New Delhi: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have approved a recommendation by two internal committees of the Department of Telecom (DoT) for imposing a fine of about Rs 104 crore on Vodafone for allegedly violating the licence conditions on routing of calls.
"It was approved on March 23," official sources said. The fine is based on the loss estimated by internal committees of DoT to the national exchequer due to violation of licence norms by Vodafone between October 2002 and December 2003 in Delhi and Mumbai. No immediate comments were received from Vodafone.
The committee, in its report, is believed to have said "there was a possible loss to designated security agencies by the act of violation of terms and conditions of the licence. Also there was threat to national security due to tampering of CLI (Calling Line Identity) by Vodafone."...
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09:10 AM, Apr 04, 2013
The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit out at JPC Chairman PC Chacko for what it calls delaying the proceedings in the 2G scam case and dragging his feet on calling former telecom A Raja to depose before the panel. "For some strange reason our chairman PC Chacko is neither calling a meeting of the JPC nor is inviting Raja to appear as a witness. There is something seriously wrong," said...
03:03 PM, Apr 01, 2013
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said the government will try to start national free roaming for customers before October this year. "Trai has floated a consultation paper on it (national free roaming). So when Trai's recommendations come and after that, we will try to start free roaming before October," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of National Internet Registry (NIR) here. ...
02:25 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's personal website has been hacked and defaced by groups alleging Internet censorship and curbs on free speech. The website 'www.kapilsibalmp.com' was on Thursday attacked and contents were altered to show the minister in poor light. Sibal, who represents the Chandni Chowk constituency in Parliament, uses this portal to interact with his constituency. ...
06:59 PM, Nov 30, 2012
New Delhi: In a major setback for former telecom minister A Raja and his former private secretary RK Chandolia, former telecom department official AK Srivastava has testified that Chandolia had asked him not to accept any more applications once Unitech's was received. The CBI in its chargesheet had alleged that Chandolia and Raja got into a criminal conspiracy to wrongly favour Unitech. Srivastava's testimony supports the CBI's claims of conspiracy...
03:13 PM, Aug 01, 2012
New Delhi: Following is the chronology of the events in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which the prime accused and former Telecom Minister A Raja was on Tuesday granted bail: May 2007: A Raja takes over as telecom minister. August 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access Service (UAS) Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). September 25, 2007: Telecom ministry issues...
04:02 PM, May 15, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 will be in place by May. "It (NTP) will be done in May. We have already said that," IT and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of World IT Forum 2012. The Economic Survey had estimated NTP to be in place by June. The government through new telecom policy has made attempt to set...
06:36 PM, Apr 17, 2012
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Friday sought a review of the Supreme Court verdict on cancellation of licences for 2G spectrum saying it violates the "principles of natural justice" and "judicial norms" and that he was indicted without being heard. Raja, who has been in jail for more than a year, contended the findings of the verdict against him are "bound to prejudice" his defence in the...
05:38 PM, Mar 02, 2012
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja's erstwhile Private Secretary RK Chandolia was on Thursday imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 by the Delhi High Court for making a plea to it to summon a plethora of documents from the PMO to help him cross-examine a 2G case witness in the trial court. Justice ML Mehta slapped the fine on Chandolia, terming his plea as "frivolous". "The petition is nothing...
07:34 PM, Mar 01, 2012
New Delhi: Refusing to be labeled as an enemy of the social media, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has called for the Internet to be governed by regulations similar to the print and the electronic media. "Who says that? I don't understand how I am an enemy?" retorted the minister during a discussion that followed the launch of his new book of poetry on Thursday where it was suggested that certain...
03:59 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja ignoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's advice to consider auctioning 2G spectrum "smacks of conspiracy" with the minister violating all norms including revision of entry fee for the licenses, a Delhi court on Saturday said. "No outside agency/court was asking for revision of entry fee, if it was a policy matter, but the highest in the government/executive itself were questioning that and if that...
11:48 PM, Oct 22, 2011
New Delhi: The conspiracy to allocate 2G spectrum to ineligible telecom operators for illegal graft began after A Raja became Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology, said a Delhi court on Saturday while putting him on trial along with 16 others, including DMK MP Kanimozhi. "The conspiracy started after accused A Raja became Minister of Communications and IT on May 16 and its physical manifestation started becoming clear in August-September...
11:36 PM, Oct 22, 2011
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja deliberately gave dual technology benefits to Reliance ADA Group telecom firm and denied it to Tata Group companies by delaying "in-principle approval" for the Unified Access Services (UAS) licenses, a Delhi court on Saturday said. Special CBI Judge OP Saini said Raja had, in conspiracy with other DoT officials, deliberately delayed the sanction for the Tata Group companies, Tata Teleservices and TTML, after...
10:33 PM, Oct 22, 2011
New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja defended himself in 2G spectrum allocation scam by saying he had continued the policy inherited from NDA rpt NDA government and his predecessors were backed by the union cabinet and his effort was to make cellular phone services affordable to the man on the street. The DMK leader said he was under no obligation to follow the policy of auction for allocation of...
08:42 PM, Jul 25, 2011
On Talking Point Rajdeep Sardesai asks, 'Ministers and MPs guilty of conflict of interest?' ...
10:23 PM, Jul 08, 2011
New Delhi: The Joint Parliamentary Committee panel (JPC) on 2G may call all former Telecom Ministers from 1998 for recording evidence in 2G spectrum allocation probe. The JPC panel has finalised a list of 85 witnesses who would be asked to depose before it in connection with spectrum issue. JPC chairman PC Chacko said it also ask those jailed in connection with 2G allocation scam to be produced before it....
07:18 PM, Jun 07, 2011
New York: Former Telecom Minister A Raja, at the centre of the 2G spectrum allocation scam, has earned the dubious distinction of figuring in the list of Time Magazine's "an ignominious club of privileged leaders who stepped too far". The 2G scam is ranked No 2 in the list of scandals and scams in the all-time Top 10 Abuses of Power, only next to ex-American President Richard Nixon's 'Plumbers', a...
04:39 PM, May 19, 2011
Current rules do not allow one company to hold 10 per cent or more in two competing operators. ...
01:57 PM, Apr 11, 2011
New Delhi: Merger and acquisition guidelines in India's crowded telecoms sector need to be liberal, Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday. India is overhauling its decade-old telecoms policy in a bid to make the world's second-largest market for mobile phone services more transparent after the sector was hit by a multi-billion-dollar telecoms licensing scandal. Current rules do not allow one company to hold 10 per cent or more in...
01:09 PM, Apr 11, 2011
Guwahati/New Delhi: Opposition parties on Saturday slammed as bizarre, flawed and a cover-up exercise Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's stand that there was no loss at all on account of the controversial 2G spectrum allocation after debunking CAG estimates of a Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss. The Opposition leaders, including PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, also hit out at Sibal for his strident criticism of the CAG saying it was highly...
06:19 PM, Jan 08, 2011
