British Telecommunications (BT) has received both international long distance (ILD) and national long distance (NLD) licences that will enable it to offer telephony services in the country.
Feeling the heat turned on by private sector players who have slashed rates, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd said on Monday that it will review National Long Distance plans despite having commenced services in around 10 stations.\n\n\n\n
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has awarded international long distance (ILD) and national long distance (NLD) licences to global telecom major Cable & Wireless.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is expecting a 20-25 per cent surge in its domestic long distance traffic volume following a 47 per cent cut in STD rates earlier this week.
Myanmar's powerful military grabbed power in a coup against the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy in the early hours on Monday.
Oil India and other PSUs had filed clarificatory /modificatory petition before the Supreme Court. These companies own and operate telecom networks though they do not provide telecom services.
According to reports from Myanmar, the country's powerful military grabbed power in a coup against the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy in the early hours on Monday.
It was the first reasonably free and fair national election held there since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's fledgling National League for Democracy won a landslide victory.
"We are disturbed at the recent verdicts. As a neighbouring democracy, India has been consistently supportive of the democratic transition in Myanmar," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said.
Myanmar military television says that the military has taken control of the country for one year.
The department of telecom has issued letters of intent to BT for national and international long distance services for offering managed services to corporate customers having sites in India.
The government will introduce a unified licensing regime, covering operators either on an all-India scale or circle-wise with an aim to increase competition in the long distance segment. \n
Although Suu Kyi has won an overwhelming victory, it is not going to be easy to translate this victory into political gains.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party sailed through the two-thirds majority it needs to rule, claiming 348 parliamentary seats with a number of results yet to be declared.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have communicated to the telecom department that they will not pay AGR dues of Rs 88,624 crore, the deadline for which ended on Thursday, and will wait for the outcome of modification petition listed for hearing before the Supreme Court next week, according to official sources. Reliance Jio on Thursday paid Rs 195 crore to the telecom department to clear all adjusted gross revenue dues accounted till January 31, 2020, according to an official source.
'She has never advocated people taking to the streets and calling for a revolution.' 'I don't know if that will change now.'
Official sources said Verizon's license application was under process and "there should be no problem in issuing them letters of intent for national and international long distance (NLD/ILD) business".
Some believe she should no longer be the face of the struggle to free Myanmar from the new military dictatorship, observes Prakash Bhandari.
'She's not going to keel over.' 'This is the kind of difficult situation that she thrives in.'
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group is said to be planning a surprise entry into the race to acquire telecom spectrum, which will pitch it directly against Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, sources said. Applications for participating in the July 26 auction of airwaves, including those capable of providing fifth-generation or 5G telecom services such as ultra-high-speed internet connectivity, closed on Friday with at least four applications. Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- the three private players in the telecom sector -- applied, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won a seat in the country's lower house of parliament on Sunday after defeating her two rival candidates in a by-election in her constituency, the main opposition party said.
Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular and US-based wireless operator Verizon are all set to get the Letters of Intent for long distance services following clearance of their applications by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Official sources said the applications have been put forward for the Telecom Minister's approval. Idea is awaiting LoI for International Long Distance services while Verizon's application is for both National and International Long Distance services
Calling the military's seizure of power in Myanmar a 'direct assault' on its transition to democracy, United States President Joe Biden on Monday threatened to slap new sanctions on the country after the junta detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other political leaders.
If Myanmar's election demonstrates reasonable transparency and fair process, it would go down in history as the first free and fair one in the country in more than two decades, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
The proposed reduction in license fee for long distance services (STD and ISD) providers would impact the current levels of government revenues directly by about Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) in a full fiscal.
State-owned power company PowerGrid Corporation Limited has been awarded the national long distance (NLD) license by the department of telecom for its proposed foray into the telecom business.\n\n
State-run telecom firm Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd plans to apply for a national long distance licence to the department of telecom shortly, in an effort to bring down its STD call charges
Reliance Jio Infocomm has moved the Bombay High Court seeking approval for amalgamating its long distance services arm Infotel with itself.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy defeated the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
SSTL is the second operator after Vodafone that has approached FIPB for raising FDI limit.
Of this private players accounted for over 79 per cent.
After a landslide victory in the bye-elections will Myanmar's pro-democracy icon play the role of a constructive opposition or will she choose to maintain her political independence by not accepting any role under the present government. Senior analyst B Raman raises the big questions
According to JP Morgan, it seems that Jio is willing to go for the jugular in chasing market share if this hurts some of its standing rivals like Vodafone and Idea to a point from where they find it difficult to fight back.
The Department of Telecom is in the process of working out new guidelines for revenue calculations of operators having multiple licences, including for Internet services, to check licence fee evasion.
A telcom operator said since there is a CBI investigation over alleged irregularties in the license and spectrum allotment going on, the minister may try to win over the industry by asking them not to be perturbed over the development and focus on operations and customers.
The incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded adjusted gross revenue of Rs 10,701.5 crore and Rs 9,808.92 crore, respectively, during the quarter.
The spat over the carriage of national long distance traffic between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited may be heading towards a reconciliatory note.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances