As many as 46 companies have put in a total of 575 applications for telecom licences, making it difficult for the department of telecom to scrutinise each and every document.
Instead, the DoT is now considering putting the onus of submitting accurate and credible information on the applicants themselves, sources said.
The applicants include both domestic as well foreign players such as DLF, HFCL, Parsavnath, Unitech, Shyam Telecom in partnership with Russian telecom giant Sistema, and AT&T.
According to sources, the government is expecting that at least six players would be ready to submit the initial fee of around Rs 1,650 crore (Rs 16.50 billion) for a pan-India licence. This translates to a total fee of roughly Rs 10,000 crore.
Moreover, these six new entrants alone would invest at least Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) in the next two years. Besides, other small players seeking licences in lesser number of circles would also invest.
An applicant said this move would bring in the much-required competition in GSM mobile telephony, notwithstanding the stiff opposition from the existing GSM players' lobby, Cellular Operators Association of India.
Communication Minister A Raja had on Monday said the process of issuing LoI was being looked into within the department separately and a decision would be taken soon.
Earlier, telecom tribunal TDSAT had refused to stay the matter as sought by COAI, which has challenged DoT's policy of allowing dual technology and new spectrum norms as recommended by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC).
In his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh early this month, Raja had clarified that for spectrum allocation the process of first-come-first-served would be followed.
The department of telecom has already rejected the law ministry's suggestion to set up a group of ministers to handle 575 applications, saying such a mechanism was unnecessary as no new policy was to be discussed.
The government is also considering making September 25, the date on which it had announced October 1 as the deadline for filing applications for new licenses, as the cut-off date for issuing LOIs in the first phase.
The procedure for the remaining applications would be decided at a later date, if any spectrum was left after processing the applications received up to September 25.
