TRAI moots Rs5 crore entry fee for convergence licence
New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI has suggested a much lower Rs5 crore entry for a licence in the converged scenario and has pitched for a single regulator for the telecommunications and broadcast sector. It has also asked for a revival of Communications Convergence Bill.

TRAI's stand marks a shift from its earlier suggestions on unified licensing, for which it had recommended levying a fee of Rs107 crore. Thus, this entry fee should come down to Rs5 crores as against Rs107 crores recommended earlier and this should further reduce to Rs30 lakhs after five years as already recommended.

However, the regulator said several changes need to be made in the Convergence Bill. Content regulation should be kept out of the purview of the converged regulator. The division of powers between the government, TDSAT and TRAI should also broadly correspond to what is currently the position.

TRAI said convergence of technologies is rapidly blurring the boundaries between telecommunications and broadcasting. It is necessary for the legal and regulatory framework to adapt to this convergence and actively promote such convergence. This would also help in facilitating competition.

The regulator said it had tried to address the issue through its recommendations for a unified licensing regime, but it was clear that to reap the full benefits of convergence, it would be necessary to go beyond unified licensing. It further said there should be greater flexibility in spectrum allocation to take full advantage of new services and new technologies for existing services that may evolve with time.
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Tea prices continue southwards
Coimbatore: Tea prices continued on their southwards trend industry sources said. Prices of larger Orthodox leaf varieties were irregular and others lower by Re1 to Rs3 per kg, while prices of well made medium Orthodox met with improved export demand and ruled firm.

CTC leaf categories fell by Rs2 to Rs3, while good clean black smaller grades quoted around previous levels. Major blenders and a few upcountry buyers offered fair support, with Pakistan exporters operating selectively on better made smaller grades, the sources said.

In the dust category, primary orthodox grades were lower by Re1 to Rs1.50, while others quoted around previous levels. CTC dust saw better enquiry from the internal traders, by which prices remained barely steady for good liquoring varieties, while others were lower by Re1 to Rs3.

Orthodox leaf brokens quoted at Rs59 to Rs64, medium at Rs45 to Rs50, while good ctc brokens ruled at Rs44 to Rs48 fannings at Rs44 to Rs46, medium at Rs40 to Rs43 and fannings at Rs37 to Rs42 per kg.

The best CTC dust quoted at Rs53 to Rs66, good Rs47 to Rs52, medium Rs 4 to Rs46 and medium orthodox at Rs35 to Rs42.
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Coal ministry allocates coal blocks to Tata unit
New Delhi: The Coal Ministry has allocated two captive coal blocks to Tata Sponge Iron and has finalised allocation of the third one according to coal ministry officials.

The two blocks have proven coal reserve of nearly 200 million tonnes (mt). The blocks contained washable coal, which could be washed to bring down the ash content before being used in sponge iron kilns. The coal blocks were expected to generate 200 mt of coal from the companies officials said.
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SC issues notice to COAI on BSNL petition
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on a petition by BSNL that challenged an earlier TDSAT order that asked BSNL to charge a fixed rate of 20 paise per minute as 'carriage' charges from cell phone operators.

The court admitted the BSNL appeal, which sought setting aside of the November 11, 2005 order of TDSAT.
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Institute of Aerospace Medicine develops new way of treating cancer
Bangalore: The Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) here is working on curing cancer by using electromagnetic beams which, unlike chemotherapy, only kills malignant cells without affecting the nearby healthy ones. As per the new treatment developed by the institute, a computer controlled device called Cytotron generates precise high intensity Quantum Magnetic Resonance (QMR) beams from 288 specially designed guns which are focused to kill the affected tissues.

Wing Commander V G Vasishta, chief of the radio diagnosis department, IAM said "The beams also alters the mechanisms of cell division process of malignant cells and forces them to self-destruct, while leaving the healthy cells to divide naturally," he said.

Vasishta says the treatment, called Rotational Field Nuclear Quantum Magnetic Resonance (RFQMR) is non-thermal, non-ionizing, safe and has no known side effects.

So far 86 patients have been treated by this method, which involved daily one hour exposure to Cytotron for 28 days and results have been highly encouraging in all the cases he said.
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Higher education institutes need better monitoring: survey
New Delhi: According to a survey by industry chamber FICCI, 70 per cent students of private Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) apart from parents and educators favour bringing in reforms like stricter monitoring for institutes in the sector and simplifying current accreditation policies.

The survey interviewed 4,000 stakeholders including students, parents, faculty, recruiters and promoters across 11 cities countrywide. The respondents were of the view that since the government is not effectively monitoring private higher education institutes they do not meet adequate quality standards.

Fifty-five per cent students interviewed said they felt such institutions charged exorbitant fees and 50 per cent said they selected courses based on employment potential, which the report said reflected a "negative impact on the research contributions at the HEIs". Meanwhile, promoters of such institutes supported a single window approval system, which they said would remove prevalent confusion due to multiplicity of regulating agencies such as UGC, AICTE and MCI.
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SC verdict provides relief to soft drink company
New Delhi: Providing relief to softdrinks manufacturers, the Supreme Court said it would not order an inquiry for determining the presence of hazardous chemicals in aerated drinks.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which contended that chemical contents like phosphoric acid, caffeine and aspartame in softdrinks were harmful for human consumption.
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Bangladeshi exporters face NTB
Shillon: Bangladeshi businessmen are facing problems in exporting a number of items to India, due to Non-tariff Barriers (NTB) according to senior officials at Bangladesh Deputy High Commission. He said no steps were being taken to remove the obstacles to bilateral trade.

He said the NTB made it difficult for the Bangladeshi exporters to export products like cement, hilsa fish, zamdani sarees and food items.

Even though NTB was being discussed by both the governments, no development had taken place since 2001, he said.
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Government targets addition of 12,000 MW power
New Delhi: The government is targeting to add about 1,000 MW of capacity from captive power plants to the electricity grid in the next five-six years to reduce power shortages in the country said power secretary R V Shahi. He said that during the 10th plan, about 3,000 MW of surplus captive capacity would be added to the grid and in the subsequent five years, 11,000-12,000 MW of captive power could be added.

The total installed capacity of captive power plants in the country was around 40,000 MW and a large portion be feeded into the grid. About 5,000-6,000 MW of captive capacity could be used during peak hours, he added.
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