Policy

Proposal To Censor Games In India - 1 Comment
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Fri 04 Jan 2008 02:33 AM PST

Update: High placed sources inform us that there was never any proposal by the Censor Board; rather: the chairperson of the Censor Board had her own issues with violence in…

TRAI Backs Down On Unbundling Of Last Mile; Recommends Franchising For Growth Of Broadband - 1 Comment
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Wed 02 Jan 2008 09:09 PM PST

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) appears to have backed down on it’s earlier recommendation of unbundling of last mile, since the government has clearly stated that they’re not…

TRAI Decides, Deliberates And Now Delays Recommendations On Mobile TV - 2 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Fri 21 Dec 2007 03:51 AM PST

The TRAI has been forced to delay its recommendations on terrestrial spectrum for Mobile TV due to differences between the Ministry of I&B and Ministry of Communications, reports the Hindu.…

ADVERTISE ON CONTENTSUTRA

TRAI To Recommend Auction Of Mobile TV Spectrum - 5 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Sun 16 Dec 2007 09:40 PM PST

The TRAI has decided to recommend the auction route for allocation of spectrum for Mobile TV services in India, reports the Economic Times. To me, this appears to be another…

Railways To Set Up Voice Portal For Ticketing - 4 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 10 Dec 2007 08:54 PM PST

In Indian Railways is setting up a voice portal (or Interactive Voice Response System/IVRS) to enable prospective travelers to book tickets via the mobile, reports the Indian Express. The Railways…

SKCC In Talks With RCOM For 3G VAS Services - 0 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Wed 05 Dec 2007 01:45 AM PST

Another big player is eying the mobile value added services space in India: Korean Telecom co SK C&C (SKCC) is reportedly in talks with Reliance Communications for providing VAS for…

Spectrup Spat: Former TRAI Head And Temasek Criticize New Allocation Norms - 0 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Thu 29 Nov 2007 11:03 PM PST

Pradip Baijal, former head of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in an article in the Business Standard, has criticized the TRAI for not being very transparent, and deviating from…

A Reconciliation Of Telecom And Broadcasting Licenses On The Cards - 0 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 27 Nov 2007 11:30 PM PST

We’d seen this coming: The government is reviewing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limits across media platforms - Radio, DTH, Broadcasting, Cable and Telecom, reports PTI. The FDI limits and proposed…

India Adds Just 20,000 Broadband Subscribers In October 2007
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 27 Nov 2007 08:45 PM PST

Corny though it may be, I found the title of this story ("Broadband now a power point presentation") in the Times of India to be very perceptive. Because that’s pretty…

IITs, IIS Course Material Available Online; Poor Usability - 8 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 26 Nov 2007 09:47 PM PST

Looks like the MITs OpenCourseWare initiative has found takers in India: As a part of a Rs. 110 crore government project, the seven Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian…

Telecom Roundup: RCom-VAS; Telecom Licences, Tariffs; CDMA Subs; 3G vs 4G - 1 Comment
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 20 Nov 2007 03:21 AM PST

-- Mahesh Prasad, President of RCom’s Applications, Solutions and Content group has told Business Standard in an interview that the net contribution from VAS (the story says ‘network contribution’) each…

India To Auction Wireless Broadband Spectrum - 2 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 13 Nov 2007 12:02 AM PST

The Indian government is not very pleased with the allegation that the government is ignoring broadband in India. Telecom minister A.Raja said that releasing spectrum for broadband wireless access might…

India To Auction 3G Spectrum; Introduces Phased Number Portability - 2 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 12 Nov 2007 09:30 PM PST

3G Services Over a year after the telecom regulator TRAI recommended guidelines for 3G, the Indian government has announced its 3G policy: GSM Operators: 3G services, which allow multimedia services…

All India Radio Goes Online, But Barely - 5 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 12 Nov 2007 02:54 AM PST

Public radio broadcaster All India Radio has gone online with a multilingual website - www.newsonair.com, reports the Statesman. Go figure: there’s also a slightly different version of the same site…

BSNL Mulls IPO; Plans CDMA Offering…No License Fee? - 0 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Sun 11 Nov 2007 11:36 PM PST

BSNL CMD Kuldeep Nair told Mint recently that it is time the company considered an IPO, but it depends on the government and employees. BSNL had cashflows of almost Rs.…

RCOM Not Getting Preferential Treatment Says Anil Ambani - 1 Comment
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 06 Nov 2007 04:18 AM PST

There’s much controversy about Reliance Communications being allowed to jump queue and pay just Rs. 1651 for a GSM license and the valuable spectrum that comes with it, while GSM…

When Mobile And TV Combine - 4 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 29 Oct 2007 06:22 PM PST

The sense that I got from the TRAI open house discussion on Mobile TV that I attended last friday, is that it is an issue of legacy of licenses, rather…

VAS Revenues Drop After Short Code Change - 4 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Thu 25 Oct 2007 12:34 AM PST

ET reports that the change in short code policy has resulted in revenues for some VAS companies dropping by almost 50-70 percent, although. Webdunia President and COO Pankaj Jain says…

India’s Global Gaming Industry Share Could Jump With A Cut In Customs Duty - 0 Comments
Posted By Anupama Chandrasekaran - Wed 24 Oct 2007 01:05 AM PST

A cut in basic customs duty to 5 percent from 10 percent and elimination of additional Customs Duty could boost India’s share in the US $30bn global gaming sector to…

Zee Moots Concept Of Universal Broadcaster For Mobile TV In India; Wants MediaFLO Barred - 4 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Tue 23 Oct 2007 08:52 PM PST

The Zee group has come out all guns blazing on the issue of allocation of licenses and spectrum for Mobile TV in India. The group has told the TRAI in…

Tatas Apply For GSM Spectrum - 0 Comments
Posted By Anupama Chandrasekaran - Mon 22 Oct 2007 06:49 PM PST

Two Tata-promoted companies, which operate CDMA-technology mobile phone services, have applied for GSM spectrum in 20 circles. [via Business Standard] Tata Teleservices Ltd. has applied for spectrum in 18…

NIXI Plans Local Language Domain Names For India - 2 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Mon 22 Oct 2007 04:38 AM PST

Local language domains will soon be made available for India - in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, reports ET. Although no longer in regular use, Sanskrit is also in the list. The…

RCOM, HFCL, Shyam Telecom Get GSM Approval; MTNL, BSNL- No Fee; Tata Indicom Wants Some Too
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Sun 21 Oct 2007 09:15 PM PST

Updated below (Posted on Oct 19) This just in: CNBC-TV18 has reported that Reliance Communications (RCOM), a CDMA operator, has been allowed to offer GSM services. The company has to…

IMI Targets Mobile Content Piracy Via Memory Cards; Maharashtra Piracy Law - 3 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Thu 18 Oct 2007 11:35 PM PST

CDs are pretty much passe for piracy, and finally the Indian Music Industry (IMI) appears to have woken up to piracy of mobile content - transfers via bluetooth, data cable…

South Asian Nations Plan Information Highway Project - 0 Comments
Posted By Nikhil Pahwa - Thu 18 Oct 2007 02:28 AM PST

India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal has decided to join forces to improve connectivity among the four countries, reports Forbes. Representatives from the four countries met to discuss the setting up…