Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal was on Saturday given additional charge of the law ministry while Road and Transport Minister C P Joshi was entrusted with the charge of the railways ministry, following the resignation of Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal on Friday.
The telecom ministry has asked mobile operators to disconnect mobile phones without the IMEI number from December 1.
The apex auditor is busy preparing a report on the Air India-Indian Airlines merger and modernisation of airports through public-private-partnerships, both carried out during the previous term of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Out of 122 Unified Access Service licences awarded in 2008, as many as 85 licences were given to the six new entrants to the telecom sector.
The information technology and telecom ministries spent a whopping Rs 53.14 lakh on petrol in two years, according to a RTI report.
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 Apex Court has asked the minister and the two agencies to respond to the notice within the next ten days.
Amid mounting pressure from Home Ministry on the BlackBerry smartphone maker to share data interception technology, Telecom Ministry said the service could be monitored with the help of internet operators.
Value-added services (VAS) and mobile-content providers may soon come under a licensing regime. Security concerns regarding VAS have come to the forefront in the ongoing debate over security issues surrounding Blackberry services in India.
Swan is one of the firms which got a licence at bargain-basement prices thanks to telecom minister A Raja.
The telecom ministry will decide on the merger between the state-owned telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, only after the listing of the former.
The Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing are at loggerheads with the Home Ministry for its proposal to allow international roaming for Pakistanis on Indian soil as they believe it will be misused. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Communication Minister Arun Shourie on Thursday said talks were on with the defence ministry for widening the bandwidth in the telecom sector
While the telecom ministry and cellular operators are trying to hammer out differences over the issue, the security agencies have submitted a report to the Union home ministry about the abuse of the new technology by some terrorists modules and hawala operators. The sources said government has already asked telecom companies to make possible monitoring of content transmitted through Blackberry or stop the service as it was causing a major security breach.
The Department of Posts has decided to hire a professional agency to prepare a roadmap for its proposed banking initiative.
License agreements are expected to be signed with all the nine LoI holders in the next two days and spectrum would be allotted subsequently, to begin with, in those circles where it is available readily, telecom ministry officials said. Four firms have got LoIs for pan-India operations while others have got for additional circles. The nine companies are Unitech, Datacom, Shyam Telelink, Loop Telecom, S Tel, Swan Telecom, Spice Telecom, Idea and Tata Teleservices.
Congress members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G scam today sought to turn tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party by raising questions as to why the then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh approved a proposal of the Telecom Ministry in 2003 on reduction in licence fee without examining its financial implications.
Some companies are set to lose licence on Jan 18 as per Supreme Court order.
How the 4 ministries have performed
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is planning to put stringent entry-level restrictions on broadcasters launching new television channels. The move is to ensure only serious players enter the business and have effective utilisation of the limited bandwidth available for broadcasting.
Tata group chief Ratan Tata has questioned allocation of spectrum based on subscriber and technology without having a defined policy.
Amid a raging controversy over BlackBerry posing security concerns, security agencies have now asked the Union telecom ministry to provide real-time monitoring of various social networking sites like Google, Skype and Twitter, among others.
Instructions of the personal secretary to the minister were taken as instructions of the minister himself.
Ravi Inder Singh, a 1994 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, who was working as Director in the sensitive Internal Security division, was under surveillance of the Special Cell of Delhi Police and was arrested on Monday evening following which searches were carried out at his office and residence, sources said.
The finance ministry is learnt to have raised a serious objection to the proposed relaxation in the foreign direct investment norms in restricted sectors such as telecom and insurance.According to sources in the government, in a meeting of a group of ministers on Tuesday, the finance ministry representatives argued that the proposed relaxation would effectively remove the current limits in the respective sectors. Sources said senior members of the GoM also objected.
Every defaulter is not a wilful defaulter who has the capability of paying back and is yet not servicing the bank loan, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The ban had been imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after one of its radio jockeys allegedly made a derogatory remark against Indian Idol winner Prashant Tamanag.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan appointed Subodh Kumar, a 1977 batch IAS officer, as the commissioner of India's richest civic body - the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Kumar replaces Swadhin Kshtriya who has been appointed as the revenue secretary.
The Cabinet in January 2015, resolved the spectrum tussle between DoT and the Defence by approving a harmonisation plan.
The Delhi Auto Expo has grown into a high-profile event where car makers, Indian and foreign, announce new models and reach out to customers. Business Standard tracks the meticulous planning that goes into the event.
Around 83 per cent people in a survey in India shared that 5G is one of the factors they consider while buying a new phone and nearly three in every five existing premium smartphone users are looking to upgrade their device to the next generation technology, according to a report released by Cybermedia Research. According to the survey, 81 per cent respondents prefer Oppo for 5G smartphone and 79 per cent opted for Samsung. The global survey conducted in India, China and West Europe found that 5G users, where the service is available, have experienced better video calls, faster downloads and ability to stream ultra high definition videos and satisfaction level from 5G services is around 80 per cent.
Trai has recommended cancellation of 74 licences, including Unitech Wireless's 8, Aircel/Dishnet's 7, Etisalat DB's 2, Videocon's 4, Spice's 3, Vodafone's 1, among others.
Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has said that negotiations are on with the telecom ministry for equity participation of MTNL and BSNL in RailTel Corp to improve telecom services in the Railways.
DoT further clarified that since 2003 as many as 51 new licences were issued prior to January 2008 under the same guidelines on first come first served basis.
India and the US on Friday said they have started talks to put in place a strategic framework for human space flight by year-end as they plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
The whole process will take 2-3 months, which includes advertising, examination of the tender and signing of the agreement.
Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, told newsmen that the claim made by Kapil Sibal, who holds temporary charge of telecom ministry was contradicted by Central Bureau of Investigation director A P Singh, who appeared before the committee in Parliament.
When educated ministers like Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram are forced to defend the indefensible it shows a certain desperation in the top power structures in the ruling UPA, says Virendra Kapoor.
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