The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has decided to propose open bids for fresh fully mobile licences as an interim measure before moving to a unified licensing regime.

The Trai proposals, which will be discussed by a group of ministers on October 30, will suggest a six-month deadline for a unified licence regime.

Operators will get automatic access authorisation provided they meet guidelines and pay a nominal processing fee.

They will, however, have to apply for spectrum, which will be priced separately. The operators will also have to pay a certain part of their revenue to the government  for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.

The proposal, if accepted by the GoM, will give WLL operators like Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices the option of bidding for fully mobile licences.

It will also enable cellular operators, which do not have a presence in certain circles, to take part in the competitive bidding.

Trai sources said that the regulator would have ideally liked to shift to unified licensing immediately. But some "baggage of the past" needed to be addressed before this could happen.

"We are of the opinion that open bidding is the most transparent manner of setting the entry fee. So there is a need to issue fifth and sixth fully mobile licences," the source added.

Trai officials pointed out that open bidding had been made possible by the defence ministry's decision to release 25 MHZ of additional spectrum for telecom use.

Trai had suggested in February that the government consider introducing more players in the GSM mobile space if adequate spectrum was made available.

Under the Trai Act, the regulator has to justify both "the need and the timing" before fresh fully mobile licences can be considered.

The Trai sources said the 200 per cent increase in the mobile subscriber base this year justified entry of more players.

In the fourth round of bidding, cellular operators had to pay around Rs 1,700 crore (Rs 17 billion) to get an all-India licence.

Trai had earlier recommended that basic service operators wanting to migrate to a unified licence regime need to pay the difference between what they have already paid as basic service licence fee and what the fourth cellular licensees paid.

The government is also planning to come out with a national frequency  allocation plan amongst various operators which will have a carrot and stick approach to spectrum usage.

While telecom companies making efficient usage of spectrum will get incentives, the laggards will be penalised.