Instructions of the personal secretary to the minister were taken as instructions of the minister himself.
The income tax department has slapped a Rs 1,067-crore (Rs 10.67 billion) demand notice on telecom giant Bharti Airtel for alleged non-payment of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) dues in the past four financial years in connection with its operations abroad.
FinMin had, recently, notified changes in FDI rules that made prior approval of the government mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share a land border with India. Hong Kong was ranked 14th on the list of countries with FDI flows to India, contributing $4.2 billion between April 2000 and December 2019, the data from DPIIT shows. India received FDI worth $2.34 billion from China in the same period.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini adjourned today's proceedings after advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for Mittal, said the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear in March the separate pleas filed by Mittal and Ruia challenging the March 19, 2013 order of the trial court summoning them as accused in the case.
The much-awaited auction for 3G spectrum has begun. Top telecom operators including Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, RCom and Tatas are in the fray.
The government is understood to have decided to issue letters of intent to all applicants seeking permission to start telecom services and is expecting that at least six companies will convert them into pan-India licences after submitting over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) as initial licence fee.
The spectrum tangle has also resulted in the fall of telecom share prices as investor confidence was eroded after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decided to permit CDMA (Code division multiple access) players operate GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) services in their existing circles.
Telecom operators Vodafone and Idea Cellular on Monday said they will resume 3G services in circles where they don't have spectrum through intra-circle roaming (ICR) pacts with other operators.
Vodafone had contended in its plea that DoT instead of signing and executing the ULs had at the last moment informed them that their request for deletion of 'restrictive' clauses in licence pertaining to roaming cannot be accepted.
Telecom operators have cited shutting down of mobile towers and lack of spectrum, as the major reasons for call drops
S Tel, a joint venture between Chennai-based Siva Group and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), has been directed to immediately stop its mobile services in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, citing national security concerns.
The Apex Court has asked the minister and the two agencies to respond to the notice within the next ten days.
Foreign Direct Investment into the country declined by about 38 per cent, year-on-year, to $2.91 billion in September, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
He allegedly advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.
Despite getting lukewarm response from the earlier two auctions, the government on Monday said it is confident of meeting the revenue target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) from spectrum sale this fiscal.
Concerned over mobile signals crossing the international border, the department of telecom is planning to take action against telecom operators
In a major setback to the leading telecom giant, telecom tribunal TDSAT on Wednesday dismissed Bharti's petition for refund of Rs 135 crore (Rs 1.35 billion) paid by it as licence fees for entry into basic services prior to the new uniform licencing
Hit hard by the rising number of illegal telecom exchanges and unauthenticated mobile customer base, Department of Telecom is considering amending the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 to include stringent penalties of up to Rs 5 crore.
The Department of Commerce alleged that Huawei was engaged in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interest.
The Income Tax Department has slapped a Rs 1,067-crore demand notice on telecom giant Bharti Airtel for non-payment of TDS dues in the last four financial years in connection with its overseas operations, even as the company said it was fully compliant with all the provisions.
There are nine mobile operators, including the big six that would bid for the 3-4 slots on offer.
Even the CBI has filed a case against some unknown officials of the DoT for conniving with private companies for manipulation of licence terms and conditions.
Earlier this month, the department of telecommunication had said that MNP that will allow users to switch providers without changing their phone number was likely to be launched by June 30, 2010.
A bigger problem is that there is no clear definition of "call drops".
The sharing agreement will provide more bandwidth for RJIL to provide its high-speed 4G services.
Public sector companies and some government departments have come in for severe criticism in the India Infrastructure Report 2003. The report says the inefficiencies of PSUs have provided private firms with a huge pricing advantage.
The move would allow mobile operators with relatively less number of subscribers to share spectrum with other players.
Dismantling a legacy of United Progressive Alliance rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has abolished all the 30 GoMs and EGoMs and told ministries and departments to take decisions on pending matters.
A senior Department of Telecom official said the proposal is there and a committee had suggested this. But he added that nothing has been finalised yet, therefore, no direction has been sent to the operators.
The telecom ministry has asked mobile operators to disconnect mobile phones without the IMEI number from December 1.
The Congress on Friday indicated that it will not seek any action against Telecom Minister A Raja after raids on the office of Department of Telecom (DoT) in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum to new players, saying the FIR only named officials.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to reject the telecom regulator's proposal to charge operators holding excess spectrum at a rate determined on the basis of the ongoing 3G bids.
Telecom Secretary J S Deepak has resolved the toughest issues facing the sector, but his real test will be in delivering on the govt's Digital India dream
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
The department, according to officials, has reportedly traced instances of tax evasion by various Telecom firms that have been named by the CBI and the ED in their charge sheets.
The department of telecommunication has decided that the existing variable licence fee structure for telecom operators should be replaced with a uniform one. An departmental note suggests a uniform licence fee of 8.5 per cent for all types of services.
The DoT is conducting a special audit on companies that have multiple licences -- mobile, international long distance, domestic long distance and internet service provider among others. Contractor, Nayak & Kishnadwala has been appointed to examine the books of Bharti Airtel, while S K Mehta & Co will check Vodafone-Essar's accounts. Varma & Varma has been appointed as auditors for Tata Teleservices, while Chhajed & Doshi will examine the books of Idea Cellular.
Spectrum trading will happen in 9 circles.
The operator was directed to pay the spectrum charges based on the combined GSM and CDMA spectrum allocated, which otherwise were to be charged separately, it argued.
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