1. India’s Income Tax department has sent a notice to Bharti Airtel demanding $210.5 million for its allegedly not paying Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) dues during the financial year period between 2007-2011 in relation to its overseas operations.
The department has asked the telecom operator to pay the dues immediately. The amount includes $39.8 million for the year 2007-08, $65.1 million for 2008-09, $61.7 million for 2009-10 and $43.6 for 2010-11 in lieu of payments the company made to “non-resident” mobile service providers, reported the Economic Times.
Meanwhile, Airtel in a statement has said that it has fully complied with all the provisions. The company further stated that the demand of dues is unjustified and that it will take appropriate legal recourse.
2. India and Sri Lanka have signed an agreement for establishing a mechanism of technical and institutional cooperation in the field of telecommunications, with the purpose of development of telecommunications in both the countries.
The areas to be covered under the agreement include technological developments, universal access to telecommunication services, oversight of service provision, convergence, next generation networks, new technologies, spectrum issues, green telecom, number portability, economic regulation, ICTs for development and other issues as may be mutually agreed,” according to a statement by the Indian government.
The agreement was signed by Dr J S Sarma, chairman of India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority, and Anusha Palpita, Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.
3. Nokia, India’s most trusted brand and a leading handset major, announced an agreement with Indiatimes Shopping to launch its first online store in the country.
The online store, NokiaShop (nokia.indiatimes.com), will be India’s first portal to deliver phones directly from the manufacturers to users. Online sale of mobile handsets is insignificant in India, so it will be interesting to see how consumers will react to this development.
Nokia, in order to attract people to buy phones online, is also offering interest-free installment-based payment options (three and six months) to prospective buyers.
4. “Startup Village,” India’s first public-private partnership telecom business incubator, is coming up at the Kerala Infrastructure Development (KINFRA) Park in the state. The first phase of the project will be inaugurated in February.
According to KINFRA, the Startup Village will focus primarily on student start-ups from college campuses and would be modelled on the technology incubators in Silicon Valley. It aims to incubate 1,000 product start-ups over 10 years and start the search for a billion-dollar company from a college campus by the turn of the decade.
5. Reliance Communications, one of India’s largest telecom operators, has secured loans from a host of Chinese banks to refinance the $1.18 billion worth of outstanding foreign currency bonds due for redemption on March 1, the Economic Times reported.
The company, as widely reported in the media, has also been trying to sell its telecom tower unit in order to reduce its huge debt.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank, Export Import Bank of China and other banks are funding the refinancing, the company was quoted by ET as saying.
