NGO files a detailed documented complaint against Sibal for reducing the penalty of Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance from Rs 50 crore to only Rs 5 crore. Sheela Bhatt reports.
Telecom watchdog sought the regulator's intervention on the price hike by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea and alleged that the three telcos have formed a cartel and increased local call charges by 20 per cent.
Delhi High Court issued notices on Monday to the Centre, Hutchison Telecom India Ltd, Hutch-Essar and its minority shareholders among others on a petition alleging breach of foreign direct investment norms in telecom sector.
The rift between state-owned telecom services provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and the telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India over reducing access deficit charge is likely to benefit consumers.
In the petition filed with O P Saini, judge, Patiala House Courts, the NGO stated the investigation agency had carried out improper investigation and exonerated private individuals, including the chairman and managing director of an accused telecom company in a malafide manner.
An Indian consumer pressure group has warned that a proposed deal between Bharti, the country's largest mobile operator, and South Africa's MTN could breach the country's foreign ownership rules.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to submit its investigation report and other related documents against MTNL's chairman and managing director R S P Sinha.
A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar issued notice to the government and fixed the matter for further hearing on December 10. The petition filed by an NGO, Telecom Watchdog, contended that the government alloted the spectrum without following any policy and cellular operators were provided excess spectrum without charging them for the scarce resource since 2001.
Telecom Watchdog, a Delhi-based NGO, has alleged that IDFC misused funds from the India Development Fund to fund transactions in Hutch Essar Ltd.
...benefiting 350,000 persons. Also, Trai detected and blocked seven million mobile phone connections involved in cyber fraud and suspicious activities.
The Cabinet last month approved rules for mega-spectrum auction in which airwaves worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore will be put up for sale.
The government is likely to hold 5G spectrum auction in early June, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. The minister said that the Department of Telecom is working as per expected timeline and the process is on to resolve industry concerns around spectrum pricing. Asked about the schedule of the spectrum auction, Vaishaw said that it is expected to be in early June.
Pakistan blocked the website of Al-Jazeera on Tuesday after it leaked a controversial report about Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's decade-long stay in the country before he was killed by United States special forces at his Abbottabad hideout.
Trai chairman Rahul Khullar says concept not practised strictly even in countries like the US and the UK.
Corporate affairs ministry note for ministerial group says can't keep banking, telecom out of CCI purview as RBI, Trai enable but not regulate competition
Regulator wants the power to fine errant telecom companies.
Apex telecom industry body COAI has asserted that spectrum pricing should be kept conducive to market conditions as 5G entails upfront capital investments with monetisation spread over a long-haul, and pricing radiowaves high will only push the players up against the wall. The stage is set for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come out with its recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities for upcoming auctions, and the announcement from the sector watchdog is expected anytime now. Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band, that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday recommended about 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity. With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. It has suggested a lower reserve price for all bands, compared to the prices proposed in the previous recommendations in 2018.
More than 19 million people in 38 countries have been connected through Facebook's different programmes.
The move is aimed at preventing masses from gathering in Colombo to protest the government's failure to provide relief to the public suffering from shortages of food, essentials, fuel and medicine amidst hours-long power cuts, the Colombo Page newspaper reported.
Ex TRAI chief says Manmohan Singh warned him of harm on 2G issue
"I understand that DoT (Department of Telecom) should be able to take a decision in about 15-days. We (TRAI) should be able to announce a date soon...I don't think it will take long," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman J S Sarma told reporters.
Telecom major Bharti Group Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal denied any attempt on forming a cartel with other telecom players to distort competition. Bharti Airtel had received a 'notice of enquiry' by anti- monopoly watchdog MRTPC. Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular too had received such notices. It was alleged that 3 GSM operators, by colluding, have simultaneously increased the price. Mittal said that MVNOs will not work in India due to existing tariffs.
Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators for cartelising and increasing prices of telecom services simultaneously. Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators.
Flipkart may walk away from ongoing discussions with telecom service provider Airtel for their platform 'Airtel Zero'.
During a hearing before the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) last month Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, and government-run BSNL and MTNL agreed to submit the undertaking.
Trai has asked the department of telecommunication to 'keep in abeyance' the grant of new 2G (mobile) licences till the watchdog finalises its recommendations.
The Rs 200,000 plus perks hike for regulators proposed in the Sixth Pay Commission is likely to attract good talent. It would be sufficient incentive for both private sector executives and serving bureaucrats to join as watchdogs. The Commission has recommended that the remuneration of chairpersons of regulatory agencies like the Sebi, Irda, Trai, CERC as well as the Competition Commission of India be hiked to Rs 300,000 if they do not avail of perks like cars and housing.
Did men and women of redoubtable experience and public service, upholders of the country's steel frame and paragons of corporate governance, never smell a rat?
Asked about the report, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "The political judgements of Freedom House are as inaccurate and distorted as their maps."
Rediff.com gives you a lowdown on the net neutrality issue that is today part of the national discourse.
Writes to Trai, Mumbai Police to catch unauthorised SMS senders
The regulator is also exercising its new powers like collection of information from other regulators, government departments and even commercial enterprises such as telecom companies and banks.
Reacting to the statement Jio said that the admission by Ookla reinforces Jio's submission that there is a clear contamination in primary data collected by Ookla in India, where nearly 90 per cent of smartphones are dual SIM devices
Advertising industry watchdog ASCI upheld complaints against 82 campaigns in June for misleading ads, including those of Flipkart, Uber, Snapdeal, Vodafone.
The government on Thursday gave more powers to market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to crackdown on ponzi schemes, access phone call records to check insider trading and carry out search and seizure operations.
Britain's vote to leave the European Union means uncertainty for markets and companies as London initiates at least two years of negotiations with the EU.
The capital markets watchdog has asked the government to empower it to carry out search and seizure operations, to attach properties and to ask for information and records for all relevant entities.
He alone gets the credit for reviving consumer interest in Ayurveda, says Bhupesh Bhandari.
The size of corporate fraud in India almost doubled after 2009, and such cases also increased in number, said a report from Thought Arbitrage, a think tank in Delhi.
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