The bidding for the airwaves is scheduled to start from November 12.
Telecom Commission says refarm all spectrum in 900-MHz band to 1,800-MHz band operators.
They should keep themselves out of the race for the time being and wait for a better time, suggests a recent report by research firm Strategy Analytics. Foreign operators like AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, NTT Docomo and others who have been eyeing the domestic market for a long time now finally got a chance to enter world's fastest growing telecom market but looking at the current 3G auction policy, it is advisable for them not to participate in the race, it said.
After penalising new operators for not rolling out services on time, the Telecom Ministry may now turn the heat on incumbent players, who are yet to pay Rs 135 crore (Rs 1.35 billion) as Liquidated Damages, for similar lapses.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the central government on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licenses allocated during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja.
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
While only 78.15 per cent of Jio's total subscriber base was active, Airtel boasts of 98.14 per cent active customers.
Summons have been issued to some new telecom firms asking for financial records and documents, according to official sources. However, the names of the companies could not be ascertained.
They are cheaper to build, costing around Rs 10 lakh each as against Rs 20-25 lakh for a traditional ground-based tower and even less than the Rs 12-15 lakh needed for a tower mounted on a roof top.
A bigger problem is that there is no clear definition of "call drops".
'In the next five years both online and TV viewership will grow and complement each other.'
Senior official from the department of telecommunication said the deck has been cleared and the department will handover the spectrum to the operators on Wednesday.
Newer telecom operators and dual technology entities are opposing the department of telecommunications (DoT)'s decision to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to give its view on whether the price of spectrum being offered in the coming 2G auction should be valid for 10 years instead of 20 years.
They can carry huge amounts of data, have a lot of bandwidth, but operate at short ranges, between 200 metres and 2-3 km reports Surajeet Das Gupta
Both the promoter groups - Vodafone and Aditya Birla - have confirmed their participation of up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, in the issue.
Virtually bringing the entire industry into the picture, telecom tribunal TDSAT on Monday directed Reliance Communications, HFCL, Shyam Telelinks, BSNL and MTNL to become a party to a petition challenging changes to spectrum allocation norms among others.
The spectrum tangle has also resulted in the fall of telecom share prices as investor confidence was eroded after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decided to permit CDMA (Code division multiple access) players operate GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) services in their existing circles.
Mukesh Ambani's Jio, high debt and some bad decisions drove RCom to its grave.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday said mobile operators would be paying only Rs 8,125 crore (Rs 81.25 billion) towards excess spectrum charges, as they would be saving over Rs 6,440 crore (Rs 64.40 billion) on account of lower annual licence fees.
The number of base stations installed by Indian wireless operators is inadequate to provide high-quality services to the growing number of mobile subscribers, said a research.
It has earned Rs 61 crore (Rs 610 million) so far in the current fiscal.
The two independent brands Vodafone and Idea will be phased out, and the legacy of the two companies will reflect in the common brand -- Vi.
All the top telecom firms, including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, RCom and Tatas would be participating in the e-auction process, the first of its kind in the world, to acquire 3G spectrum for which the auction begins on April 9.
The licensor has asked Bharti Airtel, Hutch, Reliance Communications and BSNL why they should not be asked to pay Rs 50 crore or Rs 500 million (per circle) as penalty for violation of the licensing agreement, official sources said.
The DoT report is expected by the end of the month.
The much-delayed 3G spectrum auction will start on April 9 which is expected to fetch the exchequer more than Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion).
From 5G to Tesla to Covid vaccine, 10 things will shape India's future.
The joint letter to Manmohan Singh was written by Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla group which has promoted Idea Cellular, and Vittoria Colao, chairman of Vodafone Group Plc.
India's Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company said on Monday it will launch a sedan version of its lone car model on Wednesday, marking its entry into the mid-size segment.
Airtel CEO said, the 5G ecosystem is yet to develop in India and the prices are very high. Telecom companies including Vodafone Idea (VI) and Reliance Jio have also said that the current prices are exorbitant.
Govt says there is enough spectrum, telcos differ
According to The Australian, about 200 employees of Crazy John's will face redundancy as part of its restructuring programme in the first half of 2010, when over 150 jobs will be shifted to Mumbai.
Fixed-line Internet is consistent and translates into a better experience for users.
Of this private players accounted for over 79 per cent.
Incumbent operators can retain 2.5-MHz spectrum in 900-MHz band, rest to be refarmed decision final.
At present, GSM operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular earn 10-12 per cent of their revenues from the national roaming services, which amount to Rs 10,000-Rs 13,500 crore.
Given the escalating cost of doing business, the revenue opportunity is decreasing and consolidation is an inevitable part of the industry.
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