New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) In a surprise move that could deprive it of over Rs 5,000 crore in revenue, the government has said the 3G telephony spectrum available with it for sale currently could accommodate only three operators.
A fourth slot has already been awarded to state-owned MTNL (that operates in Delhi and Mumbai) and BSNL (rest of India).
It had earlier planned to auction spectrum to four private bidders, in addition to the state-run firms.
The decision comes in the wake of the Ministry of Defence's reluctance to vacate the designated spectrum (air waves) for commercial use, official sources said, adding that the required notification would be issued soon.
The government has fixed the reserve price of spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for Wimax (wireless ineternet/broadband) and the auction is scheduled to begin from January 14 next year.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Govt to auction only 3 slots of 3G spectrume
Telangana to become the 29th state
Hyderabad, Dec 10 (PTI) The decision to carve out a separate state of Telangana, which will take the total number of states in the Union to 29, comes at the end of a 40-year- old struggle for a distinct identity.
This comes after a gap of nine years when three new states were carved out. Jharkhand split from Bihar on November 15, 2000 to become the 28th state while Uttarakhand split from UP on November 9 and Chattisgarh was created on November one the same year.
Andhra Pradesh has 23 districts, including the state capital Hyderabad, in three regions ? coastal Andhra (nine), Rayalaseema (four) and Telangana (ten).
Since its inception in 2001, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has been fighting for creation of a separate Telangana state. Telangana region now accounts for 119 of the 294 seats in the Assembly and 17 of the 42 Lok Sabha members.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Centre concedes demand for Telangana state, KCR ends fast
New Delhi/Hyderabad, Dec 9 (PTI) Buckling to pressure, the Centre tonight conceded to the demand for a separate Telangana state for which the process will be initiated and an appropriate resolution will be moved in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Shortly after the announcement of the decision by Union Home P Chidambaram in New Delhi to create the new state, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao ended his 11-day fast undertaken to press for Telangana state.
The decision on Telangana was taken at a late night meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah after two rounds of consultations in the Congress Core Committee with Sonia Gandhi and senior cabinet colleagues.
"After these consultations, I am making this statement. The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated.
Sensex ends 100 points lower; metals, banks down
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 17123.08, down 104.60 points or 0.61 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 17057.37 and high of 17227.96.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5112.85, down 35.10 points or 0.68 per cent. The 50-share index hit a high of 5147.65 and low of 5090.60.
BSE Midcap Index was down 0.60 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved up 0.41 per cent.
Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was down 2 per cent, SE Bankex slipped 1.43 per cent and BSE Power Index declined 0.59 per cent. BSE IT Index was up 0.82 per cent, BSE Auto Index moved up 0.69 per cent.
Biggest Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki (2.99%), Hero Honda (1.69%), Wipro (1.54%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.29%) and Tata Consultancy Services (0.99%)
Tata Steel (-3.97%), Hindalco Industries (-3.01%), Sterlite Industries (-2.93%), HDFC (-2.33%) and ICICI Bank (-1.96%) were the losers.
Market breadth on BSE, however, remained positive with 1511 advances outnumbering 1307 declines.
ET
