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 looking for a speedy roll out of Wi-Fi services at select public places in top 25 cities with population of over 10 lakh by June 2015.
Telecom department says spectrum can't be used as collateral because it's government property
Small cells improve coverage in areas where traffic is high.
After BlackBerry, the government has included a whole host of services, including video chats offered by telecom players, Nokia's push email service and Skype, into the ambit of security issues.
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.
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.
Modelled loosely around the National Highway System of the US, he in 2001 launched the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South & East-West Corridor projects to build 4/6 lane highways between four top metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata as well as from Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Porbandar to Silchar.
Concerned over mobile signals crossing the international border, the department of telecom is planning to take action against telecom operators
Instructions of the personal secretary to the minister were taken as instructions of the minister himself.
A total of 16 secretaries have been appointed to various central government departments.
Two of the three youths killed in an encounter with security forces in the Parimpora area of Srinagar were 'radically inclined' and working as overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) terror outfit, police said on Friday and added that the case was being investigated.
The Apex Court has asked the minister and the two agencies to respond to the notice within the next ten days.
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.
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.
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.
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.
India has challenged in a Singapore court a verdict of an international arbitration tribunal that overturned its demand for Rs 22,100 crore in back taxes from Vodafone Group Plc, sources said on Thursday. An international arbitration court had on September 25 rejected tax authorities' demand for Rs 22,100 crore in back taxes and penalties relating to the British telecom giant's 2007 acquisition of an Indian operator. Two sources privy to the development said India had 90 days to file an appeal against the tribunal award, and the same was done in a Singapore court earlier this week.
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.
There are nine mobile operators, including the big six that would bid for the 3-4 slots on offer.
The move would allow mobile operators with relatively less number of subscribers to share spectrum with other players.
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.
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.
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.
With the green cover gone, the bald roads to Puri are now reigned by lorries laden with electric poles, ambulances, fire service vehicles and cranes, signalling the rebuilding effort is in the works.
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.
Telecom operators have cited shutting down of mobile towers and lack of spectrum, as the major reasons for call drops
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 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.
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.
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.
He allegedly advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.
The government announced a Rs 1000-crore (Rs 10-billion) project to convert wireless operations of defence services on Optical Fibre Cable, a move that is estimated to release 45 MHz of spectrum.
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.
The storm is likely to impact Mumbai, Thane and other coastal districts of Maharashtra like Raigad and Palghar along with Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bhavnagar and Bharuch districts of Gujarat and Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Preparations for the impending cyclone were discussed at a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, a home ministry statement said.
