Reliance Jio Infocomm, others apply for Unified Licence
24 Aug 2013
Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, and a few other players have applied for Unified Licence, according to Department of Telecom secretary M F Farooqui.
''Reliance Jio has applied for Unified Licence,'' Farooqui said on the sidelines of C-Dot Foundation Day function.
Replying to a question as to whether the department had received applications from other players, Farooqui said there were a few others who had applied.
The DoT had recently issued migration guidelines for Unified Licence under which internet service providers (ISP), including Reliance Jio Infocomm that had Broadband Wireless Access spectrum, could offer mobile telephony service with an extra payment of Rs1,658.57 crore.
The government set up a new Unified Licence regime earlier this month aimed at freeing the players from limitations on use of technology for services and allowing them to take benefits such as spectrum sharing and full internet telephony under the new sectoral policy.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm, which held 4G radio airwaves for all of India, would need to pay Rs1,600 crore for the new Unified Licence, with which carriers would be able to offer all services under a single permit, according to guidelines published this week.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, which had not yet launched commercial services, had been widely expected to apply for the new licence.
