But says more than 5 MHz can be auctioned in 9 circles
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday invited all stakeholders in the telecom industry to give suggestions on issues relating to blocking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) for lost or stolen mobile handsets.
The paying capacity of telcos will not be the same over the next two decades. J S Sarma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says after the regulator recommended a high reserve price for the auction of 2G spectrum.
The paying capacity of telcos will not be the same over the next two decades. J S Sarma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, says after the regulator recommended a high reserve price for the auction of 2G spectrum.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday proposed a high reserve price for telecom spectrum to be auctioned, at nearly Rs 3,622 crore (Rs 36.22 billion) per MHz in the 1,800-MHz band (for GSM services).
The telecommunications regulator had recommended last month that the reserve price for spectrum in the 900 megahertz band in some key cities be cut by about 60 percent, and also suggested a 37 percent cut in the reserve price for spectrum in the 1800 megahertz band.
The Central Bureau of Investigation will file this week its first chargesheet into the 2G spectrum scam against former telecom minister A Raja and some of his close aides besides a couple of real estate companies for allegedly defrauding the exchequer and entering into a criminal conspiracy in securing the telecom licenses.
As India, the second largest telecom market in the world, has taken the lead in designing a system unique in the world that includes two databases -- a 'Do Not Call' and a 'Do Call' registry with 7 preference categories for customers who would like to receive only select calls and SMSes.
The wait for mobile subscribers to get relief from telemarketing calls has got longer. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended the deadline for the third time for implementation of guidelines to curb telemarketing calls, to April 1.
Within hours of reports that Mukherjee himself was at the receiving end of such calls, Raja activated his ministry to take steps against such calls that 'encroach' into the privacy of telecom consumers, an issue that has been haunting every single consumer despite the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's attempts to ban such a nuisance.
TRAI said the two companies failed to fulfill roll-out obligations and their merger was in violation of rules.
Recently, companies like Bharti airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Communications raised tariffs for their services by about 20 per cent in most operating circles.
Information and Broadcasting Ministry says no cap will be placed on the number of private satellite channels
Everyone in urban India has, on an average, a mobile connection.
Regulator puts price at average of 1.65 times 3G cost; Sibal's approval needed for rollout.
The CJI has also kept with himself matters concerning arbitration, habeas corpus, criminal cases, contempt of court and ordinary civil matters.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will finalise its internal view on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai's) recommendations, which was given in May last year, on mergers and acquisitions, spectrum allocation, spectrum sharing and other licencing aspects by the end of this month, a senior official from the department said.
In what could give a big relief to new mobile players, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is unlikely to cancel 53 licences - as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) - for non-fulfilment of rollout obligations.
Telecom operators added 13.35 million mobile subscribers in May 2011, taking the total number of telephone users in the country to 874.68 million, sectoral regulator Trai said.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is planning to put stringent entry-level restrictions on broadcasters launching new television channels. The move is to ensure only serious players enter the business and have effective utilisation of the limited bandwidth available for broadcasting.
The telecom regulator has been in the hot seat for many decisions that have fundamentally changed the country's telecom business.
The refusal to auction 2G spectrum ensures that the debate over Trai's recommendations will centre on whether one group was favoured over the other in the past and whether one wrong justifies another.
In a crackdown as part of the 2G spectrum scam probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday searched 34 offices and residences of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradip Baijal, siblings of ex-Telecom Minister A Raja and an NGO linked to Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi.
The pricing of 2G and 3G spectrum continues to haunt telecom companies.
Industry lobby, Mobile Marketing Association, along with other industry bodies, is submitting a proposal to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), opposing the possibility of a 'do-call' registry.
With the heat over the 2G telecom spectrum scam rising, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended the cancellation of 34 telecom licences of companies, including Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom and Siestema, due to non-compliance of roll-out obligations.
Regulator wants the power to fine errant telecom companies.
The draft report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is understood to have asked the UPA government to quantify the loss to the exchequer from the 2G scam and recover it from companies that benefited from this.
SMS has been a great boon to the hearing impaired and the Trai's latest decision to limit it the service to 100 pages per day has not gone down well with them.
"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.
After the failure of the Do-not-call registry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India now plans to try out Do-call registry to curb unnecessary telemarketing calls.
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.
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The inter-ministerial body will take the final decision on October 29 taking into account Trai's reply.
The minister said that as committed earlier, the 3G spectrum would be distributed to all successful bidders on September 1 for launching services on commercial basis.
Even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started investigating into the complaints of predatory pricing offered by some of the new operators, experts are divided over whether the current scenario actually resembles predatory pricing.
In a development that may help jailed former Telecom Minister's A Raja's defence in court, the telecom regulator has informed the CBI that Trai did not recommend the auction of 2G spectrum in 2007, implying that there was no loss to the exchequer in the award of licences.
Meanwhile, new players like Etisalat, Unitech Wireless, Loop, STel and Sistema Shyam Teleservices -- who got the spectrum (radio waves) in 2008 -- paid Rs 80.78 crore (Rs 807.8 million) in spectrum charges and licence fees to the government.
The government is set to participate in the business of television ratings that is primarily meant to guide the broadcasters, the media agencies and the advertisers, to determine their programme scheduling, advertising spends and the placement of the advertisements.
The MNP service was introduced on a pilot basis in Haryana on November 25, 2010 and later rolled out pan-India from January 20 this year.
In a reversal of its recommendations made in April 2008, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India whittled the increase it had suggested then in the foreign direct investment cap for companies set up to uplink television news channels, as well as in FM radio.
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