Communication Minister Arun Shourie on Thursday said talks were on with the defence ministry for widening the bandwidth in the telecom sector
The government on Wednesday said the guidelines for the Gen Next mobile services (3G) that includes video calls will be issued soon addressing all security concerns raised by the home ministry.
On February 2, the court had ordered the cancellation of 122 licences issued in January 2008 under then telecom minister, A Raja, and directed the government to conduct the auction of vacated 2G spectrum in four months.
Home Minister P Chidambaram was on Friday appointed the head of the Empowered Group of Ministers on spectrum auction that was reconstituted after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar declined the job.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched 5G technology services in India and said that technology has become democratic in its truest sense since even the poor of the country have always come forward in adopting new technologies. He said that this is a major step in the vision of Digital India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. "Talking about Digital India, some people think that this is just a government scheme.
The Finance Ministry, which is under immense pressure to meet the fiscal deficit target during the current financial year, has also written a letter to the department of telecommunication to auction spectrum to earn additional revenues.
The petition seeking review was filed nearly a month after the apex court on February 2 had cancelled 122 2G licences granted to nine telecom companies including Tata Teleservices Ltd, based on the first-come-first served policy for 22 circles.
In a major initiative to provide telecom services to rural people using Wireless in Local Loop technology, the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on Tuesday, launched 'Grameen Sanchar Sewak' project.
Telecom regulator TRAI's report purportedly assessing zero loss in 2G spectrum allocation during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja on Wednesday came under sharp criticism of the Supreme Court which questioned the functioning of the autonomous body.
Telecom Minister A Raja has been indicted by the CAG in the 2G spectrum scam, which resulted in a loss of about Rs 1,70,000 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US is expected to see discussion on India's possible entry into a US-led global alliance on critical minerals, officials told Business Standard. In June last year, the US, the European Union, and other G7 partners launched the Minerals Security Partnership to ensure that China did not further strengthen its grip on supplies of critical minerals the world over. Various ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, have communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs to explore the possibility of India joining the partnership, officials said.
In a letter to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Tata Communications chairman Subodh Bhargave gave a summary of the sequences of events since 2005, which also have concurrence of two directors nominated by the government.
The former union telecom minister in his 'interim explanation' said he had not spoken anything 'obscene' or which would lower the dignity of women and motherhood.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the 6th India Mobile Congress at Pragati Maidan in Delhi and launched 5G services. The 5G telecom services seek to provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency and highly reliable communications system. The three major telecom operators of the country demonstrated one use case each in front of the prime minister to show the potential of 5G technology in India.
Two days after getting bail from the Supreme Court in the 2G case, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura was on Friday released from the Tihar jail after a lapse of over 15 months since his arrest.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave bail to former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, arrested last year on February 2 for his alleged role in the 2G case, and also upheld the bail granted to former Telecom Minister A Raja's ex-Private Secretary R K Chandolia by the trial court.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court for bail saying the case against him is "false and fabricated".
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday afternoon arrested tainted former Union telecom minister A Raja, his brother A K Perumal, along with his aide R K Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behuria in connection with the 2G Spectrum scam.
With the Opposition adamant on the cancellation of coal blocks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday deliberated with the party top brass in the midst of the logjam in Parliament. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal was also called for the Congress Core Committee meeting and so were Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.
Amid growing consumer dissatisfaction, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will hold the first round table with consumer user groups to look into their grievances in issues like pesky calls, hidden costs in tariffs and ineffective redressal system, among others.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, the main accused in 2G spectrum scam, has told the Joint Parliamentary Committee that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the loop over policy decisions and has accused Attorney General G E Vahanvati of telling a "series of untruths" against him.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought the Central Bureau of Investigation's response on former telecom minister Sukh Ram's appeal challenging his conviction and sentencing by a trial court for taking bribe to award a contract to a telecom firm in 1996. The court also sought 86-year-old Sukh Ram's medical report on his plea for suspension of sentence on health grounds and old age. Justice Suresh Kait issued a notice to CBI and sought its response.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to five corporate executives in 2G spectrum case.
Kanimozhi, the 43-year-old daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, and Kumar have challenged the Delhi high court verdict rejecting their bail pleas.
Aam Aadmi Party, whose main poll plank is fighting corruption, on Wednesday announced it would field candidates against 2G spectrum scam accused and former telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran of DMK in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
The much-awaited trial in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, involving high-profile accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, top corporate honchos and telecom firms, is likely to commence from Friday before a Delhi court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it had seized "incriminating" documents during searches at 14 places, including former telecom minister A Raja's residence, in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that although there is a huge gap in the prices of spectrum for 2G and 3G services, the whole issue needs to be seen in proper perspective.
The court said a 'scam was created when there was none'.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, the prime accused facing trial in the 2G case, on Thursday completed one year in jail since his arrest in the high-profile scam.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday warned that the growth of the telecom industry would be hurt if companies did not align their profit-making motives with the national interest and such a scenario could lead to over-regulation of the sector.
Gautam Adani's alleged proximity to Narendra Modi may dent the latter's self-styled image of incorruptibility, points out Kanika Datta.
The Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court that charge sheet in the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal involving former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran will be filed shortly as the Attorney General disagreed with the views of its Director Ranjit Sinha to drop the prosecution.
Within hours of going on indefinite strike, the employee unions of BSNL on Tuesday called off the protest after the government assured that the issue of disinvestment in the telecom PSU will be referred to a Group of Ministers.
The government has projected to garner up to Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) from sale of radiowaves, mainly 3G spectrum, to telecom operators in the current financial year.
The CBI has begun probing if the country's internal security too stood compromised because of the the 2G spectrum allocation to ineligible telecom operators during former Telecom Minister A Raja's tenure. During the last hearing on February 22, the CBI had told the court that it was not aware of the threat posed by allocation of 2G spectrum to some telecom firms which subsequently offloaded their shares to global firms with links to Pakistan.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday apprised a Delhi court of its ongoing probe into the 2G spectrum scam following a direction on a private complaint filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy for trial of former Telecom Minister A Raja for his alleged role in the case.
"I had done everything in consultation with the Prime Minister. After demitting office, I told everyone that whatever I did was in consultation with the Prime Minister," Raja said.
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