After several rounds of consultation with stakeholders, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly amended the unified telecom licence.
In the amended version, DoT has removed the clause requiring telecom operators to mandatorily migrate to the new regime.
The amended clause now reads; “In order to ensure that the unified licence regime covers all existing licences, a migration path is offered to the existing licences to migrate to the unified licence regime. The licences of any of the existing telecom service provider shall be eligible to migrate to a unified licence with any number of additional services.?
To migrate to the new regime, an operator is required to pay a one-time non-refundable entry fee of Rs 150 million to obtain new licences to provide all kinds of telecom services.
That apart, operators are required to provide performance bank guarantee of Rs 2.20 billion and a financial bank guarantee of Rs 440 million.
Meanwhile, an internet service provider is required to pay Rs 3 million for a national level licence, furnish a performance bank guarantee of Rs 20 million and a financial bank guarantee of Rs 1 million.
In the amended version, DoT has also identified the frequency band that will be considered as access spectrum, used for transmitting signals to subscribers.
