DoT's proposal to impact many, including Vodafone
13 companies have submitted more than 230 applications for telecom licences and most of these are for a pan-India UASL. DLF and Omaxe join other real estate firms Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech and Parsvnath Developers to apply for telecom licence.
All hell broke loose after the publication of the tapes, recorded by the Revenue Intelligence department between 2008-09, and the Opposition brought Parliament to a grinding halt demanding a certain probe.
Pointing out to the 133-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City on the outskirts of the financial capital, he said there is huge realty play opportunity that RCom's erstwhile corporate headquarters possesses, and pegged the potential value creation at the site at Rs 25,000 crore.
State-owned power company PowerGrid Corporation Limited has been awarded the national long distance (NLD) license by the department of telecom for its proposed foray into the telecom business.\n\n
Telecom operators will have to pay a penalty and immediately de-activate a pre-paid mobile connection if they fail to follow the new norms issued by the government to strengthen the subscriber verification system.
The government has issued an advisory to mobile operator Bharti Airtel to document properly all its telecom connections, including broadband.
The department of telecom will meet UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani on Sept 24 to discuss how the database of nearly 500 million telephone subscribers can be used for issuing the unique identification number.
Suggests ban in 20 states; operators fear price surge, European monopoly.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
Concerned over the alleged scam involving hundreds of crores in re-routing international calls, the Central Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into working of Reliance Infocomm and some other top private telecom operators.\n
Expressing concern over frequent internet shutdown without any empirical study, a parliamentary panel has pulled up the department of telecommunications for not maintaining the record of incidents and inaction on several of its recommendations.
Companies such as Tata Sons and Bharti Telecom, which are unlisted but have listed subsidiaries, may soon have to file periodic financial statements with the registrar of companies under the new provision of the Companies Act. The provision requires greater financial disclosures by a certain category of unlisted companies.
A slew of real estate companies, like DLF, Omaxe, BPTP and Avnija Properties (Dalmia Cement), and large corporations like telecom bigwig AT&T, Sterlite, Videocon, JSW Power, Hinduja's HTMT, Moser Baer Infrastructure, Ispat Industries Ltd and a Sam Pitroda-owned company are among the 25 companies whose applications will not be immediately processed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for awarding mobile licences.
To check digital frauds, the government has disconnected 70 lakh mobile numbers so far involved in cybercrime or financial frauds, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi said on Tuesday. Emerging from a meeting to discuss issues related to financial cyber security and increasing digital payment fraud, Joshi, who chaired the meeting, said banks have been asked to strengthen the system and processes in this regard. More such meetings would take place, he said, adding the next meeting is scheduled in January.
In a major development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has cleared applications of nine telecom aspirants and is close to issuing them Letters of Intent. This will be followed by issuance of universal access service licences and allocation of spectrum.
Telecom Secretary DS Mathur has told the finance ministry that a change in the entry fee that operators must pay for a telecom licence cannot be considered since the matter was approved by the Cabinet in October 2003. The letter, written late last month, was in response to a letter by Finance Secretary D Subbarao, who had requested the department of telecommunications to "stay" the issue of new licences and those for cross-over technology (from CDMA to GSM services).
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday found the overall level of service quality of basic (landline) telephony services to be 'poor.'
Bharti Airtel on Monday posted a 54 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,442.2 crore in the December quarter, mainly on account of growth in high value customers. Airtel prepaid mobile customers are required to pay at least Rs 155 for about a month-long service as the company had raised rates by 56 per cent in January 2023. Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal has indicated a need for further increase in mobile services rates.
Vodafone Idea on Monday paid Rs 2,500 crore to DoT and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week.
The Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) of the department of telecommunications (DoT) has traced 285,000 lost or stolen mobile phones and blocked 680,000 devices since being launched. However, recoveries remain relatively low at 20,771 devices. According to government estimates, around 50,000 mobile phones are stolen every month in the country. Launched nationwide on May 16, the CEIR is a part of the DoT's Sanchar Saathi portal. It is the primary government platform aimed at protecting mobile phone users from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices and banking frauds.
'Initially, I didn't think much of him. But when I walked alongside him, I realized he has what it takes.'
Indian family-run business houses have in recent years seen ugly public spats between owners over control. But metals-to-ports conglomerate Essar's Ruia family seems to be an exception. Three generations of the Ruia family - founder brother Shashi and Ravi Ruia, their children and grandchildren - continue to live under one roof and jointly run the business empire.
Globally, the focus has moved back to India, especially in terms of telecom assets. Vodafone Idea, with some 300 million customers, continues to be attractive with shares available at a low price.
The government has served showcause notices to various telecom firms for alleged under-reporting of revenues of over Rs 10,800 crore till November 2012, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
The department of telecommunication has so far considered applications for telecom licences that were received till September 25, 2007, and is yet to take a decision on those that came between September 25 and October 1. This had led to widespread speculation that the applications after September 26 would not be taken up at all and there would be a cap in that sense.
Affordability and broadband will be the two major factors that will help tap the remaining market.
National Commission concluded that false and baseless allegations had been made in the complaint to claim a highly exaggerated and atrocious amount of compensation.
TRAI may recommend the DoT to levy one-time non-refundable fee of Rs 50,000 per operator for each service area in which they opt for spectrum sharing.
This will be the first time BJP's prime ministerial candidate holds a discussion with IT, telecom czars.
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TC at its meeting here recommended to an Empowered Group of Ministers that reserve price for pan-India 1800 MHz spectrum be fixed 15 per cent higher than Trai suggested rates.
The Department of Telecommunications, which has been mandated to simplify the multifarious levies, would introduce the new regime in phases.
DoT plans to initiate move that might lower the revenues telcos share with government.
Reliance Jio has sent a second legal opinion to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the subject of the potential allocation of satellite spectrum. The letter is written by retired Supreme Court Justice L Nageshwara Rao and argues in favour of auctions, stating that any other method for allocating spectrum apart from auctions could be constitutionally unsound. Business Standard has reviewed the letter.
Seeks clarification on a few issues such as enhancement of entry fee and performance bank guarantee from telecom regulator
The documents include the Cabinet note on the policy prepared by DoT and papers related to the decision to clear the policy by the then Congress Cabinet.
