2010- Calender

3G auction to be held by mid-Feb

Government is planning to auction third-generation wireless radio spectrum by mid-February, about a month later than had been scheduled, a senior government official told.
“January 25 will be the last date for applications. Auctions would start around Feb 10-12,” the official, who did not want to be named, said, adding that the new schedule should be [...]

Bharti to enter WiFi space soon

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator by revenues and customers, will soon enter the WiFi business space. Starting
next week, the telecom major will rollout ‘hotspots’ in hundreds of locations across the country. Currently, Tata Communications is the largest player in this space, while state-owned BSNL is also in the process of setting up WiFi [...]

BSNL puts mega tender plan on hold

In a major setback to the expansion plans of state-owned BSNL, the telco’s board on Wednesday decided to put its tender for 93 million
lines ‘on hold’ until ‘all allegations of irregularities are investigated,’ a top executive with the PSU told.
The tender for 93 million lines, the world’s largest-ever equipment order, has been delayed for over [...]

Rollout of No. portability in India likely by April ’10

With number portability, the facility that allows mobile users to change their telecom operator, but retain their cellphone number,
being delayed to April 2010, the department of telecom (DoT) now plans to implement this facility across the country simultaneously.
Earlier, the plan was to rollout this facility in two phases, where customers in metros and category A [...]

DoT to impose Rs 132 cr penalty on telcos

The Department of Telecom is understood to have decided to slap a total penalty of Rs 132 crore on some major telecom operators for not rolling out services on time after the award of licence and spectrum.
The penalty, which will be in the form of liquidated damages (LD), are for delays since 2005 for which [...]

Recharge offer for prepaid customers in Tamil Nadu

Cashing in on the festive season, telecom service provider Vodafone Essar on Wednesday announced the launch of a recharge offer for prepaid customers in Tamil Nadu.
With this offer, customers can recharge for Rs 2,010 and avail a talk time of Rs 1,822.30. They can make calls to Vodafone subscribers at a cost of 10 paise [...]

BSNL’s 3G services in 29 cities of AP soon

BSNL would launch its 3G services in 29 cities shortly in Andhra Pradesh, BSNL Andhra Pradesh Circle Chief General Manager T N
Sudhindra Kumar said.
He told reporters here today that 3G service is an advanced technology in telecom services. He said that cell phone customers can receive audio, video phones from this service.
He said that in [...]

MTNL aiming for 5 mn users by March: Sinha

India’s state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd aims to add 600,000 subscribers by March 2010, taking its customer base to about 5 million, Chairman R.S.P. Sinha said on Wednesday.
Sinha said the company was aiming for 500,000-600,000 third-generation (3G) mobile users by March, up from more than 200,000 currently.

Bharti Airtel moves to close deal with Dhaka telecom firm

Telecom major Bharti Airtel is close to acquiring a majority stake in the Bangladesh operations of Warid Telecom, with officials of both companies meeting key officials to wrap up the deal, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.
The Indian company is looking at buying a 70 per cent stake in Warid and has received a favourable [...]