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 Hindustan Times Dec 16, 2020 By  Shishir Gupta Phone companies in India can only use telecom equipment certified by a top security panel to have come from a “trust source”, the Union Cabinet decided at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The certificate will be issued by a security panel headed by Deputy National Security Advisor Rajender Khanna who reports to NSA Ajit Doval. A former chief of India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing, Khanna heads the technologies section in the National Security Council Secretariat, people familiar with the matter said. “This is a very important decision with respect to national security,” Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said as he unveiled the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector that had been cleared by the cabinet minutes earlier. The directive does not require phone companies to replace their existing equipment and will not impact ongoing annual maintenan...

 By:  ETTelecom Bharti Airtel  chief executive  Gopal Vittal  has called on the government to keep spectrum prices affordable to give  telcos  the financial headroom to invest meaningfully in 5G networks. He also underlined the need for strong collaboration between the government, private sector and academia to leverage the power of the next-gen fast broadband technology and building a vibrant 5G ecosystem, spanning devices, networks, apps and services. “One of the critical enablers for  Digital India  is affordable spectrum so that we can invest in building networks rather than spending money on just airwaves," Vittal said at a  Ficci  event Thursday. His comments come at a time when the government plans to hold a  4G  airwaves sale in early-2021, which may be followed by a sale of 5G airwaves later next year. Vittal, in fact, had recently said the Sunil Mittal-led telco would give 5G airwaves a miss if auctioned at ...

  ETTelecom The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved FDI worth Rs 2,480.92 crore into ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd by ATC Asia pacific PTE limited for a stake of 12.31%. he  Cabinet  Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA ) on Wednesday approved FDI worth Rs 2,480.92 crore into  ATC Telecom  Infrastructure Pvt Ltd by ATC Asia pacific PTE limited for a stake of 12.31%. “Today, CCEA allowed FDI by ATC Asia Pacific Ltd to the tune of Rs 2,480 crore, for purchasing around 12% of ATC Telecom,” I&B minister  Prakash Javadekar  said while announcing the cabinet’s decision. The acquisition of 12.32 % of the equity share capital of ATC Telecom Infrastructure by ATC Asia Pacific comes as a result of exercise of put option by  Tata Teleservices  Ltd. and  Tata Sons . With the approval from the CCEA, the cumulative FDI of ATC Asia Pacific into ATC Telecom Infrastructure, would become Rs 5,417.2 crore. Javadekar ...

 By: Danish Khan When it comes to 5G use cases, enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access are major use cases. There are devices available already for these use cases...It is time to make the spectrum available and go straight into commercial deployments." Swedish telecom gear maker  Ericsson  said that India needs to go straight into commercial deployment of  5G  technology with already available use cases like enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access. In an interaction with ET’s Danish Khan, Nitin Bansal, Head of  Ericsson India  and Head of Network Solutions, South-East Asia, Oceania & India said that devices are already available for  5G in India  and affordable spectrum can help telcos quickly roll out 5G services. Edited excerpts How do you see delay in 5G trials and auctions? When it comes to 5G use cases, enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access are major use cases. There are devices available alrea...

  ETTelecom Kolkata:  Vodafone Idea  Ltd (Vi) has received Rs 3,760.1 crore in cash by selling its 11.15% stake in  Indus Towers  to the entity created after the completion of the merger of the tower company with  Bharti Infratel . The merged entity — named Indus Towers Ltd — will be one of the world’s biggest telecom tower companies with 1,69,000 towers and will be headed by Bimal Dayal as the MD and CEO. It will have a new board comprising the likes of  Bharti Airtel  CEO Gopal Vittal and Vodafone Idea MD Ravinder Takkar as non-independent directors. Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta, along with six others, resigned from the board. “Vi had elected to receive cash pursuant to the right available to certain shareholders as per clause 1.2 of Part C of the (merger) scheme…it has received cash consideration of Rs 3,7,60.1 crore for its 11.15% shareholding in Indus,” Bharti Infratel said in a late evening exchange filing after market hours on Thurs...

  Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal, who took over as executive chairman of OneWeb, said the satellite firm plans to offer broadband services in India by May/June 2022, and is currently in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation and other authorities. Bharti Enterprises  chairman  Sunil Mittal , who took over as executive chairman of  OneWeb , said the satellite firm plans to offer  broadband services  in India by May/June 2022, and is currently in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation and other authorities. Mittal told ET’s Romit Guha that OneWeb's broadband services will not conflict with  Bharti Airtel 's mobile services as it will serve areas such as deserts and mountainous regions, which are currently unconnected but has demand for such services. Edited excerpts: Does Bharti Global plan more investments into OneWeb in the near term? We need a total of $2 billion, out of which $1 billion has already been committed - $50...

Financial Express November 06,  2019 Rishi Raj Reliance Jio may have to shoulder the burden of around Rs 13,000 crore of past dues relating to licence fee and spectrum usage charge owed by Reliance Communications (RCom) as a fallout of the Supreme Court verdict in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter. RCom, owned by Anil Ambani, owes past dues of around Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 16,456 crore licence fee and Rs 3,533 crore SUC) to the Department of Telecom (DoT). But since the company has filed for bankruptcy, DoT will have to claim the amount in the insolvency court as an operational creditor and may have to take a huge haircut, if at all any payment eventually materialises.  However, officials said they may look at claiming around Rs 13,000 crore of the total dues of the company from RJio which bought around 47.50 MHz spectrum in the 800 MHz band from RCom through trading in January 2016. The spectrum was acquired across 13 circles and is currently being ...

The Indian Express 18 June 2020 Written by: Avishek G Dastidar , Ravish Tiwari A Chinese engineering major is set to lose a significant contract with the Indian Railways, and the Department of Telecommunications has conveyed to state-owned BSNL not to use Chinese-made equipment in its upgradation, top sources in both sectors said on Thursday. As tensions run high after the violent clash in Ladakh that left 20 Indian soldiers dead, a first set of actions have been initiated against Chinese businesses in the country. A Chinese engineering major is set to lose a significant contract with the Indian Railways, and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has conveyed to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) not to use Chinese-made equipment in its upgradation, top sources in both sectors said on Thursday. “DoT has conveyed to BSNL not to use Chinese-made equipment in the upgradation of its 4G facilities,” a source in the government said. “Th...

Dawn Dated : April 11, 2020 By Ramsha Jahangir   A day after digital and human rights groups urged the government to protect the public’s right to privacy while adopting technological solutions to the Covid-19 outbreak, the authorities released a draft personal data protection bill for consultation. In a press release issued on Friday, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) said it had formulated a draft ‘Personal Data Protection Bill, 2020’ as privacy of personal data of an individual had become more relevant and important than ever because of the increasing use of ICT (information and communications technology) services during the Covid-19 pandemic. “In order to promote a broader collaborative process, the MoITT has placed the draft bill on its website for public opinion. The Ministry of IT and Telecom invites all the stakeholders to share their feedback on the aforesaid bill for further enhancements,” it said. The bill is available to do...