New license guidelines in 10 days

NEW DELHI: The ministry of Communications and IT is likely to announce fresh guidelines for licenses in 10 days time. This comes a day after telecom operators took a tough stand against the new license applicants. “The committee formed to look in to the guidelines on issuing fresh license and spectrum related issues would submit its recommendation in the next 10 days time upon which a new set of guidelines will be announced,” A Raja, union minister for Communications and IT said.

Officials in the ministry informed that the Department of Telecom has received more than 250 applications for new licenses from different companies. Most of the applications are from companies that are not into core telecom business. Commenting on the cap in the number of players, Raja said, “telecom operators have opposed the cap on the number of players in each circle, so there is no point to discuss about it.”

A senior member in DoT informed CyberMedia News that the government would announce strict screening guidelines to restrict ‘non-serious players’ to enter in to the telecom business. “The committee is in the process to put up strict guidelines on issuing new licenses. However, the fresh guidelines is likely to be announced by mid of this month, once the minister gives his final consent to it,” the official said. In the meeting with the minister held on Wednesday, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI) had urged the minister for strict scrutiny of fresh license applications.