By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Wednesday said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will clear the mergers of Bharti Airtel-Telenor and Vodafone-Idea soon, a move that will bring some stabilisation in the telecom sector currently battling financial stress.
“The approvals will take normal processing time — less than a month for the Bharti-Telenor deal. We also do not see any hurdles in the clearances pertaining to the Vodafone-Idea deal and it should get done in the timeframe outlined by the two companies,” Sundararajan said on the sidelines of CII broadband summit.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday had dismissed a petition by the DoT to secure bank guarantees of Rs 15,00 crore from Airtel as a pre-condition to approve buyout of Telenor. The top court’s decision is widely being seen as a relief to telecom industry, which is currently going through a consolidation phase.
When asked whether the bank guarantee should also be expected for Vodafone-Idea merger, the telecom secretary said that each case will have to be seen separately.
The secretary said that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the ministry were working closely to ensure they did not create any bottlenecks for the merger.
Sundararajan said officials of the telecom department and Aviation Ministry will meet next week to chart out the framework and guidelines for operationalising ‘in-flight’ connectivity. “We plan to hold a meeting on coming Monday or Tuesday with officials of civil aviation Ministry on this,” she said.
However, it is not clear yet whether the telcos will be part of the upcoming meeting. “Telecom operators may or may not be part of the upcoming meeting,” the secretary said. DoT had earlier said that they expect the facility to be rolled out in 3-4 months.
