The Finance Ministry had written twice to the DoT to immediately auction wireless broadband spectrum.
Falls way short of the Rs 40,000-cr target for the year Bharti makes upfront payment Vodafone, Telewings go for deferred scheme
To speed up the vacation of additional 2G and 3G telecom spectrum, the government will likely make a Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50 billion) provision in the Budget for an alternative network for defence services. The spectrum released in lieu of that would increase the availability for civilian use.
'Which is growing fast and where we are very strongly positioned.'
National flags should not be "messed with", British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday, after Nike's decision to use an altered design of the St George's Cross on England's soccer shirts angered some fans.
The group also said that the companies will have to pay a market price if they merge or acquire another company, which was allocated spectrum at old price of Rs 1,658 crore.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
Former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie on Friday appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 2G case and said the real issue involved kickbacks and not the policy pursued for spectrum allocation.
Government expects to fetch at least Rs 64,840 crore
"The CAG's office and Department of Space have already issued statements stating the factual position on the matter. It is further clarified that no decision has been taken by the government to allocate space segment using S-Band spectrum to ANTRIX or Devas. Hence, the question of revenue loss does not arise and any such reports are without basis in fact," the PMO statement said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is believed to have left it to telecom minister A Raja to resolve the tangle over allocation of spectrum, an issue that has brought industry bigwigs like Reliance Communications' Anil Ambani and Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal face to face.
'I will talk about my personal the day my film does well at the box office because on that day, I will feel that they own me and my life completely.'
The dry-run for roll-out of 3G mobile services is finally taking off, as the government has provided low-power spectrum to GSM players like BSNL, MTNL, Bharti and Hutch to carry out interface check on a non-commercial basis.
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.
Mittal, Ruia and former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh appeared before Special CBI Judge O P Saini and the court adjourned the matter in pursuance of the order passed by the Supreme Court on April 18.
The government is looking at reworking on the current spectrum policy to ensure efficient management of the radio wave.
43 rounds of bidding has taken place.
'Similar to the case of the digital payment system where the government created a public platform and others joined in, we are exploring a similar structure to create a PPP platform where the compute required for AI could be accessed by the small player.'
The EGoM decided to auction a minimum of eight blocks in all service areas after reserving spectrum for refarming against the allocation of 900 MHz for incumbent operators whose licences will expire during 2014-2016.
Ahead of the 3G spectrum allocation process, the government would invite request for proposals for rolling out mobile number portability. Government had recently announced the guidelines for 3G spectrum and MNP, and had allowed foreign players to take part in the next generation telecom space.
Indicted in the draft JPC report, former Telecom Minister A Raja on Monday hit back maintaining that "every major decision", including entry fee and non auction of spectrum, was taken after consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.
The government has taken steps to ensure availability of spectrum and its allocation in a transparent manner, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday while expressing confidence the months of tough challenges faced by the sector is coming to an end.
The government will in next three weeks decide on pricing of spectrum that will be sold in the second round of auction beginning March 11, Telecom Minister Kabil Sibal said on Tuesday.
Andimuthu Raja's love for poetry is believed to have got him close to Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi for a blazing political career but the script went awry in a rare case of a former union minister having to undergo the ignominy of arrest consumed by the 2G Spectrum scam.
The refusal to auction 2G spectrum ensures that the debate over Trai's recommendations will centre on whether one group was favoured over the other in the past and whether one wrong justifies another.
It expects Rs 39,895 crore from it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
This is the spectrum held by incumbent GSM operators whose licences are coming up for renewal in November 2014
Home Minister P Chidambaram was on Friday appointed the head of the Empowered Group of Ministers on spectrum auction that was reconstituted after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar declined the job.
Tatas' suggestion for auction stirs up hornet's nest.
The latest row -- termed as independent India's largest financial scam -- is centered on the allocation of scare 2G spectrum at throwaway prices.
Telecom Commission says refarm all spectrum in 900-MHz band to 1,800-MHz band operators.
The government on Thursday appointed a one-man committee of retired Supreme Court justice Shivaraj V Patil to probe the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum since 2001, a period involving the NDA regime.
The Finance Ministry, which is under immense pressure to meet the fiscal deficit target during the current financial year, has also written a letter to the department of telecommunication to auction spectrum to earn additional revenues.
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted recommendation of the empowered group of ministers that all existing mobile phone companies must pay one-time spectrum charge.
Trai had proposed the process for linking 3G spectrum price with 2G spectrum in order to give level playing field to all operators.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan, which extended the August 31, 2012 deadline for completing the auction process, made it clear that no court in the country will entertain any plea on this issue of 2G spectrum.
