Unlike the race to buy airwaves by telecom companies, airports by infrastructure companies and city gas networks by energy companies, the race to develop super apps by consumer-facing companies in India has not brushed up against any regulatory issues. Officials at the ministry of electronics and information technology and at other regulators are happy they do not have to meddle in who among the Tata group, Reliance Industries Ltd, Flipkart or Paytm will manage to build an app that sweeps in customers. Unlike separate apps a customer uses on her mobile to order groceries, buy food or airline tickets or just make payments, a super app can perform all these functions.
The exponential number of downloads can be attributed to a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking people to have the app on their mobiles, combined with the government's push for downloading of the app through other channels, reports Neha Alawadhi.
Regulator wants the power to fine errant telecom companies.
Chinese telcos hold 60-100 MHz of spectrum, while Indian companies hold 13-15 MHz of spectrum.
The government on Wednesday said it has cleared Norwegian telecom firm Telenor's proposal to invest Rs 1,000 crore in a joint venture company in the telecom sector.
The government on Thursday said it has directed Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd to monitor illegal international calls through its Nepal subsidiary.
The investigating agency wants to ascertain the actual purpose of the deal.
After engaging in a war of words with industrialist Ratan Tata, Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar has now given a 7-point agenda to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal suggesting that the ministry be made "free of lobbyists and wheeler-dealers" to clean up the sector.
Small cells improve coverage in areas where traffic is high.
The ones who came more recently were clutching the green cards that gave them an escape hatch through which to return to green pastures: Arvind Panagariya, Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian and other perfectly honourable gentlemen like them, points out T N Ninan.
The government is looking for a speedy roll out of Wi-Fi services at select public places in top 25 cities with population of over 10 lakh by June 2015.
Out of the total of 25,359 complaints received during 2010, the highest of 8,330 were against Railways, 6,520 against banks, 1,836 against petroleum department and 1,572 were against telecom officials.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a directive that telecom operators will have to refund the duty sops availed under the commerce ministry's export promotion scheme for services -- Served From India Scheme.
The government on Wednesday said the guidelines for the Gen Next mobile services (3G) that includes video calls will be issued soon addressing all security concerns raised by the home ministry.
Dismantling a legacy of United Progressive Alliance rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has abolished all the 30 GoMs and EGoMs and told ministries and departments to take decisions on pending matters.
Representatives of the British telecom company on Friday met senior finance ministry officials, in search of an amicable solution.
Terming investment in infrastructure "quintessential" to boost growth, the Economic Survey on Friday said post unlocking of the economy, infra sectors are poised for growth and construction of roads is expected to return to the high pace attained before COVID-19. The infrastructure sector will be the key to overall economic growth and macroeconomic stability, the Survey said emphasising that the year after the crisis (2021-22) will require sustained and calibrated measures to facilitate the process of economic recovery and enable the economy to get back on its long-term growth trajectory. "Basic infrastructure facilities in the country provide the foundation of growth. In the absence of adequate infrastructure, the economy operates at a suboptimal level and remains distant from its potential and frontier growth trajectory.
Tech Mahindra was the top loser in the Sensex pack, crashing over 9 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, TCS, Infosys and HUL. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance and Titan were the gainers.
Terming the charges with regard to allocation of spectrum in 2008 against him as baseless, Telecom Minister A Raja on Monday said the allegations in no way have affected the day-to-day work.
A total of 16 secretaries have been appointed to various central government departments.
The biggest gainers in the Sensex pack in Friday's session were Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Vedanta, SBI and Axis Bank, spurting up to 3.05 per cent. The losers included HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma, falling up to 1.55 per cent.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) was the star performer in Friday's session, spurting over 6 per cent to its all-time high, Other Sensex gainers included Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Axis Bank and SBI. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, ITC, M&M HDFC and Infosys shed up to 2.94 per cent.
The pilot of the MMTS train was trapped in his cabin, which was badly mangled, and efforts were on to rescue him, they said.
The change in stance follows a strong opposition by automakers of the proposed government plan to ban two-wheelers (below 150cc) and three-wheelers by 2023 and 2025, respectively
The admission comes as it seeks to ensure approval of the deal by Indian regulators under restrictive foreign investment laws.
Sun TV had approached the Home Ministry for security clearance.
In the first secretary-level appointments by the Narendra Modi government, Rakesh Garg was on Sunday named the new telecom secretary while Jugal Kishore Mohapatra is to be secretary in the fertilizers ministry.
'It is in electronics that the gap between where we are and where we need to be is most obvious and most persistent.' 'It is not only a national security issue, but also a commercial issue,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
The government announced a Rs 1000-crore (Rs 10-billion) project to convert wireless operations of defence services on Optical Fibre Cable, a move that is estimated to release 45 MHz of spectrum.
A consummate deal-maker, the former Aircel boss raked in the moolah in many, but lost a packet in several others.
The parties have jointly applied to the Delhi high court, requesting that it accept their agreed terms of settlement, subject to such further orders as the court sees fit, it said.
The Big Two telecom companies have accelerated their moves towards this next-gen technology, though they have chosen very different routes to getting there.
The government has projected to garner up to Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) from sale of radiowaves, mainly 3G spectrum, to telecom operators in the current financial year.
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The ministry's move to intervene in the matter comes 20 days before implementation, after broadcasters complained they would suffer huge loss because digitisation was still in the first phase across the country.
Earlier in the day, Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, who was heading the high-level committee to monitor vacation of spectrum by the defence forces, said revenues would get preference to timing for 3G auction.
Notwithstanding the Supreme Court's deferment of the Ayodhya verdict, the Centre has extends ban on bulk SMS-es till September 29 on all telecom networks.
Indian telecom sector has registered a phenomenal growth and has become second largest telephone network in the world after China.
Delhi Police have arrested a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, posted in the internal security division of the home ministry. Ravi Inder Singh, a deputy secretary of the West Bengal cadre, was under surveillance for over a month by the intelligence agencies.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A G Ganguly asked the CBI to apprise it of their findings on March 15.
The move gains importance after two new telecom players -- Swan and Unitech -- sold stakes to foreign companies at high premiums after the allocation of spectrum. The Left parties had also accused Telecom Minister A Raja of underselling spectrum that cost the national exchequer around Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion).
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