Telecom Minister

DoT asks telcos to play cybercrime awareness caller tune 8-10 times daily

The telecom department has ordered operators to play cyber crime awareness caller tune 8-10 times per day to telephone subscribers for three months. According to the order copy sent to the telecom operators, the caller tunes will be provided by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) -- a cyber crime wing under the Home Ministry. "In order to make the public aware about cybercrime through the caller tune campaign, it has been decided to play caller tune audios through pre-call announcement/ring back tone arrangement, which will be provided to TSPs by nodal officers of I4C. Caller tunes to a subscriber may be played about 8-10 times a day," the order dated December 18 said. The order asked telecom service providers (TSPs) to immediately take action on the order. "Different caller tunes related to cybercrime will be provided on a weekly basis for a period of three months," the order said. There has been a rise in the incidence of financial fraud through new scams like digita

Govt notifies telecom cyber security rules, sets reporting timelines

The government has notified the telecom cyber security rules, that aim to safeguard India's communication networks and services, through a host of measures including specified timelines for telcos to report security incidents and make disclosures. The rules also empower the central government/ its authorised agency to seek traffic data and any other data (other than the content of messages) from a telecom entity for the purpose of ensuring cyber security. Telecom entities would also be required to adopt telecom cyber security policy, that would include security safeguards, risk management approaches, actions, training, network testing, and risk assessment. "The central government, or any agency authorised by the central government, may, for the purposes of protecting and ensuring telecom cyber security, seek from a telecommunication entity, traffic data and any other data, other than the content of messages, in the form and manner as may be specified by the central government on the

Scindia optimistic on non-terrestrial networks to connect unconnected India

Union Telecom Minister Jyotriaditya Scindia on Monday said he is looking at the evolution of satellite communication networks or non-terrestrial networks with great optimism and believes it will open up new frontiers in communication technologies besides connecting the unconnected. While speaking at the South Asian Telecommunication Regulators Council hosted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Scindia said the non-terrestrial networks will ignite the advent of new applications and advance the resolve of the government towards United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. "The advent of non-terrestrial networks, in addition to the GEO satellites, the medium earth orbit, and the low earth orbit satellites, has now given a new inflection point to telecommunication technology. I believe that presents a huge opportunity to be able to connect the hitherto unconnected population across the length and breadth of our country," Scindia said. The government has decided to ...

Fraud detection system blocks 13.5 mn calls, saves Rs 2,500 cr: Scindia

The technical system deployed by the government is blocking 1.35 crore fraud calls daily and has helped save people's assets worth Rs 2,500 crore till date, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia has said. The minister, in an interview with PTI, said most of the spam calls originate from servers outside the country, and the systems have been able to block the majority of such fraudulent calls. "In terms of the number of marketing calls you get in your phone, the number of fraud calls that come in, we have put in place a full system to be able to tackle that. Our DoT fraud detection network has saved close to about Rs 2,500 crore of people's assets today, as we speak, through Sanchar Sathi and Chakshu," Scindia said. The systems have led to the disconnection of close to about 2.9 lakh phones and blocked close to about 1.8 million headers that were used for sending out messages, he added. "Along with that, (there) was another vicarious method through which people woul

Govt says no auction of satellite spectrum after Musk decries move

Telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said during a New Delhi event that the spectrum will be allocated administratively in line with Indian laws, and its pricing worked out by the telecom watchdog

97% of cities, 80% population covered by 5G: Jyotiraditya Scindia

9,560 unconnected villages got signal in first 100 days of govt

BSNL subscribers on rise, homegrown 4G network ready: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday claimed that the subscriber base for the government-run BSNL has been increasing, while a homegrown 4G network is also ready and work is on to convert it to 5G. Talking to reporters here, the Union minister for communications said under Atmanirbhar Bharat, a 4G network with indigenous technology is ready and, in a few months, its services will be available across the country through the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). "Several people had asked when Jio, Airtel and Vodafone rolled out the 4G network, why not BSNL? It was the prime minister's resolution that if we have to develop a government-run company's network, we will not use equipment from China or any other foreign country," Scindia said. It was decided that an indigenous technology would be developed, he said. "PM Modi has resolved under Atmanirbhar Bharat that India will develop its own 4G stack, core system or towers called radiation access network (RAN). India will devel

Call rates in India among lowest in world: Telecom minister Scindia

India now has 117 crore mobile connections and 93 crore internet connections, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while noting that call rates in the country are one of the lowest in the world. Scindia said the cost of call for every minute was 53 paisa and it has come down to just 3 paisa now, which is a 93 per cent reduction, one of the lowest rates in the world. At present, India has 117 crore mobile connectivity and 93 crore internet connections, he said. He said the cost of one GB data is Rs 9.12, which is cheapest in the world. The minister said under the Digital India Initiative, various technology-led startups and innovation schemes like Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0), Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS), domain specific Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) have been undertaken with a total funding outlay of around Rs 800 crore in tier-2 and tier-3 ...

Scindia promises 100% telecom connectivity in all villages in next 1 yr

Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on Saturday that 100 per cent coverage of villages in terms of telecom connectivity in the country is targeted in the next 12 months. Scindia, the Union minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said special funds have been sanctioned by the Cabinet for the purpose and he has himself been monitoring the progress of work every week. Addressing a press conference here, he said, The prime minister is committed to 100 per cent saturation. We have identified around 24,000 villages in the country that still need saturation in terms of telecom connection. A special scheme to reach all these villages has already been rolled out along with funds sanctioned for the purpose, he said. Areas in the northeastern states are among these villages, and strategies are being worked out to reach these places, the minister said. Provisions of the new telecom Act enable setting up required infrastructure and mixed technologies

Telecom minister to meet telcos and internet service providers on Tuesday

Jyotiraditya Scindia met with satcom, OEM and electronic makers on Monday

Modi govt 3.0 cabinet: Jyotiraditya Scindia becomes new telecom minister

Scindia's political journey took a turn in 2020 when he resigned from the Congress party, triggering a political crisis that led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh

Modi 3.0: DPDP, sat spectrum norms, electronics PLI boost on cards

MeitY targets framing guidelines for Artificial intelligence, DoT zeroes on spectrum auction, war on spam

India Mobile Congress 2024 and other key global telecom events in Oct

Held by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), IMC, in its eighth edition, should see more than 1,000 exhibitors

Aiming for 10% share of global ATMP/OSAT market in 5 yrs: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw talks of what India's semiconductor strategy will be in the next five to 10 years to make the country not only "aatmanirbhar" but also a global player in the business

India shouldn't oppose consensus on 6GHz use at global talks: GSMA

Global telecom operators body says major nations nearing consensus on capacity requirements of 5G and beyond

People should not take calls from 'unknown' numbers: Telecom minister

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged people on Friday to not pick mobilephone calls from "unknown numbers" and asserted that measures taken by the ministry have resulted in a significant reduction in spam calls and cases of cyber frauds. "People should never pick calls made from unknown numbers. I request every citizen that they should respond to calls from only (telephone/mobile) those numbers they recognise," he told reporters. He was responding to a question about spam calls and cyber frauds. Vaishnaw said his ministry had recently launched the 'Sanchar Saathi' portal to prevent spam calls and cyber frauds. Over 40 lakh wrong SIMs and 41,000 wrong "points of sale" agents were blacklisted, he added. The use of artificial intelligence has helped significantly to reduce these cases, he said. People should respond to unknown numbers only if an identification message is sent from such callers, the minister said.

'Disconnected over 15 lakh mobile numbers issued on fraudulent credentials'

The Department of Telecommunications has disconnected over 15 lakh mobile number that were issued using fraudulent credentials, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Minister of state for telecom Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to Lok Sabha said the Centre has taken various steps to strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. "More than 15 Lakh mobile numbers detected to have been issued on fraudulent credentials, have been disconnected by DoT," Chauhan said. He said that a toll-free helpline number '1930' has been operationalised to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. "Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued directions to TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) on February 16, 2023 to prevent the misuse of headers and message templates for cybercrime/fraud," the minister said. He said that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) has been established to provide a framework and eco-system for LEAs (Law

India has 127 global patents for 6G technology now: Ashwini Vaishnaw

India now has over 127 global patents for 6G technology, Union Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that India has the power of trust and scale, which is leading to the demand for indigenous telecom gears overseas. "I must also share with you that 127 patents have been obtained by Indians," Vaishnaw said on the sidelines of the 17th India Telecom event.

Sikkim to get 5G services before Independence-Day: Union Minister Vaishnaw

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said Sikkim will get 5G services before Independence Day this year. Addressing a function here after releasing a postal cover titled 'Go Green, Go Organic', the Electronics and Information Technology Minister said the Centre has proposed to cover all villages in the country with 4G and 5G services over the next 18-24 months and work was already in progress. "Sikkim will get 5G services before August 15 this year," he said. Vaishnaw said the Sevoke-Rangpo railway project was underway at a good pace and the development of Sikkim will get a fillip with the commissioning of the project. "The Centre may consider extending the railway network beyond Rangpo and it was working on three alignments, one of which will be finalised in consultation with the state government in the future," he said. The Union minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally taking a deep interest in the ongoing infrastructural projects in northeastern states.

5G towers up in 387 districts, nationwide by Dec 2024: Telecom Minister

18 countries are also keen on implementing India's indigenously developed 4G and 5G stacks, Ashwani Vaishnaw says