LIRNEasia » Maharashtra

India: Among checked, 20% SIM cards cannot be traced

Chanuka Wattegama — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:14:34 +0000

Even as SIM cards have become the focus of investigations to establish the identity of the Mumbai attackers, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has found that at least two lakh mobile phone users, almost 20% of the total vetted connections so far, had provided fake identity papers and their addresses were unverified.

In an ongoing audit, ordered by the government to establish the genuineness of customers, DoT found that out of 10 lakh connections verified so far, more than 2 lakh had been issued to customers whose identity could not be established.

The extent of fake identities has rattled the government which has started penalising service providers at Rs 1,000 for every fake user found.

Sleuths suspect that the Mumbai attackers, like in the past, had obtained SIM cards on fake identity and had used it for communication with their handlers across the border. Though details are yet to be made public, officials have procured details of SIM cards from where they were procured and whose identities were used for the same.

Read the full story in The Times of India here.

Mumbai attacks and the role of media: Television to Twitter

Chanuka Wattegama — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:45:56 +0000

As usual, media is blamed for their role in Mumbai. Unconfirmed reports claimed the terrorists trapped in Taj Mahal Palace constantly watched TV for news and they might have got a feeling of excitement if not ideas from the live coverage. Stupid guys. They never knew what they missed. The best ball-by-ball coverage was hardly on TV but on Twitter, anybody could have accessed thru a mobile. (Twitter added hashtags to terms like ‘Mumbai’ and ‘Attack’) Indian government at one stage requested ‘Twitters’ not to tweet anything about police activity, but it was more because the mainstream media too started depending on them rather than their own paid correspondents.

However, unlike in case of 9/11 no mobile based interactions with the victims were heard – which was bit surprising given the increasing mobile use in India.

There were also reports that the terrorists accessed British news sites using Black Berries. Well, on second thoughts, they might even have had a quick look at tweets – before being gunned down.

India: New telecom players allotted spectrum in four circles

Chanuka Wattegama — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:31:35 +0000

The government today allotted start-up GSM spectrum to new telecom players, including Datacom and Unitech, in four circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh (East).

Tata Teleservices, which has got GSM licence under dual technology policy, has also been allotted spectrum in the lucrative Mumbai circle while it is yet to get the radio frequency in other three circles.

With this, new players can now roll out services in 10 circles as the government has already released spectrum in six circles of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

In Punjab, only three players have been accommodated as only 15 MHz spectrum was available. HFCL, a CDMA player, has got GSM spectrum in Punjab under the dual technology policy. Idea Cellular and Unitech are the other beneficiaries.

Similarly in the UP (East) region, Unitech, Datacom, Swan Telecom and Tatas have been allotted the airwaves.

In Maharashtra, Datacom, Spice (Idea) and Unitech have got the spectrum, official sources said here.

In the CDMA space, Shyam Telecom is the only new company that has got pan-Indian spectrum and is in the process to roll out network.

Source: Business Standard

Mobile operators eligible for Indian USO Fund

Divakar Goswami — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:25:15 +0000

The Study of India’s Universal Service Instruments by LIRNEasia researchers Payal Malik & Harsha De Silva, critiqued the Indian government’s policy that made only fixed line operators eligible for USO funds:
As of today, the government is giving USO fund support to only the fixed line operators offering services in the rural areas. The over defining terms in the law is a bad idea in a rapidly evolving technology environment, though this correction has been suggested it is quite possible that the previous auctions have left huge amounts of rents that have been appropriated by the incumbent. In an industry that manifests the potential for rapid technological change and innovation, such as telecom, an economic analysis of a problem should not focus too narrowly or exclusively on the best use of society’s resources from the standpoint of today’s technology and resource availability i.e. static economic efficiency but should be viewed from a dynamic perspective. The government should, at the most, set basic minimum standards of service that any claimant of the fund should meet. Moreover, the proposed amendment should be flexible enough to allow upcoming technologies such as WiMax to make use of USO funds. (Page 14)

The Indian Government has now permitted mobile operators draw on the USO funds to roll-out service in 250,000 villages according to the Business Line report from November 24, 2006.
New rollout: Mobile phone services to 2.5 lakh remote villages soon
Thomas K. Thomas

Top 5 beneficiaries
Uttar Pradesh 38,763
Madhya Pradesh 26,483
Bihar 23,586
Maharashtra 19,816
Orissa 17,612

New Delhi , Nov. 24

The lone man staying in a village called Henry Island in the Andamans will soon be able to communicate with the rest of the world using a mobile phone. So will the people living in a single household village of Chingraliang in Arunachal Pradesh.

The mobile services project being undertaken by the Government under the Universal Services Obligation is expected to cover 2.5 lakh remote villages across the country, size varying from a single household village to those having a few hundred people. What is common though is that people living in any of these villages, spread across 27 States, have never known about mobile services.

Uttar Pradesh with 38,763 villages under the project is the biggest beneficiary followed by Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

The Department of Telecom has shortlisted 21 companies to set up the passive infrastructure for rolling out 10,000 towers across these villages with financial support from the Universal Services Obligation fund.[...]