The proposal gains significance because the merger plan was given a quiet burial under former telecom minister A Raja.
Bharti Global is planning to put up more satellites and has set a stiff deadline to launch commercial Internet services by October in the UK, Alaska, northern Russia and northern Europe.
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.
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.
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.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia asked the company to file its representation before the IT department.
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.
RIM says it cannot provide access to the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution as it does not possess any key and the security architecture is the same around the world.
In the aviation sector, 100 per cent FDI is allowed under automatic route for MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul), ground handling, and aircraft purchase.
The income tax department has moved the Supreme Court stating that private telecom service providers are liable to deduct tax at source for the payments made to state-owned BSNL and MTNL for inter-connectivity.
Delhi High Court says it can do so under the TRAI Act, rejects petitions filed by telecom associations.
The minister said the companies have given representation which is being examined by the DoT before taking a final decision.
To young professionals I would say, work hard, play hard and not be constrained by fads like WLB, says Sudhir Bisht.
UK-based Cairn Energy PLC on Tuesday said it will drop litigations to seize Indian properties in countries ranging from France to the US, within a couple of days of getting a USD 1 billion refund resulting from the scrapping of a retrospective tax law.
Handset firms Karbonn and Lava International launched their smartphones, while Maxx Mobiles introduced its feature phone targetted at the rural market.
Vodafone Idea, the country's third largest telecom operator, on Wednesday reported a staggering Rs 73,878 crore of net loss in fiscal ended March 2020 -- the highest ever by any Indian firm -- after it provisioned for Supreme Court-mandated statutory dues. The firm, which has to pay Rs 51,400 crore dues after the apex court ordered the non-telecom revenues to be included in calculating statutory dues, said the liability has "cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern".
The government will send notices to 85 companies asking why their licences should not be cancelled for suppressing facts, said Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday.
Terming unsolicited calls by the telemarketers as a "menace", Minister of State for Telecom Sachin Pilot said the government will soon put a complete curb on such calls and SMSes.
Former Telecom Secretary D S Mathur on Tuesday told a Delhi court that he did not find the Department of Telecom officially processing some key letters on the 2G spectrum allocation issue, exchanged between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and erstwhile Telecom Minister A Raja.
Reliance Industries, which holds pan-India 4G telecom spectrum for data services, has applied for a licence to offer mobile telephony.
In a relief to the incumbent telecom operators, who have more than 6.2 MHz spectrum, the department of telecom (DoT) on Friday clarified the retrospective fee on spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz would be calculated based on the 2001 auction price, indexed to the prime lending rate (PLR) of a state-owned bank.
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 government may be waiting for the outcome of an arbitration initiated against its levy of Rs 10,247 crore retrospective tax on UK's Cairn Energy Plc before deciding on appealing against losing a tax case against Vodafone Group, sources said. An international arbitral tribunal is expected to give a decree within next few days on Cairn Energy Plc's challenge to the Indian government seeking Rs 10,247 crore in retrospective taxes. If the arbitration award in the Cairn cases goes against India, the government has to pay the British firm over Rs 7,600 crore to reverse the dividend and tax refund it had ceased and shares it sold to recover part of the tax demand.
The Government had earlier asked the operators to take security clearance before buying any key telecom gear.
'Uddhav has told the cops to crack down hard on the MNS agitation if MNS activists try to vitiate the communal harmony in the state.'
Mobile subscribers from May 3 will be able to port their numbers anywhere in the country.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
Earlier, the Telecom Commission, a decision-making arm of the Telecom Ministry, had recommended that the government pick up a majority stake in the special purpose vehicle created to execute the sale of surplus land lying with VSNL (now Tata Communications).
Long before he launched Paytm, Vijay Shankar Sharma, a 32 year old from Aligarh, embarked on his ambitious entrepreneurial journey.
An internal committee of Department of Telecom had alleged that Bharti Airtel had continued to route national and international calls as local calls under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003.
DoT officials, under fear of allegation of their conniving with telecom operators for lowering penalty, directly impose the maximum penalty that can be levied on service providers.
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
The IT department had issued a tax assessment order in December 2011 asking Vodafone to add Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) to its taxable income, thus raising the tax liability of the company.
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.
The Telecom Ministry on Monday said its technical team is testing the solution of interception given by smartphone BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and is expecting a report by end of October.
DoT has sought "necessary details" from the Finance Ministry to take action in this regard.
Telcos demanding OTT players to come under some sort of regulation as they are eating into their SMS and voice revenues.
'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.
Department of Telecom had sought the legal opinion of the matter from the government's counsel.
