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Telecom majors prepare for fourth round of bidding

Among them are big names like Reliance and Tatas and telecom companies like the Delhi-based Bharti and south-based (Siva Shankaran's) Sterling Group of Companies.

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Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, the basic telecom services company in Delhi and Bombay, may participate in the process, sources added.

The Department of Telecommunications is planning to call for a fourth round of bidding for provisions of basic telecom services in seven telecom circles (mostly analogues to a state) before the end of the year.

Initially, DoT senior officials were planning to conduct the fourth round of bidding in June-July this year.

The circles likely to be up of bidding are Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (East), the Northeast, Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Senior officials of DoT said that the department is yet to take a decision on whether to include Jammu and Kashmir in the bidding list or not. The government does not want to have private entry into the telecom sector in the state due to security reasons.

DoT plans to hold a two-stage selection process in the fourth round of bidding. This will involve a preliminary techno-commercial selection process and a second financial bidding stage.

The first round of bidding for telecom services was held in January 1995. The second one a year later and the third in May 1996. In these rounds, just six companies have signed licence and interconnect agreements with DoT.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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