CHHATTISGARH CANT WAIT FOR MOBILE TOWERS ANY LONGER Sandeep Joshi, New Delhi The Hindu Tuesdays

Maoist attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh has once again highlighted the need for the much-delayed mobile towers project in nine States affected by left-wing extremism. Despite its getting clearance last June from the Union Cabinet, which set a 12-month deadline, the project hit a roadblock over cost issues between the funding agency the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and the operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd A final decision has to be taken by the Department of Telecoms highest decision-making body, the Telecom Commission, but a crucial meeting on the issue has been postponed at least twice.

NOKIA SOLUTIONS TO SET UP MOBILE SECURITY CENTRE IN BERLIN New Delhi The Times of India Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) will set up a security centre in Berlin, Germany. The move is aimed at exchanging knowledge on mobile broadband security research among telecom operators, research partners and authorities. The centre, which will be fully operational in the second half of 2014, will create a platform for knowledge exchange on mobile broadband-related telecom security research, NSN said in a statement.

INT/E-COMM DOT SEES MSMES EMERGING STRONGER ON THE 'CLOUD' Kalyan Parbat, Kolkata The Economic Times The telecom department has advocated mass deployment of cloud computing technologies to improve the global competitiveness and export earnings of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) during the 12th Plan period, according to an internal note seen by ET. It will work closely with the MSME ministry to implement an Rs. 82.33-crore project for deploying cloud computing applications in key business processes and production lines across 1800-plus MSMEs. The project has been approved by the Planning Commission. The telecom department's move comes on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call for reinforcing MSMEs, which he said were ""crucial to the national economy as they account for 8 percent of India's GDP, 45 percent of its manufactured output and 43 percent of its exports".

FIXED LINE INTERNET CONNECTIONS NEED TO CHANGE SETTINGS: DOT New Delhi The Economic Times | The Hindu Faced with fresh cyber spying threats, the Department of Telecom has asked Internet service providers to reset passwords and other settings in devices installed at premises of fixed line broadband subscribers within 60 days. The number of such devices (modems) runs into 1.45 crore as there are as many fixed line internet connections in the country as of January, 2014.

APPOINTMENTS GOOGLE'S NIKESH ARORA RESIGNS FROM BHARTI AIRTEL BOARD, DK MITTAL INDUCTED

New Delhi The Economic Times

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Nikesh Arora, Internet search giant Google's India-born chief business officer, has resigned as independent director from Bharti Airtel's board. Arora has been replaced by Dinesh Kumar Mittal, a former bureaucrat who retired in 2013 as Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. Arora served as an independent director with the company for five-and-a-half years. The company said Mittal has been appointed as an Additional Director in the category of Independent Director.

EVENTS ET RETAIL AWARDS JURY TO MEET IN MUMBAI TODAY Mumbai The Economic Times (Delhi edition) A power-packed panel will convene in Mumbai to pick the winners of the most anticipated accolades in the Indian retail sector The Economic Times Retail Awards, reports Our Bureau. The jury will meet on Friday to debate and evaluate the presentations submitted by the nominated retailers. The jury members are Aruna Jayanthi, CEO, Capgemini India; Atanu Sen, MD and CEO, SBI Life; Colvyn Harris, CEO South Asia, JWT; Jagdish Mahapatra, MD, McAfee; MS Unnikrishnan, MD and CEO, Thermax; Rana Kapoor, MD and CEO, Yes Bank; Sudhir Trehan, vice-chairman, Crompton Greaves; Vinod Sawhney, CEO, Reliance Communications and Hasit B Joshipura, MD, GlaxoSmithKline India. The ET Retail Awards ceremony, at which winners in 21 award categories will be announced, will take place on March 21.

CONFERENCE ON ICT STANDARDS, EMERGING TECHNOLOGY BEGINS New Delhi The Tribune The European Union on Thursday assured India to assist in establishing world-class Information Communication Technology (ICT) standards and emerging technologies. A two-day conference to discuss this issue began on Thursday. Titled Indo-European dialogue on ICT standards & emerging technologies, the conference was inaugurated by MF Farooqui, Secretary, DoT.