DoT scrutinizes license holders and seekers

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 10 September 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: Due to a sudden spurge in the list of companies wanting to start telecom services in India, the Department of Telecom (DoT) is monitoring the applications to establish the identities of all stakeholders who have sought a license. The move is not aimed at disqualifying any player, but is only to establish the identity of the different shareholders behind each application, the proposed foreign direct investment (FDI) in the companies seeking licenses, and the net worth of the companies involved, reported The Economic times The move is being made even as the exact shareholding pattern and the identity of the promoters behind some of the new applications are not clear. These include companies such as Bycell, Swan, Cheetah, S Tel, Datacom Solutions and Alliance Infratech. Nearly 160 applications have come in for new universal access service licenses so far, and many more are expected to file this week. While basic details have already been provided in the applications, closer scrutiny is being done to establish the existence of any cross-holding pattern. This is because, under existing norms, a telecom company cannot hold more than 10% stake in a competing company. The rush for licenses is due to Trai?s recent recommendation that there be no cap on the number of operators offering telecom services in a circle. According to analysts another factor responsible for the piling applications is the 2G spectrum allocation based on the order of the applicants, or on a first-come-first-serve basis. It is, therefore, suspected that some of the existing players may have placed multiple applications under different names.