In a major development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has cleared applications of nine telecom aspirants and is close to issuing them Letters of Intent. This will be followed by issuance of universal access service licences and allocation of spectrum.

The LoIs will be issued during the week, if not on Wednesday. However, the allocation of spectrum would take some time as the Department of Telecommunications was finalising the amount of vacant spectrum, sources close to the development said.

The proposals of the new applicants were pending with the Telecom Ministry after the DoT's approval last month. Telecom Minister A Raja approved the file on Tuesday and asked the DoT to prepare a priority list for awarding licences, they said.

This would pave the way for rolling out of services by the nine companies, of which most of them had applied for pan-India licences.

However, the issue of spectrum is still a concern as the DoT's Wireless Planning and Coordination cell is in the process of identifying vacant spectrum. The department is also awaiting vacation of spectrum by the defence forces.

Earlier last week, the DoT had drawn a priority list of applicants in which Datacom Solutions (Videocon's [Get Quote] Venugopal Dhoot holds a stake in the company) was at the top.

Apart from Datacom Solutions, Aska Projects, Spice Communications, Swan Telecom, Loop Telecom (a subsidiary of BPL Mobile), Unitech Builders & Estates, Nahan Properties, S Tel and Shyam Telelink are in the fray for start-up spectrum.

According to an industry analyst, awarding of UASL means the companies will have to be given spectrum in six months. The spectrum would be first allotted on a trial basis and enable the users to confirm electro magnetic interference and electro magnetic compatibility with other operators in these circles.