This decision was taken at Executive Council meeting of National Association of Software and Service Companies held in Pune.
The much-awaited guidelines on foreign direct investment in telecom are expected to be notified this month with companies likely to be given a maximum of four months
Reliance Jio Infocomm has moved the Bombay High Court seeking approval for amalgamating its long distance services arm Infotel with itself.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has significantly tightened the noose on mergers among telecom operators within a circle by imposing a three-year lock-in period, besides making it mandatory for them to take prior permission from the ministry.
A senior official in the Telecom Ministry said the government is considering an exit option for the new telecom players who are struggling to roll out services.
The DoT estimates that it will receive Rs 29,524 cr in revenue from the telecom industry in FY18, which is 38% less than the Budget revenue target of Rs 47,300 cr for FY18
The bulk of this money will, however, be spent on buying imported equipment, mainly from Europe and China.
Pointing out to the 133-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City on the outskirts of the financial capital, he said there is huge realty play opportunity that RCom's erstwhile corporate headquarters possesses, and pegged the potential value creation at the site at Rs 25,000 crore.
Two regional CDMA players - HFCL in Punjab and Shyam Telecom in Rajasthan - have deposited fee for their GSM spectrum as per the dual technology permitted by the government. HFCL deposited Rs 151.75 crore (Rs 1.51 billion) for Punjab circle, while Shyam gave about Rs 32 crore for the Rajasthan circle.
The department of telecommunications, in the draft universal licence guidelines to be signed with telcos which recently won spectrum in the 1800 MHz auction of November, has included a new clause for foreign companies.
The directive by the department of telecommunication has also made it mandatory for equipment vendors to transfer technology to Indian manufacturers within three years of selling machines to any operator.
This fresh case pertains to the tax assessment done by the I-T department for the year 2009-10.
Vodafone Idea on Wednesday said its board has approved availing the four-year spectrum payment moratorium being offered by the government as part of its relief package for the telecom sector. The other options offered in the Telecom Department's notification will be considered by the board of directors within the stipulated timeframe, it said in a regulatory filing. "...we wish to inform you that the Board of Directors of the company has approved the exercise of the option of deferment of the company's spectrum auction instalments for a period of 4 years (October 2021 to September 2025) in accordance with ...the notification dated 14 October 2021 issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the company," it said.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows in India declined 24 per cent to $20.48 billion in April-September 2023, dragged by lower inflows in computer hardware and software, telecom, auto and pharma, according to government data. FDI inflows stood at $26.91 billion during the first six months of the last fiscal. Inflows during January-March 2023 also contracted 40.55 per cent to $9.28 billion.
DoT's proposal to impact many, including Vodafone
Electronics major has tied up with Reliance Comm and Tata Tele.
Leading service provider Spice Telecom has said consumer must be given competitive choices to choose from and number of telecom players in a circle cannot be an issue.
An attempt is to be made over the next month to get over the opposition of staff unions to the Pitroda Committee recommendations on the revamp of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state telecom network outside Mumbai and Delhi.
The government plans to remove the definition of broadcasting services altogether from the bill to help reduce confusion among stakeholders.
Apex telecom industry body COAI has asserted that spectrum pricing should be kept conducive to market conditions as 5G entails upfront capital investments with monetisation spread over a long-haul, and pricing radiowaves high will only push the players up against the wall. The stage is set for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come out with its recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities for upcoming auctions, and the announcement from the sector watchdog is expected anytime now. Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band, that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz.
All hell broke loose after the publication of the tapes, recorded by the Revenue Intelligence department between 2008-09, and the Opposition brought Parliament to a grinding halt demanding a certain probe.
13 companies have submitted more than 230 applications for telecom licences and most of these are for a pan-India UASL. DLF and Omaxe join other real estate firms Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech and Parsvnath Developers to apply for telecom licence.
Vodafone Idea on Monday paid Rs 2,500 crore to DoT and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week.
The government has issued an advisory to mobile operator Bharti Airtel to document properly all its telecom connections, including broadband.
State-owned power company PowerGrid Corporation Limited has been awarded the national long distance (NLD) license by the department of telecom for its proposed foray into the telecom business.\n\n
Telecom operators will have to pay a penalty and immediately de-activate a pre-paid mobile connection if they fail to follow the new norms issued by the government to strengthen the subscriber verification system.
The department of telecom will meet UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani on Sept 24 to discuss how the database of nearly 500 million telephone subscribers can be used for issuing the unique identification number.
Suggests ban in 20 states; operators fear price surge, European monopoly.
Globally, the focus has moved back to India, especially in terms of telecom assets. Vodafone Idea, with some 300 million customers, continues to be attractive with shares available at a low price.
Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G services in high-frequency bands in and around airports following restrictions imposed by the Department of Telecom at the request of the civil aviation ministry, according to sources. Based on buffer and safety zone details provided by the aviation ministry, the DoT has asked telecom operators to not install 5G base stations in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band in the area of 2.1 kilometres from both ends of the runway and 910 meters from the centre line of the runway of Indian airports with immediate effect. "Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G service in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band only in and around airports based on the order.
Concerned over the alleged scam involving hundreds of crores in re-routing international calls, the Central Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into working of Reliance Infocomm and some other top private telecom operators.\n
The 2G judgment suggests many bureaucrats have poor application, inadequate interest and are unwilling to be active participants in the policy process, says Babu Jacob.
A slew of real estate companies, like DLF, Omaxe, BPTP and Avnija Properties (Dalmia Cement), and large corporations like telecom bigwig AT&T, Sterlite, Videocon, JSW Power, Hinduja's HTMT, Moser Baer Infrastructure, Ispat Industries Ltd and a Sam Pitroda-owned company are among the 25 companies whose applications will not be immediately processed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for awarding mobile licences.
In a major development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has cleared applications of nine telecom aspirants and is close to issuing them Letters of Intent. This will be followed by issuance of universal access service licences and allocation of spectrum.
Telecom Secretary DS Mathur has told the finance ministry that a change in the entry fee that operators must pay for a telecom licence cannot be considered since the matter was approved by the Cabinet in October 2003. The letter, written late last month, was in response to a letter by Finance Secretary D Subbarao, who had requested the department of telecommunications to "stay" the issue of new licences and those for cross-over technology (from CDMA to GSM services).
'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.'
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