Govt sets deadline for telecom license application

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With the surge in application of new telecom licenses, the Ministry of Telecommunications on Monday issued a statement not to accept new applications after October 1.

This comes in wake of 160 license applications pending at the office of the Department of Telecom (DoT), most of the applications from non-telecom companies.

Non-telecom companies like Unitech Ltd, Parsvanath developers and a number of other players applied for the licenses after the telecom regulatory submitted it recommendations on no cap on the number of operators in each circle.

"India will not accept any new telecom license application after October 1," the ministry statement said.

However, DoT is in a fix with large number of application pending from the existing telecom operators due to scarcity of spectrum.

Speaking to the media, A Raja, Minister for Communications and IT said that the government would come up with a report on the license application in the next 10 days. "The government will be scrutinizing the license applications from the companies seeking for operating licenses. We are looking at formulating new screening guidelines where we need to be selective," Raja said.

However, the Ministry is in talks with the defence forces on the release of spectrum to be allotted for commercial use to ease the current congestion in the network. The minister had earlier informed that the license applications would be cleared once the government has received the appropriate amount of spectrum from the defence.