Government to issue fresh guidelines for UASL applications

New Delhi, Sept 24 (UNI) The government today said it will issue a set of new guidelines for screening fresh applications to select players for telecom licences.

''DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is looking at formulating guidelines for screening new applications. I have also directed that there should be select applications only,'' Communications and IT Minister A Raja told reporters on the sidelines of 'Meghdoot Award' function here.

There are about 185-190 new proposals from various companies seeking to obtain the universal access service licences (UASL) to start their services in the country, according to DoT.

The application for a nation-wide will cost a company about Rs 1,700 crore, a pan-India license, if awarded, comes with 2G spectrum, 4.4 MHz in the case of GSM players and 2.5 MHz in the case of CDMA operators.

It is expected that the government would earn a total of about Rs 15,000 crore from licence and spectrum fees during the next three to five years.

UNI