Pranab Mukherjee likely to head 3G ministerial panel

March 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday named External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee - seen as the man for all reasons - as the head of a group of ministers (GoM) formed to suggest the base price for third generation (3G) radio spectrum, giving hope that the auction may still take place before elections. The GoM will not only decide the minimum bid amount for the scarce radio frequency, but also the number of players who can offer the next generation mobile phone services in each circle, officials said.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Satyam scam was a 'one-off, unfortunate case of failure of corporate governance', Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday. Addressing a meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mukherjee said: '(Satyam) was an unfortunate case of failure of corporate governance… It was a one-off case.

February 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government would not bail out any 'individual' company like Satyam Computer Services if found guilty of fraud, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday. He maintained the IT bellwether could sustain itself if managed professionally.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The perpetrator of the Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore/$1.43 billion) accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services will not go scot-free, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday. 'In the recent past, we have seen an unfortunate case, a failure which has attracted considerable attention,' Mukherjee said in his address at the 81st annual general meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

July 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The high-powered ministerial group, set up to decide on issues related with the auction of frequency spectrum for third generation telecom services, is scheduled to meet here for the first time later Friday. The mandate of the empowered group, which has been set up under Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is to decide the base price for the spectrum auction and the number of operators to be allowed in each telecom circle for offering third generation, or 3G, services.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has constituted an 'Empowered Group of Ministers' (EGoM) to supervise the spectrum for 3G telephony that will revolutionise the technology through which data is received and transferred from mobile phones. According to reports, there would be nine ministers in the EGoM, which would be lead by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Monday constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to look into matters concerning third generation (3G) spectrum auctions scheduled to happen this year. The nine-member EGoM will be headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a Department of Telecommunication (DoT) official told IANS.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The communications ministry may expect the auction of scarce 3G spectrum to fetch Rs.30,000-Rs.40,000 crore ($6-8 billion), but the interim budget for 2009-10 has projected no more than Rs.20,000 crore ($4 billion) on that count. 'The budget estimates for 2009-10 include a sum of Rs.20,000 crore as the expected revenue from auction of 3G spectrum,' says the receipts budget tabled Monday by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

February 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government does not intend to bail out the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services as the company has 'adequate assets' and can bounce back if run professionally, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday. 'Let me make it clear that the government has no intention to bail out the company.

August 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - An 'Empowered Group of Ministers' (EGoM), constituted by the Government to supervise the spectrum for 3G telephony, on Thursday fixed the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore. It also decided to allow only five operators to offer the high-speed mobile services in the first phase, where one existing operator - BSNL or MTNL - in their respective circles will be given the spectrum along with four new operators.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government expects to raise as much as Rs.35,000 crore ($7.2 billion) from auction of third generation (3G) spectrum, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday while presenting the budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha. The estimated figure, included in the receipts from the "other communications services" category in the budget, is higher than what Communications and IT Minister A.

July 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The wait for third generation (3G) telecom services in the country has got longer as the first meeting of a key ministry panel, set up to take decision on the pricing of 3G auctions, has been postponed. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was scheduled to meet July 31.

June 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - No consensus has been reached between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the finance ministry on the reserve price for third generation (3G) radio waves auction, Communications Minister A. Raja said here Tuesday.

January 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Unfazed by the mammoth fraud in Indian IT bellwether Satyam, Britain Tuesday hailed India as a 'success story', saying one rotten apple does not soil the whole barrel, even as an optimistic New Delhi urged the international community 'not to press the panic button'. 'India's economic growth is based in strong fundamentals and a zeal for reforms.

June 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The finance ministry has proposed a reserve base price of Rs.4,040 crore for third generation (3G) spectrum auctions and the final announcement could be made in a week, IT and Commmunications Minister A. Raja said Friday.