The curious case of TRAI’s implementation of the its 2017 Tariff Order, which threatens to add yet another negative factor for NDA in upcoming polls, can be an excellent case study of what ails India’s legal and regulatory system. The saga started almost two years ago with four companies — Star India, Discovery Communications, Tata […]
Finance minister and legal expert Arun Jaitley today allayed fears that the latest move to give reservations to forward communities will also be struck down by the courts like previous attempts. Replying to such concerns raised by Congress MP KV Thomas that drew parallels with a similar, but abortive attempt by PV Narasimha Rao, Jaitley […]
Narendra Modi government’s new 10% economic reservation quota will not be open to economically weaker members of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. The 124th constitutional amendment bill introduced by Thawar Chand Gehlot in Parliament today makes a specific exclusion for the above categories from being admitted under ‘economic reservation’. The poor within […]
The government will present a new bill to amend the constitution and introduce a new 10% quota for ‘forward communities’ at 2 PM today. The bill will be presented by minister of social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot. The bill will add a new criteria for providing reservation — economic backwardness — to the […]
The cabinet is reported to have approved a move to seek 10% reservation in jobs and educational institutions for all those castes and communities that currently do not get such reservations. The government will create a law to raise the upper ceiling of reserved seats from 50% of the total to 60% of the total. […]
The government of India has given back the 4G spectrum surrendered by BSNL about seven years ago to enable the state-owned telecom operator to start 4G services. The telecom operator had surrendered 4G spectrum in six expensive circles such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh about seven years ago, in return for part […]
After waiting patiently for a breakthrough, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prayers in Kerala seem to have been finally answered in the form of a crucial development in the Sabarimala temple standoff with two women entering the temple at night under police protection. The BJP has already kicked off a massive campaign to exploit the emotional […]
The curious case of the missing Star India channel packs on DTH platforms like D2h and Sun Direct has pointed to the position of relative strength enjoyed by platforms like Tata Sky and Airtel Digital in the new TRAI regime. Under the new rules, distribution platforms like Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun Direct are […]
BSNL, the state-owned telecom operator, has finally launched 4G in Kerala, starting from bigger cities like Thrissur. Consumers who have upgraded to the 4G SIM can latch on to the operator’s LTE network. The operator is using the 2100 MHz spectrum to deliver 4G services. The 2100 MHz spectrum, which used to be deployed exclusively […]
Smaller cable operators in India don’t have anything to worry from the implementation of the new channel pricing order from December 29, broadcasting regulator TRAI said, adding that the new regime will enhance their flexibility and standing. The clarification comes in the wake of worries by some sections of the cable industry that the new […]
The impending December 29 deadline for the introduction of a new set of rules governing the prices of TV channels has set the stage for a mega showdown between broadcasters on the one side and the cable and DTH industry on the other. At the core of the fight is the question of who gets […]
SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, which is feeling the heat from India’s bigger car maker Maruti Suzuki, has announced its latest offering — the five-seater XUV300 — to take on Vitara Brezza, India’s largest selling SUV. The model will be launched in the 1st half of February 2019, Mahindra said. The XUV300 belongs to […]
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has dismissed the “fabrications and concoctions” being circulated on social media about the new tariff rules that will come into effect on December 29. In a statement, the regulator countered two broad concerns on the upcoming tariff scheme — that consumers will have to pay far more to watch their […]
Bangalore-based IT services firm Infosys said it has sold its minority stake in Israel-based CloudEndure for $15.3 million. The company had invested $4 million in the cloud computing start-up for a stake of less than 20% three years ago Infosys did not clarify who was buying the stake or what the reason for the sale […]
HCL Technologies has been picked as the services partner for Broadcom’s enterprise software products, one of the two primary business units of CA Technologies, a software and solutions company that the chipmaker acquired earlier this year for $19 billion. HCL Tech will also take over some of the former employees of CA Technologies. “Effective immediately, HCL […]
Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Communications Ltd got a big relief today after the Supreme Court ordered the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India to approve the sale of the company’s spectrum lease to Reliance Jio. “The Spectrum trading transaction will now be completed and RCOM will pay-off Ericsson and minority investors of Reliance Infratel Limited […]
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said it will deploy an enhanced policy management solution for Phoenix Group, Europe’s largest life and pensions consolidator and a TCS client of 12 years. The move will not only give more advanced features for Phoenix Group, but also increase the number of Phoenix policies managed using TCS’s BaNCS platform to 5.5 […]
The Kerala unit of the BJP has decided to suspend its ongoing protests and demonstrations at Sabarimala temple, even as these seem to have resulted in an unusual decline in the number of pilgrims who undertook the annual pilgrimage this year. As part of the decision, Yuva Morcha, the youth front of the BJP, canceled […]
Vodafone Idea, the company formed out of the merger of the former No.2 and No.3 telecom operators in India, said it will eliminate around 16,000 distributors, close over 2,000 branded stores in urban areas and slash the number of call centers by more than half. The moves are aimed at reducing operating costs and helping […]
Vodafone Idea will shut down nearly 88,000 cell sites (tenancies) as part of the company’s network optimization drive, the company’s chief technical officer Vishant Vora told analysts in Mumbai yesterday. Vodfone Idea had sent out notices to shut down 66,000 towers in the first week of September itself, resulting in savings of Rs 1,800 cr […]
