The prime minister had openly said the retail sector should be open to competition, domestic and foreign.
The inter-ministerial battle over spectrum for 3G telecom services has intensified, with the department of telecommunications (DoT) rejecting a claim by the ministry of defence (MoD) that it has not accounted for 10 MHz of spectrum given to DoT at the end of October in the information memorandum (IM). This document provides potential private bidders with details on the auction process slated for January 14, 2010.
Although the industry is disappointed with the government decision not to lower spectrum prices at a time telcos are saddled with over Rs 4-trillion debt and an estimated Rs 1.43-trillion licence fee dues, the DCC has relaxed the payment structure to offer some relief to the financially stressed sector.
In a major crackdown on Chinese mobile companies, the Income Tax department is conducting searches on leading Chinese mobile companies across the country. Mobile companies including Oppo, Xiaomi and One Plus are being covered in this search, sources told ANI on Wednesday. More than two dozen premises are covered in the search which started on Tuesday. "Raids are ongoing in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Greater Noida, Kolkata, Guwahati, Indore and some other places," sources told ANI.
Though India is a low-bandwidth geography with relatively low Internet penetration, it has a very large number of sophisticated surfers and skilled computer users
Telecom software company Subex Systems Ltd on Tuesday said it has bagged an order for its flagship fraud management system, Ranger, from a US-based Internet Service Provider.
In its drive to expand telecom services both in mobile and fixed line segments, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel on Tuesday awarded a $900 million contract to Nokia Siemens to deploy equipments in various circles in which it operates.
Congestion level is rising with surging mobile subscriber base resulting in loss of calls and poor quality of service, but the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India says it cannot issue show cause over this lapse as the matter is subjudice.
Telecom subscribers who were waiting to the results of the telecom regulator's crackdown on telemarketing companies from making unsolicited calls/SMSes will have to wait longer.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the recent showdown between telecom operator Airtel and the Research and Analysis Wing over tapping of certain phones
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Friday after two days of fall, helped by buying in metal, telecom and auto stocks amid a firm trend in global markets. Automakers led by Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra reporting robust wholesales of passenger vehicles and GST collections crossing Rs 1.50 lakh crore for the third straight month in May also added to the optimism. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 118.57 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 62,547.11.
Among other segments, home broadband subscriptions have picked up and the virtual private network service, too, increased by around 15 per cent.
The Aam Aadmi Party has demanded the dismissal of Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleging a conflict of interest that has prevented him from issuing a notice to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on the 4G issue, a charge vehemently denied by Prasad who said he never gave advice or appeared for the company.
The spat between cable TV operators and broadcasters continues despite the appointment of Trai, with the cable service providers accusing Trai of being helpless in reining in broadcasters and calling for a licence regime to control the channels.
Upon discovery of the price for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access spectrum, BSNL and MTNL recently paid Rs 18,500.38 crore (Rs 185 billion) and Rs 11,097.97 crore (Rs 110.97 billion), respectively, to the government.
Most Indian IT firms work as system integrators for Huawei and though the exposure is very less as of now, the potential is more due to 5G roll out. As pressure to keep the Chinese firm out of the 5G network grows, other global firms, including Japan's NEC, South Korea's Samsung, Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericssion are increasing their investments to grab more market share in the telecom sector.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the managing directors and directors of telcos and other firms to explain why contempt action be not taken against them for non-compliance of its order to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the department of telecommunications.
Jio has been allocated spectrum in 28 gigahertz to run 5G trials.
In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it.
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index bucked the trend to gain 0.3%
5G ambulances will not just allow remote consultation, but would also be able to transit data and video to hospitals in real time, saving precious time for critical patients. 5G technology would also support the development of new educational applications, improve agriculture productivity, and aid search and rescue missions with high resolution cameras in disaster recovery zones.
Meanwhile, new players like Etisalat, Unitech Wireless, Loop, STel and Sistema Shyam Teleservices -- who got the spectrum (radio waves) in 2008 -- paid Rs 80.78 crore (Rs 807.8 million) in spectrum charges and licence fees to the government.
Netflix is offering a freebie of one month's free service.
Trai has fixed a minimum 'contention ratio number' of users who can share the same bandwidth. Earlier, there was no such restriction on operators and they were offering the service at a contention ratio of 1:80 to 1:100 (which means the same bandwidth would be used by 80 to 100 customers). Under the new guidelines, the contention ratio for broadband at home has been fixed at 1:50 and for business at 1:30.
The whole process will take 2-3 months, which includes advertising, examination of the tender and signing of the agreement.
The department of telecommunication has decided that the existing variable licence fee structure for telecom operators should be replaced with a uniform one. An departmental note suggests a uniform licence fee of 8.5 per cent for all types of services.
RComm has reportedly acquired an African firm for $500 million to offer telecom access services in Uganda.
Govt announces slew of schemes for rural India
'Hackers from China and UK were involved in the October 12 power outage,' Maharashtra power minister tells Rediff.com.
A Collection of Services Trade Statistics Act is being thought of.
Do you agree with RGV's view that watching porn is 'harmless fun' or do you think it should be banned?
TRAI to soon put in place a new set of 'service quality benchmarks' to monitor call drop
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.
Payments and banking transactions through mobile phones in India are expected to touch $350 billion (Rs 1,560 crore) by 2015, according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm.
Over the past one-and-half years, the number of stocks trading below their respective face value has increased 29 per cent after a sharp correction in stocks of small-cap companies.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The Union Cabinet has also approved 100 per cent FDI in the DTH broadcasting services sector, Javadekar said, adding that while the commerce ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the information and broadcasting ministry needed to be changed.
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