Delink telecom licences from spectrum, suggests Trai

In a major policy liberalisation step, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday recommended the complete delinking of telecom licences from telecom spectrum by introducing three levels of unified licences — a national level, a service area level (which includes various circles ) and a district level for a fee of Rs 15 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh, respectively.

Industry experts say the move would bring in transparency in the telecom industry, which had come under scrutiny due to the bundling of spectrum with licences at throwaway prices.

The regulator has also recommended further liberalisation in the internet telephony regime and said it should be allowed without any restrictions to unified licencees, a move which industry executives say could help many broadband wireless access operators (BWA) like Reliance Infotel to offer voice-over-telephony across networks. BWA operators with ISP licences would now migrate to the new licence regime with a fee.