The department of telecommunication will soon write to companies, including Idea Cellular and Aircel to start landline operations.
Putting at rest the controversy over issuance of new telecom licenses on 575 applications, the government on Monday said in the Lok Sabha that these would be issued as per the existing policy which does not put any restriction on the number of operators.
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.
Amid tight security and an altercation with HFCL chief Mahendra Nahata at Sanchar Bhawan, headquarters of the Department of Telecom, nine companies among 45 applicants were offered letters of intent (LoIs) for unified access service licenses (UASL).
Airtel, Vodafone-Essar favour delinking; Reliance, Tata oppose.
Tata group's telecom company TTSL on Monday charged BSNL with delaying the signing of agreement for interconnection under the unified access service license.
The government on Monday asserted that there was no loss to the exchequer due to allocation of 2G spectrum to some telecom companies in 2008.
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.
To bring clarity, the department clearly defines terms such as promoter and competitor.
The government on Wednesday notified its decision to permit 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) under automatic route in the telecom services sector. In a press note, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said foreign investment in telecom services will be subject to the condition of Press Note 3 of 2020. Accordingly, cases requiring prior government approval under the provisions of Press Note 3 will continue to be in place.
Adani Data Networks said it plans to create a private 5G network for its operations. However, it acquired the spectrum in the last 5G auction alongside three telecom companies. Subsequently, it was granted a unified licence for access services, which enables it to provide telecom services in the country.
Numbers could be classified further into (140) marketing and (160 or 161) for service calls to easily identify the purpose of the call in the future.
UK-based Vodafone Group has ruled out selling its around 5 per cent stake in the holding company of Bharti Airtel in the near future as there is no buyer.
Officials of Reliance Jio Infocomm claimed to have achieved broadband speeds on their networks that are 10-12 times faster than 3G services.
Ex TRAI chief says Manmohan Singh warned him of harm on 2G issue
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.
Reliance Jio accuses COAI of malafide intention.
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.
In August, the Fed announced that it would develop a "new interbank 24x7x365 RTGS with integrated clearing functionality to support faster payments in the United States". The Fed Board asked for comments on FedNow by November. In reply to this, Google mentioned its experience of launching Google Pay -- Google's payments app which uses the UPI -- in India.
DoT plans to initiate move that might lower the revenues telcos share with government.
The RBI has created a stunted business model by which payment banks are supposed to shoulder the noble objective of financial inclusion without being able to make much money.
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Banking as we know it will stand on its head in the next 10 years.
The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, will provide relief for mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, but will increase rates for broadband wireless access spectrum holders like RJIL.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar discusses five issues pivotal for the success of Digital India
While the draft M&A policy for the telecom sector has been revised a few times over the past few months, DoT has not made any major changes to guidelines.
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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