Tag: department of telecommunications

The Union Cabinet yesterday (14 June 2022) cleared the auction for 5G airwaves paving the way for the auction and commercial launch of next-generation telecom services this year. The cabinet in its meeting on Tuesday approved the Department of Telecom's proposal for the auction of 72 GHz of spectrum for a 20-year-period. It also decided to “enable the development and setting up of private captive networks to spur a new wave of innovations in industry 4.0 applications". “A total of 72097.85 MHz of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put to auction to be held by the end of July 2022. The auction will be held for spectrum in various bands (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz), and High (26 GHz) frequency bands,” the government said in a press release today (15 June 2022). Read more

In a blow to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the Supreme Court on 14th Feb rejected their plea seeking a staggered option for paying dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR). Vodafone Idea announced on 15th Feb that it would pay its AGR dues to the government in the next few days in line with the Supreme Court order. Now the public sector companies that hold telecom licence primarily for their own network also received a letter by DOT, issued following Friday’s Supreme Court order, to pay their dues immediately. Oil India has to pay Rs 48,000 crore as AGR dues.GAIL has been asked to pay Rs 1.72 trillion, nearly four times its net worth of ~44,092 crore, and nearly three times its revenue. Power Grid has been asked to shell out nearly ~22,170 crore. This is almost equivalent to its revenue and over three times its net profit. Thus the outgo from these companies could not only wipe out their surplus but create distress in other sectors also.