Telecom Services

Trai invites views on process to allocate spectrum for satellite services

Telecom regulator Trai has invited public views on the process and other norms that should be followed to allocate spectrum for satellite communication services, an official statement said on Thursday. The consultation paper "Assignment of spectrum for Space-based Communication Services" follows reference made to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India by the Department of Telecom (DoT) seeking the regulator's recommendation on the contentious issue of spectrum allocation to satellite companies through auction. "In the present consultation paper, Trai has considered all the spectrum bands relevant for space-based communication services as indicated by DoT... In this consultation paper, specific issues have been raised for consideration of stakeholders. "Written comments on the issues raised in the consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by May 4, 2023 and counter comments by May 18, 2023," Trai said. Satellite companies have unanimously opposed allocation of spectrum

'Disconnected over 15 lakh mobile numbers issued on fraudulent credentials'

The Department of Telecommunications has disconnected over 15 lakh mobile number that were issued using fraudulent credentials, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Minister of state for telecom Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to Lok Sabha said the Centre has taken various steps to strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. "More than 15 Lakh mobile numbers detected to have been issued on fraudulent credentials, have been disconnected by DoT," Chauhan said. He said that a toll-free helpline number '1930' has been operationalised to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. "Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued directions to TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) on February 16, 2023 to prevent the misuse of headers and message templates for cybercrime/fraud," the minister said. He said that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) has been established to provide a framework and eco-system for LEAs (Law

Violation of norms led to 32,032 disconnections in 2022: Vaishnaw

Telecom operators disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during 2021 and 2022, respectively over violation of regulations, meant to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication or pesky marketing calls and messages, Parliament was informed on Friday. Till date, TRAI has imposed financial disincentives of Rs 34.9 crore on the access service providers for failing to curb unsolicited commercial communications in their networks from Registered Telemarketers, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation - 2018 to curb the Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). "The Access Service Providers have disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during the calendar year - 2021 and 2022, respectively for violating TCCCPR-2018," Vaishnaw said. To another question in Rajya Sabha on domestic production of telecom equipments, Minister of State for

Airtel India adds 235 cities to 5G network, service available in 500

The mode of user expansion is also different for both telecom operators

Bharat 6G Mission: Here is all you need to know about India's 6G project

6G network in India: The deployment of 6G technology is expected to reduce differences in regional and social infrastructure and in economic opportunities

New Jio family plan could delay postpaid tariff hikes: Kotak Inst Equities

Brokerage expects rivals to lower add-on connection fee and/or launch lower data allowance family packs at lower price points to retain their postpaid base; move could dilute ARPU by 1-3%

Govt offers 5G test bed for free to recognised startups, MSMEs till Jan'24

Department of Telecom (DoT) has offered the usage of 5G test bed free of cost to start-ups and MSMEs recognised by the government, up to January 2024, an official release said on Monday. The release further said that all 5G stakeholders including industry, academia, service providers, research and development institutions, government bodies and equipment manufacturers can utilise this facility at a very nominal rate. The move will encourage the usage of the test bed and give a fillip to the development of indigenous technologies/ products in line with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat' vision. Several start-ups and companies are already using the test bed for testing their products and services, the release added. In March 2018, in view of India's specific requirements and to take lead in 5G deployment, the Department of Telecommunications approved a financial grant for the multi-institute collaborative project to set up Indigenous 5G Test Bed' in India with a total cost of Rs 224 crore. Th

VIL allots 12,000 optionally convertible debentures to ATC Telecom Infra

Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) on Monday said it has allotted 12,000 optionally convertible debentures to ATC Telecom Infrastructure. The balance 4,000 debentures will be allotted on receipt of application form and subscription money and due intimation of the same shall be filed as necessary, according to a regulatory filing. "... it is hereby informed that the capital raising committee of the Board of Directors of Vodafone Idea Limited has, at its meetings held today that is 27 February, 2023, allotted a total of 12,000 number of unsecured, unrated and unlisted Optionally Convertible Debentures of the face value of Rs 10,00,000 each (OCDs) to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited," it said. On February 25, VIL's shareholders approved the preferential issuance of up to Rs 1,600 crore of OCDs to American Tower Corp (ATC). In this regard, the special resolution was cleared at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Vodafone Idea held last week. According to the voting results, overa

NDMC approves installation of telecom towers, allotment of municipal spaces

The New Delhi Municipal Council on Wednesday approved various proposals, including those related to installation of telecom towers and allotment of municipal spaces, its Vice Chairperson Satish Upadhyay said. In a meeting of the council, all its members also passed a special vote of thanks for the acceptance of regularisation of 4,500 Regular Muster Roll (RMR) employees and their gazette declaration. This special vote of thanks was moved by Upadhyay and supported by all the other members of the council. "The civic and employee oriented initiatives were approved in the meeting," Upadhyay said in a statement The vice chairman said security services arrangements at various NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) premises under "Group D (for Navyug Schools, Sewerage Centre and auto workshops) and Group E (for Atal Aadarsh Schools)" will be tightened. In the statement, Upadhyay said according to a "approved study report", NDMC buildings, premises, schools, gardens and parks have been

32% mobile subscriber don't have coverage despite paying for 4G, 5G: Report

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had called a meeting with mobile phone operators on February 17 to discuss the quality of wireline and wireless services

TRAI cracks unauthorised telemarketers; directs cos to stop headers misuse

Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday cracked down on unauthorised, pesky promotional messages by telemarketers as it issued directions to telecom operators to act swiftly to stop the misuse of headers and message templates. To stop the misuse, the regulator has directed access service providers (telecom operators) to reverify all registered headers and message templates on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform and block all unverified headers and message templates within 30 and 60 days respectively. Telecom operators have also been asked to ensure that temporary headers are deactivated immediately after the set time duration. "... Remove confusions among recipients of message and prevent their misuse, no look-alike headers (headers which are similar by virtue of combination of small case or large case letters) are to be registered by access providers in names of different Principal Entities," TRAI said. To curb messages from unauthorised or unregistered telemarketers, includin

Aditya Birla Group looking to raise funds for Vi at promoter level: Report

The group is reportedly looking to raise long-term debt for ailing telco Vodafone Idea (Vi) and use preferential share allotment as the route

Centre freeing up more 5G spectrum, auction likely next year: Report

5G spectrum: Centre is looking for ways to shift some broadcasting and satellite players from 3.8 GHz to higher frequency

Hiring activity in e-recruitment space dips by 2% in January: Report

Hiring activity in the e-recruitment white-collar space in January witnessed 2 per cent year-on-year decline mainly due to slowdown in sectors including IT, telecom, manufacturing and healthcare, a report said on Wednesday. E-recruitment refers to the process of employing talents using various online sources. Demand for jobs in production and manufacturing declined by 8 per cent as did in healthcare (7 per cent), IT hardware and software (7 per cent), telecom (5 per cent) and banking, financial services and insurance (3 per cent), according to Foundit (formerly Monster) Insights Tracker (fit) for January 2023 . While IT faces a lull due to global macro conditions and course correction from last year's hiring surge, production hiring was impacted due to cost pressures and a rise in input prices. BFSI (banking, financial, services and insurance) sector, which had continuously witnessed positive hiring numbers, has noted a marginal dip of 1 per cent annually, the report stated. The .

Bharti Airtel to increase entry-level tariff in all circles soon: Report

Airtel started raising the entry-level tariff from Rs 99 to Rs 155 on November 21 in Odisha and Haryana

Mobile user base dips for third month straight, down 0.6 mn in Nov

Vodafone continues to lose subscribers, Airtel's additions at 6-month high, Jio retains the highest user base

Bharti Airtel hikes entry-level plan in 7 circles to shore up Arpu

In a total of 9 circles, Bharti Airtel's Rs.99 entry level plans have now been replaced by the Rs.155 plan in a bid to raise ARPU

Mobile calls may turn pricey, providers likely to hike 4G rates: Report

Inability to pay vendors and invest in business could hurt its operations, especially its ability to retain high ARPU postpaid customers, the report said

Govt issues rules to make entities pay for causing damage to telecom infra

The government has notified new rules to make entities pay for damages that they may cause by digging or excavating to telecom infrastructure like optical fibre network and mobile towers, according to an official statement issued on Friday. According to official estimates, due to digging or excavation activities undertaken by various entities, there are nearly 10 lakh optical fibre cuts (OFC) every year that cause an economic loss of approximately Rs 3,000 crore per annum. The Department of Telecom expects that the Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022 was notified on January 3 will be able to curb damages caused to the telecom infrastructure and inconvenience caused to citizens because of frequent breakdown of communication services. "Many utilities can be saved from unwanted cuts and wasteful costs towards restoration, thus saving thousands of crores for businesses and associated tax loss to the government," the statement said. The rule mandates that any person or .

From industry icon to defaulter: How Venugopal Dhoot lost his empire

The top court's order and cash-for-loans scandal later, rocked the group across verticals; its fate now hinges on SC's ruling on bankruptcy even as the quid pro quo case involving Kocchars goes on