India Plans High-Speed Corridors, Awards New Projects

TRAI Caps PM-WANI Tariffs to Boost Affordable Public Wi-Fi

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has welcomed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Telecommunication Tariff (71st Amendment) Order, 2025 (PR 46/2025), issued on 16 June 2025. This amendment mandates that all retail FTTH broadband plans up to 200 Mbps must be offered to Public Data Offices (PDOs) at prices not exceeding twice the consumer broadband rate. This ceiling is expected to significantly reduce the backhaul costs for public Wi-Fi hotspots—by as much as tenfold.  Introduced under the Prime Minister’s “Broadband for All” initiative, the PM-WANI ..

Coal Ministry Opens Bids for 12th Commercial Block Auction

The Nominated Authority under the Ministry of Coal has opened bids for the 12th round of commercial coal block auctions, excluding six underground coal blocks. The round attracted notable interest from participants, with bids submitted for 11 out of the 22 available blocks. The online bids were decrypted and accessed electronically in the presence of bidders. Following this, sealed envelopes containing physical bid documents were also opened in front of the participants. The entire procedure was displayed live on screen for complete transparency. In total, 41 bids—both online and offlin..

India To Export Rs 30 Billion Locomotives To Guinea

India will export 150 Evolution Series ES43ACmi locomotives worth over Rs 30 billion to the Republic of Guinea for use at the Simandou iron ore project site, the Ministry of Railways announced on Monday, 16 June 2025.Manufactured at the Railway Locomotive Factory in Marhowrah, Bihar, the locomotives are part of the Make-in-India initiative and will be supplied in phases: 37 units in the current financial year, 82 units next year, and the remaining 31 in the third year.The 4,500-horsepower locomotives feature AC propulsion, regenerative braking, microprocessor-based controls, and modular archit..