Policy on MVNO entries delayed

The much-awaited policy on the entry of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in the country has been delayed by one week.

Last month, senior officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had expressed hope that the MVNO policy would be issued before January 5, which was also the deadline for submitting applications for 3G spectrum.

MVNOs do not own spectrum, they operate through commercial arrangements with licensed mobile network operators, purchase bulk minutes of traffic and re-sell them to their subscribers under their own brand name.

According to officials in the DoT, the sub-committee of the DoT that is assessing the matter is taking a little more time than anticipated to fine-tune the policy. Meanwhile, the deadline for the 3G auction has been extended to January 15. As a result, the auction process, which was to start on January 16, has been pushed back to January 30. The final guidelines for the auction process are still under cloud as the reserve price and the number of blocks for the auction are awaiting Cabinet approval.