The department of telecommunication, facing a flood of applications from new companies planning to start operations, will prepare a fresh set of guidelines to screen applicants and award licenses.
"I have asked DoT secretary to form a committee to frame guidelines for grant of license to the new applicants. The panel will work our fresh guidelines for the new applicants to get the licenses," Communications Minister A Raja told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
Raja said considering the huge number of applications, there was a need to form new norms to issue licenses.
There are about 140 new proposals from various companies seeking universal access service licenses to provide services across the country, the world's fastest-growing
telecom market.
Recently, even real estate players such as Parsvnath Developers and Unitech Ltd applied for licenses.
Raja said the grant of licenses would be subject to availability of spectrum and new guidelines. "All the applications will be scrutinised and limited applications will be selected," he said.
DoT sources said the committee would also look into the actual shareholding of the new applicants to see if existing companies were seeking licenses as proxy to bypass laws. Cellular Operators Association of India, a lobby of GSM players, has already written to DoT asking it to scrutinise applicants who, it alleged, could be front companies of big corporates.
© Copyright 2025 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
