DoT to stop accepting telecom licence applications from 1 October
DoT to stop accepting telecom licence applications from 1 October
New Delhi, 24 September Amid the rush of applications seeking telecom licenses, the government today said no new applications would be accepted after 1 October, 2007.
“It has been decided that new applications for Unified (Telecom) Access Services (UAS) Licenses will not be accepted by the Department of Telecom after 1October, 2007 till further orders," an official statement said.
DoT said within the next ten days a decision would be taken on recommendations given by telecom regulator TRAI with regard to capping the number of players in each circle and also on the allocation of additional spectrum.
The department has received over 160 applications for Unified Access Services Licenses and in view of limited availabity of spectrum it may not be possible for DoT to entertain most of them. New applicants include realty majors Parsavnath Developers and Unitech, HFCL, Reliance Communications and Essar among others.
On the other hand, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a lobby of existing private GSM mobile operators, has served a legal notice to DoT for delay in allocating spectrum to existing players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular based on notified criteria.
DoT is also negotiating with the Ministry of Defence for vacating additional spectrum of up to 45 MHz to entertain requests from the existing players as well as new aspirants.
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