Operators have reached a consensus on four of the 15 policy changes that have been proposed by Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT as part of his 100-day plan to bring in reforms for the sector, say news reports.
Operators are sharply divided on most of the remaining 11 proposed policy changes. For instance, they have unanimously opposed Sibal’s plans to replace rollout norms with habitation-based coverage, and are also against bringing tower companies under licensing regime, where they will have to share part of their revenues with the government.
Operators have also told Sibal that they support a liberal merger and acquisition policy for the sector to allow consolidation.
With regard to adopting a licence fee, most operators share the view that this should be fixed at 6 per cent of their revenues with immediate effect.
Also, operators do not share common ground on all issues related to 2G spectrum, from pricing of these resources, to capping the amount of airwaves a telecom firm can hold, to the methodology to be adopted for awarding additional spectrum, reworking the usage fee and a system for awarding radio frequencies to companies.
