Trai view on capping of licences by Nov-end

Telecom regulator Trai today said it could not give its fresh views on the crucial issue of capping of licences by September 5 as licensing policy needed a closer look for the growth of the industry.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to reconsider its previous recommendation of a “no-capping” policy on the number of telecom companies that could be allowed to offer telecom services in a circle. DoT had asked Trai to give its response by September 5.

The regulator had replied that that it could not look at the issue in isolation and would take a holistic view of the whole issue. “We have written to the DoT on August 21 telling them it is not possible to give our response on the capping of licences issue by the date desired by them — September 5 — as the particular issue is part of a bigger recommendations on the overall industry. We will give our recommendations by November-end,” Trai Chairman J S Sarma said.

He said the capping of licences are to be seen as part of the a DoT committee report on ‘Allocation of Access Spectrum and Pricing’ and in this report a whole lot of issues are to be dealt with, which will need a lot of consultation and we will only be able to give the recommendation by November 30.

A Trai official said if DoT went ahead on the capping issue without taking Trai’s views into consideration, it might backfire on the licensor in case of legal challenge of its decisions.

DoT had earlier said there was already sufficient competition as there were between 12 and 14 operators offering mobile services in every circle, so a cap was necessary.

The telecom department currently is in a bind as the Delhi High Court, in a landmark judgment, quashed DoT’s notification announcing September 25, 2007, as the cut-off date for granting telecom licences, resulting in denial of licences to 24 companies.