-The Business Standard Deconstructing the numbers shows companies have bid smartly to get the best deals The recently concluded sale of 1,800-MHz spectrum through auction to telecom service operators, or telcos, has been declared a damp squib for two reasons: One, only five telcos participated in the auction; and two, the bids added up to Rs 9,407 crore, which was less than a third of the Rs 30,000 crore the government had...

-The Indian Express Saying that the government was playing with its order, the Supreme Court Friday expressed its disapproval of the Centre’s decision to not auction the entire 2G spectrum cancelled by the court in February this year and asked for an explanation of its position. “We can tell you clearly that you are not implementing our order but prima facie playing with our order. You were required to put spectrum of...

-The Economic Times The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to immediately explain why it is restricting the sale of airwaves in the upcoming auctions, and not selling all spectrum vacated by the 122 licences whose permits were cancelled earlier this year. But the apex court clarified that the upcoming airwaves sale process, scheduled to begin on November 12 ,would not be deferred, even as it asked the telecom department to...

-The Hindu Telecom Department having discussions with stakeholders and within Ministries Content regulation, surveillance, filtering and cost of the Internet access have emerged as top concerns for advocates of online freedom and civil society worldwide, ahead of a key inter-governmental meet on International Telecom Regulations (ITRs). The government of India is preparing its final position on these issues. This discussion among 193 national governments will be held under the aegis of a United...

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has claimed that the World Health Organisation's research has not concluded that the radio frequency electromagnetic field is a cause for cancer. In its latest report, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) warned that radiation from mobile phone handsets can cause cancer. “It is significant that the IARC has concluded that radio frequency electromagnetic fields are neither a definite nor probable human...