To improve its telecom network, the state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has announced it’s plan to invest Rs 499 crore this fiscal year in Kolkata. The telecom operator is also venturing to provide data services to its subscribers.

Speaking on this, S.K. Chakravarty (GM-Calcutta Telephones) said, "We plan to launch data card in October."

Chakravarty further added that the company will also come up with 575 3G BTS by the end of this December at a cost of Rs 60 crore. Another 97 crore will be invested for expanding its services in the field of CDMA.

Mumbai, Sept. 9: Differences between Vodafone and Essar, its Indian partner has reportedly deepened after the former won an order blocking the sale of shares of a mobile phone unit controlled by the Essar Group.

According to the London-based Financial Times, an arbitration panel has ordered Essar to freeze the sale of any shares of the mobile unit, BPL Mobile Communications, including those of one of its most important subsidiaries, Loop Telecom.

Telecom infrastructure provider GTL Infrastructure has raised Rs 7265 crore through a mix of debt and equity to fund the expansion of its telecom towers business.

The government announced that as soon as the third generation spectrum is allocated, it will connect 5,000 blocks through wireless broadband.

The Department of Telecom (DoT), said it through a statement that the connecting of 5,000 blocks will be done with the help from DoT’s Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), after the spectrum is allocated through an auction by the end of this year.

The USOF, which promotes rural telephony, gets five percent of private players’ earnings as a support. DoT also confirmed about the village to be coonected, which comes in 10 km radius of the block headquarters.

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today directed telecom operators to waive off the processing charge on the top-up cards of recharges, resulting in full talk time.

Prepaid mobile subscribers will henceforth, have to pay just an administrative fee not exceeding Rs. two per recharge and other applicable taxes, TRAI said.

TRAI said that it has come to its notice that telecoms are deducting a fixed amount even for recharges exclusively meant for providing talk time to subscribers who already have validity.