The department of telecommunications (DoT) today issued licences for operating telecom services to three firms — Datacom, Swan and Idea. They were first in the queue for getting licences in different states. The government has, however, not indicated when the Spectrum will be issued to these companies.Sources said that tomorrow the DoT will issue licences to those companies who were number two in the list. A total of 22 licences has been given to the three companies including 19 licences to Datacom. Birla’s Idea Cellular would get licence for one circle in Punjab and Swan Telecom for the Delhi and Mumbai circles. Altogether 120 licences would be distributed among nine companies, including Unitech, Spice, Shyam Telelink and others that were issued letters of intent (LOI) on January 10, this year.Asked when the exercise would be completed, officials said all agreements with the nine companies would be inked by this weekend.Subsequently, these firms would have to apply for spectrum (radio frequency) separately to start rolling out network in their respective circles. The entry of new players is bound to increase competition in the GSM mobile segment and tariffs may fall in the coming months. DoT officials have said that the entry of 5-6 new players would result in the fall of tariffs by at least 50 per cent from the current level.
