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78.2% IDA MERGER- MEETING WITH MEMBER(FINANCE) AND MEMBER (SERVICES)

Com. V. A. N. Namboodiri, Advisor and Com. K. G. Jayaraj, General Secretary handed over a letter to Shri. Rakesh Garg, Secretary, Department of Telecom seeking his immediate intervention in settling the issue of 78.2% IDA merger.(The full text of the letter is already published in this website).

They met both Ms. Annie Moraes, Member ( Finance) and Shri. N.K. Yadav, Member(Services) and gave copy of the letter to Secretary, DOT. To a specific question as to why data is being collected from the BSNL when all the particulars about the BSNL pensioners are very much available with DOT, the Member (Finance) stated that no data is sought from BSNL. She also stated that the data wanted by the Department of Expenditure will be incorporated in the Cabinet note within 2 weeks and will be submitted to the cabinet directly.

78.2% IDA MERGER- LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTERS HANDED OVER.

Today, 11th September, 2015 Com. V. A. N. Namboodiri , Advisor and Com.K.G. Jayaraj , General Secretary went to the Prime Minister’s office in South Block, NewDelhi and handed over the letter to the hon’ble Prime Minister requesting his intervention for the early settlement of 78.2% IDA merger to BSNL pensioners retired before 10-06-2013. (The letter in full is published in the website). They also gave copies of the letter to the hon’ble Ministers of Finance and Telecommunications.

COM.SISIR BHATTACHARJEE, VETERAN LEADER BEREAVED.

COM. NILIMA BHATTACHARJEE (85), WIFE OF COM. SISIR BHATTACHARJEE, VETERAN LEADER OF P&T TRADE UNION MOVEMENT, PASSED AWAY AT 7.30 AM ON 11-09-2015 IN KOLKATA AFTER A BRIEF ILLNESS. AIBDPA CONVEYS HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO COM. SISIR BHATTACHARJEE, HIS FAMILY MEMBERS AND OTHER COMRADES.

RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL INSTALMENT OF DEARNESS ALLOWANCE TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND DEARNESS RELIEF TO PENSIONERS DUE FROM 01-07-2015

 

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to Pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2015. This represents an increase of 6 percent over the existing rate of 113 percent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise.

This will benefit about 50 lakh Government employees and 56 lakh pensioners.

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC). The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be in the order of Rs. 6655.14 crore per annum and Rs.4436.76 crore in the financial year 2015-16 (for a period of 8 months from July, 2015 to February, 2016).

PIB

BSNL TO LAUNCH 4G SERVICES, UNVEIL COMPETITIVE TARIFF PLANS.

‘We will launch competitive tariff plans to match Reliance Jio and other private telecom service providers’ pricing, be it 4G or 3G, by the end of this year’

NEW DELHI: State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited plans to unveil cheaper tariff plans by the end of this year and launch full-fledged 4G services by March 2016 to take on private players including Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm.”We will launch competitive tariff plans to match Reliance Jio and other private telecom service providers’ pricing, be it 4G or 3G, by the end of this year,” BSNL chairman-cum-managing director Anupam Shrivastava told ET.BSNL will close watch Jio, which has announced launch of 4G services by the end of the year, and it will use airwaves in 2500 Mhz band to launch competitively priced 4G services at select locations before the end of current fiscal, Shrivastava said.Jio, in addition to pan-India BWA spectrum in 2300 MHz band, has acquired airwaves in 800MHz and 1800MHz in the recently-concluded auctions. Ambani had earlier announced that the company will launch services around December at tariffs ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per month.Shrivastava further said, “We are taking Wi-Fi route for our 4G services and also talking to telecom operators for spectrum sharing.”Wi-Fi technology connects through 2G or 3G network and acts as a 4G hotspot to delivers high-speed data services to consumers.”We have spectrum in 2.5 Ghz across 15 Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) in the country and we are planning to launch 4G services by the end of the current fiscal year,” the BSNL top executive said.

BSNL’s discussions with Russia’s MTS India arm, which has spectrum in 800 MHz band, have however not materialized, Shrivastava said.
The state-run operator is also evaluating device-bundling options for 4G services and is currently in talks with various device manufacturers for consumer-friendly schemes.

“We compete with each other and share infrastructure with Reliance Jio as well. In today’s scenario, it should not be seen as a competition as the objective is to serve consumers,” Shrivastava said.

In 2014, Jio had entered into a pact with BSNL for telecom infrastructure sharing and is currently using the state-run operator’s 4,000 mobile towers.

As a part of its revival strategy, BSNL, which has the largest 3G footprint in the country, is looking at aggressive marketing plans and also boosting broadband internet speed of all data plans staring at Rs 545 to 2 Mbps from October 1.

It has recently started free night calling facility between 9 pm and 7 am to all operators and free incoming on roaming, which, according to the company, is helping in growing its subscriber base.

BSNL is the only operator to offer free incoming calls while roaming, Shrivastava said.

He said the company added 16 lakh new customers in July and 15 lakh in August due to mobile number portability.

GOVERNMENT CONCEDES THE DEMAND OF TELCOS FOR SPECTRUM TRADING.

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet today cleared spectrum trading guidelines under which telecom operators will be able to sell radio waves to other service providers, a move that will help address the problem of spectrum shortage.

“Cabinet has approved spectrum trading today. Telecom sector has been demanding it for optimum utilization of spectrum,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

As of now only government is allowed to allocate spectrum to telecom firms through auctions.

“The ownership right will be with the Government of India. We give right of use to operators through auction. That right of use can be traded between two service providers,” Prasad said.

Industry had been waiting for spectrum trading guidelines before they proceed with their consolidation plans.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP Partner Hemant Joshi said that spectrum trading would provide bigger players, who have congested networks, a chance to buy new spectrum and improve the quality of service for customers.

“Spectrum trading would provide exit opportunity to operators who have not been able to build scale in India and have been facing unprofitable operations by selling off their spectrum,” Joshi said.

Last month, government approved spectrum sharing guidelines aimed at addressing spectrum shortage in the country and allowing operators to mutually use radiowaves to provide services.

The government, however, has not heeded to the industry demand of keeping the amount received from trading out of the adjusted gross revenue. As per the rule, revenue from trading will form part of component to calculate licence fee and spectrum usage charges levied annually on telecom firms.

For entering into trading agreement, telecom operators will not require prior permission from the government but they will have to inform the authorities 45 days before entering into such pacts, the minister said.

The seller and buyer entering into trading agreement will have to give an undertaking that their pact is in compliance to all rules and regulations.

“In sample check if it is found that undertaking is wrong then action will be taken including cancellation of trading agreement,” Prasad said.

The trading is also expected to indicate market rate of radiowaves. At present it is determined only through auctions conducted by the government.

“Spectrum trading has been permitted in all the bands,” Prasad said.

He said telecom operators will be able to trade spectrum allocated to them under old licensing regime after liberalising it by paying market determined price.

“Auction purchased spectrum can straight away go for trading. The buyer will have to pay 1 per cent trading fee (to government) which will be calculated based on market rate or previous rate whichever is higher” said Prasad.

( source: The Times of India.)

BSNL UPGRADES THE SPEED OF ALL LANDLINE BROADBAND CUSTOMERS FROM 512 kbps TO MINIMUM 2 Mbps.

BSNL Upgrades the speed of all Landline Broadband customers from 512 kbps to minimum 2 Mbps

Committed to the Government’s Digital initiatives announced by Hon.ble PM, BSNL has decided to upgrade Broadband speed to minimum 2 Mbps at no additional cost for all the Broadband customers on PAN-India Basis from 1st October 2015. This is another major service offering from BSNL for the benefits of customers in continuation to offering free night calling from BSNL landline to all operator network from 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM and free incoming roaming services for its mobile customers. BSNL is also offering 1Gb free E-Mail box to their customers from 50 Mb mail box.

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Hon’ble MOC &IT, GOI announced this today here at Gurgaon in a function organized by BSNL. The function was graced by Shri Rao Inderjeet Singh Hon’ble MOS for Planning & MOS for Defence (Independent charge) GOI. Shri Anupam Srivastav CMD BSNL, Shri N K Gupta Director (CFA), Smt Sujata Ray Director (HR) BSNL Board and Shri R C Arya CGM Haryana circle were also present on the occasion.

The speed up-gradation will benefit all the existing and new Broadband customers of BSNL. Under this scheme, BSNL is upgrading the speed of existing Broadband plans of 512 Kbps & 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps speed. With this upgradation, BSNL customers can access / surf the internet including social network websites like Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. at high speed.

BSNL is the first service provider to provide the Broadband Access to the country. BSNL launched the Broadband services over its landline in India in 2005 with speed of 256kbps and above over the state of art Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based IP infrastructure in urban as well as Rural areas.

BSNL since then is constantly working for increasing the broadband speed for the enhanced experience of customer in urban as well as rural areas as envisaged in New Telecom Policy 2012.. Now, BSNL offers Broadband services with various plans ranging from 2 mbps to 100 mbps speed using ADSL/VDSL and fiber based GPON technology in a very affordable price range. BSNL is currently having around 10 Mn Broadband customers including about 1.1 Mn. Rural customers.

 

This up-gradation shall enhance customer experience while surfing on internet and enjoying live video streaming by all customers even in the low price range. This scheme is expected to attract new customers for subscribing BSNL Broadband customers in an affordable manner.

BSNL is one of the largest Telecom Service providers in India. BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications. BSNL is having more than 77 Million Mobile customers, more than 16 million wired line telephone connections and around 10 million wired Broadband connections.

For further information, customers can access the BSNL Customer Care Service through Toll free number 1500 (from BSNL number) & 1800 345 1500 (from other operator number) or visit the BSNL website www.bsnl.co.in.