The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has been moved by the Telecom and Internet major Reliance Communications by alleging that the rival Bharti Airtel is not offering access to its Chennai submarine cable landing station.
The importance has been gained by the move as three sub-sea cable systems on the trans-Atlantic route were severed on 19th December, and the traffic was being re-routed by the telecom companies via the trans-Pacific leg. Bharti Airtel lands two cables - consortium cable SEA-ME-WE-4 (SMW-4) and own cable i2i - at its landing station in Chennai.
In a perceptible bid to build the confidence of foreign players just before the auction process for the third generation (3G) spectrum begins, the government said the foreign companies, which successfully bid in the auction, would also be kept in the queue for second-generation (2G) spectrum.
The assurance came from R. Ashok, member (finance), Telecom Commission, the apex government body for the sector, at a pre-bid conference yesterday.
About 25 million handsets could be disconnected by telecom operators from January sixth onwards as the department of telecom (DoT) ordered them to cut off cell phones without an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.
The move is likely to deter terrorist outfits to make use of mobile phone for their immoral acts, by assuring that no calls made are unidentifiable.
IMEI, an exclusive 15 digit code identifying a cell phone, prevents the use of stolen phones for making calls and therefore permits lawful interception of all calls.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India stressed the need to establish the Universal Services Obligation fund administrator for providing the telecom services to the rural areas of the country. The administrator should be an independent authority and modeled like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). USO fund is involved in national rural infrastructure and is currently administrated by the Department Of Telecommunication.
In two separate attacks, Naxalite guerillas destroyed a tower of Reliance Communications (R-Com) and a telecom exchange of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in the Kanker district of Chattisgarh.
The incident took place on Saturday night but the officials could get the information only yesterday night, as the whole communication network crocked up in the region, after the attack.
Government is unlikely to impose administrative charges on the successful bidder of 3G spectrum. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has earlier proposed to levy administrative tax of 2% of the highest bid amount as fees to use 3G frequencies. 3G spectrum auction process is scheduled to start on January 16. However, the Department of Telecommunication said that the proposed administrative charges would reduce the government's revenue by about Rs 5,000 crore. The regulator would discuss the stand taken by department of telecommunication in its next meeting.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has been moved by the Telecom and Internet major Reliance Communications by alleging that the rival Bharti Airtel is not offering access to its Chennai submarine cable landing station. 
In a perceptible bid to build the confidence of foreign players just before the auction process for the third generation (3G) spectrum begins, the government said the foreign companies, which successfully bid in the auction, would also be kept in the queue for second-generation (2G) spectrum.
About 25 million handsets could be disconnected by telecom operators from January sixth onwards as the department of telecom (DoT) ordered them to cut off cell phones without an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number. 
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India stressed the need to establish the Universal Services Obligation fund administrator for providing the telecom services to the rural areas of the country. The administrator should be an independent authority and modeled like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). USO fund is involved in national rural infrastructure and is currently administrated by the Department Of Telecommunication. 
In two separate attacks, Naxalite guerillas destroyed a tower of Reliance Communications (R-Com) and a telecom exchange of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in the Kanker district of Chattisgarh.
Government is unlikely to impose administrative charges on the successful bidder of 3G spectrum. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has earlier proposed to levy administrative tax of 2% of the highest bid amount as fees to use 3G frequencies. 3G spectrum auction process is scheduled to start on January 16. However, the Department of Telecommunication said that the proposed administrative charges would reduce the government's revenue by about Rs 5,000 crore. The regulator would discuss the stand taken by department of telecommunication in its next meeting.
