While it appears that the old telecom players haven’t been hit by the new policy, these companies will have to pay high prices when their licences come up for renewal. For example, Airtel’s licence for Delhi ends in November 2014 and it will need to renew it to continue offering mobile services. The telecom licences are given for 20-year periods.
“Others (old players) will also have to pay much more later. For existing operators, whose licence ends in three-four years, they will have to pay for everything,” said telecom minister Kapil Sibal. The minister said the department of telecom would seek telecom regulator Trai’s recommendations on the pricing of spectrum. “A market-based pricing mechanism may include an auction, or any other market-based price mechanism,” he said. The minister said there will be uniform revenue-sharing for all telecom players. The telecom ministry has issued showcause notices for 85 licences to new operators asking why their licences should not be cancelled for faking eligibility criteria. Mr Sibal said in case any licence is cancelled, it will be re-allocated under the new policy. The Opposition has been attacking the government for giving new licences in 2008 at less than market price, which led to a presumptive loss of `1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer. The change in policy is an attempt by the government to clean up the telecom mess.
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Naxals free civilian after 5 days
AGE CORRESPONDENT
RAIPUR
Jan. 29: The civilian, who was abducted along with five jawans of CAF by Maoist insurgents at Meherbeda in state’s Narayanpur district five days ago, was set free on Saturday afternoon, the police said.
The fate of other hostages still remains uncertain.
The police said Gul Chand, 28, was released in a forest close to his village Ghanora at around 2 pm. He walked nearly 15 km in the jungle to reach his home. “Gul said he had no information about the abducted jawans. He had been separated from other hostages during the period of his custody with Maoists,” Narayanpur SP Mayank Srivastav said.