Regulatory Category

Bharti Airtel Investigated over Money Laundering Allegations
May 16th 2012 - 18:18 GMT
India's authorities are investigating Bharti Airtel over allegations of money laundering, a government minister told the Parliament....more

Mobile Content Provider Warned for Failing to Comply with Spam Act
May 16th 2012 - 08:53 GMT
The Australian Communications and Media Authority says that it has issued a formal warning to Global Billing Solutions (GBS), a provider of ringtones, games and competitions for mobile phones....more

Communications Network Reliability Improved in the Event of Short-term Power Cuts
May 14th 2012 - 13:08 GMT
The reliability of communications networks and services will be improved in the event of short-term power cuts, Finland's telecoms regulator has announced....more

Malaysia Aims to Award 4G Spectrum Shortly
May 14th 2012 - 11:35 GMT
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission says that it hopes to award licenses for 2.6GHz radio spectrum soon....more

Robi Axiata Ordered to Pay Taxes on GSM License Renewal Fees
May 14th 2012 - 10:58 GMT
Bangladesh based Robi Axiata has been ordered to make a payment of nearly Tk1.5 billion (US$17.9 million) in unpaid taxes after a court ruled in favour of the telecoms regulator in a court case....more

Three Bids Received for Chilean 4G License Auction
May 14th 2012 - 10:38 GMT
Three Chilean mobile networks have submitted bids for the country's 4G radio spectrum auction, local media is reporting....more

French Mobile Subscriber Base Nears 70 Million As Churn Rate Jumps
May 13th 2012 - 11:15 GMT
The number of mobile phone customers in France stood at 69.5 million on 31 March 2012, which corresponds to a penetration rate of 106.5% of the national population, i.e. including both Metropolitan France and the overseas territories....more

Du Mulls Bid for Saudi MVNO License
May 13th 2012 - 11:06 GMT
UAE based mobile network, Du is considering bidding for an MVNO license in Saudi Arabia in what would be its first move outside its home market....more

Ghana to Audit International Call Traffic for Tax Evasion
May 13th 2012 - 10:21 GMT
Ghana's National Communication Authority says that it will be auditing the country's telecoms networks to ensure they are accurately recording international call traffic....more

Nigerian Networks Fined for Poor Quality of Service
May 13th 2012 - 10:07 GMT
Nigeria's Communications Commission (NCC) has fined the country's four main mobile networks for missing quality of service standards in March and April....more

China Internet Crackdown Continues With New Sina Weibo Guidelines
May 11th 2012 - 08:23 GMT
China's largest microblogging service is unveiling a controversial new set of guidelines that aims to officially restrict what its users can post online....more

European Price Caps for Mobile Data Roaming Expected to Save Families over EUR200
May 10th 2012 - 11:42 GMT
From 1 July 2012, the European Union's mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads. A family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least EUR200....more

USA Regulator Seeks Return of $52 Million Worth of Bogus Phone Bill Charges
May 9th 2012 - 07:28 GMT
The USA's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that it is seeking a civil contempt ruling against the country' largest third-party billing company, alleging that it placed more than US$70 million in bogus "cramming" charges on consumers' phone bills in violation of a previous court order....more

Tunisiana Granted 3G and Landline Operator Licenses
May 7th 2012 - 09:58 GMT
Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has confirmed that its Tunisia based subsidiary Tunisiana has been awarded both 3G and landline operator licenses by the Tunisian Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication....more

MTN Nigeria Surprised by Threats of Regulatory Sanctions
May 5th 2012 - 19:20 GMT
MTN Nigeria has said that is is surprised by threats from the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to impose sanctions on the group for poor network quality for its subscribers....more

FTC Appears Ready To Fine Google For IPad, IPhone Privacy Breach
May 5th 2012 - 09:05 GMT
The USA based Consumer Watchdog says that the Federal Trade Commission appears ready to fine Google millions of dollars for hacking around privacy settings on iPhones and iPads....more

US Regulator Outlines Details for Rural Broadband Subsidies
May 3rd 2012 - 08:03 GMT
The USA's Federal Communications Commission has outlined the details for competitive bidding procedures for Phase I of the Mobility Fund, the first-ever reverse auction for Universal Service support....more

Kenyan Regulator Pushes Ahead with Mobile Termination Rate Cuts
May 2nd 2012 - 16:27 GMT
Kenya's telecoms regulator has rejected calls for a new study into its plans to cut Mobile Termination Rates and will push forward with previously announced reductions from July....more

Qatar to Test Base Stations for Radio Emission Levels
May 2nd 2012 - 15:48 GMT
Qatar's telecoms regulator, ictQATAR has launched a campaign to ensure that health and safety standards are fully met for radio frequency emissions from 2G and 3G mobile network base stations....more

Malawi Regulator Ordered to Compensate Mobile Network for License Cancellation
May 1st 2012 - 15:25 GMT
Malawi's telecoms regulator, Macra has been ordered to make a payment of US$66 million to Malawi Mobile in compensation for cancelling its mobile license....more

Google Says More Staff Aware of Wi-Fi Data Sniffing by Street View Cars
April 30th 2012 - 10:29 GMT
Google has now admitted that there were at least three staff aware that its Street View vehicles were collecting Wi-Fi information as they drove around several countries....more

Nigerian Regulators Squabble Over Base Station Regulations
April 30th 2012 - 09:07 GMT
The Nigerian telecoms regulator, the NCC has broken the seals on a base station that had been shut-down by the country's Environmental Regulator and said that it has the sole responsibility for regulating the industry....more

Thai Networks Approve 3G License Plans
April 29th 2012 - 15:41 GMT
Thailand's mobile networks have responded favourably to the proposed 3G license auction from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)....more

Romanian Regulator Opens Consultation on 450Mhz Radio Spectrum Use
April 29th 2012 - 14:53 GMT
Romania's telecoms regulator, Ancom has posted a questionnaire aimed at finding the views of all interested parties concerning the future use of the 453-457.5 MHz/463-467.5 MHz frequency band (the 450 MHz band)....more

Pakistan Delays 3G License Auction Again
April 29th 2012 - 14:42 GMT
Pakistan's often delayed plans to auction 3G licenses has been delayed again - this time indefinitely amid confusion about what is happening at the regulator....more

European Commission Consults on Reducing Deployment Costs for High Speed Internet
April 27th 2012 - 11:38 GMT
The European Commission is seeking views on how to cut the costs of setting up new networks for high speed internet in the EU. ...more

Indian Radio Spectrum Plans Threaten Mobile Broadband Investment and Deployment
April 27th 2012 - 08:38 GMT
The GSMA today stated that the TRAI's recommendations on the "Auction of Spectrum" will set India back in its goal to deliver "Broadband on Demand" to the citizens of India....more

US Regulator Outlines Plans to Subsidise Rural Broadband Rollout
April 26th 2012 - 09:43 GMT
The USA's telecoms regulator, the FCC has launched a new 'Connect America Fund' (CAF), which was recently created as part of reforms of the Universal Service Fund (USF)....more

Brazil Confirms Date for 4G Spectrum Auction
April 25th 2012 - 10:51 GMT
The Brazilian telecoms regulator, Anatel has confirmed that it will hold a radio spectrum auction on the 5th June. ...more

Finland Starts Consultation on 4G Spectrum Auction
April 24th 2012 - 13:59 GMT
Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications has started a consultation on plans to auction off blocks of 800Mhz radio spectrum for 4G services....more

Austria Delays Radio Spectrum Auction Pending Orange Takeover
April 23rd 2012 - 18:34 GMT
Austria's Telekom Control Commission (TKK) says that it will delay a radio spectrum auction due to the ongoing takeover of Orange Austria by Hutchison 3G (Three)....more

Kenya Prepares to Block Fake Mobile Phones
April 23rd 2012 - 18:18 GMT
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has warned that it will issue an order to mobile networks to disable counterfeit mobile phones at any time after this month....more

India Sets High Reserve Fee for Forthcoming Spectrum Auctions
April 23rd 2012 - 16:11 GMT
India's telecoms regulator, the TRAI has stunned the industry by setting a reserve price for radio spectrum auctions that is 10 times higher than the level previously set by the disgraced former telecoms minister, A Raja....more

Indian Regulator to Require Support for Per-Second Billing for Voice Calls
April 22nd 2012 - 10:31 GMT
The Indian telecoms regulator, TRAI has issued an order requiring the mobile networks to offer at least one tariff that will support per-second billing for voice calls....more

Scrap the Tax on SIM Cards Say Bangladesh Politicians
April 20th 2012 - 11:08 GMT
A group of politicians have called on the Bangladeshi government to remove a sales tax on SIM cards in order to help boost mobile subscription rates in the country....more

Kenyan Networks Face Investigation Over Claims of Collusion in Setting Prices
April 20th 2012 - 10:50 GMT
Kenya's smaller mobile networks are facing an investigation by the country's Competition Authority after they adopted a uniform minimum calling rate within their networks....more

Bezeq Facing Threat of Regulatory Split of Its Operations
April 20th 2012 - 09:59 GMT
Israel's Bezeq is facing a threat of being split into two companies if it doesn't agree to implement wholesale access to its landline network within two years....more

Vodafone Fined for Overcharging PrePay Customers
April 19th 2012 - 16:28 GMT
Vodafone Ireland has been fined EUR951,000 by the Irish telecoms regulator, ComReg following an investigation into a discrepancy between prices published by Vodafone for calls and the actual charges applied to customers. ...more

Verizon Wireless Offers to Sell 700Mhz Spectrum to Secure Purchase of AWS Spectrum
April 18th 2012 - 15:49 GMT
Verizon Wireless has announced that it will put blocks of its 700 MHz A and B spectrum licenses up for sale - if the regulators approve its US$3.6 billion purchase of AWS radio spectrum held by a consortium of cable TV networks....more

European Commission Expresses Serious Concerns About High Mobile Rates in Estonia
April 17th 2012 - 11:38 GMT
The European Commission put a hold on a proposal by the Estonian Competition Authority (ECA) to impose some of the highest mobile termination rates (MTRs) in the European Union from mid-2012 until mid-2015....more