Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer K Rajaraman on Friday took charge as the new telecom secretary. His joining comes following the superannuation of Anshu Prakash on September 30. "Shri K Rajaraman, IAS (TN:89) takes charge as Secretary, @DoT_India in presence of senior officials of the department," a PIB tweet said. He was serving as the additional secretary for investments at the Department of Economic Affairs before being promoted to the position of secretary, DoT.
Reliance Infocomm's wireless data connectivity service has proved to be a money-spinner for the telecom service provider, which has recorded a 70 per cent growth in the last four months.
Reliance Jio added 34.7 lakh mobile subscribers in September, cementing its lead in the competitive telecom market, while Airtel's wireless subscriber tally rose by 13.2 lakh, according to monthly data put out by Trai. Vodafone Idea lost 7.5 lakh mobile subscribers during September, dragging its wireless user tally to 22.75 crore. Reliance Jio gained 34.75 lakh wireless subscribers in September, and its user base climbed to 44.92 crore, as per data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre and telecom companies for doing self-assessment or reassessment of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues fixed by the apex court in its verdict given on October 24 last year. The top court, which was also anguished by frequently published newspaper articles on the AGR issue, said all managing directors of telecom companies will be personally responsible and held for contempt of court for any such future write-ups hiding the truth.
'With a very stable technology with limited functionalities, a large network has spanned out.'
DoT plans to initiate move that might lower the revenues telcos share with government.
The minister had last month said that the guidelines will be out by October 15.
Bharti Tele-Ventures edged up 1.32% to Rs 34.50 on BSE in early trades propelled higher by reports that the government may hike FDI limit in the telecom sector.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday suspended the newly-implemented norms for commercial text messages for one week, following major disruptions in SMS and OTP deliveries for banking, payment, and other transactions.
The court said Shroff is a celebrity and this status inherently grants him certain rights over his personality and associated attributes.
Telecom service provider Reliance Communications is to tap the retail international long distance calling space in the UK
Adani Data Networks said it plans to create a private 5G network for its operations. However, it acquired the spectrum in the last 5G auction alongside three telecom companies. Subsequently, it was granted a unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide telecom services in the country.
The Supreme Court recently quashed a rule that mandated telecom operators to compensate consumers.
The DGP said telecom services that were disrupted during the attacks would be restored soon.
10 largecaps stocks which stand to gain from the Budget.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk thanked Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for not agreeing with Indian tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal on auctioning spectrum for satellite services, saying he is looking forward to serving Indians. Reacting to Scindia's statement that satellite spectrum will not be auctioned, Musk, in a post on X, said, "much appreciated! We will do our best to serve the people of India with Starlink".
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.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia supports operators' plea. He tells the finance minister that existing players should not be charged for the remaining licence period.
The government created a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, in 2012 to oversee the implementation of the project.
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.
Indian telecom operators have surpassed the three- year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months and now the government is making efforts to enhance adoption of 5G applications across various key segments, a senior government official said in Barcelona. Department of Telecom Additional Secretary VL Kantha Rao told PTI at "India Evening" event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2023 that the government has hosted over 50 companies at the India pavilion and the delegation is here to showcase indigenously-developed 4G and 5G technology stack. "When the spectrum was allocated to telecom service providers for 5G rollout, we gave a minimum rollout obligation saying that within one year they have to cover a few cities within three years, a few towns and so on and so forth.
The government is engaged in talks with telecom firms for a launch of commercial 5G services in some cities by Independence Day and has assured them that spectrum auction will take place in April-May, providing them a three to four-month window for the rollout. A top executive of a leading telecom gear company said the deadline was feasible in some cases. "It can be achieved in some cities as it will take us 4-6 weeks to deploy a network, once the equipment or components have reached India.
From connectivity woes to infrastructure advancements and the startup boom, there is a gulf between claims and reality in India's economic landscape, points out Devangshu Datta.
The special cell said it was also probing whom Lalit was in touch with on social media, adding that it was also investigating if the alleged security breach mastermind was speaking to others on social media and, if so, what was said.
Now BSNL customers will be able to make calls using the company's mobile app 'Wings' to any phone number in the country.
Reliance Jio has urged telecom regulator Trai to come up with a revised paper on spectrum allocation for satellite communication alleging that it ignores the key point of ensuring level-playing field between satellite and terrestrial services. In a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman, Anil Kumar Lahoti, Reliance Jio has sought revision of the consultation paper on recommending rules for "terms and conditions for the assignment of spectrum for certain satellite-based commercial communication services".
Public sector undertakings - MTNL and BSNL have not yet given any time frame for testing of services for interception of Blackberry services notwithstanding the December 31 government deadline for operators to comply with it or shut their services.
Industry associations and companies in the United States, including the US Chamber of Commerce, Coalition of Services Industries and the iconic bike company Harley Davidson have called on the Donald Trump dispensation to push India to reduce tariffs, non-tariffs, and regulatory barriers to boost American exports.
Technology is rapidly reshaping industries that have long been rooted in tradition, driving a wave of innovation that is transforming everything from finance, banking, steel to manufacturing.
Invest in these funds through the SIP route with at least a seven-year horizon.
The mistrust between the authorities and service providers can end if the contentious issues are addressed as a package deal.
The Union Cabinet has approved the modalities for holding 5G spectrum auctions, and 72097.85 MHz of radio waves will be put on the block by July-end, an official release said on Wednesday.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) reported a 25 per cent rise in net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the January-March quarter of 2024-25, owing to higher revenues and an exceptional gain. For the quarter under review, L&T posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,497.3 crore, while revenue rose 10.9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 74,392.28 crore.
A bench comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen said CAG can carry out the audit to examine whether the companies are giving proper share of their revenue to the government.
In big bang reforms, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a relief package for the telecom sector that includes a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telecom companies as well as allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Cabinet, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said nine structural reforms for the telecom sector were approved. The definition of AGR, which had been a major reason for the stress in the sector, has been rationalised by excluding non-telecom revenue of telecom companies.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday said it should be granted certain percentage of the annual licence fee paid by telecom service providers and cable operators to the government in order to gain some financial autonomy.
The government has set a revenue target of Rs 45,471 crore from communication services in FY15.
In order to consider giving mobile Internet connectivity on such SIM cards, the telecom service providers will have to verify the credentials of the subscribers.
In a notification on its website, DoT said all internet and broadband subscribers using Wi-fi connectivity would need to get themselves registered with the respective telecom service providers for completing the centralised authentication procedure within 60 days.
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