NEWS IN BRIEF: DoT, Telecom Italia, EVUA, CES, Google

India's Department of Telecom (DoT) has rejected the finance ministry's request to double the bid floor price for the upcoming 3G and Wimax spectrum auctions. The Economic Times - quoting insider sources - reports that the auction is likely to be delayed regardless.

Telecom Italia intends to launch HSPA+ services this year. The service will use Qualcomm chipsets, and will initially operate at 21Mbps, with a planned 28Mbps upgrade in Q2.

User group EVUA (Enterprise VPN Users' Association) has appointed Jon Neville as general manager. Neville has been running EVUA's unified communications group for the past two years.

Google intends to introduce premium mobile apps to the Android app store this quarter, beginning in the US and the UK with a subsequent expansion into Europe. The company also intends to add to the list of supported countries after Q1.