In no particular order, here are MediaNama’s top 10 stories of the week ended 09th October 2016
MediaNama would like to thank its sponsors: Info Edge, Fortumo, Mapmyindia and E2E for their support.
– Updated: AskMe allowed to hold board meeting by Company Law Tribunal
Update: An Astro (AENL) spokesperson told MediaNama, “Whilst the Board meeting was scheduled for Sept 30th, it could not take place as many of the directors were unavailable to attend. A petition is being raised with the court with a request for a change of date.” Read it here.
– MobiKwik will start offering loans to its wallet users
Digital wallet MobiKwik is looking to enter the lending space by Diwali and the company is in the process of tying up with a number of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for the same. This was first reported by the Economic Times and a spokesperson confirmed the development. Read it here.
– 37 Internet Shutdowns in India in 11 states since 2015
Mobile Internet services have been suspended in Kashmir for the past 87 days. There has been a sharp increase in both the frequency and duration of ICT shutdowns in the past two years. We have been tracking ICT shutdowns since 2012 as part of our research for the Freedom on the Net- India Report (2014 and 2015).Read it here.
– Auctions 2016 Day 2: Rs 56,792 Cr in bids; 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz continues to see demand
The DoT received bids worth Rs 56,792 crore on the second day of spectrum auctions, which completed 12 rounds of auctions since the first day. Most demand was seen in the 1800 MHz band used for both 2G and 4G services, closely followed by the 2300 MHz band. The premium 700 MHz and 900 MHz saw no takers for a second day in a row. Read it here.
– RBI to set up development fund to boost card payments; ECBs for startups
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it will be setting up an Acceptance Development Fund (ADF) to boost electronic payments and expand card acceptance network in India. The ADF will be operated by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and will set the rules for contribution and utilisation of funds. Guidelines for the ADF framework will be issued by December 31, 2016. Read it here.
– MediaNama’s take on Delhi HC telling Facebook & Google to take down Sasikala Pushpa’s pictures
The Delhi High Court has restrained Facebook India, WhatsApp, Google India and YouTube from publishing, broadcasting or distributing “any defamatory material including the photograph in question” of L Sasikala Pushpa, an expelled member of the AIADMK party and an MP, following an allegation from Pushpa that morphed photos and videos of her were being uploaded to online platforms, reports PTI (in Huffington Post).Read it here.
– DoT receives 70 applications from 60 companies for MVNO license; Lowdown
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued letters of intent to 60 companies wishing to launch VNO services. The DoT had earlier approved entry of VNOs in India in March. Some companies have applied for licenses in multiple cities taking the total number of applications to 70 across 11 different telecom circles.Read it here.
– Auctions 2016 Day 4: Bids worth Rs 63,500 Cr placed after 23 rounds
The Department of telecom received bids worth Rs 63,500 crore after the telecom auctions concluded on the fourth day. Telcos placed bids worth Rs 2,500 crore on 4th day, compared to Rs 4000 crore on the 3rd day, signaling a slowdown after 23 rounds of bidding. More than 950 MHz of spectrum has been allocated till now. This means that 40% of the spectrum has been allocated after 4 days of auctions. Read it here.
– 2016 Spectrum Auction ends: Rs 65,789 Cr in bids, only 40% of spectrum sold
The 2016 spectrum auctions concluded today after 31 rounds of bidding. Total value of bids at end of Day 5 stood at Rs 65,789 crore, which had 8 new rounds of bidding. The government was initially targeting Rs 56,00,000 crore based on the reserve prices set by the TRAI in late January. Read it here.
– Updated: Ecommerce sales: Flipkart, Amazon, Xiaomi: Who sold how much of what
Update, 5 October: Xiaomi sold 500,000 smartphones in 3 days of sales on Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, according to an Economic Times report. The newly launched and only available offline model Redmi 3S+ contributed marginally to the 500,000 devices sold in 3 days. (Read about how much ecommerce companies sold in remaining days here.) Read it here.
