• TRAI issues guidelines for better Internet services
• SC refers Bharti petition on VAT to appellate authority
• RIL, RPL merger swap ratio set at 1:16, Chevron sells RPL stake
• Vedanta to inject Rs 70k cr in India by ‘12
• TRAI has issued guidelines for better internet services aimed at ensuring that companies don’t congest the available bandwidth with too many users, thus causing low Internet speed. The guidelines provide, inter alia, as below:
o Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom operators offering Internet services should not accommodate over 50 users per unit of Internet bandwidth in case of home users and 30 users per unit for business users;
o Service providers to ensure availability of the minimum required bandwidth in their network as specified on the basis of number of subscribers;
o All service providers must provide detailed information to subscribers regarding Internet and broadband services being offered to them.
o Service providers to publish contention ratio — number of users per unit of bandwidth — for different Internet and broadband services quarterly on their website.
• Supreme Court has directed the Karnataka state tax appellate authority to decide whether value-added tax (VAT) should be levied on Internet broadband services provided by Bharti Airtel Ltd and other co.s. SC has stated that the issue needs to be examined by experts and the first appellate authority would be the right forum to decide the matter. The court has asked Bharti, Hathway Datacom Pvt. Ltd and the Karnataka government to appear before the authority in two weeks. (Mint)
• India’s largest company, Reliance Industries (RIL), has formally decided to merge Reliance Petroleum (RPL) with itself. Simultaneously, US energy giant Chevron Corporation, which picked up 5% stake in April 2006 in RPL, has decided to exit. RIL will purchase the Chevron stake for around $270 million (Rs 1,377 crore). The boards of RIL and RPL have approved the merger, thus, creating the world’s largest refining capacity at a single location and the world’s fifth largest polypropylene manufacturer. The merger is with retrospective effect from April 1, 2008. The decision is in sync with the pattern at RIL which has merged every company it created, with itself later on. (FE)
• Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group learnt to be all set to pump in a whopping Rs 70,000 crore in India by 2011-12, to become the world’s fifth largest metal and mining entity, rubbing shoulders with the likes of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. The group had in September 2008 announced $9.8 billion aluminium capex programme where it planned to raise aluminium smelting capacity by 2.6 million tonne per annum by 2012 to become the worlds fifth largest aluminium producer. It had also said, the company will generate $4 billion profit every year after the expansion of aluminium is completed. The Group intends to invest Rs 50,000 crore in the aluminium sector and Rs 20,000 crore in other areas like copper, iron ore and zinc by 2011-12 in India. Of the proposed investment, about 50% have been invested, while the funds for the rest are tied up. (FE)
