License agreements are expected to be signed with all the nine LoI holders in the next two days and spectrum would be allotted subsequently, to begin with, in those circles where it is available readily, telecom ministry officials said.
Four firms have got LoIs for pan-India operations while others have got for additional circles. The nine companies are Unitech, Datacom, Shyam Telelink, Loop Telecom, S Tel, Swan Telecom, Spice Telecom, Idea and Tata Teleservices.
Officials said that department of telecom (DoT) is also having consultations with the defence ministry for early release of spectrum so that the same could be allotted to new players to start mobile services.
This would intensify competition in the mobile telephony and would lead to fall in tariffs. A decision has been taken and licence pacts would be signed with all the companies, they said.
Although some of the companies have approached telecom tribunal TDSAT and Delhi High Court to stall spectrum distribution, the process has not been stayed so far.
The DoT has been saying that entry of 5-6 new pan-India operators would bring mobile tariffs down by at least 50 per cent within a year of their starting services.
In fact, telecom minister A Raja is understood to have prepared a road map for bringing down mobile tariffs to just 25 paise a minute for a local call and that could be done only by bringing new competition to the existing players.
All the nine companies had deposited the requisite fee and bank guarantees on the day of getting LoIs, literally vying with each other to become the first applicant to get spectrum.
The DoT has decided to follow a first-come-first-serve policy for allocation of spectrum, meaning those who paid the fees first - be it even by a fraction of a second - would get spectrum first.
Asked whether there was scope for mobile tariffs to come down further, as most of the existing operators have been claiming that tariffs in India were the lowest in the world, the official said going by the purchase power parity, tariffs were still very high and can be lowered by over 50 per cent.
This would be possible only by allowing new operators to start services and this would not only make telecom services more affordable, but also improve quality as existing firms were lacking in quality parameters in most of places.
Officials also said that next step should be immediate implementation of number portability that would help improve quality of services, as the operators would upgrade their networks to retain subscribers.
Although some players have cried foul over the seniority list prepared by the DoT, the department was of the view that most companies were expected to be accommodated for spectrum allocation. Some of the firms are of the view that frequency should be distributed simultaneously to avoid any controversy.
Asked which are the circles (states), where spectrum is currently available, the official declined to give details but sources said the frequency scenario was not that bad in places other than in metros, especially Delhi and Mumbai.
