It emerges that Vi has probably offered good data quality despite being short on spectrum and infrastructure due to its stretched finances. Did the two companies that merged face the heat due to price wars? Probably. Did the government's tough stance in demanding its "due" share of telecom revenues hurt the company? Certainly!
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has bluntly told the government there is no reason for its members to roll out 5G networks as they will be unviable if 'captive private wireless networks' are allowed to be run by enterprises. The COAI, which has Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea as its key members, has written to Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw saying there is 'no business case for the roll out of 5G networks'. Permitting such captive networks will 'diminish the revenue so much that there will be no viable business case left for the telecom service providers and there will not remain any need for 5G network roll out by telecom service providers (TSPs)'.
A call drop is a voice call, which after being successfully established, is interrupted.
The wireless user base grew by 9.06 per cent during the April-June quarter of this year to 42.72 crore (427.2 million) from 39.17 crore (391.7 million) in the preceding quarter, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said.
A group of officials from the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank ) are in India to meet officials from the finance ministry, Reserve Bank and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to discuss regulatory matters related to the deal.
As a result of the TDSAT order, over 65 pay channels like Star One, Colors and Star Cricket would be able to raise prices, which were capped by Trai. The TDSAT rejected Trai's tariff order of October 2007 that had capped prices in different categories of cities based on population.
After the quality of service regulations for cable operators in CAS-notified areas, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended a slew of service obligations for Direct-To-Home operators.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday endorsed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting proposal to reduce the license fee on Direct to Home (DTH) service providers. Trai said it had received a communication from the ministry conveying its decision to continue with the concept of gross revenue for the purpose of License fee on DTH service providers and to reduce the license fee. Trai's opinion also was sought on reduction of licence fee from 10% to 6%.
The report reveals that while the subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 209.07 million in September 2007 to 233.62 million for the quarter ended December 2007, the subscriber base for wireline has decreased from 39.58 million to 39.25 million in the recent quarter.
Trai and telecom companies are divided in their views on the issue of raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in various media-related activities like cable television, direct-to-home, etc. Trai has proposed across-the-board increase in the FDI limit across cable (49 per cent), DTH (49 per cent), HITS (no existing limit) and satellite radio (no existing limit) to 74 per cent, as allowed in the telecom sector. Companies like Bharti Airtel are supporting this proposal
"India's wireless subscriber base during the first half of April 2008, will surpass that of the US and will become the second wireless network in the world," the telecom regulator said. Moreover, the total subscriber base, including wireless and wire-line would also cross 300 million mark in April, it added. Currently, China is the world's largest wireless network and is adding around 6-7 million subscribers every month.
The telecom regulator had on Monday said that for the first unsolicited communication, a service provider would have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 5,000, which could go up to Rs 20,000 for each subsequent call.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed Vodafone Essar Mobile Services to refund value-added service (VAS) charges that were levied without "explicit consent". However, the regulator did not specify the amount the GSM major has to refund to the consumers.
Communications Minister A Raja on Monday told Parliament that there was no "contractual agreement" between government and telecom operators to allot spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, a move that could hurt GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Raja also ruled out auctioning of spectrum saying this was not feasible based on previous experiences, especially in 1993 when operators were not able to fulfill their roll out obligations.
Apex telecom industry body COAI has asserted that spectrum pricing should be kept conducive to market conditions as 5G entails upfront capital investments with monetisation spread over a long-haul, and pricing radiowaves high will only push the players up against the wall. The stage is set for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come out with its recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities for upcoming auctions, and the announcement from the sector watchdog is expected anytime now. Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band, that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz.
The department of telecommunications has referred the issue of using multiple technologies under a single unified access services licence to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
State-owned Mahangar Telephone Nigam's (MTNL) ambitious drive to become a major player in the internet protocol TV (IPTV) services sector is facing a roadblock. IPTV is a technology that uses telephone lines to provide TV programming to viewers.
Initial fears of Internet access charges rising by 6-12 per cent following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendations to impose an annual licence fee for Internet Service Providers appear to be unfounded.
Internet services are likely to get more expensive.
Currently, ISPs pay only Re 1 as annual licence fee while Internet telecom service providers, or telecom operators providing Internet services, pay 6 per cent of their annual gross revenue as licence fee.
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the two major DTH companies, have sought compensation from the government for the upgrade of the existing DTH set-top boxes due to the mandatory upgrade proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
In the wake of recent submarine cable cuts that disrupted Internet and telephony services across the world, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is looking at putting in place a mechanism to ensure immediate restoration of lines in case of such incidents in the future.
Proponets of subscriber-linked spectrum allocation and resultant reporting of correct user base got a further boost on Tuesday with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Nripendra Misra supporting the authenticity of these figures.
Trai has suggested abolition of ADC on private operators. This move will make telecom services more affordable.
According to the Trai latest report, only around 18 million telephone subscribers out of the total subscriber base of more than 344 million have opted to register in NDNC. Of these, urban areas like Delhi and Mumbai constitute around 40 per cent along with states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa.
Trai has submitted 26 recommendations to the government and released 30 consultation papers so far this year, up from seven and 20, respectively, in 2007. Few of its recommendations are actually accepted by the govt.
Under the revised proposal, the regulator would levy a penalty of Rs 500 from a telecom service provider for the first instance of non-compliance, and Rs 20,000 per call for repeated offences.
About 11.90 million wireless (GSM, CDMA and WLL(F)) subscribers were added in April 2009 as against an addition of 15.64 million during the previous month, taking the total subscriber base to 403.66 million, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said. The total telecom (wireless and wireline) subscriber base stood at 441.47 million at the end of April 2009 as against 429.72 million in March 2009, it added.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that the government ensure and expedite availability of more Ku band transponders (which can be used for TV as well as data transmission) so that DTH companies can also offer broadband services.
Tells operators to modify ads on speeds they offer.
The government struck a cordial note with the GSM mobile lobby by agreeing on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) norms for spectrum allocation, a move described by rival CDMA player Reliance Communications (RCom) as "succumbing to pressure".
Interconnect user charges are paid by one telecom service provider to another for enabling calls from one network to the other. The present interconnect charge of 30 paise per incoming minute was fixed in 2003. The price was considered high even then. Now, with equipment prices falling, a revision was called for, said industry analysts.
Trai had proposed the process for linking 3G spectrum price with 2G spectrum in order to give level playing field to all operators.
Another priority is to prepare the country for the fourth generation (4G) technology. It will not only improve teledensity and improve data services, but also ensure that the country is prepared for all the future developments, says J S Sarma.
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 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) decision to stop issuing new licences for district-level operators or category 'C' players has effectively shut the door on smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) interested in setting up shop. Those who have moved on to category 'B' or state-level operations, too, are feeling the heat as they have to compete with the likes of Reliance, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, VSNL and Sify.
According to the recent directives, subscribers are entitled to get full talk time on recharges and will have to pay administrative fee not exceeding Rs 2 per recharge and other applicable taxes. The new measures will be effective from September 15, and are applicable for both new as well as existing subscribers. Customers will also be insulated from any increase in tariff for a period of 12 months from the existing six month regime, according to Trai.
Deliberations by the government is being carried out to keep cost and charges at a level so as not to discourage subscribers willing to change their service provider, an optional facility, and at the same time make the service providers a viable business model. The charge is directly linked to the number of subscribers, who would seek the change in service provider out of the total mobile user base of about 400 million.
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