2G spectrum for Sale?

Economic Times reports that Ministry of Finance ( hopefully with the consent of Ministry of Telecom) is pushing for the sale of 2G spectrum. What they are recommending is having a fixed fee model or an auction system through which the operators can bid for the spectrum.

The finance ministry hopes that this would enable effective utilization of resources. The operators, since they are paying for this, would pursue new technologies or improve existing ones since they have to get an RoI. This is the thinking of the ministry of finance. As of today, the operators pay an entry fee for 2G, but subsequent allotment of resources is free. A committee has been set to price the spectrum and the result of this will be out soon.

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E911 Derailment: Will E911 be VoIP’s Achilles Heal?

The November 28th deadline for VoIP service providers has passed and left most service providers unable to sell their products across a broad market range. We are all hopeful that this is merely a bump in the road; a temporary slow down to the feroucius growth that has occured over the past few years.
With two of the nation’s leading providers (Vonage and AT&T) having less then stellar compliance rates, I am worried that this road bump could turn into a road block. While ever the optimist, I am concerned about the blacklash from prospective consumers given the less then spectacular press 911 connectivity brings to VoIP. With this additional news of a overall lack of E911 compliance, this could substantially slow down the industry.
The E911 problems that service providers are experiencing will ultimately filter down to other portions of the industry, most of whom have substantially less cash flow to fall back on. Hardware Vendors, VAR’s, and Distributors come to mind. Hopefully, our industry leading service providers, will get out thie road bump quickly, and hop back onto the express lane.

Garrett Smith