The new telecom operators, which are yet to start services, are free to sell majority stake in their companies as the government today said there was no plan to review the merger and acquisition norms announced in April this year.

"Currently no exercise is on to review the existing M&A norms," Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura said, adding the companies even do not have to come to DoT for acquiring or selling stake up to permissible limit.

It is only in case of merger of two licenses, like in case of merger of Idea Cellular [Get Quote] and Spice Communication in Punjab, a prior approval of DoT is required, he said.

Idea Cellular had recently bought over B K Modi-owned Spice Communications which had operations in Punjab and Karnataka.

Asked whether DoT would consider amending some of the norms like three-year lock-in-period for merger at later stage, Behura said 'that stage has not come as yet'.

Most of new telecom operators have been talking to foreign as well as Indian companies to rope them as partners to ensure timely setting up of network and start services by first quarter of next year.

Videocon [Get Quote] promoted Datacom, real estate major Unitech and other new players are in talks with foreign telecom service providers to sell up to 74 per cent stake to mop up funds to set up infrastructure.

The new operators have paid Rs 1,651 crore (Rs 16.51 billion) for acquiring start-up spectrum for pan-India presence and they are allowed to sell up to 74 per cent stake (as per the FDI norms) in their ventures, DoT officials said, adding that no prior approval was required for such transactions.