DoT to break the link between spectrum and licences

The Department of Telecommunications is likely to delink spectrum from licences...

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to delink spectrum from licences for operating telecom services. This means that a priority in queue for unified access service licence does not ensure the same priority in the queue for spectrum, said a DoT official.

Once a company gets a letter of intent (LoI), it will be given fifteen days to submit licence fee. On submitting the fee, the company will be allotted the licence and then it will be able to apply for the spectrum. There will be a separate queue for spectrum and it will again be on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Currently, the department is processing applications of 16 companies. These are the ones who applied for licences in September. According to sources, some of them are not eligible for LoI as they might be disqualified on two main grounds — networth criteria and FIPB clearances.

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DoT regulations specify that the net worth of a company applying for all-India licence should be more than Rs 1,380 crore. Many of the 16 aspirants do not meet this criterion. Similarly, some of the companies like ByCell have not yet received FIPB approval.

Swan, S Tel, Parsavnath, HFCL, Unitech and Shyam are among the applicants for the UASL licences. Of the new operators not more than six will be eligible for LoI, sources added.

Applicants for the licence are: ByCell for five circles, Tata Teleservices (3), Idea (9), Spice (20), Swan (2) and Cheetah (14)—Reliance holds stake in Swan and Cheetah—HFCL (21), S Tel (22), Parsvnath (22) Datacom Solutions (22), Ruias-owned BPL mobile (21), Oswals (22), Unitech (8), Shyam (21) and Indiabulls (22).

DoT started processing applications for licences as the telecom dispute settlement appellate tribunal (TDSAT) declined to stay issuance of LoI to applicants. COAI had moved to the tribunal seeking stay on new licences. TDSAT had said this was a policy issue and does not come under its purview.