Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
In a jolt to Internet service providers, telecom tribunal TDSAT on Tuesday upheld the government decision that virtual private network offered by them was not part of their ISP licence
The big beneficiaries of this move will be the big three -- Bharti, Vodafone and Idea.
The Natio0nal Investigation Agency has approached the Department of Telcom requesting for installation of Central Monitoring System, a mechanism which provides for interception of telephone calls and monitoring of social networking sites without any involvement of telecom service providers.
Ten central trade unions except Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh are observing one-day general strike on Thursday to protest against various government policies.
Of late, net neutrality has generated much debate.
Kick starting the process of allotting new telecom licences, the government on Tuesday sought clarifications from all the applicants on as many as 25 issues relating to eligibility criteria. The department of telecom (DoT) has asked all the companies to submit by December 13, clarifications, information or supporting documents as on date of application.
Tier-II and tier-III towns have a reason to rejoice.
Also said if some govt bodies have already been allowed to enter business, the Central Govt should provide appropriate exit route.
The companies have offered to pay upfront the principal amount due for licence fees and spectrum usage charges (SUCs) on the basis of adjusted gross revenue (AGR). This amount will not include the interest, the penalty, and the interest on the penalty.
Earlier, only access to white-listed sites was allowed as the service was restored for a week on January 25 and subsequently extended from time to time, after being snapped on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated the special status to the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories.
Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular and US-based wireless operator Verizon are all set to get the Letters of Intent for long distance services following clearance of their applications by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Official sources said the applications have been put forward for the Telecom Minister's approval. Idea is awaiting LoI for International Long Distance services while Verizon's application is for both National and International Long Distance services
The Department of Telecommunications is set to issue guidelines for telemarketers in order to check unsolicited commercial calls.
BSNL on Wednesday denied allegations that it was blocking calls of private telecom operators like Reliance and Tatas, even as Trai asked all operators to maintain "status-quo" till the interconnection norms are announced.
The decision had been communicated to the department of telecommunications, a senior official of the department told Business Standard.
The draft guidelines prepared by the Telecom Engineering Centre and under consideration of the department of telecommunication have suggested, among other things, that children below 16 years should be discouraged from using cellular phones.
The auction will continue on Tuesday as there is still some spectrum left.
The auction will continue on Monday.
The spectrum auction has already generated record amount.
India's telecom customer base is slowly inching towards the 10-crore (100 million) mark.
Taking the government head on, four GSM mobile operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice -- have decided to "unitedly" approach the Delhi High Court against telecom tribunal TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.
Capital dumping is being used by foreign e-commerce firms to subsidise and engage in predatory pricing, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) has told the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in an internal document. The document alleges that this is leading to massive unemployment and financial distress among small merchants and kirana stores. It consists of various recommendations and proposed changes that deal with Press Note 2 of 2018 (PN 2), which RIL wanted Assocham to present to the government, according to sources.
Vodafone on said it is seeking legal advice to challenge the Bombay High Court order that dismissed its plea against the I-T department's Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) demand in tax and penalty on the company's acquisition of Hutchison Telecom in a deal of about Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
The government on Saturday made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share land border with India to curb 'opportunistic takeovers' of domestic firms following the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which will restrict Foreign Direct Investment from China.
A consummate deal-maker, the former Aircel boss raked in the moolah in many, but lost a packet in several others.
Even as Left parties have demanded a review of the tax concessions provided to SEZs, the DoT has sought extension of excise duty exemptions to industrial units set up in telecom-specific SEZs.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked UK-based Vodafone Group, which is facing a tax liability of over Rs 11,200 crore in India, to give its view on the long-pending matter in writing, a senior official said.
Softening its stand on reduction in access deficit charge, a levy paid by private operators to BSNL for rural telephony, the department of telecom on Tuesday said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India must ensure that by doing so the revenues of
Top representatives of British telecom giant Vodafone are understood to have met senior officials of department of telecom in New Delhi, presumably to discuss issues related to its interest in acquiring Hutch Essar.
DoT has rejected the demand of Vodafone India for licence extension in three circles.
Government is close to finalising the guidelines for new entrants in the telecom sector, with a possibility of existing players getting priority in allocation of radio waves. The department of telecommunication has received about 300 applications from 30 companies for starting telecom services.
Pitroda, who pioneered the telecom revolution in India, added that government will open four large data centres to enable the flow of information up to the panchayat level.
Telecom operators may face a penalty of minimum Rs 1000 for each unverified subscriber, Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Facing flak over its order to block access to 857 pornographic and humour websites, the government on Tuesday lifted ban on all those websites that do not feature child pornographic content.
Prasad also said India will be a $1 trillion opportunity for digital companies in five years
BSNL has launched location based services, including caller tracking facility, in North East India.
The basic telecom operators accused Trai of not following the process of transparent consultation on matters as significant as amending the licence terms of one set of operators, and urged the government not to implement Trai's recommendations.
In a strong attack on the telecom tribunal, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has argued in its petition to the Delhi High Court that the tribunal has erred in law and on facts in ignoring the three cardinal principles of grant of interim injunction.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday issued an addendum to its consultation paper on unified license regime and said it was ready to consider all suggestions in this regard.\n\n
The Department of Telecommunications has raised demand of around Rs 877.6 crore from Vodafone as spectrum charges for the period between 2008-09 and 2011-12, sources said.
