Tata Teleservices seeks exemption from lock-in

In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), mobile telecom service provider Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL) has sought clarifications from the licensor on the lock-in period, which prevents companies from selling their stakes after getting the licence and spectrum.

The CDMA player has stated that, being an existing player, it does not fall under the category of start-up operators who were issued the Universal Access Service Licence (UASL) early this year.

Moreover, the company has stated that since there was a lock-in period earlier, which the company had adhered to, it would not fall under the category of a further restriction on stake sales.

TTL has also sought this exemption for other existing telecom players, like Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Aircel as the companies have already adhered to the lock-in period criteria.

Earlier, the telecom ministry had introduced a five-year lock-in period for telecom companies, which was later removed.

When contacted, TTL officials declined to comment.

The letter is of significance as TTL was awarded the cross-over spectrum (spectrum to provide GSM, in addition to its existing CDMA services) during the recent allocation in February. On November 13, the company sold 26 per cent of its stake to Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo for around $2.7 billion.

With new telecom companies like Swam Telecom and Unitech selling stakes to foreign companies at high premiums after the allocation of spectrum, the industry was clamouring for a reinforcement of the lock-in period.

TTL has invested over Rs 25,000 crore across various circles in the country during the past 10 years.

Tata Sons, the holding company for all Tata group firms, has invested around Rs 3,800 crore in TTL during the period, TTL said in the letter.

Tata Sons is the single largest shareholder in TTL with around 45 per cent stake, followed by Tata Communications, which holds around 15 per cent.

TTL, the unlisted telecom subsidiary of Tata group, had started offering basic services in 1997, even though much of the Rs 25,000 crore investments were made after it received the UASL in 2003.