Putting at rest the controversy over issuance of new telecom licenses on 575 applications, the government on Monday said in the Lok Sabha that these would be issued as per the existing policy which does not put any restriction on the number of operators.

"We are going to issue new licenses as per the new policy framed in 2003 by the Group of Ministers (GoM) which stated that Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses will be given without any restriction," Telecom Minister A Raja said replying to a query.

Raja's remarks assume significance as the lobby of GSM operators, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), had recently opposed government's plan to issue new licences without guarantee of spectrum availability.

The Minister said the National Telecom Policy of 1999 had the clause that without ensuring spectrum availability new licenses should not issued. But, the new policy in 2003 does not put any restriction on the number of licenses or spectrum availability, he said.

This would help 46 applicants who have put in 575 applications for UAS licenses to get the licenses and spectrum as and when made available. Raja has been maintaining that there still exists potential to bring down mobile tariffs by up to 50 per cent if more players were allowed to start services.

To another query, the Minister categorically said the government has not constituted any GoM to finalise a new spectrum policy. "However, a GoM has been constituted on vacation of spectrum and raising resources for the purpose under the chairmanship of External Affairs Minister."

On the issue of formation of a panel to review report of the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which was accepted in principle by the government, Raja said the committee was constituted as the COAI had alleged that calculations made by TEC were unilateral and operators views were not considered.

The Minister, however, informed the House that initially the government had accepted the recommendations of telecom regulator TRAI which had suggested higher number of subscribers to become eligible for additional spectrum.

Following protests by existing GSM operators, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had asked TEC to suggest spectrum allocation norms in a scientific manner. The TEC suggested even higher subscriber base leading to COAI challenging the TEC numbers.

The committee, to review the TEC report, is in the process to hold discussions with operators and their associations and the final report is expected by the end of this month.