Telecom regulator TRAI has said private GSM operators were acting as a "cartel" against MTNL and BSNL and charging higher tariffs from customers for calls terminating in the networks of the two state-run companies.
Demanding a level playing field for the old operators, Bharti group chief Sunil Mittal told PTI: 'our view is that the spectrum given to us and other operators from time to time is under a policy and there is no question of any additional payment for this.'
Leading mobile phone operators came down hard on the telecom regulator on a day when most saw their stocks on a crash course.
The development marks a watershed moment in India's telecom history since fixed-line or landline connections formed the final segment where a State-owned operator was in the top spot.
The final minimum price of Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) for 1800 Mhz band and Rs 18,200 crore for 800 Mhz was decided by government based on initial recommendation made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Telecom minister A Raja had said that mobile tariffs should come down to 10 paise for local calls and for 25 paise STD calls per minute.
Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday released draft recommendations on rural telephony for overcoming various constraints coming in the way of increasing telecom penetration in rural India.
A day after reprimanding Zee-Turner for switching off TV channel signals to a subscriber without proper notice
Once BARC starts functioning, the inadequacies of the present system will have to be effectively addressed in close and coordinated manner with the ministry of information and broadcasting, Trai said, while suggesting initiation of activities by BARC by January 2009. BARC can have two nominees from the ministry of information and broadcasting on its board, Trai suggested.
Uninor added 8.53 lakh subscribers to take its base to 4.01 crore during the reported period.
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 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).
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday failed to get any interim relief from the Supreme Court as it refused to stay telecom appellate tribunal TDSAT's order restricting regulator's jurisidiction to effect changes in the agreement signed bet
In its recommendations to the government, Trai said the provision of calling cards would allow consumer to exercise choice of long distance operator for the national and international calls. The authority has, therefore, recommended amendment of NLD/ILD operators licence conditions to allow them to access customers directly for national and international long distance calls, respectively.
The recommendations on the subject will be sent in due course to the government, according to an internal communication of DoT
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday recommended lowering spectrum charges paid by service providers to the government to 4% from 6% -- a move which may further bring down telecom tariffs.
Rahul Khullar, Trai chairman beleives politicians and corporates who own media houses should give freedom to editors.
The government may not auction spectrum frequency range between 27.5-28.5 gigahertz and leave it for satellite services, according to official sources. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended a base price for this frequency range and suggested that it can be used for both mobile as well as satellite services. Two official sources acknowledged that Department of Telecom (DoT) is considering auctioning spectrum only up to 27.5 Ghz as sharing between the two services is difficult.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday indicated that prices of international bandwidth could come down by as much as 70 per cent, which would give major boost to the spread of broadband services in the country.
TRAI's recommendation to the Department of Telecommunication is aimed at encouraging faster provision of high-speed Internet services (broadband) by standalone ISPs.\n\n\n\n
Mishra, a 1967 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has served in various administrative field positions.
Retaining the same number while changing the service provider may become a reality for Indian subscribers, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would issue a consultation paper on 'number portability' in a month's time.
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.
Reliance Jio has suggested an alternative plan to the The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) under which spectrum required by non-geostationary orbit satellite (NGSO) operators to run their gateway terminals should be auctioned geographically, based on districts, rather than circles as done for mobile services. For spectrum which would be required to connect user terminals (like individual homes), Jio has suggested it should be auctioned frequency-wise and exclusively to an operator at a pan-India level. The move is significant as the auctioning of satellite space spectrum has been vehemently opposed by low earth orbit satellite operators (satellites which circle at low altitudes of 200-2000 km).
However, Rajya Sabha being a continuing chamber is not subject to dissolution, and bills introduced and pending in this House remain on the live register, unless withdrawn by the government.
The government on Wednesday accepted spectrum review committee's recommendation of allocating additional frequency to existing GSM operators based on TRAI's subscriber linked formula and in multiples of 1 MHz.
Continuing its pressure on wireless in local loop operators whose tariffs do not meet the criteria specified by it, telecom regulator TRAI has sought clarifications from Tata Teleservices though the company maintained that its WLL tariffs.
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.
Telecom regulator TRAI has imposed cumulative penalty of Rs 50 lakh on nine mobile operators for failing to meet quality of service benchmarks in the second quarter ended June 2013, official sources said.
Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday said it would announce the revised tariffs for basic telecom services in the next two-three days.
Recognising broadband as the next telecom revolution, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday said that the prices of high-speed Internet of 256 kbps should be brought down to about Rs 400 per month from the existing Rs 1,600.
Telecom watchdog sought the regulator's intervention on the price hike by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea and alleged that the three telcos have formed a cartel and increased local call charges by 20 per cent.
Broadcast regulator TRAI said on Thursday that cable operators can only charge a fixed amount from each subscriber, as prevalent on December 26 last year, but there is no ceiling on the number of subscribers each operator can enlist.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday said it has sought information from those mobile operators who are offering tariff packages along with a handset.
Regulator has suggested a lower reserve price even in service areas where spectrum was sold in November 2012.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Tuesday said it is examining the issue of hike in roaming charges by some mobile operators.
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