Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Voda Idea gets nod. Final decision will be taken by DoT.
The CAG report, tabled in Parliament, states the interest on the short payment stood at Rs 1,052.13 crore for the period up to March 2016.
it will allow users to retain their numbers even if they move from one state to another.
Saudi Aramco chairman and head of the Kingdom's cash-rich wealth fund PIF Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan will join the board of Reliance Industries Ltd as an independent director in a precursor to a $15 billion deal. Reliance chairman and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who had two years back disclosed the talks to sell a 20 per cent stake in the company's oil-to-chemical unit to Saudi Aramco, announced the appointment of Al-Rumayyan at the company's annual meeting of shareholders. Harvard educated Al-Rumayyan, 51, will replace Yogendra P Trivedi, 92, who has expressed a desire to retire, Ambani said. On the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, he said the deal is likely to conclude this year.
The new rules are aimed at providing a strong impetus to the industry and positioning India as one of the most competitive IT jurisdictions in the world.
CBI made the submission in its reply opposing the bail plea of former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura who was arrested with ex-Telecom Minister A Raja on February 2 for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Spectrum qualifies for the infrastructure criteria, say ministry officials.
The department had recently sent a tax reminder notice to the British telecom major.
The new licences will do away with different kinds of permits that are issued to telecom companies for offering various services.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The Union Cabinet has also approved 100 per cent FDI in the DTH broadcasting services sector, Javadekar said, adding that while the commerce ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the information and broadcasting ministry needed to be changed.
Filing an affidavit before the TDSAT, the department of telecommunication has requested the tribunal to dismiss the petition of telecom operators challenging the government directive to stop 3G roaming immediately.
Following is the chronology of the events in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which the prime accused and former Telecom Minister A Raja was on Tuesday granted bail:
A recent note based on the audit said telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular had demanded additional spectrum, based on subscriber-linked criteria for meeting the quality parameters of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India before the spectrum auction decision was taken.
Restoration of road and tele-communication network in the Kashmir Valley, ravaged by floods, will take three to five days. The Centre has directed free flow of transport via Manali and Leh to Srinagar, the only available surface network, a top central government official said on Monday.
The DoT has set up a committee for the issue of spectrum cap.
Long before he launched Paytm, Vijay Shankar Sharma, a 32 year old from Aligarh, embarked on his ambitious entrepreneurial journey.
Following is the chronology of events in the 2G scam.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in Uttarakhand and noted that rescue operations are underway to help the affected.
Temporary relief for Bharti, Vodafone and former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh
The regulator has recommended removing cross holding norms from licence conditions and linking them with spectrum holding.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch has pointed out that these firms pose a threat to domestic manufacturing and retailing as they do not pay relevant taxes such as GST, giving them a huge edge over local players.
The Telecom Ministry, which has sought a legal opinion on cancellation of some telecom licences for failure to meet roll-out deadlines, on Friday said the process of issuing notices over 35 licenses will be completed by March next year.
'He will conduct aerial surveys and take part in review meetings, where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed,' the PMO said in a tweet on Thursday night. Cyclone Amphan has left 72 people dead and thousands homeless in West Bengal, battering several parts of the state and washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas.
In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it.
Telcos in line of fire over call drops, inflated bills
Ahead of the coming auction of 2G telecom spectrum, the government has decided to allow all players to bid for all bands.
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.
People familiar with the proceedings said independent cybersecurity experts from a private consulting firm, technology lawyers, government officials and WhatsApp representatives were asked questions about the Pegasus spyware and the larger issues surrounding surveillance, hacking and remedial measures.
A barrage of requests by security agencies to a leading telecom company for telephone tapping led it to say a polite no even to the country's premier external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing.
Supreme Court had asked the government to issue RCom a NoC for spectrum sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm by December 9 if it furnishes a corporate guarantee of Rs 1,400 crore
Firms to pay Rs 24,700 cr if spectrum formula is accepted.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has sent a letter to the Pilibhit District Election Officer seeking necessary action against Bharatiya Janata Party MP.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja chose not to cross-examine today a key Central Bureau of Inmvestigation witness' testimony in the 2G spectrum case in a Delhi court saying he would wait till another accused to confront the witness.
'Considering that an Internet company's market value is largely determined by its direct access to consumers for digital services, and largely served outside a sovereign country's control, it would appear reasonable in trade terms to discuss fees for a seat at the proverbial 'table' of opportunities in the largest open consumer market,' argues Venki Nishtala.
The decision is likely to bring additional amount of about Rs 1,500 crore or Rs 15 billion (including interest) in the books of MTNL as refund from government for the pension that the PSU paid to its employees.
The proposal gains significance because the merger plan was given a quiet burial under former telecom minister A Raja.
The prime minister's office on Sunday dismissed suggestions that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought to look the other way in issuance of controversial 2G spectrum licenses and said suggestions had been made informally to the Department of Telecom to ensure that there was level-playing field between the existing operators and new entrants.
'We don't have any agenda in that, there will be no discrimination against anyone. Constitution will be Gita in that'
Newer telecom operators and dual technology entities are opposing the department of telecommunications (DoT)'s decision to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to give its view on whether the price of spectrum being offered in the coming 2G auction should be valid for 10 years instead of 20 years.