The group of ministers on telecom -- headed by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh -- will hold its first meeting on Thursday to resolve the contentious issues in the sector, including the prolonged fight between the cellular and basic operators over WLL mobile services.
The department of telecommunications has already circulated a position paper detailing options on each of the issues for consideration of the group.
The GoM was set up by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee earlier this month, and the terms of reference of the group include charting out course to a universal licence, reviewing adequacy of steps for enforcing limited mobility within the local call area for WLL services and recommending the future course of action in this regard.
The meeting assumes significance in the wake of constant disputes and litigations in the sector on several issues relating to the scope and legality of WLL mobile services and most recently the proposed unification of basic and cellular licenses by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Besides the finance minister, the group comprises Defence Minister George Fernandes, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, Communications Minister Arun Shourie and Information & Broadcasting Minister R S Prasad.
Shourie had earlier said that the GoM would like to submit the report by November this year.
The GoM would also discuss the FDI limits in telecom sector, identify issues relating to mergers and acquisitions (within a circle) in telecom sector and recommend the way forward, besides considering issues relating to imposition of trade tax on telecom services by state governments.
Some of the telecom issues now before the group of ministers are being considered by either DoT or Trai.
While the department is considering recommendations on the scope of WLL mobility, Trai is finalising its suggestions on the unification of telecom licence, for which it has already conducted open house discussions with the industry in Delhi and Hyderabad.
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