Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola explained

Moments ago Lenovo signed an agreement to acquire Motorola for $2.91 billion from Google, which is selling it at a massive loss after buying Motorola for $12.5 billion less than two years ago. So what does this deal mean for all the three companies involved? Here’s our take…

For Google: Motorola’s acquisition was an expensive mistake for Google. At $12.5 billion it was Google’s largest acquisition and Google had hoped that Motorola’s patents would save it and its Android hardware partners, who were bombarded by patent infringement lawsuits by the likes of Nokia, Microsoft and Apple among others. However, the patents Google acquired turned out to be worthless, with most of them being standard essential patents that provided Google with little bargaining power.

Google was clear the acquisition was for patents as it did not want to alienate its handset vendor partners by coming across as a direct competition with Motorola. It ensured that Motorola worked as an isolated company and did not get any unfair advantage when it came to new Android releases and features. It wasn’t clear why Google should keep draining its resources on Motorola and stifle its growth at the same time to ensure Android’s success. Disposing off Motorola’s handset business would also give some breathing space for Google with regulators globally.

For Motorola: The deal is a mixed bag for Motorola. It would no longer be a Google-owned company and all the perks that come with it. Google, it seems, has not sold off the R&D department headed by former DARPA Director, Regina Dugan. That department was working on future products including smart tattoos, smart pills and even a modular phone codenamed Ara. Motorola is most likely to lose all the Google-ness under Lenovo.

On a positive note, Motorola will finally be able to scale up with Lenovo. The Chinese electronics giant already has a global sales and distribution network. On the smartphone side, it has a thriving business in China, India and Indonesia – some of the largest and fastest growing smartphone markets in the world.

For Lenovo: It is the company that gains the most in this deal, which at $2.91 billion is a bargain. Even the terms – about $660 million in cash and $750 million in shares at the time of closing the deal and the remaining $1.5 billion spread over three years – it could not have asked for more favorable terms.

Apart from the financial aspect, Lenovo also gets a great engineering team as well as license to Motorola’s patents that Google would retain and 2,000 patents it will receive. It will also get to keep the trademark and copyright for the Motorola brand name. We have seen Lenovo do amazing things with the ThinkPad brand it got after acquiring IBM’s PC business in 2005.

Acquiring Motorola will also give Lenovo access into the US and Latin American markets, where it does not have a strong smartphone presence at the moment. Motorola’s relationships with carriers will come in extremely handy. The deal could catapult Lenovo as the third largest smartphone vendor after Samsung and Apple, overtaking Huawei and LG.

But most important take away from it all is the kind of access it buys Lenovo inside Google. More than anything else, Lenovo would treasure that the most for its future

Yahoo Mail hacked, account usernames and passwords stolen

Yahoo has said that usernames and passwords of its email customers have been stolen and used to access accounts, but the company isn’t saying how many accounts have been affected. Yahoo is the second-largest email service worldwide, after Google’s Gmail, according to the research firm comScore. There are 273 million Yahoo mail accounts worldwide, including 81 million in the US.

Yahoo yesterday said in a blog post on its breach that “The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts’ most recent sent emails.”  That could mean hackers were looking for additional email addresses to send spam or scam messages. By grabbing real names from those sent folders, hackers could try to make bogus messages appear more legitimate to recipients.

The bigger danger: access to email accounts could lead to more serious breaches involving banking and shopping sites. That’s because many sites use email to reset passwords. Hackers could try logging in to such a site with the Yahoo email address, for instance, and ask that a password reminder be sent by email.

The breach is the second problem for Yahoo’s mail service in two months. In December, the service suffered a multi-day outage that prompted Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer issue an apology. Yahoo said it believes the usernames and passwords weren’t collected from its own systems, but from a third-party database. It’s not clear why a third-party database would have information on Yahoo accounts.

Yahoo said it is resetting passwords on affected accounts and has “implemented additional measures” to block further attacks. The company would not comment beyond the information in its blog post. It said it is working with federal law enforcement.

Lenovo reportedly working on two new entry-level Android tablets

Chinese manufacturer Lenovo is working on two new tablets. According to a report by GSMArena, these two devices, namely A3500 and A3300, will be positioned in the entry-level tablet market.Specs wise the A3500, as the name suggests, is the better equipped of the two. Powered by a quad-core 1.3GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, the 3G equipped A3500 gets a 5-megapixel primary shooter and a 2-megapixel front camera while a 7-inch (800×1280 pixels) screen does the display duty. The A3300, on the other hand, gets a 1.3GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, a 2-megapixel camera primary and VGA front facing unit, and a lower resolution screen (600×1024). Sadly, as reported by the website, the A3300 doesn’t get 3G. Both the tablets have received their Bluetooth SIG certificates but launch details aren’t out yet.

While these two might be Lenovo’s offering in the entry-level market, there are two another tablets in the pipeline. To be called A7600 and A5500, these are expected to be higher spec devices, and not much information is about the two at the moment.

Lenovo yesterday announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility from Google, and with developments like these, it’s clear that Lenovo doesn’t want to exist as one of the leaders in just the PC market.

Amazon stock plunges 8 percent following disappointing Q4 results

Amazon has reportedly disappointed Wall Street analysts as its stock fell more than 8 percent after it released its fourth-quarter earnings. While Wall Street expected earnings of 67 cents a share and a revenue of $26.05 billion, Amazon failed to stand up to investors’ expectations with just 51 cents-per-share and a revenue of $25.59 billion in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s revenue for 2013 saw an increase of 22 percent against its last year’s revenue. Amazon’s stock reportedly plummeted 20 percent to 25.6 billion dollars, as customers preferred Internet to order online Christmas gifts, in a bid to avoid nasty weather and malls, the New York Post reported. The UPS alleged that during the crucial holiday quarter, its trucks could not meet deliver deadline owing to ‘overload’ from Amazon order.

The company left investors in a lurch after it announced that it was increasing its hiring of temporary warehouse workers by 40 percent, even as many traditional retail chains indulged in cost-cutting.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo 3G and LTE variants announced, likely to arrive next month

Last week we saw the first press photo of the Galaxy Note 3 Neo surface online. Now, the South Korean company has officially taken the wraps off the device in Poland. The Galaxy Note 3 Neo will be available in two variants — a 3G variant and an LTE variant called Galaxy Note 3 Neo LTE+. There is no mention of the price at the moment, but Samsung Poland has mentioned that the device will hit select markets in February.

Compared to the Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo is slightly shorter in length and width, while retaining the same thickness, design language and the pleather back. It also retains the S-Pen with support for Air Command and Easy Clip features.

In terms of hardware, both the variants are identical, except the processors. The 3G variant is powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, while the LTE variant is powered by a hexa-core processor, which is essentially a group of two 1.7GHz Cortex A15 SoC and another group of four 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex A7 SoC.

Other features include a 5.5-inch HD (1280×720 pixels) Super AMOLED display, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and BSI sensor, 2-megapixel secondary camera at the front, 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 64GB using a microSD card and a 3,100mAh battery.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and GLONASS and on the software front, the phablet runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Samsung has also pre-loaded the device with apps like Samsung ChatON, Samsung Link, Screen Mirroring, S Voice, S Health, Group Play, Smart Scroll, Smart Pause, Air View, Story Album and S Translator among others.

Flipkart to launch the Moto G in India on February 5

Flipkart today announced it will launch the Moto G in India on February 5. BGR India had exclusively reportedthat Flipkart would be the exclusive launch partner for Motorola to launch the Moto G in India.

Motorola is going for an exclusive online retail model for the Moto G in India. Initially, it seems Flipkart would be the only retail partner but other online retailers would come on board after the exclusivity period ends.

Flipkart is saying it will come with exclusive offers when it launches the Moto G on February 5.

Even though Google is selling Motorola to Lenovo, it will be business as usual till the time the deal is closed.

Olympus launches new cameras and lenses

Looks like Olympus understands that its Indian customers don’t have to wait for too long before laying hands on products launched internationally. Not long after launching its OM-D E-M10 mirrorless camera in the markets abroad, Olympus has brought it to India. Apart from that, the newly super zoom Stylus SP-100 and Tough TG-850 have been launched too.

The third addition to the OM-D family of cameras, the E-M10, gets its big brother E-M5′s 16 megapixel LMOS sensor and TruPic VII image processor. It is priced at Rs 53,990. As it is an interchangeable lens camera, you can use one of the lenses that Olympus has for its micro four-thirds range, or try out the two new Zuiko lenses that Olympus announced: M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ zoom pancake lens and the M.Zuiko Digital 25mm F1.8 fast prime.

The compacts range also got updated with two new cameras, one being the super zoom SP-100 and the other TG-850. The former with its 50x zoom is a first for the brand and at Rs 26,990 competes against the Fujifilm SL1000. The TG-850 belongs to the ‘Tough’ range, which means it is touted to be more rugged than the regular cameras. Available at Rs 19,990, the TG-850 is water-proof up to 10m, can endure falls up to 2.1m and shouldn’t stop working should the temperatures go as low as -10 degree celsius and surprisingly gets a 180 degree tilt screen too.

HOME NEWS GALLERY REVIEW BUYING GUIDES VIDEOS CONTACT US TIP US HOT TOPICS Apple Android BlackBerry Business Exclusives Mobile Reviews iBall Andi 5K Sparkle, Andi 3.5 Classique, Andi 3.5KKe Super and Andi 3.5KKe Glory smartphones available online

iBall has listed four new smartphones namely the Andi 5K Sparkle, Andi 3.5 Classique, Andi 3.5KKe Super and Andi 3.5KKe Glory on its official website (spotted by FoneArena). The Andi 5K Sparkle is the company’s mid-range offering while the other three phones are placed in the entry level segment. All the phones are priced below Rs 10,000.

The iBall Andi 5K Sparkle comes with a 5-inch qHD display with 960×540 pixels resolution, which usually works fine, but is a little noisy at times. At its heart sits a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz, with 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal memory.

The phone sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Like other smartphones in this range, the Andi 5K Sparkle too runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Other features include light, proximity and G-sensors, a microSD card slot, and 1,820mAh battery. This is a dual-SIM phone with 3G connectivity on one SIM. The phone is available in white color and is priced for Rs 9,999.

The Andi 3.5 Classique is a 3.5-inch phone and is powered by a dual-core processor with 256MB of RAM and 512MB of internal storage, which is similar to the Karbonn K91 which was spotted yesterday. The Andi 3.5 Classique comes with a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a VGA front-facing camera, and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Unlike the Karbonn K91 though, this handset supports 3G. Karbonn has yet to officially launch the phone.

The other two phones, the Andi 3.5KKe Glory and 3.5KKe Super too come with a 3.5-inch display and cost Rs 3,999 and Rs 4,999 respectively. The 3.5KKe Glory runs on a 1GHz Cortex-A7 processor with 256MB of RAM and 512MB of internal storage, while the Super comes with a 1.3GHz processor.

Chennai is Uber’s fourth city in India

After launching in Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad, Uber has now reached Chennai. There is currently no mention of any tariffs as the company is in a “secret testing mode.”

Uber will only have a limited number of cars available in the city as it gauges the reaction in the new city. Though there is no mention of when the service will be launched for the masses, judging by the previous three cities, the services should be up and running within a month.

This move comes as somewhat of a surprise, since Mumbai was expected to be the fourth Indian city for Uber. The company had used its Twitter handle to announce job opportunities for its Mumbai operations.

To recap on this premium service, Uber does not own any cars or hires any drivers. Instead, it acts like a middleman between fleet owners and potential customers by providing an app for users to easily book and pay for rides while its intelligent software in the background ensures that cab owners get the most value out of every trip and keep their cars running during off time

Microsoft tweaks Windows 8.1 again, hiding tile interface by default

Microsoft is reportedly issuing an updated Windows 8.1 version, which will enable users to bypass the tile interface at the Start Screen by default. The Windows 8.1 Update 1 or version 8.1.1 is Microsoft”s another attempt at making traditional desktop users become familiar with the OS more apt as a tablet-like interface.
According to a report by The Verge, the updated OS would have the boot-to-desktop option enabled by default, unlike the previous version in which users had to switch to the mode manually. Other changes in the Update 1 include the presence of shutdown and search buttons on the Start Screen, the ability to pin Windows 8-style (Metro) apps on the desktop task bar, and a new bar at the top of Metro apps to allow users to minimize, close, and snap apps. The report said that the Windows 8.1 Update 1 is expected to debut in March, ahead of potential Windows 9 unveiling in April.

Web portal on Gandhi’s life launched

A first of its kind web portal, “Mahatma Gandhi for children”, was launched last evening as a tribute to the Father of the Nation on his 66th death anniversary.

The portal was launched by the adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations and Chairman of the National Innovation Council Sam Pitroda during a Twitter conference, says a press release.

The portal – “Search for Gandhi” ? targets children from the age of 6 to 15 years and is available in English as well as Hindi.

The portal brings Gandhi’s life story to educate and inspire children through audios and videos by creatively integrating facts, games and quizzes.

A freedom fighter, a visionary and a leader, Gandhi’s life is filled with lessons that are imperative even in today’s scenario, it said.

Games and quizzes have been designed to drive the visitors to know more about Gandhi and how they could put his message to practice in their own lives.

Unlike text books, the portal provides an interactive, innovative and technology driven platform.

The Twitter Conference saw hundreds of tweets coming in from several countries around the world, that were answered by Sam Pitroda – @pitrodasam and Jahanvi Prasad – @jprasada, Founder, Youth 4 Gandhi Foundation.

The portal is available at www.searchforgandhi.in

The complete text of the Twitter Conference can be found at http://storify.com/PIII/twitter-conf-search-for-gandhi.

Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 mini Black editions announced

Samsung has announced the Black editions of its Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 mini smartphones, which mainly differentiate on the basis of their design pattern from the current versions.

These new variants of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 mini smartphones come with a black colored pleather back panel as was seen on the Galaxy Note 3 last year, and that is the only noticeable variation between these devices. Rest of the features including the display, processor, memory size, camera and others remain the same like earlier.

It seems that Samsung is bringing its pleather form factor to all of its popular Galaxy smartphones, varying from mid-range to high-end, in order to create an identity for its devices in the Galaxy series. Recently, the company had announced the Galaxy Grand 2 with a Galaxy Note 3-like back body design. In fact, Samsung’s latest version of Galaxy Note 10.1 tablets too sport similar look, but in a much bigger frame.

Samsung will launch the Black Edition of both the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 mini in Russia first, starting from next month for $660 approximately (Rs 41,335) and for $460 (approximately Rs 28,800). There is no word on the release of these editions in other countries.

BSNL, MTNL to get loan for paying staff inherited from DoT

The government will give a loan to state-owned BSNL and MTNL to pay the employees they inherited from the Department of Telecom, a ministerial panel decided today.

Both the telecom companies, which have been in losses, are rationalizing cost and are considering other steps like locking value of their real estate for their revival.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on revival of BSNL and MTNL decided that telcos should get loan to address the salary issue.

The panel also gave its in-principle approval to hive off BSNL’s tower assets into a separate subsidiary.

“In the process of rationalising the cost which is being incurred by BSNL and MTNL on staff which they had basically inherited from DoT, we have made a case and GoM has come to a decision that this can be addressed by giving them a loan,” Telecom Secretary M F Farooqui said after the GoM meeting.

When asked what amount will be given, he said it is being worked out on the basis of some limited number of employees and expanses on those on salary. The loan will be given on that basis which the companies will eventually repay with some interest, he added

BSNL’s salary burden in 2011-12 stood at Rs 13,406 crore, almost half its revenues. Most of the BSNL staff are inherited from the DoT.

In a bid to bring down this burden, BSNL had proposed letting go one lakh employees by offering them voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

Sources, however, said the VRS proposal is now on hold as it required huge outgo of around Rs 12,000 crore at one-go.

On tower assets Farooqui said: “Yes, we will be working on it to hive off towers assets of BSNL as a subsidiary,” Farooqui said.

He said on tower business, the GoM has indicated a way forward and the Department will now see what all approvals are needed to be taken to take it forward.

BSNL has over 60,000 towers across India. It also has tower sharing pacts with many private operators.

No decision was, however, taken on the issue of monetisation of land assets of the state-run companies, which may fetch them nearly Rs 14,000 crore.

“It will be examined further,” the secretary said.

BSNL had posted loss of about Rs 7,784 crore in financial year 2012-13. MTNL’s net loss widened to Rs 5,321.12 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 4,109.78 crore in FY’12.

The GoM’s previous decisions, including refund of fee for broadband wireless spectrum which cumulatively amounted to Rs 11,258 crore and bearing burden of pension paid to MTNL staff, brought some relief to the ailing public sector units.

Both the PSUs expect to turn profitable by 2017-18, sources said.

Who is Satya Nadella, the man tipped to be Microsoft’s third-ever CEO?

The search for Microsoft’s next CEO, since Steve Ballmer announced his retirement, has seen more twists and turns than a rollercoaster ride at an amusement park. The list of candidates from outside Microsoft has all but withered down with some publicly denouncing their interest while some others getting elevated to head their current company. But the long drawn saga could finally be coming to an end as reports surfaced yesterday that Microsoft is likely to announce Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella as its next CEO. Here’s a look at what the current head of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise division brings to the table and what direction the company could take under only its third CEO in the company’s 38-year history.

To start with, Microsoft’s decision to promote an insider rather than hiring someone from outside could be viewed as an uninspiring move by many. Especially since, in Ballmer’s words, “the company is in need of fresh blood.” At first glance, Nadella might not be the fresh blood everyone expected, but he is respected inside the company and the tech industry and could well surprise many.

Nadella was born in Hyderabad in 1967 and after his initial schooling in India, moved to the US to earn a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin and then an MBA at the University of Chicago. He began his career at Sun Microsystems (now owned by Oracle), before heading to Microsoft in 1992, where he has remained for 22 years.

Starting off at Microsoft’s R&D centre for the Online Services Division, Nadella has headed quite a few divisions including the $19 billion Server and Tools Business. But generally, he is recognized as the “cloud guru,” who has a firm understanding of the power of cloud and knows how things like Bing, Microsoft 365, Skype and Xbox Live among other works. On the back of an impressive quarter, Microsoft’s CPO Kevin Turner revealed how cloud services were growing at more than 100 percent year-over-year and the customers were openly embracing services like Office 365.

As far as personality goes, he is far from the boisterous Steve Ballmer and such a change could work well for the company as it goes through a transitional phase. As the company moves towards the “One Microsoft” brand — where all the businesses and products are merged behind a single brand and a single vision — it is necessary for all internal issues to be solved to make the transition smooth. Herein lays another of Nadella’s strengths, as he is known as a person who can make warring clans inside a company resolve all differences and work together.

Apart from slowing PC shipments and the state of Windows operating system, Nadella’s biggest challenge would be to execute the company’s new vision of being a software and devices company. With the acquisition of Nokiaexpected to complete this quarter itself, within days after his appointment as the CEO (if that happens, that is), Nadella would have to oversee Nokia’s integration with Microsoft – two completely culturally different companies.

This is the red Nexus 5

All things considered, the Nexus 5 is the best Android phone in the world. It comes with a great design, solid specs, terrific performance and a shockingly low price tag. While Google undoubtedly has a new Nexus phone in store for us at some point this year, the company isn’t yet done with the 5. We’ve seen the rumors surface over the past few days but now the deal is apparently sealed — a new leak from @evleaks shows the Nexus 5 with a fresh new coat of red paint. No other details were provided in this most recent leak, but we’ll likely see the red Nexus hit virtual store shelves soon enough.

How to tell if your Gmail account was hacked

The recent breach of Yahoo’s Yahoo Mail servers is the latest in a string of high-profile hacks that have taken center stage in the tech media lately. It seems that no service is safe from malicious hackers, who constantly come up with terrifying new ways to steal your data. Of course it’s not just wide-scale hacks we have to be afraid of — our various online accounts are always at risk. Google’s Gmail service is hugely popular so it’s often a target for hackers on the prowl. And considering how awful our passwords often are, hacking into Gmail isn’t always much of a challenge. As Tech2 noted on Friday, however, there’s a pretty easy way to find out if your account was hacked without waiting for your friends to email you asking why you’re suddenly peddling Viagra on behalf of a shady Vietnamese pharmacy.

Google provides all Gmail users with a quick and easy way to see what devices and IP addresses are accessing their accounts. To do it, simply scroll to the bottom of your inbox at Gmail.com and on the right side of the screen, you’ll see a message that says Last account activity: X minutes/hours/days ago. Beneath that line, you’ll see a link on the word “Details.”

Clicking that link will take you to a list of all the IP addresses and locations that have accessed your account recently. See something that doesn’t look familiar? Change your password immediately — and enabling two-factor authentication probably isn’t a bad idea either, as Tech2 notes.

Government pulled up for laxity on e-mail use policy

The Delhi High Court Friday pulled up the central government for its laxity in coming out with a notification on a national e-mail policy for official communication.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul warned the government of “coercive action” if it keeps on delaying the e-mail policy despite the court order.

“You don’t want us to take any coercive action. Do you?” the bench said after Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra told the court that a meeting of the committee of secretaries will be held in three weeks.

“It is unfortunate you take so much time to do such small things,” the court noted. “I don’t know why you keep blaming the politicians. Look at the bureaucrats, they are forming one committee after another.”

The bench also asked a responsible senior officer to be present in court to indicate the government’s response on the issue.

The court’s remark came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K.N. Govindacharya. He sought direction to the central government to bring in an e-mail policy for government officials in consonance with the Public Records Act in order to bar transfer of data to a server outside the country.

The central government Oct 30 told the court that it is on the verge of finalising the e-mail policy for government employees, and has sought opinion from various ministries on it. The court then granted it four weeks’ time.

Petitioner’s advocate Virag Gupta said that despite the court’s direction, top officials of the IT and communication ministry are still using private e-mail IDs, posing a big security risk.

The petitioner alleged that officials were also using social networking sites and other e-mail accounts with service providers, whose servers were outside India, for official communications instead of the government server of the National Informatics Centre (nic.in).

The plea added that the use of e-mail accounts whose servers were outside India and transfer of nation’s official data using this medium violated the Public Records Act.

The court would next hear the case Feb 19.

DoT allocates helpline number ’1950′ to ECI

The Department of Telecom today allocated helpline number ’1950′ to Election Commission for the public to register complaints against poll-related issues.

“Code ’1950′ was allotted to Election Commission of India …for public grievance redressal as per request from Election Commission,” DoT said in a notice to telecom operators.

By dialling 1950, people can reach a telephone number indicated by the Chief Electoral officer of the respective state, it added.

The cost of the call made by public will be paid by Chief Electoral officer of the respective state to telecom operators.

“You (Telecom operators) are hereby requested to realise this service up to the satisfaction of Election Commission i.e., the Chief Electoral officers of the state in the interest of public and nation as a whole,” the notice said.

TDSAT casts doubt on dual-tech licence of RCom, TTSL

Casting doubts on dual-technology (CDMA and GSM) licences issued to Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, telecom tribunal TDSAT today rejected their petition demanding additional spectrum.

It has however accepted the request for providing additional spectrum to GSM operator Aircel.

RCom and Tata Tele had argued that the Supreme Court’s cancellation of 122 licences in February 2012 in the 2G spectrum allocation case did not include their UASL licences, and the approval for use of these licences had been upheld by the tribunal in an earlier case.

However, TDSAT bench, chaired by Justice Aftab Alam, said: “…we have no hesitation in holding that the approval for dual technology granted in their (RCom and TTSL) favour and the consequent amendments in their licences have come under cloud.”

It said that validity of use of dual-technology licence and consequent amendments are due for consideration before the Supreme Court in a separate appeal arising from the Tribunal’s judgement in the case of 2007.

TDSAT added however that it will be highly unsafe to make the licences of these companies the basis for allocation of additional spectrum which is a scarce natural resource and invaluable national asset.

“We accordingly hold that Reliance and Tata are not entitled to a direction by the tribunal for allocation of any additional spectrum,” the judgement said.

RCoM, TTSL, Aircel and Dishnet (now part of Aircel) approached TDSAT seeking allocation of additional GSM spectrum under the terms of licences they procured from government in October 2007.

Under the previous licensing regime of Unified Access Services Licences (UASL), telecom companies were allocated 4.4 Mhz of GSM spectrum to start mobile services. However, based on certain parameters, they could claim additional 1.8 Mhz.

At the present rate fixed by the government, 1 Mhz of pan-India spectrum amounts to Rs 1,765 crore, while under the UASL given earlier – alongwith 4.4 Mhz – had cost telecom companies about Rs 1,658 crore.

TDSAT said however that Aircel and Dishnet are entitled to additional spectrum, saying that the case of Aircel and its subsidiary Dishnet is different from that of RCom and TTSL.

“Aircel and Dishnet are original GSM operators. Reliance and Tata on the other hand were initially basic service operators,” the bench observed.

Aircel had sought additional 1.8 MHz spectrum in service areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Rajasthan and 8 other circles.

TDSAT has said whether Aircel will have to pay market rate or covered under entry fees paid by company will remain open to answer till another case of Vodafone against the government of India is decided.

Airtel, Vodafone, Loop and Idea plea for licence extension rejected

In a set back to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Loop and Idea, telecom tribunal TDSAT has dismissed their pleas seeking stay over next month’s spectrum auction and extension of their licenses by another 10 years.

Rejecting a batch of petition, the tribunal said: “The petitioners have failed to establish their right for extension in terms of the relevant provisions in their licenses, the matter ends there”.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) held that it was satisfied with the reason based on which the Department of Telecom (DoT) had denied extension and asked telcos to participate in the spectrum auction starting February 3.

“Denial of extension of the licenses to the petitioners is based on good reasons as envisaged under clause 4.1 of the UAS license and the relevant provision in the CMTS license and the petitioners can claim no right for extension of their licenses under the aforesaid provisions of their licenses,” said TDSAT bench headed by Chairman Justice Aftab Alam.

It further observed that “any extension of the expiring licenses is bound to undermine the implementation of the policy and that is justification enough and sufficient for the Government to decline the extension for the licenses”.

Vodafone and Bharti Airtel are participating in the coming auction and are short-listed as eligible bidders. Their licenses are expiring by November end this year on completion of the 20-year period as per license conditions.

However, their participation is without prejudice to their rights and contentions in the petitions pending before TDSAT as per the order passed December 20, 2013.

Loop, which operates in the Mumbai circle, has not participated in the auction process as it was waiting for the outcome of this petition.

Idea’s seven licences would expire in December 2015.

Vodafone’s licence is expiring for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles while for Airtel it is Delhi and Mumbai circles.

Airtel, Vodafone and Loop’s spectrum belong to 900 MHz band and a relatively very small portion to 1800 MHz band.

Telcos had argued that they have made huge investments ranging into several crores and hence had the legitimate expectation for the extension. Any such denial was not only “illegal and unreasonable” but also reflected upon the uncertainties of doing business in the country, they added.

However, tribunal was not impressed with it and said: “We would only like to observe that the holder of a UAS license has no right of allocation of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.

“As against that, all the petitioners have been holding, for years, spectrum far in excess of the contracted quantum and that too in the most premium band and that on payment of entry fee at rates fixed in 2001. Hence, we are not impressed by this submission”.