Government has announced a uniform telecom license fee policy.
Briefing the newsmen in New Delhi, the Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said that all future licenses would be unified and telecom spectrum in each city for operators, would be allotted separately.
The uniform license fee will be upto eight per cent of adjusted gross revenue of the telecom company.
Mr. Sibal said, a new telecom policy will come in force from the next financial year.
He said that the telecom regulator, TRAI, will announce a migration path for existing license holders to the uniform license regime.
He said, there will be an entry charge for migration to the unified license. Licenses will be renewed for ten years after expiry.
The Minister said, mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector upto 35 per cent of market share will be allowed under a quick and simple process.
The new telecom policy does away with the previous license policy of allocating the spectrum to telecom companies in various telecom circles based on regions.
This means companies like Vodafone or Bharti Airtel had to acquire different licenses to operate in different cities across India.
Going forward, they can pay a migration fee and acquire a national uniform license. The announcement assumes significance after the Supreme Court verdict that set aside the allocation of 122 licenses in 208.
