The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the finance ministry has written to the Reserve Bank of India and the ministry of communications and IT for their comments on the alleged violation of FEMA and licensing conditions, if any, by the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd. in the recent sale of Hutch stake in Hutch-Essar Ltd to Vodafone.

In the letter signed by Mr D.K.Singh, director, FIPB also asked the RBI and the communications ministry to refer to the declaration made by HTIL and Vodafone before the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US on the nature of control.

According to Ajoy Chakraborty, MP, Hutchison Telecom, apart from having around 52 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar, also has control of an additional 15 per cent stake by way of controlling interests in two Indian companies held by Analjit Singh of Max India and Asim Ghosh, CEO of Hutchison Essar, namely Indusind Telecom Network Pvt Ltd., together with its subsidiaries.

This makes HTIL’s shareholding effectively 67 per cent in HEL. The foreign entities of Essar group hold 22 per cent thus taking the aggregate to 89 per cent which is beyond the permitted sectoral cap of 74 per cent, Mr Chakraborty said.

FIPB had earlier also written to Hutchison Essar asking for clarification as to "which entity has the beneficial ownership of stakes held in Hutchison-Essar Ltd. by the entities of Mr Asim Ghosh and Mr Analjit Singh.

Courtesy : Asianage.com

Chairman and managing director of Air-India, V. Thulasidas on Tuesday formally inaugurated the first 737NG simulator at its operational department at Kalina for the training of its pilots, and said, "it is a new beginning, and a new relationship with Boeing."

The simulator is provided by Altheon, a subsidiary of Boeing on a trial basis with Air India providing the back-up facilities. Both Air-India and Boeing are working on the details to formalise an agreement into a joint venture in future.

Mr Thulasidas said since the Mumbai facility has this simulator, Air India could save a lot of money spent on pilot’s training abroad, their daily allowances, travel cost, hotel accommodation and the difference in the rental. Alteon Training has more than 70 flight simulators in over 20 locations around the world. He said Air India was in talks with Boeing for the maintenance, repair and overhauling (MRO) deal.


Courtesy : Asianage.com

Intel Corp, led by its chairman Craig Barrett, has been a great proponent of wiring the world, never mind the fact that two-thirds of the inhabitants of Planet Earth do not have access to clean drinking water, or two square meals a deal. Intel has been accused of approaching development in the poor countries from a market perspective. That's a charge that Mr. Barrett denies in a Web exclusive to Foreign Policy, a publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"We operate off of the philosophy that every child ought to have a generically equal opportunity. And you could argue that means every child should have clean drinking water, three square meals a day, and a roof to sleep under. And there are lots and lots of people working on clean drinking water," Mr. Barrett says.

"We also think that if you give the kids in the Third World clean drinking water, food, something to sleep under, they also need to be able to have a productive adult life. They're going to need to earn a living, and they need some education. So our focus has been on education, because we look around and we see lots of people working on those other topics," he says.

Locked in combat

Meanwhile, on the technology front, the three main technologies capable of broadcasting wireless data at broadband speeds to consumer devices-Wi-Fi, WiMAX and cellular 3G-are battling it out for market share worldwide. Each technology has its benefits and challenges, but ultimate adoption will vary greatly depending upon in which region of the world they are deployed, according to In-Stat, a high-tech market research firm.

Integrated ICs

Over 32 per cent of all Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, WiMedia, GPS, and FM Radio IC shipments will be integrated products that are either incorporated into a connectivity package combining two or more solutions, or will be integrated with a host processor or baseband processor, says a new study by ABI Research..It says that the two equipment sectors most likely to see the majority of integration activity will be cellular handsets and mobile computing.

Courtesy : Asianage.com.