TRAI mulls paper on operators' exit policy

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Friday it was considering a pre-consultation paper on an exit policy for operators.

"TRAI is contemplating to issue a consultation paper on exit policy for the telecom service providers who wish to exit from the business of the telecom service(s) for which they presently hold a license," TRAI said in a statement.

The telecom department had last year requested TRAI to recommend an exit policy for licensees of all types of licenses, who wish to exit from provisioning of telecom services under a

licence.

In the present licensing framework of telecom licenses, there is no exit policy except for Internet Service Providers (ISP) licenses, but there are provisions to surrender the licenses.

In case of ISP licenses, the telecom department had spelt out an exit policy in 2002.

Few telecom operators were not able to roll out their services due reasons including lack of funds. The department had issued notices to cancel licences of some of them for missing roll-out targets.

The policy is expected to provide an escape route for such operators who want to pull out from the highly competitive telecom sector with as many 14 operators.

Comments are expected by Jan 16.