India has been on an FTA-signing spree of late. Since 2021, it has signed eight trade agreements, three of which -- with the UK, Oman and New Zealand -- were finalised in 2025 alone.
Consumers may now be insulated from any tariff increase for a period of 12 months if the recommendations made in a consultation paper of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) are accepted. At the moment, consumers have a protection against any hike for just six months.
Telecom firm Bharti Airtel will approach the government on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) it has to pay the exchequer following the Supreme Court's judgment that the government can reassess all AGR dues, according to vice-chairman and managing director Gopal Vittal.
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) stating that a recent complaint against it by Bharti Airtel is a deliberate, malicious attempt at defaming RJIL's consumer-friendly tariff. RJIL has also asked the regulator to warn Airtel against 'making such frivolous complaints in the future'. The move is in response to Airtel recently requesting Trai to bring content aired through broadband under the regulatory fold and keep a check against discriminatory bundling tactics.
Trai has mandated service providers to give hard copies of post-paid mobile bills to all mobile users.
Investors became richer by nearly Rs 8 lakh crore on Wednesday as benchmark BSE Sensex surged by 740 points amid value buying in utilities and power shares and a strong trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex surged by 740.30 points or 1.01 per cent to close at 73,730.23.
Call rates to be reduced by 35%, text charges by 80%.
The government plans to remove the definition of broadcasting services altogether from the bill to help reduce confusion among stakeholders.
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.
'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.'
According to sources, DoT has been asked to prepare a matrix of various levels of reserve price and spectrum usage charge at every Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) difference in descending order and the impact that would have on tariffs for end-consumer and the revenue accrued to the government.
The Department of Commerce alleged that Huawei was engaged in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interest.
Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and other telecom operators may have to pay the government a whopping Rs 1.42 lakh crore following the Supreme Court order last week that sent shock waves through an industry already grappling with billions of dollars in debt and an intense tariff war to retain customers.
All cable operators will have to regulate the charging and billing procedure to follow the new telecommunication (broadcasting and cable) services (second) tariff (eighth amendment) order, 2007, from December 1, issued in a notification recently by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. According to the new regulations, every cable operator of a multi-system operator or a broadcaster will have to give to every subscriber the bill for the charges due.
Attempts are being made to balance the need for health of the sector, consumer interest while complying with the Supreme Court order on statutory dues.
Moving from pricing control to a free market means stiff competition.
The Cabinet approved giving Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and Reliance Jio an option to avail of a two-year moratorium on payments they were supposed to make in yearly installments for the spectrum bought in auctions.
Nivedita Mookerji explains why a timely rollout of 5G may not be easy in India.
Spectrum auction: Govt revenues reach Rs 1.02 tln on Day 10
Telecom companies have been desperately waiting for a bailout package from the government after a Supreme Court order put their statutory liabilities at Rs 1.47 lakh crore.
More than 87 per cent of the spectrum has been allocated to bidders.
'Clearly, the warming of ties can be a 'win-win' for India and China,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A way out of the economic slump is to revisit the template of 15 years ago and follow its constituents, recommends Ajay Shah.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch has pointed out that these firms pose a threat to domestic manufacturing and retailing as they do not pay relevant taxes such as GST, giving them a huge edge over local players.
'We referred the case to the attorney general.' 'I told Mukul Rohatgi, "mujhe aap ka honest opinion chahiye".' 'He too said those were different offers.' Trai could not have stopped Reliance even if the Jio offers had been the same, Trai chief Ram Sewak Sharma tells Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
Tax demands and regulatory hassles, coupled with low internet density and sundry other problems, would have kept Mr Ma awfully busy - and small.
Suresh Prabhu, the new railway minister, described his charge as being 'the engine of growth'.
'Let me talk about young Indian startups with their hearts in the right place and how they are proving that innovations that represent 'affordable excellence' -- breaking the myth that 'affordability' and 'excellence' cannot go together -- is indeed possible!' says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, in this fascinating feature.
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
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