Indian telecom ministry to send notice to Bharti Group
The Indian telecommunication ministry will reportedly be sending a demand notice to Bharti Group to recover pending dues arising out of alleged under-reporting of revenues for the years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has prepared a draft demand notice, which has been sent for legal vetting. A special audit of the accounts of Bharti Airtel and its allied group of companies for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 was conducted by the DoT to verify whether proper Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) statements were submitted and the licence fee there on was paid correctly.
The auditor had more than a year ago submitted a report more than a year ago and pointed out some discrepancies in the account statements, with a few of them under dispute in telecommunication tribunal TDSAT.
The DoT conducted a similar audit for Vodafone-Essar, RCom, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices. All the auditors have submitted reports and similar action is being contemplated against all the companies. According to sources, the special audit had revealed about US$22.29 million pending from Bharti Group.
Telco operators to submit plans by month end(India)
The Indian Government has fixed March 31 as the deadline for all telecom operators to submit plans for interception of their services, including popular BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) of Research in Motion (RIM) and Skype by security agencies.
A senior official has stated that the home ministry has asked the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to ensure that all telecom operators submit their plans by the end of this month on when they can provide access to all services, including BlackBerry’s BES, whenever there is a necessity for the security agencies.
He stated that DoT had been in contact with the telecom operators who, under their licensing agreement, were negotiating the details with the smart-phone service providers. The department would tell the home ministry about the deadlines, which would be final in terms of downloading certain software in mobile handsets itself to ensure interception. If they fail to give access, they have to put their services off in India. He explained that once the companies provide solution within the deadlines, the retrofitment or download of certain softwares in the handsets for legal interception would not be difficult.
The Centre will also put in place a security architecture for the telecom sector through which the government could put in a new facility to deposit open software in certain forms and new testing facility (labs).
Airtel, Tata sends BlackBerry compliance reports to DoT
Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices have sent the compliance report to the Department of Telecommunication communicating them that they have upgraded the network. The compliance reports were sent on the day of the deadline to submit them. It wasn’t, however, immediately clear the next steps the DoT may take since the compliance reports submitted were about the messenger services and didn’t include the BlackBerry corporate email services, which are also under a security cloud.
According to the sources, Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Tata Teleservices Ltd. have sent compliance reports to India’s DoT, confirming they have upgraded their networks to allow local security agencies to intercept and monitor messenger mails sent through BlackBerry Smartphones.
The sources revealed in a report that the networks were tested by a joint team of the operator (Bharti Airtel), security agencies and Research In Motion. The testing reports were considered as compliance reports.
Previously this week, the DoT had sent a letter to all telecom companies to upgrade their networks to allow security interception.
According to notes sent to the operators, a compliance report that the network has been technically upgraded to intercept all BlackBerry services by law enforcement agencies for lawful interception must be provided to this office [DoT] by Sept. 22.
As per the note, a team from the country’s telecom department and the security agencies will again test the networks at a date to be announced shortly.
India extended the deadline for another two months from Sept. 1 after RIM provided solutions for local security agencies to monitor BlackBerry’s corporate email services. RIM had already provided access to other services such as messenger and chat.
India lifts ban from Chinese equipment vendors
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The ban imposed on the Chinese vendors by the Indian government has been lifted but all their equipments will have to go through rigorous security checks before certification. The decision has been taken after two days of prime ministerial talks, which also involved India’s home and telecom ministries and the country’s Intelligence Bureau and National Informatics Center (NIC).
Diplomatic and trade row which has been raged between India and China after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) told operators that it would not give security approval for the purchase of Huawei or ZTE networking gear in April has been ended by the agreement.
According to the new plan, for the next 12 months Chinese-made infrastructure will need to be certified by international security audit firms, such as Canada’s Electronic Warfare Associates, US-based Infoguard and Israel’s ALTAL Security Consulting and mobile operators on the other hand will have to provide bank guarantees as part of a self-certification process of imported telco infrastructure.
India broadband auction attracts bid of $884m on third day
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A total of 41.8 billion rupees ($884 million) bids have been received by the Indian government on the third day of an auction for licenses to offer faster wireless broadband for computers nationwide.
Qualcomm Inc. which is the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, and Vodafone Group Plc, the largest mobile carrier by sales are in the race along with nine other companies. A company would have to win bids in all 22 zones in order to ensure nationwide spectrum. 509.7 billion rupees ($11 billion) for licenses to offer third-generation mobile-phone services have been bid by the nine companies last week. However, none of the telecom operators were successful in acquiring the rights to national 3G coverage by winning licenses in all 22 regions up for auction, not even Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest wireless operator, and Vodafone.
34 percent rise in the closing bids for licenses to offer broadband wireless in the entire nation’s service zones has been noticed by the Department of telecommunication, which went up from the base price of 17.5 billion rupees set by the government initially. Daily updates are issued by the telecommunications department on bidding and all data collected from bidders will be made public after the auction is over.
Indian & German spectrum auctions- Where is the value for money?
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: May was the month of auctions and bidding. With two of the biggest spectrum auctions in Germany and India been concluded this month, hundreds of questions have been raised regarding the outcome.
In the second highest revenue-generating spectrum auction for almost a decade, on May 19, the Indian 3G auction concluded, raising EUR 11.7 billion (USD14.6 billion). This was quickly followed by the German auction concluding on Thursday last week, raising EUR4.4 billion (USD5.5 billion). Significant drop in process of the spectrum has been noticed since the 3G auctions in 200001.
Less than expected revenue was generated in the German auction as EUR5.8 billion to EUR8 billion has been expected by the analysts but it only raised EUR4.4 billion (USD5.5 billion). A total of 360MHz (of which 2´145MHz was FDD spectrum) ranging across the 800MHz, 1800MHz, 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz bands had been auctioned by BNetzA. EUR1.3 billion to EUR1.4 billion had been spent by T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 while E-Plus spent just EUR284 million for 70MHz of spectrum, but it failed to gain any 800MHz spectrum.
The spectrum sold in the Indian 3G auction on the other hand has been viewed as expensive. Three or four 2´5MHz lots in the 2.1GHz band in each of the 22 telecoms circles†across India had been auctioned by the Indian Department of Telecommunications and double the revenue had been generated than what was predicted. This was despite India having a GDP per capita 40 times less than that of Germany.
Vodafone which participated in both the German and Indian auctions spent EUR3.4 billion (USD4.2 billion) while in the UK and German auctions in 2001, it spent EUR18.3 billion. At the end, Indian auction might seem to be expensive but when it comes to value for money, German auction surly scores points, especially in the high frequency bands.
India’s broadband auction attracts bid of $500m on first day
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: On the very first day of an auction for licenses to offer faster wireless broad band for computers nationwide, Indian government got bids totaling 23.5 billion rupees ($500 million). Bandwidth slots in each of 22 regional zones have been auctioned in the world’s second-largest wireless market by subscribers, India thus attracting almost all the big players of the country.
Qualcomm Inc. which is the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, and Vodafone Group Plc, the largest mobile carrier by sales are in the race along with nine other companies. A company would have to win bids in all 22 zones in order to ensure nationwide spectrum. 509.7 billion rupees ($11 billion) for licenses to offer third-generation mobile-phone services have been bid by the nine companies last week. However, none of the telecom operators were successful in acquiring the rights to national 3G coverage by winning licenses in all 22 regions up for auction, not even Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest wireless operator, and Vodafone.
Analysts now feel that these operators will now bid in the broadband spectrum auction in order to fill in the gap caused by not acquiring 3G bandwidth. According to an analyst, considering how heated bidding was in 3G, and the fact that there are only two slots this time, there are possibilities of the prices to go three or four times the base price, at least.
34 percent rise in the closing bids for licenses to offer broadband wireless in the entire nation’s service zones has been noticed by the Department of telecommunication, which went up from the base price of 17.5 billion rupees set by the government initially. Daily updates are issued by the telecommunications department on bidding and all data collected from bidders will be made public after the auction is over.
India’s 3G auction reaches $1.3 billion on 7th day
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: On the seventh day of the 3G auction in India, bids for an all-India license to offer faster wireless services reached Rs 5,620 crore ($1.3 billion). Nine telecom operators of the world’s second-largest wireless market by subscribers are participating in the auction to obtain the spectrum to provide 3G services.
The auction is conducted by the department of telecommunications for 3G services in 22 designated telephone zones. 93 licenses are planned to be sold to provide high-speed data to mobile phones and computers and it is expected to raise an estimated Rs 50,000 crore.
Analysts feel that a pan-India license could cost bidders as much as $2 billion and internet-based auction could take as long as two weeks.
ByCell license cancelled by India’s DoT
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The mobile network operator licenses awarded to Russian-owned, Swiss-registered ByCell has been revoked by India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the grounds of security concerns. The operator was allowed to launch services in five circles; Assam, Orissa, Bihar, North East and West Bengal.
According to the letter from the regulator to ByCell’s CEO, the five letters of intent (LoI) are hereby withdrawn as the security clearance and all the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approvals granted to the company have been withdrawn.
The entry fee and performance guarantee, paid by the telco as part of its concession award, totalling INR860 million (USD19.33 million) will be refunded by DoT.
In May 2009, a report came as per which the approval granted to ByCell by FIPB to roll out a GSM network was withdrawn on the back of renewed security concerns after calls by the revenue department and the Ministry of Home Affairs to review the operator’s application. Company’s source of funding and shareholding structure was the reason of concern for both the government bodies.
MNP implementation again delayed in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indians will again have to wait to enjoy the facility of mobile number portability as its implementation is likely to be delayed at least until July. The system is said to be not yet in place to roll out the service.
The decision has been taken an internal meeting of the department of telecommunication where it was decided that the service may see the light of the day at the earliest by July.
According to the sources in the ministry, given the number of operators and as many as 12 billion calls per day, the system has to be in place and this may take some more time.
