The Hindu Business Line : Chaos, drama at DoT office for getting letters of intent

When DoT announced that LIs will be issued at 3.30 p.m., all hell broke loose as the companies made a beeline to the second floor of Sanchar Bhawan where the letter was being issued.

The action is on: Representatives of wannabe mobile operators line up in front of Sanchar Bhawan as DoT issued letters of intent to new players in the Capital on Thursday. - Kamal Narang

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, Jan. 10 Telecom industry is so competitive that companies are literally at each other’s throat right from the time of taking the licence.

On Thursday it was total pandemonium at Sanchar Bhawan, the office of the Department of Telecom, as representatives of wannabe telecom companies literally got into fist fights and blows in a bid to be the first to get the letter of intent.

After keeping nearly 46 applicants on tenterhooks for almost three months, when DoT on Thursday announced that letters of intent (LIs) will be issued at 3.30 p.m., all hell broke loose as the companies made a beeline to the second floor of Sanchar Bhawan where the letter was being issued.

The clamour was so shrill that a representative of one of the applicants got a hired goon to ensure that it was his company which was the first to enter the gates.

Bollywood stunts

What followed could make Bollywood stunts look pale in comparison as some of the company representatives were physically thrown out of the line by rival applicant company.

To add to the drama, one of the executives on the receiving end even threatened to commit suicide on the spot if he was not allowed to enter the office building.

Some of the companies, whose applications were rejected, then went on an impromptu protest that added to the chaos.

Officials blame DoT

Industry officials present on the location said that DoT had to be blamed for the ruckus as it had announced at 2.45 p.m. through a press release that LIs would be issued between 3.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. giving a window of only one hour for the company representatives to collect the letters.

“It is a complete mockery of the processes and systems that have been put in place over the years. The chaos today probably reflects the mood of the telecom industry in general,” said a company official present at Sanchar Bhawan.

Others also blamed a lack of clarity on the first come first served policy for allocating spectrum. While some companies are taking the date of application based on which DoT will allocate spectrum, others said that the date of paying entry fee would be taken as the qualifying date.

List of companies

Finally LIs were issued to nine companies. Real estate giant Unitech got LIs for 22 circles, Datacom for 22, BPL and Shyam got 21 LIs, Idea for 9 circles, STel got 6, Spice got only 4 though it had applied for pan India, Swan got 13 and Tata Teleservices got LIs for offering CDMA services in 3 circles.

If all the companies convert the LIs to licences by paying the entry fee, the Government will stand to get in excess of Rs 7,000 crore.