A day ahead of the interim Budget, India slashed import duty on spare parts, like battery cover, lens and SIM socket, used in mobile phone manufacturing to 10 per cent, from 15 per cent. The duty cut is aimed at boosting local production and exports, as well as reducing prices in local markets. The finance ministry on January 30, notified the cut in duty on all goods for use in manufacture of cellular mobile phones to 10 per cent.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday announced reduction in the national mobile phone roaming charges, but said there will be no free national roaming as of now.
Far from benefitting consumers, the new rules on roaming charges have opened another front in the battle between large and small operators.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday issued an addendum to its consultation paper on unified license regime and said it was ready to consider all suggestions in this regard.\n\n
Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has rolled out unlimited data offer for 5G users in 4G plans starting from Rs 239 onward. The move from the telecom operator comes to match its rival Jio, which is offering unlimited 5G data access during the beta trials during the network rollout. "This introductory offer is in line with the philosophy of wanting our customers to be able to surf, stream, chat and enjoy multiple benefits at blazing speeds without having to worry about data limits. We hope our customers enjoy the power of world-class Airtel 5G Plus," Bharti Airtel, director consumer business, Shashwat Sharma said in a statement.
Rajasthan, Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura among states that will set up an institute each.
US President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American lawyer and telecom policy expert Ajit Varadaraj Pai, who belongs to Republican party, as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the country's premier regulatory body.
The department of telecom has rejected any suggestion to put 74 per cent foreign direct investment under the automatic route saying it is not feasible on account of national interest.
DoT though failed to implement TRAI's recommendations to levy spectrum usage charge
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the biggest loser from the Sensex pack, skidding 1.83 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank and Nestle. In contrast, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan, Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC and ITC were the gainers.
The government on Wednesday said foreign direct investment in IT and telecom sector is expected to go up by more than 100 per cent in 2006.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Friday came out with a revised subscriber-linked policy for spectrum allocation to GSM operators, which is in line with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Dayanadhi Maran, the new IT and telecommunications minister, also announced a 10-point agenda, including revamping the telecom policy, to reduce the cost to customers.
Huawei, the other big Chinese vendor, is yet to decide on the issue.
The Home Ministry had asked the department of telecommunication to ensure access to all encrypted data, including that of international players such as Blackberry, Skype and even Gmail.
Despite the lack of policy and clear allotment of spectrum, the domestic telecom industry is all set to usher in 3G services with service and equipment providers readying infrastructure.
Contrary to recommendations in the draft of the New Telecom Policy prepared by it, the Department of Telecom is not in favour of number portability
It is assumed that the growing worry over slowing down of economic growth had prompted the government to act.
India may be 15th among the top 25 Artificial Intelligence nations, but it has the 'the greatest upward potential' according to research by Tufts University's business school, the Fletcher School. At the top is the US, followed by China, fighting for global leadership in AI followed by the UK, Japan, and Germany. In the 15th spot, India is ahead of Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia and Thailand.
An IAS officer, who is suspected to have leaked information about government's telecom policies to corporate houses, is yet to be placed under arrest, a day after the police raided his house and office. Investigators say that Ravi Inder Singh may not have been alone in the 'conspiracy' with several officials of different government agencies being placed under the scanner.
'At a time when massive strides are being made in bringing 5G technology to India, and with TSPs ramping up their infrastructure, it is unacceptable that a large number of complaints over quality issues continue to come in, even from major urban areas.'
The Delhi Police, in a first information report (FIR) filed under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) following allegations against news portal NewsClick, has alleged that a large amount of funds came from China in order to disrupt India's sovereignty and cause disaffection against the country.
Vodafone India MD & CEO Marten Pieters, 59, blames regulation and the spectrum policy for the telecom industry's troubles.
The government on Thursday announced a new broadband policy and as expected has not accepted Telecom Regulatory Authority's proposal for unbundling the last mile link.
The government is planning to merge Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with the loss-making state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) this month, a senior official has said. BSNL chairman and managing director PK Purwar at a recent event organised by the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom officers Association (AIGETOA) said that the government is giving the telecom firm an opportunity for a turnaround. "The government has taken a policy decision that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. "This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level is going to come to BSNL," Purwar said at the All India Conference of AIGETOA on March 13.
Several of the proposals may be part of New Telecom Policy.
'Our mandate is to work in a transparent manner, keeping two objectives in mind - consumer interest and growth of the telecom sector.'
The recommendations on the subject will be sent in due course to the government, according to an internal communication of DoT
Surprisingly, RIL scrip also fell by 2.73 per cent to 1,029.15, becoming the second biggest loser in the index
The officials said that the recently developed SH-15, a 155 mm truck-mounted howitzer gun, has also been spotted at some places along the Line of Control after it was displayed on Pakistan Day last year.
The long-awaited high-speed 5G services are expected to be rolled out in about a month, Minister of State for Telecom Devusinh Chauhan said on Monday. Addressing the inaugural event of the International Telecommunication Union's Regional Standardisation Forum (RSF) for Asia and Oceania region, Chauhan said India is likely to deploy indigenously developed and manufactured 5G telecom gears by end of this year for 5G services. "In about a month, 5G mobile services will roll out in the country, which will have multiplier effects on the development of all sectors.
While the draft M&A policy for the telecom sector has been revised a few times over the past few months, DoT has not made any major changes to guidelines.
The demand for white-collar gig roles saw an 11 per cent uptick year-on-year in March, amid muted hiring across industries due to global headwinds and job cuts, according to a recent report. The month saw white-collar hiring in India rise 2 per cent in terms of job posting activity compared to the same period the previous year, according to the report by staffing portal foundit.in (formerly Monster APAC and ME). Sectors such as retail, telecom, and Travel and Tourism saw the biggest growth in demand on an annual basis.
In 2011-12, 2010-11 and 2009-10, the sector attracted FDI worth $1.99 billion, $1.66 billion and $2.55 billion respectively.
Dixon Technologies right now is a beehive of activity. It is building a new facility in Noida to make 1.3 million laptops for Taiwanese PC maker Acer. The facility must be up and running in four months. The pace of activity will only increase. Last week Dixon won a similar contract from Lenovo, the Chinese personal computer maker and the third largest information technology (IT) hardware brand in India, to assemble laptops and notebooks. Though the clientele in these two cases is Taiwanese and Chinese, Dixon is a company reaching for the stars with its feet planted firmly in the Indian government's policy.
