The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked stakeholders for their comments on drafting a policy for companies wanting to exit the telecom space, say news reports.
TRAI has already issued a pre-consultation paper in this regard and has asked for comments before January 16, 2012.
The policy is expected to address several issues. For example, questions such as whether partial or complete surrender of spectrum would be permitted, the likely method of shifting customers from one operator to another and whether the entry fee will be partially or fully refunded are expected to be resolved.
The present licencing norms do not have an exit policy. This implies that an operator pays 16.50 billion per permit but does not have the option to surrender it, along with 4.4 MHz start-up spectrum.
