The auction of 2G spectrum might be delayed, as the government may file a petition in the Supreme Court for an extension of the timeline. According to current SC directive, the auction has to be conducted by August 31 this year. However, due to procedural delays, the department of telecommunications is looking at extending the timeline.
The New Telecom policy 2011 and the Spectrum Act are expected to address these concerns.
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 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.
The ministry wanted to use spectrum in the 700-MHz band for mobile TV services.
The government on Friday gave its analysis of the Supreme Court's 2G judgments saying it "travelled beyond" the established limits of judicial review and entered the exclusive domain of the executive when it held that the policy of first-come-first-served was flawed.
It will also file a review petition on Friday, which, while not challenging the cancellation of licences, will seek a reconsideration of the court's declaration.
The empowered group of ministers, headed by P Chidambaram (who has now taken over as the Finance Minister) has suggested a 20 per cent lower base or reserve price at Rs 14,000-15,000 crore (Rs 140-150 billion) for 5 Mhz of airwaves as against around Rs 18,000 crore (Rs 180 billion) recommended by sectoral regulator Trai for the auction of spectrum vacated after the Supreme Court order.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
Legal experts say under existing Indian cyber laws, Sibal cannot do much harm to Google, Yahoo, Facebook or the like. They are not so clear on whether it can be done, or to what extent.
To launch 4G long-term evolution services in 1,800 MHz band.
Department of Telecommunications has reportedly blocked the popular website.
The sales would be held within three months, India's Telecommunication Minister A Raja said in New Delhi. He added the government expected good sale.
A study has revealed that barely 8 per cent of sales leaders went to tier-I MBA universities.
In a move that could pave the way for open auction of the 2G spectrum released from 122 cancelled operators, a draft Cabinet note prepared by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has recommended the spectrum price be discovered through an auction involving "existing players and new parties".
A draft report of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has expressed shock that Department of Telecommunication has no monitoring mechanism to verify authenticity of the self-certification of the operators, deprecating "such a mindless arrangement made by the DoT to check the radiation level."
Following is the chronology of events in the 2G scam.
The IPL broadcast rights -- internet, TV and mobile -- are expected to fetch the BCCI a massive sum of around Rs. 20,000 crore-plus.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi again on Sunday to discuss matters related to Monday's expected Cabinet reshuffle. Dr Singh had met Sonia Gandhi in this regard earlier on Saturday. Dr Singh also met Kapil Sibal, who is presently holding the telecommunications and human resources development ministerial portfolios. It is likely that he may be relieved of some responsibility in the reshuffle.
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.
Chiki Sarkar's literary juggernaut.
The recommendations on the subject will be sent in due course to the government, according to an internal communication of DoT
Bharti Airtel, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier SingTel, said it was helped by lower competition and an increase in voice call prices.
Beximco Group imports Nayek's Peace mobile.
COAI has argued that in India the government has been working to keep telecom networks secure, with reviews of the security policy and the insertion of specific clauses into the licences to prevent any risk to network security.
Pakistan's telecom regulator on Tuesday postponed the implementation of a directive to block nearly 1,700 "offensive" words from SMS messages, saying the matter would be sorted out after discussions with the civil society. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's move to filter over 1,100 English words and terms and 586 Urdu words and phrases from text messages had been met with outrage and ridicule by consumers and rights activists.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against three private cellular companies and former officials of the telecom department for alleged irregularities in the grant of additional 2G Spectrum and causing a loss of Rs 508 crore during the period 2001-2007.
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.
IIT Bombay has, over the last decade, generated Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion), only via donations from its alumni.
To speed up the vacation of additional 2G and 3G telecom spectrum, the government will likely make a Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50 billion) provision in the Budget for an alternative network for defence services. The spectrum released in lieu of that would increase the availability for civilian use.
Against the backdrop of dispute over figures of presumptive loss in 2G spectrum allocation, the Comptroller and AG has said the draft report which had put Rs 2,645 crore as one of the loss figures could not "conclusively" bring out the potential loss and merely highlighted "possibilities."
In the imports bracket, India was the United States' 11th largest supplier of goods in 2017
DoT has stated in an internal note that the 3G roaming agreements between these three companies are tantamount to their becoming mobile virtual network operators, something not allowed under the current policy.
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.
Instructions of the personal secretary to the minister were taken as instructions of the minister himself.
With the increase in the number of Internet users, demand for broadband connection is also growing.
This will enable security agencies to tap any call, real-time chat and data without help from the operators.
