Bharti Tele-Ventures chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday said mobile tariff in the country was likely to come down by 10 to 20 paise per minute airtime and the company was in talks with some banks for acquisition of firms in new circles after unified licensing regime comes in place.

"The rates could come down in the area of 10 to 20 paise per minute airtime, including STD and long distance calls," he told reporters on the sidelines of a GSM Spectrum seminar in New Delhi.

Mobile operators in India charge on average about one rupee a minute for a local call.

Asserting that the sector would see a lot of action in terms of mergers and acquisitions by March next year, Mittal said the company was in talks with some banks over the issue but the plans could not be disclosed now.

On the issue of compensation for bringing in unified licensing regime, he said cellular operators had demanded Rs 17,000 crore (Rs 170 billion) but a reduced amount would also be acceptable.

Bharti was ready to start operating from six months of grant of licence, he added.

Terming 4 per cent spectrum revenue sharing as high, the Bharti chairman said the company had allocated about Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) for taking over six new circles.

Asked about 3G, he said it would take about 2-3 years to arrive in India and asked TRAI to bring stability in the market.

Bharti is 16 per cent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. One Bharti rival, BPL Mobile, on Wednesday bought out AT&T Wireless Services Inc's stake in their joint venture firm.

India's mobile sector has over 27 million customers and the user base is seen rising past the 100 million mark by 2005.