DoT clears 17 proposals for setting up of gateways
New Delhi: The department of telecommunications (DoT) has given in-principle clearance to 17 of the 30 applicants for setting up of international gateways. Included in the list of 17 are heavyweights Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Macronet, a Reliance group company, Dishnet and Satyam Infoway.

MTNL will set up a gateway in Mumbai, while the Reliance group company, Macronet, will set up two gateways each at Chennai, Calcutta, Gandhinagar and Patalganga (an industrial belt region off Mumbai). In the case of Macronet, one gateway at each of these locations will use the c-band frequency, while the other will use the Ku-band of frequency.

The final licenses to these units will be issued after they have secured the frequency clearances from the wireless planning cell for using the relevant spectrum of frequency. The DoT has mandated that the international gateways set up by these ISPs shall be used only for internet traffic. The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) has been appointed the nodal agency for monitoring equipment at the gateways. The ISPs will have to allow intelligence agencies like RAW and IB to monitor the traffic passing through their gateways and the equipment for such monitoring has to be provided by the ISPs.

Earlier, in December 1999, the government had permitted the ISPs the use of foreign satellites for international connectivity, but they will be forced to go through VSNL for international connectivity through sub-marine cables.
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Government to own majority in railway's optical fibre company
New Delhi: The ambitious project to be undertaken by the Indian Railways to lay a optical fibre cable (OFC) network across the 62,800 kms rail route, is to be implemented by a separate corporation to be set up for this purpose. This corporation will be vested with the responsibility of creating and building a nation-wide broadband telecom and multi-media network through the OFC network along railway tracks.

The entire share capital for this corporation is to be, initially, held by the government. The railways plan to divest a minority stake in the corporation to private players, including financial institutions or telecom companies, at an appropriate time when valuations increase.

Many leading consulting companies including the likes of Arthur Andersen, McKinsey & Co., KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and AF Ferguson, are in the fray to bag the mandate for creating the business plan for the corporation.
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P&O to invest in Kandla port via the Mauritius route
Mumbai: Australian major, P&O Ports, is planning to make a major entry into the Indian ports scenario by taking a stake in Kutch Container Terminal Limited, a company formed for the Kandla Port project. This project is to be implemented on a build, operate and transfer route.

P&O, which is likely to bring its investment into India through its Mauritian subsidiary, will hold 93 per cent in the project, with the balance being held by the MBEC group, who are P&O's partners in the container terminal project at JNPT in Navi Mumbai.

The Kandla project is likely to cover a 400-metre container terminal and will involve sophisticated equipment like gantry cranes that will turn around ships faster.
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IDBI to retire high cost debt
Mumbai: The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) which issued its deep discount and retirement bonds in March 1996 as part of its Flexibond issues, has decided to exercise its call option on these bonds. The call option allowed IDBI to redeem these bonds after four years and four months of issue, much in advance of its obligated repayment period of 10 years.

The exercise of the call option on these bonds which carry a coupon of 15.6 per cent will result in the institution paying out Rs. 2,212 crore, thereby retiring the high-cost debt funds of the institution. This move will allow the FI to protect its spreads in a scenario where the overall interest rates are falling.
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