A three-member committee, members of which were not a part of BSNL's original tender evaluation committee, will submit its report by Monday for the board to evaluate.
If BSNL were to take the minister's advice, the public sector company may have to reconsider disqualification of US equipment supplier Motorola and its Chinese partner ZTE from the tender -- a quarter of which was for rolling out 3G lines.
There are three private mobile phone service providers in the region, namely, Reliance Telecom, Airtel and AirCel besides Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
Sandwiched between employees' threat of a strike and telecom minister A Raja's insistence to renegotiate the GSM expansion deal, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said on Friday it hopes to find a solution soon for ending the impasse.
Five persons were injured, three of them seriously, when a bomb went off near the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited office at Bora Service locality in the heart of Guwahati at about 8.15 pm on Wednesday.
In a setback to the telecom regulator, the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has barred TRAI from intervening in any dispute arising between two operators on the terms and conditions of interconnection.
BSNL started rolling out 3G services in north and east zones in February 2009, gradually expanding it to 113 cities. It had garnered a total subscriber base of 10,733 during the first four months itself. Initially, there was less coverage in the cities. That was gradually improved to cover entire cities. Also, at the time of the launch, only four services were available -- video calling, video conferencing, mobile TV and mobile broadband.
Whatever the figure, it is obvious that the IPO will now have to be put on the backburner, after the company's disastrous results. The estimates are that when the company finally declares its accounts for 2008-09, it will be left with a profit of a few hundred crore rupees, down from over Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) in the previous year (and that was less than half that in the year before).
"Private players are going only in those areas where there is a big market, whereas rural areas are by and large connected by BSNL. We are adding 20 million new lines this year to cover maximum foot print," minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot said during the Question Hour.
Being the only universal service provider in uneconomic areas, the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has sought exemption from contributing to the dedicated fund saying it should be reimbursed directly on the basis of cost incurred.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday said it would take a decision next week on cellular operators' complaint against Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's latest international and STD tariffs.
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The rift between state-owned telecom services provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and the telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India over reducing access deficit charge is likely to benefit consumers.
The Delhi high court on Thursday extended its interim stay on award of contract by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for its Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) project, to add 45 million lines in its GSM network till February 12.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday announced international roaming on its cellphone services and slashed SMS charges for its post-paid cellular subscribers to 40 paise per message from the existing 60 paise.
Indiagames, a provider of online and mobile games, has signed a deal with Bharat Sanchar Nigam to offer its online 'games on demand' service.
India has recorded the fastest growth in mobile telephony in the world with as many as 13 lakh cellular additions every month, Minister for Communications and IT Arun Shourie said on Friday.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has proposed to introduce eight-digit numbering for telephone connections in Bangalore urban area shortly, top officials said on Friday.
With an aim to provide cheap connectivity to students, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday announced a new basic telephone tariff scheme for students to access Internet with a monthly rental of Rs 99 and a usage charge of 60 paise per three minutes.
Mobile phone services in the Kashmir valley have been cut off since Monday night owing to a technical snag in the system caused by incessant rains, snowfall in some areas and shortage in electricity supply.
India's public sector telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd plans to roll out triple play broadband services by January 2007, starting with the cities of Pune and Chennai.
Public sector telecom major, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), is all set to launch its 3G operations in 700 cities across north and east India by June and east India by June and in the south by July, a senior company official said.
Close on the heels of the announcement of revised interconnect usage charges by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd said on Monday that it will have a "relook" at all tariff structures
Delhi high court had last week stayed BSNL to award the contract till the next hearing, but had allowed the public sector company to continue with the evaluation process.
State-owned telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday said it has slashed its local and STD rates by 50 per cent allowing rural users to make calls at 40 paise per minute.
The Association of Basic Telecom Operators has asked the telecom regulator to make access deficit charge available to all private basic operators for sustainability of fixed line business.
Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Group garnered the largest subscriber base of 37.50 lakh (3.75 million), followed by BSNL and Hutchison Group.\n
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on Thursday said it had set a target of rolling out one crore (10 million) mobile telephone connections in the country for which work would begin from April next year.\n\n
The Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday signed a memorandum of collaboration with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to cross-sell their products and services.
Communication minister Arun Shourie on Monday apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of latest developments in the telecom sector including tariff revision, the issue which rocked the Parliament last week.
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