The Indian telecom reform process has finally got a fillip, now that five more letters of intent holders for provision of basic telecom services in six circles have decided to pay up their licence fees to the government. Two firms - Bharti Telecom and Reliance Telecom -- had already done so. Now, Hughes Ispat (Maharashtra, Karnataka), RPG-led Basic Teleservices (Tamil Nadu), Tata Teleservices (Andhra Pradesh), Essar Commvision (Punjab) and the Usha group's Techno Telecom have decided to seal their deals. It is true that progress has been painstaking, and much remains to be done. As many as 11 circles still await smooth transfer to bidders. But sticky issues have been cleared up without troubling the judiciary much (three of those who have agreed to sign had gone to court, but have obviously settled out-of-court with the government). This is a victory.

The DoT, on its part, has agreed to a condition that the licence becomes effective only from the day it grants wireless spectrum to operators. The investors and the government are finally beginning to understand each other's imperatives. But vital issues remain. What happens to the initial fracture the bidding system suffered due to Himachal Futuristic's sweeping first round success, the post-facto capping of bids in the second round, and what turned out to be the mistakenly high benchmarking of less attractive category C circles by the government, also in the second round? With five deals sewn up, the government must get the fledgling Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to decide these crucial issues.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.