Telecom Audit Five top private telcos in the country - Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar,Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices will undergo a special audit to check if revenues have been reported accurately, the government announced. Bycell Denied Permission To Roll Out Swiss company ByCell's application to roll out its telecom network in India has been revoked by the government, due to security concerns. Bycell had set up a subsidiary Bycell Telecom India, in which it holds 74% stake, while Hyderabad-based Sri Jayalakhsmi Group has 26% equity. The company had received an approval from FIPB to invest Rs. 500 crores in 2006, but the licenses (for 13 circles, mostly concentrated in East India) have not been allotted by the department of telecom. (Economic Times) Do Note: The website of the company does not proffer much background information on the promoters; it seems to have not been updated since February 2008. Jayalakshmi Group's site is also empty. Wonder what security concerns are being referred to... 3G Auction To Be Held Next Year Though it set up a committee of ministers to decide the parameters of the 3G auction, the government may postpone it till after the recession. In the budget, it had estimated that the auction would bring in Rs. 35,000 crores, which it might not get in the current scenario. (Economic Times) Our Take: This serves another purpose - it will give MTNL and BSNL more time to roll out and mainstream their 3G networks. They are the only two operators, being government-owned, to already have 3G spectrum. Both…
