Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has set the ball rolling for the second phase of telecom reforms with the issue of a consultation paper seeking the industry's views on review of key license conditions and capping the number of access providers.
The paper issued on Tuesday seeks views on the crucial question of permitting service providers to offer access services under the same license using a combination of technology, and limiting the number of access providers in each service area, besides views on M&As and rollout obligations.
Three CDMA players, including the Reliance Communications, want to offer GSM services as well and have applied for spectrum.
In the existing regime, M&As as well as transfer of license are permitted subject to conditions.
Other main issues raised in the paper relate
to defining markets, criteria for determining dominance or market power, maximum spectrum holdings for a merged entity, cross-technology mergers, minimum number of access providers in a service area as a result of mergers and acquisitions.
At present, no single company or legal person can, directly or indirectly have substantial equity holding of 10 per cent or more in more than one licensee in the same service are for the access services. The paper discusses issues related to the need and form of substantial equity clause.
Considering the technological changes and the boom in the sector, updating the regulatory framework is a major initiative on issues such as determining the number of access providers in each service area and review of the license norms, including substantial equity holding and transfer of licenses.