The government is going to shortlist three major contenders for selection of consultant by next week for high profile transaction of third generation (3G) technology that possesses potential to bring investment of over $1 billion, it is learnt. The official documents available with The News disclosed that Auction Supervisory Committee (ASC) under chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh will meet on April 11 to finalize short listing …

Apple Inc will continue to retain the lion's share of the tablet market as its new 4G-enabled iPad readies for competition from Windows 8-based products, and a cheaper iPad 2 takes on Amazon's popular Kindle Fire, analysts said. Shares of Apple inched up a percent to as much as $535.89 in morning trade on Thursday, after the company unveiled an upgraded version of its popular iPad tablet, featuring a more powerful chip, high-definition screen, sharper …

The promise of high-end phone services by mobile firms through the much-hyped third generation (3G) telecom technology seems to have hit a roadblock as customers complain of frequent call drops and inconsistent internet speeds. Experts say it could take between six and nine months for the service to stabilise. Anuj Kumar, a Delhi-based banker, preferred switching back to the 2G network after he got exasperated by deficient service and inconsistent …

Chinese mobile handset maker G’Five Mobiles Tuesday said it will launch its range of third generation (3G) enabled Android and Windows based tablet computing device in India for less than Rs.10,000 by June-end. “G’Five plans to launch its range of tablet computing devices in Indian market by the end of this business quarter which is end of Jun, 2011. Our business philosophy is to make technology affordable to the common people,” Arshit Pathak, managing …

The king of commercial ads Prince Mahesh Babu has bagged one more ad commercial to his credit. He is making his screen presence more on small screen rather on big screens these days with his ad commercials. He is being offered more and more of ads by the companies as he earned lots of craze among the youth and especially among the girls. The latest ad that Mahesh will be endorsing is for the mobile service provider Idea owned by Aditya Birla group …

Mobile telephony provider Aircel, which plans to roll out its 3G services across 13 circles by March, expects a sizeable chunk of its existing client base to opt for the new service, a top company official said. Launching the service here Tuesday, Chief Operating Officer Gurdeep Singh told reporters: “The company is targeting the youth segment for its new service. The aim is to bring high speed internet and video calls within the common man’s reach.” …

Leading telecom service provider Reliance Communications Monday reported a 7.7 percent rise in its net profit at Rs.480 crore ($107 million) for the quarter ended Dec 31 as compared to the previous quarter. The company, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, also saw its customer base soar by a whopping 34 percent to 126 million, against 94 million in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation …

Telecom operators Tuesday asked the government not to stop the roll-out of third generation (3G) phone services, saying they will soon come up with a method to intercept the calls for security purposes. “We are working with the government and have asked them not to stop the roll-out of 3G,” said Rajan S. Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). According to Mathews, he expects new technology within three-four …

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Thursday launched 3G-services in his parliamentary constituency, noting that telecommunication services play an important role in development as they can bridge the rich-poor and the rural-urban divide, party officials said. Gandhi was accompanied by telecom expert Sam Pitroda. “Rahulji, who this (Thursday) evening launched 3G services in Gauriganj said if telecommunication services are made available to …

Making certain amendments to the licence terms, the government Wednesday allocated airwaves to private telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Idea Cellular to roll out the third generation (3G) mobile and broadband services in the country. The operators have been allocated 3G spectrum in each circle they won in the auction that fetched the government over Rs.67,000 crore. As many as seven operators had successfully …