Convergence Plus Journal

POLICY/REGULATION

PM calls for more effective cooperation between telcos and security agencies
December 11

TRAI okays higher 3G spectrum fee
December 11Speaking at a telecom conference in New Delhi, Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called for greater co-ordination and cooperation between telecom companies and security agencies to combat security threats.

In this address, following the Mumbai terror attacks, he stated that modern technology can be a real threat in the wrong hands. Terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks had managed to secure SIM cards and maintain a communication network out of the country.

Dr. Singh also raised concerns regarding Internet Telephony, which can enable users to hide their identity. TRAI recently had recommended that calls using Internet should be allowed to terminate on landline and mobile phones.

The government, although able to legally intercept and monitor telephone calls, needs more effective cooperation between security agencies and the telecom industry, to prevent the misuse of technology by terrorists.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has approved a government proposal to levy an annual administrative charge of 2 percent of the highest bid for the spectrum, which will kick in one year after the operator receives the spectrum. These new charges would be applicable to 2G spectrum holders who acquire 3G spectrum.

In addition to the administrative charge, the TRAI approved charging 3 percent of revenue as annual fees on ‘standalone’ operators who win 3G spectrum in the auctions due to be held in January 2009. This would commence from the second year of operation.

IIFCL to be allowed to lend to 3G bidders
December 10

The Finance Ministry will allow state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) to lend funds to telecom companies to bid for 3G licenses at the auction in January 2009.

This spells good news for cash-strapped telcos who had wanted to delay the spectrum auctions beyond the scheduled time of January 2009. Other policy changes to enable borrowings include a measure by the Reserve Bank of India to list purchase of 3G spectrum licenses in India as one of the permitted uses of money borrowed abroad by companies.

Centre defends its spectrum allocation policy: “Open bidding not consumer friendly”
December 9

The Central Govt., in a defense of its first-come-first served spectrum allocation policy to the High Court, has stated that opening bidding would drive up the prices, which would ultimately be passed on to consumers.

The Centre’s claim was in response to a petition challenging its spectrum allocation policy, which allegedly caused a loss of Rs. 50,000 (US$ 10 billion) crore to the exchequer.

In a 48-page affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court, the Centre has said that the telecom policy aimed at encouraging competition to make services affordable to the consumer at the lowest possible tariff.

PIL against displaying sensitive images on Google Earth
December 9

A PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court against the satellite images of vital installations in the country shown on Google Earth.

Amit Karkhanis, a Mumbai-based lawyer, has filed the petition demanding removal of these ‘sensitive images’. He has said that the images of nuclear plants and defence establishments shown on the site pose as a security hazard and should be removed, particularly in the context of Mumbai’s recent terror attacks.

The petition is due to come up for hearing on December 18.

Telecom Ministry refers matter of 3G slots to Finance Ministry
December 9

The Telecom Ministry has referred the matter of number of 3G spectrum slots in each circle to the Finance Ministry.

Spectrum auction is to take place in January 2009. As per DoT guidelines, five operators in each circle would be allotted 3G spectrum and five more would be expected to be allotted spectrum at a later time. State owned telcos BSNL and MTNL have been given a slot each in Chennai and Delhi respectively.

However, indications are that the number of players in each circle would be restricted to five. Inclusion of BSNL and MTNL leaves only 3 private players in each circle. Currently, 60 MHz of 3G spectrum is available.

There are 10-12 operators in each circle. Lesser number of slots would definitely drive up the bidding price. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had suggested that five 3G licences of five MHz each be given through the auctioning route.

MAIT welcomes Government initiatives to boost domestic consumption
December 8

MAIT, the apex body representing India’s IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors, welcomed the announcements by the Union Government to give a boost to domestic consumption and provide stimulus to the national economic growth.

Expressing satisfaction on the recent announcements by the government, Mr Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, MAIT, said, “We welcome the several proactive measures announced by the government to sustain the growth of the domestic economy. Four percent, across-the-board reduction in CENVAT rate (excise duty/CVD) will help bring down the prices of IT products. With this, desktops and notebooks will attract eight percent excise duty while all other hardware equipment would attract ten percent.”

Mr Mehta added, “Along with drop in excise duty for IT hardware, it is essential that the government rationalizes the duty on software which currently attracts 12 percent service tax, failing which there would be CENVAT overflow in case of local computer manufacturing.”

With the impact of global economic crises on the domestic economy, the consumption of IT products has also been adversely impacted in the last few months. Further, in the last six months strengthening of the US dollar by over twenty-five percent against the rupee has significantly eroded the margins of the IT hardware industry, several of the companies had to resort to price increases.

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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh stated that he expects India’s telecom subscriber base to touch 700 million by 2012.

Speaking at a telecom event in the nation’s capital, Dr. Singh said that the current rate of growth in telecom, India would have 650 million mobile users and 50 million landlines by 2012.

India has the fastest growing telecom sector in the world, with an average addition of 8 million subscribers per month. India added a record number of over 10 million users in the month of October 2008, and including the November figures India’s telecom user base is at 373 million.

Dr. Singh emphasized the need for improving connectivity in rural areas, which have massive growth potential considering that rural teledensity is only 13 percent as compared to the national average of 32 percent.

3G services launched by MTNL
December 11

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) has become the first Indian telco to launch 3G services in the nation, starting with the capital city of Delhi. MTNL will launch the service in Mumbai after a month.

MTNL has selected Motorola’s 3G network infrastructure to launch the service by the name of ‘Jadoo’. The launch was inaugurated by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and Communications & IT Minister Mr. A. Raja at India Telecom 2008.

BSNL is expected to launch its 3G services by next month, while the 3G auctions for private telcos are scheduled for completion by January end.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recommended that the Department of Telecom (DoT) issue mobile cards from post offices. This suggestion is directed toward preventing misuse of mobile phones, especially by terrorists.

This move would make verification more stringent and enable the government to exercise greater control over possible misuse of mobile connections.

India’s ministry of home affairs has also requested the DoT to ask all telecom operators to verify the credentials of their customers before enrolling them. But the network of dealers and retailers through which operators sell mobile connections makes this task very difficult.

Govt. IT spending to counter reduced spending from corporate sector
December 10

According to findings by research agency IDC, IT spending by the departments and ministries of the Indian government, will grow at a CAGR of 15% till 2012.

IT spending by the Indian government is estimated to be around Rs. 6,800 crores (US$ 1.4 billion) during 2008. And its spending on hardware, software and services is expected to continue even amidst the market slowdown which is compelling corporates to slash their IT budgets.

The growth in govt. IT spending may even be large enough to offset losses resulting from the corporate sector reducing its IT spending.

Cisco has introduced new technologies and solutions that will enable Internet Protocol (IP) networks to become the platform for a new generation of video and rich media applications and services. These technologies are designed to enable advanced communications, collaboration and entertainment experiences through video- and rich media-optimized service provider, business, and home networks, known as “medianets.”

Intel and the WiMAX Forum to bring affordable WiMAX-ready devices to India
December 11

Sriram Viswanathan, Intel VP and General Manager of the WiMAX Program Office, at a telecom conference held in the nation’s capital recently, announced that Intel Corp. is working with Indian service providers and device manufacturers to bring WiMAX-ready devices (notebooks and netbooks) to the Indian market by mid-2009.

Viswanathan also outlined an alliance between Intel and the WiMAX Forum® India, which will gather key global WiMAX company participants in India to collaborate with WiMAX service providers, as well as local government and businesses to deliver innovative, affordable WiMAX-enabled devices targeted specifically to meet the needs of the India market segment.

“This is a very exciting time for India and WiMAX,” said Viswanathan. “WiMAX has the ability to help bridge the digital divide with the most cost effective and highest-performing wireless broadband technology available today. The availability of low cost devices for end users forms an essential part of the promise and capability of WiMAX.”

The initial focus will be on 2.3 and 2.5 GHz devices. Companies will be joined by the Open Patent Alliance and other important ecosystem members to determine device needs, timelines, testing and interoperability plans and collaborate on cost reduction programs for fixed, portable and mobile devices. According to WiMAX Forum projections, there will be more than 27.5 million broadband Internet users in India by 2012.

“The WiMAX ecosystem, as well as excitement for the technology, has grown significantly over the past five years,” said C S Rao, Chairman of the WIMAX Forum India Office. “WiMAX is viewed as the best wireless broadband technology for India – with a diverse and complete ecosystem ready to deliver affordable, lightning-fast wireless Internet.”

iViZ discovers new vulnerabilities in anti-virus softwares
December 11

Information security company iViZ, has announced a discovery of a new class of vulnerabilities in popular open source antivirus software, which have the potential to allow hackers to break into systems using the antivirus software itself.

The affected software include many popular software such as AVG, F-Secure (F-Prot), Sophos, ClamAV, BitDefender & Avast. The antivirus software vendors have been informed of these vulnerabilities.

Sun Direct, a player in the DTH (Direct-to-Home) segment, is to launch on December 15 throughout the country. Sun Direct has been operating in Chennai for over a year now.

The joint venture between the Chennai-based Maran family and Malaysia’s Astro Group, Sun Direct has already crossed 2 million subscribers in Southern India. Currently, it is not charging a carriage fee to the broadcasters.

Sun is targeting 3 million connections by end of the next financial year and is prepared to spend over Rs 1500 crore (US$ 310 million) to reach out to subscribers in the country by next year.

Huawei India – Indian arm of the Chinese telecom equipment maker – expects US $ 2 billion in contract sales this year in India as compared to US $ 700 million.

Huawei works with Indian telcos like BSNL, MTNL and Reliance in fields like mobile and fixed networks, GSM, CDMA and broadband. The launch of 3G services in India will surely spur Huawei India’s growth.

India contributes roughly 8 percent to Huawei’s global revenues, which are expected to touch US $ 23 billion by the end of 2008.

Tanla Solutions Ltd. has announced the deployment of its 3G VAS platform with state-owned telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), which recently became the first Indian mobile operator to launch 3G services in India.

Tanla is the first company to have live services over a 3G network in India. Their platform enables video based applications like Video Chat, Video SMS and Video IVR Portals.

Wipro Infotech has announced the opening of a new application support centre in Hyderabad. The new 100-seat facility is scalable up to 300.

The centre will offer a new service FAST-R (Flexible Application Support -Remotely) to Wipro's customers in India.

ESPN to slash rates for DTH segment
December 10

ESPN Software India has given in to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) directive to make channels available to DTH players at 50% of the rates charged to cable operators in the non-conditional access system.

This decision follows a long battle between the sports broadcaster and the telecom regulatory watchdog, where TRAI had dragged ESPN to court for not complying with its directive on pricing.

Michael Boustridge to lead BT Asia-Pacific
December 10

British Telecom (BT) Americas CEO Michael Boustridge is to also lead its Asia Pacific operations which span 16 countries. Michael succeeds Allen Ma, who retires on 5 January 2009, after four years of leading BT’s Asia Pacific operations.

Asia Pacific and North America represent important growth markets for BT. Many of BT’s North American customers are looking to expand into Asia, and there is also a rapid shift in the number of Asian companies who are setting up operations in North America. Michael Boustridge will ensure BT makes the most of these opportunities, as well as continuing to sign new customers.

On his additional appointment Michael Boustridge said, “Businesses in the two markets of North America and Asia Pacific face similar challenges, and present exciting opportunities for shared best practice and collaboration. I am confident that by managing both market units together we will achieve cost efficiencies and deliver even better services to our customers.”

Service provider Tata Teleservices (TTSL) has tied up with Huawei Technologies and Nokia Siemens Networks for rollout out 60 million GSM lines under separate five year contracts valued at around US$ 3.5 billion.

Unitech, Idea receive spectrum
December 8

Unitech and Idea Cellular have been allotted 4.4 MHz of spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band in respect of the service areas in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kolkata.

Real estate major Unitech, which had recently tied up with Norwegian telco Telenor to launch mobile service s in India, plans for Unitech Wireless to start operations in the second quarter of 2009.

Accenture in talks with Indian telcos for outsourcing deals
December 8

Accenture is in talks with major Indian telecom players for outsourcing of business processes aside from management consulting projects. Accenture is in talks with four Indian telcos including Bharti Airtel to help them with their expertise in customer segmentation.