TelecomLive January-2019

[ News Bytes ] www.telecomlive.com 10 Telecom LIVE January 2019 Samsung said it would offer compensation pack- ages to the employees and also provide opportuni- ties to transfer to other Samsung facilities. The company, which has been focusing on low-cost countries like Vietnam and India for production, added it would continue to operate another Chi- nese phone factory in Huizhou, in the southern province of Guangdong. Niger govt orders closure of Airtel arm over unpaid taxes The Niger government has ordered the closure of Bharti Airtel's wholly owned arm in the African country for non payment of over $107mn in unpaid taxes, although the telco has disputed the claim. Airtel, which is the largest telco in Niger, missed its deadline for clearing its Rs 764 cr tax dues, includ- ing fine valuingRs 122 cr. Airtel Niger said it "remains hopeful of an early amicable resolution to this unfortunate situa- tion in the interest of its over 4.4 mn customers, over 500 direct and indi- rect employees and over 50,000 retail shops & outlets." Besides Airtel, the other telcos in the Niger market include Orange Niger, state owned Niger Telecom andMoov Niger, a subsidiary of Maroc Telecom. Australian regulator flags concerns over TPG-Vodafone merger Australia's competi- tion regulator expressed preliminary concerns a b o u t t h e p r o p o s e d merger between TPG T e l e c o m L t d a n d Vodafone Group's Aus- tralian business. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commis- sion (ACCC) said that removing TPG as a new independent competitor with its own network "would be likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition". "A mobile market with t h r e e ma j o r p l a y e r s rather than four is likely to lead to higher prices and less innovative plans for mobile customers," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in statement. "If TPG remains separate fromVodafone, it appears likely to need to continue to adopt an aggressive pricing strategy." In Aug 2018 , TPG Te l ecom agreed to a merger with Vodafone Group's business Down Under, in a bid to ease competition in the cut- throat sector and to take on bigger rivals Telstra CorpLtd andOptus. The planned merger combines Aus t ral ia' s third- and fourth-largest te l ecom f i rms into a larger third player hold- ing TPG's fibre network and Vodafone's mobile system. The tie-up, to be called TPG, came as Aus- tralia's telecom sector faces upheaval from the rollout of a government- owned broadband whole- saler, which has dented internet profitability and driven intense price competition in themobilemarket. The ACCC said it would consider the longer-term impact of the proposed merger, especially after the rollout of 5G technology and would also closely exam- ine the likely impact of removing Vodafone, currently a minority player in the fixed broadband market, as a competitor. A final decision is scheduled for Mar 28, 2019, saidACCC. Tamil Nadu fishermen given 200 satellite phones Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, distrib- uted 200 deep satellite phones calledNavic, created by the ISRO, to 80 fishing groups that fish in the deep sea. Navic (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite Sys- tem) is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from the shore. It will provide two types of services, namely, Stan- dard Positioning Service (SPS), which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users. So, fishermen can stay connected up to 1,500 km fromthe shorewithout internet or tower connectivity.