Move to ensure deals do not hit govt licence fees, revenue share.
Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday said that operators will have to provide an optional tariff of per second call along with other packages or plans.
A decision on this issue is important because new operators would shy away from bidding for a standalone 3G licence if they are made to wait for years to get the UAS licence even though they have won bids for 3G. That would make the 3G project unviable from the very beginning.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday launched a channel selector application which will facilitate consumers to view their TV subscription and choose the channels of their interest while removing the unwanted ones.
Is it time to consider the Internet as mass media? Maybe.
Indian telecom operators may soon be asked to compulsorily give their customers the option of paying tariff based on usage per second instead of the current per minute pulse, sector regulator TRAI said.
Leading mobile phone operators came down hard on the telecom regulator on a day when most saw their stocks on a crash course.
Operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Aircel, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Idea Cellular might have to fork out over Rs 11,200 crore for having spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, if the government accepts the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommendations.
The TDSAT scrapping the Trai's judgement on channel pricing is a major victory for broadcasters, but could also see consumer prices moving up.
With the addition of 20 million new users in March, the highest ever this year, the mobile subscriber base in the country has jumped to 584.32 million customers, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said on Tuesday.
The department of telecommunication has decided that the existing variable licence fee structure for telecom operators should be replaced with a uniform one. An departmental note suggests a uniform licence fee of 8.5 per cent for all types of services.
Earlier this month, the department of telecommunication had said that MNP that will allow users to switch providers without changing their phone number was likely to be launched by June 30, 2010.
Trai has asked the department of telecommunication to 'keep in abeyance' the grant of new 2G (mobile) licences till the watchdog finalises its recommendations.
Mobile television allows the consumers to watch live as well as pre-recorded television content on a mobile handset using a specialised mobile television broadcasting technology. Currently, only video clips can be downloaded on mobile handsets.
TRAI has decided to fine defaulting tele-marketing firms upto Rs 20000 for non-complaince of directives.
The per second billing introduced by telecom companies has come as a boon to millions of mobile users in the country but it is proving to be a bane for cellular service providers as it is affecting their revenues, feel industry experts.
The operators are willing to accept auction of second generation spectrum beyond what has been contracted. According to them, they are allowed to have spectrum up to 10 Mhz.
Trai member A K Sawhney had been acting as chairman since Nripendra Mishra retired on March 22 this year. Before joining Trai, Sarma was member of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal and is a well-known expert in the field, the regulator said.
Leading broadcasters Zee-Turner and Set Discovery have challenged in TDSAT sectoral regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's guidelines on pricing of cable TV charges in non-conditional access system areas. Trai regulation directs them to provide their channels on a 'la carte' basis.
The decks have been cleared for the appointment of TDSAT member JS Sarma as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Sarma will succeed former Trai chairman Nripendra Mishra who retired on March 22, 2009.
These numbers have been submitted to the regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, by various stakeholders in the cable industry, including broadcasters and multi-system operators. These are based on the information collected from the tax departments of various state governments.
Decisions are also being pushed on free allotment of additional spectrum to telecom firms, on extending the licence period for 'dual technology' firms like Reliance Communications/Tata Teleservices etc, and on revising merger and acquisition norms. Given how each of these cases is so controversial, even apart from the issue of propriety, it is unacceptable that a government on its last legs should be taking such decisions.
In its tariff order for 2010, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India also included provisions to protect the consumers from rise in rates, like no increase in subscription charges in the first six months of enrolling.
Trai wants to prevent accidental activation of such services.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today directed the mobile operators to seek written consent from the users who have subscribed to their value-added services (VAS), such as call ring-back tone and hello tunes, in order to prevent accidental activation of such services.
Addressing a press conference in Chennai, Akmin Technologies Pvt Ltd CEO and Managing Director S Prashanth said this would mainly target those who wish to create a website on their GPRS enabled mobile phone. Quoting Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's report, Prashanth said at the end of March 2008, India had 14.9 million PC-Internet subscribers, while the mobile internet subscribers stood at 66.09 million.
Mobile TV -- basically an application that enables television services on handhelds such as mobiles, handheld TVs, car TV, GPS terminals, game devices, laptop PCs, and other portable devices -- is a step closer to seeing the light of day in India.
The three undersea cable station owners were asked by Trai to submit the Cable Landing Station - Reference Interconnect Offer,' containing the terms and conditions, charges and time limit for providing access. Now, Trai has approved the RIO of four cable landing stations of VSNL in the country and one each of Bharti and Anil Ambani's Reliance.
At present, consumers are offered a number of innovative services through Intelligent Network deployed by telecom service providers in their network.
But half the 'profit' should be ploughed back into the company, says Trai.
All operators would have to shift to NGN networks in near future. NGN is a single network of services and infrastructure functioning over an Internet Protocol network. This digital mode is superior to the existing network.
Nripendra Misra's three-year stint as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will be remembered for a host of recommendations and a number of controversies. Controversial issues like the conditional access system, non-CAS pricing kept Misra, who retires as Trai chairman on March 22, 2009, in the news.
Amidst the controversial sale of stake by two new telecom operators, Swan and Unitech, at a huge premium, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended a three-year lock-in period for stake sale by companies, which have recently got licences, in a bid to prevent them from making windfall gains overnight.
It's difficult to say whether the CBI will find enough proof against telecom minister A Raja or whether it will get caught in the parcel of half-truths he's been dishing out on how he's just followed the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the actions of his predecessors.
Last week's Supreme Court decision on cable-pricing means that 83 million cable homes will end up paying more for their television.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday slashed termination charges by 33 per cent.
The regulator on Thursday asked the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio to withdraw the three-month 'complimentary' offer of unlimited data usage and free calls on payment of a minimum Rs 303.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will complete the consultation process for linking 3G spectrum price with 2G spectrum by July 15 and expects the government to wait for its proposals before taking a decision.
Value-added services (VAS) and mobile-content providers may soon come under a licensing regime. Security concerns regarding VAS have come to the forefront in the ongoing debate over security issues surrounding Blackberry services in India.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to reject the telecom regulator's proposal to charge operators holding excess spectrum at a rate determined on the basis of the ongoing 3G bids.
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