BSNL to increase minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
07-November, 2017 15:28 IST
Affordable tariff structure for rural and remote areas to promote Digital India

BharatNet, a flagship project of the Government of India to provide Broadband services in rural and remote areas has entered in service provisioning phase. As on 05.11.2017, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity has been achieved in 1,03,275 GPs by laying fibre for 2,38,677 km. Due to several measures initiated to accelerate the end-to-end connectivity, GPON equipment has been installed in 85,506 GPs and 75,082 GPs are Services Ready.

Digital India, to provide Digital Services in rural and remote areas, is one of the priority areas of the Government. In order to provide affordable broadband services in rural India under the dynamic leadership of our Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, a new attractive and affordable tariff structure has been decided with the principle of more you use, less you pay. This tariff structure is expected to be reflected in the tariffs to be charged from the consumers by the service providers.

For asymmetrical bandwidth between block to GPs the charges per annum varies from Rs.700/- per Mbps for up to 10Mbps and Rs. 200/- per Mbps for 1 Gbps. However, for symmetrical bandwidth between block to GP, charges have been prescribed as Rs.1000/- per Mbps up to 10Mbps, and Rs.500/- per Mbps for 100 Mbps per annum. Tariff for any intermediate Bandwidth shall be calculated on pro-rata basis.

Further, discount of 5% to 25% have been offered for taking bandwidth in more than 1000 GPs to more than 25,000 GPs in a single application. Further, to lower the entry barriers, port charges at block and GP have been waived off. Tariffs for dark fibre are prescribed as Rs.2250/- per fibre per km per annum for service providers and Government agencies.

After such initiatives have been taken by the government, Telecom Service Providers have come forward for utilizing the BharatNet connectivity. Airtel has shown interest in 10000 GPs for taking 1 Gbps connectivity on lease while Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Idea are interested in taking 100 Mbps connectivity on lease in about 30000, 2000 and 1000 GPs respectively. The rolling out of services by TSPs in these GPs is expected to trigger the village level eco-system thereby widening the extent to cover more and more number of GPs in near future. This will give an impetus to broadband facilities in rural India.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
12-November, 2017 15:32 IST
National Conference on BharatNet - Launch of Phase II, Signing of MoU with States and Utilisation of Network

· With Optical Fibre connectivity now available at 1 lakh Gram Panchayats under Phase-1 of BharatNet, DoT has initiated discussions on delivering Broadband enabled Citizen Services in these locations



· The National Conference on Signing of MoU with States and Utilisation of Network will be held in New Delhi on 13th November 2017 with States and Service Providers



· Telecos like Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Idea have expressed interest in providing last mile connectivity on BharatNet Infrastructure.



· Memorandum of Understanding to be signed with States for Implementation of BharatNet Phase II


DoT is organizing a National Conference with the State Governments and Service Providers on Monday (13.11.2017) to brainstorm and showcase various utilization models leveraging BharatNet infrastructure. The Conference will be attended by IT Ministers and IT Secretaries from States.

Broadband infrastructure on Optical Fibre network has been made available at over 1 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country as part of BharatNet Phase I. State Governments shall be sharing their plans for leveraging the BharatNet infrastructure. DoT, on its part, has taken initiative to demonstrate various models that could possibly be adopted for these services. The Telecom Service Providers, who in collaboration with DoT, have taken initiative to set up centers in rural areas to demonstrate service delivery on BharatNet infrastructure, shall also be present to share their experiences.


The DoT had significantly increased the pace of implementation during the last six months to complete Phase I. Under BharatNet Phase I, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity has reached in over 1, 00, 000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across different States in the country. By Dec 2017, all 1, 00, 000 GPs will be operational on the BharatNet infrastructure. As of today, almost 90,000 installations have been completed and Services are expected to commence in 80,000 GPs shortly.

DoT will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with States for the implementation of BharatNet Phase II during the Conference.

<><><><>

 

[Hindustani78]

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha along with the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Modi and the Secretary, (Telecom), Ms. Aruna Sundararajan at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha along with the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha along with the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Modi at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha along with the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Modi at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha along with the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Modi at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha addressing at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017. The Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Modi and the Secretary, (Telecom), Ms. Aruna Sundararajan are also seen.

The Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad addressing at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017. The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha is also seen.

The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar addressing at the inauguration of the National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States”, in New Delhi on November 13, 2017.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
13-November, 2017 17:13 IST
Dream of a fully connected and truly empowered India on way of realization-Manoj Sinha

Memorandum of Understanding signed with States for implementation of BharatNet Phase II during the Conference

The Union Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha said that government will provide all the necessary and requisite support for fulfilling the dream of a fully connected and truly empowered India very soon. Inaugurating a National Conference on “BharatNet and its Utilization with States” in New Delhi, he said that this is our mission and your vision for the nation. It is equally a call to action for the entire nation, “Connect India”, and then watch India- Create, Collaborate and Conquer. The Minister exhorted that every one of us-the states governments, private sector players, TSPs, Internet, Technology and Digital Services Companies, Media, Academia, Civil Society, Do-gooders, change makers to work together for making this a success. He expressed satisfaction that the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India is on the right track and Bharat Net is an integral part of that dream.

He said, with BharatNet and the Digital India programme, we hope to touch lives, connect people, inform, educate, spread awareness, create jobs, save lives, build relationships, nurture bonds, make significant investments, contribute to the exchequer and the economy and above all bridge the digital divide and amplify financial inclusion. He said that the National Optical Fiber Network (NoFN) (now renamed as BharatNet) project was launched in 2012 with the approval of Union Cabinet provided in Oct, 2011. When it was launched previously it was actually, no fun for any one. Little or no progress had been made. Progress had been rather slow and the actual work on the project commenced only in the second half of 2014. The project involves connecting all the 2,50,000 GPs in the country to the block headquarters for provision of both bandwidth and dark fiber on a universal and non-discriminatory basis. The network is capable of providing scalable bandwidth of up to 1 GBPS. The provision of broadband & internet penetration and e-services has a positive impact on GDP growth besides quicker, transparent and cost effective governance.

Shri Sinha said that for the purpose of implementation, the Bharatnet project covering all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats was divided in to Phase-1 and Phase-2. In the last one year the progress of phase-1 has picked up, tremendously. He informed that for 1,25,000 GPs in Phase-I, the duct/pipe has already been laid in 1,10,368 GPs, OFC laid in 1,03,275 GPs, equipment installed in 85,506 GPs, service ready in 75,082 GPs and service opened in 47,836 GPs. The progress of service readiness has picked up to such an extent that in October, 2017 around 25,000 GPs have already been made service ready. To achieve this the process of equipment procurement was smoothened by decentralising it. Moreover, multi-layered monitoring has been instrumental in achieving this success in the last few months. He said that the Cabinet in July 2017 approved a Modified Implementation Strategy for BharatNet and in the modified, new and improved strategy, the most important change is the Involvement of states along with CPSUs and private sector in implementation of the project to make a win-win situation. The states being the most important stakeholder in provision of bandwidth also stand to gain the most, once this block to GP link is established for citizen centric services such as e-health, e-education, e-governance, etc. The implementation is expected to be much faster and smoother with the participation of states.

He said, based on positive response from various states the proposals of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Tamil Nadu were approved by Telecom Commission in September 2017. He complimented the states which provided a detailed project report (DPR) on time and extended their full support in resolving the technical, commercial and financial issues, which are common in projects of this nature, size, scale, scope and magnitude.

Shri Sinha said, the major users of this network are the Telecom Service Providers, ISPs, MSOs, LCOs etc which will use the Bharatnet for provision of broadband and extending the mobile network in the rural & remote areas. He said, as the world and India too moves from voice to data, Bharat Net will herald a new era in connectivity and empowerment, reaching the poorest of the poor and every corner of the nation.

The Minister said that an important and critical stakeholder and end user of this network are the Government Ministries, Departments & State Governments and expressed hope that the network will be used for various citizen centric services such as e-health, e-education, e-medicine, etc. He urged all the States – whether present here or otherwise to come forward and include BharatNet in their plans in spreading digital literacy, building digital capacity &, proficiency and proliferation of e-gov services.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Telecom Ms Aruna Sundararajan said that BharatNet phase-1 is nearing its completion by December 2017, where one lakh Gram Panchayats covering 3 lakh villages will see the roll-out of broadband services. Referring to BharatNet as the world’s largest rural optic fibre network, she said that Phase-2 of the project is 100 percent Made in India as from fibre to design to software everything has been spearheaded by C-DoT. The Secretary said that by 2020 about 25 lakh government institutions and 50 lakh households will be linked to BharatNet.

Memorandum of Understanding for implementation of Phase II of BharatNet has been signed with States during the Conference. Keeping in view the Government’s aim to provide affordable digital services in rural areas, the tariffs for utilising BharatNet infrastructure have also been reduced by up to 75% of earlier notified tariffs. Owing to this, the Telecom companies including Airtel, Reliance Jio, Idea and Vodafone have come forward for providing connectivity services utilising BharatNet infrastructure. The Telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio, handed over advance cheques to the Government during the Conference against leasing of BharatNet infrastructure. The service delivery models, which were showcased during the Conference, are set up in collaboration with the Telecom companies. States have also been encouraged to work on such utilization models.



<><><><><>

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/business/bh...for-3325-cr/article20443118.ece?homepage=true

Airtel’s consolidated debt stood at ₹ 91,480 crore as on September 2017.

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has offloaded 83 million shares of its subsidiary Bharti Infratel for ₹ 3,325 crore through secondary share sale in the stock market.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator, will primarily use the proceeds from this sale to pare its debt, a company statement said.

Airtel’s consolidated debt stood at ₹ 91,480 crore as on September 2017.

Post the transaction, Bharti Airtel and its wholly owned subsidiaries together have an equity holding of 53.51 % in tower company Bharti Infratel, it added.

The sale was carried out by Airtel via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments.

Announcing the “successful divestment” of 83 million shares of subsidiary Bharti Infratel, the company said: “The sale was for a total consideration of over ₹ 3,325 crore (USD 510 million) and was executed at a price of ₹400.6 per share, representing a discount of 3.6 % to the previous day’s closing price.”

The allocation was done to global investors, fund managers and long-only funds, including many repeat investors, it said, adding that the deal was upsized by over 25 %.

 

[Hindustani78]

Cabinet
16-November, 2017 15:44 IST
Cabinet approves deputation of Group ‘A’ officers of Department .of Telecommunications (DoT) and other Ministries, with Telecommunication and Information Technology background, to Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL)

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for deputation of Group ‘A’ officers of Department .of Telecommunications (DoT) and other Ministries, with Telecommunication and Information Technology background, to Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) as per the following details:

a) To allow Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) to fill up such number of posts by deputation of Group 'A' officers of the Department of Telecommunications(DoT) and other Ministries, with Telecommunication and Information Technology background, for the intervening period i.e. from 01.10.2016 till the approval of this proposal (earlier Cabinet approval was valid up to 30.09.2016) and for a further period of three years from the date of approval, as per DPE guidelines subject to maximum of 10% of the total number .of below Board level posts, in Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) with exemption from the rule of immediate absorption and

b) To allow that in future the issue of exemption of below Board Level Posts in Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) may be dealt in terms of DPE OM No. 18(6)/2001-GM-GL-77 dated 28.12.2005 so that such proposal is not required to be brought before the Cabinet.

Background:

TCIL is a leading ISO-9001: 2008 and ISO:2008 and 14001:2004 certified, Schedule-A, Mini Ratna Category-l Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). TCIL, a premier telecommunications consultancy and engineering company, with a strong base in Telecommunications & Information Technology, was incorporated in 1978 by Government of India with following objectives :-

i. To provide world-class technology and Indian expertise globally in all fields of telecommunication,

ii. To sustain, expand and excel in its operation in overseas/ Indian markets by developing proper marketing strategies.

iii. To acquire State-of-the-Art technology on a continuing basis.

TCIL, a 100% owned Govt. of India Undertaking, has executed projects in more than 70 countries in the domain of Telecommunications and Information Technology. It provides consultancy and turnkey project execution service from concept to completion, in the field of telecommunications, IT and civil infrastructure. The authorized capital of the company as on 31st March 2017 is Rs. 60 crores, while the paid up capital is Rs. 59.20 crores.

TCIL is implementing the highly prestigious Pan-African e-Network in 48 countries which shall primarily provide Tele-education, Tele-Medicine and WIP connectivity to African Union member countries through optical fibre and satellite links since 2009. This project is a time bound project and involves comprehensive operation and maintenance till July 2021. In addition to the overseas projects, TCIL is executing a number of projects related to IT and Telecommunications at various places of India. The major projects under executions are procurement, supply, trenching, installation, testing and maintenance to facilitate exclusive optical NLD Backbone network for Defence and NFS Network for Indian Navy on turnkey basis, OPGW Project in J&K, DOP Rural ICT solution (RH) Project, Odisha (ICT) projects in 500 schools & 1500 schools, U.P., web based services across various states of India. Supplying of hardware and software to BBNL for project management works of NOFN project, etc.

For execution of ongoing overseas/ inland projects besides expected projects in pipeline, TCIL requires experienced and talented senior officers of telecom and IT background as per the requirement of the projects handled by it, from time to time. By taking expert manpower on deputation, TCIL can remain competitive in national and international market as it is difficult for TCIL to get such manpower from the open market at the economical rates as compared to deputationist and that too at a short notice. Moreover, in case TCIL engage manpower from open market, it becomes a permanent liability on TCIL as against the deputationists, who remain with TCIL only for the project period for which their services are required.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has allowed TCIL to fill up posts on deputation from Group 'A' officers of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and other Ministries, with Telecommunication and information Technology background for the intervening period i.e. from 01.10.2016 till the approval of this proposal (earlier Cabinet approval was valid up to 30.09.2016) and for a further period of three years from the date of approval as per DPE guidelines subject to maximum of 10% of the total number of below Board level posts in TCIL Cabinet has further allowed that in future the issue of exemption of below Board Level Posts in Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) may be dealt in terms of DPE OM No. 18(6)72001-GM-GL-77 dated 28.12.2.005.

****

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/649311/fate-cancelled-telecom-licences-depends.html

Press Trust of India, New Delhi, Dec 21 2017, 15:42 IST

The fate of the 122 telecom licences of eight operators that were cancelled in 2012 will be decided based on the investigative agencies' take on the acquittal of all the accused in the 2G spectrum case, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said today.

The investigative agencies will decide on appealing against the lower court verdict, he added.

Unfazed by the lower court acquitting former telecom minister A Raja and 15 others on charges of corruption and cheating in sale of 122 spectrum licences in 2008, Sinha said the government anti-corruption watchdog CVC had investigated the allocations and had found faults with them.

The 2001 'first-come-first-serve' policy was altered to 'first-come-first-pay' in 2008, he said, reacting to the court verdict.

Spectrum was allocated through auction thereafter and the collections during NDA rule were 10 per cent higher than the UPA regime, he said, adding Rs 1.9 lakh crore was raised from spectrum auction since 2015.

NDA government raised Rs 65,789 crore from 2016, he said.

Asked about the 122 licences sold to companies including the local joint ventures of Norway's Telenor, UAE's Etisalat and Russia's Sistema, he said the government will take a call based on report of the investigative agencies, but did not elaborate.

 

[Hindustani78]

BSNL high-speed internet for 929 lower courts in remote locations

The ministry of law and justice has signed a deal with public sector telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide high-speed internet and cloud connectivity to over 900 subordinate and district courts in remote locations of the country
india Updated: Jan 27, 2018 23:23 IST

The ministry of law and justice has signed a deal with public sector telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide high-speed internet and cloud connectivity to over 900 subordinate and district courts in remote locations of the country — mostly in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the northeastern states — a senior official of the ministry has said.

The Rs 194 crore project will provide connectivity to 929 court rooms by mid 2018, secretary, Justice, Alok Srivastava said. “Every single court will be connected through a dedicated 10 Mbps line...” he added.

A number of lower courts located in the remote areas of eight states have poor internet connections, officials said. “There are a large number of courts in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where there is no landline internet connectivity. The makeshift lines are not working,” an official involved with the project in the Gauhati high court which supervises subordinate courts in three states and Assam, said.

Another official in Kargil cited similar problems. “Cell phones work here but there is no internet for the ecourts project,” the official said.

A ministry official said the Supreme Court committee which is supervising the technology-led reforms in the judicial sphere cleared the project last month. The decade-long project is currently in its second phase. It envisages complete computerisation of courts, Local Area Networks and eventually integrating the eCourts with prisons, police and forensics.

Currently, over 16,000 of the country’s 22,677 district and subordinate courts have 4 Mbps internet connectivity, law ministry sources said. By the end of the next financial year, these will be upgraded to 10 Mbps, under the second five-year eCourts project for which the government has already spent Rs 921 crore since August 2015.

Once the courts are connected, they will join the national judicial data grid — a platform that provides information and decisions of the subordinate courts.

************

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
22-February, 2018 18:26 IST
Release of ‘Strategic Plan’ for synergy among PSUs and organizations of DoT, signing of MoUs and Conference on ‘Current and emerging opportunities for PSUs.

Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Railways, Government of India Shri Manoj Sinha today releasedthe ‘Strategic Plan’ for synergy among the PSUs and organizations of DoT in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Sh. Manoj Sinha said that thepublic sector companies have a very strategic role to play by nurturing and enhancing the Government’s intervention capabilities in matters of protection of consumer interests, disaster management, national security, international relations, execution of bilateral projects funded by Government of India and flagship programmes of the Government of India. He highlighted the strengths of various PSUs BSNL, MTNL, BBNL, TCIL, ITI and other organizations like TEC & C-DoT. He further emphasized that to face competition in the market, to address new business opportunities arising from Government initiatives like Digital India and Smart city, for optimum utilization of their resources for maximum benefit and profitability; they need to work in synergy. He cited the examples of BharatNet and the turnaround of ITI as very good illustrations of synergy among the PSUs.

Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary(Telecom) stressed that synergy among the PSUs is one of the major policy issues being addressed in the National Telecom Policy. She made a mention of areas where the public sector organizations can work together, especially in big projects like setting upsemiconductor fabrication facility in the country due to huge investment needs. Such projects are possible with synergy,not only among the PSUs of DoT but also among the PSUs of different Ministries like Defence, Telecom, IT and Urban Development, in which PSUs share the costsand risks of execution, while Government plays a supporting role.She also touched upon other policy initiatives like the preferential Market Access policy to support ‘Make in India’ but expressed concern that many Government departments and organizations are not honoring this policy in their tenders.

The afternoon sessions consisted of panel discussions among senior officers from the Government and the PSUs. The CMDs of PSUs & senior officers of DoT deliberated on various aspects of the strategic plan and how it can be successfully implemented. They also discussed about the various targets and timelines to achieve synergy among their organizations. In addition,discussions were also held oncurrent and emerging opportunities for PSUs and other organizations in areas of digitization of villages, exports of Indian products and services, promotion of startups and entrepreneurships, indigenization and import substitution and development of 5G ecosystems in India as well as the need for synergistic action for optimally addressing these opportunities.

***

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
21-March, 2018 18:06 IST
BSNL Launches Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village in Gujrat, Hon’ble Minister for (I&B) and Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and MoC Sh Manoj Sinha jointly launch the facility

State owned telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited today launched Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana adopted by Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Minister for (I&B) and Textiles. The facility was launched by Sh. Manoj Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications and Minister of State for Railways in the presence of Smt Irani on the occasion of Navroz.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt.Irani said, “Under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Rs.16.48 Lakh is allotted for carrying out Wi-Fi by BSNL in Udwada Village. With the launch of Wi-Fi service today in Udwada Village, population of 6000 citizens in village as well as surrounding area will be benefited. Citizens of Udwada and surrounding area will be able to use Unlimited Internet Data and Udwada Village has become Digital Village. Udwada village has been adopted by me under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. This is vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister for strengthening the villages and make effort for extending benefit of digital India to the last miles.”

Shri Manoj Sinha appreciated the efforts of BSNL for extending Wi-Fi facility to Udwada village. He said on this occasion, “BSNL is also deploying 35,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots on PAN India basis to improve the Broadband penetration with 2G/3G mobile data Wi-Fi offload solution. Under this project till date more than 7700 Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed.”

Shri Anupam Shrivastava CMD BSNL said that two Hotspots with 17 Access point have been installed at Udwada village. He said that he has come to know that Udwada is a town in Gujarat, renowned for its Zoroastrian Atash Behram. This place of worship is the oldest still-functioning example of its kind, and has established Udvada as a pilgrimage center for Zoroastrians the world over.

BSNL is undertaking the project for providing 25,000 Public Wi-Fi Hotspots at Telephone Exchanges of BSNL in rural areas using BSNL fiber as per the MoU signed between BSNL and USOF. Till date BSNL has provided Wi-Fi at more than 2500 rural telephone exchanges.

BSNL has provided more than 7700 Wi-Fi Hotspots on revenue share basis through various partners namely QuadGen, Trimax & GOIP.

<><><><><>

Ministry of Communications
21-March, 2018 13:30 IST
MoC geared up for 36 Hour Smart India Hackathon 2018: Grand Finale to be held in Panipat

Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communications today announced that the much awaited Smart India Hackathon 2018 – Software edition Grand Finale is scheduled to be held on Mar 30 & 31, 2018 simultaneously at 28 different nodal centers across India. Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communications is a ‘Premier Partner’ in this initiative. Launched on Oct 16, 2017 in Pune, Smart India Hackathon 2018 harnesses creativity & expertise of students, builds funnel for ‘Startup India, Standup India’ campaign, crowdsources solutions for improving governance and quality of life, and provides opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to India’s daunting problems.

Here is a quick snapshot of details pertaining to our ministry/department:



Software
Problems Statements proposed

Shortlisted
Teams for Grand Finale

No. of Youngsters competing in Grand Finale
Nodal Center for Grand Finale

Our Ministry
2
11
88
Panipat

Overall event
340
1282
10250+
NA

Smt. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, DoT had said that “technology has the potential to profoundly transform the socio-economic landscape of the country. The concept of Smart India Hackathon provides the youth of our country a unique opportunity to harness knowledge & skills to find innovative solutions to challenges faced and thereby facilitating the progress of Digital India.”

About Smart India Hackathon 2018

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and in collaboration with i4c, MyGov, Persistent Systems, and Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini is organizing Smart India Hackathon 2018. With 27 union ministries and departments and 17 state governments having joined this grand initiative, SIH2018 is much bigger than its previous edition. It includes 2 sub-editions – Software edition, which is a 36-hr software product development competition and scheduled to be held on Mar 30 & 31, 2018. The Hardware edition, involving building of hardware solutions will be held later this year.


During the software edition grand finale, teams of thousands of technology students will build innovative digital solutions for problems posed by different central govt. ministries/ departments. Smart India Hackathon 2018 would be the second massive scale hackathon initiative in India following Smart India Hackathon 2017. Winners stand to get cash prizes and a chance to be part of the NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups program.

<><><><><>

 

[Hindustani78]

The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani and the Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha at the launch of the Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Sansad Adarsh Gram, through video conferencing at BSNL headquarters, in New Delhi on March 21, 2018.

The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani and the Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha jointly launching the Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Sansad Adarsh Gram, through video conferencing at BSNL headquarters, in New Delhi on March 21, 2018.

The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani and the Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha jointly launching the Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Sansad Adarsh Gram, through video conferencing at BSNL headquarters, in New Delhi on March 21, 2018.

The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani addressing at the launch of the Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Sansad Adarsh Gram, through video conferencing at BSNL headquarters, in New Delhi on March 21, 2018.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha addressing at the launch of the Free Wi-Fi Facility at Udwada Village, Valsad District, Gujrat under Sansad Adarsh Gram, through video conferencing at BSNL headquarters, in New Delhi on March 21, 2018.

 

[Hindustani78]

Cabinet
04-April, 2018 19:22 IST
Cabinet approves demerger and transfer of surplus land from TCL to HPIL

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the transfer of administrative control of Hemisphere Properties India Ltd. (HPIL), PSU from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) after infusion of equity amounting to Rs. 700 crore and Rs. 51 cr. secured GOI Loan into the Company and implementation of scheme of arrangement for de-merger of surplus land.

Details:

1. Infusion of equity amounting to Rs 700 Crores into Hemisphere Properties India Ltd. (HPIL) the Company for acquisition of 70 Crore Cumulative Redeemable Preference Shares of Rs. 10/- each at par on private placement basis and Rs. 51 cr. through secured Loan from GOI at coupon rate/ interest rate to be fixed by the Department of Economic Affairs and to implement the scheme of arrangement.

b) Granting an exemption to HPIL from the policy of Government of India relating to Foreign Direct Investment in real estate business.

c) Delegation of power to HPIL to take appropriate decision to give effect to object clause of its MOA including sale, long term lease and disposal of land

d) Transfer of equity stake and management control of HPIL from Department of Telecommunications under Ministry of Communications to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

e) Authorizing Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to undertake all steps incidental for transfer of equity stake in HPIL from Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) infusion of equity and implementation of Scheme of Arrangement.

Benefits:

It would facilitate demerger of surplus land from Tata Communications Limited to Hemisphere Properties India Limited (HPIL) and further smooth functioning of HPIL.

Implementation Strategy and Targets:

After due approval of this proposal by the Cabinet, surplus land would be transferred from TCL to HPIL on payment of Stamp Duty. As intimated by the TCL, approximately seven to eight months would be required for the approval of Scheme of Arrangement by National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). After its approval by NCLT, approximately four to five months would be required to implement various steps involved. Overall, approximately one year would be required to implement the decision.

Background:

M/s Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited [now Tata Communications Ltd. (TCL)] was disinvested on 13th February 2002 by Govt. of India and management control of the company was passed on to the Strategic Partner, namely, M/s Panatone Finvest Limited (PFL), a special purpose vehicle under the Tata Groups of Companies.

At the time of disinvestment, surplus land measuring 773.13 acres located at five locations in 4 cities, namely, Pune, Kolkata, New Delhi and Chennai (out of a total of 1230.13 acres of land) was demarcated and decided that the surplus land will not be part of the disinvestment bid.

As per the Share Holding Agreement / Share Purchase Agreement, PFL undertook an obligation to de-merge or hive off the surplus land into a realty company under Sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956.



******

 

[Hindustani78]

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha receiving a report on Wi-Fi Services from the Chairman, TRAI, Shri R.S. Sharma, in New Delhi on April 05, 2018. The Secretary, (Telecom), Ms. Aruna Sundararajan is also seen.

The Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha addressing after receiving a report on Wi-Fi Services from the Chairman, TRAI, Shri R.S. Sharma, in New Delhi on April 05, 2018. The Secretary, (Telecom), Ms. Aruna Sundararajan is also seen.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Communications
17-April, 2018 16:53 IST
DARPAN-PLI App was launched by Shri Manoj Sinha

Hon’ble Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha today launched here the DARPAN-PLI App, which will help in collection of premium for PLI and RPLI policies at Branch Post Offices anywhere in India, with online updation of the policies. Further, with launch of this App, indexing of maturity claims in respect of PLI and RPLI polices can be done at Branch Post Office itself, upon which the insurant will immediately be provided with the request number for further references. Shri Sinha said that these two initiatives will help Department of Posts in providing better after-sales service to customers of PLI and RPLI, particularly those living in rural areas of the country.

Shri Sinha said, with a view to achieve total digitisation of postal operations in the country, under the IT Modernisation Plan, Department of Posts has launched DIGITAL ADVANCEMENT OF RURAL POST OFFICE FOR A NEW INDIA (DARPAN) Project, which aims at connecting all 1.29 lakh Rural Branch Post Offices in the country to enable them to do online Postal and Financial Transactions. Hand held devices with SIM connectivity and solar power backup are being installed in all Branch Post Offices in the Country. The total Project cost is more than Rs.1300 crores. 61,941 Branch Post Offices have been rolled out under DARPAN Project as on 11th April 2018.

The Hand-held devices installed under DARPAN Project will ensure improvement in the quality of Postal services being offered in remote rural areas. Customers in these areas can now avail the facility of online Core Banking, booking of Registered and Speed Post articles, booking of Money Orders, deposit of Postal Life Insurance / Rural Postal Life Insurance premium and indexing of PLI / RPLI maturity claims through hand-held devices being used at branch post offices.

<><><><><>

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Science & Technology
25-April, 2018 18:22 IST
CSIR and DoT enter into MoU for establishing a nationwide Time Stamping & Time Synchronization network

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical knowledge sharing for establishing a nationwide Time Stamping & Time Synchronization network and traceability of Time signal to UTC NPL Time, was signed between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications.

The MoU was signed by Dr. D.K. Aswal, Director, CSIR-NPL and by Mr. Amit Mishra, DDG, Department of Telecommunications in the presence of Dr.Girish Sahni, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR and Shri Prabhash Singh, Member (Technology), Department of Telecommunications, senior officials from DoT, CSIR and CSIR-NPL.

Dr. D K Aswal, Director, CSR-NPL, emphasized that the Nationwide, Time Stamping & Time Synchronization network consisting of 22 numbers of Time Synchronization Centers (TSC’s) will be set up by DoT with technical assistance from CSIR-NPL. This network will provide synchronizing pulse in Indian Standard Time(IST) to all Telecom & Internet Service providers in all the 22 LSA (Licensed Service Areas) in the country. The project will be implemented in two phases. In the first phase TSC’s is to be set up in four metro LSA’s and in the second phase remaining of the 22 LSA’s will be covered.

The primary purpose of synchronizing the telecom network with IST time stamp is to enable the security agencies to overcome the difficulty in analyzing and correlating the cyber events in this era of greatly increasing network speed with advancement of telecom technology (2G to 3G to 4G to 5G etc.).The implementation of the project will also improve the telecom network efficiency by reducing packet loss due to reduced slips in better synchronized digital network.

Dr. Girish Sahni, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR, on the occasion said that the time set on Indian Telecom Networks should be in Indian Standard Time (IST) zone to uniquely identify the user(subscriber) of network on tracing of the IP address and other parameters. Presently,Telecom Service Provider (TSP) / Internet Service Provider (ISP) are taking the reference time from different sources viz. GPS from GNSS, he pointed out. These sources do not have the traceability with IST. “Telecom Networks” should be in IST time zone synchronized with CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) – the keeper of Indian Standard Time.

Shri Prabhash Singh, Member (Technology), appreciated the technologies developed by CSIR and its laboratories. They are of high value to Indian stakeholders, they be industry or Government Department and Ministries. He pointed out that after establishment & implementation of a PAN India Time Synchronization and Time Stamping across the Indian Telecom Network, all the network of the TSP/ISPs will be traceable with the Indian Standard Time which will eliminate the problem of the Time Synchronization among the TSP/ISPs. He elaborated that this will lead to better efficiency of Telecom Network and reduce the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) call drop, improve the Quality of Service of the network, Voice, Video. The Time Standardization will help to curb cybercrimes and will also help to identify and correlate the various digital financial transactions, Shri Singh opined.

Accuracy of the time depends upon the distance between the Time Synchronization Centre (reference source) and the location of the TSP/ISPs Centres. Therefore, stratum-1Time Synchronization centre shall be established at all the 22 LSAs across the country.

***