From the Editors Desk

For those who had been following the 2G scam closely, TRAI's statement in the first week of September that with the 2G scam, the government has gained crores, was a sudden shock. TRAI went on to say that the scam master-minded by A.Raja, the Telecom Minister presently behind bars, earned profits to the tune of Rs 3,000 crores to Rs 7,000 crores. The exact figure understandably, is elusive.

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At a Glance  News Government to unveil draft National Telecom Policy on Monday CBI looks into spectrum to telecom companies in DTH business Well-connected Maran has 323 lines Delhi Court rejects A Raja's plea to help legal counsel in Supreme Court Swan may lose 2G licence as DoT readies notice Three private operators still disconnected from BSNL Complete ban on encrypted communications not desirable: DoT Limits on SMSs to impact telcos' bundled plans Trends & Insight Regulator to get more teeth in new telecom policy Mobile handset sales falls 12-13 million, weak rupee may push prices Samsung trumps Apple's tabs in India Telcos' revenues under pressure on fewer subscriber additions Redefining the Relationship with the Digital Consumer   News Government to unveil draft National Telecom Policy on Monday Times of India Amid rising concerns and lawsuits over allocation of telecom spectrum, a precious national resource, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will, on Monday, unveil a draft of the new telecom policy that will focus on transparency and quick decision-making. The last telecom policy was unveiled over a decade ago, in 1999, when India's phone subscribers base was barely a couple of millions. It has since grown to nearly 900 million, as of July. Sibal has already said that one of the key issues is to de-link the award of telecom operator licence from the allocation of airwaves, since the bundling of these two had invited criticism and a spate of legal disputes. CBI looks into spectrum to telecom companies in DTH business The Hindu Widening its probe in the 2G scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now turned to investigate spectrum allocation made to direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasters, by seeking details of sanction of bandwidth. The decision to probe the DTH broadcasters was taken after agency sleuths found that some of the telecom companies, under probe in the 2G scam, were also broadcasters of the service, official sources said on Sunday. The CBI had sought details including the original files containing applications for assigning of spectrum and wireless operating licence for DTH services. Well-connected Maran has 323 lines Deccan Herald A total of 323 high capacity telephone lines in a house? The Central Bureau of Investigaion (CBI) is understood to be investigating the alleged installation of this many telephone lines at the Chennai residence of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. This has only compounded the problems of the DMK MP. Closing in on him, the investigating agency is all set to register an FIR against him in a more serious case - as part of the 2G spectrum scam. If this happens, Maran will be the third DMK leader to be proceeded against in the 2G case. Delhi Court rejects A Raja's plea to help legal counsel in Supreme Court Economic Times A Delhi court dismissed former telecom minister A Raja's appeal to assist his legal counsel in the Supreme Court, in the 2G scam trial, and said it did not find any 'merit' in the request.Raja's legal representative Sushil Kumar told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court on Friday that "serious prejudice" was being caused to his client since the apex court was "directly monitoring" the investigation by India's federal probe agency and proceedings in the special court. Swan may lose 2G licence as DoT readies notice IBNLive.com The Department of Telecom has decided to terminate 13 UAS licences issued to Swan Telecom, the company alleged to be a beneficiary of the 2G scam. The company has also been accused of acting as a front for Reliance Telecom. DoT has now sought a second opinion from the law ministry.It is finalising a show cause notice to Etisalat DB, formerly Swan Telecom. Three private operators still disconnected from BSNL Indian Express The standoff between BSNL and private service operators continues even as services remained adversely hit for the 11th consecutive day. BSNL had restored services of Reliance, Tata and MTS. However, connectivity between Idea, Airtel and Vodafone continue to remain adversely affected. Taking public convenience into account, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in its order held that "equities can be adjusted at an appropriate stage" and had asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to restore the connectivity of private service operators on September 30. Complete ban on encrypted communications not desirable: DoT The Hindu In some relief to BlackBerry, the Telecom Ministry is understood to have said that a complete ban on encrypted communications is not desirable, as long as solutions exist to have the data intercepted in a readable format. "Banning of encrypted communication is not desirable as long as some solutions exist to get the (data) intercepted in readable format. Therefore, accent should be on regulation of these services in such a manner that security assistance needs and communication security needs are balanced," an expert committee set up by the Department of Telecom (DoT) said in its report. Limits on SMSs to impact telcos' bundled plans Business Standard The new telemarketing norms that recently came into effect could play spoilsport to unlimited SMS packages that telecom operators have designed for the consumers. In a bid to stop marketing communication sent via texts, the norms, among others, say that a consumer cannot send more than 100 SMSes per day. The decision has its supporters. "Obviously, wherever there is an unlimited SMS pack, the product will have to be revised," says Surya Mahadevan, Chief Operating Officer of Loop Mobile. "But I do not think it will have any major impact. For, the population that sends more than 100 texts a day forms a very small percentage."   Trends  Regulator to get more teeth in new telecom policy Business Standard The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to give more powers to the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in the new telecom policy (NTP), including the power to impose financial penalties on the erring telecom service providers. "There is a need for a strong and an independent regulator with comprehensive powers and clear authority to effectively perform its function," DoT said in the draft for NTP-11, which will be officially released by Communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal on Monday. The draft will then be placed for further consultations and discussions before the final formulation. Mobile handset sales falls 12-13 million, weak rupee may push prices Economic Times Mobile handset sales in the country have started sliding or stagnating in line with a slowdown in subscriber additions, forcing local players to push exports to maintain their growth rate. Monthly handset sales in the country has fallen to 12-13 million over the past two quarters, down from an average of 15 million last fiscal year, according to data from research firm GfK. "Almost everyone's sales are getting affected," said Arshit Pathak, Managing Director of Kingtech Electronics India, local unit of Chinese handset maker G'Five International. This is in line with the slowdown in the Indian mobile telephony market, where the number of new users has declined for six consecutive months after breakneck growth for two years. Samsung trumps Apple's tabs in India The Mobile Indian Apple enjoys only 18.4 per cent market share whereas even BlackBerry PlayBook is reported to have 21 per cent market share in India, according to a report. Despite being the topper in the world tablet market, Apple has been left behind by Samsung in the Indian tablet market. According to a research report of CyberMedia, Samsung commands 45.8 percent market share in the 158,000 strong Indian tablet market. The Samsung tablet, Galaxy Tab 7 was launched in India back in October 2010, whereas Apple entered the Indian market late in January. Telcos' revenues under pressure on fewer subscriber additions Financial Express Pressure on mobile telephony companies will continue in the second quarter of the financial year ended September, as they fail to add more subscribers. This comes even as existing subscribers spend less time to talk and the rupee's fall forces companies to pay more for their overseas loans. Analysts said heavy expenses incurred to roll out third-generation network would also squeeze margins in the quarter. Now, the companies are hunting for quality subscribers, a departure from their earlier drive to add customers, giving up on revenues. The number of new subscribers have more than halved to 7 million a month, from 17 million in the reporting period previous year.   Insight

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