New Delhi: An Empowered Group of Ministers on Monday decided to refund licence fee of companies whose telecom licences stand cancelled but have no criminal charge against them. The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, also decided to recommend to the Cabinet a one-time fee on existing telecom operators for spectrum they hold beyond 4.4 MHz. The Supreme Court in February had cancelled 122 licences granted during former Telecom...
10:42 PM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: The Empowered Group of Ministers led by Finance Minister P Chidambaram will be meeting on Monday on the Spectrum issue. It will be to taking a decision on charging telecom service providers for excess spectrum beyond contractual obligations. The EGOM in its last meeting on October 3 could not decide on the issue of one-time spectrum for existing telecom operators as the legal opinion from the Attorney General...
06:31 AM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: Suggesting big-ticket reforms to attract investment in the infrastructure sector, a high-level committee on Wednesday recommended increasing electricity charges and rail fares. The high-level committee on financing of infrastructure, which is headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, also pitched for 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector. The limit at present is 74 per cent. The panel also suggested raising prices of natural gas....
07:34 PM, Oct 03, 2012
A few SMS messages, a couple of inflammatory photos. They triggered off the largest internal exodus in India since partition. We're talking about the north ...
05:49 PM, Oct 03, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom companies whose licences have been cancelled by the Supreme Court will have to pay one time, non-refundable entry fee Rs 1 crore for unified licences for each service area, said the guidelines issued by the DoT for the spectrum auction beginning November 12. "Entry fee (non-refundable) Rs 1 crore for each Service Area Level UL (Access Services) except for Jammu and Kashmir and North East Service Areas...
11:37 PM, Sep 28, 2012
In a major relief for the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that the auction order in the 2G scam was only restricted to telecom spectrum and not for all natural resources. The Supreme Court held the 2G Presidential Reference as maintainable. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia also clarified that its opinion will have no bearing on the 2G order. Apart from Chief Justice ...
02:47 PM, Sep 28, 2012
The Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that the auction order in the 2G scam was only restricted to telecom spectrum and not for all natural resources. The Supreme Court has held the 2G Presidential Reference as maintainable. Following is the full text of the Supreme Court's opinion on the 2G Presidential Reference: ...
03:50 PM, Sep 27, 2012
New Delhi: In a major relief for the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that the auction order in the 2G scam was only restricted to telecom spectrum and not for all natural resources. The Supreme Court has held the 2G Presidential Reference as maintainable. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia has also clarified that its opinion has no bearing on the 2G order. Apart...
02:46 PM, Sep 27, 2012
New Delhi: Reliance Communications, India's third-biggest mobile phone carrier, raised call prices by a quarter in four service zones and said it will extend the hike to all zones in the next 30 days, sending its shares to a two-month high. Reliance Communications increased the base call price to 1.5 paisa a second from 1.2 paisa, the company said in a statement on Friday, citing rising costs and lower competition....
02:55 PM, Sep 21, 2012
New Delhi: The government has drawn a blueprint for developing the next generation of supercomputers that could be 61 times faster than existing machines. Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal is understood to have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sharing the roadmap to develop "petaflop and exaflop range of supercomputers" at an estimated cost of Rs 4,700 crore over 5 years. "In his (Sibal) letter, he has said that...
02:34 PM, Sep 16, 2012
New Delhi: In a blow for former telecom minister A Raja, his former private secretary RK Chandolia and telecom firm Unitech, key witness AK Srivastav stood by his evidence against the three. Raja failed to dissuade the DoT official. During his cross examination, DoT official Srivastav reiterated that Chandolia at Raja's behest asked him if Unitech's application had come and also instructed that no application be taken after Unitech. Raja...
03:39 PM, Sep 11, 2012
New Delhi: Citing technical problems, telecom operators have refused to adhere to an order of Home Ministry for blocking Twitter traffic from specific states including Gujarat, Kerala, Assam and Uttar Pradesh in the backdrop of social media being used to fan communal trouble. The Department of Telecom was requested to consider technical feasibility of a request from the Home Ministry for monitoring Twitter traffic. "Twitter Inc may be directed to...
05:44 PM, Sep 09, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom subscriber base fell to 944.81 million in July from 965.52 million a month ago, the first ever decline in the country. The subscriber base report for the month of July released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that overall telecom user base of the country dropped by 20.71 million subscribers over June. "This is the first time we have seen decline in overall subscriber base,"...
05:09 PM, Sep 09, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI has asked telecom companies to de-activate the international calling facility in pre-paid numbers and restore it only after a subscriber gives his explicit consent to avail this facility. "Inform all pre-paid subscribers having ISD facility, through SMS, within 10 days of the date of issue of this direction, that ISD facility of the subscribers shall be discontinued after sixty days," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India...
11:14 AM, Sep 09, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI has asked telecom companies to de-activate the international calling facility in pre-paid numbers and restore it only after a subscriber gives his explicit consent to avail this facility. "Inform all pre-paid subscribers having ISD facility, through SMS, within 10 days of the date of issue of this direction, that ISD facility of the subscribers shall be discontinued after sixty days," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India...
01:20 AM, Sep 09, 2012
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom on Tuesday issued an 'information memorandum' containing details of spectrum auction which will start from November 12. Earlier, the Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the time for completing the auction of spectrum by January 11, 2013, from earlier deadline of August 31. According to the information memorandum issued by the DoT, notices to invite application will be issued on September 28 for two different...
02:19 PM, Aug 28, 2012
A copy of a note by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to mobile phone manufacturers, which was reviewed by Mint, gives the manufacturers a year more before their handsets that are not in line with the new radiation norms are phased out. This is the latest in an ongoing attempt by the department to make mobile handset manufacturers conform to the new radiation norms. So far, the September 1 deadline...
02:06 PM, Aug 27, 2012
New Delhi: State-run MTNL's mobile, landline and broadband connections can be availed by just sending an SMS or communicating online, a top company official said. "Under single window service, we have started providing mobile connections, landline and broadband at the doorstep of customers. They just need to send an SMS or communicate us online about their need. This is first of its kind service in country," MTNL Executive Director A...
03:06 PM, Aug 26, 2012
New Delhi: After checking the use of SMSes to prevent spreading of rumours which had led to mass exodus of northeastern people from certain states, the government on Thursday increased the number of SMSes to 20 per day with immediate effect. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Communication, it has been decided to revise the permissible limit of "bulk SMS/MMS to 20 in place of five with...
07:24 PM, Aug 23, 2012
New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the Department of Telecom to initiate penal action against social media websites like Twitter as they have refused to take off offensive posts against Indians from the Northeast. According to sources, the Department of Telecom is likely to act against as many as 28 web pages, of which most are on micro blogging website Twitter. Also, a total of 310 pages...
04:41 PM, Aug 21, 2012
