Cable TV, long-distance calls, direct-to-home TV, radio broadcasting and radio services may never be the same again, if the telecom regulator’s recommendations on unified licensing are implemented.Trai on Thursday said telecom players with interests in all these arenas may be allowed to run the entire range of operations by paying a one-time licence fee of Rs 107 crore. This sum will cover a combined licence that Trai is working out for multiple service operators. The amount only excludes the entry fee paid by basic operators who entered the market after 2001.The recommendations also say the revenue share paid as licence fee by basic operators should be reduced. It said a maximum 6 per cent of their adjusted gross revenues, instead of the 15 per cent they pay today, will be adequate.In what could amount to a significant windfall, Trai has also proposed there should be no revenue share or entry fee for a number of services. Besides, Trai has said the registration charges of Rs 107 crore would reduce automatically to Rs 30 lakh in five years.The service-specific licensing regime will be permitted for until two years after today’s recommendations on unified licensing are implemented, Trai said. It said stand-alone broadcasting and cable TV licences would continue to be issued for service providers only in the broadcasting and/or cable TV space.
