The government is likely to set up a Group of Ministers (GOM) to take a final decision on divesting stake in the telecommunications company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
The move to disinvest the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has united all central trade unions once again and they have called an indefinite agitation from April 19 against the move.
The telecom majors should focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales.
WiMax Forum, the representative body of WiMax operators, alleged that BSNL had deployed its WiMax services on the frequency division duplex-based spectrum band, which does not conform to international standards for WiMax technology. The forum also sought easier rollout obligations for the successful bidders of BWA spectrum.
Half the money, to be invested over the next 12 months, will be used to expand its mobile network.
BSNL is aggressively working towards sharing its passive as well as active infrastructure with existing and new telecom operators. It said the Master Sharing Agreement for sharing BSNL towers is in the final stages with some telecom operators and is likely to be finalised soon. In addition, BSNL has also decided to hire infrastructure from various infrastructure providers to speed up its roll out for mobile network in different states.
Subscriber needs to pay Rs 19 for the service.
BSNL had proposed to dilute 10 per cent of the government's equity holding through an IPO to raise about $10 billion. However, the offering was put off amid opposition from the employees union. The company is yet to decide on a bidder for the western region.
Eager to expand its footprint overseas, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said on Tuesday it has a war-chest of about $6 billion (approximately Rs 30,000 crore) and is looking for acquisitions, especially in South Africa. The PSU is looking at Africa as an area of focus as it is an emerging region and also culturally, financially, African countries suit more to India firms.
Tata Teleservices MD, Charles Anthony, has called it quits.
This is contrary to the BSNL technical committee's earlier approval to use the DR solutions of US-based Sun Microsystems and EMC Corporation. According to vendors close to the development, HP's DR solutions were not mentioned in the original purchase order issued to Ericsson, the main bidder.
Everyone loves to hate their mobile service providers. Here, A. Ganesh Nadar shares his recent experience of having a cellphone connection go from bad to worse while travelling.
Telecom equipment vendor Nokia-Siemens filed a case in the Delhi High Court today against its disqualification on technical grounds as a bidder for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's tender for 94 million lines, one of the world's largest telecom contracts worth over Rs 50,000 crore.
The BSNL board had last year approved a plan under which the government would divest 10 per cent of its shares to the public. But opposition from the unions backed by the Left parties -- which supported the United Progressive Alliance in the last Parliament -- had stalled the process. That opposition has abated, now that the Left is no longer a factor in the current ruling alliance.
This will push the size of the division to 25,000. Pitroda panel had suggested BSNL to cut staff strength by 100,000.
A look into some handsets that allow you to surf at 3G speeds.
Telecom operators in India currently provide 2G and 2.5 G services to subscribers. Last year, the government of India, through its enterprise -- BSNL -- soft-launched third generation or 3G services in Delhi.
The two PSUs, however, when contacted, said they are yet to receive any communication from the DoT and would decide once they receive such a demand.
In the new world of 3G mobile telephony, you are face-to-face with your friends or business partners even when you are miles apart.
The Zain deal raises much speculation about Arifuddin's money and clout. Who is backing him? What is his relationship with politicians? Is he merely a front man for big players in telecom?
A move by Swedish telecom major Ericsson, the main implementation partner for Bharat Sanchar Nigam's (BSNL) disaster recovery (DR) program, to replace Sun Microsystems and EMC Corporation storage solutions with Hewlett-Packard (HP) products has kicked up a controversy.
The race for control of Kuwait-headquartered Zain Telecom has quickened with the Indian consortium led by Delhi-based Vavasi group saying it is willing to give a majority stake in the consortium to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, depending on which company gets government approval to go ahead with the deal.
The second central public sector units (PSU) pay revision committee report has suggested a new classification of state-owned companies linking salaries and remuneration to productivity and performance.
This new service will compete with several other providers, including Reliance Communications. But VSNL officials were upbeat about their offering.
The US company will provide equipments for BSNL's network expansion in southern India aimed at adding 2.3 million subscribers in the region, it said in a statement. Under the terms of the contract, Motorola will ship GSM network equipment and provide a network services programme, including both software and hardware support, the statement added.
BSNL had sought higher payment for minimum three years for the facilities provided to cell phone service providers -- BPL Mobile Cellular and Idea Cellular Ltd -- and email provider CG Faxemail (P) Ltd even if they had surrendered the right before the lapse of three years. A bench headed by Justice S B Sinha while upholding the telecom tribunal judgement that came down heavily on BSNL for revising rates unilaterally said: "We do not find that these appeals raise any substanti
BSNL, once the country's flagship telecom company, posted a net loss of Rs 1,823 crore (Rs 18.23 billion) on revenue of Rs 32,046 crore (Rs 320.46 billion) in 2009-2010.
The proposal is aimed at arresting the decline in wireline services growth and spur availability of broadband internet access across the country. The move has been high on the agenda of Communications Minister A Raja for some time now.
In one of the largest deals in West Asia, a consortium of Indian telecom firms led by Delhi-based Vavasi Group, which also hopes to rope in state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and a Malaysian investor, will acquire a 46 per cent stake in Kuwaiti telecom company Zain for around $13.7 billion.MTNL and BSNL said they would like to clarify that no view has been taken regarding their participation in the consortium.
Four new players will be given spectrum along with one existing operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam - in their respective circles.
The telecom regulator on March 27, announced its decision to phase out the Access Deficit Charge, which was paid by private telecom service providers to compensate BSNL for offering services in rural areas at subsidised rates. All major telecom players, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices and Vodafone Essar had also welcomed the move.
The telecom ministry will decide on the merger between the state-owned telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, only after the listing of the former.
Sixth Pay Commission has urged the government that all Indian Telecom Service (Group A) officers be absorbed in the public sector telecom service providers, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd & Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd, or sent to the surplus pool. It has also suggested winding up of the Telecom Commission saying BSNL and MTNL now provide extensive services along with several private sector operators. The report states there is no need to retain the 2400 cadre strong-ITS (Group A).
BSNL was formed on Oct 1, 2000 and it had decided to included all the Central level Government Officers and employees, who were working on DOT basis, in BSNL fold and accordingly, group 'B' and group 'C' employees and group 'D' officers were included in BSNL. But still, the officers of group 'A', currently working as GM and DGM, have not been included in BSNL and they have been working on deputation as central level administrative officers.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd chairman Kuldeep Goyal has been trying to get a foothold in Africa since February this year when the government allowed the state-owned giant to pursue business opportunities in that continent. The five-month old search continues; Goyal says BSNL is looking at acquiring stakes or licences in African markets as and when they are put up for sale.
New SMS-based service to be offered in association with India Post.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), which was on Wednesday rechristened as Tata Communications, will invest over $2 billion, or Rs 8,000 crore, in the next three years for global expansion plans. The company will make the investments in submarine cables, network expansion and rolling out of WiMax services.
State-run telecom operator BSNL on Tuesday said it expects to close the fiscal with 10 lakh 3G users from seven lakh at present.
Sources said BSNL is now looking at putting in place tougher terms and conditions for the new tender as the original tender was under controversy, with BSNL facing allegations of non-transparency in the bidding process to select its WiMax franchisee partners. More than 20 companies made a bid earlier this year to act as a WiMax partner to BSNL in a number of circles across India.
DoT is even considering measures to urge private telecom operators to bring down their dependence on Chinese-made telecom equipment.
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