Licensing norms for new telcos by Friday

New licences will do away with different kinds of permits that are issued to telecom companies for offering various services

PTI | September 3, 2012



Telecom Commission is expected to finalise by Friday the guidelines for licences that are to be issued to new players that win spectrum in the auction which is due in November.

"By Friday, we expect that the final recommendation of telecom commission in respect of Unified Licences in all aspect that will be relevant for the purpose of the auction will be available," Telecom Commission Chairman and Secretary, Department of Telecom, R Chandrashekhar told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

The new licences will do away with different kinds of permits that are issued to telecom companies for offering various services. Like earlier licences for mobile services, the new licences will not have spectrum bundled with them.

He said the issue related to migration of licences of existing players and bringing telecom tower companies under the licensing regime will be decided at slightly later date.

"0ne of the views that was taken in today's meeting was that out of large set of recommendations, we should prioritise and focus on those aspects which require immediate decision in the context of the auctions," Chandrashekhar said.

Telecom Regulatory Authority, Trai, has proposed to bring telecom tower companies under the licensing regime and estimated that bringing IP-I (mainly telecom tower firms) under the licensing regime will fetch the government revenues of around Rs 1,900 crore per year.

The regulator has recommended bringing down foreign direct investment limit for infrastructure providers for telecom services to 74 per cent, from 100 per cent at present, within a period of three years after Unified Licensing regime comes into force. The move had been opposed by firms operating in this segment.

"If some of the aspects which are not immediately required for the purpose of the auction but are required for the larger licensing regime then those could be considered further at a slightly later date after some more ground work is done," Chandrashekhar said.

He said aspects relating to type of licences that will be given to new players for their service areas, eligibility conditions, services allowed under the new licences as well as things like entry fee, financial bank guarantee and performance bank guarantee are expected to be finalised on Friday.

The regulator has also recommended to issue Unified Licences at three levels for National level, Service area level and District level.

Comments

 

Other News

Saksham Skill census identifies 22,000 job-ready candidates in one Mumbai ward

A first-of-its-kind AI-enabled skill census conducted in Mumbai`s H-West Ward has identified a potential livelihood pipeline of nearly 22,000 candidates, generated over 32,000 provisional job matches while revealing that 71.2 per cent of surveyed homemakers are willing to join the workforce, according to

GI tags: Scaling traditional wealth into global brands

Geographical Indication (GI) tags have emerged as a powerful tool for protecting India`s cultural heritage, while creating economic opportunities for local communities. By linking products to their place of origin, GI tags preserve traditional knowledge, prevent misuse, and enhance consumer trust. They h

BMC: 207 officials in ACB net, 112 still on duty, 68 retire before justice catches up

There are significant delays in the handling of corruption cases involving officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by rights activist Jeetendra Ghadge has revealed. As of 30 April 2026, 207 BMC officials face Anti-Corruption Bureau (A

The transformation trap: Why efficiency is not innovation

Every company is transforming, or so it claims.   There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created

The Sardar biography that throws light on our times

Patel: A Life By Rajmohan Gandhi Aleph Books, 568 pages, Rs 1,199   There are many biographi

Climate change, El Niño rewrite Indian monsoon

The month of July exceeded its rainfall target despite forecasts of a below-normal month under a strengthening El Niño. The reason could be that climate change is amplifying monsoon complexity: West Pacific warming, Western Disturbances and evolving ocean conditions increasingly interact with El Ni&

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter