It also proposed to exempt infrastructure providers, radio paging and Internet telephony companies as well as operators in rural areas with less than 1 per cent teledensity from paying the licence fee, registration charges and obtaining bank guarantees.
In its draft recommendations on unified licensing, the regulator has proposed a Rs 107 crore (Rs 1.07 billion) registration charge for telecom service providers in addition to a charge based on the entry fee paid by basic telecom service providers that received licences for various circles from 2001.
TV Ramachandran, director-general, Cellular Operators Association of India, said the entry fee imposed was too high. "It will create an entry barrier," he said.
Further, the draft does not propose inter-circle connectivity. "The consumer would have benefited had the regulator allowed it," he added.
Ramachandran, however, said Trai's proposal to reduce the licence fee for unified licence holders would enable companies to lower tariffs in long-distance services.
"This has been one of our long-standing demands. This may lead to tariff reductions on long-distance calls," he said.
RP Singh, chairman and managing director, PowerGrid, said telecom infrastructure providers' operating expenditure would come down if the government implemented the proposed zero-licence fee regime. "Market forces will decide whether bandwidth prices will decrease," he added.
The fixed component of the registration charges is proposed to be reduced gradually from Rs 107 crore to Rs 30 lakh (Rs 300 million)
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