The Cellular Operators Association of India on Wednesday telecom regulator TRAI's order for slashing roaming charges by up to 56 per cent and said the move could lead to increase in basic tariffs.
GSM-based mobile operators are gearing up to launch a key component of web-based value added service - instant messaging - in the next three weeks, where a subscriber can send and receive real time messages.
Tatas' suggestion for auction stirs up hornet's nest.
With a sharp spurt in growth, the GSM industry has witnessed the highest ever subscriber additions in September at 4.4 million, taking the cellular subscriber base to 91 million.
Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel maintained the top slot with a market share of 32.18 per cent and a total user base of 57.41 million. The company added 2.25 million users in January, up from 2.2 million added in December. COAI did not provide subscriber numbers of Reliance Communications, even though the CDMA major has GSM operations in the country's north-eastern circles.
Cellular operators have accused Reliance Infocomm of offering predatory prices in Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu, and sought immediate intervention of the telecom regulator.
The new platform allows subscribers to be on instant messaging even if they are overseas and roaming in one of the member-operator's service.
India's 140 million mobile subscribers make missed calls to convey a pre-agreed message.
Cellular operators have sought intervention by TRAI to restrain Reliance Infocomm from offering predatory tariffs in its new unlimited talktime plans claiming this was non-compliance of the regulator's order.
Private telecom operators on Friday raised serious concerns over BSNL's non-compliance with regard to implementation of interconnect user charge saying they (BSNL) were completely violating Trai's regulations.
Private cellular operators have locked horns with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd over sharing of the revenue earned from roaming subscribers within the country as well as those coming from abroad.
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.
Contrary to the assertion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that the reduction in access deficit charge on incoming international calls would put a check on the grey market, Cellular Operators Association of India on Monday said it would m
Rejecting the cellular operators' demand for withdrawal of its consultation paper on the unified licensing regime, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday said the "question of withdrawing the consultation paper does not arise".
Cellular Operators Association of India on Tuesday said the department of telecom's decision to treat fixed wireless service as limited mobile service would benefit 60 million cell users.
Cellular industry is on the brink of financial crisis with the accumulated losses at over Rs 7,100 crore.
GSM mobile telephony operators have resisted any move to levy entry charge for 3G spectrum from existing operators, even as they opposed allocation of additional spectrum to CDMA-based mobile service providers.
Under these rules, telecom gear makers have to share their source codes and get their equipment tested by third-party labs accredited to the government.
Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Tuesday said the roaming charges of private cellular operators are "very high" and the industry must look into it to bring them down.
In a reversal of its earlier stance on 3G, the Cellular Operators' Association of India has told Telecom Secretary D S Mathur that the release of 3G spectrum should be delayed till it is available for all operators.
The Supreme Court on Friday deferred till Monday (November 10) the hearing on the appeals filed by Cellular Operators' Association of India against a telecom tribunal verdict allowing WLL.
Private cellular and fixed line operators on Monday demanded direct inter-connectivity with Bharat Sanchar Nigam's Ltd cellular services.
Faced with the threat of losing tax holiday due to the delay in starting operations, COAI has sought a year's extension upto April 2005 for the unified access service licencees, who got the licences in the first quarter of 2004.
The fall in GSM-based cellular subscribers growth continued with just 979,000 additions in May 2004, at 2.81 crore (28.1 million), with the Bharti Group cornering over one-fourth of the market at 73.43 lakh (7.34 million) customers.
The private cellular operators have asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to consider fixing the annual licence fee at 6 per cent across all segments, as part of full unification of telecom services.
Telecom tribunal on Monday fixed April 2 as the date for hearing of petitions by Association of Basic Telecom Operators, Cellular Operators Association of India, Data Access and Bharti Telesonic against telecom regulator's IUC regime.
Amid an existential crisis facing the firm over Rs 50,000 crore unpaid dues towards the government, billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Birla -- who had in June offered to give away his holding in the joint venture with Britain's Vodafone to the government -- will cease to be a director and non-executive chairman of the company at the end of business hours on Wednesday, VIL said in a filing to the stock exchanges. It did not give any reason for Birla's decision. He will be replaced by Himanshu Kapania (who was earlier managing director and CEO of Birla's Idea Cellular) as the new chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd.
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