With the heat over the 2G telecom spectrum scam rising, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended the cancellation of 34 telecom licences of companies, including Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom and Siestema, due to non-compliance of roll-out obligations.
New operators, including Uninor, MTS, STel, Etisalat DB and Videocon, which were given unified access service (UAS) licences in 2008, have together captured 14 per cent of the incremental share in addition of new subscribers over the last one year.
The government will miss the June 30 deadline to implement nationwide mobile number portability, as telecom public sectors MTNL and BSNL, and a new operator Uninor, are not ready with equipment.
The telephone subscriber base was 996.49 million at the end of March.
TRAI removed network interconnection charges.
Spectrum auction ends, brings Rs 1.09 tln to govt kitty.
The total number of telephone connections in the country crossed the record one billion mark in May, bolstered by growth in number of mobile users.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth in segment with net addition of 1.31 million subscribers.
The government has allocated spectrum to Vodafone in all 14 service areas, where the telecom major won in November 2012 auction for Rs 1,127.94 crore (Rs 11,27 billion).
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
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telcom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have opposed the proposal to compensate consumers.
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
Market leader Bharti Airtel added the maximum 17.22 lakh (1.72 million) new users during the month to take its base to 19.65 crore (196.5 million) at the end of November.
GSM based mobile service providers jointly added over 44 lakh new customers, taking their cumulative customer base to 67.88 crore in September, according to data released by industry body COAI on Wednesday.
'Spectrum payment to push up telcos' debt to Rs 3.5 lakh cr'
After building a subscriber base of nearly 50 million in about eight chequered years, it finally gave up as it saw itself up against a 600-pound gorilla that breezed through double that many subscribers in a fraction of that time, says N Sundaresha Subramanian.
The Supreme Court in February, 2012 had quashed 122 2G licences.
Spectrum auction on Thursday entered the 10th day of bidding and started off from Rs 61,091.83 crore (Rs 610.91 billion) in terms of value.
Telecom companies have put in bids worth Rs 58,332 crore (Rs 583.32 billion) in spectrum auction at the end of 49 rounds on the 7th day of bidding on Monday.
The auction started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds on Friday, bids worth around Rs 54,600 crore had been received by the government.
Telecom subscriber base crossed the 95-crore mark in August, after a gap of more than two years, on the back of higher mobile users whose number touched 92.43 crore.
The interconnection charge has been reduced.
Mobile phone service providers alone jointly reported gross revenue of Rs 55,164.18 crore (RS 551.64 billion).
Government's resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators with none of them withdrawing their application from airways auction on the last day on Monday.
Govt is set to garner Rs 1 lakh crore from sale of radiowaves.
Currently, MNP is only available within a state/circle.
The telecom spectrum auction entered the 33rd round of bidding today after starting off from the Rs 52,689 crore (Rs 526. 89 billion) mark this morning.
World's second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 per cent.
Uninor added 8.53 lakh subscribers to take its base to 4.01 crore during the reported period.
The amount generated so far is about 86 per cent of what the 3G auction fetched in 2010.
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.
Indian telecom seems to be getting back on its feet.
Likely to seek FIPB approval to raise holding; deal could bring FDI of about $696 mn.
Telecom tower companies likely to invest around Rs 500 crore (Rs 50 billion) to enhance network.
The third round of spectrum auction continued to witness aggressive bidding even after completion of seventeen rounds on Wednesday with demands for both bands of airwaves on offer continuing to pour in.
On September 4, Trai issued a consultation paper on call drops.
Adjusted gross revenue of the industry has grown just 5.3 per cent during the financial year ended March 31
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm and five other telecom firms will battle it out at the spectrum auction tomorrow, from which the government expects to garner at least Rs 11,300 crore (Rs 113 billion).
Flipkart may walk away from ongoing discussions with telecom service provider Airtel for their platform 'Airtel Zero'.
DoT decides not to scrap dual-technology telecom licences
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