The Hindu Business Line : Cos rushing to get telecom licence

With the deadline for applying for telecom licences expiring on Monday, a number of companies, including the Hindujas, Jindal Steel and Omaxe may put in their requests with the Department of Telecom. Tulip IT, which had recently acquired long distance telephony licence, has also applied for unified access licence for six circles.

Already 16 other companies have put in their applications. The companies in the line include HFCL, STel, Swan, Cheetah, Shyam Telelink, Allied Infratech, Datacom, ByCell, Indiabulls, BPL, Unitech, Parsvnath, DLF, Idea Cellular, Spice and Tata Teleservices. The total number of applications is now well above 200.

Scrutiny

The DoT has set up an internal committee to scrutinise these applications. It is also formulating fresh set of guidelines for vetting these new applicants. According to official sources, the guidelines will raise the bar for qualification especially for those who want to offer mobile services.

“It will not be possible to accommodate all these applications given the scarcity of spectrum. While unified access licence permits all types of telecom services, those applicants who want spectrum for offering wireless services could be asked to bid for available radio frequency,” said a Government official, adding that a final view would be taken after the committee submits its report by the middle of October.

If DoT decides to go for an auction of spectrum for 2G services, that would in effect put a cap on the number of mobile operators. There is also a view that licences first be issued to those companies that already have some presence in the telecom sector such as Idea Cellular and Shyam, while separate guidelines should be formulated for those are foraying into the sector.

Related Stories:
Videocon seeks telecom licence
Indiabulls applies for tele licence; DLF to follow

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