DoT announces one-time Rs1-crore fee for each service area for new unified 2G licences

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to levy a one-time, non-refundable entry fee of Rs1 crore for unified licences for each service area for telecom companies whose licences have been cancelled by the Supreme Court.
 
The DoT, in its 'notice inviting application' (NIA), providing guidelines for spectrum auction beginning 12 November specified that the entry fee for Jammu & Kashmir and North East service areas will be Rs50 lakh each.
 
Companies whose licences were cancelled by the apex court would be treated as new applicants for participating in the auction and they need to obtain a unified licence to win the spectrum.
 
Besides the one-time fee, the service providers will have to pay an annual licence fee as a percentage of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), at rates specified by the DoT. The NIA, however, has not included the concept of 'national unified licence' which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended.
 
Earlier, the government had issued unified access service licences to operators for Rs1,658 crore, along with 4.4 Mhz spectrum. But under the revised rules, telecom operators will have to pay a minimum of Rs14,000 crore for similar airwaves for pan-India operations during the November auction.
 
Eight blocks each of 1.25 Mhz spectrum will be auctioned in the 1,800 Mhz band, while three blocks of 1.25 Mhz spectrum will be auctioned in the 800 Mhz spectrum band. Three additional blocks of spectrum for the 1,800 Mhz band will be provided across all circles except Delhi and Mumbai.
 
''If an existing player emerges as a successful bidder then that company will have to apply to the DoT for amendment of existing license within seven calendar days of being declared successful in the auction,'' said the announcement.
 
The Supreme Court had cancelled 122 2G licences in February, following the scam involving former telecom minister A. Raja. The court had declared the allocation of spectrum as 'illegal,' and had criticised the government's first-come-first-served policy.
 
The government decided to impose a one-time fee after the Supreme Court's opinion earlier this week on the Presidential reference about the auctioning of natural resources.

An empowered group of ministers had postponed the decision of imposing a one-time fee for licences, suggesting the government await the apex court's ruling on the presidential reference.