At present, consumers are offered a number of innovative services through Intelligent Network deployed by telecom service providers in their network.
Government websites -- including those of the Prime Minister's Office, home and petroleum ministries, and the department of telecommunications -- were out of service for many hours on Monday. An official attributed the cause to firewall problems.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday endorsed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting proposal to reduce the license fee on Direct to Home (DTH) service providers. Trai said it had received a communication from the ministry conveying its decision to continue with the concept of gross revenue for the purpose of License fee on DTH service providers and to reduce the license fee. Trai's opinion also was sought on reduction of licence fee from 10% to 6%.
The problem is simple: None of the incumbent players, including Vodafone Idea, has a similar offer to challenge Jio and ensure that its 2G customers do not migrate.
The Department of Telecommunications is set to issue guidelines for telemarketers in order to check unsolicited commercial calls.
The report reveals that while the subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 209.07 million in September 2007 to 233.62 million for the quarter ended December 2007, the subscriber base for wireline has decreased from 39.58 million to 39.25 million in the recent quarter.
The auditors also said that the company is in the process of monetising its assets and has submitted a draft resolution plan to the consortium of bankers for restructuring its borrowings and also there have been discussions for stake sale by the promoters to a strategic partner with further equity infusion.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit also cancelled the leases of Amrapali's properties granted by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities and directed the Enforcement Directorate to investigate alleged money laundering by CMD Anil Sharma and other directors and senior officials of the group.
According to the recent directives, subscribers are entitled to get full talk time on recharges and will have to pay administrative fee not exceeding Rs 2 per recharge and other applicable taxes. The new measures will be effective from September 15, and are applicable for both new as well as existing subscribers. Customers will also be insulated from any increase in tariff for a period of 12 months from the existing six month regime, according to Trai.
Trai and telecom companies are divided in their views on the issue of raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in various media-related activities like cable television, direct-to-home, etc. Trai has proposed across-the-board increase in the FDI limit across cable (49 per cent), DTH (49 per cent), HITS (no existing limit) and satellite radio (no existing limit) to 74 per cent, as allowed in the telecom sector. Companies like Bharti Airtel are supporting this proposal
Mobile TV essentially uses DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast to Hand-held devices) technology for broadcasting content on mobile handsets, or any DVB-H enabled devices such as palmtops, gaming devices or laptops. However, other technology options for Mobile TV are also available such as 3G, MediaFLO, T-DMB, and S-DMB.
The government on Thursday cleared the proposed Bill for setting up the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority.
The department of telecom (DoT) on Friday announced a set of rules for granting telecom licences and allocating spectrum that is likely to impact GSM-technology service providers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, among others.
"India's wireless subscriber base during the first half of April 2008, will surpass that of the US and will become the second wireless network in the world," the telecom regulator said. Moreover, the total subscriber base, including wireless and wire-line would also cross 300 million mark in April, it added. Currently, China is the world's largest wireless network and is adding around 6-7 million subscribers every month.
The telecom regulator had on Monday said that for the first unsolicited communication, a service provider would have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 5,000, which could go up to Rs 20,000 for each subsequent call.
Analysts expect that Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Idea Cellular will post over 50 per cent annual growth in revenues (year-on-year) and more than 10 per cent sequential growth (over the previous quarter). Bharti continues to lead in the subscriber addition race (2.1 million in August).
For getting the benefit of the NDNC registry, the subscriber will have to register his telephone number with his telecom service provider. The registration of subscribers for NDNC has already commenced.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed Vodafone Essar Mobile Services to refund value-added service (VAS) charges that were levied without "explicit consent". However, the regulator did not specify the amount the GSM major has to refund to the consumers.
Communications Minister A Raja on Monday told Parliament that there was no "contractual agreement" between government and telecom operators to allot spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, a move that could hurt GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Raja also ruled out auctioning of spectrum saying this was not feasible based on previous experiences, especially in 1993 when operators were not able to fulfill their roll out obligations.
For the first time in nearly two years since the conditional access system (CAS) had been enforced in select areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the prices of pay channels have been revised by the broadcast regulator based on inflation.
State-owned Mahangar Telephone Nigam's (MTNL) ambitious drive to become a major player in the internet protocol TV (IPTV) services sector is facing a roadblock. IPTV is a technology that uses telephone lines to provide TV programming to viewers.
German insurance giant Allianz is planning to widen base in India with foray in banking business through its unit Dresdner Bank, besides expanding its existing non-banking financial services.
BJP has demanded a regulator for real estate sector to safeguard common man, in the upcoming Budget.
Trai contends that the issue does not come under the tribunal's jurisdiction.
Under the new provisions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made it mandatory for the broadcasters to offer their channels on a-la-carte basis (individual channels) and bouquets.
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the two major DTH companies, have sought compensation from the government for the upgrade of the existing DTH set-top boxes due to the mandatory upgrade proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
In the wake of recent submarine cable cuts that disrupted Internet and telephony services across the world, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is looking at putting in place a mechanism to ensure immediate restoration of lines in case of such incidents in the future.
The Indian Olympic Association obtained support from the Olympic Council of Asia "against the Government's interference" in their autonomy and functioning.
Trai has suggested abolition of ADC on private operators. This move will make telecom services more affordable.
The Telecom Commission, which is the highest decision making authority within the Department of Telecommunications, on Wednesday, accepted the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on full-fledged mobile number portability.
Under the revised proposal, the regulator would levy a penalty of Rs 500 from a telecom service provider for the first instance of non-compliance, and Rs 20,000 per call for repeated offences.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
National Housing Bank, the refinancing and regulatory authority of housing finance companies in India, is of the opinion that reverse mortgage would fall under the tax bracket unless the government clarifies on exempting reverse mortgage.
The Trai's move comes in the wake of sector tribunal Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal rejecting last month a plea by some private mobile firms.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that the government ensure and expedite availability of more Ku band transponders (which can be used for TV as well as data transmission) so that DTH companies can also offer broadband services.
Tells operators to modify ads on speeds they offer.
According to the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the total number of telephone connections reached 308.51 million at April-end compared to 300.51 million in March. India surpassed the US to to have the world's second largest wireless network in the world after China with the addition of 10.16 million wireless subscribers at March-end.
Firing yet another salvo at Narendra Modi government, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed it had diluted provisions of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill making the legislation pro-builders from being pro-buyers.
The government struck a cordial note with the GSM mobile lobby by agreeing on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) norms for spectrum allocation, a move described by rival CDMA player Reliance Communications (RCom) as "succumbing to pressure".
Merging tribunals may lead to administrative convenience, but pendency of cases is likely to increase