New Delhi, June 23: The tripartite agreement between the department of telecommunications and basic service operators is likely to be finalised on Tuesday.

The DoT chairman has called a meeting of the operators' representatives and circulated a final draft of the tripartite agreement among the invitees for this and to expedite the signing of the document. The final draft has been prepared after a series of informal consultations with individual operators in the last few weeks.

The operators who have been invited for the Tuesday meeting include Essar, RPG, Reliance, Bharti and Techno Telecom. The invitation from the DoT chairman's office sent out to the service operators said, "Chairman, telecom commission, has desired to hold a meeting with the representatives of your company on June 24, at Sanchar Bhavan. It is proposed to discuss the issues pertaining to the tripartite agreement and licence agreement for provision of basic telephone service".

Each operator has been asked to send two representatives for the meeting. DoT sources said the agreement is likely to be signed in the next two weeks. The sources expressed the hope that the Tuesday meeting will accept in toto the final draft sent along with the invitation. "This has been drafted in consultation with the counsels for service operators who had approached the Delhi High Court and there should be no problem in finalising it at this meeting," they said.

The sources further indicated that in all probability this would be the final meeting with service operators on the question of a tripartite agreement. They recalled DoT chairman AV Gokak saying last week that the service operators will be given one more chance to find a solution to end the impasse on the basic service licences.

A great deal of behind-the-scene parleys have gone into preparing the final draft. The sources said most of the operators who had gone to the court had agreed to the contents of the final draft. This agreement has all the necessary safeguards for meeting the financial requirements of the operations.

DoT has set a six-month deadline for starting of operations by licence holders in basic service circles, the sources said. The document circulated among service operators contains the latest DoT position on assignment of licence, lenders' right in the event of default, termination of licence by licensor and lenders' right to compensation.

The document says the licence may be assigned or transferred on grounds of just and proper discharge of rights, obligations and liabilities arising out of the agreement, suggestions and recommendations of lenders, upkeep of security in favour of lenders against financial assistance advanced to fund the telecom project. Also, capability and consent of the assignee or transferee to unconditionally take on the liability and past debt burden of the licensee, creditworthiness and capacity of the assignee or transferee and any other appropriate grounds whereby continuity in the provision of telephone service is maintained.

The proposed agreement said: "The foreign lenders shall be treated pari passu with Indian lenders." If within 30 days following the default, the licensee fails to remedy the same, the lenders can invite, negotiate and procure offers through private negotiation or public auction or tender take over and transfer the assets and liabilities of the licensee including dues payable to the licensor and DoT. The 15-page agreement states that the parties are desirous of recording the terms and conditions whereby assignment becomes permissible and the licence is endorsed in favour of assignee.

Lenders have agreed to grant financial assistance to the licensee to the extent mutually agreed between them on the terms, conditions and covenants set out in the respective loan agreements entered into by the licensee with the respective lenders.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.