Regulator Stands By Recommendation for Higher Spectrum Pricing

Sectoral regulator Trai today stood by its recommendations on pricing spectrum at 10 per cent higher rate than the previous auction, taking back certain airwaves from state-owned BSNL and defence giving up spectrum in 2,100 MHz band that can be used for 3G services.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had sent back Trai's recommendations on spectrum valuation and pricing for a review, saying that some of them can't be implemented in the present form.
"After considering the comments given by DoT, the Authority has furnished its response to the government. The Authority has reiterated its earlier recommendations with detailed reasoning," Trai said in a statement.
The revised comments received from Trai are now likely to be placed before inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had last month given its recommendations on valuation and pricing of 1800 Mhz and 900 Mhz spectrum bands, being used for 2G services, for the next round of auction.
The regulator said there is no change in the reserve prices for spectrum in 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands from what were recommended earlier.
The DoT had sought clarifications regarding the methodology for arriving at the reserve price and suggested applying the same method used in the February auction for determining the spectrum base price in the next round of sale of radiowaves as well.
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DoT had said that using the method suggested by Trai would lead to about further 3-20 per cent higher base price of spectrum across some circles compared to the rates suggested by the regulator.
The next round of spectrum auction is proposed to be held in February 2015 from which government is estimated to garner at least Rs 9,355 crore.
Most of the spectrum which is proposed to be put up for sale is being used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications across various parts of the country.
These companies will need to buy back radiowaves to continue their operations in areas where their licences are expiring in 2015-16.
DoT had also sent back recommendations given for 800 Mhz (CDMA) spectrum band by Trai in February for reconsidering some points.
The regulator said it will reply separately to specific DoT queries on 800 Mhz band auction. It, however, reiterated its stand on first fully exploring the feasibility of the adoption of E-GSM for efficient utilisation of spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
DoT had said that E-GSM band requires vacation of spectrum by Defence to ensure availability which is likely to take time and keeping spectrum in the 800 MHz band unsold would result in foregone revenues for Government.
On 800 MHz, Trai said more than a year has passed since September 2013 when it had recommended that adoption of E-GSM should be explored in a time-bound manner and spectrum in 800 MHz band has not been auctioned till date.
"Are there no foregone revenues in this context?," Trai asked.
The regulator reiterated its recommendation to take back 1.2 Mhz of 900 Mhz spectrum from BSNL, utilising idle 1800 MHz spectrum in the defence band and vacating spectrum held in excess of 20 MHz by Defence in 1800 MHz band.
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"The Authority reiterated that dialogue needs to be held at the level of Finance Minister, Minister of Communications and IT and the Defence Minister to ensure the availability of additional spectrum for commercial use," Trai said.
DoT is of the view that it has no jurisdiction to take back the spectrum from BSNL under provisions of the license agreement.
However, Trai said BSNL was awarded spectrum in 900 MHz band administratively and free of charge and as it is a state-owned firm, government has every right to take the spectrum back.
"It is inexplicable to take the stand that the Government, being a sovereign and as owner of the PSU companies cannot resume spectrum given to the PSUs free of charge," Trai said.
The regulator also stood by its proposal wherein it had suggested that 60 Mhz of paired spectrum in 2100 Mhz band should be put up for sale in proposed auction. A part of this band is held by defence forces.
DoT, however, had said that "it does not appear feasible, to get the spectrum in 2100 Mhz band, in the time line proposed for auction of 800 Mhz (CDMA), 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz band and vacation of spectrum by Defence may not be linked with the upcoming auction".
"In the 2100 MHz band, additional 3 blocks of 2X5 Mhz of spectrum can be made available by swapping spectrum in this band with Defence. Defence can be assigned spectrum in 1900 Mhz band," Trai said.
The regulator also said that spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2100 Mhz bands should be auctioned together.
"If auction of spectrum in 2100 Mhz were to be taken up later, there would continue to be uncertainty," Trai said.
The regulator also stressed its point that the supply of spectrum should be increased. "The constrained supply of spectrum poses a real threat to the continuity of services being provided to millions of subscribers by the expiry licensees," it added.
Trai also asked the government to announce the roadmap for auction of spectrum in 700 MHz band. "This should be done before the conduct of upcoming auctions in 900/1800 Mhz band," Trai said.

SC slams Srinivasan for owning IPL team while staying at the helm of Indian cricket board

The Supreme Court rapped suspended BCCI chief N Srinivasan on Monday for owning an IPL team while remaining at the helm of the cricket establishment, saying that the sport should remain a “gentleman’s game”.

The court’s stinging observations come as a blow for Srinivasan who is seeking reinstatement as India’s top cricket administrator after a probe panel said he was “not involved with match fixing activity” and “not found to be involved in scuttling the investigations into match fixing”.

“Some people who are in BCCI now own a team. It has become a mutual benefit society. Ownership of team raises conflict of interest,” the court said. “BCCI chief has to run the show but you have a team which raises questions.”

The top court had asked Srinivasan to step aside from his position till the justice Mukul Mudgal panel completed its probe into the match-fixing and betting scandal during the Indian Premier League cricket carnival’s sixth edition.
His son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, identified by the inquiry committee as a team principal for the Srinivasan-owned Chennai Super Kings (CSK), is accused of betting on IPL games.
The IPL has been mired in controversy since May last year when India fast bowler S Sreesanth and two of his teammates from the Rajasthan Royals franchise were arrested by Delhi Police on charges of spot fixing, or influencing the outcomes of parts of a match in exchange for money.
Srinivasan, currently the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), had called Meiyappan a “cricket enthusiast” who was not a stake-holder in the team.
The panel said Srinivasan and other IPL officials were involved in a “cover up” of misdeeds of an unnamed player who violated the players’ code of conduct.
The BCCI argued in the top court that the body had its own rules and any future action should be taken by it. It also defended Srinivasan, contending that the cricketer – referred to as individual number three in the report– committed a wrong not related to the IPL.
The court appeared disinclined to grant the cricket body’s request. “You yourself need to be above suspicion, which you are not. If you allow these things to happen, then you are killing the game of cricket,” the judges said. “What promotes the game is that it is played in true spirit of gentleman’s game.”

Info on Blood Diamonds Could Help India, Says Whistle-blower to NDTV

The information that Herve Falciani leaked while he was still an employee of HSBC in Geneva included secret accounts that were allegedly being used by Belgian companies trading in blood diamonds, which are mined and sold to fund insurgencies, often by warlords. ('India has Less Than 1% Info on Black Money, Lots More I Can Offer':Herve Falciani)

"There are a lot of blood diamonds related to HSBC and that will interest India," Mr Falciani said in an exclusive interview to NDTV in his home country of France.

Mr Falciani, who is now 42, left HSBC with secret client information in 2006 and after being ignored for two years, his data was finally accepted as legitimate by French authorities. He was soon co-opted by other countries including Belgium, US, Spain and, more recently, Argentina, to help  with expansive investigations to trace tax evaders who have hidden money via Swiss private banks.

Antwerp is the world's diamond capital; in the last few decades, Indians, many of them Gujaratis, have set up trading firms in the city.

Falciani says these traders have strong links with India and information he has on them can help Indian investigators join the dots on black money. A commission appointed by the Supreme Court in India to look at how to recover black money has also identified the diamond trade as a "hotspot" for undeclared and untaxed money stashed abroad.

Belgian prosecutors say HSBC in Switzerland actively sought out diamond dealers to send untaxed wealth to offshore accounts. On Monday, the Belgian government charged HSBC in Switzerland with organised fraud and criminal activities related to money-laundering.

Mr. Falciani hinted that there could be information on individuals in Belgium and France that Indian investigators could use.

On the original list of bank accounts that were leaked by Mr Falciani were the names of several diamond traders and also hundreds of Indians.

Horses and rhinos originated in India: Researchers

 

NEW DELHI: Horses and rhinos probably originated on the Indian subcontinent, some 54.5 million years ago according to a new study of fossils found in Gujarat. At that time, the subcontinent was an island inching its way towards a collision with the Eurasian landmass.

 

The study was carried out by a team of John Hopkins researchers and colleagues, and published on November 20 in the online journal Nature Communications. 

 

Modern horses, rhinos and tapirs belong to a biological group, or order, called Perissodactyla. How and when this order evolved has been a mystery, although fossils from as far back as 56 million years ago have been discovered. This group has an uneven number of toes on their hind feet and a distinctive digestive system. 

 

Ken Rose, a professor at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine and his Indian colleagues began exploring ancient sediments in Western India because it had been proposed that perissodactyls and some other mammal groups might have originated there, a John Hopkins press release said.

 

In an open-pit coal mine in Gujarat, they uncovered a rich vein of ancient bones. Rose says he and his collaborators obtained funding from the National Geographic Society to send a research team to the mine site at Gujarat for two weeks at a time once every year or two over the last decade. 

 

The mine yielded what Rose says was a treasure trove of teeth and bones for the researchers to comb through back in their home laboratories. Of these, more than 200 fossils turned out to belong to an animal dubbed Cambaytherium thewissi, about which little had been known, the release said.

 

The researchers dated the fossils to about 54.5 million years old, making them slightly younger than the oldest known Perissodactyla remains, but, Rose says, it provides a window into what a common ancestor of all Perissodactyla would have looked like. 

 

"Many of Cambaytherium's features, like the teeth, the number of sacral vertebrae, and the bones of the hands and feet, are intermediate between Perissodactyla and more primitive animals," Rose said according to the release. "This is the closest thing we've found to a common ancestor of the Perissodactyla order," he added. 

 

Cambaytherium and other finds from the Gujarat coal mine also provide tantalizing clues about India's separation from Madagascar, lonely migration, and eventual collision with the continent of Asia as the Earth's plates shifted, Rose said. 

 

"Around Cambaytherium's time, we think India was an island, but it also had primates and a rodent similar to those living in Europe at the time," he said, according to the release.

 

"One possible explanation is that India passed close by the Arabian Peninsula or the Horn of Africa, and there was a land bridge that allowed the animals to migrate. But Cambaytherium is unique and suggests that India was indeed isolated for a while," he concluded.

IIT-M Joins Hands With CERN To Explore Secrets of Universe

CHENNAI: Led by an expert who was part of the ATLAS experiment that helped find the God Particle, Higgs Boson, by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras has become a full member of a collaboration with the Geneva-based organisation in search of the structure of the universe.
While reputed institutions including TIFR, BARC and a few others have been partnering with CERN, IIT-M is the first IIT to come on board of the prestigious LHC experiment.
According to Prafulla Kumar Behera, associate professor with the department of physics, this initiative will help the institute strengthen its capabilities in fundamental research. “CERN is home to a lot of innovations, including the world wide web. This collaboration is like a bridge that would connect us to the highest level of scientific research while offering them our talent and expertise,” Behera told The New Indian Express.
Besides him, another faculty, James Libby, and two PhD scholars have come on board on the CMS collaboration.
Behera was part of the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus), one of the many particle detector experiments at the LHC particle accelarator, for half a decade till 2011 before returning to India to take up the job at IIT-M.
The collaboration will be on CMS or Compact Muon Solenoid, a particle detector that is designed to see a wide range of particles and phenomena produced during high-energy collisions in the LHC. This information is believed to hold answers to questions like what the universe is really made of, what forces act within in and what gives everything substance.
Behera has previously worked on silicon pixel detector, a sophisticated technology used primarily in fundamental scientific research, which is not available in India. “We would like to collaborate and develop Indian expertise so that by the time the plant is upgraded by 2020 as has been planned, there will be substantial contribution from our country,” said Behera, who returned from CERN a week ago.
The silicon pixel detector has uses outside the limits of fundamental scientific research, including medical purposes like advanced imaging, he said, pointing out that Indian industries could manufacture the detector in the coming years.
While the team from Chennai will be placed at CERN during the summer, the idea is to collaborate from here by using grid computing to access data generated at the labs in Geneva. Grid computing facility has already been networked till TIFR, Mumbai, which will be expanded to south India, he added.

Virat Kohli says India will emulate Australia's aggression in upcoming Test series

 

India captain Virat Kohli says his side will emulate Australia's aggression, suggesting the mental battle could help decide the upcoming four-Test series.

India landed in Adelaide on Saturday night, trained on Sunday and will face a Cricket Australia developmental XI on Monday and Tuesday.
It then starts another two-day tour game in Adelaide on Friday before travelling to Brisbane to prepare for the first Test that starts the following Thursday.
That is limited match practice for the visitors to become accustomed to local conditions.
But Kohli, stand-in skipper in the absence of MS Dhoni, backed his players to be ready and said mindset would be the focus of India's 18-man squad over the next week.
"Pace and bounce is something you can get used to. But unless you're mentally there, there's no point of any sort of practice," Kohli said on Sunday.

We're here to play aggressive cricket, the brand of cricket that Australia plays.

Indian captain Virat Kohli

"They are good enough to tackle any sort of bowling in any conditions."
Mitchell Johnson is an obvious potential source of mental demons for the visitors, having terrorised England a year ago and missed India's most recent Australian tour due to injury.
"The guys in our team have the ability to do it ... I don't see any reason why we can't put up a good fight," Kohli said of facing the fearsome Australian left-armer.
Kohli was one of few Indians to stand up in 2011-12, when Australia stormed to a 4-0 series win.
His maiden Test century came in Adelaide, where the voracious opposition and the crowd were both vocal.
The 26-year-old was fined for giving the finger to fans at the SCG in response to jibes on his only tour of Australia, when he also hit out at the hosts' sledging.
"I'm certainly expecting it again," Kohli said with a smile.
"I loved it. Once you perform in those conditions, the people love you here and they love a good fight.
"We're here to play aggressive cricket, play the brand of cricket that Australia plays.
"There's going to be more aggression this time around (from India)."
Adelaide's Glenelg Oval will be the visitors' first chance to show as much.
Kohli said the whole squad would be available for the tour game starting on Monday apart from Dhoni.
"Everyone's fit and doing fine," he said.
"We're going to try a few more than 11 (in the tour game), that's the plan."

Farhan Akhtar undegoes rigorous training for his new look in 'Wazir'

Farhan Akhtar had mesmerized the audience with his 360 degree transformation during Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The actor not only gave an outstanding performance but the kind of physique the actor made had become a talking point.
This time around again the actor is ready to take the audience by surprise. Farhan will be seen playing an ATS Cop in his upcoming film Wazir. The character required him to be lean and at the same time muscular.
The actor had gone through months of training to get the right kind of look. When it comes to gaining muscle mass it becomes very difficult. The actor had gone through vigorous training and also was on a strict diet.
The first schedule of the film took place in Delhi. While on set the actor had a trainer with him as he has to workout everyday, he spends quality time training before the shoot.
While he has gone through a physical change the actor is also going to look different as for the time ​being ​he will be seen in a mustache in ​the​ film and also has had a different haircut.
Spokesperson of Farhan adds, "Farhan had gone through a major major transformation to play the role of Milkha Singh and he was more than determined to get the perfect look for his character in Wazir. He would be seen playing an ATS cop which required him to look fit and muscular. Farhan went through very strict training for it. Till the shoot of the film completes Farhan will be on this workout regime and in his new look."