The Hindu Business Line : Telecom licence norms in 10 days

New Delhi, Oct 4 The Communications and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, on Thursday said that a new set of guidelines for issue of new telecom licences and allocation of spectrum will be announced within the next 10 days. There are at least 30 companies who have put in about 300 applications for a new telecom licence over the past two months.

“A committee has been formed to scrutinise details of new applications and spectrum related issues. It will submit its report in the next 10 days,” Mr Raja said on the sidelines of an industry event.

The guidelines will specify the eligibility criteria for acquiring a new licence as well the method of allocation of spectrum.

Different methods

While unified access licence allows operators to offer any type of telecom services, those who want to offer wireless services will have to take radio frequency. The problem is that DoT does not have enough spectrum for all the applicants and therefore may go in for an auction to accommodate 3-4 new players.

“After knowing all facts, a transparent approach will be followed to deal with these applications,” Mr Raja said.

There is sharp difference among operators on the method of allocating spectrum. While existing operators have claimed first right to the available spectrum, new players are pushing the case for more competition in telecom sector.

The Minister, however, said that there will be a different spectrum allocation mechanism for existing operators such as Airtel and Vodafone, licence holders without spectrum such as Idea cellular and fresh applicants such as AT&T and DLF.

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