As per the initial version of the Unified Licence on August 2, DoT had exempted Internet services revenue from adjusted gross revenue -- part of telecom company's earnings on which annual licence fee is levied.
The minister had last month said that the guidelines will be out by October 15.
Singh, the Finance Minister in the National Democratic Alliance regime, was heading the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue of limited mobility and unified licencing during the relevant period.
In a definite signal that mobile phone service providers are not going to lose their licences even after the scheduled end of their validity, the Department of Telecommunications has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to recommend terms and conditions for extending the licence periods forever.
Some 74 applications for these licences for mobile services are pending with the Department of Telecom.
Under the UASL norms, spectrum is linked to licences, and a particular band of radio wave is restricted to be used in a particular technology
Terming the new unified licence regime to be in the interest of the consumers, the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that tariff reduction in telecom services fuelled by competition was not to the liking of cellular operators.
Subscribers of wireless in local loop phones opting for full mobility should brace themselves for a change in numbering
Indian carrier Vistara on Monday announced voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for its permanent ground staff ahead of its merger with Air India, which had announced similar plans for its non-flying permanent staff two weeks ago.
In India, there are 22 services area, or circles, for 2G telecom services and both the companies operate in all the circles.
Tech and startup industry bodies have again pushed back against calls by telecom operators to bring over-the-top (OTT) services under a licensing regime similar to telcos, and open them up to taxation. Ahead of public consultations on the issue later this week, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Nasscom and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), among others, have written to the government arguing against such efforts.
The telecom foray is the second diversification outside its core business of developing residential and commercial real estate -- it is already in the Special Economic Zone space with five zones to be set up across the country.
Communication Minister Arun Shourie on Thursday said talks were on with the defence ministry for widening the bandwidth in the telecom sector
Vodafone has to sell its entire stake in Airtel following new norms issued by government.
Various corporate houses and multinational companies including AT&T, Russian firm Sistema, Sterlite, Hindujas, DLF, Parsavnath, Videocon and others have entered the fray to get telecom licences.
Joining the rush of companies looking for spectrum, BPL Mobile has applied for a unified access service licence in 21 of the country's 23 telecom circles.
A decision on this issue is important because new operators would shy away from bidding for a standalone 3G licence if they are made to wait for years to get the UAS licence even though they have won bids for 3G. That would make the 3G project unviable from the very beginning.
M Corp Global has applied for six new telecom licences to the department of telecom and dispelled rumours that its company Spice Telecom is up for sale.
The department of telecommunications has referred the issue of using multiple technologies under a single unified access services licence to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Recommendations may encourage consolidation.
Vodafone had contended in its plea that DoT instead of signing and executing the ULs had at the last moment informed them that their request for deletion of 'restrictive' clauses in licence pertaining to roaming cannot be accepted.
13 companies have submitted more than 230 applications for telecom licences and most of these are for a pan-India UASL. DLF and Omaxe join other real estate firms Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech and Parsvnath Developers to apply for telecom licence.
Reliance Jio Infocomm has moved the Bombay High Court seeking approval for amalgamating its long distance services arm Infotel with itself.
The race to get a New Umbrella Entity (NUE) licence for digital payments may get crowded. As many as six consortiums are said to be in the fray to apply for an NUE licence, which would create a for-profit National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)-like body for retail payments. A consortium led by Financial Software and Systems (FSS), a leading provider of payment products and payment processor, is in talks and may file an application to the RBI for an NUE license, said sources aware of the development. The other constituents of this group include Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, India Post Payments Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), and a few small finance banks.
Going by the RBI directive and the overall narrative, Paytm may have lost the rigour of stress tests, audits and compliance.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea said the Railways should not be permitted to offer commercial services like Wi-fi and voice and video communication.
The radical preacher's brazen activities evinced his methodical efforts to undermine the fabric of society, they claimed and added that he during his speeches and sermons alleged that the government was leaving no stone unturned in its quest to disarm Sikhs by revoking their weapons licences.
Ex TRAI chief says Manmohan Singh warned him of harm on 2G issue
'Just the amount of work which is there just to become more and more successful in banking. For this to happen you need to have leaders who understand technology.'
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