Former telecom minister A Raja, who has so far not cross-examined any witness in the 2G case trial, is likely to open his defence next week by questioning his former additional private secretary Aseervatham Achary, a prosecution witness, sources said.
In May, Trai had gave its recommendations on a 'Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework', in which it had said that consequent to the merger of licences in a service area, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity post-merger shall not exceed 12.4 MHz for GSM technology, or 10 MHz in case of CDMA technology.
The commerce department has said that earnings through the new tax will equal the losses faced by Indian industry after the US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The Cabinet is believed to have asked the Department of Telecom to examine imposing a Swachch Bharat cess on spectrum charges paid annually by service providers.
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.
The books of these companies had come under a cloud after it was alleged that many of them had not been paying the goverment's share of revenue by showing the revenue earned under other categories. Under a suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a special audit of all the integrated telecom companies will be undertaken once in 3-5 years.
Access spectrum is airwaves used for transmitting wireless signals on mobile devices from mobile towers.
Some 74 applications for these licences for mobile services are pending with the Department of Telecom.
Telecom Minister A Raja said on Wednesday that the government is considering number portability in the mobile sector.
In order to popularise the social security schemes for the unorganised sector, a Committee on Tuesday suggested PFRDA access the postal department's network and enter into tie ups with mobile phone operators who have vast reach.
The fast growing telecom sector is set to witness another round of mergers and acquisitions with the DoT recommending against lock-in of promoters equity, saying this would only hamper growth and competition.
Spectrum was sold at about 68 per cent premium.
FIPB panel to meet today, discuss telecom investments.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed to simplify the country's telecom landscape. It has suggested one tariff for each licence holder across the country, all-India mobile number portability and doing away with roaming charges.
Officials of Reliance Jio Infocomm claimed to have achieved broadband speeds on their networks that are 10-12 times faster than 3G services.
Ringing Bells has said the manufacturing cost of the phone is about Rs 2,500.
The 21-day coronavirus lockdown in force since Wednesday has triggered a mass exodus of migrant workers across the country since the last few days.
The third chargesheet was scheduled to come out by the first week of July.
The government may relax the Telecom Engineering Centre's recently finalised spectrum allocation criterion, the minimum subscriber limits that entitle mobile service operators to additional spectrum, radio frequencies that enable mobile communications.
Over 20 years, connectivity has massively expanded. But 50,000 villages have been left behind.
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
Vodafone Idea, which reported a loss of Rs 6,439 crore in the December quarter, said it had received letters from the department of telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment of dues amounting to Rs 54,000 crores after the SC judgment. "The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in its order dated October 24, 2019. The company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," it stated.
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
Recommendations may encourage consolidation.
In six months, 2,000 mobile cell sites have been closed.
With the green cover gone, the bald roads to Puri are now reigned by lorries laden with electric poles, ambulances, fire service vehicles and cranes, signalling the rebuilding effort is in the works.
In India, there are 22 services area, or circles, for 2G telecom services and both the companies operate in all the circles.
Delhi High Court quashes reassessment proceedings by Income Tax department.
All 'grameen dak sevaks' in rural post offices will be given handheld devices by March 2017.
An Income Tax department team will fly down from Chennai on Wednesday to question former telecom minister A Raja in Tihar jail, for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
The Finance Ministry had written twice to the DoT to immediately auction wireless broadband spectrum.
A questionnaire sent to Price Waterhouse was not answered.
Earlier, only access to white-listed sites was allowed as the service was restored for a week on January 25 and subsequently extended from time to time, after being snapped on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated the special status to the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories.
Modelled loosely around the National Highway System of the US, he in 2001 launched the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South & East-West Corridor projects to build 4/6 lane highways between four top metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata as well as from Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Porbandar to Silchar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it had seized "incriminating" documents during searches at 14 places, including former telecom minister A Raja's residence, in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
The department of telecom has asked operators to list out the priority areas, where policies are pending, for placing before the new government as a consensus agenda for the first 100 days.
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