Unified Licensing framework likely in a month, says DoT secretary

The government hopes to finalise framework for Unified Licensing (UL) regime within next one month, M F Farooqui, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said today.

Farooqui was speaking on the sidelines of a programme organised by industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

With the new UL regime, telecom companies will be able to offer all services that existing licences permit and will be able to share spectrum as well as telecom infrastructure which was not permitted in the earlier licencing norms. Telcos intending to provide additional services will have to obtain the UL.

Under the UL, operators will be free to provide all telecom services with one licence. However, the licences will not have spectrum bundled with them.

Farooqui has also released a report on the role of broadband for inclusive growth in India, titled ‘Creating viable business models for inclusive growth through the National Optical Fibre Network’ by CII and KPMG in India.

The report noted possibilities of building commercially feasible business models, using the national fibre infrastructure, for relevant e-services in areas such as education, healthcare, banking and agriculture through the Public-Private-Panchayat ecosystem.

Farooqui said the next level of growth for the telecom sector would come from data. With the national fibre optic network, the government has put in place a superior quality highway that will be available at the village level reducing transaction costs which would lead to inclusive growth, he said.

“Connectivity facilitates inclusiveness. But services will need to be relevant and affordable to the rural masses, and commercially viable for the service providers. This calls for robust Public-Private partnerships,” said Jaideep Ghosh, partner, KPMG India.