Govt Decides Against Raising Telecom Fdi

The government has decided to retain the 49 per cent equity cap on foreign direct investment in telecom projects, communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here yesterday.

"The Telecom Commission has suggested that there should be a 49 per cent cap and we will stick to that for the time being," Paswan said.

The Telecom Commission, at its meeting on May 16, decided to retain the 49 per cent cap. The proposal was then sent to Paswan for approval, according to commission chairman Shyamal Ghosh.

The ministry of commerce and industry had, however, favoured an increase in the FDI limit to 74 per cent.

 

On domestic long-distance telephony, Ghosh said the department of telecommunications was examining the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Ghosh also clarified that contrary to reports, Evergrowth, the cellular service operator in Punjab, would have to clear its licence dues before migrating to the revenue-sharing regime. DoT is writing to the company asking it to pay its dues in order to resume operations in the Punjab cellular circle.

Minister of state for communications Tapan Sikdar, however, said only part of Evergrowth's dues would have to be cleared before the go-ahead. He said he was in favour of seeking the Attorney General's opinion in this regard.

Ghosh said the Department of Telecom Services would start services in all the 20 areas for which it held licences by end of next year.