New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications plans to start auction of 2G spectrum by December 20 and allocate spectrum to players in March next year. "We will need time at least till December 20 to start auction of spectrum. There are various processes before it and will have to stick to strict deadline to meet this date," a senior Telecom Ministry official told. The official added that to start the...
08:29 PM, Mar 12, 2012
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked telecom operators Idea Cellular and Vodafone to provide Intelligence Bureau (IB) identification of subscribers using Internet on their mobile phones. DoT officials said instructions have been issued to Idea and Vodafone to provide the requisite information to IB at the earliest. The security agency had sought details of some mobile numbers by providing the corresponding IP addresses to Vodafone but the...
12:24 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has invited applications for TRAI Chairperson's post, which will fall vacant on the retirement of JS Sarma in May. The new telecom regulator will take over at a time when the industry will be bracing up for 2G spectrum auctions. TRAI has to issue recommendations as per the Supreme Court directive that cancelled 122 telecom licences this month. Besides, the new head will...
08:18 PM, Feb 20, 2012
New Delhi: A Department of Telecommunication (DoT) official on Thursday testified before a Delhi court, trying the 2G spectrum case, that the 2010 TRAI report said that it was not "feasible" to auction the spectrum. Deposing as a prosecution witness, Viresh Goel, DoT's Deputy Advisor (MN), told Special CBI Judge OP Saini that in the 2010 report of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it was mentioned that spectrum should...
08:03 PM, Feb 16, 2012
New Delhi: Following Supreme Court order that cancelled 122 2G licences terming them as illegal, the telecom ministry is likely to send letters to new operators for termination of their licences. This was discussed in the Department of Telecom's internal meeting to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court order and way forward in this regard. The members discussed various issues including sending communication to licencees for termination of licence...
08:31 PM, Feb 10, 2012
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom will study the legal implications of the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 2G telecom licenses before deciding on the future course of action. "DoT has to first study legal implications of the order. It will require some time to understand and interpret the order before deciding on any action. As of now, we understand that the court has given some time by which the...
11:07 AM, Feb 05, 2012
New Delhi: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government has finalised its strategy to counter Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy's petition to investigate Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in the Patiala House Court of Justice OP Saini. Taking a cue from Supreme Court's observation that the Department of Telecom (DoT) did not listen to advice of the Finance Ministry while going ahead...
06:59 PM, Feb 02, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for adopting a "lopsided" approach in recommending grant of 2G spectrum at 2001 prices and methodology which suffered from several deficiencies. "To say the least, the entire approach adopted by TRAI was lopsided and contrary to the decision taken by the Council of Ministers and its recommendations became a handle for the the then...
06:20 PM, Feb 02, 2012
New Delhi: After their 3G roaming agreements being termed as "illegal" by DoT, telecom firms may be in for another shock now with the government deciding against allowing spectrum sharing in this segment. Spectrum sharing was expected to be part of the National Telecom Policy-2011 and the operators were looking forward to it, but the government's decision not to allow this may impact their business plans, sources in the know...
06:08 PM, Jan 30, 2012
Wellington: Two years ago, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom joked in emails with his new neighbours in New Zealand about his bad-boy reputation before telling them his criminal past was behind him and he was coming to the country with good intentions. "I am a former hacker" who was once convicted of insider trading, he wrote, before going on to say "In all seriousness: My wife, two kids and myself love...
11:30 AM, Jan 26, 2012
New Delhi: A Delhi court, trying the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Wednesday ordered the Department of Telecom to trace a case-related missing file within a week and produce the same before it. Special Judge OP Saini sought the file after DoT Under Secretary SP Sharma submitted that the file had gone missing and he needed a week's time to trace the same. "SP Sharma, Under Secretary (DoT), is also...
06:40 PM, Jan 25, 2012
New Delhi: For the second time in as many months, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday met chiefs of leading operators, including Sunil Bharti Mittal, Anil Ambani and Vodafone's Marten Pieters, to discuss various contentious issues such as spectrum pricing, allocation and one-time fee. "All the operators conveyed their views on various issues which are also a part of regulator TRAI's recommendations on 'Spectrum Pricing and Framework'. The minister will...
06:24 PM, Jan 24, 2012
New Delhi: In a major development, the telecom tribunal TDSAT on Friday set aside all penalties imposed by the Government on new telecom operators for delay in meeting roll out obligations of services. The TDSAT bench headed by Justice SB Sinha said that DoT did not follow "principals of natural justice" and did not give any opportunity to the telecom operators before imposing penalty or liquidated damages. The tribunal further...
01:35 PM, Jan 13, 2012
New Delhi: In an effort to provide secure Internet environment in the country, DoT is mulling to set-up a pan-India secure network with an estimated cost of Rs 450 crore, providing a fool-proof infrastructure for telecom and internet communication exclusively for government use. "To develop and deploy a pan-India secure network and network-based services such as e-mail, voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), mobile communication through a survivable and available network architecture for...
04:46 PM, Jan 08, 2012
New Delhi: The Telecom Ministry is likely to terminate the licences of Idea Cellular in six circles, including Delhi, Karnataka and Punjab, and impose an additional Rs 300 crore penalty on the company for violating roll-out obligations. "The Department of Telecom will soon send notice to Idea Cellular asking them to stop their services in six service areas in Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. The department has...
09:50 PM, Jan 05, 2012
New Delhi: The telecom ministry on Tuesday questioned the jurisdiction of telecom tribunal TDSAT on entertaining the petitions of five telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, challenging the government's directive to stop 3G roaming agreements. Additional Solicitor General A S Chandiok appearing for the Department of Telecom (DoT) told the tribunal that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the petitions which are altering the terms of telecom licence. Terming...
12:56 PM, Jan 03, 2012
New Delhi: The Telecom Department will start allocation of 2G spectrum to operators soon after its decision on pricing of radio waves and priority list, which it expects to finalise in next 2-3 months. "We will like certainly do it (spectrum allocation) as quickly as possible but there are two things that are required for all spectrum to be allocated to any of the company," Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar told....
05:53 PM, Oct 23, 2011
New Delhi: The government is expected to take a final decision on the contentious issue of spectrum pricing before the announcement of the National Telecom Policy, 2011 in December, which will make telecom operators shell out money for the radio waves held by them beyond prescribed limit. "Spectrum pricing issue is being dealt separately with the policy. Once we receive response of TRAI... which we expect in 15 days ie,...
11:01 AM, Oct 16, 2011
New Delhi: The Telecom Ministry has sought clarifications on various points made by regulator TRAI on 'Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework' which will form the basis for spectrum allocation. DoT has found variations in the points made by TRAI during course of its communication with the regulator on the issue of charging 'current price' for spectrum allocated to telecom operators. TRAI on February 8, 2011 recommended April 1, 2010 as...
10:54 PM, Oct 10, 2011
New Delhi: Refuting media reports, which suggested that Dayanidhi Maran has been given a clean chit in the 2G case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the role of the former Union minister is still under investigation. In fact the CBI told the apex court that the inquiry has reveled prima facie that Malaysian industrialists were in contact with Dayanidhi Maran and there...
04:45 PM, Sep 08, 2011
