DoT notifies M&A guidelines

Market share of merged entity capped at 50% by both subscriber base and adjusted gross revenue

The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Thursday notified the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This needs cabinet approval.

By the guidelines, a telco going for M&A with a rival will have to ensure the combined market share is below 50 per cent both in the subscriber base and adjusted gross revenue (AGR). If the share exceeds in any of the 22 circles, it will get a year to reduce it.

The guidelines also said acquirers of telcos holding 4.4-Mhz spectrum, allocated at an administrative rate, will have to pay the difference between the initial amount and the market rate determined through the latest auction.

The rate will remain valid for a year. Thereafter, the additional price calculated based on the prime lending rate of the State Bank of India will be added to determine the rate.

"The Cabinet would take a call on this tomorrow and may clear the first phase. We will be spending Rs 46,000 crore for the gradual increase of forest year by year," he said.

The National Mission for a Green India is one of the eight missions under "the National Action Plan on Climate Change" that aims to increase forest and tree cover on 5 million hectare area, improve quality of forest cover or create new forest area on another 5 million ha by 2020. The government has identified about 71 clusters across 21 states for the project.