Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could announce a new initiative by the government under which every poor family living below poverty line would get a free mobile phone along with free talktime. The scheme, called Har Haath Mein Mobile (a mobile in every hand), is expected to be announced on August 15 and could cost the government Rs 7,000 crore, the Times of India reports. The scheme would provide a mobile phone and Rs 200 worth of local talktime to six million families living below the poverty line. (more̷...

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) denied a report published in the Indian media that claims the company is handing over encryption keys for its secure enterprise services to the Indian government. “RIM has found it necessary to correct some false and misleading information appearing in the media in India and would like to take an opportunity to set the record straight,” said a company spokesperson in a statement to BGR India. (more…)Google+

A bill providing for amendments to the copyright act to remove operational difficulties and address new issues concerning the digital world and internet was Thursday approved by the Rajya Sabha. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010, also seeks to make its provisions in conformity with World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and performances and phonograms treaty. (more…)Google+

The heads of some telecom firms will meet Communications Minister Kapil Sibal Tuesday to contest the regulator’s contention that there would be only a minor increase in tariffs as a result of the steep hike in the reserve price of 2G spectrum. The chief executive officers or regulatory heads of GSM players, including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Uninor and Aircel will also inform the government about the possible effect of re-farming on industry and the consumers. (more…)Google+

Indian authorities have allegedly launched an anti-trust probe against Google, with its online search business in the middle of potential ant-competitive practices. The WSJ cites government officials as the source of information though Google India denies receiving any intimation about it. (more…)Google+

Britain-based Vodafone Tuesday said it would prefer to reach an amicable solution to its Rs.11,000 crore capital gain tax dispute with the Indian government over the acquisition of assets of Hutchisson-Essar in the country. The company served the Indian government a notice of dispute regarding the proposal in the Finance Bill 2012 to amend the law to tax overseas mergers and acquisitions involving Indian assets, saying it violated the international legal protections granted to Vodafone and other international...

After RIM’s messaging services, Nokia’s push mail services and asking Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Skype among others to route their services through servers in the country, Indian intelligence agency – the Intelligence Bureau – now wants to track mobile Internet usage. Their case in point in logical – if they can trace users via IP addresses from Internet Service Providers, they should be able to do the same with mobile operators too. The Economic Times reports that the Departm...

Brace yourself. The ‘game changing’ and ‘revolutionizing’ world’s cheapest tablet is now officially a flop show. A Reuters report suggests that Datawind has managed to ship only 10,000 units of the Aakash tablet since its debut in October last year. Datawind was supposed to supply 100,000 units of the tablet as a part of the Indian government’s pilot project to bring Internet connectivity and computing to all students. If successful, the government would have picked up anot...

A day after reports that Datawind, manufacturers of India’s cheapest Aakash tablet, were to be disassociated from the tablet, the manufacturer Tuesday said that they had no “official or unofficial” information about it. “Datawind would like to state that we’ve not been informed officially or unofficially by the ministry of HRD (human resource development) of anything restricting us to participate in the next tender,” a statement from the company said. (more…)Google+

Research In Motion (RIM) has finally set up its servers in India that will allow Indian security agencies to monitor some aspects of its users’ communications made from the devices. From what we can understand, RIM has given direct access to the Indian government for its consumer-grade messaging service (BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Internet Service) and denying access to its enterprise service called BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES). In order to access BES, the government agencies will have t...

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal Monday said an upgraded version of the tablet PC “Aakash”, supplied primarily to students at less than Rs.2,450 ($49) a piece, would not be hiked. The minister, who also holds the education portfolio, said two state-owned technology companies had been roped in to manufacture the upgraded version. He admitted there were problems with Datawind, the original developer of the tablet. (more…)Google+

India Wednesday announced new norms for the telecom industry, making mergers and acquisitions (M&As) easier in the sector that is set to enter a phase of consolidation after the recent Supreme Court order revoked 122 2G licences.“Merger up to 35 percent market share of the resultant entity will be allowed through a simple, quick procedure,” Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said, reading out the changes in policies governing licences, spectrum and merger norms.Sibal said that all players wou...