Today is the last date for submitting the applications and companies have the option to withdraw them by January 27.
The policy is also pushing for a one-country-one-licence regime, which means removal of roaming charges.
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 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.
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.
'Our border guarding forces have also been instructed to be exceptionally alert in view of this complex situation.'
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
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 (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.
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 would come out with a consultation paper on spectrum, dealing with issues like usage and pricing, this week.
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.
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.
The multi-mission communication satellite, also known as PAKSAT MM1, was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwestern province of Sichuan, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
It has been given an 'A' certificate, thereby cutting off a major chunk of Prabhas' fans: Kids.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will roll out revised mobile service tariffs increasing rates in the range of 10-24 per cent from the first week of July. Bharti Airtel announced a 10-21 per cent hike in prepaid and postpaid mobile tariffs from July 3, a day after larger rival Reliance Jio announced an increase in rates. Later in the day, loss-making telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) also announced its plan to raise mobile tariffs by 11-24 per cent from July 4.
Bharti Airtel has quietly narrowed its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) market share gap with Reliance Jio, the country's largest player in the game, in the last three years. Despite Jio's aggressive entry into 4G and now into 5G, Airtel's gap with Jio, which was 6.4 percentage points in Q1 of FY21 and went up to 7.2 percentage points in Q1 of FY22, has fallen to only 4.4 percentage points in Q1 of FY24. Currently, Reliance Jio's AGR market share is 41.6 per cent while Airtel's is at 37.2 per cent.
As a uniquely multi-hyphenated writer-director-lyricist-author, Gulzar has built a reputation across multiple spheres of film-making and literary creative endeavours. Dinesh Raheja salutes the Master who turns 90 on Sunday.
The department of telecommunications has proposed doing away with the system of auctioning spectrum.
The cost of deposits is on the rise, but banks can't raise interest rate on close to 60% of their loan books, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Her wardrobe is meant for dancing the night away.
Virtually endorsing the Union telecom ministry's decision not to auction 2G spectrum two years ago, telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday said bidding out mobile spectrum would not have yielded major economic gains for the exchequer.
The second round of auction is underway and it is expected that it will end by the third round, which could be the shortest online sale of radiowaves in terms of time consumed.
In May, Trai had gave its recommendations on a 'Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework', in which it had said that consequent to the merger of licences in a service area, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity post-merger shall not exceed 12.4 MHz for GSM technology, or 10 MHz in case of CDMA technology.
GSM service provider Idea Cellular might get spectrum to start operations in the Mumbai circle by the end of the year, with the ministry of telecom close to clearing its application.
From setting up cutting-edge facilities to cater to the domestic market and building capabilities of global standards, the action is building up.
The chief of the British telco's Indian subsidiary, which is the second largest cellular operator in India, also said the recent decisions by telecom authorities have disappointed the sector.
National Development Council meet to discuss this next week.
Vodafone India MD & CEO Marten Pieters, 59, blames regulation and the spectrum policy for the telecom industry's troubles.
Though reserve for CDMA, there were no bidders for the spectrum in the recent auction. GSM operators could buy it to launch 4G and 3G services.
Reliance Communications has proposed an entry fee of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) for metro circles and Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) for category B circles for getting 3G spectrum.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will foot the entire bill of a Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10-billion) project to release 45 Mhz of spectrum from defence to civilian use, after providing the armed forces alternative equipment for their communication needs.
The Cabinet is believed to have asked the Department of Telecom to examine imposing a Swachch Bharat cess on spectrum charges paid annually by service providers.
he meeting is part of Sibal's efforts to achieve the 100-day plan for reforms in the telecoms sector in consultation with the industry.
In a development that would hit the government's revenues, telecom tribunal TDSAT on Friday stayed the hike in spectrum charges for both GSM and CDMA mobile operators.
State run BSNL on Monday it paid Rs 8,313.8 crore (Rs 83.13 billion) for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum, two days after the deadline expired, prompting the government to slap a penalty of Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) on the PSU.
