Regulator slams telecom department over internet telephony

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government is mulling a uniform licence fee for various services offered by telecom operators, a top official said here Monday. "The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is considering implementing a uniform licence fee," said Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura at a conference organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Economic Survey 2008-09 tabled in parliament Thursday has sought to end the controversy surrounding allocation of radio frequency by advocating an open and transparent auction process. "Spectrum should be auctioned and be freely tradeable among companies having a telecom licence, the survey said.

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 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Tata DoCoMo, the joint venture between telecom majors Tata Teleservices and NTT DoCoMo of Japan, commercially launched GSM telephony operations in Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles Wednesday. Tata DoCoMo's pan-India service rollout will be completed this year, with entire south Indian circles going "live" in a fortnight, it said in a statement.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite the overall slowdown and driven by unprecedented demand for mobile phone connections, the Indian telecom equipment industry grew 20 percent last fiscal to top $24 billion in revenues, says a new survey. Interestingly, though, the market for mobile and fixed-line handsets grew just 6 percent because of crashing prices and focus on rural market, said the annual survey by Voice and Data, a telecom industry journal of CyberMedia group.

May 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - J.S. Sarma, a member of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, Thursday took over as the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), succeeding Nripendra Mishra.

March 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Department of Telecommunications has proposed a special audit into the accounts of leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel as the regulator has raised doubts that the company may be shifting revenues from one source to another, resulting in lower fee to the government. The matter was brought to light by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that said while revenues from long-distance telephony for Bharti had shown 'exceptional growth', the same was not true in the case of mobile telephony segment.

March 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom watchdog Monday asked internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom operators to ensure availability of the minimum required bandwidth in their networks. 'Operators must ensure availability of the minimum required bandwidth in their network as per the maximum contention ratio suggested by the regulator for different services based on the number of customers,' the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in its guidelines issued for the service providers.

February 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday said it has accepted the telecom regulator's proposal to allow companies to offer mobile phone services without owning network infrastructure or spectrum. The government decision would pave the way for foreign and Indian companies to set up mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) in India which can roll out wireless telecom services by renting spectrum and networks from existing telecom companies.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - You may have to wait a little more longer than expected before you start paying less to access the Internet through a high speed broadband network, as the telecom watchdog is yet to come out with the guidelines on the next generation network (NGN) that will enable telecom operators to offer better services at lower rates. Telecom operators have been asked to submit their comments on NGN by March 10, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said here Wednesday.

February 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Minister of State for Communications and IT Jyotiraditya Scindia Tuesday said the government has accepted the calling card proposal, which would offer flexibility to consumers to choose their carrier for making long-distance calls. 'The calling cards for both STD and ISD calls have been accepted, making it flexible for consumers to switch their carriers for long distance calls,' Scindia said at a conference here.

January 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Tuesday issued a consultation paper on next generation networks (NGN), seeking the views of the industry stakeholders on migrating to the new platform. NGN enables telecom operators to offer a range of new services from lower tariffs to high-speed broadband and intensive services including, internet protocol television (IPTV), high definition television (HDTV), videoconferencing, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), instant messaging and e-mail.

January 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The telecom regulator Wednesday extended the last date for receiving the industry's views on the proposed lock-in period on equity sale in new licence holding companies to Jan 27. On Jan 9, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had sought the industry's views on the lock-in period by Jan 20.

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.

January 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (QTIL) has picked up a 49 percent stake in Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure (WTTL), Tata Teleservices' tower arm, a company official said Monday. Despite a minority stake, Kolkata-based QTIL will have management control in the firm, the official said on condition of anonymity.