Telecom Roundup – Tata Tele’s GSM Service, HTC to Launch Android Phone in India..and more

Round of Indian Telecom Industry:

Tata Tele Launches GSM Service

Tata Tele has launched GSM service in partnership with NTT DoCoMo. The service will be branded as ‘Tata-DoCoMo’ and will be commercially rolled out in South India (investment of $2Bn) by end of this month.(more)

2G Auction Plan put up on hold

DoT has put the 2G auction plan on hold, till government takes a final call on the new methodology to give spectrum to telcos.

At present, all telecom services are offered on 2G spectrum (except select high-end services of state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL) and these airwaves have been given to telcos based on their subscriber numbers. Currently, India follows a controversial practice of allocating spectrum based on companies’ subscriber base, and is the only country in the world that follows this method.
The spectrum panel had said that only the start-up spectrum, which is the minimum amount of radio frequencies that is required to launch mobile services, should be given for free for existing telcos.- source

Worldspace Online Radio Launch Delayed

WorldSpace India India’s plans to offer streaming of audio music programmes on its Web site has been delayed owing to policies related to satellite radio services.
WorldSpace needs the permission because the Web-based service proposed by it is seen as B2C (business-to-consumer) activity by the Government.

Under the current law, Web-based service requires the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance. – more

Also see: WorldSpace files for Bankruptcy