Govt issues 22 more telecom licenses

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday issued 22 more licenses to new players, including Idea Cellular and realty major Unitech, a move that would bring in competition and lower mobile tariffs.

Unitech Developers has been given licenses for 12 circles including in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Bihar.

Birlas-owned Idea Cellular got licenses for eight circles. This would make Idea a pan-India operator. Idea was given license in Punjab yesterday on a day when the government issued a total of 22 permits.

Datacom Solutions, in which Videocon has a majority stake, has been awarded licenses for two more circles in addition to 19 given yesterday, a senior official in the Department of Telecom (DoT) said.

On spectrum (radio frequency), officials said that no final decision has been taken as yet as to when the process of allocation would begin. The DoT is assessing the availability in each circle, besides continuing negotiations with the Defence ministry to get spectrum vacated at the earliest.

Meanwhile, on a petition filed by Idea and Spice communications, the telecom tribunal TDSAT today passed an interim order that the date of application of new players be considered for issuance of licenses and spectrum.

The officials said application date has no meaning as most players are being issued permits simultaneously, and in all probability, spectrum would also be alloted in a similar fashion. Spice Communications, which was given LoI last month for five circles, is likely to get licenses along with Unitech tomorrow for the remaining 10 circles.

As of now, licenses are being issued on the basis of first-come-first-served as per the payment of license fees.