An internal committee of Department of Telecom had alleged that Bharti Airtel had continued to route national and international calls as local calls under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003.
To make the scheme attractive, the government has announced a rate structure wherein the operators may take the optical fibre on lease and provide broadband connectivity to customers.
Earlier, the Telecom Commission, a decision-making arm of the Telecom Ministry, had recommended that the government pick up a majority stake in the special purpose vehicle created to execute the sale of surplus land lying with VSNL (now Tata Communications).
The IT department had issued a tax assessment order in December 2011 asking Vodafone to add Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) to its taxable income, thus raising the tax liability of the company.
DoT officials, under fear of allegation of their conniving with telecom operators for lowering penalty, directly impose the maximum penalty that can be levied on service providers.
The Telecom Ministry on Monday said its technical team is testing the solution of interception given by smartphone BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and is expecting a report by end of October.
It is learnt that the defence ministry is refusing to let go of its 100 MHz spectrum, which was allotted earlier. In that case, the department of telecommunications (DoT) will be left with only 175 MW of 5G spectrum of the total 300 MHz.
The company has already made payments for the spectrum according to rules.
DoT has sought "necessary details" from the Finance Ministry to take action in this regard.
Bharti recorded $5 billion liability for past-due AGR fees, but is still completing its self-assessment to determine the final amount.
The three companies for sale are Reliance Communications, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel.
India's largest-ever spectrum auction kicked off on Saturday with major telecom operators placing bids worth Rs 53,531 crore across bands, even as the premium 700 Mhz and 900 Mhz frequencies did not find any buyer.
Department of Telecom had sought the legal opinion of the matter from the government's counsel.
Says no evidence yet to incriminate Maran for coercion in Aircel-Maxis deal.
With hopes of raising funds through an initial public offer (IPO) or selling a stake to a strategic investor fading due to stiff opposition from the unions, the government is working on a proposal for a private placement of shares for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), India's fifth-largest telecom company,
A Group of Ministers will consider a proposal to let BSNL and MTNL venture into cable TV and broadcasting services to help infuse life into the loss making companies.
A high-level meeting will be convened soon to decide on probing the India operations of Chinese Telecom companies -- 'Huawei' and 'ZTE' -- against the backdrop of the US calling the two firms a threat to American national security.
There are different prices for spectrum up to contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz and for additional airwaves.
The fine is based on the loss estimated by internal committees of DoT to the national exchequer due to violation of licence norms by Vodafone.
The department of telecom member (finance) Vijayalakshmi K Gupta said the department would, on December 8, issue the final blueprint of the auction with regard to number of 3G slots and as of now the information memorandum is the document for reference. But the absence of foreign players at the pre-bid conference, which set in motion the auction process, was conspicuous.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the recent showdown between telecom operator Airtel and the Research and Analysis Wing over tapping of certain phones
He denies that he plotted with former Telecom Minister A Raja and others to pocket 2G spectrum licence.
The two companies were earlier expecting to complete the merger formalities and regulatory approvals by June 30 and to start operating as one entity from July 1.
They will take call on the number of telecom circles in which spectrum to be auctioned.
The telecom tribunal TDSAT on Wednesday asked new operators S Tel and Videocon Teleservices to pay 60 per cent of the penalty within two weeks, imposed on them by the Department of Telecom for failing to meet their roll-out obligations.
The government has 97 blocks of 1.25 MHz spectrum each, which DoT can put on the block in the third round.
The power infrastructure and the farm sector have also suffered a considerable damage, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said. However officials said the telecom infrastructure is largely intact.
IAMAI in a statement, which represents digital businesses in India, said Trai's recommendation to formulate standards of anonymisation and de-identification was akin to putting the cart before the horse, and till such time the Srikrishna Committee submits the report, making these standards would be like groping in the dark.
"I understand that DoT (Department of Telecom) should be able to take a decision in about 15-days. We (TRAI) should be able to announce a date soon...I don't think it will take long," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman J S Sarma told reporters.
G C Murmu rarely speaks in public and when he does, his statements are always in lockstep with the thinking within this government.
The single emergency number '112' will be operational throughout India from January 1 to help people reach immediate services of police, ambulance and fire department.
The government has collected over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) in penalties from new telecom service providers that failed to roll-out their networks within the stipulated timeframe after getting licences and spectrum.
Government's resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators with none of them withdrawing their application from airways auction on the last day on Monday.
A large team led by Kumar Mangalam Birla has taken charge of the integration process.
Telecom Commission has recommended that existing mobile operators vacate airwaves in the 900 MHz band at the time of renewal of licences in 2014 -- a move that GSM players say would cost them over Rs 66,000 crore (Rs 660 billion) in replacing infrastructure.
It is believed that apart from Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel, there are four players that have made a bid.
Importers will now have to provide sufficient proof to the domestic customs authorities that the goods being imported have a minimum 35 per cent value addition in the country from which it is being exported to India.
The telecom tribunal TDSAT on Wednesday directed Uninor to pay Rs 6 crore to the government as penalty for delay in rolling out services in two circles, as per its license conditions.
The auction last year had seen a muted response on account of high spectrum cost.
Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Friday directed Uninor to pay 60 per cent of the penalty, demanded by the Department of Telecom (DoT), for failing to roll-out services within the stipulated period.
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