The Hindu Business Line : Telecom licence: Cos given time till tomorrow to submit details

New Delhi, Dec. 11 Kick-starting the process towards issuing letter of intent to new players, the Department of Telecom has asked 25 companies, which had sought new telecom licences, to submit various details including those related to promoters, board of directors, net worth and articles of association.

The companies have been asked to submit these details by December 13 failing which their applications would be cancelled.

According to Government sources, the Ministry of Communications will issue the letter of intent once the responses are received and found complete. While more than 40 companies had applied for a new telecom licence, only those companies who fulfil the eligibility criteria have been selected.

Sources indicated that applications from Parsvnath and ByCell could be held back by DoT. While Parsvnath’s articles of association does not specify the company’s intention of foraying into telecom, ByCell may have run into security related issues.

The sources also said that some of the clauses mentioned in the initial guidelines have been done away with.

DoT’s action plan

DoT’s move to seek clarifications from new applicants indicates its intent to go ahead with the decision to allocate licence and spectrum on a first come first served basis despite an offer from Bharti Airtel to pay Rs 2,650 crore for pan-India GSM spectrum. The GSM operators had objected to bringing in new operators without addressing their need for more spectrum.

Government sources said that DoT may approach the Prime Minister’s Office in the next few days to seek permission for issuing the letter of intent to the new players. HFCL, Shyam, Unitech, IndiaBulls and Datacom could be among those who would get the LI first.

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