According to the guidelines, a unified licence will have three levels -- national, service area and district.
The telecom industry, with a cumulative debt of around Rs 2,75,000 crore (Rs 2,750 billion), has been mired in various controversies, besides facing intense competition, low tariffs and falling margins.
Newer telecom operators and dual technology entities are opposing the department of telecommunications (DoT)'s decision to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to give its view on whether the price of spectrum being offered in the coming 2G auction should be valid for 10 years instead of 20 years.
The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India, the CDMA operators' body, said mobile services could become dearer by 28 paisa per minute if the recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India are accepted in their current form.
The move ended week-long speculation the government might have to appoint an acting chairman before a final decision.
But few analysts have played down the impact of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendations.
The commission has disagreed with another key proposal -- that of allowing operators a deferred payment scheme after the auction.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India last week recommended that the government should auction 5 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band and companies will have to pay a minimum Rs 3,622.18 crore (Rs 36.22 billion) for every unit of spectrum.
Trai's recommendations should incentivise all serious operators to look at how to reach telephony to the hands of people living in villages which have a population of 500 or 1,000, which they would otherwise refrain from.
Trai's latest proposal to cut ad inventory in channels has already prompted some of the leading broadcasters (Zee News being the latest) to cut their total commercial time and increase rates.
Jio's revenue increase was phenomenal in many circles: In Haryana, the RMS gain was 13 percentage points; in Bihar, 20 percentage points; in Odisha, 15 percentage points; and in Assam, 11 percentage points. However, incumbent telcos said this increase was only in three quarters, and it happened because of an order by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which tweaked the definition of significant market player (SMP) for predatory pricing.
Trai chairman attributed predatory price as one of the key reasons for deteriorating condition of telecom industry.
The recommendations are expected to give guidance on key issues, including base price of spectrum, amount of spectrum that should be allocated to a bidder and eligible participants.
The Department of Telecommunications is planning to give more powers to the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in the new telecom policy, including the power to impose financial penalties on the erring telecom service providers.
On September 5, after much delay, Trai had come out with recommendations to stop pesky calls and text messages from September 27, ordering that no access provider (operators) shall permit the transmission of more than 100 SMSes per day per SIM.
The regulator has also agreed to the one-nation, one-licence proposal, which will make roaming free across the country. But it wants to decide the modalities of the issue.
Led by Bharti Airtel, telecom operators added 4.73 million new mobile phone users in the month of June 2012, taking the telephone subscriber base in the country to 965.52 million, telecom regulator Trai on Friday said.
In May, Trai had gave its recommendations on a 'Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework', in which it had said that consequent to the merger of licences in a service area, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity post-merger shall not exceed 12.4 MHz for GSM technology, or 10 MHz in case of CDMA technology.
The Supreme Court has cancelled the grant of 2G licences stating that 122 licences for 2G spectrum were granted in arbitrary and unconstitutional manner.
The continued growth in the communications sector, especially mobile subscriber base, is expected to push further the level of energy consumption by networks, Trai said while releasing a consultation paper 'Green Telecommunications'.
The CJI has also kept with himself matters concerning arbitration, habeas corpus, criminal cases, contempt of court and ordinary civil matters.
It has mandated all operators to set up a complaint centre.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) expects to finalise the norms for mergers and acquisitions and spectrum sharing by the end of June. It also plans to approve the National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2012, by the end of July.
The recommendations on the subject will be sent in due course to the government, according to an internal communication of DoT
The Telecom Ministry, which has sought a legal opinion on cancellation of some telecom licences for failure to meet roll-out deadlines, on Friday said the process of issuing notices over 35 licenses will be completed by March next year.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday told operators Etisalat DB and STel to continue offering services till June 2, the limit specified by the Supreme Court for expiry of their licences.
Historically, public sector units were conceived of under the assumption that they will control the 'commanding heights' of the Indian economy, which were necessary for rapid industrial growth but where private investment was unwilling to enter.
Termination charges are paid by an operator from whose network calls or SMS originate to the one on whose network these communications end.
Firms to pay Rs 24,700 cr if spectrum formula is accepted.
This means the regulator can bring rates under regulation once again. Currently, the rates are determined by market forces.
As per the data reported by the service providers to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, by the end of February 2011, about 38.33 lakh (3.83 million) subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting (shifting) their mobile number.
The telecom regulator had suggested imposition of a price on operators for holding spectrum beyond the contracted limit of 6.2MHz.
Telecom regulator Trai on Thursday said there will not be much impact on customers due to cancellation of 122 2G licenses of eight companies, as around 95 per cent of total subscribers belong to operators which got licences before January 2008.
Mobile tariffs are currently under forbearance, which means these are determined by market forces.
Industry body Assocham has released a study paper, titled 'Mobile value added services' a vehicle to usher in inclusive growth and bridge the digital divide' on which Trai is seeking comments from various service operators by February 11, Trai said.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to indicate the formula used in international markets to fix the ratio between the reserve and the discovered prices of 2G telecom spectrum. Trai has assumed that the base price should be 80 per cent of that of the auction discovered price which is much higher than the internatioanl norm of 50 per cent.
The government on Monday appointed S R Rao as commerce secretary, in place of Rahul Khullar, who was made chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India after he retired earlier this month.
The Telecom Commission (TC) on Saturday put the onus of deciding the contentious issue of the base price for auction of 1,800 MHz of 2G band spectrum on the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
