Raja gets bail after 15 months in jail
Business Standard
Andimuthu Raja, former Telecom Minister and the prime accused in the 2G spectrum scam, was granted bail on Tuesday after 15 months in Tihar jail. Raja was the last accused to get bail in the 2G telecom case, which has drawn the world's attention over the alleged nexus between several members of the government and businesses for inappropriate and out-of-turn spectrum allocation to companies. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had estimated Rs 1.76 lakh crore as the notional loss caused to the national exchequer from the alleged allocation scam. Raja is the last of the 14 accused in the 2G spectrum scam to have got bail. The Central Bureau of Investigation had opposed Raja's bail.

India's proposal for government control of Internet to be discussed in Geneva
The Hindu
The raging controversy over possible excessive state regulation of the Internet, based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week over India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly, for government control of the Internet. The Geneva meet is a multi-stakeholder discussion platform on Internet governance structures. India is pushing for the creation of a forum called 'Committee for Internet Related Policies' (CIRP) to develop internet policies, oversee all internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate internet-related treaties and sit in judgment when internet-related disputes come up. The catch is that India's formal proposal is for CIRP to be funded by the U.N., run by staff from the U.N.'s Conference on Trade and Development arm and report directly to the U.N. General Assembly.

Bharti under ED scanner
Calcutta Telegraph
India's No. 1 mobile operator Bharti Airtel is under Enforcement Directorate investigation over charges of money laundering and violation of foreign exchange rules. "The Directorate of Enforcement is investigating cases under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, involving Bharti Airtel Ltd," junior Finance minister S S Palanimanickam told Parliament on May 15. In reply, Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel said it had provided the details sought by the authorities and would offer all cooperation.

Axiata may not infuse equity in Idea Cellular if TRAI's 2G proposals are approved
Economic Times
The Axiata Group that had invested about 7,500 crore for 20% stake in Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company, may not infuse fresh capital in the company if the government accepts the telecom regulator's recommendation to auction spectrum, Axiata Group President and Group CEO Jamaludin Ibrahim, who is in India to meet senior government officials, said. "We are here for the long term, so we are not exiting... (but) the extent of how much we invest will be determined vis-a-vis the additional cost of spectrum," he added.

Malaysian authorities promise all help to CBI in Aircel-Maxis case
Times of India
Malaysian authorities have assured full cooperation to CBI in furnishing information related to the Aircel-Maxis deal case in which former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran is named as an accused. A team of CBI officials returned from Kuala Lumpur after meeting the Malaysian attorney general who assured them that information sought by the agency through its letters rogatory would be furnished as soon as possible, agency sources said.

Mobile firms that submit radiation certificates will get to keep towers
Indian Express
Telecom companies have till May 18 to furnish self-declaration certificates on whether their mobile towers in residential areas conform to the norms fixed by the Union government. If a company furnishes certificates saying that its towers erected in residential areas do not emit radiation beyond the permissible limit, the towers will not be removed. However, if a company fails to do so, the UT Administration will remove its mobile towers from residential areas.

2G spectrum auction: Banks wary of lending to telcos; want more say in new telecom pact
Economic Times
The government is consulting state-run banks before it finalises the new licences that will be issued to telecom companies winning spectrum in the auctions to be held later this year, as it is keen to ensure bids are bankrolled without a hitch. The first round of auctions is scheduled to be held by August 31, and with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) setting astronomical reserve prices, banks will have a vital role to play in the success of the process. Most telecom companies will finance bids through debt and their bidding strategy will, to a large extent, depend on the enthusiasm shown by lenders. A senior Finance Ministry official said banks would be more inclined to lend at favourable rates if the licences contain safeguards to protect their money.

Bharti may be close to purchase of Indian unit of Qualcomm
Livemint
Qualcomm Inc., has offered its Indian unit to Bharti Airtel Ltd., for about Rs 5,000 crore, as the two companies seek to conclude talks in the next two weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. "Bharti may purchase the unit in instalments over two years," they said, adding, "Under the plan, Bharti would initially purchase a 26% stake in the unit, currently held by Tulip Telecom Ltd., and Global Holding Corp., and Qualcomm will own 51% of the division for at least two years after that." Tulip Telecom and Global Holding paid Rs 140 crore each for their 13% stakes in Qualcomm's Indian unit in 2010. Qualcomm owns the remaining 74%.

BSNL targeting Rs 400 crore revenue this fiscal from EKM SSA
Economic Times
Public sector Telecom operator BSNL was targeting a revenue of Rs 400 crore this financial year from Ernakulam SSA and would be providing various facilties to its customers to achieve this. Having acquired a revenue of Rs 388 crore in the previous fiscal, Dr P T Mathew, Principal General Manager, BSNL, said BSNL was aiming to provide 25,000 landline connections in the current fiscal and has introduced new unlimited plans like UL 500 and UL 600 for rural and urban customres respectively, in the landline sector. The broadband capacity has been increased by 20,000 to meet the additional requirement, Mathew added.

Indian mobile VAS providers to come under licensing regime
telecomlead.com
TRAI's recommendations on application services will bring Indian mobile VAS players under the licensing regime. Bringing application service providers under provisions of Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, by covering them under Licensing through Authorization, ASPs will be able to seek interconnection with service providers and avail of dispute resolution mechanisms available to a licensee, TRAI said in its recommendations. Other issues TRAI has recommended are the allocation of short code centrally through a Short Code Council (SCC), and measures for growth of utility application services.

EU research breakthrough will cut LTE mobile network energy use in half
Cellular News
The EU-funded project EARTH has received the 2012 "Future Internet Award" prize for developing energy efficiency solutions for wireless communication networks. Researchers from companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Telecom Italia, DOCOMO, and from universities in Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and U.K., have optimised the energy use of LTE base stations, which account for the highest energy consumption in the mobile network. Optimising the energy use of the network will gradually bring down electricity bills for operators and help keep mobile costs affordable, while reducing pollution and carbon emissions.

Mobile operators face increase in network cost due to mobile data explosion
Cellular News
The tremendous growth in mobile data traffic will put strong pressure on operators. Mobile operators face significantly higher cost for providing additional network capacity. According to a Solon study, "Mobile Data Growth: How operators can handle the traffic explosion" released on May 15, the cost for access and backhaul network could almost double within five years. Measures recommended to provide bandwidth in a more cost-efficient way are: Network optimization which concentrates on expanding network capacity through migration to LTE, actively managing data traffic through implementing different tariff and policy models or by offloading mobile traffic to fixed lines, and optimizing video delivery since mobile video consumption is likely to drive around 70 percent of the anticipated traffic growth over the next five years.

Google to tie-up with multiple OEMs to create a porfolio of Nexus Android smartphones/tablets
BGR India
Google is likely to change its policy regarding Nexus smartphones and tablets and work with as many as five manufacturers to create a portfolio of Nexus devices, the WSJ reports. Rather than working with just one vendor by providing them with the latest release of Android in advance and later providing an exclusivity window period, Google could work with multiple parties for the next iteration of Android codenamed Jelly Bean. It would create a portfolio of tablets and smartphones, rather than having just one device.

Best Practices for Mobile Application Developers
Future of Privacy
"Mobile applications"- the software programs written to execute on one or more mobile device operating systems (such as Android, Blackberry OS, iOS, Symbian or Windows Phone OS) - can collect and transfer end users' personal information from their mobile devices. Such transfer of personal information raises privacy issues. And privacy in mobile applications can be a challenge. Mobile platforms may have terms of use related to privacy but it is not always clear what those terms mean. Most developers are not experts in privacy law and policy and do not have the resources to hire lawyers or privacy consultants. The small screens of mobile devices limit the amount of information that can be easily communicated to users. Moreover, it may be difficult to understand how the third-party services incorporated into apps, such as analytics packages and those from advertising networks, use and access end users' information.