proceedings at Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, counsels appearing for both sides today informed the bench that the issue has been resolved and requested to dispose of the petition.
Telecom companies with cases pending before the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal or those hoping to file new ones would be advised to hurry.
State-run BSNL has questioned the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's powers and jurisdiction in matters relating to interconnection between the PSU and other private service providers.
Broadcast tribunal TDSAT on Monday came down heavily on Zee-Turner for not providing its channels to Tata Sky, a direct-to-home service provider and ordered that the channels should be made available by this evening.
Jio had launched the inaugural free voice and data plan in September last year, and in December, extended the freebies till March 31, 2017
The government on Friday welcomed the verdict of telecom tribunal TDSAT dismissing a petition by Reliance challenging a penalty of Rs 150 crore.
The appellate telecom tribunal TDSAT on Friday dismissed Reliance Infocomm's petition challenging a penalty of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) imposed on it by the government for violation of licensing norms.
Vodafone had contended in its plea that DoT instead of signing and executing the ULs had at the last moment informed them that their request for deletion of 'restrictive' clauses in licence pertaining to roaming cannot be accepted.
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