Trai suggest about 10% higher price for next spectrum auction

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended about 10% higher price for next round of spectrum in the 1800Mhz band, known as 2G spectrum.

The regulator said since spectrum auction should not be conducted for Maharashtra and West Bengal service area due to non-availability of full spectrum, the price of spectrum that will be put for auction will come down to Rs 2,138 crore per Mhz.

However, the price recommendation would still be higher by around 10% while comparing the forthcoming auction of airways in the Licence Service Areas (LSAs) with the earlier one.

This is based on the estimated higher average data use as compared to the earlier period.

In the February 2014 auction, government had received bids valued at Rs 2,270.4 crore per megahertz in 1800Mhz band of airwaves.

The Telecom regulatory Authority of India has suggested price of Rs 3,004 crore per megahertz for premium 900Mhz band, in which mobile signal covered about twice more area than 1800Mhz.

The price is only for 18 out of 22 service area as spectrum in this premium band is not available in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata service area.

The spectrum auction is to be conducted for airwaves in 900Mhz held by existing telecom operators — Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications through their licences that are expiring in 2015-16.



In the 900Mhz band about 184Mhz of spectrum is likely to be auctioned. In 1800Mhz, government has proposed to auction 104Mhz of spectrum which included spectrum held by licences that are expiring in 2015-16 and unsold airwaves in February auction.

However, government wants to keep 8.2Mhz of spectrum as Defence band which leaves only 104Mhz spectrum available for auction.

While suggesting price of 1800Mhz band, Trai has said used various approaches and derived their average expected valuation. The regulator then compared it with price achieved in February auction and suggested taking higher of the two prices.

"The Authority recommends that the average expected valuation of 1800MHz spectrum should be the higher of the two figures — average expected valuation based on simple mean or the price realized in February 2014 auction in each licenced service area (LSA)," Trai said.

For the premium 900Mhz, the regulator decided "that the value of 900Mhz spectrum in each LSA should be the lower of the two figures — average valuation of 900Mhz or twice the value of 1800Mhz spectrum."

The regulator has also recommended that the reserve price for North East LSA may be fixed at a discount of 50% on the recommended reserve price.

Apple, Facebook will pay for female employees to freeze their eggs

Silicon Valley's biggest companies have long offered cushy perks to attract top talent and keep workers happy logging scores of hours on the job. But beyond day-to-day luxuries, Facebook and Apple will now give up to $20,000 in benefits to help employees pay for infertility treatments, sperm donors and even to freeze their eggs. The move comes amid stiff competition for skilled engineers, and as many of the biggest firms try to diversify their male-dominated ranks to include and appeal to more women.



"Anything that gives women more control over the timing of fertility is going to be helpful to professional women," said Shelley Correll, a sociology professor and director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. "It potentially addresses the conflicts between the biological clock and the clockwork of women's careers: The time that's most important in work, for getting your career established, often coincides with normal fertility time for women. This can potentially help resolve that by pushing women's fertility into the future."

Facebook this year started offering to reimburse workers for up to $20,000 worth of reproductive-related costs, over the course of employment. Apple's similar perks will start next year. The companies' egg-freezing benefits were first reported by NBCNews.com on Tuesday.

Freezing eggs involves removing a woman's eggs and cooling them to subzero temperatures to preserve them for future use and stop the egg from changing and developing. Generally speaking, the viability of a woman's eggs can decline a bit at age 27 before taking a steeper drop around age 34 or 35. The rate of women who had their first child between 40 and 44 has more than doubled in the past 20 years, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As more women wait longer to have their first child, the number of women choosing to freeze their eggs has grown "exponentially," said Dr. Alan Copperman, a fertility specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital. They are also doing it at a younger age, which means healthier and more viable eggs.

Freezing their eggs gives women an option to focus on their career or education first, the "leaning in" that Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg champions. But the procedure can cost upward of $10,000, plus storage costs of several hundred dollars a year. Later it costs another several thousand to thaw and fertilize the eggs and implant them in the womb.

The number of egg freezing patients at the New York University Fertility Center rose to about 400 this year from just five in 2005, said Dr Nicole Noyes, a fertility specialist at the center. She said some big banks also are covering the procedure, and expects law firms to do the same if they want to keep good female employees.


(In this file photo, an Apple employee walks between Apple buildings at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.)

Copperman thinks Apple and Facebook are ahead of the game in offering to cover the procedure, both as a recruitment and retention tool and from a public health perspective. He expects other companies to follow suit, "because it's the right thing to do and it's going to send a signal that women's health should be a priority."

"It's telling women they have the opportunity to put off child bearing and focus on their careers," he said. "(And) not make decisions based on certain reproductive limits women have."

Apple's and Facebook's reproductive benefits policies could also appeal to gay and lesbian couples who want to use a surrogate or a sperm donor to have a baby, or heterosexual couples who incur in vitro fertilization costs not covered by insurance. Apple also reimburses adoption costs.

Coverage of infertility treatments is becoming more common among big employers, according to the benefits consultant Mercer. Sixty-five percent of companies with 500 or more workers covered the beginning step of an evaluation by a fertility specialist last year, according to Mercer's annual benefits survey. That's up from 54 percent in 2008. IVF coverage rose too. Slightly less than a third of companies offered no infertility treatment benefits, down from 41 percent.

But coverage of egg freezing is rare. Corey Whelan, of the American Fertility Association, said she's never heard of an insurer or employer covering the procedure for women who want to delay pregnancy for non-medical reasons like school or a career.

"Insurers will sometimes cover egg freezing for cancer patients, but it's by no means guaranteed," said Whelan, the nonprofit's program director.

While the technology is growing more popular, experts stress that egg freezing is not foolproof.

"It's really, really important for women to know it's not a guarantee of motherhood," Whelan said. "Some women consider it an iron-clad insurance policy. It's not." 

Oracle slapped with bribery charge in India

Oracle India looks to be in the middle of yet another bribery issue, and multiple sources told TOI that Sandeep Mathur's sudden exit as managing director of the company is linked to this. Mathur quit soon after returning from an Oracle conference in San Francisco earlier this month. Shailender Kumar, group VP — key accounts for Oracle India, has taken over as interim MD.

This is the second such episode for Oracle in India. Two years ago, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had filed a complaint against Oracle alleging that the company's Indian subsidiary had possibly indulged in bribery or embezzlement.


Oracle agreed to pay a $2 million penalty to settle the SEC's charges.The latest concerns have allegedly been triggered by compliance issues arising from a database contract that Oracle had won from the Andhra Pradesh police department a few years back.

TOI has learnt that the issue came to light when an anonymous whistleblower wrote an email to Oracle alleging that one of its channel partners violated its contract norms to win the contract. Sources said that action may be taken against several Oracle India officials.

TOI sent a mail to Oracle detailing the charges being made, but the company said it would not comment on the matter. Mathur was responsible for multiple lines of business: technology , applications, systems and Fusion Middleware as well as driving growth across public sector and key accounts.

Internet can't be managed as private property: India tells UN

Underscoring its commitment to the 'free growth' of the internet, India has told the UN general assembly that the cyberspace cannot be managed as a 'private property' and its management should be 'transparent and democratic' in nature.

"As a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and democratic society, India is fully committed to the free growth of the internet," India's permanent representative to the UN ambassador Asoke Mukerji said at a meeting of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for Development yesterday.

He said the international management of the internet should be "multilateral, transparent and democratic."


"As a global common, cyberspace cannot be managed only as private property. The governance and architecture of internet should reflect its global and democratic nature," he said.

Highlighting the crucial role played by the ICT revolution in the development process, Mukerji, however, pointed to the 'digital divide' not only between developed and developing countries but also between men and women.

By the end of this year, there would be almost three billion internet users, two-thirds of them coming from the developing world. The mobile penetration rate in developed countries is four times that of developing nations.

In terms of usage, the penetration rate of 32% in developing countries compares with almost 80% in the developed world, and almost 90% of those without access to internet are in developing countries.

"The statistics also point to an abiding digital divide," he said. Mukerji said there is a 'significant facet' to the digital divide in the form of access of women to the Internet.

Citing a report released last year on ICT, Mukerji said the gender gap in women's access to the web is even greater than that of mobile phones, with women being 23% less likely to use the internet in low-to-medium income countries.

"This lack of access is giving rise to a second digital divide, one where women and girls risk being left further and further behind," he added.

From a developing country's perspective, Mukerji stressed, empowering women using enabling technologies can be a 'game changer.'

"By applying enhanced Information and Communication Technologies for women in education, healthcare, clean drinking water and energy, we can significantly empower their role as force-multipliers in society," he said.

Mukerji said India has been one of the 'unambiguous success stories' in the global ICT revolution and it is fully committed to making use of ICT to harness the developmental potential of its citizens.

The UNGA had in its 68th session adopted the resolution on the modalities for the overall review by the general assembly of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summiton the Information Society.

Mukerji said India looks forward to commencing the actual review in June next year under the aegis of the UNGA. 

Google all set to launch Nexus 6, Nexus 9: Report

Google is all set to launch its Nexus 9 and Nexus 6 devices in a low-key manner on Thursday, just a day ahead of Apple's iPad Air 2 launch.

According to a Forbes report, Google could announce both the devices tomorrow via a blog post, without hosting a launch event. The internet giant is still fine-tuning Android L and the two new Nexus devices will be the launch pad for the new version of Android.

A number of rumours and speculations have been going around in the tech industry around the new Nexus devices in the last few days.

In one of the latest leaks, TK Tech had released a photograph of Nexus 6 alongside iPhone 6 Plus. It is evident from the picture that Nexus 6 is similar in size to the Apple phablet.

An alleged official press shot of Nexus 6 has also surfaced online, courtesy Twitter user EVLeaks. The photo shows the phone's front panel, metallic frame and Android L homescreen.

A promotional video of Nexus 6 was also leaked on Youtube recently. In this short ad, a tiny character answers a call on his huge Nexus 6, indicating that the phone will sport a large screen.




 A number of rumours and speculations have been going around in the tech industry around the new Nexus devices in the last few days.

New Delhi: Google is all set to launch its Nexus 9 and Nexus 6 devices in a low-key manner on Thursday, just a day ahead of Apple's iPad Air 2 launch.

According to a Forbes report, Google could announce both the devices tomorrow via a blog post, without hosting a launch event. The internet giant is still fine-tuning Android L and the two new Nexus devices will be the launch pad for the new version of Android.

A number of rumours and speculations have been going around in the tech industry around the new Nexus devices in the last few days.

In one of the latest leaks, TK Tech had released a photograph of Nexus 6 alongside iPhone 6 Plus. It is evident from the picture that Nexus 6 is similar in size to the Apple phablet.

An alleged official press shot of Nexus 6 has also surfaced online, courtesy Twitter user EVLeaks. The photo shows the phone's front panel, metallic frame and Android L homescreen.

A promotional video of Nexus 6 was also leaked on Youtube recently. In this short ad, a tiny character answers a call on his huge Nexus 6, indicating that the phone will sport a large screen. 

According to earlier reports, Nexus 6 includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with a 2.65GHz quad-core Krait 450 CPU, 13MP rear camera and dual LED flash and 3GB of RAM. The device is likely to be available in 32GB storage option. The phablet, which is said to be manufactured by Motorola, is expected to be powered by a 3,200mAh battery.  Nexus 9, the first full-sized Google tablet in two years, is being manufactured by HTC under the codename Volantis. The device will reportedly be available for pre-orders from October 17 and go on sale November 3 onwards. Nexus 9 will come in 16 and 32GB variants and priced at $399 and $499, respectively.  The tablet is rumoured to have an 8.9-inch 2048x1440 display, a 64-bit dual-core processor and an Nvidia Kepler GPU. The device allegedly weighs 480gms and has an 8MP rear camera and 3MP front camera.