Page 9 - Department Of Telecommunications

Ashwini Vaishnaw ousts 10 senior DoT officers with doubtful integrity

Continuing his perform or perish drive and zero tolerance for corruption, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has approved force retirement for 10 senior DoT officials, including a joint secretary, an official source said on Saturday. This is the first time employees in the Department of Telecom have been given forced retirement under section 56 (J) under Pension Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972. "Telecom minister has approved forced retirement for 10 senior DoT officials for doubtful integrity and the government's zero tolerance for corruption. Out of 10, nine officials were working at director level and one official is of joint secretary rank," the source said. The move from the minister comes a day before the eve of "Good Governance Day" celebrated by the government every year. In September, a senior BSNL official, who was caught napping in Vaishnaw's meeting after the cabinet cleared a Rs 1.64 lakh-crore package for the public sector enterprise, was given voluntary retirement

BSNL waiting for NLMC to prepare land asset monetisation strategy

All land properties nominally valued above Rs 100 crore being monetised by NLMC, but it has been slow to formulate a plan; DoT will handle assets of lower value

Working to cut cost of telecom ops to attract investments: DoT secretary

The government is working to bring down the cost of telecom operations to attract more investments in the sector, a top official said on Friday. While speaking at the CII Telecom Summit, telecom secretary K Rajaraman said the cost of maintaining optic fibre network is very forbidding. "(If) we are able to bring down the cost of operations for the telecom network, I am sure that more investment will come. We will be working on that. A lot of policy measures are underway," he said. Rajaraman said the government is running a pilot of 'Call before you dig' application in some states to avoid damages to telecom infrastructure while digging roads and doing other infrastructure-related works. He said that a good digital connectivity cannot rest on mobile service only and complimentary connectivity through fibre to support mobile services is very important. "In urban areas, optical fibre is available. In rural areas, BharatNet has enabled us to reach 1.89 lakh villages so far. Target is

Telecom operators installing 2,500 base stations per week for 5G: Chauhan

Telecom operators are installing on an average 2,500 base stations per week for providing 5G services in the country, Union minister Devusinh Chauhan said on Friday. The Minister of State for Communications told Rajya Sabha that 20,980 mobile base stations were installed as of November 26. Out of them, Reliance Jio and Airtel have installed 17,687 and 3,293 base stations, respectively. "Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have started providing 5G services in the country from October 1, 2022 onwards. As on November 26... 20,980 base stations have been installed in 14 states and union territories. On an average, TSPs are installing approximately 2,500 base stations per week," Chauhan said in a written reply. He said telecom operators have reported that they are presently providing 5G services to their subscribers, having 5G enabled devices, at no extra cost. "Presently, separate counts of 5G users are not being maintained by TSPs". In response to a question on 5G services of BSNL and

Tighter quality of service norms for telecom service providers on the cards

It intends to improve telecom services at a time when the country is quickly adopting 5G technology

Regulation of OTT apps to be clarified in revised telecom bill: Report

Officials aware of the matter said that revised telecom bill will 'clearly' state the Centre's aim to regulate only communication apps 'that give the same service as telecom operators'

Free riders vs piggy-riders: A tale of two cities caught in an OTT debate

The debate over whether over-the-top services should pay telcos user revenues bids fair to overlap with the issue of net neutrality

Meta, Bharti Airtel to bring 'world's longest' subsea cable to India

World's longest subsea cable system aims to provide faster internet to almost 3 billion people

OTT players are 'free riding' on telecom service providers' networks: COAI

BIF on Wednesday wrote a letter to the DoT, saying that if the concept of paying network access charges is to be accepted, the telcos should also pay the OTT platforms

DoT directs telecom providers to not install 5G base stations near airports

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed Telecom providers to not install any 5G base stations in the 3,300-3,670 MHz band in the area of 2.1 km from runways at all airports in India

Have OTT players pay telecom firms usage charges, COAI writes to DoT

Telcos point out that based on global estimates 56% of telco bandwidth is used by OTT communication platforms and in India it is even higher due to the proliferation of users which are over 400 mn

India second among 21 countries in H1 2022 Arpu rise, shows data

Also ranked 6th among 26 countries in data usage growth over same period

Telecom firms fear surge of 'pseudo-TSPs' due to private 5G network

This, they feel, could happen under direct allocation of spectrum by the govt

India may be a part of global 6G standards development process: Report

DoT Secretary K Rajaraman said that the government expects the scale and scope of 6G technology to be finalised worldwide by 2023-24

BSNL-BBNL merger close to finalisation, Deloitte to submit report on Friday

On July 27, the government approved a DoT proposal for the "Revival of BSNL and merger of BBNL with BSNL"

TCS front runner for BSNL 4G network roll out deal, ITI in race too

BSNL will be using a 4G core, developed indigenously for the first time by C-DOT

Vodafone Idea shareholders' approve issuing debentures to ATC Telecom

Shareholders of debt-ridden Vodafone Idea have approved issuing shares worth Rs 1,600 crore to ATC Telecom Infrastructure on a preferential basis, according to a regulatory filing. Vodafone Idea Ltd's (VIL) board has given its nod to settle Rs 1,600 crore dues to equipment vendor ATC Telecom by converting the due amount into equity, if the amount remained unpaid in 18 months. As per the scrutiniser's report with respect to the voting on proposals during the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on November 21, as many as 99.99 per cent shareholders voted in favour of the "special resolution for issue of securities on a preferential basis". The report was submitted as part of the filing by the company to the stock exchanges on Tuesday. VIL is raising the amount through equity convertible debt bonds that carry a coupon rate of 11.2 per cent per annum payable every six months during its term. According to the company, the funds raised would be used to pay amounts owed to ATC under

Big portion of Telecom Bill to be implemented by Trai: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The statement comes in the light of concerns from some stakeholders that the proposed Bill will clip the powers of TRAI

Over 24,600 uncovered villages to get BSNL 4G service by December 2023

Over 24,600 uncovered villages, mostly located in remote and far-flung areas, are expected to be get BSNL 4G services by December 2023, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on Tuesday. Elaborating on work being carried out by the department in tribal areas on the eve of 'Janjatiya Gaurav Divas', DoT said it has several schemes that have been providing telecom infrastructure and connectivity in areas having a sizable tribal population. "Under the saturation scheme for providing 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages, many of which are in remote, rural and far flung areas, a project is being executed by BSNL and slated to be completed by December, 2023," DoT said in a statement. The department said that 2,343 mobile towers have been installed in such areas in states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal under Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-I scheme. "Another 2,542 mobile towers

IAMAI asks govt to content and broadcasting services out of telecom bill

IAMAI said in its submission that 'telecommunication' can cover video calls, emails, messages as well as other cloud service providers