The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been making some stringent policies. Last year, the company put in place several laws pertaining to mobile users and telecom companies. TRAI now recommends that companies looking to exit the telecommunication sector should not be refunded their entry fee and a separate exit policy isn’t required. So, it says that the fees paid by licensees should continue to be non-refundable. Telecom operators can give an advance notice of 60 days to surrender the permits. While TRAI put forth its suggestion on Monday, it awaits comments from stakeholders by April 5.
No exit policy
"The provision for surrender of license is already prescribed in the draft guidelines. As such, the Authority (TRAI) does not find any justification for a separate exit policy in case of Unified Licensing Regime," TRAI said.
TRAI has disclosed the suggestions based on responses from stakeholders and the Supreme Court's February 2 verdict of cancelling 122 mobile permits issued in 2008. The telecom department had asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in December, last year to recommend an exit policy for all licensees. The exit policy was to be created for categories, such as the 122 UAS license given on or after January 10, 2008, licences given prior to January 10, 2008 and all other license and future licenses.
"The notice period is 60 days in most of the licenses. The framing of exit policy for various telecom licenses essentially involves the issue of full or partial refund of the entry fee and bank guarantees," TRAI said. The Regulator has already declared that all future licenses will be Unified Licenses and entry fee for pan-India license is only Rs 20 crore.
Earlier this month, TRAI had given a nod to DoT for implementing free roaming across the country. TRAI has supposedly agreed to ‘one nation-one license’ proposal that has been in the pipeline, allowing for zero roaming charges being applied through the country.
