Sibal promises telecom M&A norms by 15 October

India's long-awaited policy on mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector should be in place by 15 October, telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday.

"In fact I wanted them (M&A guidelines) to be in place by the 15th of September, but it could not be done. I want to commit that these must be done by 15 October," Sibal said during an interaction with the Indian Women's Press Corps in New Delhi.

Telecom operators have been waiting for long to see the final M&A guidelines to facilitate mergers among the plethora of telecom service providers in the country.

The department of telecommunications (DoT), which functions under Sibal's ministry, plans to meet industry leaders before releasing the final guidelines. The DoT had actually scheduled a meeting early this week, but it was deferred for unknown reasons.

Talking about his immediate priorities at ministry of communications and information technology, Sibal said that his top priority is getting 'post banks' started in rural areas.

"Something that is very close to my heart is to get post banks in place for rural India. All my post offices should also function as banks. I think we will be able to serve the rural economy and rural folk much better," Sibal said.

The Department of Posts has applied for a banking licence. When the application is approved by the Reserve Bank of India, it is expected to virtually triple the number of banking outlets in the country.

The minister said that his second priority is to ensure that "next auction (of 2G spectrum) is not just successful but phenomenally successful".

"We should get lot of competition and therefore a lot in the kitty ... revenue targets should be substantial enough to help the finance minister," he said.

The government finds itself forced to reduce the reserve or minimum bid price for the airwaves auction due around next month after the two previous rounds this year drew pathetic response, largely due to an unrealistically high floor price.

For the financial year 2013-14, the government expects a revenue of Rs40,847.05 crore from other communication services, which include receipt from spectrum sale and one-time spectrum fee levied on old-established players for holding airwaves frequencies in addition to the quantum that was bundled with their licences.

Sibal said that his ministry is working on a policy framework for an optical fibre network under which government plans to connect 2.5 lakh village panchayats in the country.

He said that his third priority "is to move the fibre optics policy framework as quickly as possible so that we can reach 2.5 lakh villages by 2014 and also connect 600 universities and 3,500 colleges with a dedicated national knowledge network, That process is on but I want that to be completed by 2014."