NEWS – April 2007

• `TRAI must regulate DTH pricing’e
  The Business Line, April 01, 2007
• Chennai airport expansion soon, says Maran
  The Business Line, April 01, 2007
• DoT may slap penalty on Hutch
  The Business Line, April 01, 2007
• Bangalore international airport may get ready next year
  The Business Line, April 02, 2007
• Govt scraps additional duties on cement imports
  The Business Line, April 03, 2007
• Competitive tariffs in power generation mooted
  The Business Line, April 04, 2007
• Govt mulls allowing pvt airlines to Gulf
  The Business Line, April 05, 2007
• Power shortage: `Go for distribution franchise model’
  The Business Line, April 06, 2007
• CERC plans hike in penalty for overdrawing of power
  The Business Line, April 07, 2007
• Air passengers’ body calls for safety measures
  The Business Line, April 10, 2007
• Drug policy: Govt to hear views again
  The Business Line, April 11, 2007
• Rlys re-invites bids for station modernisation
  The Business Line, April 11, 2007
• TRAI for sharing of active infrastructure too
  The Business Line, April 12, 2007
• Tata Power told to stop overdrawing
  The Business Line, April 13, 2007
• Postal dept may tie up with HDFC for home loans
  The Business Line, April 13, 2007
• TRAI mandates open access to cable landing stations
  The Business Line, April 14, 2007
• ESPN asked to comply with signal sharing rules
  The Business Line, April 17, 2007
• Govt revises FDI norms for telecom companies
  The Business Line, April 19, 2007
• CAG finds fault with Maharashtra power utility
  The Business Line, April 19, 2007
• New TRAI survey points to low quality of mobile services
  The Business Line, April 20, 2007
• Telecom regulator wants all ISPs connected to Internet Exchange
  The Business Line, April 22, 2007
• Civil aviation norms may be reviewed: Patel
  The Business Line, April 24, 2007
• TRAI norms soon for Do Not Call Registry
  The Business Line, April 25, 2007

TRAI must regulate DTH pricing’
The Business Line, April 01, 2007

In a significant order, TDSAT on Saturday directed TRAI to come out with price regulation for DTH. This comes soon after the regulatory authority had suggested that price regulation for DTH could be left to the market forces and the dynamics of competition, and till the impact of Conditional Access System (CAS) could be better assessed.

 
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Chennai airport expansion soon, says Maran
The Business Line, April 01, 2007

After its success in road and port projects, the government plans to introduce the public-private partnership (PPP) model for the development of infrastructure facilities required by small and medium enterprises (SME) in the mining sector. As per the proposal, Mineral Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporations (MIDFC) would be set up to forge partnerships with mining companies for implementing infrastructure projects.

 
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DoT may slap penalty on Hutch
The Business Line, April 01, 2007

Even as Hutch is facing the heat from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board over its proposed sale to Vodafone, the Department of Telecom has asked the company to explain why penalty should not be imposed on Hutchison Essar for violating licence conditions by offering push-to-talk (PTT) services.

 
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Bangalore international airport may get ready next year
The Business Line, April 02, 2007

The Bangalore International Airport is 365 days away from the opening date and is seeing fast-paced construction on the Devanahalli site, the company has said. The Rs 1,930-crore airport is slated to start on April 2, 2008. The consortium of Siemens, L&T and Unique Zurich Airport is building it, along with Airports Authority and the Karnataka Government as equal minority partners. Almost all of the half-a-dozen concessionaires have been signed up.

 
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Govt scraps additional duties on cement imports
The Business Line, April 03, 2007

In another bid to dampen domestic cement prices, the Government on Monday removed countervailing duty (CVD) as well as special additional duty (SAD) of customs on Portland cement (other than white cement) imports. “Exempting Portland cement from 16 per cent countervailing duty and 4 per cent SAD is likely to make cement imports far more feasible and help ease the supply position. This we hope would help check domestic prices through increased availability,” Ms Hemambika Priya, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) spokesperson, told presspersons here today.

 
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Competitive tariffs in power generation mooted
The Business Line, April 04, 2007

The Working Group on Power for the 11th Plan has suggested competitive tariff structure in generation through promotion of ultra mega power projects and merchant power plants (MPPs) and upgradation of the generation technology to a larger number of super-critical systems.

 
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Govt mulls allowing pvt airlines to Gulf
The Business Line, April 05, 2007

The Government ban on private sector airlines operating flights to the Gulf region including United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia could be lifted by the end of the year. If that happens, the monopoly of Air India and Indian to fly to the lucrative Gulf regions would end.

 
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Power shortage: `Go for distribution franchise model’
The Business Line, April 06, 2007

Dr Pramod Deo, Chairman of Maharashtra State Regulatory Commission, has suggested introduction of the `distribution franchise model’ or Pune model in other cities in Maharashtra to overcome the current power shortage. He was speaking to the media at the sidelines of a function at Indian Merchants Chamber on Thursday. The model was first implemented in Pune and today the city has zero load shedding.

 
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CERC plans hike in penalty for overdrawing of power
The Business Line, April 07, 2007

In view of the deteriorating frequency regime in the regional grids and its impact on overall grid security, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has proposed an increase in the ceiling rate for Unscheduled Interchange charges at the Inter-State level from the present rate of Rs 5.70 per unit to Rs 7.45 per unit.

 
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Air passengers’ body calls for safety measures
The Business Line, April 10, 2007

The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) is worried about the “complacent attitude of all concerned” with regard to air safety and wishes to emphasise the need for immediate action before disaster strikes.

 
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Drug policy: Govt to hear views again
The Business Line, April 11, 2007

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on National Pharmaceuticals Policy on Tuesday decided to repeat the exercise of listening to the views of all stakeholders before deciding on the issue of price control for essential drugs. The GoM headed by the Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Mr Sharad Pawar, would now invite pharmaceutical companies and non-governmental organisations working in the area of health to present their case.

 
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Rlys re-invites bids for station modernisation
The Business Line, April 11, 2007

The Indian Railways has cancelled its first station modernisation bidding process wherein it had qualified about seven companies based on technical evaluation. It has now issued a fresh tender — reinviting bids from consultants — for a relatively narrow scope of work. Earlier, it had invited expressions of interest from consultants to advise Railways on the detailed design parameters, technical, financial and legal aspects of the process to be adopted for modernising the New Delhi Railway Station.

 
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TRAI for sharing of active infrastructure too
The Business Line, April 12, 2007

In a move that would bring down the cost of rolling out cellular service infrastructure, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed to allow the operators to share active infrastructure including antenna, radio access network and backhaul microwave. Until now, they were allowed to share only passive infrastructure such as tower and power back-up.

 
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Tata Power told to stop overdrawing
The Business Line, April 13, 2007

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Thursday ordered Tata Power Company Ltd to stop overdrawing power from the Maharashtra grid. It has also ordered Tata Power to provide a load shedding plan for Mumbai city by Monday.

 
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Postal dept may tie up with HDFC for home loans
The Business Line, April 13, 2007

The ubiquitous post office may, in the coming days, begin to offer home loan products, with the postal department looking to enter into distribution partnership with home loan major HDFC. They may also distribute non-life insurance and other annuity products of private insurance companies.

 
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TRAI mandates open access to cable landing stations
The Business Line, April 14, 2007

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday proposed to mandate VSNL, Bharti and Reliance to allow open access to their respective under sea cable landing stations to other international long-distance (ILD) operators and ISPs in a non-discriminatory and fair manner. In a draft regulation, the three companies have been asked to offer access within a fixed timeframe.

 
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ESPN asked to comply with signal sharing rules
The Business Line, April 17, 2007

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today asked ESPN to immediately restore signals of its sports channel to the Maharashtra-based Shah Cable Network. The broadcaster has also been asked to comply with TRAI rules and furnish a compliance report within two days. ESPN had discontinued signals of its sports channel Star Sports, alleging that the cable operator was re-transmitting them to hotels and commercial properties, which was not a part of the contract.

 
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Govt revises FDI norms for telecom companies
The Business Line, April 19, 2007

Even as Vodafone’s proposal to acquire stake in Hutchison Essar is being investigated by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for breach of FDI norms, the Government has expanded the definition of indirect foreign holding by including proportionate investments made by a foreign entity in a telecom company through mutual funds, trusts or a holding company.

 
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CAG finds fault with Maharashtra power utility
The Business Line, April 19, 2007

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Maharashtra) for 2005-06 has shown glaring irregularities in the working of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). MSEDCL is the main power utility in Maharashtra providing power to almost all the areas of the state excluding Mumbai.

 
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New TRAI survey points to low quality of mobile services
The Business Line, April 20, 2007

The telecom subscriber base is growing exponentially, but consumers are not too happy with the quality of service being provided by operators. According to a survey by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the overall customer satisfaction level is poor in all the circles as only seven operators out of 129 meet the quality of service benchmark set by the regulator.

 
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Telecom regulator wants all ISPs connected to Internet Exchange
The Business Line, April 22, 2007

In a bid to make domestic Internet services more efficient and cheaper, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested to make it mandatory for all Internet Service Providers in the country to connect directly or indirectly (through another ISP) to the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).

 
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Civil aviation norms may be reviewed: Patel
The Business Line, April 24, 2007

The Government plans to review the existing civil aviation norms and may allow foreign airlines to acquire a stake in domestic airlines. “No Government policy is written in stone. It is constantly reviewed. At the moment there is no proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up equity in domestic airlines. This is a policy that could evolve as the situation develops. Currently, there is a proposal to review the level of foreign direct investment to be allowed in operation of seaplanes and helicopters. We plan to complete a review of the entire sector by the end of the year,” the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said.

 
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TRAI norms soon for Do Not Call Registry
The Business Line, April 25, 2007

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has finalised regulations to curb telemarketing calls. A National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry is to be established, comprising subscribers who have chosen to not receive `Unsolicited Commercial Communication.’ The regulations will be effective once some of the provisions, not in the domain of TRAI currently, are cleared by the Ministry of Communication and IT and the Reserve Bank of India.

 
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