Govt issues telecom licenses to nine telecos

NEW DELHI, INDIA: In a move to achieve the target of 25-paise-per-local call rates, the government on Wednesday initiated the first step by issuing new telecom licenses to three players.

Datacom Solutions, subsidiary of Videocon was granted the license as a fresh player in the mobile space.

The other two companies include Swan Telecom and Idea Cellular. A total of nine companies would be granted telecom licenses.

According to sources in the Department of Telecom (DoT), Datacom has received the licenses for 19 circles, Swan Telecom for Mumbai and Delhi and Idea Cellular for Punjab.

The source informed that a total of 120 licenses would be granted among nine companies by this weekend.

The other companies in the fray include Spice, Shyam Telelink, Unitech.

The companies that had received the letter of intent (LoI) last month would be awarded the license by weekend.

According to the Unified Access Service License (UASL) guidelines, the government should allocate start-up spectrum to the operators within six months of granting license.

However, the telecom operators are facing a tough time due to the lack of spectrum.

With new players entering the space, the issue of allocation of spectrum would become a controversial affair.

The companies in the fray seeking start-up spectrum include Unitech Builders and Estates, Nahan Properties, S Tel, Loop Telecom (a subsidiary of BPL Mobile), Aska Projects, Swan Telecom, and Shyam Telelink.