Spectrum licence to be renewed after 10 years: Govt

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal today unveiled the broad framework of a new telecom policy which would bring in reforms such as audit of spectrum usage, de-link spectrum allocation and licenses and change merger and acquisition guidelines, among others.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday unveiled the broad framework of a new telecom policy which would bring in reforms such as audit of spectrum usage, de-link spectrum allocation and licenses and change merger and acquisition guidelines, among others.

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"Regular audit and usage of spectrum by various agencies. We feel this is required, whether it is the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) or the TRAI (Telecom regulatory authority of India), we have not decided yet," Sibal told reporters here.

"All future licenses should be unified licenses and spectrum should be de-linked from licenses," he added.
The minister also said that the mergers and acquisition guidelines for the sector would have to be refurbished.

He also said that, licence will be renewed after 10 years, not 20 years like earlier.

(With PTI input)