Indian telecom sector regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced new rules aimed at ensuring transparency in broadband service in the country.

The TRAI has introduced rules and penalties to make sure that the broadband service providers honestly report the quality of their service and meet the set compliance regulations set by the authorities. The regulator has released its new Quality of Service of Broadband Service (Amendment) Regulations, 2012 allowing it to impose penalties on defaulters.

Vodafone India has criticized the government's decision to put all airwaves for auction that is currently being held by telecom operators, whose licences are expiring in 2014, saying the new spectrum auction norms are unfair, discriminatory and coercive in nature.

In a letter to telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar, Vodafone India argued that spectrum sold at such an auction would not reflect its true market value and therefore clearly not be in interests of public, industry as well as government.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed charge sheet against three telecommunication firms, viz. Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone India and Sterling Cellular Ltd, as part of its investigation into alleged corruption in allocation of excess spectrum during the NDA regime.

In the charge sheet, the investigation agency also named former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh. Filed under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency estimated that the irregularities in the allocation of spectrum cost the exchequer around Rs 846 crore.

Bharti Airtel shares shed 3.69 per cent to close at Rs 300.45 a share on Monday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), while the benchmark index SENSEX lost 0.38 per cent to end trading at 19,244.42 points.

Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of the country's biggest network provider Bharti Airtel, also announced that it had fixed the IPO price at Rs 220 and Rs 2010 per share for institutional and retail investors, respectively.

The tower subsidiary raised nearly Rs 4,118 crore from the public issue. Anchor investors invested Rs 651 crore.

Members of hacker group, Anonymous has reportedly hacked into the website of India’s telecoms operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Hacker group is demanding the withdrawal of a controversial legislation that they believe compromises freedom of speech and expression. Anonymous India announced on micro blogging site, Twitter that it has hacked into the website of the state0run telecom operator and ahs leaked details including passwords and database on Pastebin.

India’s telecom sector regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that it will launch public consultations on the matter relating to proposed free telecom roaming in the country. TRAI is expected to follow the process through a consultation paper involving various players.

Tough times for the telecommunications industry are over, and the Government's futuristic policy will provide a boost to the growth of the sector by addressing investors' concerns, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed.

The Indian telecommunications industry suffered troubles due to regulatory uncertainty, such as indecision on spectrum prices, but the government recently laid down rules for determining spectrum prices in the future.

Bharti Airtel, the leading telecoms service provider in the country with presence across various countries, has bagged two prestigious awards at the Telecom Leadership Forum 2012.

The company was awarded QuEST Forum India Quality Award in the `Top Telecom Service Provider 2012' category for its commitment and efforts for providing the best experience to its customers. The company's India and South Asia CEO Sanjay Kapoor bagged the second award for the company as he was honored with the `Telecom Person of the Year 2012' title for his contribution to the telecom sector in the country.

Telecom service provider, Eircom is likely to be hit by a cut of _35 million due to a reduction in phone subsidy for elderly people in the household benefits package.

The Department of Social Protection is expected to cut the subsidy to people between 65 and 69 who meet the mean test and to certain other people with special needs. The subsidy is a part of the household benefits package that is extended to everyone above 70.

Estimates show that by reducing the subsidy from _22.60 per month to _9.50 per month, the government will have to pay _61 million next year compared to _108.4 million this year generating a saving of more than _47 million.

Telecom service provider, Eircom has said that it has recorded a fall of 7 per cent in revenues to €363 million during the quarter till September, 2012 compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Efforts are already being made to launch 4G (fourth-generation) telecommunications services in select centres but it would consume a couple of years for these services to proliferate, Bharti Infratel Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal said.

Mr. Mittal said that 4G services required upgrading of existing infrastructure at the operator level and network, and also required mobile phones capable of handling 4G services.

At a UBS AG conference in New York on Tuesday, bigwig US carrier Verizon Communications revealed that fiber-optic cable will replace the copper wire damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

With the wireline network upgrade essentially aimed at enabling the carrier to sell more services to its customers, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told the conference attendees that the installation of fiber-optic cable in Sandy-damaged areas was being undertaken at an accelerated pace.

India's leading telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel has launched a new `Emergency Alert Service' allowing its subscribers to contact several contacts at the time of an emergency.

The 24x7 Emergency Alert Service will be priced at Rs. 30 for a duration of 30 days and will allow users to send alerts with geographic location to 10 people at the same time through a call. It will also allow the users to send a `SAFE' message to all eth 10 contacts.

Uninor, the Indian division of Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor, suffered an operating loss of Rs 512 crore (NOK 536 million) in the three months to September 30, 2012.

The operating loss is quite big, but it is nearly half of operating loss of Rs 1,037 crore that the company had reported for the corresponding period of previous year.

Accumulated losses of the Telenor's Indian arm stood at Rs 13,300 crore as of third quarter of 2012.

Revenues jumped 3 per cent during the reported period, from Rs 801 crore to Rs 825 crore.

Norway-based telecom giant Telenor ASA is reportedly pursuing discussions with Tata Teleservices Ltd to merge their Indian operations.

Three people familiar with the situation revealed that Telenor and Tata Teleservices Ltd are mulling proposal to combine their operations in India, and create a bigger entity to better compete with rivals.

The Reserve Bank of India has tweaked the external commercial borrowing (ECB) rules for telecom companies to enable them garner funds to pay for the 2G spectrum allocation.

Relaxing its external commercial borrowing (ECB) policy for the telecom companies, the central bank said that successful bidders at the 2Gspectrum auction would be permitted to refinance the rupee loans taken for making the payment for the spectrum by raising long-term ECBs.

Indian telecom service providers have asked the authorities in the country to consider allotting unused CDMA spectrum in the 800 megahertz (MHz) band for providing GSM services in the country.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular have asked the telecom authorities to consider allocating unused CDMA spectrum for GSM services. They have asked the Department of Telecommunications to consider altering 800MHz airwaves and making them compatible with the 900MHz band that is used for GSM services.

Aircel will pay Vodafone 5 paise per SMS as termination fee, while Vodafone will immediately restore its interconnection of SMSes generated on Aircel's network till the dispute is resolved, according to the telecom disputes tribunal's order.

Passing an interim order on Friday, the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) said if two operators disconnect each other's SMS services then the consumers would suffer.

A retired officer of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) gave a new twist to the 2G spectrum allocation controversy by claiming that he was forced to sign the report on the alleged scam.

RP Singh, former director general, Post & Telecommunications at CAG, yesterday claimed that he had disagreement with the report that pegged the 2G scam loss at Rs 1.76 lakh crores, but he was made to sign it.

Several major telecom operators in India are looking to enhance revenues by slashing freebies and talk-time that come with discount vouchers, which are used by prepaid customers.

The telecom service providers are looking to improve sales and margins as they face stagnating earnings in the country. According to latest data, 96 percent of India's 906 million mobile connections are subscribed to prepaid plans.