Mobile number portability licences to be granted in March

October 2nd, 2009 TORONTO - Nortel, the 124-year-old Canadian telephone equipment company that is selling its various businesses to pay off its debtors, has announced to auction its GSM (global system for mobile communication) business also. Like the previous auctions of the company's wireless business and enterprise unit, the GSM division will also be sold through "open auction", Toronto-based Nortel said in a statement here.

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Move over passport and PAN card! Identity authentication at banks, gas connection centres or while providing rural jobs will just be an SMS away, Unique Identification Authority chief Nandan Nilekani said Saturday. "Our project will provide a unique identification (UID) number, not a card.

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Move over passport and PAN card! Now the mobile phone will be used to verify your credentials, for authentication at banks, gas connection centres or while providing rural jobs, Unique Identification Authority chief Nandan Nilekani said Saturday. "Our project will provide a unique identification (UID) number not a card.

September 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom regulator Wednesday issued guidelines on mobile number portability (MNP) that will allow subscribers to change operators while retaining the original number, but only within a particular circle. The new facility will become a reality from Dec 31 in metros and by March 20, 2010 in the rest of the country, said a statement from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

September 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The wait for number portability, which will enable subscribers to switch telecom operators without getting their phone numbers changed, has got longer with the government Thursday extending the implementation deadline from Sep 20 to Dec 31. "The implementation of first phase of the mobile number portability (MNP), in metro and category A service area has been extended to December 31, 2009, an official statement said.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The country's telecom watchdog has sought the views of the industry stakeholders on mobile number portability (MNP) charges that will help decide what service providers and a customer should pay for switching operators. MNP once implemented will allow subscribers to retain their existing mobile number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider.

June 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom regulator Tuesday issued draft regulations for mobile number portability (MNP), highlighting the rights, obligations and duties of service providers. MNP allows users to switch operators without changing numbers.

June 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) Friday urged the government to provide industry status to the organised retail sector, which is expected to grow to 20-22 percent of the total retail market by 2010. In a note submitted to the ministries of commerce and industry and consumer affairs, Assocham president Sajjan Jindal has said providing industry status is the first basic step needed for reforming the Indian retailing sector.

April 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions India plans to implement mobile number portability services in Kolkata, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu circles by September this year, a top official said here Thursday. 'By April 2010, we plan to launch the service in circles in the eastern and the southern parts of the country, including the whole of West Bengal,' Ashok Sapra, managing director of the US-based Telcordia Technologies, which owns a majority stake in MNP, told reporters.

March 26th, 2009 CHENNAI - Sistema Shyam Teleservices, the joint venture between India's Shyam group and Russian telecom major Sistema SSA, Thursday launched its CDMA technology-based mobile services in 373 towns of Tamil Nadu. With an overall investment of $5.5 billion, the company will also move to Kerala by March 30, company president Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

March 26th, 2009 CHENNAI - Sistema Shyam Teleservices, the joint venture between India's Shyam group and Russian telecom major Sistema SSA, Thursday launched its CDMA mobile services in 373 towns in the Tamil Nadu circle. With an overall investment of $5.5 billion, the company will now move to Kerala by March 30, company president Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Citibank today announced the launch of Citi Mobile, its mobile banking solution that combines the consumer need for convenient, on-the-go banking with advanced mobile technology that is compatible with popular mobile devices across most GSM operators. Through Citi Mobile, customers can check account balances, send money, issue drafts, pay bills, make credit card payments, register for services like e-Statements, request for a cheque book, stop payments and much more.

March 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has selected two US-based companies - Telcordia Technologies and Syniverse Technologies - to provide mobile number portability (MNP) services in India, a government spokesperson said Monday. MNP once implemented will enable mobile phone users to change their telecom operators while retaining their mobile phone number.

February 3rd, 2009 LUCKNOW - Nearly 700 women applied for arms licences in 2008 in western Uttar Pradesh. No, the region is not witnessing some sort of movement - rather politicians and criminals are using female members of their family to procure licences by proxy.

January 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Providers of value-added telecom services (VAS) do not require separate licences, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said Wednesday, a point of view that has come as a big relief to many firms. 'The authority does not envisage any separate category of licence for value-added services,' TRAI said in a recommendation paper.