Each of the companies has submitted applications expressing its intent to bid for basic telecom service licences in the circles indicated, along with a draft of Rs 15,000 per application. This includes an across-India sweep for all 21 the telecom cicles by Aircel Digilink, 11 circles by Reliance Telecom, eight by Bharti Enterprises, three by Hutchison Essar, one by Fascel, and at least three by HFCL.

Meanwhile, industry experts explain why the companies are in a hurry to submit applications, even though the draft licence agreement is not ready as yet. "The DoT will allot basic licences on a first come-first serve basis. And even as the number of licences per circle are unlimited, the spectrum is not," explains a telecom expert.

"Therefore, only the first four applicants will get the wireless licences and the rest will have to provide basic services on wirelines - and that no one is interested in, since WLL mobility is actually what everyone is interested in," he added.

Meanwhile, Bharti Enterprises, which already operates basic services in Madhya Pradesh, has indicated its intention of providing basic services in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi, Harayana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab, according to company officials.

"While Fascel has applied for Gujarat, where it already operates cellular services, Hutchison Whampoa, which has a stake in Fascel, applied for basic licences in Delhi, Maharashtra, and Calcutta, where it operates cellular services," informed sources in Hutchison Essar.

Reliance, which is believed to have very ambitious plans for basic services, is also reported to have submitted its applications for most `A' and `B' circles, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP (East), UP (West), Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab.

HFCL is also believed to have bid for at least three circles - Delhi, Haryana, and Karnataka. However, according to some sources, by late evening, the company had submitted additional bids for four more circles, taking its total tally to seven. However, HFCL officials were not available for comments.

The rush for submitting applications is expected to continue on Tuesday, since telecom majors like Birla-AT&T-Tata, BPL, Hughes Telecom, and Shyam Telecom are yet to open their accounts.

Meanwhile, the current scramble for licences is a big leap from the last time, when basic licences were issued by government for the first time, almost six years ago. Then only six companies had applied for basic licences and only one had seriously started its services, till they were practically arm-twisted into doing so, by the government.

The existing basic operators include, Bharti Telenet, Essar Commvision, Shyam Telecom, Hughes Tele.com, Tata Teleservices, and Reliance Telecom.