Telecommunications

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has in the past, claimed that it was encouraging competition and therefore some of the steps it was taking such as raising tariffs for the subscribers was only … Read moreStrange Are the Ways of TRAI – From Competition to Prevention of Competition

THE current telecom reforms – such as corporatisation of DoT/DTS and Long Distance Competition — have little to do with increasing telecom penetration, the crying need in the country today. Instead, it proposes to let … Read moreCorporatisation of DTS: Death Blow for Telecom Expansion

The ongoing developments in the telecommunications sector in India are not oriented to the growth of rural telephony and teledensity, which were the objectives set down in policy statements in the past. THE telecom sector … Read moreSkimming the cream

WE like to believe that modern technology facilitates the dissemination and nurturing of science and rationality. While it does contribute to such an endeavour, we must realise that there is nothing in technology per se … Read moreBigots On The Internet

SUSHMA SWARAJ’s debut as minister of Information & Broadcasting could not have been more dramatic, or appealing to the yuppie classes. TheCabinet’s decision last week to permit Direct-to-Home (DTH) telecasting has delighted the consumerist pro-globalisation … Read moreCONSUMERIST DTH GETS APPROVAL

As expected, the verdict in the Microsoft Antitrust case has gone against Microsoft. The remedy that the Justice Department and the states were seeking, i.e., the break up of Microsoft into two companies – one … Read moreJudgement Day for Microsoft

The Internet has seen some strange phenomena. The strangest is the rise of the stock-price of a number of Internet companies to stratospheric heights in the global stock market. The Internet is creating instant billionaires; … Read moreThe Laws of Gravity and the Dot.Com Balloon

“AT the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, the world will fall into utter chaos. Aeroplanes will plunge from the skies. Power grids around the world will fail. Elevators will fall to the Earth. … Read moreY2K Bug – How much of a hype

EVEN those inured to the megamergers of recent times, such as those of aircraft manufacturers, automobiles, pharmaceuticals or the various banking sector mergers each larger than the other, must have at least blinked at the … Read moreThe Medium & the Message: AOL-Time Warner Merger

It is well known that the long distance calls in telecom networks are the most lucrative and provide the revenue for rural telephones and connecting far flung, economically backward areas. The BJP Government had committed … Read moreTRAI Recommends Handing Long Distance Telephony to Private Operators

  The spectrum wars have got curious and curiouser. The Department of Telecom and the minister have tied themselves in knots on how to allocate new licenses and spectrum. Having talked of a first-come first-served … Read moreSpectrum Wars Or Looting The Exchequer?

THE recent case in Delhi High Court has brought into the open what has been always public knowledge – that Telecom companies have been flouting the FDI limits set by the law. During Vodaphone’s taking … Read moreRevisiting FDI Caps In Telecom