Telecom operators get more time on next generation network

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 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) hopes to generate Rs.1,000 crore ($207 million) of revenue in a year from its infrastructure sharing business. "The master sharing agreement (MSA) for sharing of BSNL towers is in the final stages with some telecom operators and likely to be finalised very soon," the company said in a statement Friday.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has sought clarification from three private sector telecom operators for not reporting income from selling handsets along with their connections, a union minister said Monday. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought clarification from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Esar and Idea Cellular for not showing income from bundling handsets along with connections, for the purpose of calculating revenue share payable to the exchequer, Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurudas Kamat told the Lok Sabha.

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.

April 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Cheap Chinese handsets that do not have an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) - a unique 15-digit identity code - will be phased out from the Indian market by April 13, industry operators said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed telephone operators to disconnect services to handsets that do not have the IMEI code as such phones pose security threat, a telecom official said Saturday.

April 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With phone operators expected to run out of 10-digit mobile numbers soon, the Department of Telecom (DoT) is now considering an 11-digit numbering system. 'With so many telecom service providers and a growing customer base, the need for new numbers and their consequent shortage will be felt soon,' a senior telecom official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS Saturday.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom regulator Tuesday slammed the Department of Telecom (DoT) over its suggestion to charge a higher entry fee on internet service providers (ISPs) for rolling out internet telephony. In a reply to DoT, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said: 'The authority proposes no change in entry fee for ISPs to provide Internet telephony...

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 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The telecom watchdog Tuesday introduced regulations that seek to improve the quality of service provided by cable TV operators in areas where set-top boxes are not mandatory. The regulations will come into effect April 1.

February 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom watchdog has asked mobile telephony operators to prevent network congestion and ensure calls by subscribers do not get disconnected abruptly. Taking note of complaints regarding what are called 'call drops', the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has written to telecom operators to ensure deficiency in service does not inconvenience subscribers.

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 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The new policy for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) will be announced next month, Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura said here Monday. Under the policy, a telecom operator can buy airtime for mobile phones in bulk and retail it to subscribers.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Department of Telecom's (Dot) decision to ban mobile phones that do not have the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) - a unique 15-digit identity code for handsets - has been deferred for 'some time', an official said. 'The order is still pending with the (telecom) ministry.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the telephone subscriber base rising to 374.13 million in November, the congestion levels between one network to another has risen considerably with Bharti Airtel's network emerging the most congested. Between July-September 2008, Airtel had 41 points of inter-connections (POIs) - the highest level of congestion among the various networks.