There have been more than 49,000 fire incidents in Mumbai in the last one decade, killing over 600 people, the Maharashtra government had told the assembly in November 2018.
At present, Indian indices are under-performing as compared to others and a package from the government can help cover the ground.
A consortium led by Delhi-based Vavasi group has sent feelers to China Mobile, the world's largest telecom company, for a possible joint bid for Zain Telecom, adding another element of complexity to the battle for the Kuwait-based company that involves India's two state-owned telecom service providers.
Says no evidence yet to incriminate Maran for coercion in Aircel-Maxis deal.
Jailed former Telecom Minister A Raja on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he would get Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram and the current Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal summoned as witnesses to prove that the government did not incur any loss in the 2G allocation.
But the road map of telecom will be decided by one thing: Whether Jio sticks to its ambitious plan and whether incumbents have enough financial muscle or ability to raise money every year to ensure that Jio does not reach its target, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
This marks the second billion-dollar investment by Silver Lake in a Reliance subsidiary after the $1.35 billion investment in Jio Platforms.
A Group of Ministers will consider a proposal to let BSNL and MTNL venture into cable TV and broadcasting services to help infuse life into the loss making companies.
The prime minister is likely to talk about its possible extension.
The government has sent show-cause notices to 5 telecom firms including Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices for alleged understatement of revenues of over Rs 10,000 crore.
One lakh gram panchayats are to be connected by underground Optical Fibre Cable by March this year under the first phase of BharatNet project, Minister P P Chaudhary said while replying to questions on behalf of Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha who was not present in the House.
Following are the names of some high-profile people who have been put behind the bars
The Central Bureau of Investigation will file this week its first chargesheet into the 2G spectrum scam against former telecom minister A Raja and some of his close aides besides a couple of real estate companies for allegedly defrauding the exchequer and entering into a criminal conspiracy in securing the telecom licenses.
"I have repeatedly said I have done no wrong. A case related to this had come up before the Supreme Court last year and was heard by a bench headed by CJI T S Thakur, who had remarked that this case was made out because of political reasons," Maran, who was telecom minister between 2004 and 2007, said.
Bharti Hexacom, a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and TCIL, offers mobile services in Rajasthan. Bharti owns a 70 per cent stake, while the remaining 30 per cent is held by state-run Telecom Consultants of India.
The service will cover areas where no network is available and will be provided by INMARSAT, which has 14 satellites.
"For me, it is like homecoming," said the 93-year-old who returned for the second time to the Congress which he had last left ahead of the 2017 assembly elections to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to sources, spectrum was available in the range of 50-60 MHz in nine states and was sufficient to accommodate all the new players as well as demand from the existing operators. However, in some important circles like Delhi, only one of the new players could get initial spectrum. Some of the existing players have objected to the move, saying allocation of spectrum at this juncture would be illegal as the matter is subjudice.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the recent showdown between telecom operator Airtel and the Research and Analysis Wing over tapping of certain phones
Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a new job creation scheme by giving subsidy to those establishments that make new hires. The subsidy would be to cover for retirement fund contributions by employees as well as employers for two years, she said. Employees contribution (12 per cent of wages) and employer's contribution (12 per cent of wages) totalling 24 per cent of wages would be given to establishments for two years, she said. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, every Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)-registered establishment taking new employees would get this subsidy.
Amazon has shot off yet another letter to market regulator Sebi, accusing Future Retail of insider trading and called for an investigation as the US online retailer looks to ratchet up pressure against the Future-RIL deal. Future Group, however, vehemently denied the charges, saying these allegations were "Amazon's ill-motivated attempts to throw everything at the situation to stultify the transaction."
China Development Bank takes Reliance Communications to NCLT over loan default
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday said India is a very special and important country with a remarkable entrepreneurship culture, as he sought to push deeper the just-launched payments services that allow users to make payments over WhatsApp. Last month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for rolling out its payments services in India. In 2018, WhatsApp started testing its UPI-based payments services in India -- a global first -- with about a million users.
Already with a presence in Kenya's telecom sector through a brand called 'Yu', Essar is looking to strengthening its foothold in the rapidly growing African market.
Bharti Airtel called the prices exorbitant while Vodafone Idea wants the auctions take place in 2020. The auctions need to happen when the infrastructure is ready for the roll out, be it in terms of fiberisation levels, or optimisation of equipment and software etc. Spending a hefty amount on a technology (airwaves) that at present offers limited returns is not going to be a priority for the incumbent telcos.
Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India was the approving authority.
Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL increase subscriber share while Idea manages to retain
After a temporary bar due to security concerns, the government has lifted ban on state-run telecom firm BSNL to procure equipment from Chinese vendors, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
In the wake of the 2G acquittals, here are a few high-profile cases in which question marks were raised by various courts over the CBI's probe.
Trai had asked the Attorney General for views on Jio's free voice and data offering till March 2017, that rivals have termed predatory.
Over 20 years, connectivity has massively expanded. But 50,000 villages have been left behind.
Fresh buying by domestic institutional investors and better-than-expected June quarter results from some blue-chip companies boosted investor sentiment
If it happens, this would mean the largest spectrum auction in terms of amount with over 7,000 Mhz going up for sale across eight bands
Regulators will need to allow the model to evolve to allow profits to flow, says Una Gulani.
In absence of drinking water and electricity during the mid-May summer, life in the coastal districts remained derailed even four days after the calamity.
At present, Tamil Nadu circle has maximum of 9,350 BTSs for 3G services, followed by Delhi with 8,405 BTSs.
'Defence funding is channelled to State-owned research organisations where scientists are merely bureaucrats holding meetings and sending out minutes of meetings and press releases, but have long ago stopped any innovative work.' 'Unless this tragedy is fixed, India's chances to create world-conquering and job-creating new industries are slim,' says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the two big state-controlled telecom companies, have written to the government asking that it bear the entire cost of the additional spectrum assigned to the two giants.
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