GoM clears single licence regime
By Our Economy Bureau | 31 Oct 2003
New Delhi: The Group of Ministers (GoM) which was constituted to resolve contentious issues in the telecom sector has approved in toto the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to usher in a unified licensing regime for cellular and basic (including limited mobility) services, including the additional entry fees and penalties suggested.
Briefing
newspersons after the meeting, the Union Communications
Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, noted that a Cabinet note on
the proposals will be prepared which will be submitted
for a meeting on Friday. Once the Cabinet approval is
taken, it will only be a matter of time before the new
regime is ushered in, he said.
In
other words, basic operators such as Reliance and Tata
Teleservcies can migrate to a unified licence and offer
full mobility on their WLL services by paying an entry
fee of Rs 1,096 crore and Rs 545 crore respectively. What
is more, Reliance also has to pay a penalty of Rs 485
crore for allowing call forwarding and multiple registration
to their existing WLL subscribers. Under the new regime,
however, if the subscribers want to continue with their
WLL service at the existing rates, they should be allowed
to do so.