Under the new unified licencing norms issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Vodafone India will be required to offload its indirect 4.4 per cent stake, worth $1 billion, in Bharti Airtel.
The new Unified Licencing norms bar telecom players from holding any beneficial interest in competitors operating in the same service areas. The country has 22 services area and both Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel offer telecom 2G services in all these circles.
The two operators currently operate under the Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) licence, under which telecom companies are permitted to hold stake up to 9.9 per cent in other firms. However, as per the new licencing rules, telecom service providers operating under previous licences will have to migrate to new licences on expiry of their licences and sell stakes held by them in a competing firm within a year of getting UL.
Vodafone India?s 2G licences in the Delhi, Mumbai and the Kolkata circles are valid till the last quarter of 2014. The operators? two 2G licence for the Madhya Pradesh circle is valid till 2027. While Bharti Airtel?s two 2G licences in the Delhi and Kolkata circles are also valid till November 2014. A few of the operators? licences are valid up to 2024.
