It's difficult to say whether the CBI will find enough proof against telecom minister A Raja or whether it will get caught in the parcel of half-truths he's been dishing out on how he's just followed the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the actions of his predecessors.
The entire Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday was one against the hike in telecom rates but failed to elicit any assurance of a rollback from Telecom Minister Arun Shourie.
A 39-year-old software engineer in Bengaluru lost Rs 11.8 crore to fraudsters who impersonated police officials and claimed his Aadhaar card was being misused for money laundering. The victim was threatened with "digital arrest" and tricked into transferring money to various bank accounts over a period of time, believing his family would be arrested if he didn't comply. The fraud occurred between November 25 and December 12, and police have registered a case under the IT Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating and cheating by impersonation. Further investigation is underway.
Responding to queries from the Central Vigilance Commission amid allegations from political parties that Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) was squandered in distribution of spectrum, telecom ministry said it had gone by the book and had done nothing wrong.
Given how the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) recommendations on 2G spectrum will hit telecom firms, it's not surprising that telecom stocks have plunged. Of course, the fun and games have only begun since it is up to Telecom Minister A Raja to decide whether to accept the recommendations, which ones to accept, and when to accept.
The 2G judgment and Trai spectrum pricing have led to a policy that makes sense for only one survivor.
In Metro circles only Bharti-Mumbai, BPL-Mumbai, Reliance- Mumbai and Tata-Mumbai meet the benchmark.
A department of telecommunication official said the regulator has already put questions relating to uniform licence fee to the stakeholder in its consultation paper 'Overall Spectrum Management and Review of License Terms and Conditions'.
The continued growth in the communications sector, especially mobile subscriber base, is expected to push further the level of energy consumption by networks, Trai said while releasing a consultation paper 'Green Telecommunications'.
If accepted, the plan could give the sector Rs 70,000-crore (Rs 700-billion) relief.
"The telecom service sector has shown unprecedented growth during 2003-04 mainly driven by intense competition and aggressive pricing," The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement in New Delhi.
Wannabe telecom operators will take a while to know whether they have passed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's test. But that hasn't stopped them from taking the next step: tying up with infrastructure providers such as tower operators for rolling out their nation-wide operations.
Credible growth in new users was not matched by revenue as the all-India blended Average Revenue Per User per month for GSM remained almost at the same level of Rs 297 as compared with Rs 298 for the previous quarter.The ARPU for postpaid GSM service has shown an increase of 7 per cent from Rs 613 in January-March to Rs 655 in April-June quarter.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is expected to issue the final consultation paper on full unification of telecom services before the end of February.
According to data released by the telecom regulator, the wireless subscriber base increased from 601.22 million in April to 617.53 million by the end of May 2010, registering a growth of 2.71 per cent.
'We operate in 16 countries already, and therefore adding the UK to it, and beginning a chapter in the European continent is the next step.'
One reason why mobile subscribers haven't shifted companies is that the service is uniformly bad. But now, with new players coming in, the picture could be different, says Sunil Jain.
Trai contends that the issue does not come under the tribunal's jurisdiction.
With the heat over the 2G telecom spectrum scam rising, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended the cancellation of 34 telecom licences of companies, including Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom and Siestema, due to non-compliance of roll-out obligations.
The Supreme Court recently quashed a rule that mandated telecom operators to compensate consumers.
Move to ensure deals do not hit govt licence fees, revenue share.
Leading service provider Spice Telecom has said consumer must be given competitive choices to choose from and number of telecom players in a circle cannot be an issue.
There will be a seven-day waiting period after the SIM swap or replacement for a mobile number to become eligible for porting, telecom regulator Trai said on Friday. The step has been taken to curb fraud taking place by using mobile phone numbers. "The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on 14th March 2024, issued the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Ninth Amendment) Regulations, 2024, which will come into force on July 1, 2024," the regulator said.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday found the overall level of service quality of basic (landline) telephony services to be 'poor.'
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will announce on Saturday the revised basic telecom tariffs, including monthly rentals, call charges and the much-awaited interconnection charge.
The government on Thursday sought to erase the impression that the hike in tariffs for telecom services has been made to favour cellular and private WLL operators patronised by business and upper segments of society.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) latest push to review its existing spam regulations and expand the definition of "commercial communications" is driven by an urgent need to tighten controls on autodialers or robocallers, and bulk messaging, according to official sources. This move, they said, comes in response to a surge in complaints against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs), which soared to 750,000 in just the first half of 2024, underscoring the necessity for a comprehensive overhaul of the government's anti-spam measures. Last week, Trai released a consultation paper aimed at revisiting the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018), the government's legal framework against spam.
Trai and telecom companies are divided in their views on the issue of raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in various media-related activities like cable television, direct-to-home, etc. Trai has proposed across-the-board increase in the FDI limit across cable (49 per cent), DTH (49 per cent), HITS (no existing limit) and satellite radio (no existing limit) to 74 per cent, as allowed in the telecom sector. Companies like Bharti Airtel are supporting this proposal
The Telecommunications Bill, 2023, which was passed by a voice vote after a short debate, also allows the Centre to take possession of a telecom network in case of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
The operators are willing to accept auction of second generation spectrum beyond what has been contracted. According to them, they are allowed to have spectrum up to 10 Mhz.
Trai chairman attributed predatory price as one of the key reasons for deteriorating condition of telecom industry.
Telecom tariffs set to fall significantly across the board as sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India announced on Wednesday a cut of more than 37 per cent in the levy paid by private players to BSNL.
But half the 'profit' should be ploughed back into the company, says Trai.
The department of telecommunication has so far considered applications for telecom licences that were received till September 25, 2007, and is yet to take a decision on those that came between September 25 and October 1. This had led to widespread speculation that the applications after September 26 would not be taken up at all and there would be a cap in that sense.
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