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.
Some 74 applications for these licences for mobile services are pending with the Department of Telecom.
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 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.
Telecom Minister A Raja said on Wednesday that the government is considering number portability in the mobile sector.
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.
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.
Denial of interconnection "appears to be with ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti consumer", Trai said.
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.
India's stand is important against the backdrop of US FCC's decision to roll back its net neutrality rules adopted in 2015
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
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.
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.
G C Murmu rarely speaks in public and when he does, his statements are always in lockstep with the thinking within this government.
Access spectrum is airwaves used for transmitting wireless signals on mobile devices from mobile towers.
Recommendations may encourage consolidation.
The third chargesheet was scheduled to come out by the first week of July.
Spectrum was sold at about 68 per cent premium.
FIPB panel to meet today, discuss telecom investments.
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.
Officials of Reliance Jio Infocomm claimed to have achieved broadband speeds on their networks that are 10-12 times faster than 3G services.
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
The govt says the step has been taken to prevent miscreants spreading rumours. The order also applies to SMS services.
In India, there are 22 services area, or circles, for 2G telecom services and both the companies operate in all the circles.
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.
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.
Tamil Nadu has cornered around 18.63 per cent of the fresh investments in Q1FY21 and topped the list of state-wise investments. These investments should help create over 67,212 jobs.
Across the world, there are around 150 trials on 5G currently going on and India has lagged behind. The government has now formed a committee which will look exclusively at developing a model for conducting 5G field trials, reports Kiran Rathee.
Delhi High Court quashes reassessment proceedings by Income Tax department.
Over 20 years, connectivity has massively expanded. But 50,000 villages have been left behind.
Ringing Bells has said the manufacturing cost of the phone is about Rs 2,500.
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.
In a bid to promote competition in resale of bandwidth, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in its recommendations submitted to Department of Telecom has favoured not fixing any ceiling on the number of players in the segment.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and attended by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) among others.
In six months, 2,000 mobile cell sites have been closed.
