DoT to make major changes in licence regulations
New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is seeking sweeping changes in the Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) norms that include a review of the equity limit under which a telecom operator cannot pick up more than a 10 per cent stake in a competing company in the same circle.

Apart from considering a proposal to limit the number of operators per circle, DoT might also allow telecom companies to offer services using a combination of technologies (both CDMA and GSM) under the same licence.

DoT has also decided to review the guidelines on mergers and acquisitions and the roll-out obligations imposed under UASL, apart from pushing through a proposal making it mandatory for telcos to publish telephone directories.

The ministry has approached the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a review of these norms.
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New violence at Tata's site in Singur
Singur: Violence has again erupted at the Tata Motors' small car project here when activists of a Trinamool Congress-backed group opposed to the acquisition of land for industry, threw bombs and brickbats in a bid to enter the site, prompting police to fire rubber bullets and teargas to disperse them.

Members of the Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee, who gathered at Bajemelia for a "law violation" programme under the leadership of local Trinamool MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya and Committee convener Becharam Manna, tried to break a police cordon to enter the project site, IGP (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata.

After jostling with the police, they hurled bombs and brickbats in a bid to break the cordon. Police fired one rubber bullet when teargas and a baton-charge failed to disperse the crowd.

The incident came against the backdrop of plans for an all-party meeting to be held on May 24 to restore peace in Nandigram, which too has been rocked by violence since January over the acquisition of land for a proposed SEZ.
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