National rural telecom licence

Posted on | December 11, 2005 |

In yet another move to increase the rural tele-density, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended that the government create a national rural telecom licence, that allows companies to operate all kinds of telecom services, exclusively in rural areas.

The regulator has proposed that companies which offer services under the new licence be charged only a nominal entry fee and be exempted from all other charges, including licence fee, spectrum fee and revenue share.

For existing telecom operators, the regulator has reiterated that the government abolish spectrum charges for rural operations. But it has added that that semi-urban and semi-rural areas in the periphery of large towns be excluded from the definition of

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