INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The new rules will not apply to operators, who are currently going through the liquidation process.New Delhi: The government on Wednesday
allowed 100 percent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector through automatic route to promote ease of doing business in the
industry.The telecom department has also reduced performance and financial bank guarantee requirements of telecom operators by 80 per
DPIIT's press note, 100 per cent FDI is permitted across all kinds of telecom services and infrastructure providers.In the Press Note 4
(2021 series), the government has amended the 100 per cent FDI cap in the sector to "Automatic Route"
The move will provide relief for Vodafone Idea, as it has been looking to raise funds from overseas to support its business.The Department
made in both old telecom licences in the UASL (Unified Access Services licences) category and new licences that were started in 2012-
Unified Licence (UL) category.The move will unblock cash reserves of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL internet licence
holders like Tata Communications, Atria Convergence Technologies etc that they have kept with banks for securing bank guarantees
for each service for the telecom licence compared to Rs 220 crore mandated under the old rule.Similarly, telecom operators will need to
provide a financial bank guarantee (FBG) of maximum Rs 8.8 crore per circle now, against the previous requirement of Rs 44 crore.The rule
will not be applicable in cases where bank guarantees (BG) have been furnished due to any court order or are subject to any litigation, the
licence amendment note said.In the case of UASL, there were three different amounts of FBGs that were charged - Rs 50 crore for each A
category telecom circle, Rs 25 crore for B service area and Rs 5 crore for C category circles - that has been reduced to 20 percent through
the amendment, which has been issued with immediate effect."The PBGs and FBGs of existing licensees shall be revised to 20 per cent of the
current total amount held by the licensor ..
the system generated SACFA clearance from Saral Sanchar Portal of DoT
Cases not meeting auto-settled criteria ..
will be processed by members through their integrated systems and will be cleared /rejected within 30 days," an official memorandum said.The
new rules have been issued along with the department amending norms to reduce performance and financial bank guarantee requirement of
telecom operators by 80 percent, according to the licence amendment note issued on Wednesday.Telecom industry body Cellular Operators
amendment in License agreements, telecom service providers will be eased off the huge burdens of Bank Guarantees and will enable the
self-declaration will facilitate ease of doing business - will help in the faster rollout of services to the citizens," COAI director
general SP Kochhar said.(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
