Vodafone may be the first telecom player
to bear the brunt of the new telecom licence rules that prohibit the
operators/players from holding beneficial interest in rivals operating
in the same service areas. According to reports, the telecom giant will
have to offload its indirect 4.4 percent stake, worth $ 1 billion, in Bharti Airtel.
"In the event of holding/obtaining Access spectrum, no licensee or its promoter(s) directly or indirectly shall have any beneficial interest in another licensee company holding 'Access Spectrum' in the same service area," say the new Unified Licence (UL) rules announced by the Department of Telecommunications.
"In the event of holding/obtaining Access spectrum, no licensee or its promoter(s) directly or indirectly shall have any beneficial interest in another licensee company holding 'Access Spectrum' in the same service area," say the new Unified Licence (UL) rules announced by the Department of Telecommunications.
It's notable Vodafone and Airtel provide
operate in all the circles via Unified Access Service Licence (UASL)
licence. The licence allows telcos to hold stake up to 9.9 per cent in
other firms. But the new rules make it compulsory for the telecom
service providers operating previous licences to switch to new licences
after their permits are expired and sell stakes in any competitor,
within a year of getting the UL.
Vodafone's
permit for Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are set to expire in the last
quarter of 2014. Airtel's two permits in Delhi and Kolkata are slated to
expire in November 2014. While Vodafone's Madhya Pradesh permit is
valid till 2027, some of Airtel's licences are valid till 2024.
You can read/download the License Agreement for Unified License here.
Source: Economic Times
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