In a relief for foreign firms giving loans to Indian subsidiaries, tax authorities have said goods and services tax (GST) will not be imposed on them, subject to some caveats. Additional fees, commissions, or related payments - over and above the amount charged as interest - on these loans will attract GST at 18 per cent, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said.
In a relief to the incumbent telecom operators, who have more than 6.2 MHz spectrum, the department of telecom (DoT) on Friday clarified the retrospective fee on spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz would be calculated based on the 2001 auction price, indexed to the prime lending rate (PLR) of a state-owned bank.
The last date for applying for both 3G and BWA spectrum is today. Auction for BWA spectrum will begin on April 11.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the growth in the sector is essentially centered on adequate spectrum availability, assuring government will make all efforts to provide requisite airwaves to meet industry's demand.
'There are ominous portents of an isolationist administration not only building a physical wall to the south to prevent unwanted immigrants from entering the land of milk and honey, but also trade walls not just against China, but all nations,' foresees Sreekant Sambrani.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met telecom minister A Raja and defence minister A K Antony on Monday in an effort to resolve the issue, highly placed sources said, adding that there was no consensus on the spectrum slots to be auctioned.
The government said on Wednesday that it will come out with a 'technology-neutral' spectrum policy in tune with global practices while looking forward to introducing the next generation 3G mobile services in the country.
Surfing makes its second Olympic appearance at the Paris 2024 Games after a successful debut in Tokyo, with competition being held this time on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.
DoT had raised the demand on December 22 and asked RCom to pay within a month.
TRAI may recommend the DoT to levy one-time non-refundable fee of Rs 50,000 per operator for each service area in which they opt for spectrum sharing.
A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar issued notice to the government and fixed the matter for further hearing on December 10. The petition filed by an NGO, Telecom Watchdog, contended that the government alloted the spectrum without following any policy and cellular operators were provided excess spectrum without charging them for the scarce resource since 2001.
According to the guidelines, a unified licence will have three levels -- national, service area and district.
Finally, Trai has also said that spectrum can be shared between only two operators, not three.
Trai's recommendations should incentivise all serious operators to look at how to reach telephony to the hands of people living in villages which have a population of 500 or 1,000, which they would otherwise refrain from.
The government will start allotting third generation (3G) spectrum from Wednesday to successful bidders, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar, among others. A senior DoT official, said the allotment of 3G spectrum will start on Wednesday.
Spectrum was sold at about 68 per cent premium.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, on October 15, gave its recommendation on spectrum auction for premium 900 Mhz band and 1800 Mhz band that are presently being used for 2G GSM mobile services by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications.
Telecom department says spectrum can't be used as collateral because it's government property
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday called upon the top military brass to analyse the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza as well as the current situation in Bangladesh to "predict" any future problems and stay prepared to deal with the "unexpected".
WHO has urged people at risk to keep up with their vaccinations with boosters.
Reliance Jio, India's top telecom operator, announced a 12-27 per cent hike in mobile tariffs -- the first in two and half years, setting the stage for other operators like Vodafone Idea to raise charges. The company has also restricted the access of unlimited free 5G services for customers. The hike comes immediately after the spectrum auction, as per the anticipation of sector experts.
In a development that would hit telecom operators' profits, the government announced an up to 50 per cent increase in spectrum charges for all GSM and CDMA technology based service providers.
The Telecom Engineering Centre, the technical wing of the DoT, has submitted its much-awaited report on spectrum allocation to the Member (Technology) of the Telecom Commission. The report, which is the last hope for GSM-based players for additional spectrum allocation, is believed to have gone along with the TRAI's recommendation of increasing subscriber base for awarding additional radio waves.
DoT has set up a committee to frame the proposed Act, which will have seven members with retired judge Justice Shivraj Patil as its chairman.
The petition filed by Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar, an NGO, has challenged the government's decision on October 19, this year to allocate spectrum as something that would result in a loss of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to the national exchequer.
In a move that would result in the mellowing of the spectrum issue and enabling the new service providers to commence operations, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has begun identifying the quantity of unused spectrum across 23 circles in the country.
The policy is also pushing for a one-country-one-licence regime, which means removal of roaming charges.
Today is the last date for submitting the applications and companies have the option to withdraw them by January 27.
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
In a development that may help jailed former Telecom Minister's A Raja's defence in court, the telecom regulator has informed the CBI that Trai did not recommend the auction of 2G spectrum in 2007, implying that there was no loss to the exchequer in the award of licences.
TEC, the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, is planning to recommend a steep increase in spectrum usage charges for GSM mobile service providers that seek additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz and raised the bar on access.
TEC, the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, is planning to recommend a steep increase in spectrum usage charges for GSM mobile service providers that seek additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz and raised the bar on access.
Govt has decided to allot spectrum to telecom players holding Letters of Intent on the basis of who was the first to deposit licence fee.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would come out with a consultation paper on spectrum, dealing with issues like usage and pricing, this week.
Birla group firm Idea Cellular Ltd and Modis-owned Spice Telecom on Friday dared the government to allocate spectrum to those mobile operators who submitted applications after them.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday proposed a high reserve price for telecom spectrum to be auctioned, at nearly Rs 3,622 crore (Rs 36.22 billion) per MHz in the 1,800-MHz band (for GSM services).
A recent note based on the audit said telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular had demanded additional spectrum, based on subscriber-linked criteria for meeting the quality parameters of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India before the spectrum auction decision was taken.
A battle between incumbent GSM and CDMA operators has broken out, with Marten Pieters, the managing director of Vodafone Essar, the country's second-largest telecom operator, lashing out at comments made by a competing operator, saying it was ridiculous to imply that incumbent GSM players like them were hoarding scarce spectrum.
