The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has prepared an internal note that suggests reversing spectrum allocation norms by giving new applicants for telecom licences preference in spectrum due to be released by the defence forces early next year.
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.
Members of COAI, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Idea Cellular and others met in New Delhi and decided to go ahead with filing of the affidavit in TDSAT against the Telecom Engineering Centre's report. COAI has also questioned the government's move to allocate spectrum to two telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL -- saying they have been given frequency out of turn as many other players have been waiting to get spectrum for months and even years now.
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.
TEC, the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, is planning to recommend a steep increase in spectrum usage charges for GSM mobile service providers that seek additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz and raised the bar on access.
TEC, the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, is planning to recommend a steep increase in spectrum usage charges for GSM mobile service providers that seek additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz and raised the bar on access.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal will hear the petition, asking for a stay against the government order permitting crossover allotment, on Wednesday. In its petition, the COAI has said the DoT's decision has been taken with 'unseemly' haste to benefit a few operators that have made a 'backdoor entry' on the basis of 'invalid applications' given in February 2006.
The petition filed by a host of GSM operators along with COAI also sought quashing of department of telecommunication's decision, dated October 19, to allow enhanced subscriber-linked criterion for spectrum allocation. They also sought non-implementation of these decisions terming them unfair, unjust, illegal, arbitrary and violative of level-playing field and principles of natural justice.
"As the existing licensees have already made huge investments in the infrastructure and their systems are in place, therefore, they will be in a better position to deliver 3G services efficiently at low incremental cost," Trai said in its views on permitting new entity for 3G Services.
The telecom department has sent a letter of intent to NM Rothschild.
All operators would have to shift to NGN networks in near future. NGN is a single network of services and infrastructure functioning over an Internet Protocol network. This digital mode is superior to the existing network.
Research-in-Motion, the Canada-based provider of Blackberry services, has assured Indian operators that it has come up with a solution to the contentious issue of allowing government security agencies to monitor the service without compromising data security.
Sam Pitroda-backed Vavasi Telegence's request for unused radio frequency to be allotted to launch mobile services across the country is unlikely to be met by the department of telecommunication because it said international technology specifications for this wireless technology do not exist. Instead, DoT is considering the option of allotting the company spectrum in the 400 to 430 MHz band, radio frequencies that are currently not used for mobile services in India.
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.
DoT is asking the public to help to check illegal routing of international calls, which is causing the dept a loss of Rs 5000 cr.
Also looks at creating a level-playing field for GSM and CDMA players.
In a move that will not augur well for companies which have been awarded 2G licences recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has rejected proposals by new telecom entrants for a relaxation of rollout obligations.
Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday the government has alloted additional spectrum to the company in five telecom circles in the country. The five circles are West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (west), Assam and Haryana.
Official sources said Verizon's license application was under process and "there should be no problem in issuing them letters of intent for national and international long distance (NLD/ILD) business".
The department of telecommunications has raised questions about the merger between Idea Cellular and Spice Telecom violating key clauses on intra-circle merger and mobile licence conditions.
According to sources, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of IT have supported the reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore (Rs 20.2 billion) as was originally recommended by DoT. Last week, the finance ministry had asked the DoT to double the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum.
Tata Teleservices spokesperson confirmed the development, and said: "We have written to theDoT seeking clarity on the issue."
The issue of spectrum allocation has become murkier, with the Association of United Service Providers of India (Auspi) -- the CDMA operators' body -- slamming the move by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to allocate additional spectrum to existing private GSM operators.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has finalised the long-awaited policy for 3G services that will permit new international telecom firms with experience in this arena to bid for a licence.
The Department of Telecommunications is set to issue guidelines for telemarketers in order to check unsolicited commercial calls.
In a move that will result in further snowballing of the spectrum issue, British telecom major Vodafone has termed the Reliance Communications' (RCom) allegations "as false and inconsistent with the facts".
The Department of Telecommunication and mobile service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications failed to reach a consensus on the spectrum issue during a meeting held on Wednesday. According to sources, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani raised the issue of extra spectrum being held by GSM operators. He asked how over 6.2 MHz of radio waves have been given to GSM players beyond their contractual agreement.
It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid.
The Department of Telecommunications has called a meeting of the heads of all leading telecom companies offering GSM technology services on November 21 to resolve contentious issues that have arisen following recent changes in telecom policy.
Deliberations by the government is being carried out to keep cost and charges at a level so as not to discourage subscribers willing to change their service provider, an optional facility, and at the same time make the service providers a viable business model. The charge is directly linked to the number of subscribers, who would seek the change in service provider out of the total mobile user base of about 400 million.
In a major bonanza to over 37.5 million mobile customers, the Department of Telecommunications announced the introduction of 'number portability' in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura is learnt to have made a request to the Prime Minister's Office to convene a meeting that will include PMO, DoT, telecom regulator TRAI and finance secretary to resolve the controversy over spectrum allocation and pricing. He said the department is in dialogue with the ministry of finance regarding certain issues relating to guidelines for auction of 3G spectrum and pricing of 2G spectrum.
GSM service provider Idea Cellular will invest an additional $400 million (Rs 1,600 crore) for rolling out telecom services in four new circles - Mumbai, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Orissa - for which it has received spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has significantly tightened the noose on mergers among telecom operators within a circle by imposing a three-year lock-in period, besides making it mandatory for them to take prior permission from the ministry.
Going by application dates, companies like Spice, Birla-promoted Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (through Swan and Cheetah) and Hindustan Futuristic are in the lead for licences in different circles. The only new player in the list is the little-known ByCell.Several incumbents like Idea Cellular, Maxis-Aircell, owned by a Malaysian promoter, and Vodafone-Essar lead the list of applicants for initial spectrum allocation since they already hold licences.
The rush to enter the world's fastest-growing mobile services market has attracted a wide range of applicants for telecom licences with the Department of Telecommunications.
The Department of Telecommunications is considering a proposal to allocate spectrum, the radio frequencies that enable wireless communications, for third-generation or 3G services to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd ahead of other operators. The move is expected to frustrate private players since this will give BSNL and MTNL a head-start in rolling out high-value 3G services that offer video calls, music downloads and games.
The Department of Telecommunications has received 21 bids from telecom operators and infrastructure service providers for the Rs 2,395 crore (Rs 23.95 billion) rural telephony project.
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