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Telecom firms in legal tangle
Trai chief hints at more cuts in telecom rates
Missive to Petronet may trigger takeover code
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Govt, chemists on collision path over drug Act
Organic tea to bring healthy cheer
Ensure clean fuel from April 1, govt tells oil firms
National Internet Exchange in April
Convergys may converge on Chandigarh
US envoy for boost in ties
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Telecom firms in legal tangle
New Delhi, February 8 This has been stated by Reliance Info in an affidavit before the Telecom Disputes Settlement Tribunal (TDSAT), filed by company’s counsel Harish Salve, who contended that the allegation of violation of licence agreement with the Department of Telecom (DoT) were unfounded. The company’s counsel further claimed that it had not “misrepresented” any fact to the DoT or the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the issue. DoT had imposed the penalty on Reliance Infocomm for allegedly causing loss of several crore rupees to the public sector companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and MTNL, on “conversion” of the ILD calls into local calls. The TDSAT is hearing arguments from both sides to determine whether Reliance Infocomm had violated the rules on identification of ILDs with a malafide intention to avoid the payment of Access Deficit Charges (ADC) to the public sector telecom companies. The BSNL and MTNL had alleged that thousands of Reliance Infocomm calls coming through their system were converted into local calls in violation of the licence agreement. While the ADC for ILD was Rs 4.55 per minute, the rate was merely 30 paise for local calls. Thus the public sector companies had suffered a net loss of Rs 4.25 on a call for every minute, they had contended. Reliance in its affidavit said that the allegations of “deliberate tampering” with the Caller Line Indentification (CLI) system, or avoiding payment of statutory ADC charges were completely denied by the company. “We have neither violated any licence conditions nor masqueraded the international calls as domestic calls,” the affidavit said. Salve told the TDSAT that there was no question of tampering with the CLI system as Reliance Infocomm’s Home Country direct (HCD) service, which handled the ILDs coming to its subscribers through other telephony had recognition from the International Telecom Union. The problem arose because more than 40 per cent of the ILD calls did not have proper CLI system and there was direction from the Government that the mobile service operators could put their own switch numbers on such calls to identify their origin, he said.
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Govt reply on Feb 10
Mumbai:
The Department of Telecom will make submissions before the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on February 10 regarding Reliance Infocomm’s alleged illegal re-routing of international calls, Union Minister for Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran told reporters here today.
Speaking on the sidelines of Nasscom 2005, Maran said the “government had view different from Reliance Infocomm Ltd’s (RIC) claim that it has not violated the licence agreement in the alleged rerouting of international calls.” Mr Maran said the government had approached TDSAT because it disputed RIC’s contentions on the matter. He, however, did not comment further on the matter since it was sub judice. — TNS
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Bharti seeks refund
New Delhi, February 8 Fearing a “snowballing” effect of this case, the Department of Telecom has shot off a letter to the Department of Legal Affairs seeking approval of empanelment of three senior advocates and also clarified that entry fee was non-refundable. “Because of regulatory changes our basic telecom licences have become redundant and therefore we are seeking refund of the entry fee paid by the company,” Bharti officials said while confirming that they have moved the TDSAT against the government’s decision not to refund the money.
— PTI
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Trai chief hints at more cuts in telecom rates
Mumbai, February 8 Presiding over the conference on ‘Best Practices for a Regulatory Framework for converged telecommunications’ organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) here today, Mr Baijal said: “Trai is in the process of reducing the access deficit charges (ADC) further and for this, the second round of consultation paper would be finalised for implementation in the next fortnight period.” He also hinted at a sharp reduction in lease-line tariff rates in order to make the industry more competitive and aggressive in providing telecom services across the country. The objective is to eliminate the ADC in the next five to six years so that telecom service providers become cash efficient and provide subsidised services to the rural India, he said. “India is a price sensitive nation. The tariff can come down further due to the aggressive role played by the industry,” he observed. About 87 per cent of the additional phones during 2004 year are accounted for by mobile phones. The number of mobile phones (including WLL (M)) as on December 31, 2004 was over 4.8 crore. The private sector continues to play a major role by accounting for seven per cent of the expansion during these nine months. This sector has so far provided 4.26 crore phones as on December 31, 2004, which is 46 per cent of the total phones in the country.
— UNI
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Missive to Petronet may trigger takeover code
New Delhi, February 8 Oil ministry has, reportedly, changed norms for the board appointment on Petronet and made an IAS officer of the Joint Secretary rank eligible to replace the present incumbent Suresh C. Mathur when he retires on March 31, 2005. Petronet is a board-managed firm with one representative from public sector firms ONGC, IOC, BPCL and Gail, French consultant Gaz de France and Asian Development Bank on the board. Petroleum Secretary is the non-executive chairman while MD & CEO is a professional selected by the board committee. Besides Mr Mathur, Petronet also hires professionals to head company’s finance and technical departments. If a Joint Secretary joins the board, the control of the company will go in the hands of government and firms controlled by it. Such takeover will trigger Sebi’s takeover code and public sector firms and/or government will have to make an open offer for acquiring 20 per cent stake, industry sources said. Section 12 of Sebi’s takeover code states “irrespective of whether or not there has been any acquisition of shares or voting rights in a company, no acquirer shall acquire control over the target company, unless such person makes a public announcement to acquire shares and acquires shares in accordance with the Regulation.” Official sources said Petroleum Ministry on January 28 issued a directive reducing the retirement age of Petronet board from 65 to 60 years and changed job description of MD and CEO. “The government officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above with adequate experience in relevant field will also be eligible for consideration (for the post) on deputation basis,” the order said. Just a day earlier, A.K. Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, suggested at the Petronet board meeting that “in line with the prescribed qualifications for CMD of PSU companies i.e. graduate from a recognised university, the same should be applicable to CEO & MD, Petronet, and should not be restricted to engineering graduate, CA, ICWA etc.” However, “other board members pointed out that Petronet should remain professionally managed company, and therefore, the qualification as prescribed in the job description (engineering graduate or equivalent or MBA/CA/ICWA) would be essential,” minutes of the board meeting said.
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Govt, chemists on collision path over drug Act
New Delhi, February 8 The chemists across the country have already stopped the sale of over 4000 psychotropic drugs, including fortwin, chericof, trika, alpax and librium, used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and diseases like cancer. They are protesting against the directions of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that has asked them to “keep the record of patients for five years under the Act.” Talking to The Tribune, Mr R.K. Arora, Vice-President, All-India Small-Scale Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, said, “We have been forced to stop the sale of these drugs, estimated to sell over Rs 4000 crore annually, since the NCB is harassing us under the Act.” Over five lakh chemists across the country will hold a strike on February 25 to protest against the Act and would launch a nationwide agitation if the government failed to take corrective steps. He said under the Act, over a dozen wholesale drug traders have been arrested and the others were being harassed for violating the Act. “We have asked the government to implement the Act only on manufacturers and wholesale dealers, while exempting the retailers. They are already selling these drugs on the prescription of doctors and cannot be asked to keep the record of customers for five years,” he said. Mr Arora said the strict implementation of the Act would only lead to the harassment of the retailers and encourage extortion of traders by officials on flimsy complaints. It would also affect the manufacturing sector besides adversely affecting government revenue collections. The industry experts claimed that over 40 leading companies, including Ranbaxy, Cipla, Cadila, Sun Pharma and Unichem, are manufacturing these drugs. The All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists has instructed its members to stop the sale of psychotropic drugs to avoid harassment. They said under the NDPS Act, one could be imprisoned for up to 20 years and fined for selling psychotropic substances, including pharmaceutical psychotropic substances. The list includes commonly manufactured stimulants, depressants, cough syrups and painkillers. These medicines are prescription drugs subject to strict control particularly, in developed countries as they are considered highly addictive. Chemists, however, alleged that it was practically impossible to follow the procedures under the Act.
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Organic tea to bring healthy cheer
Palampur, February 8 After intensive research on how to make tea chemical-free, scientists at the SCK Agricultural University have finally decided to start production of organic tea, which would be free from external chemicals. Plantation has begun on 10 acres in the first phase and the authorities are in the process of setting up a factory on the campus. An area of 110 acres has been set aside for tea plantation. “The fertilisers and pesticides used on tea leaves across the country leave some residue in the final product, which can even cause cancer. But on organic tea, no chemicals would be used. Instead, we have identified a host of plants and tress that have similar effects on the tea plants,” says Dr K.L.Sharma, Head, Department of Tea. Since departure from the use of fertilisers and insecticides brings down the total yield to nearly half, if the normal tea costs between Rs 150 and Rs 500 per kilogram, the organic tea would cost from Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000 per kilogram. “That is why initially the tea would be produced primarily for export and would be sold as part of ‘India Organic’ products identified by the WTO. Local markets would be targeted only after the yield and profits go up,” he says. Moreover, he adds, as it takes nearly 20 years to make a tea farm free of residuals of chemicals used in the past, farmers find the procedure too demanding. Besides, it needs continuous sampling to substantiate the claims that the tea is actually organic. “Since the university had lots of abandoned tea farms, besides the expertise, we decided to take the initiative.” “The entire marketing campaign of this kind of tea would be focused on the fact that it is free from chemicals. The taste and other characters of this tea would be the same as the normal type,” he said. At present, only a couple of tea growers in Darjeeling have adopted organic tea but most of it is exported to Australia and New Zealand. “We would be taking the lead in this region by producing this tea for commercial purposes,” said Mr Pramod Verma, technical assistant. “We have identified various weeds which can be used to make compost, which is rich in nitrogen and would replace the fertilisers. The leaves of Oei trees also make a good substitute and they would be planted along the tea gardens,” he says. We have found that the quality of soil is also maintained and beneficial micro-organisms are not killed if fertilisers are not used. “The equipment and machinery have been bought for the factory and we are expected to start production by the end by April. It is an ambitious project of the university because the whole concept of organic tea growing is very new,” he says. Asked about the high price, he said that it might come down as the yield increases. “In any case, the health conscious, especially abroad, won’t mind shelling out more to avoid drinking chemicals with tea,” he says.
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Ensure clean fuel from April 1, govt tells oil firms
New Delhi, February 8 Official sources in the Petroleum Ministry said oil companies have been told that they must meet the deadline for supplying Euro II fuels in the entire country, except 11 cities, which will get supply of Euro III standards. They said at last week’s Secretary-level review meeting, the industry had expressed its inability to meet the deadline for supplying clean fuel and wanted an extension. However, Petroleum Secretary S. C. Tripathi has asked them to make alternative arrangements, including imports, if a few refineries are unable to produce clean fuel within the time frame. The industry had informed the government that some refineries, including HPCL and IOC, would not be able to produce cleaner fuel. The industry wants that it should be given at least three more months to comply the apex court directive. Delay in taking decision on the proposed investment relating to upgrading refining facilities was the main cause for producing clean fuel. The industry has to invest around Rs 30,000 crore for producing Euro III fuel. However, refineries like MRPL and Haldia have already begun production of cleaner fuel.
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National Internet Exchange in April
Mumbai, February 8 Delivering the keynote address at Nasscom 2005, Mr Maran said four Internet exchange points across the country would become fully operational. Most large and small ISPs would route their traffic through this exchange to ensure security of the domestic traffic, the minister said. Mr Maran said the Indian government is taking a fresh look at the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, in view of the rapid changes in the information, communications and technology sector, Minister for Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said here today. He added the government would aim to revisit the act and remove unnecessary constraints, which hamper the growth of the IT industry in the country. “We have to ensure that our policy framework mirrors the dynamism of the sector and its rapidly changing requirements,” Mr Maran said. According to the minister, the Centre is committed to providing user friendly and cost-effective tools, applications and content in Indian languages in a bid to take IT to the masses. Mr Maran said the Technology Development for Indian Languages Programme aims to develop Indian language processing tools.
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Convergys may converge on Chandigarh
New Delhi, February 8 Convergys began software development work at its 600-seater India facility at Hyderabad in April last year. “We are now working on the second phase of this centre, which will be completed by May this year and house another 600 professionals,” Convergys Executive Vice-President (Global Operations) Larry S. Schwartz told newspersons here.
Convergys, which employs around 10,000 people in seven call centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and
Bangalore, is planning to double the headcount in India. “We are looking at 20,000 people in a year or two,” Mr Schwartz
said. Convergys Vice-President and Country Manager Jaswinder S. Ghumman said: “We want to set up a BPO centre in
Hyderabad, where Convergys already has a development facility. Besides, we are looking at entering Chandigarh, Chennai and Kolkata.”
— UNI
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US envoy for boost in ties
New Delhi, February 8 Speaking to newspersons at a function organised by the Forum for Financial Writers, he said that India and the USA could further strengthen their ties without “hyphenating” them to Indo-Pak relations. “We look at India as a leader of the developing countries and it can help us find some conclusion to help resolve the stalemate over trade liberalisation under the WTO regime”, he said.
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