Telecom Secretary DS Mathur has told the finance ministry that a change in the entry fee that operators must pay for a telecom licence cannot be considered since the matter was approved by the Cabinet in October 2003. The letter, written late last month, was in response to a letter by Finance Secretary D Subbarao, who had requested the department of telecommunications to "stay" the issue of new licences and those for cross-over technology (from CDMA to GSM services).
Loop got licences to offer mobile services in 21 circles by the telecom ministry run by Raja, now in jail, in 2008. Essar has investment in Loop; it also holds 33 per cent equity in Vodafone Essar, a big player in the sector.
The government is considering allowing intra-circle merger and acquisitions in the telecom sector, subject to the presence of minimum three service operators in a particular circle.
In May, Trai had gave its recommendations on a 'Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework', in which it had said that consequent to the merger of licences in a service area, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity post-merger shall not exceed 12.4 MHz for GSM technology, or 10 MHz in case of CDMA technology.
The solicitor general and the TDSAT have both okayed Raja's moves.
The recommendations on the subject will be sent in due course to the government, according to an internal communication of DoT
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is working on various alternatives to overcome the hurdles arising out of a lacklustre auction of 1,800-MHz telecom spectrum.
The government plans to remove the definition of broadcasting services altogether from the bill to help reduce confusion among stakeholders.
The total incentive outgo under the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is estimated to be less than Rs. 40,000 crore by the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), when it completes the fourth year of implementation, according to the government's internal estimates. This means only a fourth of the allocated Rs 1.97 trillion is expected to be utilised by the end of FY24, indicating that not all the 14 PLI schemes would have taken off fully. While three of the 14 schemes - large-scale electronics manufacturing, bulk drugs, and medical devices - were introduced in 2020, the remaining were launched the following year.
New winds are blowing in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology offices at Sanchar Bhavan.
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.
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.
The content providers -- TV channels, FM Radio stations, e-commerce companies and credit card majors -- have blamed the service providers and mobile value-added services (VAS) operators for the problem.
Advocate Prashan Bhushan talked exclusively to Sheela Bhatt on the trend-setting judgment.
On examination of documents, registrar of companies concludes that Swan Telecom was an associate company of Reliance Telecom Limited/Reliance Communication Limited and an ADA Group company.
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday said that it is working on various technologies to detect pesky calls and messages along with a joint action plan with other regulators to curb financial frauds. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or pesky communication is a major source of inconvenience to the public and impinges on the privacy of individuals. "Now complaints are reported against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs), where a surge has been seen in pushing various kinds of UCC SMSes. Additionally, UCC calls are also one of the concerns which need to be dealt with equally along with UCC SMSes," it said.
An internal committee of Department of Telecom had alleged that Bharti Airtel had continued to route national and international calls as local calls under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003.
Airtel already offers services in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 African countries apart from India.
Various ministries, including home and defence, have been asked to take necessary steps to prevent leakage of classified information to the media and fix responsibility in case the leakage takes place.
The stay order given by the Delhi high court on the entire process of appointment is still to be vacated.
Expressing concern over frequent internet shutdown without any empirical study, a Parliamentary panel has pulled up the Department of Telecommunications for not maintaining the record of incidents and inaction on several of its recommendations. The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on 'Suspension of Telecom Services and Internet and its impact' tabled in Lok Sabha on Thursday, the panel has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to lay down a clear cut principle of proportionality and procedure for lifting of shutdown in coordination with the home ministry to prevent any misuse of the suspension rules. The panel rejected the logic of the DoT and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for not maintaining the record of the shutdown, saying it cannot simply take the plea that police and public order are essentially state subjects and suspension of the internet does not actually come under the ambit of crimes.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited had invited bids to add 93 million GSM lines about two years ago and one of the leading vendor Nokia-Siemens Network was disqualified on technical issues and since then the PSU has not been able to place the orders because of various reasons including legal battles.
A panel led by the secretaries of the DEA and the DIPP would conduct a quarterly review on the pending proposals.
Breaking its silence on reports that Chinese telecom equipment makers are being banned in India on security reasons, Beijing on Monday urged New Delhi to remove restrictions and said such curbs amount to discrimination.
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has sent to the Telecom Ministry, a volley of questions including why views of the Finance Ministry, Law Ministry and even the Prime Minister were ignored when taking decisions on allocation of spectrum in 2008.
The telcos have assured the government that things would improve over the next 45 days.
Swamy recalled that he had filed a petition to the prime minister in November last year seeking the sanction to launch criminal investigation on a private complaint under different sections of the PCA.
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.
Virtually endorsing the Union telecom ministry's decision not to auction 2G spectrum two years ago, telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday said bidding out mobile spectrum would not have yielded major economic gains for the exchequer.
With his resignation as telecom minister, A Raja appeared to have saved himself from any mention in the Supreme Court today in the controversial 2G case, with petitioners seeking more time to file submissions on the report of the CAG that is to be placed in Parliament.
Stating that the Centre's focus is on promoting the country's IT sector, he pointed out that this move follows the rising import of electronic as well as IT items, including software and hardware, which is expected to reach $292 billion by 2020.
The MCA has written letters to various ministries following a request by the Satyam board that public sector undertakings should not insist on the financial statements and other information like details of turnover from the company while seeking bids.
The DoT is conducting a special audit on companies that have multiple licences -- mobile, international long distance, domestic long distance and internet service provider among others. Contractor, Nayak & Kishnadwala has been appointed to examine the books of Bharti Airtel, while S K Mehta & Co will check Vodafone-Essar's accounts. Varma & Varma has been appointed as auditors for Tata Teleservices, while Chhajed & Doshi will examine the books of Idea Cellular.
The telecom ministry has asked mobile operators to disconnect mobile phones without the IMEI number from December 1.
Citing statistics of teledensity which has gone up from seven per cent in March 2004 to 66 per cent in December, 2010, Singh said the policy has paid 'rich dividends'.
