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Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee

New Delhi, Dec. 1 A contentious proposal of ByCell to infuse more investments into the telecom sector was once again deferred by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is yet to receive security clearance report from its agencies on the company’s directors, sources said, adding that the proposal is now likely to come up for discussion at the next meeting of FIPB.

This is the second time that the proposal of the company — which plans to hike its investments into the telecom sector to apply for new licences for pan-India operations — has been deferred.

The company’s application came under lens after the Prime Minister’s Office received a complaint that the identity of the company’s owners was not known.

ByCell Holding AG, Switzerland, had submitted a proposal in November 2005 for foreign collaboration for undertaking the activities of offering GSM-based cellular telecom services in India in five sectors (Assam, Bihar/Jharkhand, North-East, Orissa and West Bengal).

The earlier proposal had entailed foreign equity participation of 74 per cent amounting to $100 million in the next 3-5 years in the paid-up capital of the Indian company.

The balance 26 per cent was to be held by the Indian investor. FIPB granted an approval to the company on January 17, 2006.

Following the approval, a joint venture company was established in the country under the name ByCell Telecommunications India Pvt Ltd, where Bitcorp Pvt Ltd, an Indian company was inducted as a joint venture partner.

The board of directors of ByCell India, in conjunction with ByCell Holding AG and Bitcorp, has now decided to apply for UAS (unified access service) licences for other circles in India to enable the company to become an all-India operator.

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FIPB defers decision on ByCell proposal

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