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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM)

QCOM 174.80

+0.3%

Dec 5 9:30 AM EST

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To: Craig Schilling who started this subject	1/5/2001 10:14:12 PM
From: samim anbarcioglu	of 152472

India to award licenses for fourth cellular firm totaltele.com By Reuters staff 05 January 2001 India announced on Friday the long-awaited award of licenses for a fourth cellular operator in four metropolitan cities and 17 telecom circles into which the country is divided. The move is expected to inject fresh competition into a market that has started to accelerate after years of slow growth. Telecoms minister Ram Vilas Paswan told a news conference the licenses would be granted for a period of 20 years and could be extended by another 10 years. The bidder must be an Indian company and not have more than 49 percent in foreign equity. A government statement said additional licenses to operate mobile phone services may be issued in the future without any restrictions on the number of operators. The government also said it had set a 17 percent revenue share as the annual license fee for all cellular operators. Two private mobile phone firms were initially allowed in the 1990s to operate in each of the metropolitan and circle markets with the government-owned telecoms firms having the option of being a third. But a new government telecom policy announced in 1999 allowed an unlimited number of firms into the mobile phones market. REVENUE SHARING As compensation, cellular service firms were allowed to migrate to a revenue sharing arrangement with the government from an upfront fixed license fee payment system. Cellular firms had bid huge amounts as license fees and complained the fees, along with poor subscriber growth, was eroding their profitability. More than a dozen firms currently provide mobile phone services in a market that had 2.93 million subscribers at the end of November 2000. "We expect to issue the notice inviting tenders (for the fourth operator) by the end of the month," Shyamal Ghosh, chairman of the government's policy-making Telecoms Commission, said. He said the government expected to issue clarifications and hold pre-bid conferences in February, receive bids by the end of April and award licenses by the end of July. Paswan also said state-run fixed line phones firm Mahangagar Telephone Nigam Ltd will start its cellular service in Delhi by January 31 and in Bombay by the end of February. MTNL would start accepting applications in New Delhi for its cellular service on January 15 and in Bombay by February 15, he said. MTNL, which operates fixed line and Internet access services in Bombay and Delhi, offers mobile telephony on a limited scale in New Delhi through the wireless in local loop (WLL) and CDMA technologies. The firm is also poised to list its Global Depository Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange. MTNL's shares were up 3.04 percent at 193.20 rupees on Friday afternoon at the Bombay Stock Exchange. That was down from its 2000 high of 390 rupees and up from its 2000 low of 107.50 rupees.

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