Telecom companies have put in bids worth Rs 58,332 crore (Rs 583.32 billion) in spectrum auction at the end of 49 rounds on the 7th day of bidding on Monday.
The issue was raised by Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav who alleged that the government lost as much as Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) because of 'wrong policies' of the telecom department while Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia dubbed it as the 'biggest scam'.
The government expects to garner about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) from the existing mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea by imposing a one-time fee on those who are holding spectrum beyond the threshold limit of 6.2 Mhz, a move which will raise the cost of radio frequency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that the allotment of 2G spectrum licences by the Union ministry of telecommunications to private companies was 'the largest scam in Independent India' and it had cost the government Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Senior official from the department of telecommunication said the deck has been cleared and the department will handover the spectrum to the operators on Wednesday.
The empowered group of ministers has been reconstituted after Pranab Mukherjee, who was heading it, resigned as Finance Minister to contest the Presidential elections.
The CBI on Thursday conducted searches in the offices of the wireless planning cell, the department responsible for allocating spectrum, and the office of deputy director general (access services) at the ministry headquarters in New Delhi.
While the highest bid so far for any circle has been for Delhi, at Rs 416.43 crore (Rs 4.16 billion), Gujarat is just a tad behind, with a bid of Rs 416.42 crore (Rs 4.16 billion).
India and China have transformed their once "adversarial relationship" to that of a "full spectrum" one and there was no reason to doubt the neighbours' ability to solve differences in the future, National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon said on Friday.
Spectrum auction ends, brings Rs 1.09 tln to govt kitty.
Having achieved a subscriber base of over 10 lakh in Mumbai, state owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has approached the government for an additional frequency of two MHz to expand its cellular mobile services.
The government on Friday said the telecom operators, who had bagged 3G spectrum in the auction held recently, would be allocated airwaves from September 1, paving way for launch of high-speed mobile broadband services.
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.
'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 sharing agreement will provide more bandwidth for RJIL to provide its high-speed 4G services.
The Telecom Commission (TC) on Saturday put the onus of deciding the contentious issue of the base price for auction of 1,800 MHz of 2G band spectrum on the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
License agreements are expected to be signed with all the nine LoI holders in the next two days and spectrum would be allotted subsequently, to begin with, in those circles where it is available readily, telecom ministry officials said. Four firms have got LoIs for pan-India operations while others have got for additional circles. The nine companies are Unitech, Datacom, Shyam Telelink, Loop Telecom, S Tel, Swan Telecom, Spice Telecom, Idea and Tata Teleservices.
Within a week of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India giving its final recommendations on the valuation and pricing of spectrum, Chairman Rahul Khullar speaks to Business Standard on the process the regulator followed in finalising the much-debated issue.
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.
'If you are going to have only a handful of telecom players on whom the entire dream of Digital India rests, it's important they are financially sustainable.'
He said TRAI recommendations on 2G spectrum allocation were currently being reviewed by the Union finance minister and the Prime Minister's Office.
Defence officials contend that the services do not use spectrum for 'commercial purposes' and therefore do not need to pay for it.
Spectrum Retail Mart, a retail chain of medical stores and fast moving consumer goods, has set up shop in Mumbai with an initial investment of over Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million).
The GSM Association, a union of 650 GSM mobile phone service operators, asked India not to allocate spectrum at 1900 MHz to CDMA operators like Reliance.
The Maldives former deputy speaker Abdulla said the remarks by the minister are "simply shameful, racist and intolerable."
Special CBI Judge O P Saini adjourned Monday's proceedings in the wake of stay granted by the Supreme Court on separate pleas filed by Mittal and Ruia challenging the March 19 order of the trial court summoning them as accused in the case.
The Standing Committee on Information Technology has decided to have briefing on allocating spectrum for the existing services and introduction of 3G services from department of telecommunication, an official communication said. Mobile operators have been demanding additional spectrum from the Government for 2G services, where they have more subscribers.
'Spectrum payment to push up telcos' debt to Rs 3.5 lakh cr'
The government has plans for the third round of spectrum auction and may put on block 2G GSM airwaves in Delhi and Mumbai circles, and CDMA spectrum in 13 circles that remained unsold in the previous sale held in March, according to sources.
The 'presumptive loss to the exchequer' from 2G allocations actually represents a huge benefit to citizens.
It is because of the Comptroller & Auditor General that we know all isn't well in the murky world of government purchases and the allocation of resources.
'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.
According to a study, the change in frequency for transmitting mobile signals could cost the telcos over Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) cumulatively.
The government has projected to garner up to Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) from sale of radiowaves, mainly 3G spectrum, to telecom operators in the current financial year.
According to sources, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of IT have supported the reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore (Rs 20.2 billion) as was originally recommended by DoT. Last week, the finance ministry had asked the DoT to double the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum.
In a surprise move that could deprive it of over Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 55 billion) in revenue, the government has said the 3G telephony spectrum available with it for sale currently could accommodate only three operators.
The government is likely to get about Rs 24,000 crore from one-time spectrum fee that has been levied on existing operators for holding radiowaves beyond a prescribed limit.
"We always prefer long-term regulatory policies as we have to plan our businesses for long-term," Arun Sarin, the outgoing CEO of UK-based Vodafone Group, one of the world's largest mobile operators, said here.
