Telecom spectrum auction gets bids worth Rs 77,000 crore on day 3

The telecom spectrum auction, with eight companies in the fray, received bids worth Rs 77,000 crore at the end of the 17th round on day three of the e-auction, the government said on Friday.

  • The eight telecom service providers participating in the auctions are Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Idea Cellular and Aircel.
  • Bidding intensity was high mostly in the refarmed 900MHz band, and some in the 800MHz band, which can be used for 4G data technology.
  • The total spectrum put for auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1,800 MHz band for 2G (second generation) telephony.
  • The government has also put up 5 MHz in the 2,100 MHz band 3G (OR third generation) telephony.

Sunil Sabharwal re-nominated as Alternate Executive Director at IMF

Sunil Sabharwal, an independent Indian-American investor has been re-nominated as the Alternative Executive Director at International Monetary Fund (IMF), by the US President Barack Obama. He was first nominated in April 2014 for Alternative Executive Director of IMF. Sunil Sabharwal was born in 1964 to an Indian father and an Hungarian mother in New Delhi, India.

Vienna world No. 1, Hyderabad best in India for quality of living

Austrian capital Vienna emerged as the city with the best quality of living in the world, while Hyderabad, ranked 138th, was the best Indian city to live in, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Rankings 2015. 

  • Zurich (Switzerland), Auckland (New Zealand) and Munich (Germany) are in the second, third, and fourth positions respectively.
  • In the fifth place, Vancouver (Canada) is the highest-ranking city in North America and the region’s only entry in the top 10. Singapore, in 25th place, is the highest ranking city in Asia.
  • Among Indian cities, Pune (145) came in second to Hyderabad(138). Both cities rank higher for quality of living than the country’s more traditional business centres, Mumbai (152) and New Delhi (154).

Kathmandu-Varanasi-Kathmandu bus service flagged off

Nepal and India today launched a direct bus service between Kathmandu and Varanasi, linking the two prominent cities – home to Pashupatinath and Kashi Vishwanath temples. Kathmandu-Varanasi-Kathmandu bus service was launched under the ambit of Motor Vehicle Agreement between India and Nepal signed during 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit. This is the second direct bus service between Nepal and India after the one linking Kathmandu and New Delhi.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Ramsundar Das passes away

Former Bihar Chief Minister and senior JD(U) leader Ramsundar Das passed away on 6 March 2015 in Patna. He was 95. He served Bihar as its Chief Minister from 1 April 1979 to 17 February 1980. He was also a member of the Lok Sabha from Hajipur twice in 1991 and in 2009. He hailed from a Dalit community and played an active role in the 1942, Quit India Movement.