Govt likely to make security clearance mandatory for telcos irrespective of equity holding before giving licences; DoT members to meet today.
In a major development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has cleared applications of nine telecom aspirants and is close to issuing them Letters of Intent. This will be followed by issuance of universal access service licences and allocation of spectrum.
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.
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).
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 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.
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.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
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.
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.
Advocate Prashan Bhushan talked exclusively to Sheela Bhatt on the trend-setting judgment.
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.
A panel led by the secretaries of the DEA and the DIPP would conduct a quarterly review on the pending proposals.
The conversion of interest into equity stake for the government in Vodafone Idea (Vi) will be decided after the telecommunications (telecom) company's stock price stabilises above Rs 10, India's largest mobile tower installation company Indus Towers has said in its second-quarter report. The board of Vi had, in January, approved the conversion of Rs 16,130 crore worth of interest on adjusted gross revenue dues into equity for the government. This will give the government around 33 per cent stake in Vi.
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.
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.
If 4,000 workers could work round the clock for the construction of the new Parliament building, then there is no reason why all infrastructure projects too cannot follow that model, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The stay order given by the Delhi high court on the entire process of appointment is still to be vacated.
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.
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.
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.
The telcos have assured the government that things would improve over the next 45 days.
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.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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'.
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