By IANS
New Delhi : The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Thursday issued telecom licences to 22 more operators a day after it launched the process.
The operators include Unitech Developers for 12 circles, Idea Cellular for eight circles and the Videocon Group-promoted Datacom Solutions for two circles.
On Wednesday, Idea Cellular received the license to roll out services in one circle and Datacom for 19 circles.
While DoT is still studying the availability of radio frequencies in each circle across the country, the Delhi High Court Thursday reserved judgement on a petition filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) – a body representing GSM operators – on allocating spectrum to new players.
On the other hand, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which was hearing a petition filed by Idea Cellular and Spice Communications, passed an interim order that the date of application of new players be respected for issuing of licenses and spectrum.
The government is currently following the practise of issuing licenses on the first-come-first-served basis as per the payment of license fees.
The wireless planning and coordination wing has already conveyed to the ministry that it was facing a major frequency crunch, even as requests had been made to the defence ministry to vacate some spectrum that was not in use.