DoT seeks opinion on unified licence regime

DoT has proposed delinking of spectrum from licences, wants all companies to move to new regime to ensure fair competition

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought opinion of the law ministry on the proposed unified licencing (UL) regime, and expects to take a final call on the UL regime soon, said Kapil Sibal, minister of communications and IT, on Saturday at the National Editors’ Conference, here.

The DoT has proposed an UL regime where the spectrum will be de-linked from the licences and all companies will have to migrate to the UL regime.

A special committee, which was constituted to prepare Unified Licence document, has also recommended two licences—Unified License (National) and Unified Licence (Service Area) for the telecom operators. The committee had taken the decision after examining the recommendations from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Sibal said that the sector should be “competitive”, and the new licencing regime will ensure fair competition.

However, the DoT is yet to take a call on the proposed auction of unsold spectrum to abide by an order by the Supreme Court. “The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom will take a decision on this soon,” said Sibal.

Sibal also said that the Government hopes to make roaming free nationwide by October this year. “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to give its final recommendations on One Nation One Roaming in July. By October, nation-wide free roaming will be implemented,” he added.

The minister also said that internet governance is an “oxymoron” and a free medium can not be “governed”. Internet users should self regulate themselves and use the medium for civilised discourse, he said, adding, “Just as you we can't abuse each other in public; similarly we shouldn’t also abuse each other online as well. Online isn’t a medium to abuse each other”.