CURRENT AFFAIRS CAPSULE

INDEX

Government bats for instant approval for 5G R&D, field trials..................................................... 2
Department of Telecom directs telcos to stop Aadhaar-based e-KYC ........................................... 3
Why Mukesh Ambani-led RIL needs to be viewed as a tech and consumer player........................ 4
Indian telecom sector undergoing financial stress: Vodafone Group............................................ 4
Sunil Mittal, Mukesh Ambani paint different pictures of telecom sector ...................................... 5
BSVI compliant vehicles from April 2020: SC ................................................................................ 5
Clean energy is not always green | Opinion ................................................................................ 6
India pitches for review of oil payment terms to stem rupee fall.................................................. 7

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Government bats for instant approval for 5G R&D, field trials

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government is putting special regime to allow instant approval to
companies to undertake fifth-generation (5G) based Research and Development (R&D) activities and
field trials, a top official Saturday said. "We are putting special dispensation for 5G field trials and R&D
for immediate approval, and that demonstrates India is not lagging behind," telecom secretary Aruna
Sundararajan said, adding that India would not miss 5G bus.

The government is aggressively focusing on next-generation of technology, and has already created a
high-level 5G Forum under the leadership of the US-based Stanford University's Professor A Paulraj. The
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already invited incumbent service providers such as
Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL) together with vendors such as Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei.

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is in advanced stage of discussions with Samsung and
with those who have shown interest in 5G trials," the official said, adding that the department has taken
initial set of actions for enabling the newer technology.

In terms of fibre and spectrum needs, the government, according to her has already signaled the
industry and plans to establish the National Fiber Authority (NFA) and added that the department has
received recommendations from the regulator in the 3500 MHz range, and was also looking at 2.4-
2.8Ghz spectrum. "Actual (spectrum) allocation will happen at the second half of 2019," Sundararajan
said, and added that the 5G would be deployed based on the robustness of business case for telcos, and
the department, according to her, has already started working in that direction.

The government, in order to roll out 5G-based services, has already partnered with various Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) leaders to set up technology standards and bring use cases relevant to 1.3
billion Indians. "The significance of 5G for India couldn't be overlooked and it is an integration of
systems. 5G will have a massive impact and transforming effect on governance including Smart City and
Digital India initiatives," Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said. Sinha also said that the government is in
favour to bring about policy and regulation to facilitate 5G deployment.

The department, in order to boost 5G field trials and use cases, is allocating free spectrum to the telcos
so that they could transform their networks to adopt newer technology more easily.

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Department of Telecom directs telcos to stop Aadhaar-based e-KYC

The telecom department has barred telcos from Aadhaar-based digital authentication in line with a
Supreme Court order, dealing a big blow to the likes of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea who
now have to revert to the more time-taking and costly means of physically verifying subscriber details,
till an alternate method is implemented.

The DoT, in its notification issued Friday, has also said that telcos should prepare to adopt an alternate
digital process which envisages a customer acquisition form (CAF) be embedded with live photographs
of subscribers and scanned images of a proof of address and identify, which will make the entire process
paperless.

“....all licensees are to discontinue the use of Aadhaar eKYC (electronic know your customer) service of
Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) both for verification as well as for issuing new mobile
connections,” said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Friday.

The operators have been given time till November 5 to comply with the order and report their
compliance. The carriers also need to offer the proof of concepts of the alternate digital means of
customer verification by November 5 for approval.

The DoT though has directed that all operators need to stop using the Aadhaar-based e-KYC for re-
verification its existing subscribers with immediate effect. “Meanwhile this (alternate digital) process
can be implemented provisionally by all TSPs (telecom service providers). Any modification which may
be required in this process by the government shall be carried out within a period of 30 days,” the DoT
said.

DoT’s orders come after the Supreme Court order of September 26 that struck down the use of Aadhaar
by private entities for digital authentication. The DoT’s direction will deal a blow to the telcos who were
hoping that the government would continue to push Aadhaar for digital verification, on a voluntary
basis, to allow saving of time and costs.

Analysts say Reliance Jio may be more affected that its rivals, as it could slow the pace of subscriber
additions, potentially delaying the company’s plan to acquire a 50% revenue market share. The Mukesh
Ambani-owned telco has been adding several times more subscribers every month than its rivals Bharti
Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Also, the consistently higher monthly additions may make verification costs
greater for Jio than Vodafone Idea or Airtel

Shift from eKYC may increase the on-boarding time of customers as well as the acquisition costs. In the
near term, modest slowdown in subscriber growth remains possibility but should only be short lived.

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The DoT letter also states that the telcos need to remove the Aadhaar-based column in their customer
acquisition forms and can use the 12-digit unique identity code as an identity proof like other
identification proof, without the authentication feature, on a voluntary basis.

Why Mukesh Ambani-led RIL needs to be viewed as a tech and

consumer player

While speaking at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi on October 25, Mukesh Ambani spoke about a
“new world”, a “new India” and “new commerce”. He might as well have mentioned a new Reliance,
too. For it is highly likely that by 2020, Reliance, India’s largest private company by market cap, may
have to be classified principally as a tech and consumer play, and not a refiner or a petrochemical
producer.

For the first time, newer businesses like organised retail, digital services and media have brought in
more combined revenues (Rs 44,615 cr) than the highly profitable petrochemical business (Rs 43,745
cr).

Along with the quarterly results, the company had also announced the acquisition of cable and internet
companies DEN and Hathway, as well as its investment in US-based personal transportation company
SkyTran.

Indian telecom sector undergoing financial stress: Vodafone Group

Vodafone Group said that the new nation digital telecom policy (NDCP) recognizes the ongoing financial
stress in the Indian telecom industry, which is currently l facing various challenges.

Vivek Badrinath, Regional CEO, Africa Middle East Asia Pacific at Vodafone Group during his keynote
speech at the Indian Mobile Congress 2018 said that the Group is fully committed to working together
with all stakeholders on the speedy implementation of new policy, which will ensure the financial
strength for the sector.

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"With this merger, Vodafone and Idea are stronger together and are better placed to compete. We
consider that this merger consolidated the market to a sensible number of operators which is similar to
other global markets. Now, sustaining and nurturing is vital to drive the growth," he added.

Sunil Mittal, Mukesh Ambani paint different pictures of telecom

sector

Mittal, whose company’s India operations reported losses for the third successive quarter, said
consolidation in the Indian telecom industry hasn’t happened in an orderly way and had come at a
heavy price with a whopping $50 billion (over Rs 3.66 lakh crore) being wiped off from the sector.

He added that the sector was among “the most heavily taxed like the tobacco industry” and called for an
early resolution both to this issue as well as to the spate of litigation between telecos and the
government.

Ambani, whose company’s entry into the telecom market triggered the consolidation, was more upbeat
about the sector’s prospects.

He said that India would rise to the No 1 spot in mobile data consumption in under two years from the
155th position and that the country had witnessed the “fastest transition” from 2G/3G services to 4G
anywhere in the world. By 2020, “every phone in India will be 4G enabled, and every customer will have
access to 4G connectivity”.

BSVI compliant vehicles from April 2020: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that from April 1, 2020, only Euro VI fuel compliant vehicles
will be permitted to be sold and registered across the country.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice S. Abdul Nazir and Justice Deepak Gupta said: "No motor
vehicles conforming to the emission standards of Bharat Stage IV shall be sold or registered from April 1,
2020."

Saying that there could be no compromise with the health of the citizens, Justice Gupta speaking for the
bench said, "If one has to choose between health and wealth, health of the teeming millions of this
country will have to take precedence over the greed of a few automobile manufacturers."

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Brushing aside the stand of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers that the shift to BSVI
compliant vehicles is a long drawn out process requiring huge changes in technologies, the court
referred to some of the vehicle manufacturers who have said that they would bring Bharat Stage VI
compliant vehicles well before March 31, 2020 deadline.

Taking a dim view of those resisting the switchover, the court said that some of the manufacturers were
not willing to comply with the 2020 deadline "not because they do not have the technology but because
the use of technology will lead to increase in the cost of the vehicles which may lead to reduction in
sales of the vehicles and ultimately their profits."

If there is a "conflict between health and wealth" obviously health will have to be given precedence, the
court said that when the concern is not just the health of one citizen but the "entire citizenry including
the future citizens" , "the larger public interest has to outweigh the much smaller pecuniary interest of
the industry, ... especially when the entire wherewithal to introduce the cleaner technology exists."

Saying that the experiment of region wise introduction of BSIV fuel was not "very successful", the court
said that "it is therefore necessary to ensure that BSVI compliance is uniform throughout the country so
that even those areas of the country which fortunately have not suffered the ills of extreme pollution
are safe in the future."

The court referred to the WHO database of more than 4,300 which said that the Indian cities of Gwalior,
Allahabad, Raipur, Delhi, Ludhiana, Khanna, Varanasi, and Patna were among the most polluted in the
world.

Saying that the "automobile manufacturers must behave responsibly", the court said, "We expected
that keeping in view our earlier order, they would have themselves volunteered to be BS VI compliant by
March 31, 2020."

Welcoming the order, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) counsel Vijay Panjwani said that the
switchover to Euro VI compliant vehicles was long overdue as Euro VI fuel is available in Delhi NCR for
the last one year.

Panjwani said that switchover was being held back to facilitate the interstate movement of vehicles.

Clean energy is not always green | Opinion

The adverse effect of modern windmills on avian fauna has been well-known for some time. But recent
reports claim that the long arms of the giants wreak havoc on the terrestrial ecosystem too. noise from

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the turbines and blades of windmills drive away mammals — mostly the herbivores, whose exit draws
away larger animals and carnivores.

More than the direct carnage caused by the windmills, the construction of wind farms leads to the loss
of vital habitat — the single biggest cause for species extinction. India’s potential wind power map
envelops the Western and the Eastern Ghats besides the deserts in the west. This is worrying as these
are also biodiversity hotspots. The ecological footprint of setting up wind farms, or solar farms for that
matter, in these regions is huge. First, large swathes of land need to be cleared to set up the power
generation equipment. More land is needed to construct roads to lug turbines and other machinery.
Earth movers rip through forests or grasslands, altering the local landscape and, in turn, the local
ecosystem permanently. Add to that the fact that it takes approximately 100 tonnes of steel, 400 tonnes
of concrete, 6.8 tonnes of fibreglass, not to mention copper and cast iron to generate one megawatt of
wind-generated electricity. All in all, the environment pays a heavy price.

India has set an ambitious renewable energy generation target of 175 gigawatts by 2022. This sector —
owing to its apparently benign nature when compared to fossil fuels — gets a free pass as far as
environmental impact assessments are concerned. Further, the process for forest land diversification
focuses on compensatory afforestation, which, as has been proved time and again, does not really
compensate for the loss of decades-old ecosystems. A comprehensive policy with requisite
environmental scrutiny — such as making a review of area specific wind-wildlife interaction compulsory
— is the need of the hour.

India pitches for review of oil payment terms to stem rupee fall

India sought a review of payment terms with major oil producers as part of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government’s strategy to help counter a depreciating rupee and high global crude oil
prices. Rising oil prices have fuelled inflationary pressures at home ahead of a series of state assembly
elections and the general election next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the oil market is
producer driven; and both the quantity and prices are determined by the oil producing countries, and
requested for review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency.

Growing tensions between the US and Venezuela, the US demanding a global end to imports of Iranian
oil by early November, and the rupee’s performance as Asia’s worst performing currency, have
exacerbated the situation, putting India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, in a spot.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec) accounts for about 40% of global
production. The grouping’s June decision to increase output by about one million barrels per day (bpd)

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or about 1% of global supply came against the backdrop of calls from the US, China and India to help
moderate prices.
India plans to continue its energy imports from Iran even in the wake of the US government’s 4
November deadline.

“India’s energy security is a top priority for UAE and Adnoc,” added Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of
Adnoc at the India Energy Forum. This is significant given the UAE supplies 6% of India’s crude oil
imports. With 3.5 million barrels per day of crude oil production, Adnoc is the world’s 12th largest
producer.
Saudi Arabia and UAE meanwhile plan to increase their investment in India. Adnoc, the only company to
commit to India’s crude oil reserve programme till date, plans to acquire the stake from Saudi Aramco,
which partnered with a consortium of Indian state-run companies for the $44 billion project.

“These collaborations represent only the beginning of what we believe is a growing strategic partnership
with India. Infact, as Adnoc continues to explore downstream investments internationally, we are very
keen to identify partnership opportunities across India in the entire crude, refining, petrochemical and
derivatives value chains in the years ahead,” said Adnoc’s Jaber.

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