DoT specifies 100 per cent STD network rollout in 5-7 years

DoT specifies 100 per cent STD network rollout in 5-7 years
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, August 20: Government has specified 100 per cent rollout of network and coverage of all uneconomic and remote areas by the seventh year as a precondition for entrants to the national long distance business.

Refunding of the Rs 400 crore bank guarantee entirely depends on fulfilling the network obligations which includes rollout of network and coverage of uneconomic and remote areas in the long distance charging areas (LDCA).

As per the detailed network obligation worked out by the Department of Telecom (DoT), rollout conditions have been divided for four phases with refunding of Rs 100 crore on each phase, subject to fulfilling the obligations.

The rollout obligations requires 15 per cent of the entire circle and at least two of the uneconomic areas being covered within the first two years, while 40 per cent of the circle and four uneconomic areas being networked in three years.

In the third phase (4th year), 80 per cent circle coverage and seven uneconomic areas would be the obligation, while the entire circle and all the uneconomic or remote areas have to be covered in the fifth phase (five to seven years).

Government has also made it clear that no operator would be allowed to carry forward any of the unfulfilled network obligation from one phase to the next.

For the purpose of administration, DoT has divided the entry into 20 circles and four metros with each having many long distance charging areas (LDCA). There would be about 320 LDCAs, besides the four metro LDCAs.

The circles include Andaman & Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, North East, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP (East), UP (West) and West Bengal.

Government has also classified 43 of the LDCAs as uneconomic or remote areas and the rollout in these areas has been made a condition for refunding the bank guarantee.

These include seven each in Assam and Madhya Pradesh, six each in North-East and Himachal Pradesh, five in Jammu & Kashmir, three each in Bihar, Orissa, UP (west) and one each in Kerala, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar.

All the applicants have been asked to submit their business plan and details of funding arrangement for financing the project, along with the application.

Guidelines for issue of licences for STD sector has been released on August 13, within a month of the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapayee announcing the opening of the sector on July 15 at the state Information Technology Ministers' conference.