Indicating further competition in the mobile broadband space soon, the government said on Minday that 160 MHz of spectrum will be available next year for telecom operators for deploying broadband wireless access (BWA) services across the country. "To encourage private sector participation in government efforts, last year we had conducted a very successful auction of the 3G and BWA
A Pakistani lawyer, who has twice moved the Lahore High Court to ban Facebook in the nation, has an account on the popular social networking site with 1,575 friends and spends an average of 14 hours a day on it, a media report said today. Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, on whose petition access to the website was banned in the country for two weeks last year, told The Express Tribune
With Haryana among the states with skewed sex ratio, the state government is mulling installing ultrasound machines in civil hospitals linked to a special software for their monitoring. To begin with, the software `Silent Observer` will be installed at civil hospital, Panchkula and either of the hospitals at Gurgaon or Faridabad. The software would provide complete details of th
IT firm 3i Infotech that signed an agreement with Cerberus Capital Management to sell its US- based Global Billing and Payment unit for USD 137-million (nearly Rs 617-crore), said it will use the garnered amount to repay its bank borrowings. "We will use this money for repayment of our bank borrowings. Our net borrowing is around Rs 2,000-2,100-crore and from here we may get around
Indian firms outsourcing routine work to their overseas subsidiaries would not have to deduct withholding tax on the payments made to them. In a landmark ruling, the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) has held that firms are exempted from deducting the withholding tax on the payments made for services like transcription and data processing. Allowing the appeal of a Chennai-based
Eros International plc today announced the appointment of Ricky Ghai as Chief Executive Officer of its digital and new media arm Eros Digital, with effect from July. Ghai will be based in Eros` operating offices primarily in India, as well as the UAE, the UK and US, a press release issued here stated. Ghai joins Eros from the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADM) where he led the digita
Delhi Metro registered an increase of 34 per cent in smart card users at 20 most crowded stations during the `Smart Card` week observed last week. On an average, around 27,000 new Smart Cards are sold at these 20 Metro stations every week. DMRC registered a sale of 36, 426 Smart Cards during Smart Card Week at these stations, which is an increase of 9,426 from their weekly avera
Haryana government has decided to replace issuance of ration cards to consumers under the Public Distribution System with smart cards which would be linked to the Unique Identification Card (UIC). Work to prepare smart cards would commence from May 27, an official spokesman said in Chandigarh on Minday. Initially, it would be started in four blocks of Ambala, Sonep
BPO major Genpact today named NV `Tiger` Tyagarajan as its President and Chief Executive Officer, replacing Pramod Bhasin who has decided to step down as CEO and member of the Board. Tyagarajan, who is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO), will join the board effective June 17. "I`m delighted to be able to hand over the reins of the company to my long term business p
If it is a question of who should head the national highway authority NHAI -- a bureaucrat or technocrat-- the latter seems to winning hands down at least in an opinion poll conducted on social networking site Facebook. As many as 86 out of 102 participants in NHAI`s Facebook site have polled in favour of technocrats when the Road Ministry turned to the networking site seeking opinion f
India`s leading public sector bank, IDBI Bank on Minday rolled out its mobile banking facility in the city. The bank`s mobile banking bus had commenced its `vikas yatra` from IDBI Tower in Mumbai. The mobile banking bus is equipped with BSNL telephones and has a GPS system to keep a track of the bus on its movement, IDBI Bank chairman cum managing director R M Mall
The telecom ministry has said that only 15 new licences are liable for cancellation due to delayed roll out of network compared to 69 recommended by Trai and has thus sought regulator`s views on the same. "Yes, for 15 cases. Initially we had identified as 17 however in two cases it hinged on a particular interpretation and that interpretation was with regard to roll out obligation.
Telecom major Bharti airtel has opposed the consultation paper issued by regulator Trai to review interconnection usage charges (IUC), saying it is not being done in accordance with the directions of TDSAT and the Supreme Court and hence needs to be reframed. "We are highly surprised to note that the consultation paper released by TRAI on April 27, 2011, has not taken into consider
Wipro Infotech, a leading provider of IT and business transformation services, announced on Monday that United Bank of India, one of the leading nationalized banks of the country, has selected Wipro to deploy a wide area network optimization solution from Cisco for all of its 1600 plus branches & offices. The deployment is amongst the largest globally for any Public Sector Bank.
The MCD will introduce bio-metric system of attendance for teachers and students in its primary schools in the city from July. Leader of the House Subhash Arya said this today after election to the MCD Education Committee, which saw councillor Mahinder Nagpal being re-elected as Chairman. "Besides teachers, students will also mark their presence through the sy
Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed to put in place a business intelligence gathering mechanism with an aim to enhance its surveillance and protect investors` interest. "Surveillance is a vital link in the chain of activities performed by the regulator to protect investors and develop the markets," SEBI said. The regulato
Zakat, the Islamic act of giving a share of one`s wealth to charity, has become high-tech with the deployment of ATMs across UAE to collect funds from the donors. UAE`s Zakat Fund, an authority that has been established to enhance awareness regarding one of the pillars of Islam, recently opened its 11th Zakat Fund ATM in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi as part of its strategy to enhance Za
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday underlined the need for integration of information technology into school curriculum, saying education can be instrumental in further developing technological capability of the country. "For developing countries like India, investing in computer education can be instrumental in building indigenous technological capability,"
Global information technology company 3i Infotech Limited has signed an agreement to sell its US-based Global Billing and Payments unit, consisting of Regulus Group and J&B Software, to an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management LP for USD 137 million (Rs 617 crore). 3i Infotech acquired J&B Software in 2007 and Regulus Group in 2008, and the companies were integrated to form t
Using intermediaries and inexpensive computer discs, Osama bin Laden managed to send emails while in hiding, without leaving a digital fingerprint for United States eavesdroppers to find. His system was painstaking and slow, but it worked, and it allowed him to become a prolific email writer despite not having Internet or phone lines running to his compound. His methods, describ
