The mission - unveiled by Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad -- will enable strengthening of technological infrastructure for education, health, entrepreneurship and development.
Home minister heads several groups of ministers, including the one to decide the revival package for Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam. His ministry also takes decisive calls on national security in relation to telecom operations as well as equipment and technology used in the industry.
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.
It is learnt that the defence ministry is refusing to let go of its 100 MHz spectrum, which was allotted earlier. In that case, the department of telecommunications (DoT) will be left with only 175 MW of 5G spectrum of the total 300 MHz.
India has average monthly spends of $4 per user; it is over $20 in other Asian markets
Although the industry is disappointed with the government decision not to lower spectrum prices at a time telcos are saddled with over Rs 4-trillion debt and an estimated Rs 1.43-trillion licence fee dues, the DCC has relaxed the payment structure to offer some relief to the financially stressed sector.
For re-verification through Aadhaar-based eKYC process, the operator will send a verification code to the mobile number of the subscriber.
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
When on October 24, the Supreme Court, on a petition moved by the government, ordered payment of past dues according to its new definition of AGR, the country's second-biggest carrier Vodafone-Idea Ltd warned of shut down if no relief is given. The total dues for the industry ran into a whopping Rs 1.47 lakh crore. For an industry that has come from 7-8 operators to just three private players and state-owned fourth operator, the warning by Vodafone-Idea sounded like a death knell.
Move comes in view of big debt overhang in two sectors; companies unwilling.
Move comes in view of big debt overhang in two sectors; companies unwilling.
The company has reportedly been in the process of shutting its CDMA business and shifting its subscribers to 2G, 3G and 4G networks.
The telephone subscriber base was 996.49 million at the end of March.
The move will help telcos, including Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular
The incumbent operators faced the onslaught of free offers and cheaper rates from Jio.
Telecommunication companies buying airwaves in an Indian auction next month will pay 5 per cent of their revenue as an annual fee.
At present, 70% of the mobile handsets sold in India are imported.
Letter to telecom secretary alleges Jio is masquerading full-blown services in the guise of a trial; no word from Reliance.
Telcos say tests were done in the known problematic areas of Delhi-NCR, where operators face issues in obtaining cell sites.
Indian telecom seems to be getting back on its feet.
While moving towards the new technology is compelling and inevitable, powering 5G would also mean massive initial investments for telcos, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
The freebies are now over, but Jio will need to notch up subscriber numbers and margins to prove its sceptics wrong.
Seeks clarification on a few issues such as enhancement of entry fee and performance bank guarantee from telecom regulator
The big beneficiaries of this move will be the big three -- Bharti, Vodafone and Idea.
In Bangladesh, a call drop has more to do with network quality, while in India it is linked to spectrum shortage.
In return, BSNL should be allotted 1.2 MHz in the 1800-MHz band in each circle, subject to some conditions.
With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) refusing to reserve 900-MHz spectrum for incumbent telcos, asking them to vacate the quantity held and win back through bidding, GSM operators, led by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), have decided to propose a compromise formula.
While the draft M&A policy for the telecom sector has been revised a few times over the past few months, DoT has not made any major changes to guidelines.
Need for much more investment; sector would like govt help
Telecom Secretary J S Deepak has resolved the toughest issues facing the sector, but his real test will be in delivering on the govt's Digital India dream
Income will be higher as spectrum in 2,100-MHz band will also be auctioned
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