The National Informatics Centre uses AI to automate document analysis and detect fraud in government departments.
The government must also look at rationalising the levies on the sector and close long standing legal disputes that are a big drag on performance of operators, he said.
If you want to buy the latest high-end phone, be ready to dump your current service provider
The Army has asked telecom companies to realise the security implications of such malpractices.
Bharti Telecom, the unlisted holding company of Bharti Airtel, may issue fresh equity to the MTN group to give it the 25 per cent economic interest in India's largest mobile service provider.
In a major setback to Bharti Group which offers telecom services under AirTel brand, the Supreme Court has turned down its plea seeking refund of Rs 135 crore (Rs 1.35 billion) for surrendering five basic licences.
Telecom service providers have got 15 days more to finalise their tariffs under the revised IUC regime as Trai on Tuesday postponed its implementation in view of some of the operators seeking clarification on various issues.
Speaking at the sidelines of the launch of its pre-paid 3G mobile service, MTNL's CMD R S P Sinha said: "In the first year of operations, we want between 200,000 and 300,000 customers for our 3G services." Interestingly, after about six months of operations, MTNL has only 400 subscribers for its 3G service, which has been branded 'Jadoo'.
Sector regulator Trai on Tuesday directed telecom operators to "immediately" enable port out SMS facility for all mobile users requiring it, irrespective of value of their tariff offer, vouchers, or plans they have opted for. Trai's stern missive on smooth network portability, assumes significance as Reliance Jio had recently written to the regulator complaining that the new tariff structure of Vodafone Idea (VIL) allegedly restricts entry-level customers to port out their mobile number from its network. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken a strong note of telecom service companies not providing outgoing SMS facility in certain prepaid vouchers.
Spice Telecom, one of the cellular service providers in Punjab, on Friday announced a 'special ISD offer' for its subscribers in the state, reducing international calling rates from Rs 16 to Rs 3.99 per minute.
The Cabinet is believed to have asked the Department of Telecom to examine imposing a Swachch Bharat cess on spectrum charges paid annually by service providers.
The government on Thursday made it clear that BlackBerry services may be banned if its maker, Research-in-Motion, fails to provide a monitoring solution in the next five days.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday launched a channel selector application which will facilitate consumers to view their TV subscription and choose the channels of their interest while removing the unwanted ones.
DoT officials, under fear of allegation of their conniving with telecom operators for lowering penalty, directly impose the maximum penalty that can be levied on service providers.
The number of base stations installed by Indian wireless operators is inadequate to provide high-quality services to the growing number of mobile subscribers, said a research.
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.
Concerned over the series of attacks on mobile phone towers in the valley, the Centre also issued an advisory to the state government.
The company is also in advanced stages of negotiations to rope in the kingdom's largest telecom service provider, Bhutan Telecom, as partner.
Telecom operators are not opposed to over-the-top service providers like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp but looking to work in synergy with them, Bharti Enterprises Vice Chairman Akhil Gupta said on Wednesday.
Punjab-based telecom operator HFCL on Wednesday became the first service provider to offer uniform call rates across all telecom networks and announced that all calls from its service Connect would be local calls.
Blackberry services have become a bone of contention between government and telecom service providers, who are questioning the rationale behind making them respondent to the concern of security agencies.
The absence of a transparent telecom regulatory environment not only makes life difficult for service providers, but also impacts investors' confidence in the sector, a senior Bharti Airtel official said.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) decision to stop issuing new licences for district-level operators or category 'C' players has effectively shut the door on smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) interested in setting up shop. Those who have moved on to category 'B' or state-level operations, too, are feeling the heat as they have to compete with the likes of Reliance, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, VSNL and Sify.
Infosys already works with a communication services provider major in Western Europe in the digital TV space. The company has a solution called modular content accelerator which serves as an interface between stakeholders of consumer marketing and IT. The solution provides an operator the means to efficiently manage content catalogue, bundled offers and pricing, apart from providing interactive services through multi-media content storefront.
Ending the long wait over next generation telecom services, MTNL on Friday said it will commercially launch its 3G services in the national capital within 10 days.
The petitioner had sought enforcement of existing laws on call drops.
The directive by the department of telecommunication has also made it mandatory for equipment vendors to transfer technology to Indian manufacturers within three years of selling machines to any operator.
Amidst complaints of misleading advertising campaigns, some of the leading telecom service providers have been sent notices by Trai to explain within three days as to why they were not complying with the guidelines on tariff publications.
The government said in an order that mobile internet services would be banned in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts.
Further, pan-India readiness is required for the proper implementation of call routing, according to the service providers who had met DoT officials recently. The operators also mentioned that due to delay in completion of various activities, it would be difficult to meet the timelines for MNP implementation.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to secure a $2 billion deal from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to roll out its 4G and 5G services across the country. However, the final approvals from the publicly-owned telco may take a couple of months, sources in the know said. As part of the deal, TCS will develop 4G core and Radio Access Network (RAN) technology for BSNL's telecom services.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has pulled up mobile service providers for offering the National Anthem as a ringback tone.In a notice to all telecom service providers, the department said this was a breach of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and executive instructions relating to the anthem.
British telecom giant Vodafone is in discussions to sell its about 5 per cent stake in telecom infrastructure company Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel, according to industry sources. The deal, if it goes through, could be worth over Rs 3,300 crore, they said. When contacted, Vodafone refused to comment on the matter. An e-mail sent to Bharti Airtel did not elicit any response.
Telecom companies are eyeing a piece of the market share where data usage generates a higher amount of revenue, once 3G services are launched later this year.
The Internet is too important to let a few private telecom players decide what the rules will be for consumers, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, independent member of Parliament who was one of the key petitioners seeking the scrapping of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
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.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday said that operators will have to provide an optional tariff of per second call along with other packages or plans.
Call drops may end as govt allows telecom spectrum trading
The government on Thursday cleared changes to the current channel down-linking guidelines to allow broadcasters to provide content to telecom service providers for Internet Protocol TV.
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