Mobile service providers to trace absconding accused

In a bid to trace those who have jumped bail, furlough or parole, the Maharashtra government has turned to mobile service operators and election commission for help. Additional public prosecutor Ajey Gadkari informed the Bombay high court on Thursday that the government has sent a list of absconding accused to operators to check if they have any records on those names.

The government has also approached the election commission to verify if it has any records of those on the list.

A division bench of justice AM Khanwilkar and justice AR Joshi asked the government to file by March 21 an affidavit giving the updated statistics since the constitution of special cells.

Following the court’s suggestion, special cells were set up at all police stations in the state last year to trace absconding accused and missing people.

Earlier, the personnel of these special cells would report to the officer in-charge of the police station. “Now, the cells will directly report to the deputy commissioners of police in the city and superintendents of police at district-level,” said Gadkari.

During the last hearing, the court had suggested that there should be integrated data system so that even local police stations could update the list of absconding accused and missing persons. The government said it was also working streamlining such a system.

The court had taken up suo moto cognisance of Ramzan Sabit Hussain, a murder convict who jumped bail in 2003 after his bail was cancelled. Later, the court had clubbed the issue of missing persons after several habeas corpus [produce person in court] petitions were filed.source

Mobile Call Charges Likely To Rise

he Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on Wednesday, has recommended a six-fold jump in 2G spectrum cost for operators. This is after the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) findings that the exchequer has lost an estimated amount of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore in 2008 by selling 2G licenses bundled with start-up spectrum at Rs. 1,658 crore to pan-India operators.

The operators are currently paying Rs. 1,658 crore for the contracted 6.2 MHz spectrum for pan-India license but TRAI has come out with a new rate of Rs. 10,972.45 crore. Also, each MHz of additional spectrum held by operators should cost a one-time charge of Rs. 4,571.87 crore (all India). However, this would vary from circle to circle and operators would be required to pay only for those circles, where they hold extra spectrum. TRAI has also recommended that the suggested prices should be made effective from April 1, 2010.

This would mean that our mobile bills are going to multiply in the coming days. Imagine the call rates being Rs. 5 or Rs. 6 per minute, for local calls. That would be “disastrous”, as the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the general body for GSM service providers, says.

“This would mean that my mobile charges are going to triple or even more. My father lives abroad and if the call charges are going to be hiked, all I can do is reduce my dependency on mobile phones and make use of cheaper internet based services like Skype or GTalk,” says Arun Shajan, Quality Controller, Hilton Hyundai, Trivandrum.

“Also, in the long run, this is going to cause heavy loss for the government as more and more people would turn to the aforementioned services,” he adds.
Major telecom operators like Bharti and Vodafone have raised their concern over the new recommendations by TRAI, terming them as “flawed, illogical and discriminatory” against the old operators. The COAI also commented that it is like “changing the goal post in the middle of the game.”

However, the telecom operators in Trivandrum, when contacted chose not to comment on this. “I’m not aware of any such issues and as such I have not been intimated about any call charge hikes,” says Jyothi Shankar, XX, BSNL, Trivandrum.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal also criticised the CAG for the methodology used to arrive at the presumptive figures.  source

TRAI suggestion disastrous, say mobile operators

Its like changing the goal posts in middle of the game, says COAI

While the government can rejoice on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations on pricing of the 2G spectrum, mobile operators, particularly old ones, have all the reason to worry as they will have to pay hefty amounts for spectrum they are holding or have asked for. This would not only hit the earnings of telecom companies, but may also force them to hike tariffs to cover up for the outgo.

Reacting to the proposed six-fold hike for pan-India 2G spectrum, from Rs.1,658 crore (2001 prices) to Rs.10,972 crore (2010 prices) and Rs.4,571 crore for one 1 MHz of pan-India spectrum, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), which represents GSM operators, termed the recommendations “disastrous.”

“The TRAI's recommendations are like changing the goal posts in the middle of the game. We cannot go among subscribers and recover it. The assumptions used by TRAI are open to question… it has used very sophisticated mathematical modelling. It may take a couple of weeks for us to understand, but on the face of it, these look very disastrous for the industry,” COAI Director-General Rajan Mathews said.

Bharti Airtel said the TRAI recommendations went against the stated principle of the government to offer affordability, fairness and level-playing field. There seems to be huge inconsistency in terms of the differences of prices in various circles, it said.

“The proposed pricing of spectrum renewal fails to provide a level-playing ground between the older operators and those who have got licences in 2008. Thus, while 2008 licensees walk away with spectrum for 20 years at 2001 pricing, the older operators whose licences come up for renewal in few years will have to pay exorbitant one-time charges. Level-playing field demands that the price for spectrum allocated in 2008 to the new operators and cross over technology operators, should be the same, whatever is implemented for the renewal of licences,” it said.

All spectrum given under 2G bands — GSM as well as CDMA — must be clubbed and considered as ‘total allocated spectrum' for purpose of pricing and eligibility, it added.

However, new operators who are still to roll out their services due to scarcity of spectrum believe that this would force old players to vacate spectrum which they have been hoarding and help them to start their services. “This would legalise the additional spectrum hoarded by GSM players at a fraction of the cost. The contracted limit of spectrum is 6.2 MHz and the government must seek return of additional spectrum without any delay. Moreover, the price of additional spectrum is just one-time entry fee, whereas it should be recurring on an annual basis,” a senior executive of a new operator said.source