'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
The Department of Tele-communications is close to allocating start-up spectrum in seven more circles, in addition to Tamil Nadu, where the process is set to begin next week. According to the telecom ministry's plan, the companies would get 4.4 MHz each and the allocation would be completed within a fortnight.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
According to sources, spectrum was available in the range of 50-60 MHz in nine states and was sufficient to accommodate all the new players as well as demand from the existing operators. However, in some important circles like Delhi, only one of the new players could get initial spectrum. Some of the existing players have objected to the move, saying allocation of spectrum at this juncture would be illegal as the matter is subjudice.
An Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, will seek legal opinion from Attorney General on its decision to charge around Rs 27,000 crore one-time spectrum fee from existing telecom operators.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
Spectrum is critical for Tata Tele because in some circles, Rajasthan for example, it has spectrum only in 60 per cent of the geography, while allocation for the rest has yet to come from the government.
In a move that will result in further snowballing of the spectrum issue, British telecom major Vodafone has termed the Reliance Communications' (RCom) allegations "as false and inconsistent with the facts".
Corporate giant Tatas on Tuesday asked the government to seek surrender of excess spectrum lying with GSM operators, a line being aggressively pursued by Reliance Communications chief Anil Ambani. With this, the top two CDMA players have joined forces against GSM operators like Bharti and Vodafone to seek return of spectrum beyond the contractual amount of 6.2 Mhz.
The principal delay is because the defence forces, which are expected to vacate some spectrum for mobile service providers, are yet to identify locations for some sites for an alternative optic fibre network that is being developed for them.
But says more than 5 MHz can be auctioned in 9 circles
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday made a fresh round of attack on Union IT and Communication Minister A Raja for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam, saying the people should send telegrams demanding his immediate expulsion from the cabinet to the President.
The government on Wednesday said it will not allocate any spectrum to existing operators, license holders and new applicants till a scientific evaluation was done by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC)."There is scarcity of spectrum and number of applicants are much more than actually can be accommodated... Applications must be synchronised by a legal process... We have referred the matter to Law Ministry to get Solicitor General's views on the matter," Telecom Minister A Ra
The auctions for spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands came to an end on Thursday after 10 days of aggressive bidding by the country's major telecom operators.
With better than expected Rs 1.45 lakh crore bids coming in on the first day, the auction of 5G spectrum entered the second day on Wednesday with the opening of the fifth round. Firms run by tycoons Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Gautam Adani as well as Vodafone Idea are participating in the e-auction to buy fifth-generation (5G) airwaves. The government received confirmed spectrum bids worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore after the completion of four rounds of spectrum bidding on the opening day on Tuesday.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has recommended levying a one-time fee on existing mobile operators for spectrum they may hold in excess of 6.2 Mhz limit to garner at least Rs 22,640 crore.
Also looks at creating a level-playing field for GSM and CDMA players.
New Delhi is also set to top its target of raising at least $13 billion.
The minister said that as committed earlier, the 3G spectrum would be distributed to all successful bidders on September 1 for launching services on commercial basis.
Meanwhile, on the contentious issue of roaming pact among leading service providers to offer 3G mobile services, the company seems to have hardened its stand by stating that they are ready to return the 3G spectrum to the Government and will take back the money if the roaming pact is not allowed.
The government has set a total revenue target of Rs 40,874.5 crore (Rs 408.74 billion) this fiscal from spectrum, including auction amount, one-time spectrum charge and annual regular licence fee.
All-rounder Rachin Ravindra continued to bolster his reputation with three for 33 as New Zealand reduced a weakened but battling South Africa side to 220 for six on the first day of the second Test at Seddon Park on Tuesday.
Revenue collections relating to spectrum charges is Rs 3,015 crore in 2007-08 while it was Rs 2090 crore (Rs 20.9 billion) in 2006-07, Minister of State for IT and Communications Jyotirditya Scindia told Lok Sabha in a written reply. The sector has now 134 private licensees offering mobile services with a user base of 20.84 crore (Rs 208.4 million) till February 2008 with a total investment of Rs 95,000 crore (Rs 950 billion).
The department of telecommunication had earlier said a CDMA operator had written a letter to the government seeking auction of additional spectrum against the current subscriber-led allocation.
Tribunal Chairman Justice Arun Kumar adjourned the hearing after Solicitor General Goolam E Vahanvati, appearing for the Centre, told the tribunal that "there will be no allocation of spectrum to any player".
They will take call on the number of telecom circles in which spectrum to be auctioned.
Videocon starts race, says will bid in eight circles, expects 5-MHz spectrum to go for Rs 20,000 crore
Operators continued aggressive bidding in 900 MHz band
Both the Houses of Parliament adjourned amid opposition demands for resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja for his alleged involvement in the reported scam in allocation of 2G spectrum on Monday.
The department of telecommunication is expecting defence ministry to soon vacate the spectrum for mobile services, including 3G, as discussions with the armed forces are in final stages, a senior ministry official said on Wednesday.
The Department of Telecom has asked the Group of Ministers on telecom spectrum to direct the Ministry of Defence to immediately release 20 Mhz spectrum in the 1,800 Mhz band for mobile phone operators.
In this regard, Pitroda noted the 3G auction in the country last year was transparent and there were no complications whatsoever in the bidding process.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to indicate the formula used in international markets to fix the ratio between the reserve and the discovered prices of 2G telecom spectrum. Trai has assumed that the base price should be 80 per cent of that of the auction discovered price which is much higher than the internatioanl norm of 50 per cent.
The committee had recommended a complete junking of the existing subscriber-based criterion for additional spectrum allocation and wanted that spectrum beyond 4.4 Mhz should be auctioned.
In a move that could pave the way for open auction of the 2G spectrum released from 122 cancelled operators, a draft Cabinet note prepared by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has recommended the spectrum price be discovered through an auction involving "existing players and new parties".
'We can't sit back clutching our memories of the riots. The country, the future of our children are more important.' Jyoti Punwani reports on an unusual election meeting in Mumbai.
The details of the BWA auction winners are still awaited from the Department of Telecom.
It is pertinent to mention that the ministry of defence had agreed to vacate the spectrum only during middle of this year.
