The Bombay High Court on Thursday stayed a new income tax demand of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) on Vodafone India Services in an alleged transfer-pricing case from 2010-11.
The Bombay high court, in a very significant ruling on Wednesday, dismissed telecom major Vodafone International's petition challenging the Income Tax department's show cause notice for payment of capital gains tax of around $2 billion.
International telcos such as Russia's Sistema and Norway's Telenor and foreign investment funds such as KAIF Investments Mauritius and Capital Global Ltd (investors in Loop Telecom) have sent legal notices to the Indian government under the respective Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement or Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.
After Finance Minister P Chidambaram's indication the tax department would not act rashly on the issue, the company on Thursday said it was ready to discuss a solution with the government.
The Department of Telecommunications has mooted a proposal for increasing additional spectrum charges and has also suggested slashing of one-time fixed spectrum charges.
While everybody is talking about the vast potential of 5G, the uptake of such services in India depends on operators getting around 100 Mhz 5G spectrum. At the reserve price proposed by Trai, getting this spectrum will cost a telco around Rs 490 billion. Which amount could be difficult for operators to mop up, given the financial stress they are undergoing, says Kiran Rathee.
Massive relief and rescue operations have been launched in Manipur where a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday claimed nine lives, shattered buildings and caused panic.
In a statement on Tuesday, DoT said, "1,800 and 900 MHz bands were to be auctioned simultaneously, starting March 11, and the 800 MHz band auction was to commence two days after the conclusion of the auction of the 1,800 and 900 MHz spectrum.
'The failures of private businessmen have set back the process of market-oriented reform, though that is the only way forward,' argues T N Ninan.
There has been a huge controversy over the Net neutrality issue.
The move will help telcos, including Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) have sent separate letters to the department of telecommunications (DoT), asking the government to bear the entire burden of nearly Rs 11,000 crore they need to fork out as one-time payment for additional spectrum.
Miffed at a rise in annual licence fee on Internet service providers, industry body Internet Services Providers Association of India on Thursday said it would approach the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal, challenging the new fees.
The department of telecom has issued showcause notice to overseas telecom carriers AT&T and MCI Worldcom and network solutions company Equant for allegedly providing end-to-end managed data services without approval.
The Delhi HC has asked the department of telecommunications to not take any coercive action until the next hearing of the case.
Mobile operators got a reprieve with the Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India allowing them to continue with their existing short messaging codes for SMS services by extending their compliance period.
In a move that would result in the mellowing of the spectrum issue and enabling the new service providers to commence operations, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has begun identifying the quantity of unused spectrum across 23 circles in the country.
DoT sent the final Cabinet note to various ministries on Monday. The telecom companies have to comply with the FDI guidelines by January 2.
The government is learnt to be preparing fresh plans to auction telecom spectrum that can fetch around Rs 39,895 crore.
A government group under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has broadly accepted a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) proposal favouring a three-pronged strategy to deal with the challenges arising out of the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 telecom licences.
While Reliance/Infotel Broadband stands to gain if Qualcomm is forced out of the BWA race, will the potential Indian consumer of broadband wireless services gain from this unseemly tussle? That is a question that remains unanswered.
US President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American lawyer and telecom policy expert Ajit Varadaraj Pai, who belongs to Republican party, as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the country's premier regulatory body.
Congress members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G scam today sought to turn tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party by raising questions as to why the then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh approved a proposal of the Telecom Ministry in 2003 on reduction in licence fee without examining its financial implications.
Says action taken following Supreme Court order, not because of government decision
Babus may now use private telecom, airline services
Winners of recently held 2G spectrum auction will have to make payment, either in full or at least 33 per cent of the due amount, by December 1, the Department of Telecom said on Thursday.
As per the provisional result, Vodafone emerged as the biggest winner getting additional spectrum in 14 circles.
If it happens, this would mean the largest spectrum auction in terms of amount with over 7,000 Mhz going up for sale across eight bands
Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecom received the maximum FDI of $2.47 billion
The court issued notices to the Law Ministry and the DoT, rejecting their contentions that the same cannot be issued against them as they were not the parties to the case.
Government websites -- including those of the Prime Minister's Office, home and petroleum ministries, and the department of telecommunications -- were out of service for many hours on Monday. An official attributed the cause to firewall problems.
