TDSAT issues notice to TRAI on quality service norms
New Delhi: The telecom tribunal TDSAT has sent a notice to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on an application filed by the GSM operators association asking the regulator to define 'quality of service.' Tribunal chairman N Santosh Hegde has asked TRAI to file its reply in two weeks and has also granted two weeks' to COAI to report what was leading to poor call quality in their network.

The GSM association also contended that TRAI should give operators a proper opportunity to defend themselves instead of simply serving show-cause notices.

TRAI had, on March 6, issued show-cause notices to Bharti Tele-Ventures, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Infocomm as well as Reliance Telecom, BPL Mobile, and Spice Communication after analysing their performance report.
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MSOs to compete against DTH, IPTV
Mumbai: Broadcasting technologies like Internet Protocol Television and Direct to Home will provide a tough competition to the Conditional Access System (CAS) that has been made mandatory in four metros by the Delhi High Court. This is on a petition filed by three Multi System Operators (MSOs).

CAS is implemented in very few areas in Chennai, while the two available DTH service providers, state-run Doordarshan's DD Direct and Zee Group-controlled Essel Group's Dish TV collectively have more than one million customers in their fold.

IncableNet executive director Ashok Mansukhani said CAS has many advantages, which are not available with DTH. Through CAS set top boxes, one can receive about 300 channels, a facility which is not possible on DTH platforms. Besides this, we are also providing electronic programme guide, pay per view serv ice and child lock facilities, he said.
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Government keeps tabs on rising cement price
New Dehi: The government, which is keeping a close eye on the rising cement prices, has promised to take steps to ensure that prices of basic construction inputs remain under check.

Urban Development Minister Ajay Maken however, said there was no plan to bring the commodity back under government control, but the reasons behind recent price rise, including the angle of producers' cartel, would be examined. He said cement prices would continue to be determined by market forces as long as they do not affect the common man.

Cement price touched Rs250 per bag in the national capital region, as against Rs140 per bag two months ago.

Cement prices recorded 40-50 per cent rise across various markets, except those states that are going to polls, said an expert.
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Maharashtra government hikes excise duty on 4-wheelers, liqour
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government in its annual budget for 2006-07 has hiked excise duty on liquor and motor vehicle tax on four-wheelers to mop up an additional Rs500 crore and clock a revenue surplus of about Rs305 crore.

The state government is expecting revenues of Rs59,145 crore while its expenditure is pegged at Rs58,840.30 crore for FY07. It had estimated a revenue surplus of Rs265 crore for the year ending March 31, 2006. However, the unprecedented floods last July, the package for farmers in distress and increased power subsidy made the state report a revenue deficit of Rs1,419 crore for the current fiscal.

The minimum excise duty on country liquor will be Rs155 per proof litre instead of the earlier level of Rs150.25. The minimum excise duty on Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFL) will be Rs160 per litre (Rs150 being the old rate). The duty on mild beer would be Rs15 per bulk litre, up from the Rs12 charged earlier.

Privately-owned motor vehicles will now have to pay 7 per cent of cost as MVT as against the earlier 4 per cent.

The government has provided duty relief for flat owners and co-operative housing societies. Now, they will pay a flat Rs100 fee for the first Rs2.5 lakh while purchasing instead of the 0.5 per cent of purchase value. The deposits on title, pledge and hypothetication have been slashed to 0.1 per cent from 0.5 per cent. Entertainment duty applicable on cable television will increase by 50 per cent.
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Karnataka to announce mining policy
Bangalore: The Karnataka government plans to come out with a mining policy to regulate and streamline the sector.

Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said illegal mining was taking place in the state due to the ever-increasing global demand for iron ore. He said though the government has taken action against illegal mine owners, but an appropriate mining policy will put an end to such activities.

Karnataka has rich deposits of various ores. "The policy will be aimed at regulating the sector," he said.
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TRAI to review interconnect regulation
New Delhi: Targeting to review the provisions of the interconnect regulation governing agreements between broadcasters and cable delivery platforms regulator TRAI has invited suggestions from stakeholders on the matter.

It said that more than a year has passed since the issue of these regulations and some new issues have cropped up during this period due to implementation of Interconnect Regulations TRAI said.

TRAI chairman Pradip Baijal said Trai would accept comments till April 7, and has taken up the exercise following requests for review/ amendment of the regulations by the stakeholders.

TRAI had issued the Interconnect Regulation on December 10, 2004, to ensure non-discriminatory access to content to all distributors of television channels.
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Wadia group to start cargo airline
Chennai: The Wadia group, promoters of the budget airline GoAir, are now planning to set up a cargo airline. Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir, said the group hoped to take a decision in a month or two on the cargo airline, likely to be named GoCargo. He said that the proposed cargo airline and the other investments would be separate investments and would not come under the GoAir banner.

GoAir, which started operations on November 4, 2005, now has 20 flights a day covering 11 cities. This would go up to 28 flights a day covering 14 cities from April.

The airline had bases in Mumbai, where it now stationed two aircraft, and Chennai, where it had one aircraft. GoAir operates A320 class of aircraft. He said GoAir was the official carrier for the India-England one-day international cricket series starting on April 1, for which it had signed an agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
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