Indian telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has proposed an entry fee of $3.88 million for a national level unified license. That’s an increase from the current fee of $3.22 million.
TRAI, in its draft guidelines for Unified Licensing Regime, states that the unified license will be given without any spectrum. “The licensee has to separately apply/bid for obtaining spectrum as per the prevailing policy,” the regulator stated.
TRAI in its recommendation on “Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework” dated May 11, 2010, had recommended that the future licenses not be bundled with spectrum. The licenses to be issued would be:
- Unified Licenses covering various access services, NLD/ILD, Internet, IP-I;
- Class Licenses covering VSAT services;
- Licensing through Authorization and
- Broadcasting licenses.
The draft guidelines propose an entry free from $97,219 to $390,000 for a state-level license. For a district level unified license the entry fee would be $29,166.
The guidelines further state that the minimum net worth required for acquiring a national level unified license would be $4.86 million, $480,000 for each service area and $40,000 for each district.
“The net worth of only those promoters shall be counted, who have at least 10% equity stake or more in the total equity of the company,” the regulator stated.
The regulator has sought written comments from various stakeholders on the draft guidelines by Jan. 31.
