'Considering that an Internet company's market value is largely determined by its direct access to consumers for digital services, and largely served outside a sovereign country's control, it would appear reasonable in trade terms to discuss fees for a seat at the proverbial 'table' of opportunities in the largest open consumer market,' argues Venki Nishtala.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
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).
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.
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.
Telcos demanding OTT players to come under some sort of regulation as they are eating into their SMS and voice revenues.
Saudi Aramco chairman and head of the Kingdom's cash-rich wealth fund PIF Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan will join the board of Reliance Industries Ltd as an independent director in a precursor to a $15 billion deal. Reliance chairman and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who had two years back disclosed the talks to sell a 20 per cent stake in the company's oil-to-chemical unit to Saudi Aramco, announced the appointment of Al-Rumayyan at the company's annual meeting of shareholders. Harvard educated Al-Rumayyan, 51, will replace Yogendra P Trivedi, 92, who has expressed a desire to retire, Ambani said. On the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, he said the deal is likely to conclude this year.
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.
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.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has sent a letter to the Pilibhit District Election Officer seeking necessary action against Bharatiya Janata Party MP.
DoT has sought "necessary details" from the Finance Ministry to take action in this regard.
'At least three top bureaucrats have been declared guilty in recent years in connection with scams where they had no pecuniary benefit.' 'But in the telecom case, a money trail is declared irrelevant because no scam has been proved in the first place.' 'Fair enough; so we must punish illegality without criminality, but ignore possible criminality as suggestive of illegality,' points out T N Ninan.
Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile operator, has already joined the global Seamless Alliance to provide in-flight connectivity.
Department of Telecom had sought the legal opinion of the matter from the government's counsel.
People familiar with the proceedings said independent cybersecurity experts from a private consulting firm, technology lawyers, government officials and WhatsApp representatives were asked questions about the Pegasus spyware and the larger issues surrounding surveillance, hacking and remedial measures.
Says no evidence yet to incriminate Maran for coercion in Aircel-Maxis deal.
The company has already made payments for the spectrum according to rules.
'He will conduct aerial surveys and take part in review meetings, where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed,' the PMO said in a tweet on Thursday night. Cyclone Amphan has left 72 people dead and thousands homeless in West Bengal, battering several parts of the state and washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas.
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,
There are different prices for spectrum up to contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz and for additional airwaves.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He denies that he plotted with former Telecom Minister A Raja and others to pocket 2G spectrum licence.
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 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.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the recent showdown between telecom operator Airtel and the Research and Analysis Wing over tapping of certain phones
They will take call on the number of telecom circles in which spectrum to be auctioned.
"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.
The government has 97 blocks of 1.25 MHz spectrum each, which DoT can put on the block in the third round.
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.
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.
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.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has decided to do a special audit of Reliance Communications' (RCom) telecom licence companies.
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.
'We don't have any agenda in that, there will be no discrimination against anyone. Constitution will be Gita in that'
Shares of Bharti Airtel on Wednesday fell 6 per cent amid reports that the government is learnt to have approved levying of Rs 650-crore penalty on the company for violating roaming norms in 13 service areas between 2003 and 2005.
