Frequency-hopping plan hits defence barricade
mydigitalfc.com
The Defence Ministry has raised a red flag against cognitive radios, the new technology that can alleviate spectrum scarcity. Use of this cutting-edge technology will make adversaries 'completely aware' of spectrum usage by defence services making secure networks vulnerable, the Ministry said. While Cabinet cleared the new telecom policy last week, Telecom Ministry has given its assurance that cognitive radios will not be introduced without consulting the defence establishment. Cognitive radios refer to the use of transmitters and receivers that continuously scan airwaves and shift communication to a frequency band where there is least activity, providing users with best call quality. Use of cognitive radios will alter the current mechanism of allocating spectrum to firms in specific slots. Multiple firms will be able to share the same slot and dynamically allocated spectrum would be used almost 20,000 times more efficiently.

Government to decide if old telecom operators to pay market price for spectrum
Economic Times
The government will decide if incumbent telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, and Tata Teleservices have to pay a market-discovered price for the spectrum they currently hold. "Spectrum pricing policy is about what is the need to pay or not to pay (by the existing operators) as far as the spectrum they already hold is concerned," a source in DoT said. In order to create a level playing field between the incumbent and new operators, DoT has proposed that once the price of spectrum is discovered in the upcoming auction, the incumbent operators should be asked to pay the price for all the spectrum they currently hold.

RCom deal: Alcatel, Ericsson front runners
Business Standard
Global telecom companies Alcatel-Lucent SA and Ericsson have emerged as front runners for Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCom)'s, Rs 8,000-crore long-term outsourcing contract. The deal, to be awarded to a single operator, was expected to be finalised early next month and the talks were in the final stages, people aware of the development said. As part of its offer, the new contract would cover the entire range of RCom's telecom services - wireless, wire-line, and utilities - on an end-to-end basis across the country. This is different from managed service contracts deals signed by other telecom companies, where the deals would be restricted only to the company's wireless operations.

No spectrum transfer charge for telecom M&As
Economic Times

The Telecoms Department (DoT) will ask the Union Cabinet to reject the proposal to impose a special levy on mergers and acquisitions in the sector. With all companies being asked to pay the market rate for the spectrum they hold, a spectrum transfer fee during M&As, to check windfall gains becomes untenable, explained an official aware of the development.

Income-Tax department seeks legal opinion on Vodafone tax case
Economic Times
Bracing for a long, drawn out legal battle, the Income-Tax department is taking legal opinion on the approach the department should take to recover capital gains tax from Vodafone, the mobile telephony major. The need for legal advice arose in the context of the retrospective changes made in the Income-tax laws regarding capital gains tax applicable to the cross-border acquisitions involving Indian companies. The department is contemplating on interpreting the tax demand of $2 billion and penalty, as demand for 'withholding tax' payable by Vodafone, and not a tax demand made after regular assessment. The Income-Tax department has also not decided over the issue of whom to send the notice, to Hutch the seller of shares, or to Vodafone the buyer.

2G scam: Will defend myself in case, says A Raja
IBNLive.com
Telecom Minister A Raja on Sunday said that he was not disappointed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not defending him in the 2G scam, and that he was competent to defend himself in the case. The DMK leader added that there was no question of being singled out in the case. "There is no question of being singled out in the 2G case... People still have faith in me," he said. A Delhi court had on Thursday allowed Raja to visit Tamil Nadu between June 8 and June 30.

Finacle from Infosys powers the digital commerce revolution to unlock new revenue streams
Orissadiary.com
Infosys, a global leader in consulting and technology, announced another successful partnership sparked by its recently unveiled Finacle digital commerce solution. Finacle will power agency banking for Standard Bank and help the bank extend service channels across its markets in Africa. Finacle digital commerce solution helps unlock new revenue streams not only for financial institutions, but also telecom service providers and retailers by enabling instant cashless payments and commerce between merchants and consumers.

Google completes integration of AdMob mobile advertising platform
Cellular News
Google has finally completed the integration of its mobile advertising subsidiary, AdMob into its mainstream online advertising services. For the past two years, advertisers wanting to run adverts on mobile devices have had to manage the service separately from their existing mainstream online advertising, but Google has now combined the two systems into a single platform. In addition, advertisers can now reach individuals by targeting specific smartphone or tablet device models (e.g. Samsung Galaxy) or by targeting a particular manufacturer brand.

Economic slowdown: India Inc starts trimming employee costs
Economic Times
Indian companies are focussing on trimming staff costs to weather the impact of an economic slowdown and to maintain competiveness in the face of a slide in investments, policy logjam, and rising input and interest costs. According to E Balaji, MD & CEO of Randstad India, average increments for corporate India as a whole in FY12 are expected to be around 8-11% against an anticipated hike of 10-12%. Automobiles, hospitality, consumer durables, pharma, and FMCG have so far seen a growth of over 15% in employee costs in FY12 as compared with FY11, while for service-oriented sectors such as banking, telecom, and retail, the growth has been in single digits.

Indian consumers prefer Nokia phones in dual SIM space: Nielsen
Zee News
Finnish handset maker Nokia may be lagging behind global competitors like Apple and Samsung, but in the dual SIM category in India, it is the top choice for consumers, a study by marketing research firm Nielsen said. Nokia was a late entrant in the dual SIM handset category, which was dominated by domestic handset makers like Micromax and Karbonn. According to the study, 71 million subscribers in the country use multiple SIM cards, and 61 percent of handsets used by multi-SIM owners are dual SIM. "Nokia leads the pack with a 30 percent market share, while Samsung is a distant second with 16 percent. Micromax has a 12 percent share, while G'Five has seven percent share," it added.

Apple to definitely announce iOS 6 at WWDC
BGR India
Apple is all set to showcase the next iteration of its iPhone and iPad OS, albeit in only-for-developers beta stage. Little is known about iOS 6 apart from speculation that it would bring deeper Facebook integration, just like iOS 5 brought Twitter integration; let go of Google Maps in favor of Apple's own 3D maps; and bring new UI elements.

Huawei chalks out strategies to strengthen mobile broadband business in India
telecomlead.com
ICT solutions major Huawei is planning to strengthen its mobile broadband business in India by winning more 3G and 4G LTE deals and offering better customer experience. The Chinese telecom equipment makers' strategy revolves around offering better customer experience by providing network, devices, and cloud solutions. Huawei's mobile broadband business revolves around its devices strategy. Huawei says that innovation will assist the company strengthen its position. In a field trial for LTE Category 4 on a commercial LTE network in Europe, Huawei demonstrated excellent performance with download data rates of up to 150Mbps.

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