28, జనవరి 2012, శనివారం

News on Telecom Sector


Telcos failed to reverify the prepaid connections in Assam and North East

TD SAT reserved the order on the petition of the private operators on the penality imposed by DoT for their failure to reverify the prepaid connections in Assam and Nort East which was the requirement for fulfilling the security concerns.. The operators involved are Airtel, Vodafone,and  Idea.

World Economic Forum at Davos-Sunil Mittal says collection of spectrum charge additionally will lead to tariff hike

In the press conference at the sidelines of the WEF, he said the proposal of the Telecom Commission to charge the 2G spectrum held by the telecom operators beyond 4.4 MHz(Earlier TRAI said beyond 6.2 MHz) if implemented would lead to increase in tariff.

BSNL’s publicity work under CBI lens for irregularities

Complaints were received by CVC alleging wrong doings in handling marketing and advertisement work in BSNL. They relate to unauthorised appointment of a part-time Director in BSNL and assigning advertisement related jobs to a non-empanelled and ineligible agency.The CVC forwarded the case to DoT. After receiving the DoT’s report, the CVC conducted a probe. Since there were several commissions and omissions by certain BSNL officials, the Commission decided to refer the case to CBI for detailed investigation.

Telecom is no more the ‘finest’ story-Sunil Mittal
At the WEF in Davos, Airtel Chief Sunil Mittal told on the sidelines to the media that telecom in India is no more the finest story since the telcos have paid a ridiculously high amount for 3G bidding since there was no enough 2G spectrum allotted for years. This overpayment of about Rs 1,00,000 crores for 3G  and BWA spectrum has taken the lights out of the industry. The amortisation of the money that was paid for 20 years and the interest on it is bothering telecom industry. He said that the growth story is intact, but the investment side is weak because people are not opening up to that extent. It also impacts foreign investments

The debt of the telecom industry

The total debt of the telecom industry is estimated as Rs 275000 crore. In this from PSU banks it is Rs 1,00,000 crores. SBI Rs 25000 crore. Indian telcos have been traditionally large borrowers as they built and expanded networks, and aggressively bid for 3G and broadband licenses. But the 2G scam coupled with poor uptake of 3G services, mounting losses and slow growth has also resulted in domestic banks cutting off funding for telcos. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal sought the intervention of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister to get banks to start lending again to mobile phone companies. Consequently the finance ministry has asked for a change in the norms to allow spectrum to be used as collateral by lenders of telecom companies and asked telecom ministry to make policy changes to ensure that airwaves can be seized by the banks in the event of a default or cancellation of mobile permits. At present all spectrum is owned by the government and is given on a 20 years lease to the operators on the condition that it will be returned to the government. The finance ministry also said that the lenders must be part of any consultation related to cancellation of mobile permits. Banking Secretary D.K.Mittal in a January 20 communication to DoT has called for a standstill period for consultations with secured lenders before canceellation of the  licence of any teelcom company.

6, 00,000 employees in top 4 software companies

As on 31-12-2011 the number of employees in the 4 top software companies is 5.91 lakhs. The total number of employees in the IT sector is 20 lakhs.

DoT for a one time fee for spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz

The Telecom Commission decided to charge a one time charge for extra spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz from the telecom operators, from the date of allocation of spectrum.Besides this, the Commission also decided that the government will also charge for the spectrum between 4.4 MHz to 6.2 MHz on the basis of auction, after notification is issued. As per the TRAI’s recommendation, the spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz should cost Rs 4571.87 crore per MHz(All India). But it will be collected on circle basis.

(Source:The Economic Times and The Hindu Business Line)








    







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