The government is looking at a time frame within the first two weeks of July to kick off and complete the upcoming 5G auctions, according to discussions between officials and stakeholders. It is expected that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will give its recommendations on the base price by March, after which the necessary cabinet clearances will be given. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier looked at undertaking the auction in the first quarter of 2022 but decided to push it back. Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had also said that the auctions are likely to take place in April-May.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has bluntly told the government there is no reason for its members to roll out 5G networks as they will be unviable if 'captive private wireless networks' are allowed to be run by enterprises. The COAI, which has Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea as its key members, has written to Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw saying there is 'no business case for the roll out of 5G networks'. Permitting such captive networks will 'diminish the revenue so much that there will be no viable business case left for the telecom service providers and there will not remain any need for 5G network roll out by telecom service providers (TSPs)'.
Sony India on Thursday declared a 20 per cent sales growth for the year ended March 31, 2004, and said it plans to launch VAIO personal computers in India over the next few months.
Global mobile phone majors Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and others are offering a slew of products including touchscreen and music capable handsets in India to counter the might of Apple's iPhone, which is expected to hit the markets in September.
BSNL would have accounted for revenues of $250 million this year.
Govt likely to make security clearance mandatory for telcos irrespective of equity holding before giving licences; DoT members to meet today.
Almost 90 per cent of companies that started their captive operations (set up to provide internal services and in some cases sell them to clients) in India in the last 18 months are operating with less than 300 people each.
While moving towards the new technology is compelling and inevitable, powering 5G would also mean massive initial investments for telcos, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
Across the world, there are around 150 trials on 5G currently going on and India has lagged behind. The government has now formed a committee which will look exclusively at developing a model for conducting 5G field trials, reports Kiran Rathee.
After Sheryl Sandberg, it's now the turn of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to visit India, the second biggest market for the social networking giant, later this month.
The apex court has settled the long-pending dispute between companies such as Samsung, IBM, HP & others and the tax department.
The government is engaged in talks with telecom firms for a launch of commercial 5G services in some cities by Independence Day and has assured them that spectrum auction will take place in April-May, providing them a three to four-month window for the rollout. A top executive of a leading telecom gear company said the deadline was feasible in some cases. "It can be achieved in some cities as it will take us 4-6 weeks to deploy a network, once the equipment or components have reached India.
The announcement quells fears among some telcos that Chinese players might be banned from participating in 5G trials and roll outs.
Swiss-based Sauber have parted company with principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a Formula One outfit, the team's owners said.
Just a few weeks ago, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw did some tough talking with the senior managers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the ailing state-owned telecom service provider. The message was clear: They had to perform, quit by taking the voluntary retirement package or be compulsorily retired from service. The terse message from an otherwise polite and soft-spoken minister came just days after he announced a second and bigger package of Rs 1.64 trillion as part of a four-year turnaround plan for BSNL.
'The workers's dance of wilful destruction has the potential to kill all investments planned in India by any foreign entity,' argues Dr Sudhir Bisht.
While the government has not barred procurement of equipment from Chinese companies, the process to amend the general financial rules (GFR) 2017 has started. This will impose restrictions on bidders in public procurement from countries that share a land border with India, reports Megha Manchanda.
The move comes against the backdrop of the US and some of its allies banning the purchase of Chinese telecom gear over security concerns and pressuring other countries to follow suit.
French driver Esteban Ocon will race for Force Indianext season after agreeing a multi-year deal, the Silverstone-based Formula One team said in a statement at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Thursday. Ocon replaces experienced German Nico Hulkenberg, who is moving to Renault, alongside Mexican Sergio Perez at a team co-owned by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya and currently fourth in the championship. The 20-year-old is contracted long-term to Mercedes, Force India's engine provider, and made his debut this year with the lowly Manor team as a mid-season replacement for Indonesian Rio Haryanto.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has expressed hope that the government and regulators will step in to ensure the sector remains a viable place for continued investments and asserted that the industry requires "long overdue" support to maintain its current 3+1 structure. In the latest annual report of Airtel, Mittal said as the sector's role in the economy becomes more pervasive, its challenges loom larger. Issues such as unsustainable pricing and low returns in a highly capital-intensive environment, coupled with legacy legal issues, "have extracted their toll", Mittal observed.
A year after Bharti Airtel launched 4G services, there are only 6.5 mn users in the country
Electronics and white goods manufacturers such as Videocon, Spice, Usha and Mirc Electronics have begun engaging the services of Independent design houses to take on the likes of global giants including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and LG in the mobile handset space. An IDH conducts research and development and designs handsets to enable Indian telcos launch their own mobile handset brands. It takes an upfront one-time fee for the purpose.
Sources said about hundreds of companies, including Facebook and Amazon, could seek tax refund because they import software for sale in India.
The prospect of a depleted Australia team struggling on home pitches against India in the coming summer could add further heat from broadcasters
While Nokia remains the clear number one, the number two and three positions are seeing the real strategising.
Jio and Ericsson tested the limits of 5G by demonstrating multi-gigabit speeds and super-low latency capabilities that are making new offerings such as remote control of machines and 360-degree 4K video streaming.
Global giants Nokia, Sony and Ericsson were among 11 multinational corporations, whose Indian operations were found guilty of violating foreign exchange regulation by an Appellete Tribunal.
He said that the whole world being robbed of creativity and ideas because so many people in India are not online.
Under these rules, telecom gear makers have to share their source codes and get their equipment tested by third-party labs accredited to the government.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix (listed in championship order):
Just to promote govt's policy of Make in India, BSNL said, it cannot afford to procure sub-standard equipment from inexperienced companies, not having proven technology. BSNL complained that when competitors were procuring world-class 4G equipment from experienced vendors, why should BSNL be compelled to procure locally.
As an initial step, Internet.org and Unilever will carry out a comprehensive study to examine the opportunities to increase internet adoption in rural communities.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8, the Facebook-owned company said.
He, however, seemed to indicate that he did give a personal guarantee to India's largest lender SBI, which has moved the NCLT to recover Rs 1,200 crore.
Despite starting from the back of the grid, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez collected seven points for Sahara Force India from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne on Sunday.
